Teacher-Researcher Conference

On May 5th, the Triad Teacher Researchers will host their first annual conference. For more information about this ambitious group, visit their website. I am excited to attend the conference tonight and plan to live-blog the sessions I attend. Here's the schedule:
6pm Welcome and opening talk by Amy Vetter and Elizabeth Chiseri-Strater
6:30 Optimal Foreign Language Scheduling in Elementary School with Morgan Sharp
7:15 Modern Poetry as a Craft with Katie Roquemore
8:00 Paidiea Seminars and Critical Thinking with Matthew Frillici
8:45 Closing and door prizes

I'm putting the first two sessions together in one live blog. I'll put the others down a little lower in this same post. Please, please feel free to join in the conversation, ask a question, make an observation, etc.

Morgan Sharp's Session


Modern Poetry:



Paidiea Seminars and Critical Thinking

Stephen Farmer on College Admissions

Steve Farmer is the provost at UNC Chapel Hill and director of undergraduate admissions.

IRSHAD MANJI Friday, 6pm Eastern

Courage in a Time of Corruption

The New York Times calls Irshad Manji “Osama bin Laden’s worst nightmare.” Oprah Winfrey gave her the first annual Chutzpah Award for “audacity, nerve, boldness, and conviction.” Manji, director of the Moral Courage Project at New York University, accepts both as compliments. The project develops young leaders who will challenge conformity and champion creativity, including reform-minded Muslims. She is the internationally bestselling author of The Trouble with Islam Today: A Muslim’s Call for Reform in Her Faith. In those countries that have banned her book, Manji is reaching readers by posting free translations on her popular blog. In just over a year, the Arabic translation has been downloaded 300,000 times and circulated by youth throughout the Middle East. She created the acclaimed PBS documentary, Faith Without Fear, which follows her journey to reconcile Islam with freedom and human rights. For her pioneering work, Manji receives both death threats and distinctions: The World Economic Forum has selected her as a Young Global Leader; The European Foundation for Democracy has made her a Senior Scholar; and The Jakarta Post in Indonesia — the world’s largest Muslim country — identifies Manji as one of three Muslim women creating positive change in Islam today.

Releasing the Power of Teachers through Lesson Study and Coaching. Friday 4:30 Eastern

I'm intrigued by this one, especially since both the presenters are associated with lab schools. Another snippet: "powerful methodologies that provide teachers the opportunity to reflect on and deepen their practice. Both approaches will be presented from the perspective of implementation in schools, including time for participant interaction."

Smart by Nature

Smart By Nature

Here's the bit of the description that caught my attention: Ways to use principles of ecological literacy in food programs, campus facilities, and innovative curriculum development. Great looking lineup of presenters on this one too: Carolie Sly, Center for Ecoliteracy (CA) , Crystal Land, The Head-Royce School (CA) , Mark Stefanski, Marin Academy (CA) , Paul Chapman, The Head-Royce School (CA) , Zenobia Barlow, Center for Ecoliteracy (CA)

Juan Enriquez As the Future Catches You Friday 12:30 Eastern

Juan Enriquez
Friday, February 26, 9:30 – 11:00 AM
As the Future Catches You — The Impact of the Genetic, Digital, and Knowledge Revolutions

Juan Enriquez is one of the world’s foremost authorities on how the extraordinary advances in the life sciences are changing the way we live and do business. He also has an important message for political and business leaders about how to compete effectively in the world’s knowledge economy as the digital and genomic revolu­tions create the wealth of the future. Enriquez is the author of the global bestseller, As the Future Catches You, an analysis of the impact of genomics on business and society; and The Untied States of America, which explores why, as technology advances, some countries are successful while others disappear. A fine speaker with invaluable insight into which advances in the life sciences will matter to your organization and industry — and why, Enriquez will show how to turn the life science revolution to your advantage. The founding director of Harvard Business School’s Life Sciences Project, Enriquez is currently a managing director of Excel Venture Management, investing in innovative medical companies. Fast Company named him one of their Fast 50 for 2005. He holds bachelor's and MBA degrees from Harvard University, with honors. View a clip of one of Enriquez’s outstanding speeches at http://www.poptech.org/juanenriquez.

Peter Gow, The Intentional Teacher Friday 11am Eastern

Peter Gow, The Intentional Teacher

The Intentional Teacher: Better Teaching through School-Teacher Dialogue
A thoughtful and responsive professional culture allows independent school teachers to build meaningful careers and lives. This presentation will offer specific and practical ideas for developing institutional environments in which teachers can maximize their professional potential for the school and students while meeting their own needs and aspirations.
PRESENTER: Peter Gow, Beaver Country Day School (MA)

Thought Leaders Summit Thursday 6pm Eastern

Thought Leaders Summit: Building Schools for a Digital Age

Facilitated by Wanda Holland Greene
Thursday, February 25, 3:00 - 4:30 PM (Pacific)

What should independent schools look like in 2020? How will macro-technology trends impact our classrooms — and our teaching and learning? What will the ideal school deliver to its students in the near future? At this idea inspiring, think-outside-of-the-box, interactive summit, thought leaders from the business and entrepreneurial world will share their expert perspectives on how schools must change in order to survive — and thrive! Our thought leaders include: Milton Chen, executive director of the George Lucas Educational Foundation; Shelley Goldman, professor of education, Stanford University; Monica Martinez, president of New Tech Network; and Megan Smith, vice president, new business development, and general manager, Google.org. Facilitated by Hamlin Head of School Wanda Holland Greene, this general session will break new ground in dialogue and interactivity with audience members — prepare to engage!

Arianna Huffington Thursday 12:30pm Eastern

Arianna Huffington

Thursday, February 25, 9:30 – 11:00 AM (Pacific Coast Time)
On Being Fearless

Arianna Huffington is cofounder and editor in chief of The Huffington Post, a nationally syndicated columnist, and author of 12 books. The co-host of Left, Right & Center, public radio’s popular political roundtable program, is also on Time magazine’s list of the world’s 100 most influential people. Originally from Greece, Huffington moved to England at age 16 and was graduated from Cambridge University with a master’s degree in economics. A successful entrepreneur who has triumphed over naysayers, self-doubt, and a turbulent economy, Huffington demonstrates how to turn difficult times into opportunity for growth — both personally and professionally. Becoming fearless — daring to think new thoughts, take big risks, embrace failure, and start again — will ultimately lead both people and businesses through the toughest times. Her book On Becoming Fearless… in Love, Work, and Life is Huffington’s most personal book to date, offering a roadmap for achieving fearlessness in every aspect of life, a manifesto on how to be bold, say what needs to be said, and do what needs to be done to find the freedom to love, lead, and succeed. A trustee for the Archer School for Girls (California), Huffington lives in Los Angeles with her two teenage daughters.

Next Up--NAIS Feb 24-25

I'll be attending the NAIS Conference in San Francisco later this month. I'm presenting during the very first session on Thursday the 24th, but otherwise I'll be blogging away at the sessions I attend. First up will be Arianna Huffington. I haven't picked out the other sessions yet, but I'll get the posts set up by February 22nd.

Cheers!

Universal Design for Learning

With Lisa Parisi, Karen Janowski, Paul Bogush, Christine Southard

I love listening to these guys on EdTechTalk! Very excited for this session.

Wikis for a Dynamic Curriculum

Wikis for a Dynamic Curriculum

Deon Metelski
Kent Place School

The session will use the Tuning Protocol to view and assess a part of the wiki curriculum. Attendees will be able to add to the discussion page of the wiki their "warm" and "cool" feedback.

Re-thinking Teacher Education

With Alec Couros and Dean Shareski

(Re)Imagining Social Media & Technology in Teacher Education

Join Dean Shareski and Alec Couros to discuss innovations in teacher education for developing technical skills and new literacies in preservice teachers. We'd like to share our experiences, but more importantly, we'd like to lead a conversation discussing the role of teacher education programs for developing innovative teachers.

Lucy Gray: Using tech to foster exploration and reflection

Using technology to foster exploration and reflection in science.

Lucy Gray, Debbie Leslie, and Jeanne Century

Model for online particpatory leanring online

At 12:30pm. I think this might be incredibly useful as our students travel. . .

Many to Many

Many to Many-- How Entire School Communities Can Collaborate

When:
Session One: Saturday 10:00am–11:30am
Who:
Jim Heynderickx
Affiliation: Director of Technology, American School in London
Conversational Focus/Audience:
All School Levels
Conversation Description:

Clay Shirky has published and presented on several interesting concepts about how the Internet can enable "many to many" communications and support. He has also noted that technology tools become socially interesting when they become technologically boring. The main idea of this conversation is to discover if his ideas are becoming apparent in our schools, and specific ways that we could foster their growth. In this context, we will also review the problems with type of change, and how some long-term beliefs and structures may need to be reviewed.

Opening Speaker at Educon--Saturday

Marilyn Perez --superintendent of Philly Schools.



Coming next:
Conversation Description:

Many to Many-- How Entire School Communities Can Collaborate Hosted by Jim Heynderickx Affiliation: Director of Technology, American School in London

Clay Shirky has published and presented on several interesting concepts about how the Internet can enable "many to many" communications and support. He has also noted that technology tools become socially interesting when they become technologically boring. The main idea of this conversation is to discover if his ideas are becoming apparent in our schools, and specific ways that we could foster their growth. In this context, we will also review the problems with type of change, and how some long-term beliefs and structures may need to be reviewed.

Headed to Educon!

I'm so excited to be headed to Educon tomorrow morning! There's supposed to be snow, yikes!

As usual, I'll be live blogging everything I can. I have a feeling there will be a lot less sitting and listening than is typical at conferences, so I'm not sure how the live blogs will work out. Still, I'll give it a try. Especially since there might be some people who are snowed in and more likely to come by to check it out than one might expect on a January weekend!

I don't have my whole schedule worked out quite yet (actually I don't have it worked out at all). I'll post it here as I get it worked out. I'll post my notes from the school day visit to SLA in a separate blog entry.

This post will contain the live blog of the opening session. Here are the details for that:

Join us at the Franklin Institute from 6-8pm on Friday, January 29th, 2010 to see a group of societal visionaries speak about their ideas on intelligence in a panel discussion.

Introductions for the evening will be made by Dr. Dennis Wint, CEO of The Franklin Institute and the panel will be moderated by Dr. Frederic Bertley, Vice President of the Center for Innovation and Science Learning at The Franklin Institute
Panelists Include:

* Loren Brichter - CEO of atebits Software and developer of Tweetie Twitter software.
* Prof. Martha Farah - Director, Center for Neuroscience & Society and Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania
* Happy Fernandez — President of the Moore College of Art
* Prof. Eddie Glaude - William S. Tod Professor of Religion and African American Studies. Chair, Center for African American Studies, Princeton University.
* David Shenk - Author of The Genius in All of Us, Data Smog and The End of Patience (and others)

Please, please feel free to drop in questions on any of the live blogs--these will be interactive presentations and there's a good chance I'll be able to ask your question.

Faculty Meeting January 11, 2010

On Monday, January 11th, the GDS faculty met to envision the GDS of 2030. You can read all the notes contributed by the groups on the webpage we built together during the meeting.

Here are two Wordles made from our responses to a couple of the questions posed in our faculty meeting. Click on the image to get a bigger view (you'll be able to actually read the words that way).

Question Two: What skills will a kindergarten child of today need to be successful in this world you have imagined 20 years from now?




Question Three: Think about your own life and the times when you were really learning – the “peak learning experiences” of your life. What were the conditions that made your high-performance learning experiences so powerful?