Wednesday

JW Grand Ballroom Salon 1

8:00–10:00 a.m.

Taking technical assistance to a new level: Helping early childhood leaders adapt to change and move programs and policies to success for young children

To reach an ambitious vision for young children that drives toward outcomes, early education leaders must align many complex purposes and processes and direct them toward clear operational goals and objectives. These include incorporating research-based foundations of early learning, along with sound operations, systems implementation, and performance management processes that support the evidence-based results. Participants will discuss the key TA processes that drive skills, knowledge, and competencies needed to advance this work and apply these processes.

Diane Schilder, Education Development Center; Jana Martella, Education Development Center.

Technical Assistance (Coaching, Mentoring, Consultation)

JW Grand Ballroom Salon 2

8:00–10:00 a.m.

Lasting transformational change through positive coaching methods: Closing the performance gap in and out of the classroom for adults and children

Learn about and discuss the connections between two main parts of the brain and how performance/behavior of children and adults is affected. Experiment with a partner and use several coaching techniques, with a deep debrief and question-and-answer session. Create a plan for next steps when returning to the field.

Michelle Burkhard, Grow By 1, LLC.

Guidance/Discipline/Challenging Behaviors

JW Grand Ballroom Salon 3

8:00–10:00 a.m.

Becoming curious: The key to enhancing communication

This session is designed to promote the use of inquiry as a tool to enhance communication and interactions with children, families, and colleagues. This highly interactive session will provide participants with the opportunity to explore how becoming curious can benefit the work they do on a day-to-day basis. Participants will have the chance to collaborate with other professionals to create curiosity-rich scenarios and avoid breakdowns in communication.

Leslie Coleman, ChildCare Education Institute.Professionalism, Leadership & Ethics

JW Grand Ballroom Salon 7

8:00–10:00 a.m.

What’s the big deal about Finland? How recess and character education are making a difference in the United States

Learn about promoting healthier school environments through recess and character education in grades K–3. Explore ways to balance social-emotional learning, play, and required content time to create less anxious learning environments and healthier children. Presenters will introduce the Finnish-inspired LiiNK Project, a healthy whole child/whole teacher/whole school approach that includes unstructured outdoor play and character development. Presenters will answer questions and share ways interested schools can shift their thinking about approaches to learning.

Debbie Rhea, Texas Christian University; Marilyn Tolbert, Texas Christian University; Mary Patton, Texas Christian University; Michelle Bauml, Texas Christian University.

Learning Environment

JW Grand Ballroom Salon 8

8:00–10:00 a.m.

Ready teachers + ready learning environments = ready-to-read children: Early literacy matters

This interactive session will present strategies for providing early childhood teachers ongoing job-embedded professional learning for creating literacy-rich learning environments and experiences to help ensure children are ready to read by first grade. Participants will learn how a newly piloted Early Literacy Matters transformed literacy environments and practices for its 200 early childhood providers. Participants will also have the opportunity to apply shared strategies to design their own literacy-embedded environments for children birth to age 5.

Darlene Estes-Del Re, Tennessee Department of Education; Misty Moody, Tennessee Department of Education.

Training & Professional Development Programs

Lone Star Ballroom Salon A

8:00–10:00 a.m.

Playing with a purpose: Creating meaningful assessments that are tailored to your classroom and the children you teach

Participants will learn how to create tailor-made assessments (based on the Texas pre-K guidelines) to drive their classroom instruction. Participants will learn how make these assessments align with the different centers (dramatic play, constructions, etc.), small groups, and whole group activities that can be found inside and outside the early childhood classroom. These assessment will show teachers and coteachers that they can successfully assess children while engaging with them during classroom activities.

Michelle Cardenas, Hillcrest Elementary, Del Valle ISD.

Assessment of Young Children (developmental screening, diagnostic evaluation, classroom-based assessment)

Featured Session

Lone Star Ballroom Salon D

8:00–10:00 a.m.

Powerhouse positive guidance: Turning around behavior struggles and empowering your most rambunctious, challenging, sensitive, and vulnerable toddlers with competence for success

Revitalize coaching, teaching, and family partnerships with research-based, development-fostering strategies that boost toddlers’ language skills, strengthen socialemotional competence, and scaffold self-directed behavior regulation. Meet the unique needs of toddlers within a framework of resilience- promoting, childcentered guidance that will reorient your practice and radically change outcomes for children.

Marie Masterson, McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership.

Thank you to our sponsor of this Featured session, Kaplan Early Learning Company.

Lone Star Ballroom Salon E

8:00–10:00 a.m.

Common mistakes supervisors make: Guiding adults to excel at their jobs

Are you a veteran supervisor, or have you just started guiding other ECE professionals? Either way, you’re probably guilty of a few behaviors that unintentionally set up adults to fail in the workplace. Learn the common mistakes supervisors make and explore ways to help others excel in their position. Understand how to communicate appropriate expectations, recognize how to motivate each employee, and learn how to deliver difficult messages when necessary. Become a positive influence who empowers and encourages adults just as you did with children when you were in the classroom.

Gigi Schweikert, Lightbridge Academy.

Professionalism, Leadership & Ethics

Lone Star Ballroom Salon F

8:00–10:00 a.m.Culture and race in early education

Interview partners through a “cultural interview.” Reflect on different layers of culture while viewing a video and listening to a podcast. Read and reflect on text about “tourist curriculum.” Explore how culture (a) impacts how we understand the world, (b) shapes our identity, and (c) exists on many different levels. Consider race and racial identity in early learning classrooms. Review and share frameworks in culturally responsive teaching and anti-bias education in early childhood programs, and apply this knowledge through the viewing of and reflecting on video content.

Betsy Fox, New Teacher Center; Katherine Powell, New Teacher Center.

Diversity & Equity

Lone Star Ballroom Salon G

8:00–10:00 a.m.

Exploring the mind of a successful early childhood business leader: Operation and business skills

Presentation and discussion of evidenced-based management and business skills that contribute to a successful early childhood education program. Participate in the discussions and small group activities to understand and apply these important skills. Learn strategies to sustain a high-quality, vibrant early childhood education business.

Robert Gundling, Better Futures, LLC; Jahi Davis, Better Futures, LLC.

Program Administration & Financial Management

Institute evaluation

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Please remember to complete the 2018 Institute evaluation survey, which will be sent to you electronically immediately following the Institute. NAEYC sincerely values your feedback, which is used to evaluate the Institute and to plan future NAEYC professional development activities.

Lone Star Ballroom Salon H

8:00–10:00 a.m.

Are you constantly losing your keys? Come discover fun and engaging social-emotional learning tools to help you and your students stay focused on the keys for success

Participants will analyze their role as leaders in order to improve the social and emotional environment for young children. They will actively explore and identify classroom strategies that support social-emotional learning and identify authentic assessment opportunities within daily routines. Project KIND (Keys to Improvement for Necessary Development) is a universal research-based preschool and kindergarten classroom curriculum designed to increase students’ school success by building social and emotional competence and self-regulation skills.

Marie Diniaco Economos, Ohio State University; Pamela Perrino, Perrino Consulting.

Social/Emotional Development

Room 301/302

8:00–10:00 a.m.Motivating employees in a low-wage industry

Discover prominent theories of motivation and how they apply to the early care and education workforce. Review tools and processes aligned with motivational theories that facilitate goal setting, leadership development, and strengths-based coaching in any ECE setting. Practice using the tools shared and design a staff development implementation plan to take back to your program.

Eli Pessar, Child360.Program Administration & Financial Management

Available at the NAEYC Shop!

From Play to Practice

Connecting Teachers’ Play to Children’s Learning

Become more knowledgeable about purposeful use of materials and intentional teaching strategies to help children engage in openended play

Room 303/304

8:00–10:00 a.m.

Professional development strategies to support early childhood teachers in home- and centerbased settings

Discuss and analyze benefits and disadvantages of professional development (PD) strategies for early childhood quality improvement regarding teacher practice. Practice how to integrate video-based PD strategies with coaching and reflection to support teachers in home- and center-based settings. Learn how to tailor these strategies to fit different teachers’ backgrounds and experiences, as well as the settings in which they teach and the ages of children in their care.

Ursula Johnson, Amplify Consulting.

Training & Professional Development Programs

Room 402/403

8:00–10:00 a.m.

Honoring teacher voices: Narrative stories used as a tool for self-reflection in higher education

Explore how to use narrative stories, referred to as “My Stories” in college courses. Become familiar with how My Stories, adapted from a narrative assessment approach, can be used for teacher learning and self-reflection. Learn essential components, strategies, and ways programs can incorporate My Stories for teachers’ professional development. University professor and student perspectives will be presented. Participate in development and analysis of sample My Stories. Gain understanding of how this powerful storytelling approach promotes diverse, shared voices.

Annie White, California State University Channel Islands; Lygia Stebbing, San Francisco State University; Stephanie Estrada, Mission Neighborhood Centers and San Francisco State University; Barbara Paulino, California State University Channel Islands.

Training & Professional Development Programs

Room 408/409

8:00–10:00 a.m.

Preparing an early childhood workforce to support children with disabilities: Free online recommended practices modules

Come explore a series of free web-based modules to help preservice and in-service practitioners work with children with disabilities and their families. Learn from and discuss with faculty and professional development providers how you can incorporate the modules into your coursework and PD opportunities to help learners learn about evidencebased practices to support children with disabilities and their families. Support materials for faculty and PD providers include alignment to DEC and NAEYC personnel standards, as well as facilitation tips and tools.

Chih-Ing Lim, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Megan Vinh, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Toni Miguel, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Educator/Teacher Preparation

Closing Plenary Session

Looking back to leap forward—A dialogue across generations

JW Grand Ballroom Salons 5/610:30 a.m.–12:00 noon

This is a famous quote: “Those who cannot remember history are doomed to repeat it.” And this, too, is a famous quote: “Those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” Both of these quotes speak to the truth— and to the importance of finding a balance between learning lessons from the past, and imagining a new vision for the future. Let this special conversation, led by educators and leaders from across generations, send you home with new understanding, perspective, and inspiration.

Hanan Osman, Indiana AEYC; Ralph Smith, Campaign for Grade Level Reading; Naomi Karp, United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona; Michelle Jackson, Atlanta First Day School; Adam Alvarez, Rowan University and University of Pittsburgh; Amy O’Leary, Early Education for All.

Hanan Osman Ralph Smith Naomi Karp

Michelle Jackson

Adam Alvarez

Amy O’Leary

Item 1134 List $28 Institute Price $22.40