JULY 28 – DAY 2 – MORNING

(Need Time) registration & continental breakfast 

8:30 – 9:20 a.m. Keynote Title: Leading Innovation in Schools

Speaker: Scott Sanchez

Design thinking programs provide leaders with a provocative, experiential, and practical approach to leading innovation in schools. Our focus is on building innova-tors (vs. innova-tions), so our primary work will be to develop the capacity to bring about the new model of schools. This keynote aims to expose participants to the principles of human-centered design and to inspire a conversation about disrupting the status quo, amplifying your school’s strengths, addressing key weaknesses, and thinking creatively.

9:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. – Workshop Title – Design Thinking Bootcamp

Speaker: Scott Sanchez

In this hands-on, interactive training, participants will learn the basics of design thinking with teams, including how to “take it home” to apply design thinking to schools and classrooms. We will go use our model (Do It, Apply It, Take it Home) to guide our work in the bootcamp. We’ll begin with a team or paired exercise on using design thinking outside of a school context, followed by a review best practices of applying design thinking in schools. Finally, we’ll wrap up with some small behaviors teachers can start to practice the next day to capitalize on their learnings

9:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. – Workshop Title: Gateway to STEM: Improving Spatial Skills – Part 1 (repeat)

Speaker: Dr. Sheryl Sorby

The ability to visualize in three dimensions is a cognitive skill that has been shown to be important for success in engineering and other technological fields. For engineering, the ability to mentally rotate 3-D objects is especially important. Unfortunately, of all the cognitive skills, 3-D rotation abilities exhibit robust gender differences, favoring males. The assessment of 3-D spatial skills and associated gender differences has been a topic of educational research for nearly a century; however, a great deal of the previous work has been aimed at merely identifying differences. For more than two decades, Sheryl Sorby has been conducting research aimed at identifying practical methods for improving 3-D spatial skills, especially for women engineering students. This presentation details the significant findings obtained over the past several years through this research and identifies strategies that appear to be effective in developing 3-D spatial skills and in contributing to student success.

9:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. – Workshop Title: Reading in the Content Areas: Session 1

Speaker: Laura Terrill

Today’s learners must acquire the skills needed to read challenging discipline-specific content. This workshop will provide an overview of the factors that impact a learner’s ability to read and comprehend text. It will address the often heard comment “I read it. I just don’t remember it.” Several reading strategies that require readers to engage meaningfully with a text will be presented.

9:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. – Workshop Title: Planning Instructional Interventions

Speaker: Jan Chappuis

Making mistakes is part of the normal flow of attaining mastery in any field. In this session, we will examine three types of errors students typically make and discuss teaching strategies that address each type of error. We also will explore the concept of instructional traction: the characteristics our diagnostic assessments need to have if they are to accurately guide the next steps of instruction. (Based on the book “Seven Strategies of Assessment for Learning.”)

9:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. – Workshop Title: Developing Change Agents: Integrating Economic and Social Issues in Mathematics Classrooms

Speaker: Lateefah Id-Deen

There are many significant and relevant economic and social issues that can be discussed in mathematics classrooms. No matter the experiences, race, or class of your students, there are opportunities for them to be change agents. In this session, middle and high school mathematics teachers will learn about the processes, benefits, and challenges of integrating social and economic issues in their mathematics classroom. We will discuss an overview of how to integrate these issues in your mathematics classroom, examine existing lesson plans, and provide an opportunity to work towards implementing a lesson or project in your own mathematics classroom. Resources and examples of lesson plans will be shared with teachers to use with their students.

9:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. – Workshop Title: Building Literacy in the Interpretive Mode

Speaker: Laura Terrill

The interpretive mode is key to the development of world language proficiency. Consider the advantages of authentic text and identify ways to find useful texts for all levels of instruction. Work with strategies that require learners to engage meaningfully with both literary and informational texts. Consider how texts are used to promote acquisition of new vocabulary and language structures. Finally, strategies for assessing the interpretive mode will be highlighted. Bring an authentic text that you hope to use in a future lesson.

JULY 28 – DAY 2 – AFTERNOON

1-3:30 p.m. – Workshop Title: Planning an Assessment for Formative or Summative Use

Speaker: Jan Chappuis

This session is designed to deepen understanding of how to plan a high-quality classroom assessment. We will walk through four decision points at the planning stage that will lead to accuracy of results. (Based on the book “Classroom Assessment for Student Learning: Doing It Right–Using It Well.”)

1-3:30 p.m. Workshop Title: Gateway to STEM: Improving Spatial Skills – Part 2 (repeat)

Speaker: Dr. Sheryl Sorby

The ability to visualize in three dimensions is a cognitive skill that has been shown to be important for success in engineering and other technological fields. For engineering, the ability to mentally rotate 3-D objects is especially important. Unfortunately, of all the cognitive skills, 3-D rotation abilities exhibit robust gender differences, favoring males. The assessment of 3-D spatial skills and associated gender differences has been a topic of educational research for nearly a century; however, a great deal of the previous work has been aimed at merely identifying differences. For more than two decades, Sheryl Sorby has been conducting research aimed at identifying practical methods for improving 3-D spatial skills, especially for women engineering students. This presentation details the significant findings obtained over the past several years through this research and identifies strategies that appear to be effective in developing 3-D spatial skills and in contributing to student success.

1- 4 p.m. Workshop Title – Design Thinking Bootcamp (repeat)

Speaker: Scott Sanchez

In this hands-on, interactive training, participants will learn the basics of design thinking with teams, including how to “take it home” to apply design thinking to schools and classrooms. We will go use our model (Do It, Apply It, Take it Home) to guide our work in the bootcamp. We’ll begin with a team or paired exercise on using design thinking outside of a school context, followed by a review best practices of applying design thinking in schools. Finally, we’ll wrap up with some small behaviors teachers can start to practice the next day to capitalize on their learnings

1-3:30 p.m. – Workshop – Title: Reading in the Content Areas: Session 2

Speaker: Laura Terrill

This workshop will consider the key premises that are in play when a learner processes a text. Participants will begin by considering strategies for activating prior knowledge. The importance of allowing readers to interact with a text prior to working collaboratively with others will be highlighted. Finally, participants will explore the connection between reading and writing, giving consideration to models that allow students to process new learning by capturing their thinking before, during, and after reading a text.