During each of the six breakout sessions throughout the weekend, a large number of conversations will take place. This site will help you organize your plan for the weekend and provide the relevant information for each conversation. After signing in, search through the conversations below and mark the sessions you are interested in to populate your personal schedule on the right (or below if on your mobile phone).
What responsibility do schools have to grow truly empathetic people? How do we help our students connect and build positive relationships with diverse populations in this increasingly divisive political/social climate? How do we help our young people “ listen to others deeply enough to be changed by what they learn?”
It seems we’re all trapped within our ideological “bubbles,” victims to believing and spreading “fake” and fast news. Let’s start doing something about this lack of nuanced thinking in our classrooms by providing texts that do not reduce ideas down to soundbites. You’ll leave this session thinking about how to help students articulate their ideas with depth and sophistication.
Cathy Davidson https://www.cathydavidson.com/ writes in her new book, The New Education, about the origins of our current educational system, and compellingly that this system no longer serves its students or society well. The focused solutions she recommends are aimed at higher education institutions.
A conversation about citizenship and teaching in the current climate
What is the story of what happens in our classrooms? If curiosity is the foundation of engagement, what steps can we take to foster it in our students? In ourselves? In our professional communities and contexts? In this conversation, we’ll make plans to inspire curiosity and then discuss how we’ll share those stories of curiosity with others.
We talk about the importance of voice and choice but how do we encourage learners of all ages to discover their purpose for learning so they own and drive it. Learners need learning to be relevant and authentic. We will take real-world activities and use design thinking to redesign them together.
This conversation prepares participants for a hands-on exploration of youth participatory action research (YPAR). Sharing approaches from more than a decade of intergenerational, community-based research, we will develop action plans for research and advocacy.
Making the shift from a culture of teaching to a culture of modern learning can only happen when a school community shares powerful beliefs about learning. This session will discuss practical strategies to help educators to “find the others” or expand pockets of innovation and inspiration that embody modern learning.
Explore the opportunities and challenges of meditation for educators and the classroom.
Research supports that outdoor experiences benefit our minds and bodies. We will discuss limitations and brainstorm solutions to moving our student-driven inquiry lessons outside. Appropriate for all disciplines and age levels, together we will model hands-on strategies and will develop a tool kit to put into practice.
In this session we’ll discuss how to help students navigate the confusing waters of current political and social events. How do we help students initially approach the positions of others with curiosity, rather than judgement? How can curiosity help us avoid information silos and evaluate sources?
This conversation will focus on using technology (specifically Desmos and Geogebra) to help students explore mathematical concepts through interactive and engaging online activities. Participants in the conversation will explore several Desmos/Geogebra activities (and hear from current students who have used those activities in math classes), and then will work in small groups to re-design a current unit plan to include technology-based activities that create a more student-centered, inquiry-driven math experience.
What should it mean to graduate from high school? In this conversation, I am going to convince you that 1) high school graduation requirements are the Most Interesting Topic in the World, and 2) they are a really good place to begin radically reshaping schools.
EduCon 2018