Table 1: Education Law - Why everyone says I should have known more about this when I started teaching (Tom Hughes)
For many teachers working toward leadership opportunities about halfway through their courses they end up taking a course on education law and almost to a one end up commenting how "They should have known this stuff before - everything would have made so much more sense." The reality for these teachers whether they ever leave the classroom or not is that there very clearly is important over looked legally based information that all teachers should at least be aware of. This session will focus on why teachers need to know at least some entry level information about law, includes specific examples of topics they should be aware of, and finally attempts to provide prospective teachers with some options and resources that could be of benefit to them when they get into their first teaching assignment.
Table 2: Build Your Literature Stack! (Ali Conant & Ruth Donnelly)
This dynamic, fast-paced session will explore a variety of literature MUST HAVES for all educators. The literature pieces discussed will cross the curriculum, including Social Emotional Learning (SEL), and literature that “speaks” to the tough conversations that are a part of our everyday teaching environment. In addition to building your classroom libraries, professional books that will promote your continued growth and journey as an educator will be discussed and share. Walk away with an extensive list of quality books and a few lesson plans to get you started!
Table 3: Practicing Critical Oral History (Christine Lemley)
This session will present Critical Oral History (COH) as a resource teaching tool and multiple ways to integrate this in curriculum. COH is committed to recording first-hand knowledge of experiences with the additional goals of revealing power differences and inequities in order to promote social and cultural transformational outcomes. COH uses (1) critical inquiry, (2) community-based accountability and (3) transformational outcomes to frame the projects and draws on (a) reflexivity, (b) relationality, (c) responsibility, (d) respect and (e) reciprocity to engage in meaningful ways. Together these frames promote agency and value historically marginalized community members’ stories (e,g., people of color, women, LGBT populations, youth and the elderly) that are often unheard or untold in order to validate and act on these stories in order to counter dominant power structures.
Table 4: Grading: Fairly Evaluating Student Progress (Tia Frahm)
This lunch conversation will focus on your future grading practices and approaches to evaluating your students fairly. Topics will include conferencing in the content areas, final project rubrics, the one-point rubric, standards-based grading, and other grading topics presented during the conversation.
Table 5: Progressive Education (Brian Stone)
Have you ever wondered about different approaches to education? Is what we are doing in education right now the only way, or the best way to educate children? This session will explore these questions and participants will gain some insights into "Progressive Education" (i.e. different approaches, innovative strategies, alternative schools, etc...). Some of the topics will include multiage education, child-centered schools, critical theory, democracy in education, constructivism, and current movements. Also, participants will be given some materials and resources to support further exploration including a list of some progressive schools across the country, progressive networks and organizations, and articles/books that support different approaches.
Table 6: Becoming an Activist Teacher, Teaching as Social Justice (Sharon Gooding)
This session will facilitate a discussion on the definition of social justice in the realm of education. Participants will engage in conversation regarding equity, fairness, power and privilege in schools as it relates to race, gender, class and other social differences. We will also probe matters such as culturally competent curriculum strategies, disciplinary practices, restorative justice and the opportunity gap. Finally, we will critically analyze these topics and discuss viable and practical ways to become a teacher activist in an effort to address these issues within all facets of our k-12 educational system– all in an hour!
Table 7: Caring Classrooms: Supporting Student's Social Emotional Learning (Rebecca Frantz)
A breadth of evidence suggests social development is related to important student outcomes, such as academic success, mental health and health outcomes, student retention and graduation rates, behavior, and delinquency. For this reason, a lot of attention has been paid toward developing programs to support student’s social emotional development from early childhood through high school. In this power lunch discussion, we will discuss the following topics related to social emotional development: What is the educator's role in supporting social emotional learning?; 2. What are recommended and evidence-based practices for supporting social emotional development?; and 3. How can social emotional learning be integrated into the curriculum?
Table 8: Visible Teaching & Learning as Social Justice (Rebecca Campbell)
Visible Teaching & Learning is the idea that the teacher can “see” when students are learning and students can “see” how the teacher is teaching. By becoming a visible teacher, you will empower your students to become their own teachers and become life-long learners. When we make learning a process for everyone, we create socially just classrooms and develop equitable opportunities for all students.
Table 9: Learning Through Podcasts With “3Ps in a Pod” (AZ K12 Center)
The Arizona K12 Center developed the podcast “3Ps in a Pod” in response to the indescribably complex demands facing the 21st century teacher. High-quality professional learning should be available and accessible to every educator, regardless of location or experience; accessibility is vital to ensure continued growth, thinking, and deepening of practice within the profession. To support educators along the continuum, the Arizona K12 Center developed “3Ps in a Pod” to further dissect Practice, Policy, and Passion in the field of education. The podcast, “3Ps in a Pod”, allows timely access to the information relevant to the professional needs of today’s educator. "3Ps in a Pod" features numerous guests with ideas, perspectives, and stories relevant to what educators do both in and out of the classroom. This podcast is a conversation, and we hope you will become a part of it!
Table 10: Navigating the New AZ Science Standards (Dave Thompson and Ron Gray)
Arizona just recently adopted new K-12 science standards and they are totally different from what Arizona has used for the last 15 years. Teachers will need to be familiar with the new format and structure of the AZ Science standards in order to implement their use in the classroom. This session is designed to investigate the changes and how they are structured in order to apply them in your teaching.
