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Paris 2009 Program The Conference in 2009 will be in Paris from January 29th to Feburary 1. Please check back here for the latest Program information.
Judith Baenen Motivating Students, Motivating Ourselves Teachers know a lot about motivating students, but often don’t use what they know. In this session, Judith Baenen will discuss practical, proven ways of motivating middle years students without damaging the all-important relationships that must exist in a classroom. Additionally, Baenen will address factors in the teaching profession itself that often hinder educators from trying new things and/or putting into practice information they already have. (90 Minutes )
Why Not Read to Your Advisory? Tired of the paper-and-pencil stuff? Can’t face doing the “coat of arms” one more time? Having trouble getting the kids to discuss issues, even the ones important to them? Try reading to your advisory. In this session, Baenen will introduce you to several books you can read aloud to your advisory. Each will spark conversation and thought among your middle grades students. (50 Minutes) Jack C. Berckemeyer
This presentation is designed for those of you that are interested in developing and implementing student led conferences. Practical tips on how to get started will be shared. Handouts that contain scripts for the students and ideas on how to implement a student led conference will also be shared. Attending this session will give you an understanding of student led conferences and all of the tools to make it effective. Language Arts Strategies that Meet the Needs of Young Adolescents Strategies on how to involve and motivate adolescents in the areas of spelling, reading, writing, listening and speaking will be shared. Great classroom activities that are simple to do will be demonstrated. If you are looking for some new language arts teaching techniques, then this presentation is for you! No philosophy, just laughter and great handouts will be shared. Teaming and the Middle Level Teacher Are you looking for ways to enhance your teaming situation? Are you struggling with consensus, conflict, and team use of time? Do you need some practical teaming ideas that you can implement with your team? If you answered yes to any of these questions then this informational session is for you! Classroom Management Strategies That WorkAre you looking for help dealing with classroom disruptions? This session will provide practical ideas to help with classroom behavioral issues. Find out how your room structure can make a difference. Discover alternative methods for getting a class to simmer down. Understanding Adolescents Keynote- Middle Level Education- Living it, Loving it, and Laughing about it.
Cathryn Berger Kaye Keynote
Janet Allen Tools for Teaching Content Literacy This session will highlight instructional strategies for increasing academic achievement through content literacy. Highlighted strategies for assessing and building background knowledge, expanding word knowledge, supporting and monitoring content comprehension, and extending and transferring learning will be demonstrated using high-interest fiction and nonfiction. (90 Minutes) Get Real! Creating and Supporting Successful Nonfiction Readers and Writers Topics and themes—units and texts—essential questions and content standards. Regardless of how we organize curriculum and instruction, learning content requires that students know how to decode a wide variety of texts every day. Join us as we explore effective instructional strategies for teaching students how to navigate through a variety of nonfiction texts; learn the “insider” vocabulary that would help them communicate content knowledge; and, develop ways to share their knowledge of content and writing using a variety of nonfiction formats. (50 Minutes) Where Do Great Lessons Begin & End? Creating Reading and Writing Foundations that Lead to Learning Great lessons begin and end with student engagement; student engagement usually occurs as a result of effective instruction. While many factors influence learning, some foundational factors are so critical they influence learning across all content areas. These factors include text selection, purposeful learning, background knowledge, specialized vocabulary, strategy instruction, and diverse opportunities to demonstrate learning. Join us for an interactive workshop as Janet demonstrates the use of instructional tools and resources that help build these foundations for learning. (50 Minutes) Bill And Ochan Powell Integrating Understanding by Design and Differentiation Part One and Part Two.
Two 50 Minute sessions
Mediating Student Thinking What are some pratical strategies that teachers can employ to support deep student thinking. The participants will explore the characteristics of mediative questioning and will be provided with opportunities to develop such questions. The presenters will show how the principles of Cognitive Coaching can be used in the classroom to foster student critical and creative thinking. (90 Minutes) Alan November The Emerging Culture of Teaching and Learning: Shift of Control A powerful new culture of empowered teaching and fearless learning is emerging. Access to more timely information and communication tools can empower educators to focus on the individual learning needs of their students. These same tools can lead to more collegiality, build stronger community relationships, and empower students to be more self-directed. This workshop presents clear examples of how this new culture has been achieved. Teaching Zack to Think Too many students are not sure how to separate fact from fiction on the Internet. The Internet can provide any version of the truth to support almost any belief. We can teach students how to read the “grammar” of the Internet and to apply strategies to validate information on a website. This popular workshop provides step-by-step teaching tips that help students and teachers think critically about Internet information. Mary Carley
Jennifer Wilson
Julie A. McDonald The Wizard of Oz: An Introduction to Reading and Writing Allegories Much like Orwell, L. Frank Baum wrote The Wizard of Oz (1900) not only as a fairytale to entertain small children, but to make a socio-economic and political commentary on that time period in America. This popular 6- week unit uses The Wizard of Oz to introduce and deepen students' understanding of the allegorical writing genre, and examines the fundamental similarities and differences between folktales, fairytales, and myths by using a host of other well-known children's books (e.g., Seuss) to assist students in accessing allegorical symbolism, The Oz unit requires that students utilize various methods used to communicate the deeper meaning of the plot events, from color to objects, characters and setting. The culminating assessment is the construction and publication of a children's book by each student that is shared with elementary school students. An array of student models will be on hand. The unit works best when integrated with a history unit, but is not dependent on it. (90 Minutes) Joh Levy A Financial Plan for your Future Jon will provide a framework of the financial planning process to allow the participants to establish a process for financial independence. He will give an overview of the financial planning process to include considerations of insurance, investments, tax planning and estate planning, as well as providing the questions needed to be asked and answered to prepare one for a secure financial future. (50 Minutes) Claude Lord "Moodle: a long awaited revolution for foreign language teachers" This session will demonstrate the versatility of answers offered by Moodle to intensify and individualized language learning. It will address creative hands-on solutions to a better management of: double block language classes, multilevel classes, online language lab, students absences, class forums, revisions, tailor made language games, cultural competence and more... Ultimately this truly revolutionary resource is designed to help teachers regroup their creativity to better identify and answer both group &individualized learning styles. Although the presentation will be based on teaching French as a foreign language, the session will provide solution to all language learning from beginners to advanced levels. (50 Minutes) Sarah Ellyson Mixing Up in the Middle School Teachers and Activity Planners Abstract: Imagine a cafeteria filled with small, assigned student groups discussing intentional topics, each having a creative mission to produce a project for sharing with the school community. These were the objectives of Mix It Up sessions held throughout the winter of 2008 at the American Overseas School of Rome. Throughout the process, high school photojournalism students captured the work in progress to later create a mini-documentary for the students to enjoy. Come learn and experience how one Middle School created an opportunity for students of different grades, cultures, languages and experiences to work together to improve their sense of community. Participants will learn about the planning process, have access to all planning documents and learn from the experience of one school's first year of Mixing it Up! David O'Connell Concise and Quick Rubric Based Teacher Evaluations This presentation will focus on using simple rubrics combined with mini observations to enhance teaching. The system produces accurate evaluations, meaningful conversations between educators as well as a reduced workload. (The presentation is based on the work of Kim Marshall KC Cherkasky The Evolution of a Reader-Response Workshop: Adapting Yesterday's Approaches of Language Learning to Today's Laptop School Environment ESOL and Language Arts Teachers Abstract: My belief that reading and responding to self-selected, authentic literature-based materials enriches the experience of English language learners (ELLs) led to the creation of my Reader-Response Workshop in the 1990s. In this presentation, I will share how I am adapting this workshop to the laptop school environment of the 2000s. Beginning with a brief overview of the origins of my workshop, I will quickly move into a presentation of the ways I have begun to integrate technology to engage today's ELLs in the reading process. We will finish with the discussion of challenges faced, successes achieved, and next steps considered. Take-aways will be offered via electronic or paper distribution. Toni Sills-Briegel Is it the little things that drive you nuts? You will learn a way to document and correct the numerous "minor" incidents that take so many minutes away from teaching time. The system is easy to implement, easy to maintain, and actually gives you a concrete way to give students grades in citizenship that cause few complaints from parents and students. The system works for students who just need to wiggle and with students with real behavior disorders. On top of that, it doesn't cost money and it's a lot of fun. Andrew Hoover, David Letiecq, Katie Shefren, Donna Fava and Bill Hoffmann Advisory In Action - A Model For Building and Growing Your Advisory Program A strong advisory program is essential to a strong Middle School program. In this session we will share our ongoing experience in creating an advisory program that meets the needs of teachers and students alike. From the philosophical to the practical, we will explore the structures we have put in place in developing our program. Following this, participants will break into smaller groups to begin sharing ideas and strategies for cultivating teacher enthusiasm and developing their own programs. Participants will leave with practical and tangible ideas to carry away with them. Julie Forbes A Poetry Aloud Workshop Afternoon: Reinvent Your Students Relationship to Poetry This presentation offers a hands-on plan to organize a Middle School Poetry Aloud workshop afternoon that engages teachers, administrators and even parents as poetry workshop facilitators. Poetry workshop topics can range from written and oral language, art, history, math, history, science, dance, music, photography and more (e.g. spy poetry, relax and write a poem, moving collage poetry). A poetry workshop afternoon gives students the experience of connecting to adults (not just English teachers!) who like poetry. It's also a dynamic way to bring a faculty together for a common purpose while sharing personal interests and hidden talents. Adam Gasiejewski Moodle is Moodlecious!!! Do I need Moodle or a laptop programme? How can I use Moodle or a laptop in my classroom? Does modern technology change the way we teach? If you are looking for the answer to these questions and many more, I will try to answer them and share my Moodle/laptop experience with you. Moodle is moodlecious!!! Jennifer Parker Making Math Meaningful and Fun Learn a variety of easy and economical ways to make math both meaningful and fun. Workshop participants will be introduced to several kinesthetic and artistic ways of teaching algebra and geometry, and will have the opportunity to do a math experiment. The value of manipulatives in the middle school setting will also be addressed. Who said math had to be rote?! Brigitte Donlon Technology Integration and Lesson Planning: Making the Two Work Efficiently for You Is the use of technology in the classroom making lesson planning more time consuming for you? If so, join this session to learn about how to make planning time more efficient. Learn about organizing your electronic files, building your lessons in the SMART Notebook, easily finding graphics for your lessons, and making a customizable search engine to minimize your surfing time for electronic resources. Andrea Maria Wagner How can you increase cultural awareness when teaching foreign languages? Some teachers find it difficult to teach "Cultural Awareness" especially if they teach international groups. The teachers themselves might not be aware of cultural differences that some of the students are facing, because they do not know enough about the students` country of origin or their experiences within different cultural backgrounds. This presentation will illustrate class activities and teaching strategies that help teachers and students gain more awareness towards different cultural backgrounds. The examples given will be from teaching German and Spanish as foreign languages but can be transferred to any other subject. Robin Neal Sell the Sizzle: Using Web 2.0 Technologies to Add Interest to Your Lessons Wikis, blogs, Animoto, the Jing Project, uvatars, avatars, podcasts, vodcasts: Robin Neal offers a sampling of emerging technology-most of it free, all of it easy to use that will add interest and interactivity to classroom lessons. All skill levels and subject areas are welcome. Participants won't just sit and watch, and whenever possible, real classroom examples will be shared, warts and all. Sally Hirsch Interactive Notebooks for an Interactive Classroom Discover the convergence of creativity and organisation with Interactive Notebooks. Originally an idea from Addison Wesley's 'History Alive' programme, Interactive Notebooks can now become part of your teaching repertoire to encourage student engagement, reflection and development of organisation skills. Interactive Notebooks embrace different learning styles and help students generate detailed and creative portfolios of independent learning. Susie Falk Using Visible Thinking Routines in Science and Homeroom. Visible Thinking Routines enable teachers to teach for understanding more effectively. These routines help uncover alternative conceptions, which assists in planning appropriate units of study. They also encourage students to be aware of their own thinking and see how it benefits their learning. During this session I will share practical ideas and activities we use in middle school science and homeroom sessions at the International School of Amsterdam. Jags Myanger and Michele Danieli Languages and ICT In this workshop we will demonstrate some of the techniques used at our school, with their benefits. We will be sharing examples of student work in German from grades 6 and 7. We hope this will allow you to take some ideas with you and integrate them in your school. Kevin Hawkins and Rosanne Noble Conflict as Opportunity Conflict as Opportunity - managing conflict and creating a healthy climate for the exchange of information and understanding in an international school. Jenna Nelson Job Recruitment Tips Thinking of looking for a new job sometime in the future? A panel of ELMLE administrators, along with ELMLE recruitment chair Jenna Nelson, are willing to share their tips for helping you secure your next overseas position. This session will include ideas on how to survive the job fairs, prepare for interviews, make a positive first impression and the do's and don'ts of resumes. This will give potential candidates a chance to learn more about how ELMLE can help you in finding your next position, meeting ELMLE administrators and learning more about their potential 2009-10 job openings. Darren Howard Post 1950s music in the Middle Year's music class This presentation hopes to share some ideas and approaches to incorporating contemporary classical music into the Middle Years curriculum. Focussing on works by John Cage, Cornelius Cardew and Terry Riley, the ideas presented could be adapted to both a general music class and a band programme.
Esme Turla Foward Thinking on International Linking This presentation is aimed at middle school teachers who would like to work with international partner schools and add an international element to their teaching. It will introduce teachers to an online learning community, using simple technology to build successful school partnerships and transform students into global citizens. This community offers educational projects, from comparing carbon footprints to exploring cultural identity. There are a broad range of projects to cover all areas of a school's curriculum. It also offers all the communication tools and security features needed to collaborate safely with other schools. These include video and audio conferencing, email, instant messaging, and forums. They can be used at school or at home, and allow students and teachers to easily interact with their peers around the world. I will also share my experience establishing international links with South Korea and Ghana, covering topics like cultural celebrations and trade. Stephanie Holt Helmer Multi-genre Projects Language Arts specifically, but all subjects applicable Bret Anderson Creative Science Projects that appeal to multiple intelligences for Middle School cience is the most hands-on subject there is (except maybe for pottery making). Projects need to be that way too. Of course, 'hands-on' can mean mental, dramatic, artistic, musical hands as well as DIY and carpentry hands. I will share a year's worth of projects created by my 8th graders over the years. These will be presented by a Keynote presentation. I will also have available handouts with projects instructions, planning and evaluation rubrics. Bring some of your best project ideas to share. Darren Davis Any Particular Curricula? Child-centred curricula, holistic curricula, curricula for the 21st Century, what are they talking about, what does it look like and is it any different from what I'm doing already? Explore these issues using strategies you can take home and apply to your own subject matter directly in your classrooms tomorrow. Susan Keiffer-Barone Dance Romeo and Juliet: Responding to Literature through the Visual and Performing Arts Individualize the study of literature in the Middle Years through providing a venue for students to create their own modes of response to texts. This presentation will provide guidelines, rubrics and examples of student work where adolescents create dance, oil painting, sculpture,musical composition, drama and film to express their exploration and analysis of poetry, novels, and of course, Shakespeare.
Paris 2009
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