ELMLE

The ELMLE 2010 conference will be held in Budapest at the fantastic Corinthia Hotel in one of Europe’s most beautiful cities. The capital city of Hungary, Budapest, was created out of the unification of the separate historic towns of Buda, Pest and Óbuda in 1873. Whilst the area had been inhabited from early times, it was from this date that the city’s expansion into a world capital really began. Budapest is bisected by the River Danube, with the city as much a natural geographical centre as it is the country’s transport hub. Covering an area of two hundred square miles and divided into 23 administrative districts, it is home today to a population of 1.8 million people.

For the past eight years, Michael DiSpezio has celebrated his passion for education by working with the National Geographic Society JASON Project. Beginning in 2000, he undertook the responsibilities for architect of the online JASON Academy. Since then, he has become a major contributor and content specialist of the JASON Project. Michael spent his graduate years in Woods Hole and worked as a research assistant to the Nobel laureate Albert SzentGyorgyi. After leaving the marine science laboratory and his post as a night school instructor at the Boston University School of Nursing, Michael spent eight yearsteaching a variety of elementary, middle, and high school science subjects.
Moving from the classroom to the global educational arena, he focused his attention on the development of educational materials which has included coauthorship on over thirty K–12 textbooks in science. His latest series, Harcourt Science is the leading elementary textbook science series in the United States. He has also authored over 25 different trade books on topics that include critical thinking puzzles, HIV science, and handson science activities.

His work goes beyond the borders of the standard classroom. Mr. DiSpezio trained Arab educators in the Middle East as part of the Peace Accord. He also attended the Daytime Emmy Awards for his work on the Emmynominated show, The Science of HIV. He has written and developed curriculum for an assortment of organizations including PBS series Scientific American Frontiers, Discover Magazine, The Weather Channel, the Discovery Channel, and Children’s Television Workshop. He has hosted (and cohosted) 60 live broadcasts of the JASON Expedition that has reached millions of students worldwide. In addition, Michael presents facetoface keynotes, workshops and custom created experiences to students and teachers around the world. From presenting live to 20,000 students at Detroit’s Ford Field in a special motivational talk designed to keep kids in school to destination speaking about cruise ships, he’s an eclectic talent who infuses his presentations with limitless energy, understanding, and audience engagement.

is an innovative teacher and a passionate advocate for young adolescents who, during his 35year career as a classroom teacher, became an expert on many aspects of middlelevel education, including advisory, heterogeneous instruction, inquiry, middlelevel philosophy, writing, poetry and teaming. With more than four decade of experience presenting innovative curriculum ideas at local, state and national conferences, Ross is an articulate spokesman for developmentally responsive and inclusive practices at the middle level. A 1962 graduate of Dartmouth College, Ross earned his Masters in Education at the University of Pennsylvania. Ross is a founder and past president of the New York State Middle School Association and a past president of National Middle School Association. He currently serves on the board of New Mexico Middle Level Educators, Inc.
In 1998, Ross was inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame in Emporia, KS. He is the author of Writing for Real: Strategies for Engaging Adolescent Writers (Stenhouse, 2003); Using Poetry in the Classroom: Engaging Students in Learning (Rowman & Littlefield Education, 2006); and Inventing Powerful Pedagogy: Share, ‘Steal,’ Revise, Own (National Middle School Association, 2009). Now an education consultant, Ross has mentored at summer institutes in California, Hawaii, Indiana, Colorado, Wyoming, and Maryland, and has delivered keynote addresses and presented workshops atmiddle level conferences across the country.

Professional educator since 1972—from high school teacher, principal, and central office administrator to educational consultant.

Provides training in how to work effectively with individuals from all economic classes
Has trained hundreds of thousands of professionals since 1996
Has certified more than 7,000 trainers in Framework (see book title of same name below)
Mission: to positively impact the education and lives of individuals in poverty throughout the world
Ph.D., Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, Loyola, IL; M.A., English Literature, Western Michigan University, MI; B.A., Goshen College, IN Speaker
Expert on poverty and mindsets of economic classes
Accessible, engaging style, using humor and stories
Message relevant to business leaders, educators, community and social service workers
Helps find creative and practical solutions to the challenges of working across socioeconomic lines and building sustainable communities
Speaks more than 100 days a year, with past engagements including China and U.S. Conference on Educational Leadership, PBS, Harvard’s Summer Institute for Principals, SCERT (Delhi, India), Tasmania Teacher Training, New Zealand, Slovakia, The School Leadership Center of Trinidad and Tobago, National Conference of State Legislatures
(U.S.), Annual Conference of Southwest Foundations, Walt Disney World Educator Symposium, NY Superintendents Association, Chief Officers of State School Departments (U.S.)

UnderResourced Learners: 8 Strategies to Boost Student Achievement, 2008
Assesses student resources to determine best strategies and interventions
Proven, practical strategies that can be used immediately
A Framework for Understanding Poverty – seminal work, 1995
Has sold more than 1,000,000 copies
For educators and other professionals
Teaches the hidden rules and mindsets of economic class
Teaches specific strategies for overcoming poverty’s obstacles
Hidden Rules of Class at Work
Written for the workplace
Helps understand motivation, and mindset of entrylevel employees
Helps assess one’s own ability to get promoted
Also wrote and coauthored more than a dozen books surrounding issues of poverty in areas of education, social services, the workplace, communities, churches, and leadership Business owner
Founder and CEO of aha! Process, Inc. (formerly RFT Publishing) in 1995
Employs 20 full or parttime staff; has team of 50 consultant presenters
Has published more than 100 books and video products, offering a dozen different seminars

Marcia L. Tate, Ed. D. is the former Executive Director of Professional Development for the DeKalb County School System, Decatur, Georgia. During her 30-year career with the district, she has been a classroom teacher, reading specialist, language arts coordinator, and staff development director. She received the 2001 Distinguished Staff Developer Award for the State of Georgia and her department was chosen to receive the Exemplary Program Award for the state.

Marcia is currently an educational consultant and has taught over 250,000 administrators, teachers, parents, and business and community leaders throughout the world. She is the author of the following five best-sellers: (1) Worksheets Don’t Grow Dendrites: 20 Instructional Strategies that Engage the Brain; (2) Sit & Get Won’t Grow Dendrites: 20 Professional Learning Strategies that Engage the Adult Brain; (3) Reading and Language Arts Worksheets Don’t Grow Dendrites: 20 Literacy Strategies that Engage the Brain; (4) Shouting Won’t Grow Dendrites: 20 Techniques for Managing a Brain-compatible Classroom; and her latest, (5) Mathematics Worksheets Don’t Grow Dendrites – 20 Numeracy Strategies That Engage the Brain. Participants in her workshops refer to them as the best ones they have ever experienced since Marcia uses the 20 strategies outlined in her books to actively engage her audiences.

Marcia received her bachelor’s degree in psychology and elementary education from Spelman College in Atlanta Georgia. She earned her Master’s degree in remedial reading from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, her specialist degree in educational leadership from Georgia State University and her doctorate in educational leadership from Clark Atlanta University. Spelman College awarded her the Apple Award for excellence in the field of education.

Marcia is married to Tyrone Tate and is the proud mother of three children: Jennifer, Jessica, and Christopher, and two granddaughters, Christian and Aidan Brooke.

Biographical Information
Brian Mull is an educational consultant for November Learning. He has been a middle schoolteacher, a technology director and a curriculum specialist. Now Brian assists schools anddistricts in building a more rigorous educational environment by tapping into the wealth of information and tools that are available today.
Described as having an infectious enthusiasm and incredible depth of knowledge, Brian shares a powerful vision for teaching and learning with administrators, teachers, parents and students. He focuses on critical thinking, motivating students through authentic tasks
and developing collaborative partnerships. His varied experiences allow him to present thisinformation in logical and thoughtful ways. Brian prides himself in being an engaged, lifelong learner. He is one of Google’s first 200 certified educators, and he has developed a professional network of global peers who continue to expand and challenge his thinking. Experiences like these continuously add depth and currency to his work.

Professor Mick Waters has a range of career experiences that inform his work. Currently, he works with the schools in the Black Country Challenge in raising standards in the West Midlands. He works with schools in Sheffield in innovative approaches to learning and on several other initiatives to push the boundaries for making learning better. He is also president of the Curriculum Foundation, which seeks to promote a voice for the power and potential of the whole curriculum. He is chair of 360 People, a company working to encourage young people to be involved in assessing their progress in the development of skills for adult life and employment.

Previously, he worked at the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority as Director of Curriculum taking a leading role in helping schools to rethink their approach to curriculum design and influencing national policy on aspects of the national curriculum.

Mick believes that learning should be treasured and valued and that it needs to be shaped to fit with children’s lives. People in schools need to set understandings of their children alongside the learning they should meet to create learning that is irresistible.

Before joining QCA, Mick was Chief Education Officer for the City of Manchester. In a challenging education environment schools worked hard to break the cycle of urban deprivation, promoting a wide and rich curriculum and encouraging all learners to achieve as much as possible. Key agendas included the development of joint children’s services, the 14-19 strategy, the employment and skills dimension and configuring all this around Building Schools for the Future.

Previously Mick worked in Birmingham Local Education Authority. He drove forward a school improvement agenda which saw increasing achievements and increasingly successful schools seeking new horizons in educational development.

Mick has experience of headship in two schools and of working in teacher training. He was also part of an Education Development Unit which worked on a contract basis with LEAs and other agencies across the UK and worldwide.

Mick believes in being close to teachers, children and schools, and is often to be found in the classroom working with children. He has written books on the curriculum, teaching and learning, and management, as well as making presentations at numerous national and international conferences. He is passionate about the role of education in improving life chances for pupils. He enjoys asking adults to look at learning through the eyes of a pupil.

Born in Australia, Janice Richardson has worked as a teacher, university lecturer, educational researcher and consultant in Australia, France, Luxembourg and Belgium. She is author of two books and many articles on the pedagogical use of ICT and the development of e-literacy. Since 2002 she has led editorial teams for the Council of Europe to create and revise its online Internet Literacy Handbook (2003, 2005, 2008), available at http://www.coe.int/T/E/Integrated_Projects/democracy/hbk_en.html. Since 2004 Janice has worked in Brussels at European Schoolnet, an umbrella organisation that works with teachers and pupils to improve learning strategies through the integration of online technology. As Senior Adviser, she defines strategy in the area of eSafety and coordinates the Insafe network, set up and mandated by the European Commission in 2004 to raise internet safety awareness across Europe.

Marcela Alzin, eSlovensko, Slovakia
Marcela Alzin holds an MA in International Relations and Diplomacy from Matej Bel University of Banska Bystrica, Slovakia. She worked at the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family as European Social Fund coordinator and in 2009 joined the Slovak Combined Node eSlovensko and is responsible for international cooperation and also for national networking.

Karl Hopwood is an esafety expert who works with the Insafe team as an in-house consultant. He is a member of UKCCIS (UK Council for Child Internet Safety) and sits on the working groups for better education, research and public awareness. Karl currently works for a number of key players in the UK and abroad including CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre) and BECTA (British Educational and Communications Technology Agency). He has worked for several years in the creation of policy and practice in the field of esafety. His background as a teacher and headteacher mean that he has particular expertise in working with children and young people.

Mission Statement

The mission of the Insafe cooperation network is to empower citizens to use the internet, as well as other online technologies, positively, safely and effectively. The network calls for shared responsibility for the protection of the rights and needs of citizens, in particular children and youths, by government, educators, parents, media, industry and all other relevant actors. Insafe partners work closely together to share best practice, information and resources. The network interacts with industry, schools and families in the aim of empowering people to bridge the digital divide between home and school and between generations.

Insafe partners monitor and address emerging trends, while seeking to reinforce the image of the web as a place to learn. They endeavour to raise awareness about reporting harmful or illegal content and services. Through close cooperation between partners and other actors, Insafe aims to raise Internet safety-awareness standards and support the development of information literacy for all.

Awareness Centres

Each country in the Insafe network has a national Awareness Centre who is responsible for implementing campaigns, coordinating actions, developing synergy at the national level and working in close co-operation with all relevant actors at European, regional and local level.

Find an Awareness Centre in your country

Helplines

National helplines respond to the questions and concerns of young people linked to their experiences online or the harmful or illegal online content they encounter.

Find a Helpline in your country

Bob Dent is a British journalist, writer, editor and researcher who has been living in Budapest since 1986.

He has written extensively about Hungary’s history, politics, economy and culture for a variety of British and local publications. He has reported on Hungary for a number of radio stations and has acted as a research consultant for TV crews filming in the country. He currently works as a copy editor of translations, researcher, writer and occasional tour guide.

Budapest for Children (1992)
Blue Guide Budapest (2nd edit., 2001)
Blue Guide Hungary (3rd edit., 2002)
Budapest 1956 – Locations of Drama(2006)
Budapest: A Cultural and Literary History (2007)
Inside Hungary From Outside (2008)
Every Statue Tells a Story – Public Monuments in Budapest (2009)
For ten years from 1998 Bob was the Middle and High School Hungarian Resources Coordinator at the American International School of Budapest.

Debra Kidd is a Senior Lecturer in Education at Manchester Metropolitan University in the UK and a proud and committed staff member of the International Schools Theatre Association. She is a national adviser for Creativity to the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust in the UK and director of Integrate Education, a consultancy dedicated to developing creative teaching and learning in schools around the world.