Learn: Discover how teachers can leverage their unique position to positively influence students' brain development. This session will explore research in mind, brain, and education, providing practical strategies to enhance learning, memory, critical thinking, and confidence in the classroom.
Engage: Participants will be actively involved through movement, curiosity, humor, play, music, and interactive discussions, making the learning experience enjoyable and memorable.
Apply: Walk away with a wealth of immediately applicable, low-cost strategies to nurture every student's brain and engage their interest daily. Understanding how the brain learns will transform your teaching practice and enrich your own learning experience as well.
Learn: Discover how to harness the features of your learning management system (LMS) to support Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and create more inclusive, accessible learning experiences. Explore insights from a district collaboration with the DESE AEM Cohort, demonstrating how UDL principles were translated into actionable goals to make the LMS a tool for diverse learners.
Engage: Explore district-created UDL resources and experiment with tools in an Open Canvas Course designed around UDL principles. Gain insights into how other districts are addressing barriers to learning and making their LMS more inclusive.
Apply: Put UDL into action by mapping UDL principles to your LMS, adapting shared Canvas examples, and developing personalized implementation goals that make your LMS a dynamic platform for learner-centered education.
Learn: Explore key elements of career readiness that have proven successful in diverse educational settings. Identify modules and mini-lessons that connect curriculum to profession-based relevance, tailored to fit your unique classroom context.
Engage: Collaborate with shoulder-partners to practice various strategies, contribute questions that guide the workshop’s direction, and co-create a list of valuable resources and ideas. This collaborative approach will enable you to expand on resources shared while addressing real-world applications.
Learn: Delve into the practice of Instructional Rounding as implemented in the Mehlville and Affton school districts, and discover its positive impacts in special education. Discover how Instructional Rounding can foster a culture of continuous learning, strengthen educator capacity and promote a community of personalized professional growth.
Engage: Participate in hands-on activities, partner and group discussions, and interactive Q&A session. Through these collaborative experiences, gain deeper insight into how Instructional Rounding supports educator and student development.
Apply: Reflect on the impacts of Instructional Rounding and begin planning how to incorporate this practice in your own setting. Gain actionable ideas for implementing Instructional Rounding to cultivate a supportive and growth-oriented culture within your educational community.
Learn: Discover the latest AI resources and how to leverage them to streamline daily tasks, enhance instructional practices and engage students meaningfully, prioritizing effective learning outcomes.
Engage: Actively explore and utilize AI tools to design a classroom-ready lesson that incorporates practical applications, enabling students to engage actively with an AI platform.
Apply: Gain a ready-to-implement lesson plan that integrates AI, enhancing student engagement and facilitating deeper learning experiences in the classroom.
Learn: Discover the impact of family and community involvement on student success and explore various strategies for fostering meaningful connections. Explore effective, actionable methods for welcoming parents and community members into schools in a way that is both frequent and productive.
Engage: Participate in activities designed to map out your current family and community engagement efforts. Identify what is working well, uncover areas needing improvement and collaborate with colleagues to share insights and ideas. Use planning tools and resources to develop ideas that build upon your school’s existing practices.
Apply: Gain a framework to create or enhance a family engagement plan tailored to the unique needs of your school and a clear path for strengthening partnerships that support growth, belonging and the overall success of your students.
Learn: Explore three innovative personalized learning projects designed to foster connection and belonging within your classroom community. Discover the importance of these projects in promoting empathy and engagement among students.
Engage: Review templates developed from real classroom experiences, including creation tools and grading rubrics. "Stop and jot" your ideas and then collaborate with peers from similar grade levels or subject areas (e.g., high school social studies, high school ELA, or third grade) to brainstorm how to adapt these projects for your own classrooms.
Apply: Customize the provided templates to suit your specific content area and identify how these projects can integrate into your curriculum, ultimately creating a classroom environment that nurtures belonging and empathy while actively engaging students in meaningful learning experiences.
Learn: Discover how creative play can boost student engagement and recall by embracing messy, hands-on learning experiences. Explore effective classroom management strategies to maintain order while fostering a productive and stimulating environment.
Engage: Participate in discussions and activities that demonstrate how messy projects encourage deeper student reflection. Discover how these approaches inspire students to talk, write and think critically about their learning experiences.
Apply: Gain practical methods to integrate messy, creative projects across core subjects like science, history and language arts. Gain tools to connect art and creativity to academic goals, reinforcing the educational value of hands-on, interdisciplinary learning.
Learn: Explore how to effectively use video to record and teach lesson demonstrations that can be uploaded to a dedicated YouTube channel. Discover how recorded lessons can capture students' attention through step-by-step modeling for projects, skill development or desired behaviors.
Engage: Utilize project materials, acquired skills and a cell phone camera to practice teaching and demonstrating a lesson that will be uploaded to your YouTube channel created for this purpose.
Apply: Gain skills to launch your own YouTube video lesson demonstration to support students who may struggle, provide resources for absent learners and maximize preparation time during lessons, especially when teaching multiple classes back-to-back.
Learn: Discover the latest AI tools and their potential applications in the classroom. Discover cutting-edge technology and showcase how AI can create new learning opportunities, sparking innovation for both educators and students.
Engage: Actively experiment with AI tools while engaging in thought-provoking discussions on the broader impact of AI on education. Collaborate with peers to explore AI's role in transforming the learning experience.
Apply: Gain practical ideas and strategies for leveraging AI in your classroom. Be prepared to create transformative learning experiences that harness AI's potential to engage and inspire students.
