SESSION 3
THURSDAY | 26 MARCH 2015 13:45 - 15:15
ROOM
PAUL & ROVANNA BAWDEN SENIA / Open to All PS FUNCTION ROOM 4 Twelve Practical Steps to Inclusion - Many schools are on a journey of inclusion. We’d like to share our school’s story and give you some real and practical ways that full inclusion is achievable in an international setting. Hopefully you’ll return to your school energized with some ideas to help convince your board, your colleagues, and parents, etc that inclusion is not only the right thing to do but the best thing you can do for your school. VIRGINIA BLAIS / JON NORDMEYER ELL MS MEETING ROOM 3 The WIDA MODEL Kit: Challenges and Opportunities in Assessing ELLs - The WIDA MODEL is a summative assessment tool which measures academic English proficiency in reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Aligned with the WIDA English Language Development framework, this assessment can help support effective instruction for ELLs in content area classes. This session will introduce the WIDA MODEL kit and discuss how it can be used in international schools. We will explore how the MODEL assessment can impact curriculum and instruction as well as how schools can troubleshoot potential challenges in administering the test. KATHY CASSIDY Early Childhood Education HIBISCUS (Pacific First Floor) Digital Portfolios? Use a Blog! - Digital portfolios allow learners to showcase their learning for a wider audience and to obtain feedback beyond the teacher’s comments.There are safe and effective ways to do this. We’ll look at how you can use blogs to demonstrate the learning of the elementary students in your classroom. Participants: Bringing your own laptop or iPad is suggested.
SESSION 3
PAULINA CUEVAS / LUKAS BERREDO Counseling (for all delegates) MS MEETING ROOM 1 Pink, Blue, and the Colors in the Rainbow PART I - Transgender children are showing their beautiful colors as early as two years old, as environments are becoming safer to express individuality. Through experiential activities we will unlearn the gender binary model and its limitations. We will learn about the experience of transgender and gender non-conforming children at different developmental stages and the challenges they, their families and their schools face today. We will look at the most updated research and best gender inclusive practices for schools. JOHN EVERET / KAREN KINSELLA Counseling (for all delegates) MS ROSE GARDEN A Proactive Approach to Child Protection in International Schools - We will examine the proactive and preventive approach used at Shanghai American School to respond to the issue of child abuse. Also, we will overview the following: Partnership with parents throughout child protection cases, the board-approved Child Protection Policy at SAS, and the counseling strategies we use to help parents create positive interactions with their children. We will end the workshop with an interactive case study and a downloadable “toolkit” with our resources. MATTHEW GLOVER Literacy (Writing/Reading) PS FUNCTION ROOM 8 Conferring with Young Writers - Writing conferences are your most powerful moments of the teaching day because they are focused on the skills and strategies that a particular child needs. This session will support participants in examining and refining their skills as conferrers. We examine dimensions of composition growth and development as well as strategies for nudging writers forward. We will then practice conferring using authentic video clips and writing samples. ANN HELMUS SENIA / Open to All PS FUNCTION ROOM 2 The Impact of Anxiety in Students’ Learning and Behavior - Many students have underlying anxiety disorders that have not been diagnosed or even recognized by their parents or teachers. In the US, the National Institutes of Mental Health reports the prevalence of anxiety in 13-18 year olds is approximately 25%. In the classroom, anxiety may manifest behaviorally as oppositionality, task avoidance, inability to initiate independent work, lack of perseverance, perfectionism, unwillingness to take risks, excessive questioning, motoric overactivity, lack of social involvement, or odd behaviors, among others. Without intervention, these children are at high risk for poor academic performance and diminished learning. Understanding the role anxiety plays in a student’s behavior is crucial, and using preventive strategies are key to successful intervention. Effective support for these students avoids the traditional reward and punishment based consequences and focuses instead on the use of preventive strategies and on explicitly teaching coping skills, self-monitoring, and alternative responses. DOUG JOHNSON Library MS MEETING ROOM 5 Dangers and Opportunities: Challenges for Libraries in the Digital Age - Many of our library “crises,” whether institutional or personal, can be tied directly to the information technology changes that have occurred in the past 20 years—changes that continue and are accelerating. Three factors are creating a dangerous perfect storm of societal changes that will impact libraries. Only by actively addressing the challenges that each of these dangers pose, will libraries survive and thrive. Seven opportunities libraries and librarians are taking advantage of to remain relevant in the digital age concludes the presentation. https://dougjohnson.wikispaces.com/Dangers KATHARINE LANE / KATHRYN O’CONNELL ELL PS FUNCTION ROOM 6 Fostering a Culture of Sustainability in Young Learners - Fostering a culture of sustainability in young learners using the Compass of Sustainability Tool in the early years classroom will enable teachers to effectively integrate sustainability and systems thinking into any lesson or activity, and it helps teachers foster the ability in our youngest students to see the world as the interconnected whole that it is, and not just as reducible and isolated pieces from one perspective. Teachers will see examples of the compass being used in early years classrooms, try the tool, and consider how it can be used to approach a learning objective. 20
EARCOS Teachers’ Conference 2015
