{"success":true,"data":[{"ID":489,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1415124220,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Visual Narrative for Teachers","Handle":"visual_narrative_for_teachers","ShortDescription":"In this three-hour intensive workshop, you will work with the students and faculty of SLA\u2019s Rough Cut Productions to learn the technical and artistic techniques of communicating through video. The skills you will learn will be valuable both in creating great video content to help your students learn, and mentoring your students to create compelling video projects across disciplines.","Description":"After a brief overview of some important filmmaking concepts, you will dive right into making your own short video. You will be teamed with one or more SLA advanced video students who will help advise you through conceptualizing, planning, filming, editing and presenting your short movie by the end of the workshop.\r\n\r\nYou can bring any device capable of taking video to work with - smart phone, tablet, point and shoot camera, D-SLR, or dedicated video camera - creating compelling narratives on film is about technique not equipment. We will help you get the most out of any device you have to work with. Video equipment that our full-time film students use daily will also be available upon request.\r\n\r\n[Registration required](http:\/\/tinyurl.com\/visualnarrative2015)","Link":["http:\/\/www.roughcutschools.org"],"Audience":["High School","Middle School"],"Practice":"This workshop is FREE, and will be held Friday morning from 9am - noon, after which you can spend the afternoon visiting classes at SLA. Although the workshop is available at no extra registration cost, you must sign up in advance. \r\n\r\nThere is a limit of 30 participants in this workshop.\r\n\r\n*This workshop will essentially be the same as last year's offering. We had an extensive wait list in '14 and wanted to accommodate those who missed out. If you already participated please give someone else the opportunity. For all that were with us previously, we'll be back with a new offering in '16.","Presenter":["Douglas Herman","Josh Weisgrau"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Rough Cut Schools","Science Leadership and Friends Central"],"PresenterEmail":["doug@roughcutschools.org","josh@roughcutschools.org"],"ScheduleSlotID":null,"ScheduleLocationID":8,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":510,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1422039212,"CreatorID":62,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"School Transformation","Handle":"school_transformation","ShortDescription":"Schools engaged in the change process are challenged by a whole host of conditions - some of which are negotiable, some not. The path is incredibly challenging and rewarding. Our conversation will talk about allowing breathing room, playing the long game, paying attention to critical indicators and celebrate success.","Description":"Schools engaged in the change process are challenged by a whole host of conditions - some of which are negotiable, some not. The path is incredibly challenging and rewarding. Our conversation will talk about allowing breathing room, playing the long game, paying attention to critical indicators and celebrate success.","Link":["http:\/\/inquiryschools.org"],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"A variation of Focus\/Framing Questions - http:\/\/www.nsrfharmony.org\/system\/files\/protocols\/focus_framing_qs_ex.pdf","Presenter":["Diana Laufenberg"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Inquiry Schools"],"PresenterEmail":["dlaufenberg@gmail.com"],"ScheduleSlotID":9,"ScheduleLocationID":16,"SubmitterID":62,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":491,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1415135769,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Authentic Learning in the Digital Age... LIVE","Handle":"authentic_learning_in_the_digital_age..._live","ShortDescription":"This session will bring the content of the title book to life by sharing the real-life practices and lessons of SLA students and teachers who use the book's framework every day.","Description":"This session will bring the content of the title book to life by sharing the real-life practices and lessons of SLA students and teachers who use the book's framework every day. You don't have to have read the book to benefit from the session -- people brand-new to SLA's model of teaching and learning are welcome, as well as return visitors who are interested in the nuts and bolts of how to potentially adopt our model to your learning environment.","Link":["http:\/\/lpahomov.wordpress.com"],"Audience":["High School","Middle School"],"Practice":"After introducing participants to the basics of the model, the session will allow attendees to rotate through smaller-group discussions on the five core values, receiving guidance and tips from both teachers and students based on their specific learning environments. The session will serve as one extended brainstorm to help participants bridge the gap between SLA's version of the model and their own.","Presenter":["Larissa Pahomov"],"PresenterAffiliation":["SLA"],"PresenterEmail":["lpahomov@scienceleadership.org"],"ScheduleSlotID":43,"ScheduleLocationID":10,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":"please let me know if this needs any tweaking \/ overlaps with other folks \/ etc.\r\n\r\nI will grab some additional teachers to be a part of this.","LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":435,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1414451852,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Busting Silos in School Strategy","Handle":"busting_silos_in_school_strategy","ShortDescription":"School strategic planning is often an exercise in figuring out what needs to be done in order to continue doing what always has been done. How might we change our approach in order to better achieve our goals?","Description":"An important part of the job of anyone in charge of some aspect of a school is making sure the school can continue to function and exist. An absolute necessity to be sure, but this is often such a large task that it has the very real danger of making it all we ever do.\r\n\r\nOur students, on the other hand, are spending their lives learning to live and thrive in a world of rapid changes and inevitable disruption that requires them to plan new paths and adjust their vision on the fly. Our continuing challenge is to provide students with schools that are as good at innovative strategy as they themselves will have to be.\r\n\r\nEducators from The Miami Valley School in Dayton, OH, will start this session off by sharing how they\u2019ve embarked this year on a new strategy for innovative school redesign that brings faculty, admins, students, and parents together in design thinking \u201cWindow Teams\u201d to observe, understand, and find places ripe for innovative thinking. After that, the session opens for everyone to share successes and not-yet-successes for their schools. We\u2019re better together!","Link":["http:\/\/www.bryanlakatos.com"],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"Participants will live create a Google document together recording what resonates and works for them. Document will have sections with helpful prompts and we\u2019ll save time toward the end of the session to share out loud from the document. The document will stay accessible as folks return to their schools and use what they\u2019ve learned.","Presenter":["Bryan Lakatos"],"PresenterAffiliation":["www.mvschool.com","www.dtk12chat.com"],"PresenterEmail":["bryan.lakatos@gmail.com"],"ScheduleSlotID":43,"ScheduleLocationID":9,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":"Thanks for the opportunity to grow along with our colleagues - Educon continues to be a highlight of my career!","LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":461,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1414880433,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Closing the Gender Gap in Innovation: Engaging Girls in STEM","Handle":"closing_the_gender_gap_in_innovation--engaging_girls_in_stem","ShortDescription":"This conversation will focus on how to empower young women to enroll and succeed in STEM based courses. Here from a panel of four innovative young women enrolled in Burlington High School's Student Technology Innovation and Integration course. Learn about their programs best practices and leave with student generated ideas on how to increase enrollment among young women in the STEM courses offered at your own school.","Description":"Currently, there is a shortage of women pursuing STEM based degree programs, resulting in a shortage of women in STEM based careers. It is crucial that educators find ways to empower and nurture the young women of today and provide them with skills, knowledge, and confidence to be the great thinkers, makers, and creators of tomorrow. Join Instructional Technology Specialist Jennifer L. Scheffer and four of her female students for a critical conversation about how we can close the innovation gender gap and engage young women in STEM related courses. Under Jennifer's leadership, she has been able to bring four exceptionally talented women into the Student Technology Innovation and Integration course at Burlington. She plans to continue to recruit, inspire, and develop female STEM leaders. Her passionate and \"grit driven, learn by failing and doing\" approach has resonated with girls and the results have exceeded her expectations. There are still many challenges ahead in closing the gender gap, but a frank conversation about the realities of girls in STEM and what we can do to get them on a level playing field with their male counterparts is an essential first step. Jennifer will share curriculum best practices, but more importantly, she will share the voices of her female students. Each young lady, all high school seniors, will explain her reasons for joining the Technology Innovation course as well as her intended career goals. They will discuss the obstacles for girls in STEM and offer strategies for helping girls realize STEM is a viable and exciting potential career path.","Link":["http:\/\/bhshelpdesk.com","http:\/\/catastrophicblog.wordpress.com","https:\/\/johnson0helpdesk.wordpress.com","http:\/\/miramehdi.wordpress.com","https:\/\/brainyobrien.wordpress.com"],"Audience":["High School"],"Practice":"While we do plan to bring a presentation of slides, the purpose of the slides will be to share student work exemplars as well as resources for session attendees. We plan to design this conversation as a spontaneous and interactive discussion. We will provide a platform to exchange ideas, ask questions of the student panelists, and will curate all that is shared using a Google Doc or a similar tool. We would also like to give participants the opportunity to actually SEE the innovative work student panelists have done through live demonstrations. This may include demonstrating an augmented reality experience or a live Google Hangout On Air. The ultimate goal is to share as much student voice as possible, as that will be the most powerful.","Presenter":["Jennifer L Scheffer","Mira Mehdi","Cat Hoyt","Kristin Johnson","Kelsey O'Brien"],"PresenterAffiliation":["ISTE- Digital Citizenship PLN","Mass CUE"],"PresenterEmail":["jscheffer@bpsk12.org"],"ScheduleSlotID":43,"ScheduleLocationID":2,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":"Burlington High School is entering its fourth year as a 1:1 Apple Distinguished, Google Apps for Education learning environment. Our Help Desk program serves as a model,for student run tech teams across the globe. Our blog has 125,000 view and counting.","LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":446,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1414767313,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Digital Portfolios for Student Reflection","Handle":"digital_portfolios_for_student_reflection","ShortDescription":"A Digital Portfolio (Pilot) Discussion: why would students maintain a reflective portfolio, how would this work, how would we convince others to join in?","Description":"When schools go 1:1, what is the purpose of all that tech? As we\u2019ve considered that question at the Shipley School, we\u2019ve decided that one way to use tech transformatively is to have students create and maintain digital portfolios as a place to think metacognitively about their learning. We will share our experience of planning and piloting a program that will ultimately become a school wide practice. Participants will be invited to share individual experiences with portfolios and\/or student reflection as we build not only a case for this level of ongoing reflection but collect ideas and resources while building a community of educators with whom to collaborate well after EduCon.","Link":["http:\/\/thoughtsfromschool.wordpress.com","http:\/\/betny.blogspot.com\/"],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"Begin with collecting ideas on a Padlet or other bulletin board tool:\r\nWhat are you most interested in talking about in regards to portfolios?\r\n\r\nDepending on the responses (how-to, why self-reflection, how to convince others) conversation will go accordingly.\r\n\r\nWe will have a skeleton google site or wiki with basics on all topics above and then build the relevant section as we go.\r\n\r\nWhichever topic(s) are addressed, we will include collecting our own contact information and experiences so that we can continue to support each other after EduCon. This will be a significant take-away for the group as many who do this type of work feel somewhat alone in their buildings or schools.","Presenter":["Wendy Eiteljorg","Bethany Silva"],"PresenterAffiliation":["The Shipley School","University of Pennsylvania"],"PresenterEmail":["weiteljorg@shipleyschool.org","bsilva@shipleyscool.org"],"ScheduleSlotID":43,"ScheduleLocationID":4,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":508,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1421197708,"CreatorID":88,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Engaging Students in the College Application Process","Handle":"engaging_students_in_the_college_application_process","ShortDescription":"High school students often feel the pressure of not just getting into a college, but getting into the best college. With so many colleges to choose from, and technology making it easier to apply, the number of students' college applications continue to rise. High school counselors are increasingly challenged to help students access and sort through an influx of information in order to successfully complete the steps to college entry.\r\n \r\nHigh school counselors Karina Hirschfield from Science Leadership Academy and Tatiana Olmedo from Central High School recognize the value of engaging peer leaders in the college application process. Peers have a significant influence in decisions, behaviors and attitudes in youth. In the college process, peers can positively impact student outcomes. Ms. Hirschfield and Ms. Olmedo will share how they promote student leadership, foster a college-going culture, and widen college access opportunities for all students through their College Access Leaders (CAL) program.\r\n \r\nCAL students will also share their leadership experience and highlight the benefits and challenges they have come across while helping their peers navigate the college process. Lastly, intern, Olivia Antosiewicz, from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education will share her direct work in training the CAL students.","Description":"High school students often feel the pressure of not just getting into a college, but getting into the best college. With so many colleges to choose from, and technology making it easier to apply, the number of students' college applications continue to rise. High school counselors are increasingly challenged to help students access and sort through an influx of information in order to successfully complete the steps to college entry.\r\n \r\nHigh school counselors Karina Hirschfield from Science Leadership Academy and Tatiana Olmedo from Central High School recognize the value of engaging peer leaders in the college application process. Peers have a significant influence in decisions, behaviors and attitudes in youth. In the college process, peers can positively impact student outcomes. Ms. Hirschfield and Ms. Olmedo will share how they promote student leadership, foster a college-going culture, and widen college access opportunities for all students through their College Access Leaders (CAL) program.\r\n \r\nCAL students will also share their leadership experience and highlight the benefits and challenges they have come across while helping their peers navigate the college process. Lastly, intern, Olivia Antosiewicz, from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education will share her direct work in training the CAL students.","Link":[],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"High school students often feel the pressure of not just getting into a college, but getting into the best college. With so many colleges to choose from, and technology making it easier to apply, the number of students' college applications continue to rise. High school counselors are increasingly challenged to help students access and sort through an influx of information in order to successfully complete the steps to college entry.\r\n \r\nHigh school counselors Karina Hirschfield from Science Leadership Academy and Tatiana Olmedo from Central High School recognize the value of engaging peer leaders in the college application process. Peers have a significant influence in decisions, behaviors and attitudes in youth. In the college process, peers can positively impact student outcomes. Ms. Hirschfield and Ms. Olmedo will share how they promote student leadership, foster a college-going culture, and widen college access opportunities for all students through their College Access Leaders (CAL) program.\r\n \r\nCAL students will also share their leadership experience and highlight the benefits and challenges they have come across while helping their peers navigate the college process. Lastly, intern, Olivia Antosiewicz, from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education will share her direct work in training the CAL students.","Presenter":["Karina Hirschfield"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Science Leadership Academy"],"PresenterEmail":["khirschfield@scienceleadership.org"],"ScheduleSlotID":43,"ScheduleLocationID":11,"SubmitterID":88,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":463,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1414885705,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Fostering Creativity and Innovation Across a K-12 Continuum","Handle":"fostering_creativity_and_innovation_across_a_k-12_continuum","ShortDescription":"Many schools have creative pockets, a class here or there where some truly innovative things happen. But what does this look like school-wide? In this conversation, we'll examine what happens when student-centered problem solving, injury, and creativity are at the heart of every grade from preK to 12.","Description":"If folks like Sir Ken Robinson are right that education goes downhill after Kindergarten, how do we make sure that our schools are places where our students never lose sight of the power of asking why, of taking risks, and thinking up crazy ideas? And for K-12 schools, how do we make sure that innovative practice runs throughout the divisions that might serve to separate methods teaching and learning instead of providing a true continuum in which every year builds on what came before it?\r\n\r\nIn this conversation, participants will hear how one school uses its preschool-12 continuum to weave inquiry, creativity, and innovation throughout four divisions with students aged 3 through 18. If possible, participants will also hear from students of various age groups discuss what learning looks like on a day-to-day basis. Finally, participants will talk through practices at their own schools and create best practice that helps students of all ages learn in ways that challenge and engage them while building a school culture that makes inquiry and creativity a self-sustaining guiding principle.","Link":["http:\/\/anotherthinkcoming.org"],"Audience":["High School","Middle School","Elementary School","All School Levels"],"Practice":"We will model some visible thinking exercises where participants actively discuss their thinking, and, if possible, we will use a Google Hangout to bring students into the conversation. Best practice examples will be documented on a wiki that will be shared with the Educon community.","Presenter":["Basil Kolani"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Dwight School"],"PresenterEmail":["basilkolani@gmail.com"],"ScheduleSlotID":43,"ScheduleLocationID":5,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":476,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1414944859,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Get things moving: Theory into action steps","Handle":"get_things_moving--theory_into_action_steps","ShortDescription":"Death by committee! Sound familiar? Discussions on 'change' can go on in schools cyclically often with little or no movement. Creating dynamic shifts at little or no cost is possible. Explore best practices from innovators worldwide and with peers for advisory, school schedule, professional development, capstone \/ internship opportunities, project choice \/ interdisciplinary projects, and even school lunch!","Description":"Schools are often cultures of 'add.' Initiatives pile on, one after another until people reach the breaking point and the core mission and values begin to drift. 'Time in schools' can be reclaimed to unlock innovation and even, yes, promote civility! I've traveled 54 schools in seven countries, and conducted over 500 interviews exploring innovation in education. What are the trade secrets at these places? What small shifts have they made to unlock innovation and creativity? It's easier than you might think, and changes often comes at little or no cost. We'll explore potential shifts in school schedule, advisory, professional development, capstone \/ internship opportunities, project choice \/ interdisciplinary projects, and even food with peers and view innovative approaches from around the globe. Come with questions and frustrations, leave with potential solutions, contacts, and mentors who've traveled these paths.","Link":["http:\/\/creativestir.blogspot.com\/2015\/01\/getting-things-moving-educon-2015_23.html"],"Audience":["High School","Middle School","Elementary School"],"Practice":"A short presentation to start, followed by a discussion rounds on our topics: Advisory, school schedule, PD, capstone \/ internships, project choice \/ interdisciplinary projects, and school lunch. Participants will work on a paper and shared docs. ID topic and problem, explore frustrations (less bitching, more action), see and discuss best practice challenges, and pursue solutions together can bring back to their schools. Leave with best practices, peer contacts, and mentor contacts to get things moving at your school.","Presenter":["Adam Provost"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Burlington School District and Partnership for Change in Burlington","VT"],"PresenterEmail":["adamProvost44@gmail.com"],"ScheduleSlotID":43,"ScheduleLocationID":16,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":"I'd only need a projector to get things started for a few minutes.","LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":483,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1415122923,"CreatorID":1749,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Getting Traction: Where can we make the most difference and how?","Handle":"getting_traction--where_can_we_make_the_most_difference_and_how","ShortDescription":"This session is about regaining some of the momentum that we had at the beginning of the year and an attempt to bring our teaching lives under control in an effort to be more productive.","Description":"Each school year we begin with high hopes and plans to make our job and our lives easier or better. By the end of January, however, teachers are maxed out in what they can do because there are too many things pulling us in various directions. So much so that it can feel at times as if nothing is getting done and we are simply treading water. This conversation is an attempt to gain some traction in our teaching lives by reflecting upon the question of where can we make the most difference and how.","Link":[],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"This is a workshop where educators will work with colleagues to take at least one dormant idea that they had coming into the year and resurrect it for the spring. This process will utilize small groups as the basis of the session.","Presenter":["Matthew C. Baird"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Science Leadership Academy"],"PresenterEmail":["mbaird@scienceleadership.org"],"ScheduleSlotID":43,"ScheduleLocationID":12,"SubmitterID":1749,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":458,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1414872285,"CreatorID":2243,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Mentoring Passion","Handle":"mentoring_passion","ShortDescription":"Building mentorship relationships into passion-driven inquiry projects empowers learners of all grades and levels. Learn how an elementary librarian and a high school English teacher connected their student learners, establishing mentors for the inquiry process.","Description":"Passion inspires, it connects, and it empowers learners. This session will focus on how building choice, connections, and mentors into inquiry-based writing assignments can foster student reflection and ownership of learning. As elementary students engaged in passion-based inquiry projects, they connected with high school students completing a similar research project, forging a mentorship connection. Students collaborated to share their research and reflections. In addition to the upper level students mentoring their younger partners, the high school students sought mentor relationships with experts in their field of inquiry, passing that knowledge on to their elementary partners. Students learned with and from one another. Mentors matter.\r\n\r\nParticipants in this session will have an opportunity to see how collaborative 2.0 tools helped both elementary and high school students share their research with real audiences beyond the walls of their classroom. Building in opportunities for students to discover their own mentors and models for writing, connect with experts outside of the classroom, and make choices on how to best share their discoveries empowers students to engage in their written work with a more critical and reflective focus. When students have both purpose and audience for their writing endeavors, magic happens!","Link":["http:\/\/bit.ly\/MentoringPassion","http:\/\/about.me\/jenniferward","http:\/\/christinabrennan.wordpress.com\/"],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"Educators will meet in small groups to reflect on how mentorship connections can be built into existing inquiry-based and\/or research projects. Small groups will collaborate to design lesson materials and research possible connections and partners. As groups craft their lesson materials, session participants will work with students and teachers who have previously participated in building mentorship opportunities into student inquiry projects. The session will feature its own mentorship opportunities! Session participants will share their materials via digital tools which will allow for participants to return to session materials well beyond EduCon.","Presenter":["Jennifer Ward","Christina Brennan"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Haverford Township School District"],"PresenterEmail":["ms.jen.ward@gmail.com","christina.m.brennan@gmail.com"],"ScheduleSlotID":43,"ScheduleLocationID":3,"SubmitterID":2243,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":464,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1414891971,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"NYC Expanded Success Initiative -Design Thinking in Service of Students","Handle":"nyc_expanded_success_initiative_-design_thinking_in_service_of_students","ShortDescription":"The NYC Expanded Success Initiative Fellows utilized design thinking to construct a school model to address the disparities facing Black and Latino young men. In this conversation, participants will engage in co-creation as we explore some of the challenges faced in the design phase and execution of the school model.","Description":"The Expanded Success Initiative (ESI) uses new ideas and creative solutions to tackle the educational achievement gap and increase the number of Black and Latino young men who graduate high school prepared to succeed in college and careers. As part of that comprehensive effort, ESI works and conducts research in 40 public high schools that have shown promise in reversing this trend; develop and launch new high schools specifically designed to fully prepare Black and Latino young men for success in college and careers; and scale-up college advising training city-wide with the goal of reach all high schools over the next two years.\r\n\r\nAs part of the new school design work, the ESI Fellows, a cross-functional team of professionals with experience from a range of fields, were intentionally pulled together with the belief that the challenge of increasing college and career readiness for Black and Latino youth required a wide range of strategies and solutions from a diverse array of fields and disciplines.The Fellows utilized a design thinking process as they collaborated with a cadre of Student Fellows to construct a school model destined to address the disparities facing our children. This model is now represented in three new high schools in Brooklyn and Queens. \r\n\r\nIn this conversation, participants will engage in design thinking work as we explore some of the challenges faced in the creation phase and the execution of the school model.","Link":["http:\/\/epicschoolsnyc.org","http:\/\/schools.nyc.gov\/Offices\/ESI\/"],"Audience":["High School"],"Practice":"Participants will utilize a design thinking process to explore some of the real challenges faced by school designers and leaders who recently opened three innovative schools in NYC. This interactive work will be paired with the telling of the story of the Expanded Success Initiative and its mission. Participants will engage in brainstorming, a How Might We protocol, and prototyping and revision work around challenges related to student-centered school design. A debriefing session will allow for discussion tailored to the needs of the participants.","Presenter":["John Duval","Darius Mensah","Brandon Corley","John Clemente"],"PresenterAffiliation":["NYC Expanded Success Initiative"],"PresenterEmail":["dariusmensah@epicschoolsnyc.org"],"ScheduleSlotID":43,"ScheduleLocationID":8,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":413,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1412687609,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Rethinking the Purpose, Process and Promise of Professional Learning","Handle":"rethinking_the_purpose-process_and_promise_of_professional_learning","ShortDescription":"Do we really need \"PD\" anymore? In a world where content and connections are limitless, why do we need to put restraints on professional learning? What if the only PD course a school ever offered was: How to Learn Something When You Need to Learn Something? In this conversation, challenge yourself to begin rethinking what professional learning means, how organizations can support more diverse and contemporary models of learning, and how schools can build a culture of sustainable professional learning.","Description":"Professional development in schools is intended to support the growth and improvement of learning organizations. There are traditional practices associated with \"PD\" such as inservice days, invited speakers, and school-based workshops that are defined and scheduled for educators. Too often these events are less than effective, and the entire practice of professional development is often seen by educators as ineffective and something done to them. The result of such practice is a well-defined cultural mindset in education that learning opportunities for teachers are created for them, that teachers need \"training\" provided for them, and that educators are not necessary in control of their own learning. This mindset exists at a time when learning opportunities are limitless, and that anyone can learn almost anything and at a time and place of their choosing. We seek to challenge educators to rethink the language and boundaries associated with professional development, and initiate a reflective process that encourages participants to start to shift their mindset towards a new vision for adult learning in schools.","Link":["http:\/\/goo.gl\/6F7HGh"],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"The center of this conversation focuses on challenging participants to rethink their perceptions of how schools, as learning institutions, support adult learning. The conversation will present five provocations for consideration and discussion. Participants will be challenged to balance their current beliefs about professional development against new models of adult learning that utilize contemporary learning opportunities as a basis for organizational growth and development.","Presenter":["Kristen Swanson and David Jakes"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Senior Director of the Research Institute at BrightBytes (Swanson) and Digital Designer and Strategist for The Third Teacher+ and CannonDesign (Jakes)"],"PresenterEmail":["djakes@cannondesign.com"],"ScheduleSlotID":43,"ScheduleLocationID":13,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":"Please do not schedule late on Sunday. Thanks.","LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":490,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1415128679,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Supporting Students with Special Needs in a Project-Based Curriculum","Handle":"supporting_students_with_special_needs_in_a_project-based_curriculum","ShortDescription":"In this conversation we will discuss the importance of school wide systems and structures needed to support students with special needs in a fully inclusive, project based curriculum.","Description":"How do we support students with special needs in a project-based curriculum?","Link":["https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1nk1RthN9CcoxQ2hacX1LixbsQYdwbfhJAdHW3ROKXVo\/edit?usp=sharing"],"Audience":["High School"],"Practice":"Sharing Best Practices","Presenter":["Beth Menasion","Michael Ames"],"PresenterAffiliation":["SLA"],"PresenterEmail":["bmenasion@scienceleadership.org","mames@scienceleadership.org"],"ScheduleSlotID":43,"ScheduleLocationID":14,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":420,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1413177870,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"The F-Word: Why Our Kids Need Feminism, and How You Can Teach It","Handle":"the_f-word--why_our_kids_need_feminism-and_how_you_can_teach_it","ShortDescription":"Our kids are touched by gender stereotypes every day. What are the explicit and implicit ways we communicate our own bias to our students? How can we instead work to end this cycle of oppression, which our students learn to perpetuate themselves? What's the place for feminism in our classrooms?","Description":"Three years ago, I wouldn't have felt comfortable facilitating a conversation about feminism. But prompted by my students in 2012, I launched a high school course that examines the experience of women in the United States and around the world across four themes - gender violence, trafficking and prostitution, women's health and education. In the process of leading that class, I learned that in not offering more courses like this across K-12, we are missing a critical opportunity to talk to our kids about gender discrimination and privilege.\r\n\r\nThese issues manifest for them in so many ways: our girls are called \"bossy\" when they demonstrate leadership, we say \"boys will be boys\" to excuse violence, our girls are tracked out of STEM fields by high school, and our boys learn that masculinity requires physical aggression. Gender inequality is also connected to homophobia, racism, unhealthy relationships, bullying and eating disorders, just to start.\r\n\r\nIt's critical that educators are able to discuss these issues with their students in explicit (via classroom instruction) and implicit ways (like using gender-neutral language; and calling out homophobia in ways that validates instead of shames the LGBTQ community).\r\n\r\nIt can be hard to know where to begin - so let's start here.","Link":["http:\/\/roomfourzerotwo.com\/global-feminism\/"],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"In this conversation, educators will participate in a whole-group activity using Peggy McIntosh's \"Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack\" and will then join small reading groups based on an article of their choice. The articles will come from the readings I assign to my own students to help them establish their personal understanding of what feminism means to them. With the remaining 30-45 minutes, we will consider what this means for our classrooms via whole-group and small-group brainstorming. All ideas will be documented, and participants will leave with a substantial list of specific readings and resources that they can bring back to their classrooms.","Presenter":["Christina Jenkins"],"PresenterAffiliation":["REALM Charter School"],"PresenterEmail":["jenkins.christina@gmail.com"],"ScheduleSlotID":43,"ScheduleLocationID":15,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":"Thank you!","LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":453,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1414788841,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Those who CAN do\u2026Teach! Educators on Leading Change","Handle":"those_who_can_do-teach-educators_on_leading_change","ShortDescription":"This conversation is an opportunity to hear from those who have been supporting and providing the conditions for teachers to act as changemakers as well as \u2018changemaker makers\u2019. We will discuss the conditions necessary for helping teachers see themselves as leaders of change in both their classrooms and school communities.","Description":"The world is changing faster than ever. Our success\u2014as individuals, institutions, and a society\u2014increasingly depends on our ability to be changemakers, equipped with the skills and mindset to see through problems to solutions. Ashoka is selecting and partnering with schools that are ready and able to help lead a transformation in education such that children grow up prepared to thrive in a world of accelerating change. Ashoka is collaborating with these leading schools to enhance and amplify their models and collectively identify and address the challenges to making such an education a reality for all children. By connecting Changemaker Schools with each other and the broader education network at EduCon, we will highlight their efforts and distill and broadcast their core strategies so to accelerate these schools\u2019 leadership in transforming education. During this session, educators (principals and teachers, or \u201cchange leaders\u201d) from the Ashoka U.S. Changemaker Schools Network will share their experiences in supporting teachers to create and sustain positive change. We will demonstrate concrete methods to effectively engage youth as changemakers and active participants on social justice issues and in their local communities. We will also help participants understand the framework change necessary to shift our education system to better prepare students for challenges in a world that increasingly demands leadership, empathy, teamwork and changemaking skills. Participants will learn why empathy is a critical and foundational skill for students across and beyond the curriculum and why having teachers who can model and embody it is absolutely crucial.","Link":["http:\/\/www.startempathy.org"],"Audience":["Elementary School","All School Levels"],"Practice":"Rotating fishbowl\u2014\r\n1. Ashoka participants set up the chairs in a circle, so everyone sits in a large circle, presenters included.\r\n2. After someone intro's Ashoka and explains the network, the presenters sit in a small circle of chairs in the middle of the large circle and respond to questions, similar to a fishbowl. Each presenter first talks a bit about his\/her role\/experience\/perspective.\r\n3. The Ashoka facilitator throws out a few questions that the presenters respond to in order to begin the conversation.\r\n4. When a participant\/observer has a question\/contribution, s\/he comes up and taps a presenter on the shoulder to take his\/her place and switches seats with them, then asking his\/her question. This process goes on for the entire session.\r\n5. Many participants rotate through the inner circle with their questions and this keeps the flow of the conversation steady.","Presenter":["Daniel Baron","Donnan Stoicovy","Renee Owen","Jenn Moore"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Ashoka U.S. Changemaker Schools Network: The Project School","Park Forest Elementary School","Academy for Global Citizenship","Rainbow Community School"],"PresenterEmail":["jkatona@ashoka.org"],"ScheduleSlotID":43,"ScheduleLocationID":7,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":"Thank you for the opportunity to apply! We hope to see you in January!\r\n\r\nJoey Katona\r\nAshoka U.S.\r\n(on behalf of Daniel, Donnan, Renee, and Jenn)","LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":492,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1415248849,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Advisory at SLA","Handle":"advisory_at_sla","ShortDescription":"This presentation is dedicated entirely to advisory at SLA. We felt that focussing on this area gives a good depiction as to what makes Science Leadership Academy what it is, what makes it so different compared to other high schools around the country, and SLA\u2019s impact on education.","Description":"Advisory at any other high school is not looked at as something that would define the school or have an impact on it\u2019s atmosphere. It is usually only looked at as a short period in between classes in which students receive things such as memos and announcements, but at SLA advisory is a major factor in what makes our school so special. Advisory at Science Leadership Academy is your home away from home. Your advisors are thought of as your school parents and as you are assigned one freshmen year, you then have the one person you will now rely on for everything. Your advisees become so much more than just your friends, they become almost like your brothers and sisters and relying on them academically, physically, and emotionally just becomes second nature. Advisories at SLA become your life saver and sometimes just being in the atmosphere of the class or spending time with your advisor or advisees can be the only thing that helps you pull through a stressful school week. The energy of the class and the relationships formed are what make this class so much more than just \u201chomeroom\u201d. Focussing on advisory at our school only seemed right considering it is one of the major things that helps shape us all as students throughout our four years of high school and prepares us not only for college, but for the rest of our lives.","Link":["https:\/\/docs.google.com\/a\/scienceleadership.org\/presentation\/d\/1HdIUMbPBNjJPYFAEssylL8GipD3wlNVQ8e-PgaDJtqw\/edit#slide=id.g49af84d3b_033"],"Audience":["High School"],"Practice":"The \"What? So What? Now What?\" approach will help get the conversation going in terms of what advisory is in their schools. After we know what advisory at SLA is using our \"best practices\" and recaps, what can we do about it. It will lead a conversation on how they can change their advisories for the better, not just watch our presentation on our way.","Presenter":["Kristina Scalia-Jackson","Allison Kelly","Bella Beato"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Students at Science Leadership Academy"],"PresenterEmail":["kscalia-jackson@scienceleadership.org","akelly@scienceleadership.org","ibeato@scienceleadership.org"],"ScheduleSlotID":45,"ScheduleLocationID":14,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":480,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1415122367,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"An Insider View of Inquiry and Project-Based Learning","Handle":"an_insider_view_of_inquiry_and_project-based_learning-3","ShortDescription":"SLA students and teachers will lead an interactive workshop on inquiry and project based learning. Examples from SLA will be used to spark larger discussions about pedagogical strategies and challenges.","Description":"SLA students and teachers will lead an interactive workshop on inquiry and project based learning. Examples from SLA will be used to spark larger discussions about pedagogical strategies and challenges.","Link":["http:\/\/mrjblock.com\/"],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"Discussion","Presenter":["Tim Best","Joshua Block"],"PresenterAffiliation":["SLA"],"PresenterEmail":["tbest@scienceleadership.org","jblock@scienceleadership.org"],"ScheduleSlotID":45,"ScheduleLocationID":9,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":"Can we be on Saturday, please!","LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":469,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1414898457,"CreatorID":3801,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Beyond the Hype: Designing Environments That Best Support Student Learning","Handle":"beyond_the_hype--designing_environments_that_best_support_student_learning","ShortDescription":"Learning environments are not shaped by wheels on tables, 1:1 programs, or 3D printers (although they help), they are defined by the learning experiences you design. We will explore how to create environments that empower students to own their own learning.","Description":"For all the tech gizmos you can buy and tables you can put on wheels, learning environments, and in turn the experiences they create, are only as powerful as the culture and curricula that determine how you use them.\r\n\r\nThis conversation will offer attendees the opportunity to identify what is beneath the hype and glitz of educational technology and classroom makeovers. Combining theory and practice, attendees will be exposed to and build upon strategies that will ensure they are able to take advantage of available spatial and technological opportunities while utilizing those resources to best support students owning their own learning*. \r\n\r\n*As defined by the likes of Dylan Wiliam, John Hattie, and TONS of other great minds.","Link":["http:\/\/notosh.com","http:\/\/davidsbill.com"],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"Through a series of provocations and activities, attendees will explore each layer of a learning experience and how digital and physical environments can ensure that those experiences best support students so they can define, explore, and build solutions to the problems they seek to answer. \r\n\r\nAttendees will walk away from the session with a series of ideas or considerations that will help them shape their learning environments to best support their students' learning explorations.","Presenter":["David Bill"],"PresenterAffiliation":["NoTosh"],"PresenterEmail":["david@notosh.com"],"ScheduleSlotID":45,"ScheduleLocationID":3,"SubmitterID":3801,"AdditionalComments":"Hi, y'all! Hope you're doing well. Hopefully I'll see ya in Philly! \r\n\r\nThanks for all your hard work in making Educon THE edu conference. \r\n\r\ndb","LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":506,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1420820386,"CreatorID":88,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Breaking the Grit Hammer: A Conversation about Paths to Abundance","Handle":"breaking_the_grit_hammer--a_conversation_about_paths_to_abundance","ShortDescription":"\"I absolutely believe that \"the grit narrative\" damages our children because it lets society and the powerful off the hook. \"Why change anything?\" they'll ask, \"the kids just need grit.\" \"Grit\" is one more excuse, its one more hammer to beat children with.\" \r\n\r\nJoin us for a provocative conversation about an alternate to Angela Duckworth's narrative of grit, scarcity, and privilege. We'll share a few stories, ask a few questions, and circle up to share pathways that support children as makers of their own learning, voices of influence, powerful purveyers of personal agency by design.","Description":"\"I absolutely believe that \"the grit narrative\" damages our children because it lets society and the powerful off the hook. \"Why change anything?\" they'll ask, \"the kids just need grit.\" \"Grit\" is one more excuse, its one more hammer to beat children with.\" \r\n\r\nJoin us for a provocative conversation about an alternate to Angela Duckworth's narrative of grit, scarcity, and privilege. We'll share a few stories, ask a few questions, and circle up to share pathways that support children as makers of their own learning, voices of influence, powerful purveyers of personal agency by design.","Link":[],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"\"I absolutely believe that \"the grit narrative\" damages our children because it lets society and the powerful off the hook. \"Why change anything?\" they'll ask, \"the kids just need grit.\" \"Grit\" is one more excuse, its one more hammer to beat children with.\" \r\n\r\nJoin us for a provocative conversation about an alternate to Angela Duckworth's narrative of grit, scarcity, and privilege. We'll share a few stories, ask a few questions, and circle up to share pathways that support children as makers of their own learning, voices of influence, powerful purveyers of personal agency by design.","Presenter":["Pam Moran and Ira Socol"],"PresenterAffiliation":[],"PresenterEmail":["irasocol@gmail.com"],"ScheduleSlotID":45,"ScheduleLocationID":15,"SubmitterID":88,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":409,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1411420763,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Can we and should we assess character?","Handle":"can_we_and_should_we_assess_character","ShortDescription":"Grit. Curiosity. Integrity. Empathy. Our national (and global) educational conversation is increasingly about the importance of these skills. Can we and should we assess them in our schools? Let's discuss. Among other things, we'll look at the Mission Skills Assessment, which measures Teamwork, Creativity, Ethics, Resiliency, Curiosity, and Time Management.","Description":"The Mission Skills Assessment is currently used in 100 schools globally, and is open\/available to all types of schools (for grades 6-8). It measures student proficiencies and growth in Teamwork, Creativity, Ethics, Resiliency, Curiosity, and Time Management. \r\n\r\nA recent 2013 report by the RAND Corp for the Asia Society deemed it the singularly best tool available for \"measuring 21st century competencies.\" I recently researched and wrote a 64 page user's guide and toolkit for MSA schools, and found lots of great examples of how schools are using this character assessment-- and I heard concerns, as well. \r\n\r\nIn this session we'll look at sample questions and items, discuss the methodology, discuss the applications, and debate the value of doing this kind of character assessment. Attendees will learn more about this particular tool and about the broader work of assessing character and 21st c. skills.","Link":["http:\/\/www.21k12blog.net"],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"Working groups studying assessment items. \r\nSmall group discussion of a case study. \r\nFull group discussion and debate","Presenter":["Jonathan Martin"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Independent Writer and Consultant"],"PresenterEmail":["jonathanemartin@gmail.com"],"ScheduleSlotID":45,"ScheduleLocationID":2,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":405,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1411269522,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Code this!","Handle":"code_this","ShortDescription":"This is an inquiry-based, collaborative, and interdisciplinary design challenge allowing students in math and history to do research, analyze data, and present their information using coding and other formats such as infographics.","Description":"What\u2019s the big talk about coding? Can coding be used in humanities classes? This workshop will engage participants in a discussion on coding and interdisciplinary projects. We will look at interdisciplinary projects done between history, math, and science classes. Participants will work on similar projects in groups, using coding to visualize their research. Participants will also discuss and share suggestions about our projects and brainstorm ideas to implement in their daily teaching.","Link":[],"Audience":["High School","Middle School","Elementary School","All School Levels"],"Practice":"We plan on sharing project ideas and the different processes, and we will have participants code data and take useful tips to implement brainstorming and coding tools in their classrooms. Participants will realize how coding can be a useful tool to present data and allow for interdisciplinary work.","Presenter":["Kader Adjout","Joe Christy"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Beaver Country Day School"],"PresenterEmail":["kadjout@bcdschool.org","jchristy@bcdschool.org"],"ScheduleSlotID":45,"ScheduleLocationID":7,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":"We are looking forward to presenting our projects and collaborating with the participants.\r\nThank you.","LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":421,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1413300063,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Critical Thinking by Design: How Teachers are Creating Contexts to Enhance Student Thinking","Handle":"critical_thinking_by_design--how_teachers_are_creating_contexts_to_enhance_student_thinking","ShortDescription":"The conversation aims to highlight how the physical space of a school\/classroom, innovative pedagogy, as well as emerging technologies can be combined to offer a more authentic learning experience for students, and lead to a deeper understanding and development of 21st century skills.","Description":"Participants will be invited to discuss different physical configurations of classroom models as well as inquiry based learning approaches along with a variety of technological tools. We will aim to highlight the strengths and short comings of problem based learning in a digital age. The discussion will aim to address topics such as: how to build a strong critical thinking question, how to support inquiry in the classroom, as well as how to include technology in an inquiry based approach. \r\nTo build a strong critical question, teachers must first teach students to learn how to differentiate between an opinion and a judgement. Participants will be invited to look critically at their craft and analyze the efficiency of their own questions. Asking the right questions often isn\u2019t enough. Participants will also be invited to discuss effective questions sequences, as well as how teachers can create an environment that encourages risk taking and builds a community of thinkers in their classrooms. Finally, we will guide participants through a discussion around the integration of web 2.0 tools, in order to show how cloud based technology can not only enhance the learning experience, but rather transform it.\r\nThis collaborative discussion around critical thinking will be a model for the modern day classroom. Habits of mind as well as the inquiry based approach will make up the bulk of the deliberation. In short, participants will be invited to debate and discuss what it means to transform the learning experience for all of our students.","Link":["http:\/\/www.teacherasstranger.blogspot.ca\/"],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"The use of collaborative documents will help participants share perspectives and leave traces of the learning that takes place. These online documents will be made readily available for all participants as reference materials after the conference.","Presenter":["Jean-Marc Dupont","Pierre Ouellet"],"PresenterAffiliation":["CECCE"],"PresenterEmail":["duponje@ecolecatholique.ca","ouellpi@ecolecatholique.ca"],"ScheduleSlotID":45,"ScheduleLocationID":4,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":"We attented The Science Leadership Academy last year for the first time and were blown away by the school's culture and environment. We want to be a part of this again, and give back to the collective intellegence that is Educon.","LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":451,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1414776851,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Doodling the C\u2019s: Creativity, Comprehension, Communication & Connections","Handle":"doodling_the_c-s--creativity-comprehension-communication-connections","ShortDescription":"How might notetaking become more active, personal, brain-compatible and shareable? How might we incorporate symbols and doodles to improve listening, better express ideas, summarize\/synthesize learning and make connections? Join a conversation and practice session to explore how we might grow ourselves and our learners through doodling and visual thinking.","Description":"How might notetaking become more active, personal, brain-compatible and shareable? How might we incorporate symbols and doodles to improve listening, better express ideas, summarize\/synthesize learning and make connections? Join a conversation and practice session to explore how we might grow ourselves and our learners through doodling and visual thinking.\r\n\r\nThis is a \u201cdo and dialogue\u201d session. Together, we will experiment and prototype graphical, non-linear, low-res notes to listen deeply, capture big ideas, make creative connections, and strengthen comprehension and retention of important moments, learnings, and lessons. \r\n\r\nWe will begin with a quick convo about the \u201cwhy and what\u201d of sketchnoting, share a bit about its impact at our schools, and on our own thinking and learning, then practice and learn together. We will doodle to a TED talk, doodle while we read, bravely share our work, and discuss how doodling can change peer-to-peer observations and feedback.","Link":["http:\/\/findingthesignal.com","http:\/\/jplgough.wordpress.com"],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"This is a \u201cdo and dialogue\u201d session. We will use the Visible Thinking Routine: Connect, Extend, Challenge as a reflection and discussion tool after each round of doodling. We intend for the conversation to take on a public presence as we tweet our doodles using #ShowYourWork. This is a learn, create, and share session. Be brave. Share your ideas with others to amplify opportunities for feedback and celebration.","Presenter":["Shelley Paul","Jill Gough"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Woodward Academy","Trinity School"],"PresenterEmail":["shelley.paul@gmail.com","jplgough@woodward.edu"],"ScheduleSlotID":45,"ScheduleLocationID":12,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":"We would love to present on Saturday if the schedule permits. \r\n\r\nWe look forward to another year of great conversations!","LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":449,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1414775092,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Gamification - A scaffold for instructional design and mastery learning","Handle":"gamification_-_a_scaffold_for_instructional_design_and_mastery_learning","ShortDescription":"Gamification applies elements of game design, specifically video games, as a model for instructional scaffolding. This conversation will explore how gamification can be leveraged to create an instructional cycle that supports challenge-based inquiry, differentiation, and cooperative interdependence, as learners \"play\" through quests to unlock \"powers\" for greater learner autonomy.","Description":"In this conversation we will explore a successful classroom gamification framework, and consider ways it could be scaled to be systemic across a school, as well as leveraged for teacher PD.\r\nLike compelling video games, a gamified classroom engages learners with achievable, incremental challenges, designed to build skills and knowledge necessary for meeting more sophisticated challenges as learners move from one level to the next. A \u201cGamified\u201d class uses a mastery system and so failure is encouraged. Failure (making mistakes) is valued as a legitimate technique for practice and feedback provides learners with cues, hints, and partial solutions to keep them progressing and motivated, as well as acknowledgement of incremental goal progress. If students fail a quiz, lab, or assignment challenge, they may repeat it until they have mastered the skill. This in turn creates a system that is leveled, allowing for differentiation and students to progress at a personal pace. Google Apps and your learning management system can be leveraged to build a gamified scaffolding that support an inquiry learning cycle, differentiation, learner independence, and collaboration.","Link":["http:\/\/prezi.com\/hzqbzhjmcuyl\/gamification\/"],"Audience":["High School","Middle School"],"Practice":"Participants will experience gamified strategies as they explore the topic and model, generating questions and solutions to the challenge of bringing ramification to scale","Presenter":["Philip Vinogradov"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Upper Dublin School District"],"PresenterEmail":["pvino1@mac.com"],"ScheduleSlotID":45,"ScheduleLocationID":8,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":"This presentation was well received last year and resulted in substantial refinement of the model through the conversation.","LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":486,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1415123788,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Learning To Lead In An Inquiry Driven School","Handle":"learning_to_lead_in_an_inquiry_driven_school","ShortDescription":"Based on my experiences as a principal intern at SLA I will facilitate a discussion around leadership practices that support student and teacher agency. We will discuss unlearning elements of \u201ctraditional\u201d models and aligning leadership choices to core beliefs about the humanity of all members of the school community.","Description":"Conversation will center around what it means to be an educational leader who supports and encourages inquiry. The effect of counter-intuitive, compliance based practices upon core beliefs and how even folks with genuine good intentions are shaped by poor leadership practices (at multiple levels) will be a point of discussion. Participants will be encouraged to share their experiences with friction between established practices and core beliefs and I will describe my own experience and adjustments moving from more \"traditional\" educational models into the context of SLA. Central to the conversation will be the concept of leadership as a creative activity and how this creativity is made manifest: creating effective systems, re-imaging and re-constructing general initiatives into value-adds, problem solving, thought-partnering, and re-imaging the physical spaces of school. We will explore the concept of creativity as the activity that most honors person-hood while at the same time requiring the highest level of cognitive work.","Link":[],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"Shared journals that lead to discussion and ultimately visual representation of a collective concept of inquiry driven leadership.","Presenter":["Aaron Gerwer"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Science Leadership Academy","PhillyPLUS"],"PresenterEmail":["agerwer@scienceleadership.org"],"ScheduleSlotID":45,"ScheduleLocationID":16,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":501,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1420580959,"CreatorID":88,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Partners in the Making: Building a Collaborative Makerspace at SLA Beeber","Handle":"partners_in_the_making--building_a_collaborative_makerspace_at_sla_beeber-3","ShortDescription":"Staff and students at SLA Beeber along with staff from the Public\r\nWorkshop will share their vision and experiences with community\r\npartnerships & building a makerspace with kids and facilitate a\r\ndiscussion around creative and collaborative spaces in schools and\r\nengaging students in the process.","Description":"Staff and students at SLA Beeber along with staff from the Public\r\nWorkshop will share their vision and experiences with community\r\npartnerships & building a makerspace with kids and facilitate a\r\ndiscussion around creative and collaborative spaces in schools and\r\nengaging students in the process.","Link":[],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"Staff and students at SLA Beeber along with staff from the Public\r\nWorkshop will share their vision and experiences with community\r\npartnerships & building a makerspace with kids and facilitate a\r\ndiscussion around creative and collaborative spaces in schools and\r\nengaging students in the process.","Presenter":["Christopher Pilla","Alex Gilliam","Adrienne Williams","Mary Beth Hertz"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Science Leadership Academy @ Beeber"],"PresenterEmail":["mhertz@slabeeber.org"],"ScheduleSlotID":45,"ScheduleLocationID":11,"SubmitterID":88,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":440,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1414685923,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Reinventing your PLN","Handle":"reinventing_your_pln","ShortDescription":"As a result of our learning together, participants will leave with clear strategies for utilizing social media for personal learning network development. We will take a critical look at popular social media services to determine effective ways to engage with other educators and sustain meaningful conversations focused on learning.","Description":"Participants will be introduced to the philosophy behind what a personal learning network (PLN) is, deconstruct it, and through collective input, work to rebuild it. The conversation will be centered around looking inward at one\u2019s personal learning network, identifying struggles with it, remixing its structure, and leveraging its capacity for future engaged learning.","Link":["http:\/\/tinyurl.com\/educonpln"],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"Participants will be encouraged to evaluate the current structure of their PLNs and think critically about how the network is serving their needs in terms of learning and development. Using a protocol such as the Focus\/Framing Question Exercise, we will ask participants to identify a critical area of need\/dilemma where their current PLN is not highly effective in terms of personal connections or resource acquisition\/sharing. Concerns will be voiced, and participants will be grouped by category of need (example: Twitter is overwhelming for me, I don\u2019t know how to effectively use Google+ communities, I have problems connecting with educators in my local spaces). Teams will then discuss concerns, note commonalities, and generate solutions for the dilemmas addressed. A collaborative document will be used to record team notes and solutions to share with session participants and beyond.","Presenter":["Andy Marcinek","Lyn Hilt"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Grafton Public Schools","Edutopia contributor","Corwin published author; Eastern Lancaster County SD","Powerful Learning Practice","Educational Collaborators"],"PresenterEmail":["andymarcinek@gmail.com","lynhilt@gmail.com"],"ScheduleSlotID":45,"ScheduleLocationID":13,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":"http:\/\/andrewmarcinek.com\/\r\nhttp:\/\/lynhilt.com\/","LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":403,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1410488136,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"The Privileged Voices in Education","Handle":"the_privileged_voices_in_education-2","ShortDescription":"Whose voices are heard in education (education reform, education technology) circles? While it might be easy to identify (and lambast) the \"corporate\" voices, are we truly offering and supporting diverse voices in response? Who gets to speak \"for\" students, for teachers, for change? How can we do better?","Description":"The people that are often praised as education leaders, no matter where they might sit on the \"politics of education reform\" spectrum -- the right or the left, from the public or private sector, \"insiders\" or \"outsiders\" -- often share a lot in common: namely, their privilege. Their class privilege. Their gender privilege. Their racial privilege. Their age privilege. Their health privilege. Their credential privilege. \r\n\r\nWe need to stop and ask: whose voices are we hearing? Whose voices are we ignoring? Whose voices are we amplifying? Whose voices are we squelching?\r\n\r\nAudrey Watters and Jose Vilson will open a discussion about who gets recognized, who gets amplified. How does privilege play out in the politics of education? How can we tackle questions of diversity in education?","Link":["http:\/\/www.josevilson.com\/","http:\/\/hackeducation.com"],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"We could start with a question that seems to be popular among ed(tech) bloggers: who are the most prominent voices in education? Let's reflect on who these are? Who's missing? This session will begin as a conversation between Vilson and Watters, but the goal is to open some of our provocations up to the larger audience.","Presenter":["Audrey Watters","Jose Vilson"],"PresenterAffiliation":[],"PresenterEmail":["audrey.watters@gmail.com","jose.l.vilson@gmail.com"],"ScheduleSlotID":45,"ScheduleLocationID":10,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":"We did this last year. We want to do it again. We feel like we need to keep having these conversations about race and gender and education (technology).","LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":414,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1412769306,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Anatomy of the wired history classroom","Handle":"anatomy_of_the_wired_history_classroom","ShortDescription":"Sharing examples and looking at case studies of how technology enhances teaching and learning, this workshop will focus on a history\/social studies approach to teaching with technology, but will present tools that can be used in any classroom environment. Participants will experiment tech tools that have worked well in our daily teaching and have been practical and efficient for students' learning, especially in a project-based learning environment.","Description":"What does it mean to be a wired history classroom? Now into our sixth year of practicing hardwired innovation in a 1:1 environment, we have learned a few things and are excited to share our insights. Our goal is to dissect the wired history classroom experience and lay on display the \u201ctextbook-less\u201d approach to using multiple perspectives, collaborative projects, and assessment. In doing so, we will be highlighting practical tools that allow teachers and students to work in an inquiry-based environment, tips for classroom teachers wherever they may land on the technological spectrum, and concrete examples of how to make technology work for you, for the students, and for the history classroom.","Link":[],"Audience":["High School","Middle School"],"Practice":"We will share ideas and ask participants to look at case studies, using tech tools to have an interactive discussion on teaching and learning with technology.\r\nSome of the tools we will use are Mentimeter and Padlet.","Presenter":["Yolanda Wilcox-Gonzalez","Melissa Alkire","Geeta Jain","Rodney Yeoh","Kader Adjout"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Beaver Country Day School"],"PresenterEmail":["kadjout@bcdschool.org"],"ScheduleSlotID":46,"ScheduleLocationID":5,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":"We look forward to sharing with and learning from participants.","LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":443,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1414714717,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Crafting a Digital Identity","Handle":"crafting_a_digital_identity","ShortDescription":"Everyone has a digital identity, like it or not. Responsibly developing and maintaining that identity are critical skills for educators and students. What role should educators play in developing these skills? What do educators need to do themselves to shape their digital identities and to serve as models for students?","Description":"As events in the news, recent court cases, and laws about the right to be forgotten show, one\u2019s digital identity can have a significant impact on professional and personal lives. This is a critical issue for educators to understand, both for themselves and for their students. This session will explore various questions, including: \r\nWhat does digital identity mean for us as individuals and professionals?\r\nWhat does digital identity mean for the children in our family (be it our daughters\/sons or others close to us)?\r\nWhat does digital identity mean for our students?\r\nIn addition, we will discuss the implications of gender, race, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, geographic location, and equity of access for digital identity. \r\n\r\nThese are issues that are faced, albeit in different ways, by our students from kindergarten through college and beyond. It is essential that we as educators are prepared to help them develop their online identities in ways that are thoughtful, positive, and appropriate. \r\n\r\nWe also need to be able to develop our own digital identities in ways that provide models for our students, foster skills useful in our own teaching, and advocate for the teaching profession in the larger world.","Link":["http:\/\/rafranzdavis.com","http:\/\/beckyfisher73.wordpress.com","http:\/\/mcclurken.org","http:\/\/jenorr.com","http:\/\/assortedstuff.com"],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"We will start by having participants Google themselves (or if they are regular practitioners of the vanity search, then we will have them Google their school, their district, or their best friend).\r\n\r\nWe will then move to our own _brief_ answers to the three questions above.\r\n\r\nThen we will have the audience weigh in as smaller groups (with key ideas brought back to the big group) on each topic in order.\r\n\r\nAfter some conversation about views, concerns, hopes, we will ask the audience to help us construct a Google Doc with strategies and resources","Presenter":["Rafranz David","Becky Fisher","Jeffrey McClurken","Jennifer Orr","Tim Stahmer"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Arlington ISD","Albemarle (VA) Public Schools","University of Mary Washington","Fairfax County Public Schools"],"PresenterEmail":["rafranz11@gmail.com","bfisher@k12albemarle.org","mcclurken@gmail.com","jenorr@gmail.com","tstahmer@gmail.com"],"ScheduleSlotID":46,"ScheduleLocationID":10,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":"Google Doc for sharing resources and strategies -- https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1vzP2Q-BclVlNLVFpTxtfuKeC17Cjt6R8V2b0vpCzlD8\/edit?usp=sharing","LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":471,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1414900475,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Creating A Stronger Home\/School Connection","Handle":"creating_a_stronger_home-school_connection","ShortDescription":"Parents shouldn't have to ask, \"What did you do in school today?\" Students can create products to connect with parents, other students & personalized authentic audiences. We are going to discuss and share resources to help spread the word about the great things that are going on in our classrooms.","Description":"The inspiration for this session came from reading the TeachThought article, \"10 Ways To Ensure Parents Won\u2019t Need To Ask \u2018What Did You Do At School Today?\" http:\/\/www.teachthought.com\/learning\/10-ways-to-ensure-parents-wont-need-to-ask-what-did-you-do-at-school-today\/\r\nThe link to the article will be distributed prior to the session and we will create an updated version of the document with discipline specific and relevant opportunities to strengthen our professional discourse with parents\/students\/authentic audiences. By helping to amplify and deepen daily conversations between parents\/students\/others we strengthen our students voice and advocate for reflection, critical thinking and discourse.","Link":["Http:\/\/4bettereducatio.wordpress.com"],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"We will discuss the distributed article in small groups, decide which examples are still relevant (2012 article) and create an updated list of resources that we use in our classrooms to strengthen the home\/school connection. This document will be distributed to participants, shared over social media & will include contact information for resources and content to allow all participants to strengthen PLN connections and continue the conversation post conference. We will reflect upon the list we create and decide upon at least one new tool that we believe we can implement into our classroom instruction to strengthen the home\/school connection.","Presenter":["Scott Totten"],"PresenterAffiliation":["AOSA - American Orff-Schulwerk Association"],"PresenterEmail":["Scott.totten04@gmail.com"],"ScheduleSlotID":46,"ScheduleLocationID":11,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":"I have attended Educon for the past two years and find a conversation centered focus of professional development enriching and enlightening. I would be honored to have the opportunity to engage our professional community in a discussion of how to strengthen the bond between students, parents and the world community.","LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":462,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1414883242,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Edu-fying Design: Adapting the Designer\u2019s Toolkit for Education","Handle":"edu-fying_design--adapting_the_designer-s_toolkit_for_education","ShortDescription":"How might we \u201cedu-fy\u201d design thinking tools to make them responsive to the educator\u2019s language and context? Join us to explore core approaches in user-centered design and to rebuild them for the educator: creating a responsive toolkit for educators to problem-solve and innovate in their schools!","Description":"There is much talk of \u201cdesign in education\u201d - applying design thinking principles to make change in schools and districts. Borrowing methods from this field can be refreshing\u2026 but not always relevant to educator-innovators. How might we \u201cedu-fy\u201d design tools to make them responsive to the educator\u2019s context? Join us for a hands-on session to explore key design approaches and build new versions that can empower educators to problem-solve and innovate in their schools! Together we\u2019ll go from designing education to edu-fying design\u2026 and leave with new tools for change-making in education.","Link":["http:\/\/tinyurl.com\/design4ed","http:\/\/izonenyc.org\/"],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"Together, we\u2019ll go through a few design exercises. Grounded in these as examples, we\u2019ll work in small groups to produce new resources that can support educators in applying design principles to make change. Participants will leave with a new resource or tool for approaching change through design in an education context.","Presenter":["Cynthia Warner","Alana Laudone"],"PresenterAffiliation":["iZone (NYC Department of Education)"],"PresenterEmail":["cwarner3@schools.nyc.gov","alaudone@schools.nyc.gov"],"ScheduleSlotID":46,"ScheduleLocationID":15,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":"We're excited to propose a conversation at EduCon... and can't wait to tap into the expertise that will be at the conference! We look forward to hearing from you.","LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":412,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1412013646,"CreatorID":1295,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Grades are stupid: Let\u2019s promote and assess the process of learning, not just products.","Handle":"grades_are_stupid--let-s_promote_and_assess_the_process_of_learning-not_just_products.","ShortDescription":"Emerging technologies, current research, and innovative pedagogies have supported the ways that students learn and demonstrate what they understand. Unfortunately, the archaic practices of grades and grading still dominate assessment conversations, even though assessment is much more than a static number or letter. Students now make their thinking visible more easily, and it is up to educators to recognize and harness the value in new approaches to assessment.","Description":"Emerging technologies, current research, and innovative pedagogies have supported the ways that students learn and demonstrate what they understand. Unfortunately, the archaic practices of grades and grading still dominate assessment conversations, even though assessment is much more than a static number or letter. Students now make their thinking visible more easily, and it is up to educators to recognize and harness the value in new approaches to assessment.\r\n\r\nThe purpose of this conversation is to help either reframe or augment thinking about grades and the purpose and meaning of assessment. We will engage some design and feedback activities around goal articulation and formative assessment approaches using multimedia. We will learn and discuss research, tools, and pedagogies that support creative, process-based demonstrations of understanding and the many ways that these processes can be captured for future reflection and growth.","Link":["http:\/\/www.constructivisttoolkit.com","http:\/\/www.explaineverything.com","http:\/\/www.leadingonline.net","http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/reshanrichards"],"Audience":["High School","Middle School","Elementary School","All School Levels"],"Practice":"A nice way to engage this topic is to understand the perspectives of all of the agents involved in learning. So we will be students, who will create artifacts of understanding. We will be teachers who review and provide feedback to students. We will be parents who access these artifacts first without the context provided by students and teachers and then with it. And finally, we will be the leaders of learning who look at the entire collection of artifacts and try to understand what bigger story is told about the curriculum, about the teacher, about the students, and about the school.","Presenter":["Reshan Richards"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Montclair Kimberley Academy","Constructivist Toolkit","Leading Online","Explain Everything"],"PresenterEmail":["reshanrichards@gmail.com"],"ScheduleSlotID":46,"ScheduleLocationID":7,"SubmitterID":1295,"AdditionalComments":"This would be my 3rd straight year of presenting at Educon if accepted. I love everything about this conference - the people , the structure, and the messaging. I think my last two years\u2019 sessions have had really good responses, so I hope to continue that and add to the experience of all those participating.","LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":418,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1412964540,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"How teachers can redesign their schools","Handle":"how_teachers_can_redesign_their_schools","ShortDescription":"This conversation will seek to provide a space to share best practices, resources & student reflection from Kensington CAPA's teacher led instructional redesign, in order to cultivate ideas & designs for teachers who desire to make positive change at their schools.","Description":"Kensington Creative & Performing Arts High School is a high needs, neighborhood public high school in Philadelphia, that serves a disproportionately high number of Emotional Support, Special Education, & English Language Learning students. KCAPA teachers have undertaken a redesign of their school, with a focus on reading, writing & research. In order to support this redesign, this group of teachers made the commitment to overhauling their curriculum, and adopting a 1:1 Chromebook model. \r\n\r\nOur conversation will detail the three stages of our initiative: Developing a Vision, Pre-Rollout & Iteration. The conversation will seek to provide a space to discuss, generate and share best practices and resources for teachers who are keen to undertake similar teacher-led initiatives at their schools. This includes working with administration, instructional technology resources, and issues to consider when redesigning.","Link":[],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"This conversation's purpose is to share best practices & student reflection, in order to instill in teachers the resolve to make instructional change at their schools.\r\n\r\nOur conversation will begin with a poll about types of change teachers want to make at their school. After the poll has been collected, we will ask teachers who chose the same instructional or school based categories to form groups. \r\n\r\nEach group will be given chart paper & will have a student from KCAPA paired with them. The conversation will focus on 3 stages \u2013 Developing a Vision, Pre-Rollout & Iteration. Going through each stage sequentially, we will share best practices and hurdles\/successes that we faced. Then, we will ask groups to develop & think deeply about how these stages might look concerning their shared focus. In so much, groups will be asked to envision hurdles & develop questions about each stage, in order to share them with the large group & discussion facilitators, so that potential solutions can be generated.","Presenter":["Andrew Biros","Montgomery Ogden","Charlie McGeehan","Erin Feerick","Charles O'connor","Ismael Jiminez","and Honor Furtek"],"PresenterAffiliation":["School District of Philadelphia"],"PresenterEmail":["Andrew.Biros@gmail.com","joshuakleiman@gmail.com"],"ScheduleSlotID":46,"ScheduleLocationID":3,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":441,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1414690764,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"I abandoned my grading policy and you won\u2019t believe what happened next: Mastery Tracking 101","Handle":"i_abandoned_my_grading_policy_and_you_won-t_believe_what_happened_next--mastery_tracking_101","ShortDescription":"What does a student\u2019s grade actually mean? Join a conversation led by NYC iSchool students and their teacher to learn how mastery-based learning and tracking can give students, families and teachers a genuine understanding of student knowledge. Find out what it\u2019s like to really know what your students know while empowering students to take real ownership of their learning and walk away with plans (both big and small) to incorporate mastery tracking into your classroom.","Description":"What would it look like if students actually knew, in detail, what they understood and what they needed to work on? If teachers were able to accurately identify, in detail, plans to help support each individual student and if this data helped drive instruction? If a \u201cB\u201d grade had genuine meaning? Students produce massive amounts of data in all of their classes and since teachers have 21st century technology to track and analyze it, why are we still handing out 20th century grades? Mastery-Based Learning means breaking down a class into smaller, trackable topics and then tracking student progress on each topic. It\u2019s about seeing mastery as the most important goal, and providing students with ample opportunities to show what they know. During this conversation, an expert teacher in mastery tracking and her students will discuss the value in leaving behind traditional grading systems in order to create a differentiated, individualized experience for all students. See how one innovative teacher tracks student data, sees what students understand and what they don\u2019t and then uses that data to plan future lessons, and accurately predict assessment results. Participants will then leave with tangible ways to incorporate mastery based learning and tracking in to their own classrooms.","Link":["http:\/\/ischoolpolymath.com"],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"In this conversation, educators will discuss their current grading policies (both the policies in their school and the ones in their classroom) and will gain a better understanding of the iSchool\u2019s grading policy and mastery tracking system from the teachers and students who use them. For the second half of the conversation, participants will work through steps to help them set up their own mastery based learning unit. Participants will leave with a fully planned mastery-based unit to try in their own classroom!","Presenter":["Sarah Prendergast","Michelle Leimsider","Lesly Lantigua","Tajanea Woodroffe","and Lissa Sangree-Calabrese"],"PresenterAffiliation":["NYC iSchool"],"PresenterEmail":["mleimsider@nycischool.org","sprendergast@nycischool.org"],"ScheduleSlotID":46,"ScheduleLocationID":8,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":401,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1410314250,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Inquiry-driven project-based learning entrepreneurship at University","Handle":"inquiry-driven_project-based_learning_entrepreneurship_at_university","ShortDescription":"Two parts.\r\n\r\nOne, since learning as much as I could about inquiry-driving project-based learning at Educon 2.6, I taught two classes in entrepreneurship at NYU that way and expect to teach a new class in leadership this Spring. I will give a progress report, open to constructive criticism, and look for ideas for teaching a brand-new leadership class.\r\n\r\nTwo, assuming we want to spread the practice, let's find ways to do so, to find others practicing, and create community. Also, let's check that assumption. How does this style of teaching and learning differ in universities compared to K-12? What's easier or harder for the student, teacher, learning institution, etc?","Description":"Two parts.\r\n\r\nOne, since learning as much as I could about inquiry-driving project-based learning at Educon 2.6, I taught two classes in entrepreneurship at NYU that way and expect to teach a new class in leadership this Spring. I will give a progress report, open to constructive criticism, and look for ideas for teaching a brand-new leadership class.\r\n\r\nTwo, assuming we want to spread the practice, let's find ways to do so, to find others practicing, and create community. Also, let's check that assumption. How does this style of teaching and learning differ in universities compared to K-12? What's easier or harder for the student, teacher, learning institution, etc?","Link":["http:\/\/joshuaspodek.com"],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"On the first part, having revamped my entrepreneurship syllabus on first learning about inquiry-driven project-based learning at Educon 2.6 I would love input on what I did well and what I can improve from people with more experience and training. I'm open to completely revamping my new leadership syllabus too.\r\n\r\nOn the second part, I propose to workshop how to find what resources, challenges, goals, frustrations, successes, and so on we have, then what we can do to improve how we teach and how we can help others who want that help.","Presenter":["Joshua Spodek"],"PresenterAffiliation":["NYU","Columbia"],"PresenterEmail":["josh@spodek.net"],"ScheduleSlotID":46,"ScheduleLocationID":4,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":450,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1414775327,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Moving Beyond the Drive-By Model for Professional Development","Handle":"starting_the_conversation--connecting_k-12_teaching_and_learning_with_the_college_admissions_process","ShortDescription":"More often than not, professional development in schools follows the drive-by model: a guest speaker addresses the faculty, offering some practical advice for the classroom and then moves onto the next school. Faculty return to their classroom and then, eventually, are visited by another expert offering different practical advice. Without an opportunity for the faculty to fully engage in this professional development in a classroom setting, the lessons learned from each experience are often lost.\r\n\r\nHow then do we reimagine professional development. We need a new paradigm in professional development as well as in teaching and learning. Instead of offerring self-contained workshops in blocks as traditional PD does, let's consider a new model that is continuous and sustainable (as evidenced by the highly successful Marymount School Making and Learning Institute). Participants immerse themselves as part of a making and learning culture in a variety of ways and choose from a menu of items that works best for the participant and not what is best for the PD organizers. Join us for a lively discussion to rethink PD models as we drive beyond the drive by.","Description":"More often than not, professional development in schools follows the drive-by model: a guest speaker addresses the faculty, offering some practical advice for the classroom and then moves onto the next school. Faculty return to their classroom and then, eventually, are visited by another expert offering different practical advice. Without an opportunity for the faculty to fully engage in this professional development in a classroom setting, the lessons learned from each experience are often lost.\r\n\r\nHow then do we reimagine professional development. We need a new paradigm in professional development as well as in teaching and learning. Instead of offerring self-contained workshops in blocks as traditional PD does, let's consider a new model that is continuous and sustainable (as evidenced by the highly successful Marymount School Making and Learning Institute). Participants immerse themselves as part of a making and learning culture in a variety of ways and choose from a menu of items that works best for the participant and not what is best for the PD organizers. Join us for a lively discussion to rethink PD models as we drive beyond the drive by.","Link":[],"Audience":["High School"],"Practice":"","Presenter":["Eric A Walters"],"PresenterAffiliation":[],"PresenterEmail":["ewalters@marymountnyc.org"],"ScheduleSlotID":46,"ScheduleLocationID":16,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":509,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1421703627,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Power to the People: Distributed Leadership as a Pathway to Change","Handle":"power_to_the_people--distributed_leadership_as_a_pathway_to_change","ShortDescription":"What does distributed leadership look like at both the school and classroom level? How do you set up systems that enable powerful levels of ownership for everyone? And how can distributed leadership be a fulcrum for organizational change?","Description":"Distributed leadership is one of those terms that gets thrown around a great deal but is rarely deeply enacted at the school or classroom level. At its root, distributed leadership can create both a more democratic and innovative environment. And by both deepening institutional buy-in and increasing creativity and innovation, a thoughtful implementation of distributed leadership can powerfully transform school communities. \r\n\r\nThis workshop is an opportunity for participants to examine how their school \/ classroom space can embody a more empowering ethic in their communities through distributed leadership while considering the structural and intellectual shifts that must happen to effect the change.","Link":["http:\/\/www.practicaltheory.org"],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"Participants will examine the larger ideas of distributed leadership in group conversation and then create a plan to move their schools to a more distributed model.","Presenter":["Chris Lehmann"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Science Leadership Academy \/ Inquiry Schools"],"PresenterEmail":["clehmann@scienceleadership.org"],"ScheduleSlotID":46,"ScheduleLocationID":13,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":454,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1414804429,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Project Stargazer: Student-Led Collaborative Design and Education","Handle":"project_stargazer--student-led_collaborative_design_and_education","ShortDescription":"This is a conversation led by the students of Project Stargazer. Learn about the process high-school students can take to develop their own collaborative projects, based on the experiences of a group of Science Leadership Academy students who created a student-led project in collaboration with The Franklin Institute and Boeing.","Description":"This conversation focuses on creating a space for students to create and lead their own projects, as well as helping teachers enter a mentorship role with the students involved. The students of Project Stargazer, a dedicated group of Science Leadership Academy students who built their own STEM project focusing on Virtual Reality in collaboration with The Franklin Institute and Boeing will be leading the conversation, and providing advice from their own experiences in making such a project a reality. During this session, the students will also share the process of building a multi-faceted team such as Stargazer has today. Out of this session, you\u2019ll learn to apply the processes and models needed to help students create and lead their own projects in a high school environment.","Link":["https:\/\/projectstargazer.github.io\/Project-Stargazer\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/StargazerTFI"],"Audience":["High School"],"Practice":"This conversation will start with a brief overview of Project Stargazer which will lead into a whole group discussion of project design principles. The group discussion leads into a smaller design period with partners using poster stickies. Finally, the group will convene to discuss and comment on the ideas. The finalized ideas, as well as key points from the conversation will be sent as an email to all participants afterwards to serve as a guide, both to students looking to create their own projects and educators looking to serve as mentors.","Presenter":["Derrick Pitts","Alexander Wroblewski","Andrew Roberts","Michael Thayres","and Morgan Caswell"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Science Leadership Academy & The Franklin Institute"],"PresenterEmail":["dpitts@fi.edu","awroblewski@scienceleadership.org","aroberts@scienceleadership.org","mcaswell@scienceleadership.org"],"ScheduleSlotID":46,"ScheduleLocationID":9,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":484,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1415123190,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"The Arts Across Disciplines: Building up STEAM in the classroom (Is it getting SHTEAMY in here?)","Handle":"the_arts_across_disciplines--building_up_steam_in_the_classroom-is_it_getting_shteamy_in_here","ShortDescription":"How can the arts be integrated across content areas to engage all students? A brainstorming and sharing session between teachers and educators from all content areas.","Description":"The arts provide students with multiple creative ways to demonstrate mastery of goals. When we integrate the arts across curriculum, we give students the tools necessary to master the crucial life skill of seeing, engaging in and experiencing the world in new and unique ways.\r\n\r\nParticipants will be introduced to new ways of utilizing the arts to enrich inquiry and facilitate discussions. Participatory activities will be used to model analysis and creation of different forms of art that enrich content, deepen understandings and question dominant paradigms. The session will also explore ways that the arts are a vehicle for engagement of students from diverse backgrounds. Participants will be creating ideas and activities for their own classrooms.","Link":[],"Audience":["High School","Middle School"],"Practice":"We will cross-pollinate and create a shared resource of ideas and example projects.","Presenter":["Caitlin Thompson","Melanie Manuel","Rosalind Echols"],"PresenterAffiliation":["SLA"],"PresenterEmail":["cthompson@scienceleadership.org","mmanuel@scienceleadership.org","rechols@scienceleadership.org"],"ScheduleSlotID":46,"ScheduleLocationID":14,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":"We need to present in session I or II.","LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":487,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1415124035,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"The Race Discussion for Beginners\/Dummies: Crafting Transformative Classroom Conversations about Loaded Topics","Handle":"the_race_discussion_for_beginners-dummies--crafting_transformative_classroom_conversations_about_loaded_topics","ShortDescription":"SLA Teachers share a toolkit for planning and facilitating powerful classroom discussions, especially the important conversations about identity, race, and power. SLA students will discuss the benefits and challenges of participating in inquiry-driven conversations, and will offer tips for success from their perspectives.","Description":"Using Identity, Race and Power as a lens; we will discuss how to build an environment that encourages students to . . .\r\na) Listen patiently and actively to each other.\r\nb) Recognize and work towards shared and personal goals.\r\nc) Develop their academic resiliency.\r\nd) Speak honestly and openly in a diverse environment.","Link":[],"Audience":["High School","Middle School"],"Practice":"We will challenge teachers and student to add to our toolkit. We will make this tool kit public.","Presenter":["Matt Kay and Pearl Jonas"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Science Leadership Academy"],"PresenterEmail":["pjonas@scienceleadership.org","mkay@scienceleadership.org"],"ScheduleSlotID":46,"ScheduleLocationID":2,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":408,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1411416268,"CreatorID":15,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"What's next for PBL?","Handle":"what-s_next_for_pbl","ShortDescription":"PBL (and I'm talking about ALL the PBLs here) has been around for awhile. What do you do to take your PBL practice to the next level? How do you +1 the PBL experience for your students AND for yourself?","Description":"This conversation will focus on the ways that PBL is implemented in different classrooms, contexts, and levels. I'm curious about the ways that teachers are \"acting back\" on the PBL constructs that they've been working with and how they're improving the experience for their students and for themselves as educators.","Link":["http:\/\/www.antiochne.edu\/employeedirectory\/laura-thomas\/","http:\/\/antiochcriticalskills.wordpress.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LauraThomasLearning?ref=hl"],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"This is going to be either large or small group discussion (depending on the size of the group) guided by a series of discussion prompts including:\r\n1. What does PBL look like in your classroom?\r\n2. What do you struggle with, PBL-wise?\r\n3. How do you keep PBL interesting for your students?\r\n4. What do YOU do while your students are engaged in PBL?\r\n5. What do you wish PBL would help you do?","Presenter":["Laura Thomas"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Antioch University New England","Edutopia Community Facilitator","NHISTE","ISTE","Coalition of Essential Schools"],"PresenterEmail":["lthomas@antioch.edu"],"ScheduleSlotID":46,"ScheduleLocationID":12,"SubmitterID":15,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":468,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1414897497,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"#edsec: Information Security and Privacy in the Classroom","Handle":"edsec--information_security_and_privacy_in_the_classroom","ShortDescription":"Every day, educators pass valuable digital literacy skills to students. In the rush to explore content creation, online privacy and security are frequently overlooked. This discussion will explore information security challenges in the classroom, and will giving educators easy-to-implement information security strategies to minimize the privacy + security breaches online and in the classroom.","Description":"If anything, 2014 has been the year of the hacker: each month, we\u2019ve learned about new security breaches that affect millions, and security researchers have exposed several critical code flaws in the infrastructure of the web. The new reality of the Internet we rely on is not \u201cif\u201d but \u201cwhen\u201d we will be the target of malicious hackers. \r\nWhile educators and students everywhere are encouraged to become digitally literate and to find and use their voices through blogging and social media on the web, however, important digital literacy skills in online security and privacy are overlooked and ignored in favor of focusing on content creation. But because educators are in charge of copious amounts of student data, it is important that they adopt secure online practices to model this valuable tenet of digital literacy to students. \r\n\r\n\r\nThis discussion will focus on the unique security and privacy challenges teachers face in the classroom by exploring the threats facing educators and schools, and discussing privacy issues facing educators as more and more classroom data makes its way online. The goal of this session is to raise security awareness among educators, and to give educators easy-to-implement information security strategies that can minimize privacy breaches in the classroom, in addition to real-world advice on how to secure online accounts to protect student and classroom data and minimize the risks posed by the brute-force technological attacks sweeping across the web. Wherever possible, I will go past just telling educators why they should follow certain security practices and walk through examples of the technological processes (i.e. password cracking, using Google as a hacking tool, etc.) that better demonstrate how easy it is to gain unauthorized access to improperly secured accounts.","Link":["http:\/\/www.jessysaurusrex.com\/"],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"This discussion would follow the \"What? So what? Now what?\" conversational protocols to encourage educators to reflect on their own practices and explore security issues and technology usage in their classrooms.","Presenter":["Jessy Irwin"],"PresenterAffiliation":["None"],"PresenterEmail":["jessy.irwin@gmail.com"],"ScheduleSlotID":51,"ScheduleLocationID":15,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":404,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1411055324,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Autism Expressed & Digitability: Digital Life Skills for All Styles of Learning","Handle":"autism_expressed-digitability--digital_life_skills_for_all_styles_of_learning","ShortDescription":"The Autism Expressed and Digitability program is an award winning Digital Literacy and Life Skills Curriculum designed to increase inclusion into the workforce and social fabric of society.","Description":"According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, \u201cmore than 50% of today\u2019s jobs require some degree of technology skills, and experts say that percentage will increase to 77% in the next decade. \u201d However, the lack of access to digital skills training is creating a critical barrier for individuals with disabilities, especially during transition planning, and is limiting postsecondary outcomes for these students, further supporting an existing paradigm of pigeonholing into unemployment or low-wage paying jobs. it is limiting the extent to which they can participate in our technology driven society and economy. \r\n\r\nNot to have the opportunity to develop these essential skills is to be denied access to and participation in the most vital information and communication modalities of today\u2019s society.\r\n\r\nAutism Expressed and Digitability makes digital literacy accessible to mobilize and integrate this growing population into the workforce and social fabric of society. Designed to reach a wide range of learning styles, the Autism Expressed and Digitability program is an online curriculum that feels like a game. It\u2019s design enhances social and emotional development, time and task management skills and preparation for transition to a life of independence in a technology driven society. \r\n\r\nThe goal behind programming is to empower both learners and educators and change the paradigm and approach to educating individuals with disabilities.","Link":["http:\/\/autismexpressed.com"],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"Audience members will collaborate to identify common behavioral, cognitive and developmental issues and delays that can be circumvented through the use of technology. Participants will have access to our learning platform and supplemental materials. Using the Equity Protocol and principles of Applied Behavior Analysis, participants will evaluate given scenarios and share common experiences to determine appropriate adaptations for diversified learners. Through this collaborative process, groups identify ways to differentiate given activities to meet the needs of diverse learning profiles they work with, thus creating new materials and approaches for use in homes and schools. The conversation will focus on shifting the perspective on the current approach for educating students with disabilities of all age and ability.","Presenter":["Michele McKeone"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Autism Expressed & Digitability"],"PresenterEmail":["michele@autismexpressed.com"],"ScheduleSlotID":51,"ScheduleLocationID":14,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":493,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1415994905,"CreatorID":88,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Convergence Re-imagining Education Project: Envisioning the Future of Learning.","Handle":"convergence_re-imagining_education_project--envisioning_the_future_of_learning.","ShortDescription":"Over the last 18 months, a startling group of diverse, extraordinary education practitioners and advocates came together, built trust and resilient relationships, and aligned on a vision of learning that addresses questions like: What do we want most for our children? They are now acting together to realize their vision.","Description":"The Convergence Re-imagining Education Project began with these questions: What do we want most for our children? And what learning experiences and environments can best foster that? \r\n\r\nOver the last 18 months, a startling group of diverse, extraordinary education practitioners and advocates came together, built trust and resilient relationships, and aligned on a vision of learning that addresses those and other questions. They are now acting together to bring their vision alive and transform education.\r\n\r\nParticipants in the Convergence Re-imagining Education project include, for instance: Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers; Lily Eskelsen, President of the National Education Association; Stuart Butler, Senior Fellow at Brookings and former Director at The Heritage Foundation; Stephan Turnipseed, Executive Director of Strategic Partnerships, LEGO Foundation; Liz Fogel, Director of Education, Walt Disney Company; Maddie Fennell, former Nebraska Teacher of the Year; Michael Hinojosa, former District Superintendent, Cobb County, Georgia; Bobbi Macdonald, Founder and Executive Director of City Neighbors Charter School; Marc Magee, CEO of 50CAN; Jen Humke, Program Officer, MacArthur Foundation; David Andrews, Dean of Johns Hopkins School of Education; and Sam Chaltain, writer. \r\n\r\nThe group came together recognizing they had strongly held and often divergent views on a number of current issues and controversies in public education. They were tired of the same recurring debates about what is wrong with today\u2019s education system and who is to blame for its inadequacies, and realized that no amount of tweaking the current, industrial-era system would create a truly fulfilling learning environment. The group was determined to create a vision of the future of education that could achieve that and unite them. And they did. \r\n\r\nAfter engaging in a challenging, dialogic process spanning six 2-day meetings, the group stands united behind a vision of a learning environment that is structured with the learner at its center. In this vision, all children thrive, are able to deeply engage in their own communities and the global community, truly enjoy learning, and are prepared and excited for their future. Learners are seen and known as wondrous, curious individuals with vast capabilities and limitless potential. \r\n\r\nLearners seek mastery not only of core knowledge but also of skills (such as communication, collaboration and metacognition) and dispositions (such as curiosity, adaptability and resilience) that promote lifelong success. To ensure development in these three domains for all learners, the group envisions learning experiences characterized by five interrelated elements. Taken together, they form a new design for learning:\r\n\r\n\u2022\tCompetency-based\r\n\u2022\tPersonalized, relevant and contextualized\r\n\u2022\tLearner agency\r\n\u2022\tSocially embedded\r\n\u2022\tOpen-walled\r\n\r\nIn addition to the elements, the vision addresses core components of a transformed system, including for instance: how learning spaces might be re-imagined; how a coordinated network of adults will support each and every learner; the meaningful use of data and technology; and, assessments \u201cfor\u201d and \u201cas\u201d learning. \r\n\r\nThe group\u2019s vision document is designed to catalyze a new national conversation about education transformation and to become a rallying point for a network of pioneers who are already, or would like to be, working along similar lines.","Link":["http:\/\/www.convergencepolicy.org"],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"We expect this to be an interactive, dialogic process involving everyone in the room. We will ask people to explore questions like: How do you see a child? What beliefs about children are embedded in the current system? We will also solicit an exchange on our vision, including the elements and system components.","Presenter":["Kelly Young"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Director","Convergence Re-imagining Education Project"],"PresenterEmail":["kelly@convergencepolicy.org"],"ScheduleSlotID":51,"ScheduleLocationID":2,"SubmitterID":88,"AdditionalComments":"Hello Chris, As we discussed on the phone, we would like Kelly to present with one of the educators in our group. I have asked Maddie Fennell, a former Nebraska Teacher of the Year and a current literacy coach at Miller Park Elementary School in Omaha, to join us. If Maddie cannot join us, we may bring Dwight Davis, an educator here in Washington, DC. Both would be excellent. Thank you! Laura","LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":479,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1415122337,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Empowering Critical Relationships with Media","Handle":"empowering_critical_relationships_with_media-2","ShortDescription":"The American Academy of Pediatrics recently acknowledged a distinction between \u201centertainment\u201d screen time which should be limited, and educational and \"active\" screen time that can be beneficial. So how do we tell the difference? and how do both impact thoughtful consumption and critical creation of new media?","Description":"There is a place and means in every grade and subject area to help students become more thoughtful consumers and creators of media. Rather than focus on the inherent content of specific media itself, this conversation will leverage the collective wisdom and varied experiences of attendees to help us all better define empowering media experiences for our students.","Link":["http:\/\/www.roughcutschools.org"],"Audience":["High School","Middle School"],"Practice":"This conversation will be guided by Josh Weisgrau and Douglas Herman of Rough Cut Schools, as well as current and former SLA students who have made the critical leap from consumers to creators of media.\r\n\r\nRough Cut Schools aims to inspire critical and creative approaches to consuming and creating media for all students that will lead to an empowered relationship with media in an overwhelmingly mediated society.","Presenter":["Douglas Herman and Josh Weisgrau"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Rough Cut Schools","Science Leadership and Friends Central"],"PresenterEmail":["doug@roughcutschools.org","josh@roughcutschools.org"],"ScheduleSlotID":51,"ScheduleLocationID":8,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":444,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1414723029,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Encouraging Student Voice","Handle":"encouraging_student_voice","ShortDescription":"Mentors from the Philly Youth Poetry Movement facilitate a discussion on incorporating creative writing, performance skills, and public service into a powerful, student-centered humanities curriculum.","Description":"We will discuss the importance of adding a meaning full performance component to project-based learning. We will share strategies for developing more effective public speaking skills, and for growing student confidence.","Link":["http:\/\/www.pypmslamleague.org","http:\/\/www.pypm215.org"],"Audience":["High School","Middle School"],"Practice":"We will build 2-3 sample projects together, thinking up ways to make developing student voice the backbone of the process, and not just an ancillary component.","Presenter":["Matthew Kay"],"PresenterAffiliation":["PYPM","SLA"],"PresenterEmail":["matt@pypm215.org"],"ScheduleSlotID":51,"ScheduleLocationID":16,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":442,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1414691722,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Exercising Our Superpower: How every school can build empathy in children.","Handle":"exercising_our_superpower--how_every_school_can_build_empathy_in_children.","ShortDescription":"In this session, participants will learn about how two Title I traditional public schools build empathy in their students. The session will include storytelling with accounts from a teacher and counselor, modeling and practicing methods the schools use, and sharing out of best practices for building empathy from the audience. \u200b","Description":"The session will begin Laura Pladson telling a story from Eastwood Elementary in West Fargo, ND, describing her school and the impact that social and emotional learning and empathy-focused practices have had on individual students and the whole school. Then Laura will share an overview of the practices used at Eastwood Elementary, modeling some of them and then giving participants the opportunity to try some of them. Laura will be followed by Jean White, who will describe Salem Hills Elementary in Inver Grove Heights, MN and the impact that the empathy-based practices her school uses has had on individual students and the school community as a whole. She will then model some of the school's empathy-building strategies and invite the participants to practice them. Laura and Jean will then invite the participants to share the strategies they use to build empathy in students. The session will end with a discussion of the key principles uniting the strategies: preparing the environment for empathy to thrive, engaging children in activities that build empathy, and giving them opportunities to reflect on what they know and act with empathy.","Link":["http:\/\/www.invergrove.k12.mn.us\/schools\/salem_hills_elementary","http:\/\/www.west-fargo.k12.nd.us\/schools\/eastwood\/"],"Audience":["Elementary School"],"Practice":"This session will make use of storytelling, modeling, interactive practicing, interactive brainstorming, and group discussion.","Presenter":["Jean White","Laura Pladson"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Salem Hills Elementary School","Eastwood Elementary School"],"PresenterEmail":["LPLADSON@west-fargo.k12.nd.us","Jean.White@isd199.org"],"ScheduleSlotID":51,"ScheduleLocationID":12,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":"We cannot present in the last session on Sunday due to flight schedules.","LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":452,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1414780409,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Freedom, Autodidacticism, and Learning","Handle":"freedom-autodidacticism-and_learning","ShortDescription":"Autodidacticism is the act of teaching oneself. There has been much discussion in edtech circles around autodidactism and how it applies to learning with technology in schools. Let\u2019s discuss how autodidacticism impacts the range of learning experiences and professional development we offer our students and teachers.","Description":"Articles and \u2018research\u2019 appear that say; \u2018not everyone is an autodidact\u2019, \u2018some people can\u2019t be autodidactics\u2019. Is autodidacticism a learning style, a state of mind, a set of skills, are their levels to it? Before the fall of the USSR, they said entrepreneurship would not work in Russia, is autodidacticism a kind of entrepreneurship about learning that may be difficult for some schools based on their culture of learning? Is our current system of schooling simply unprepared for autodidacts because they are structured on instruction? \r\n\r\nHow do we, can we, should we, grow autodidacticism in our own schools among own students? Do the current constructs of differentiated instruction and personalized learning support or limit the ability of our students to operate as autodidacts? \r\n\r\nHow does autodidacticism influence professional development choices? Doesn\u2019t meaningful professional development change a teacher\u2019s practice; is that kind of change a matter of self-learning? How can classrooms and curriculum facilitate autodidactism? \r\n\r\nSince mobile devices, BYOD, and 1-to-1 offer the potential for learner empowerment, how do they offer new opportunities to explore autodidactism in traditional schools? \r\n\r\nThis will be an exploration of inquiry into questions surrounding autodidactism in K-12.","Link":["http:\/\/www.edtechleadership.com","https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1eCKE_vhmDNz1z5_zYPxIOR46mMLb2dc8qGBawmuJw-c\/edit?usp=sharing","https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/0B_6JoKWfQCO5a1ltX1A4NVpCbTQ\/view?usp=sharing"],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"Intro- Quick overview of the topic and introduction of the participants. A Google Doc will be created to document the conversation and all participants will be encouraged to backchannel.\r\n\r\nThink\/Write- This conversation will begin with an invitation to write a few sentences about what autodidactism means to you? \r\n\r\nShare your Writing - each participant will share their writing with another participant with a focus on the how their writings are diverage about their definition of autodidactism.\r\n\r\nText-based Small Group Discussion - All the participants will be invited to read:\r\nhttp:\/\/hechingerreport.org\/content\/ed-tech-promoters-need-understand-us-learn_16821\/\r\nRather than merely discussing the article as a large group, the participants will be split into groups based on interest in the following sub-topics: autodidactism in professional development, autodidactism in our current classrooms, and autodidactism as mindset or skill to grow in learners. \r\n\r\nLarge Group Sharing- Each group will report back on their small group discussions about the specific topics.\r\n\r\nNow what?\r\nParticipants will create a list of things that they can actually do in their schools and classrooms with their collegians and students around autodidactism based on what they learned.","Presenter":["Joe Bires"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Jamesburg School District"],"PresenterEmail":["joebires@gmail.com"],"ScheduleSlotID":51,"ScheduleLocationID":9,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":"@joebires","LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":503,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1420581119,"CreatorID":88,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Growing with Project Based Learning in the Classroom","Handle":"growing_with_project_based_learning_in_the_classroom-2","ShortDescription":"Staff at SLA Beeber are coming from various educational contexts to\r\ngrow as teachers of project based curriculum. In this session, SLA\r\nBeeber staff will facilitate conversations around our own\r\nchallenges, successes, and ambitions as teachers of the\r\nsophisticated pedagogical practice that the original SLA campus has\r\ndeveloped and promotes.","Description":"Staff at SLA Beeber are coming from various educational contexts to\r\ngrow as teachers of project based curriculum. In this session, SLA\r\nBeeber staff will facilitate conversations around our own\r\nchallenges, successes, and ambitions as teachers of the\r\nsophisticated pedagogical practice that the original SLA campus has\r\ndeveloped and promotes.","Link":[],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"Staff at SLA Beeber are coming from various educational contexts to\r\ngrow as teachers of project based curriculum. In this session, SLA\r\nBeeber staff will facilitate conversations around our own\r\nchallenges, successes, and ambitions as teachers of the\r\nsophisticated pedagogical practice that the original SLA campus has\r\ndeveloped and promotes.","Presenter":["Brian Hussey","Luke Zeller"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Science Leadership Academy @ Beeber"],"PresenterEmail":["lzeller@slabeeber.org"],"ScheduleSlotID":51,"ScheduleLocationID":11,"SubmitterID":88,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":415,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1412801675,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Imagining Digital Spaces for Learning","Handle":"imagining_digital_spaces_for_learning","ShortDescription":"The Web now provides an infinite canvas for developing spaces that are boundless locations for learning. At the same time, the types of devices that students have and can use to connect online are exploding. Given these two ideas, and the potential they represent for learning, it is essential that schools begin to develop a dedicated digital spaces for learning. In this conversation, we\u2019ll discuss potential models for the design of such a space while developing a manifesto that provides a declaration and invitation into digital learning.","Description":"Schools are moving toward ubiquitous technology access and students themselves own more devices. Meanwhile, the opportunities to connect and learn online in a variety of formats are increasing exponentially . The technology is present and now is the time for schools to consider what they offer with regards to online learning and the spaces that support it.\r\n\r\nIn this conversation, we\u2019ll explore the design of digital spaces for learning that are equal in stature to the learning that takes place in traditional physical locations. How can the learning in a physical space be amplified by a digital location for learning? How can learning in a digital space inform learning in a physical space? How is blended learning encouraged? Most importantly, what are the spatial implications of a contemporary learning experience that employs an ecology of digital tools to provide \u201clearning in the cloud?\u201d","Link":["http:\/\/www.tinyurl.com\/educonds"],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"We\u2019ll address the questions described in the extended description section and more, and crowdsource a manifesto of beliefs that declare how digital spaces support learning. From there, participants will be challenged to begin designing a prototype digital learning space. Models will be shared online.","Presenter":["David Jakes"],"PresenterAffiliation":["The Third Teacher+"],"PresenterEmail":["djakes@cannondesign.com"],"ScheduleSlotID":51,"ScheduleLocationID":10,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":"If accepted, please do not schedule late on Sunday.","LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":507,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1421188814,"CreatorID":62,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Personalized, not Individualized","Handle":"personalized-not_individualized","ShortDescription":"Personalization is a hot button issue as of late. The prospect of a student centered, inquiry-driven approach is enticing and personalization is a critical piece of that puzzle. The manner in which personalization is used broadly often invokes technology as tool for efficiency and streamlining that definitely individualize, but may not actually attend to the 'person'. Please join me to discuss the promises and perils of personalization in modern schools.","Description":"Personalization is a hot button issue. The prospect of a student centered, inquiry-driven approach is enticing and personalization is a critical piece of that puzzle. The manner in which personalization is used often invokes technology as tool for efficiency and streamlining that definitely individualizes the instruction, but may not actually attend to the 'person' part of personalization. Please join me to discuss the promises and perils of personalization in modern schools.","Link":["http:\/\/inquiryschools.org"],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"A variation of Focus\/Framing Questions - http:\/\/www.nsrfharmony.org\/system\/files\/protocols\/focus_framing_qs_ex.pdf","Presenter":["Diana Laufenberg"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Inquiry Schools"],"PresenterEmail":["dlaufenberg@gmail.com"],"ScheduleSlotID":51,"ScheduleLocationID":13,"SubmitterID":62,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":431,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1414340205,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Teaching STEM with Fiction","Handle":"teaching_stem_with_fiction","ShortDescription":"Has an ecosystem ever been presented more memorably than in Richard Adams\u2019 novel Watership Down? Stories are humanity\u2019s most enduring form of knowledge and have a vital place in STEM learning. Join in creating a library of fiction for teaching STEM, a pioneering resource of material and practice!","Description":"Has the balance and interdependence of an ecosystem ever been presented with more memorable clarity than in Richard Adams\u2019 novel Watership Down? The Common Core asks teachers to distinguish between literary texts and informational texts, but is there really always a difference? \r\n\r\nStories are the most effective, enduring form of information exchange humanity has ever employed and there\u2019s no reason the power of fiction should be kept out of STEM learning. When presented through literary passages, plots and metaphors, STEM material becomes more approachable by a wider spectrum of learners. Future scientists and engineers learn to communicate their expert understandings through accessible, narrative models rather than technical jargon. Art and science openly fortify and vitalize one another.\r\n\r\nStep across those departmental boundaries and share that literary anecdote you use to present a logical principle! What\u2019s that movie scene you show to illustrate a math concept? Which novel must be the guidebook for some deep science exploration? With literacy now recognized as a component of all learning, we need to share our discoveries, enthusiasms and even our vague inklings of the fiction texts that fertilize STEM.\r\n\r\nIn this conversation we will pool our literary-scientific insights and inspirations and then explore and analyze the titles by discipline, genre and narrative principle. The resulting bibliography of STEM fiction can then be used to schematize and better understand the modes, capabilities and likely sources of fiction for the study of STEM. Join in creating this pioneering resource of both material and practice!","Link":["http:\/\/www.storycode.info"],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"This topic is in such an undeveloped state exactly because there has never been a space to have the conversation. In the event that broad and forward thinking teachers are not overflowing with contributions to the conversation, a framework such as the one below could be gently put in place.\r\n\r\n1) Arrival Activity (10 minutes): contribute to a projected Google sheet...\r\nCol. 1: fiction work you\u2019ve used to model a STEM principle\/behavior\/concept\r\n Example: Flatland for dramatizing 2 and 3 dimensional spaces\r\nCol. 2: a \u201crich text\u201d, a work of fiction you believe could be worth reading in its \r\n entirety for a particular STEM exploration\r\n Example: Moby Dick for marine biology and ecology\r\nCol. 3: a work of fiction you love\/hope to use in some way to teach STEM\r\n Example: The Maltese Falcon for ...?\r\n\r\n2) Present (3 minutes):\r\n- image, Scratch\u2019s fundamental theatrical metaphor\r\n- drama: one of humanity\u2019s oldest forms of teaching\r\n- the power of metaphor, the power of stories\r\n\r\n3) Share Col. 1: fiction participants have used to model STEM material \r\n- Participants vote for the works of fiction they most want to hear about.\r\n- Individual contributors explain their practice. Others comment.\r\n- Note taker visibly records conversation on a new projected sheet:\r\n Title \/ STEM Topic \/ Use \/ Notes\r\n\r\n4) Share Col. 2: \u201crich texts\u201d for teaching STEM\r\n- Proceed as above with titles and information added to the same sheet.\r\n\r\n5) Create Schema: organizing & understanding how texts support STEM\r\n- Participants suggest important top level elements of our texts, such as STEM areas to which a text applies, genre of text, mode in which the text is employed, etc.\r\n- Note taker records suggestions on projected word processing document.\r\n- Participants suggest methods of organizing our texts, such as lists and matrices (e.g.: mechanical vs biological, applied vs theoretical).\r\n- Note taker presents suggested schema on projected slideshow document.\r\n- Share hypotheses drawn from various schema.\r\n- Note taker records suggestions on projected word processing document.\r\n\r\n6) Share Col. 3: using our favorite fiction to teach STEM\r\n- Participants brainstorm inspirations\/suggestions for using beloved fiction.\r\n\r\n7) Thanks much! Decide where & how to house and update our bibliography.","Presenter":["Lev Fruchter"],"PresenterAffiliation":["NEST+m","NYC DoE"],"PresenterEmail":["levfruchter@gmail.com"],"ScheduleSlotID":51,"ScheduleLocationID":3,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":"Thanks for your consideration! - Lev","LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":467,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1414896870,"CreatorID":142,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Tech Still Matters: Youth Voices","Handle":"tech_still_matters","ShortDescription":"Tools come and go, but what remains? Teachers whose students use http:\/\/youthvoices.net will talk about what we have learned about the technologies that seem essential to our pedagogy after twelve years of working together to build a social network that promotes youth voices and connected inquiry.","Description":"We will focus a conversation on the technologies that we are using in our classrooms to raise student voices and to connect students across schools. We are all teachers involved in the Youth Voices Inquiry Project, a cross-generational project focused on using reading, writing, and digital media in support of learners' own passions and interests. Starting as a summer pilot program in 2013, the project has expanded into a full-year inquiry, engaging youth and teachers as co-learners with the ultimate goal of supporting a peer-supported and making\/writing-centered orientation in their classrooms. Connected to the larger YouthVoices.net community and funded in part by the New York Community Trust\/New York City HIVE Learning Network, this project serves as a laboratory for the exploration of the relationship between interest-based and disciplinary learning with social media at the center. This session will show rich examples of how the principles and practices of Connected Learning are enacted, and will support participants in thinking about this work in their own communities and contexts. Specifically we want to show how important it is to keep both technology and pedagogy at the center of our work with students.","Link":["http:\/\/youthvoices.net"],"Audience":["High School","Middle School","Elementary School","All School Levels"],"Practice":"We will provide participants a wide range of work to choose from, then ask them to engage in responding to one discussion post on http:\/\/youthvoices.net. After sharing their experiences of working on the site for a short time, we will focus the conversation by talking about both the technologies we are using to sponsor such digital, multimedia conversations across schools on http:\/\/youthvoices.net and we will talk about how our pedagogical approaches depend on these technologies.","Presenter":["Paul Allison and Marina Lombardo"],"PresenterAffiliation":["New York City Writing Project"],"PresenterEmail":["allisonpr@gmail.com","MarinaPLombardo@gmail.com"],"ScheduleSlotID":51,"ScheduleLocationID":5,"SubmitterID":142,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":475,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1414914033,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"The Savvy Online Student","Handle":"the_savvy_online_student","ShortDescription":"Learn methods to prepare savvy online students in your online classes and programs. This session demonstrate effective methods (and metrics) for ensuring students are ready for their online learning experience.","Description":"How can faculty ensure that students are more likely to succeed in their online classes and have a more rewarding teaching experience? In this session, we will show how NYU prepares students for online classes, and then model how seasoned instructors follow up in their individual classes to support the student learning experience. \r\n\r\nStudents will get more out of your online learning experience if they learn about how to learn online. Your school should offer an orientation to being an online student. It's more than learning which buttons to press. It's about students being at the center of many learning activities. Participants in this session will gain ideas for a range of online student orientation activities, from getting beyond the text-based \"introduce yourself\" to a model for what we call week zero, activities that immerse students in the practice of online learning before class begins. \r\n\r\nGoals \r\n\r\nParticipants will be able to\r\n\r\n* Create new activities to introduce their students to their online classes \r\n* Help program administrators develop a model student orientation program\r\n* Describe methods for engaging new and seasoned online learners in orientation courses \r\n* Adapt the materials presented in the workshop for their own use","Link":["http:\/\/savvyonlinestudent.blogspot.ae","http:\/\/bit.ly\/educonsavvy"],"Audience":["High School","All School Levels"],"Practice":"* Model range of interaction activities\r\n* Questions and Answers from the audience \r\n* Live twitter feed comments & questions\r\n\r\nMaterials to be made available:\r\n\r\n* Presentation \r\n* Sample, adaptable lesson \r\n* One page summary of best practices for student orientation programs","Presenter":["Ted Bongiovanni"],"PresenterAffiliation":["New York University","Abu Dhabi"],"PresenterEmail":["tb317@nyu.edu"],"ScheduleSlotID":51,"ScheduleLocationID":7,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":488,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1415124071,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Community and University Partnerships: How do we cultivate them?","Handle":"community_and_university_partnerships--how_do_we_cultivate_them","ShortDescription":"SLA works with many different partners. How do they benefit our students? How do we form those partnerships? How can you form similar partnerships? Join us for a conversation about the formation of these partnerships and many benefits to our students.","Description":"SLA has partnerships with The Franklin Institute, Drexel University, University of Pennsylvania, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the ExCITe Center, the Department of Making and Doing, USAID...\r\nHow did these partnerships start? Why did these partnerships start? Join us for a brief overview of the partnerships to help see some of the possibilities then workshop some possibilities at your schools.","Link":[],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"There will be an overview of many of our partnerships and the benefits our students have gotten from them (voiced by our students) with some data. Then some of our partners will speak on why they chose to partner with us, what motivates them to partner with schools. Then we will give a brief description of national resources for partnerships. Then there will be workshops around cold-calling, cold-emailing and other ways the participants can create their own partnerships.","Presenter":["Matthew N VanKouwenberg and others"],"PresenterAffiliation":[],"PresenterEmail":["mvankouwenberg@scienceleadership.org"],"ScheduleSlotID":53,"ScheduleLocationID":9,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":472,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1414900518,"CreatorID":3788,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Debating the Purpose of the EdTech Conference","Handle":"debating_the_purpose_of_the_edtech_conference","ShortDescription":"In a time when we have unlimited access to information, including new technology, what is the purpose of the current edtech conference model? Join us to discuss why we continue to support these yearly events that are often non-transformative, non-informative, and non-diverse.","Description":"Typically, the norm of the edtech conference is that it is tool-focused, repetitive in content, and outdated. Although best practices suggest using higher levels of Bloom's taxonomy with students, we often neglect to do the same with teachers. Many educators find themselves drowning in a sea of QR codes, augmented reality, and sessions on Twitter 101.\r\n\r\nIt's time to take a stand and change our practice...or is this all there is? In this conversation, we hope to hack the edtech conference and explore ways to redefine professional learning opportunities.","Link":["http:\/\/rafranzdavis.com","http:\/\/sarahjanethomas.com"],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"As a result of the discussion, we will develop a collaborative manifesto of guidelines and expections to be shared with state and national edtech affiliates, to consider as they plan their events. We will also host a space for individual and group share-out, questioning, and debates, so that all sides of this conversation can be explored, and done.","Presenter":["Rafranz Davis","Sarah Thomas"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Rafranzdavis.com","Prince Georges County Public Schools"],"PresenterEmail":["rafranz11@gmail.com","sthomasgmu@gmail.com"],"ScheduleSlotID":53,"ScheduleLocationID":15,"SubmitterID":3788,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":427,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1414101191,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"From Anxiety to Joy: Discussing the Emotional and Technological Anatomy of 21st Century Collaboration","Handle":"from_anxiety_to_joy--discussing_the_emotional_and_technological_anatomy_of_21st_century_collaboration","ShortDescription":"Technology provides possibilities to collaborate, but standing in the way of successful collaboration is a tremendous amount of ungrounded fear and anxiety that no one wants to name. We would like to stage a conversation that addresses the emotional anatomy of collaborating in a 21st century digital learning space.","Description":"Our conversation explores how new technologies present promising opportunities for educators at different schools to learn the meaning of collaboration. Growing from a shared interest to try something \u201cnew,\u201d three teachers at different schools experimented to understand the organic but deliberate aspects of collaboration made possible by technology. We want to share that experience to invite participants to reflect intentionally on the emotional demands made by such projects on teachers and students. Modeling what we were learning about collaboration, both technologically and emotionally, students engaged in unexpected conversations, demonstrated knowledge through multiple media, and inspired critical thinking in all involved, demonstrating the relationship between teaching practices and student habits of mind. Students were empowered to formulate questions for real audiences, to understand through practice the relationship between purpose, audience, and word, and to analyze, create, and synthesize ideas through multiple modes of communication, all on the social space of the internet. What makes our prospective conversation unique is that we want to get others to talk about the elephant in the room - namely, what it feels like to take such risks. Standing in the way of successful collaboration is a tremendous amount of ungrounded fear and anxiety that no one wants to name, and that\u2019s a conversation we want to explore. What did it feel like to collaborate? What did it feel like to yield to others? What were the anxieties? What were the joys? How do we get past such anxiety to connect to collaborative communities of joy?","Link":["http:\/\/dubliners2013.blogspot.com\/; http:\/\/wereadr3.blogspot.com\/; https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/0B2IkraEAu1OfMUtJNUFzRnhiQUU\/view?usp=sharing"],"Audience":["High School"],"Practice":"After sharing a very short version of our story, we will generate conversation by pairing up groups to share ideas based on situational questions we distribute, and our discussion starters would be based on scenarios where we (in our previous collaborative experience) encountered challenges or difficulties emotionally speaking. Groups would discuss the question, and an appointed person from each discussion circle would then share their \"best\" ideas\/responses on a google doc we'll have set up for everyone. (The google doc will also contain links to our web resources from our previous collaborative projects, and the google doc will be permanent so attendees can reference it later.) After each discussion starter, we'll share a little about how we responded to such challenges in our own experience as well. Some of the issues we would want to discuss would be (1) how do we get colleagues to collaborate? (2) where are the boundaries when collaborating via media and web 2.0 technologies? (3) what do we do when we cross into an \u201cout-of-boundary\u201d area? (4) how do we improve each other\u2019s ideas without criticizing the other? (5) how does one handle moments of professional jealousy that no one wants to talk about? (6) when do we yield to others? (7) who owns what in a completely collaborative endeavor? (8) what are the joys to be experienced when overcoming such hurdles? (9) what kind of similar demands do we make on our students? To inspire as much sharing as possible, we\u2019ll be providing details from our story that give specificity and context to these emotionally difficult questions. We\u2019d also like to skype in a student to share their perspective on the experience.\r\n\r\nHere's an audio clip (w\/ images) of us talking together: https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/0B2IkraEAu1OfMUtJNUFzRnhiQUU\/view?usp=sharing","Presenter":["Jared Colley","Joel Garza"],"PresenterAffiliation":["The Oakridge School","Greenhill School"],"PresenterEmail":["jcolley@theoakridgeschool.org"],"ScheduleSlotID":53,"ScheduleLocationID":3,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":"Please take a listen to a sample of this conversation in the form of a podcast we made and set to some images and video:\r\nhttps:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/0B2IkraEAu1OfMUtJNUFzRnhiQUU\/view?usp=sharing\r\n(This was a draft of what we put together for K12 Online this year)","LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":407,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1411406984,"CreatorID":15,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Getting our Kum-ba-ya On","Handle":"getting_our_kum-ba-ya_on","ShortDescription":"Mindfulness is the new buzzword in EduCircles these days. But what is it, exactly? What does it look like in different incarnations and different settings? Is it a relaxation technique, a stress reducer, or the feel good hit of the new school year? Is Mindfulness a passing fad or the key to powerful teaching and learning- or something in between?","Description":"In light of the ever-increasing pressures facing students and teachers, is it any wonder that we're reaching for new tools to keep us focused and balanced? Mindfulness seems like an easy solution. It does't cost much, there are no expensive materials and really- how hard is it to teach people to breath and be present? As a result, myriad programs have sprung up around the concept- some of dubious quality, all introducing the ideas from different perspectives. What's the difference between the good ones and the weak ones? What is *your* experience with Mindfulness in schools? Has it worked for you kids? Why (or why not)?","Link":["http:\/\/mindfulnessineducation.wordpress.com"],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"I'll spend just a few minutes (no more than 10) sharing some examples of what I mean by Mindfulness, followed by discussions focused around the questions included above using either a whole group (if the group is small) or small group to large group (if it's large) discussion format.","Presenter":["Susan Dreyer Leon"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Antioch University New England"],"PresenterEmail":["sdreyerleon@antioch.edu"],"ScheduleSlotID":53,"ScheduleLocationID":2,"SubmitterID":15,"AdditionalComments":"You can also find me on Twitter and Pinterest @MindfulEducator","LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":460,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1414878249,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Re-Languaging School","Handle":"re-languaging_school","ShortDescription":"How do the words we choose to use in school impact our students, positively or negatively? How might we use language to empower, include, and reimagine? Let's dig in to the evocative lexicon of education and unpack how we talk the talk.","Description":"The language of education evokes strong emotions for many of us: Discipline. Freshman. Grades. Math. Administration. Assessment. We each bring our own understandings, context and history to the language we use in school. As we change our educational practices, our attention to physical space, our approaches to student support, how are our word choices keeping up - or not? \r\n\r\n In this conversation, we\u2019ll explore these questions: do the words we choose to use in school describe what we actually mean? How do words include or exclude? Do our terms inspire hope or fear? How might we use our language to guide our culture? Are we being intentional? How do the lenses of history, race, gender, power and poverty factor in? What might we shift to align our values with our language? \r\n\r\nThis conversation will not seek to answer any of these questions; rather, we\u2019ll seek to debate and generate.","Link":[],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"Large group brainstorm, small group discussion of terms, large group conversation and generation of proposal for re-languaging common school terms.","Presenter":["Alex Shevrin"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Centerpoint School"],"PresenterEmail":["alex.shevrin@gmail.com"],"ScheduleSlotID":53,"ScheduleLocationID":12,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":478,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1415122224,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Self Care in a Challenging Educational Climate","Handle":"self_care_in_a_challenging_educational_climate","ShortDescription":"In the era of increasing teacher demoralization, how do teachers keep the momentum going? What are the most effective self-care ideas for teachers to implement in their teaching lives. This session will create a space for a dialogue and sharing of the strategies that have helped us along our professional journey. We are looking forward to hearing and learning from other participants in this session and creating a resource for other teachers to utilize as well.","Description":"In the era of increasing teacher demoralization, how do teachers keep the momentum going? What are the most effective self-care ideas for teachers to implement in their teaching lives. This session will create a space for a dialogue and sharing of the strategies that have helped us along our professional journey. We are looking forward to hearing and learning from other participants in this session and creating a resource for other teachers to utilize as well.","Link":[],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"","Presenter":["Zoe Siswick","Meenoo Rami"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Science Leadership Academy"],"PresenterEmail":["zsiswick@scienceleadership.org","mrami@scienceleadership.org"],"ScheduleSlotID":53,"ScheduleLocationID":10,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":485,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1415123507,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Shifting the Focus: Elevating Student Voices","Handle":"shifting_the_focus--elevating_student_voices","ShortDescription":"SLA students and teachers will share examples and experiences that shift the learning focus to students' inquiry and projects that elevate student voices. Session participants will then create a public project, elevating their own voices.","Description":"SLA students and teachers will share examples and experiences that shift the learning focus to students' inquiry and projects that elevate student voices. Session participants will then create a public project, elevating their own voices.","Link":["http:\/\/mrjblock.com"],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"SLA students and teachers will share examples and experiences that shift the learning focus to students' inquiry and projects that elevate student voices. Session participants will then create a public project, elevating their own voices.","Presenter":["Joshua Block","Amal Giknis"],"PresenterAffiliation":["SLA"],"PresenterEmail":["jblock@scienceleadership.org","agiknis@scienceleadership.org"],"ScheduleSlotID":53,"ScheduleLocationID":16,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":"Can you put us on Saturday, please?","LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":497,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1416955468,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"System wide alignment and capacity building of professional learning","Handle":"system_wide_alignment_and_capacity_building_of_professional_learning","ShortDescription":"This conversation will examine best practices for considering system wide goals and charting a course for building capacity to meet those goals. Participants will also consider how they can use online tools to meet their needs and evaluate progress.","Description":"The U.S. Department of Education Office of Educational Technology published its Professional Learning Toolkit in November 2014. Published in the public domain and openly available for remix and re-purposing, the toolkit offers research-supported thinking around aligning the pile of plans and goals within a school or district, figuring out capacity, and then moving to use all the tools available to design toward a learning organization.","Link":["http:\/\/tech.ed.gov\/professional-learning\/"],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"The conversation will include individual reflection (written and spoken), small group conversation, and whole group debate.","Presenter":["Zac Chase"],"PresenterAffiliation":["U.S. Department of Education Office of Educational Technology"],"PresenterEmail":["Zac.chase@gmail.com"],"ScheduleSlotID":53,"ScheduleLocationID":13,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":426,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1413994984,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"The Readiness Project","Handle":"the_readiness_project","ShortDescription":"Quick: Define \u201ccollege readiness\u201d. Now: compare what\u2019s in your head with definitions that have been established by standardized testing publishers, policy makers, and colleges themselves? Are they in alignment? Likely not. Let\u2019s redefine college readiness and discuss innovative teaching and assessment practices (you\u2019re likely already utilizing) that are aligned with our new, consensus-built definition.","Description":"Last year, ACT published findings (via Policy Implications on Preparing for Higher Standards) illustrating that 89% of high school educators believe that they are graduating students college-ready, while only 26% of college professors believe this to be true. Therefore, it must either be true that high school educators have a misguided sense of self-worth, or we\u2019re faced with conflicting definitions of what it actually means to be \u201ccollege-ready\u201d. \r\n\r\nACT bases its definition of readiness on established content-area benchmarks (science, math, reading English). Arne Duncan describes CCR as the ability to work in diverse teams, display grit, and continually learn. As Director of the CWRA (the College & Work Readiness Assessment), even I\u2019m guilty of definition-conflating. (Our definition includes mastery of deeper learning skills, such as critical thinking, problem solving, and effective communication). \r\n\r\nIt\u2019s high time we take back the conversation and define for ourselves what definitions of college and career readiness we wish to be held to. This session builds off work I have done with other groups to build ground-level consensus around (a) how to best define what it means to be college (and career) ready, (b) best methods for teaching toward that definition and (c) ways to effectively align assessment practices with both the definition and the aligned teaching practices. \r\n\r\nAs I continue accumulating feedback from across the country, my goal is to determine how these definitions\u2014essentially created in the vacuum of individual conference sessions\u2014resemble one another (and often fail to resemble the definitions established by outside parties).","Link":["http:\/\/www.cae.org\/rr"],"Audience":["High School"],"Practice":"This session will be roughly 80% group-based work and consensus building. But for some baseline foundation setting, the content of the session will be driven by the discussions themselves. Conversations around defining \u201creadiness\u201d will scaffold appropriately into conversations about pedagogy and, subsequently, assessment. To be fair\u2026EduCon attendees are somewhat self-selecting, so I can anticipate where the conversation will go, so it won\u2019t be without structure. But the results of this session will play an integral part in ensuring that the voices of the EduCon participant will influence a more national conversation about righting existing misalignment in the ways that various groups view college (and career) readiness.","Presenter":["Chris Jackson"],"PresenterAffiliation":["CWRA"],"PresenterEmail":["cjackson@cae.org"],"ScheduleSlotID":53,"ScheduleLocationID":14,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":455,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1414814177,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Working from Color Blind to Color Conscious","Handle":"working_from_color_blind_to_color_conscious","ShortDescription":"By modeling activities from the University of Texas' Principalship Program, with it\u2019s anti-racist leadership and social justice focus, attendees will work to unpack previously unexplored assumptions and will walk away with tools to share with others.","Description":"How do you get (predominantly white) educators to 'see' color? To be able to hold productive conversations around race? Quality conversations are rare in nearly all schools across the country. Too often talks about race are derailed due to poor execution and\/or planning, failing to understand the complex dynamics involved in such discussions. This conversation will help provide participants with the tools needed to begin this much needed dialogue.","Link":["http:\/\/www.adamholman.org","http:\/\/www.edcampATX.org"],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"All participants and attendees will be encouraged to bring an activity, an article, a blog post, a video, etc. to share; that they've found helpful in raising their level of color consciousness. All ideas shared will be collected on a Padlet or similar level platform for curation. Newcomers are strongly encouraged to attend, even if they don\u2019t feel confident sharing, as this conversation is meant to help give all educators some practical tools and conversation starters to bring back to their campus or district.","Presenter":["Adam Holman","Stephanie Cerda"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Austin ISD","Manor ISD"],"PresenterEmail":["agholm@gmail.com","isis.s.cerda@gmail.com"],"ScheduleSlotID":53,"ScheduleLocationID":7,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":445,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1414765510,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"\u201cThe Wannado Curriculum: Scenes from a Dynamic Math 2.0 Classroom\u201d","Handle":"the_wannado_curriculum--scenes_from_a_dynamic_math_2.0_classroom","ShortDescription":"\u201cThe Wannado Curriculum: Scenes from a Dynamic Math 2.0 Classroom\u201d presents glimpses of what 21st century math teaching and learning could look like if we embrace a student driven, teacher supported, national approach. We would like to add your input, please.","Description":"Following a brief presentation by one local and one remote presenter, we will engage with the discussants who may be interested in enriching mathematics learning and teaching at all levels through more active problem solving, non-traditional methodologies and utilization of Web 2.0 technologies. Challenges abound, no-doubt (Core Curriculum demands, state-mandated high-stakes testing) but dynamic teachers across the US and around the world are already sharing best practices.\r\n\r\n We anticipate an active discussion with participants in the room at SLA as well as contributions from colleagues and friends - we are going to set this up in advance! - sharing ideas through Twitter and other social media platforms, email, etc. The engagement of the participants in a focussed but far-ranging (interdisciplinary approaches, problem\/project-based learning ideas - even the SLA model!) conversation will hopefully not end at the conclusion of the breakout session. Relationships may be formed and plans for implementations in classrooms will continue to be discussed and supported. Orthogonal thinking (math PLUS dance, math PLUS art, math in the real world) will be encouraged.","Link":["http:\/\/dynamicmathclassroom.blogspot.com\/2012\/08\/preview-of-forthcoming-book.html","http:\/\/www.moebiusnoodles.com","http:\/\/mathfour.com\/"],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"Remote presenter (Ihor, by Skype, Google Hangout, etc.), Twitter #hashtag commentary during presentation for added input - outgrouth of active #mathchat","Presenter":["David Weksler","Ihor Charischak"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Too many to mention ;-) - independent math prof. development providers"],"PresenterEmail":["wex@pobox.com","ihor@clime.org"],"ScheduleSlotID":53,"ScheduleLocationID":11,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":"Thanks for considering our conversation proposal!","LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":504,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1420581229,"CreatorID":88,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Approaching Authentic Assessments","Handle":"approaching_authentic_assessments","ShortDescription":"Project-based learning gives\r\nteachers the opportunity to bring learning closer to students' real\r\nlives. But how can we make sure the final projects we ask students\r\nto create both require them to use real-world skills and spark\r\ntheir curiosity, inquiry, and imaginations? Instead of asking\r\nstudents to make projects that approximate real-life for the\r\nfuture, how can we ask them to do meaningful assessments that\r\nmatter for real life today?","Description":"Project-based learning gives\r\nteachers the opportunity to bring learning closer to students' real\r\nlives. But how can we make sure the final projects we ask students\r\nto create both require them to use real-world skills and spark\r\ntheir curiosity, inquiry, and imaginations? Instead of asking\r\nstudents to make projects that approximate real-life for the\r\nfuture, how can we ask them to do meaningful assessments that\r\nmatter for real life today?","Link":[],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"Project-based learning gives\r\nteachers the opportunity to bring learning closer to students' real\r\nlives. But how can we make sure the final projects we ask students\r\nto create both require them to use real-world skills and spark\r\ntheir curiosity, inquiry, and imaginations? Instead of asking\r\nstudents to make projects that approximate real-life for the\r\nfuture, how can we ask them to do meaningful assessments that\r\nmatter for real life today?","Presenter":["Max Rosen-Long"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Science Leadership Academy @ Beeber"],"PresenterEmail":["mrosen-long@slabeeber.org"],"ScheduleSlotID":54,"ScheduleLocationID":2,"SubmitterID":88,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":439,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1414620087,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Forget FBLA...We're Creating Social Entrepreneurs Today","Handle":"forget_fbla...we-re_creating_social_entrepreneurs_today","ShortDescription":"Our conversation will address the missing yet essential elements of most schools\u2019 curricular programs: innovation and social justice. We\u2019ll discuss how the two can be combined in a Social Entrepreneurs class in which students merge their own passions with a need in their community to develop a student-run business.","Description":"Our conversation will explore the journey students would take in a Social Entrepreneurs class, an authentic problem-based course. Students in the course will learn about themselves as members of an organization, about themselves as collaborators, and about their learning styles. This course is not theoretical; students will translate their ideas into a working business model beyond the classroom. Ultimately, students in this course will become part of an educated, ethical, and empathetic classroom community.\r\n\r\nParticipants in our conversation will follow the scope of the course by engaging in self-reflection and by identifying our passions. From there we will marry our passions with a social justice need in our communities. Next we will organize into functional teams and engage in early stages of the design thinking process such as research and empathy. We can fast-pace the simulation by plunging into the final element of the course and the latter components of design thinking as we iterate business plans for our student-run business.\r\n\r\nWe will conclude the conversation by discussing ways to bring this type of course into our schools, the challenges such a course presents, and the benefits of this type of offering for students.","Link":["http:\/\/www.mmreesescott.com","http:\/\/joeystarnes.blogspot.com"],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"We will deliver surveys for the self-reflection and passion identification via Google Forms. From there we will capture participants\u2019 work via Google Docs or Padlet and will share our resources through a Smore page.","Presenter":["Melissa Scott","Joey Starnes","Shannan Schuster","Lisa Williams","Karen Davis"],"PresenterAffiliation":["The Children's School","Flint Hill School","Friends' Central School","Saint David's School"],"PresenterEmail":["melissas@thechildrensschool.com","mmreesescott@gmail.com","jstarnes@flinthill.org","sschuster@friendscentral.org","lwilliams@flinthill.org","ksdavisteacher@gmail.com"],"ScheduleSlotID":54,"ScheduleLocationID":3,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":470,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1414898702,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Life Beyond School Walls","Handle":"life_beyond_school_walls","ShortDescription":"The majority of human life and activity\u2014and the vast majority of adult life and activity\u2014happen beyond our schools' walls. Taking this as a starting point, how can we put our students in touch with the living and doing that's happening in the world? Like, for real.","Description":"I work at Princeton Learning Cooperative, an \"unschool\" that helps teens who are not a good \"fit\" for school to leave it and lead lives without it. One part of my job is to help teens to connect with the community and to find resources and opportunities to make meaningful lives for themselves. I also write a blog called Math Munch for middle and high schoolers that aims to connect them with the wide world of mathematics that exists on the internet\u2014and to help them to find some spots within it to love.\r\n\r\nThat's where I'm coming from on this question of \"life beyond school walls\". I'll have some remarks to make about the work I do, and I think they'll help us to cut past some usual assumptions of what school is about and open up an interesting conversation\u2014about those assumptions, about what we value in our adult lives, and what we see as the most valuable and shaping experiences we can help our students to have.","Link":["http:\/\/ichoosemath.com","http:\/\/mathmunch.org"],"Audience":["High School","Middle School"],"Practice":"I don't think it will be hard for this to turn into conversation after I make a short introductory presentation. Knowing myself, I imagine I'll give folks some individual reflection time, some time to chat with a partner or small group, and then have a whole-group conversation. And having just read the \"more ideas\" link below, I'll have some way for us to record our conversation and our concomitant thoughts\u2014perhaps a collaborative Google doc.","Presenter":["Justin Lanier"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Princeton Learning Cooperative"],"PresenterEmail":["justin.lanier@gmail.com"],"ScheduleSlotID":54,"ScheduleLocationID":15,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":4},{"ID":417,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1412871746,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"moncler kids jacket","Handle":"create_something_great","ShortDescription":"