Keynote: Four-Dimensional Education for the Age of Artificial Intelligence [Livestreamed]Charles Fadel What should students learn for the age of artificial intelligence? For the past several decades, education systems worldwide have been tackling "How" issues (pedagogies, assessments, administration, equity, etc.), but the "What" question has become suddenly just as urgent. A modern, relevant education should offer curated STEM, humanities, arts (as well as other disciplines such as entrepreneurship), and pay increased attention to wellness, "21st century skills", social/emotional learning, and "learning how to learn".
Subarctic Survival Monica Higgins and Uche Amaechi This simulation exercise focuses on team strategy, team process, and the potential for gains that can result from working effectively as a team. The simulation exercise itself places participants in an unfamiliar setting, the subarctic, to eliminate the potential for high levels of expertise and familiarity with the task. Participants are asked to rank some items in order of their importance to their survival, drawing upon whatever individual stocks of knowledge they currently possess. Then, participants do this same exercise but as a team. Data are then gathered regarding their performance (answers are compared to those of an expert). The debrief of the simulation allows for a discussion of how factors such as diversity of experience, expertise, and identity group differences contributed to voices being heard (or not) during the team's deliberations. Lessons stem from personal reflections on how individuals engaged with the exercise and the ways in which their interpersonal style impacted their team's effectiveness.
21st Century Public School Governance and Employment Relations: The Impact on Student Achievement, Teacher Turnover, Innovation and Poverty Saul Avery Rubinstein A discussion of current research and practice implementing union-management partnerships and collaborative leadership approaches at the district and school levels and their impact on student achievement, teacher turnover, and innovation across schools, particularly in high poverty areas.
Big Dig (Tonka Trucks) [Livestreamed] Allison Chester, Amanda Murphy, and Jen Powell The engineering design process and practical problem solving are 21st century skills that our students need to develop. Work in a collaborative team to solve an engineering dilemma encountered during our Commonwealth's most intricate and involved transportation project.
Building Mathematical Schema with ST Math Jessica McKenzie and Raymond Borno Experience engaging elementary math curricula designed for how the human brain learns and created to prepare students to solve the world's most challenging problems. Participants will learn about the instructional software program ST Math and how the program's models and feedback develop students' understanding of mathematical concepts. The session will include interactive lessons about fractions for participants to experience classroom instruction with ST Math.
Building Systems of Opportunity and Support for Massachusetts' Students Paul Reville This session will look at the challenge of assuring all students — and all means all — are prepared for success. What does it take for each and every child to be able to show up to school each and every day genuinely ready to learn? How can communities build systems of support and opportunity to effectively wrap around public schools to create a genuine cradle to career, insulated pipeline?
Early College and Career Pathways Mary M. Bourque, Kimberley Murphy, and Steve Prudent Chelsea High School's Early College program is built on the value of access and equity. Now in its fifth year of a partnership, the Early College program with Bunker Hill Community College at Chelsea High has over 300 students participating. Through academic pathways, advising, curriculum alignment, and purposeful course selections, the next steps for Chelsea is an expanded 9–12 model with specific paths towards graduating high school with stackable credentials.
Educator Workforce Diversity [Livestreamed] Ventura Rodriguez and Shay Edmond Currently, 40 percent of Massachusetts public school students are students of color, however, only 7 percent of educators in the state are educators of color. A growing body of research indicates that increasing teacher diversity is an important strategy for improving learning for students of color and for closing achievement gaps. This session will provide an overview of current strategies developed and implemented by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to support the diversification of the Massachusetts educator workforce.
Getting Creative with Code! Karen Brennan, Alexa Kutler, and Laura Peters Join us for a playful session of learning to code with Scratch, a visual programming language for young people. This hands-on play session will be organized around three activities. We will begin by imagining what is possible with Scratch by exploring a few of the millions of stories, games, and animations that young people around the world have already created. We will then dive into creating our own Scratch projects. We will end by sharing our projects, our questions, and our ideas for cultivating creativity with code in any learning environment. What will you create?
It's Personal! It's Financial! It's Natural! Financial Choices Students Make: PreK–12 Talitha Oliveri and Jacqueline Prester Making choices is part of our everyday lives. Certain everyday choices need more guidance than others — financial choices. Come prepared to take on the role of a preK–12 student as teachers and high school students demonstrate how to provide quality instruction while integrating personal finance content into several age-appropriate lessons. Follow along with the progression of financial choices students face as pre-K students to graduating seniors. This workshop will follow a 10:20:10 model, with 10 minutes of direct instruction for preK–4, 20 minutes of breakouts for grades 5–8 or 9–12, and a 10-minute wrap-up including testimonials by former students. Session takeaways include easily replicable hands-on activities, educator resources, parent/caregiver connections, and more.
Let's Create! Genein Letford Creating is fun, but now it's absolutely necessary for success! The World Economic Forum listed creative thinking as one of the top skills for 2020. Creativity is not a special talent that only some people possess; it's in all of us and can be developed! This seminar will show you how to jumpstart your students' creative thinking through engaging, fun, and thought-provoking exercises. Genein reconnects and strengthens the childlike imagination with the mature ability of reasoning and introspection. Now let's create!
Owl Pellet Dissection Danielle Quinlan We will be engaging in an owl pellet dissection to identify characteristics of owl behavior. The lesson will start by previewing important vocabulary, then dive into an article to pull out important background knowledge in order to draw conclusions about how owls and other species interact with each other in the same habitat. I will share several behavior management techniques that help quickly re-engage students and facilitate accountable talk.
The Road Not Taken: Changing Up Family Engagement in the Home of Robert Frost Denise M. Snyder and Nelson Butten This session will examine Lawrence Public Schools' strategic planning process as well as the results of that journey. The session will focus on initiatives that grow capacity in educators and families, build relationships, and share decision making. We'll cover the rollout of a fellowship for schools, the launch of a parent advocacy program, and the development of a district-wide stakeholder council that is currently working on family engagement policy!
Rubber Band Helicopter Captain Barrington Irving This engineering challenge will focus on helicopters and their use of rotating wings called blades to fly. These blades allow a helicopter to fly in directions and patterns that an airplane cannot. Even though a helicopter does not have wings, it is still impacted by the same four forces that impact a plane: lift, drag, weight, and thrust.
Targeting Market Segments through Advertising Using Ethos, Pathos, and Logos: An Interdisciplinary Lesson on Marketing Principles and English Language Arts Meghan Symmes Beaulieu The theme of this conference is kairos — Greek for a moment of decision and action — and this session will look at other Greek concepts: ethos, pathos, and logos. In this interactive lesson, we will understand how marketers in the real world use these concepts to advertise their products or services focusing on segmented target markets. The "students" will work creatively and collaboratively to use these three persuasive techniques as well as other advertising strategies to advertise a product.
Tower Building — Importance of Collaboration Emily Galindo, Jennifer DiSarcina and Jodi Krous Collaboration and communication are essential elements for constructing knowledge in the classroom. Participants will have to agree upon a concept, determine a plan of action, implement it, and adjust ideas to build their tower of learning together.
White Nose Syndrome Holly McPartlin and Aliza (Kiki) Moschella Ecosystems are nature's reminder that we are inextricably linked. How do we determine and measure the influence of our decisions on our immediate environment and beyond? Choices we make and the data we gather can impact the future for all of us.
Last Updated: March 20, 2019
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