| What Do You Do When You Did Everything Right and They Still Misbehave? |
| Even when you do everything right -- plan for active learning, take care of social, emotional, and physical needs -- some kid(s) will still behave inappropriately. Learn by doing how a gradual, counseling-based, win-win approach to dealing with the whole child, can help you and the kids focus on what matters -- learning in a humane, supportive environment. And these skills and concepts can be used in all your relationships, whether professional or personal. |
| Becoming a "Real Middle School" -- Whatever That Is |
| Becoming a "real middle school" is not a search for an end point, but rather an ongoing process of examining all school practices in light of adolescents' developmental needs. Such reform requires that all stakeholders take active roles in this process of inquiry and innovation. A great way to start this process is with self-interest – by answering the question, "What’s Driving You Crazy?" you’ll identify a jillion areas of stress, most of which can be addressed by making school practices more compatible with the kids. There are as many paths to becoming "real middle schools" as there are middle level schools. Come find your path to becoming a "real middle school.” |
| Teaming Is Not a Four-Letter Word |
| Middle level and high school teams of teachers and students serve two primary functions: 1) they are the safe, caring, small-scale community where students are known, cared for and held accountable; and 2) they are the means for teachers and students to integrate curriculum into REAL learning. Come find out how to organize your team to accomplish these crucial goals without driving each other crazy. Teams can and should be the primary means for making life simpler, more fool-proof, more pleasant and more productive for students, teachers and families. |
| The Adolescent Brain: Anybody Home? |
| Exciting new developments in brain research are providing amazing insights into adolescents’ brains. The lights-on/lights-off phenomenon is apparently not (always) an intentional plot to torment adults. And kids’ cluelessness at our nonverbal cueing (e.g., stink-eye) is not (always) an act. There are fascinating aha’s and implications for our practice to be had by venturing between the ears of adolescents. Caution: This is not a journey for the timid or squeamish! |
| Differentiation – Not Standardization! |
| Learn by doing! Find out how you can bring out the brilliance in all students by meeting them where they’re at. Providing some curriculum that all must master, along with some choices of content, processes and/or assessment can make everyone a winner. Self-guided Learning Centers can be a part of the process by addressing Multiple Intelligences (Gardner), and providing choice and freedom of movement. It's not that hard! Come and play your way to a happier, more productive classroom. |
| Teachers Taking Charge with Professional Portfolios |
| Middle grades teachers in the University of Hawai’i Master of Education Degree with a Middle Level Emphasis are revolutionizing their incredibly culturally diverse middle level schools. Professional portfolios (in various formats -- book, box, electronic) guide the way and prove their accomplishments. Come learn how professional portfolios, a learning community and perseverance can empower teachers to transform their schools. |
| Kimo's Not-So-Excellent Day in Intermediate School |
| We will use "Kimo’s Not-So-Excellent Day in Intermediate School" to unpack the absurdity of a typical intermediate school (Hawai‘i's term for a traditional junior high or secondary school). Then we will "fix" things with common sense educational approaches so that Kimo and his teachers will have excellent days from here on. You’ll probably recognize some of your own practices that contribute to your "Kimos" not-so-excellent day. |
| SIMPLE Approaches to Cooperative Learning |
| This session will introduce participants to simple approaches to cooperative learning (or small group work) that engage all students in high-level learning. "Cooperative learning" is too often sold as a set of complex formulas and elaborate systems. Classroom research by the presenter and others suggests simpler, more flexible approaches. Participants will use cooperative learning to identify the implications for their own teaching. Among the topics examined will be effective group interaction, composition of groups, academic tasks, and inclusion of all students. |
| Get Outa There! Bring Your Curriculum Into the Outdoors -- Bring the Outdoors into your Curriculum! |
| Come find out how you and your students can make meaningful curriculum in the real world -- the outdoors. You will have a chance to participate in "outdoor education" activities that can be used indoors or out. You'll learn approaches for developing leadership, problem-solving, and team work while addressing academic content from virtually all disciplines -- social studies, art, physical education, language arts, science, math -- you name it! It's impossible to stay within one single subject area in the outdoors -- integration comes naturally! |
| The 4 L's of Parenting: Love, Limits, Listening and Laughter |
| You’re not alone! It’s not easy to keep the lines of communication open, and even harder when your sweet young child is turning into a per-teen or teen. Come learn how to communicate in ways that let your youngster(s) know you love them, and that you expect them to be to be responsible for their decisions. We’ll practice techniques that will help both you and your kid(s) of any age to survive and even laugh through life’s challenges. |
| What's Going On With Our Students?: A Look at School from the Students' Perspective |
| Learn how to look at life in school from students' perspectives. Learn to conduct shadow studies, where a researcher follows a student through their school schedule -- this can provide insight into the social, physical and academic challenges that youngsters face in school. In addition, you will learn other research techniques for interviewing both formally and informally as well as being a "participant observer" -- all to see the mysterious world of pre-teens as they see it. You will also learn how to empower your students as co-researchers. Come prepared for laughs and surprises! |
| Building Cooperative, Inclusive Classroom and School Cultures |
| An enormous research base shows that everyone learns better in environments where participants cooperate with one another, that is, share ideas and resources so that all succeed. Such environments make everyone a "part of the action" whether academic or social, thus offering rich opportunities to all. "Everyone" includes males and females and every sexual identity, persons of all abilities, disabilities and interests, those of all ethnicities, races and religions, in other words, EVERYONE! Find out how you can examine your school and classroom for explicit and implicit components of cooperation and inclusion, and how you can take action to promote these norms among faculty, staff, students, parents and community members – everyone! |
| Puberty 101 |
| Is puberty evidence of nature’s wicked sense of humor? Of cruelty? (toward kids and the adults who interact with them???) Adolescence is the greatest period change in the human lifespan other than from birth to age two. The changes take place in every aspect of human functioning – physical, social-emotional, and cognitive / intellectual. Puberty offers unique opportunities, challenges and risks for pre-teens and the adults who care for them. Let’s reexamine this incredibly important, fascinating and, yes – hilarious -- developmental stage to better understand it, and to help kids negotiate it successfully. |
| Advisory Advice: Why? How? How do we know? |
| Advisory programs, guidance programs, pastoral care programs – whatever you call them, these are probably the most crucial and most challenging component of effective middle level schools. Why? These programs should do two things – 1) systematically connect EVERY student with a caring adult; and 2) help students to cope with the challenges of adolescence by learning skills like good decision-making and conflict resolution. How? Structured activities, plus informal, skilled listening are the key components. Adequate staff development, and a menu of suggested -- not mandatory – activities are essential. How do we know? Assessing the program’s effectiveness requires examining its implementation -- Is everyone doing it? How often? How do teachers and students feel about it?; and its outcomes -- Are there fewer discipline problems, emotional problems, fights? Is attendance improving? Come learn some of the skills involved in effective advisory, plus ideas for designing and evaluating a program for your school. |
| Active, Interdisciplinary Curriculum – It doesn’t have to kill you! |
| Active, Interdisciplinary Curriculum-- Sounds good, but there’s all this curriculum to cover, all these standards to address, tests to prepare for.... Curriculum CAN be active and interdisciplinary, consistent with adolescents’ developmental needs, while also addressing required targets, goals, standards, etc. Small, low-key connections between separate subjects are usually the logical starting point. And humungous, weeks-long interdisciplinary units are also an important part of the mix. Come find out how to do both, primarily the former – without killing yourself – to bring curriculum to life for students and teachers. |
| Secondary School Reform |
| Good secondary schools are places where everyone learns lots – students and teachers both. Every student is well known by peers and select adults – students and teachers connect with each other in smaller, personalized sub-units – schools-within-schools, houses and/or teams. Curriculum is authentic – connected with the real world – by integrating subjects into studies of issues that matter, like economic sustainability, environmentally friendly development, bioethics.... Democracy rules as everyone’s ideas are part of the decision-making process, both in classrooms and staffrooms. Such reform requires that all stakeholders take active roles in a process of inquiry and innovation. A great way to start is with self-interest. Focus on reducing your own stress level. Chances are, your stresses are due to practices that are incompatible with adolescents. There are many paths in secondary schools to reducing stress, and maximizing motivation, attendance and learning. Come find your path! |