Explore With Innovative Change Leaders in Education
This year’s focus on education sessions celebrate education leaders who have shown how innovative approaches and unique leadership styles can improve student achievement.
Saturday, April 13
1:30 PM – 2:45 PM
Focus On…Preparing for the Challenges & Opportunities of the Common Core State Standards
Willard Daggett, Founder & Chairman, International Center for Leadership in Education
San Diego Convention Center, Ballroom 20A
Over the next few years, schools will face a series of challenges and opportunities that will have a major impact on both students and teachers. Fueled by moving to the Common Core State Standards and, more importantly, new assessments tied to these standards, schools must make a fundamental shift in both what is taught and how it will be taught. Students will be assessed on standards that are far more rigorous and much more strictly applied than in the past and therefore teachers will need to match their instruction to those higher levels of rigor and relevance. Dr. Willard Daggett will lay out why these changes are being made, the impact they will have on curriculum and instruction, and ways that the nation’s most rapidly improving schools provide a blueprint to meet the challenges successfully.
3:45 PM – 5:00 PM
Focus On…A Critical Partnership — School Boards and Superintendents
Thomas J. Gentzel, National School Boards Association and Dan Domenech, American Association of School Administrators
San Diego Convention Center, Ballroom 20A
National School Boards Association Executive Director Thomas J. Gentzel and American Association of School Administrators Executive Director Dan Domenech will discuss how school boards and superintendents can work together as effective leadership teams, and how their two national organizations cooperate to shape an agenda that strengthens public education.
Sunday, April 14
1:30 PM – 2:45 PM
THIS SESSION HAS BEEN CANCELLED.
Focus On…Firing on All Cylinders: Using Creativity, Critical Thinking Skills, and Differentiation to Excite Students and Inspire Learning
Rebecca Mieliwocki, 7th Grade English Teacher, Luther Burbank Middle School, CA
San Diego Convention Center, Ballroom 20A
The world our students live in is vibrant, diverse, fast-paced, and ultra-connected. Their classrooms and learning experiences should be, too. Rebecca Mieliwocki, 2012 National Teacher of the Year, will demonstrate several techniques for developing exciting, challenging, and creative learning activities for students at all grade levels that enforce higher-level thinking skills, team-based problem solving, creative expression, and multi-dimensional final products. These activities ask students not just to show teachers what they know, but how to use their knowledge to complete new tasks in inventive ways.
NSBA congratulates Rebecca Mieliwocki, the 62nd National Teacher of the Year, and thanks her for her outstanding commitment to equality for all children.
3:15 PM – 4:30 PM
Focus On…Digital, Design, and the Future of Learning
S. Craig Watkins, Professor of Radio-TV-Film, The University of Texas at Austin
San Diego Convention Center, Ballroom 20A
After six years of studying the technology policies and practices of schools, S. Craig Watkins asked himself: “what should the future of learning look like and how would you design it?” Drawing his inspiration from participation in a three-year study funded by the MacArthur Foundation, he began to design a model for what his research network refers to as “connected learning,” a reference to a vision of learning that is keyed to the digital practices, identities, and dispositions of today’s young learners. Along with a team of designers, researchers, and educators, Watkins built an innovative framework to test some of the key design principles that define connected learning. Among the principles is the idea that learning in the digital age should be production-centered, hands-on, and experiential. In this presentation, Watkins will tell the story of an amazing project that was piloted in a school that struggled to keep students motivated, engaged, and attending school. In the span of three weeks, students engaged in research, ideation, design, and digital media creation to address the issue of childhood obesity in the form of an iBook. The project, Watkins argues, offers a glimpse into the future of what learning and digital literacy can and should look like in America’s schools.
Focus on You —
Develop Yourself Personally and Professionally
Saturday, April 13
8:30 AM – 9:45 AM
Leadership Isn’t for Cowards
How to Lead Courageously in a Turbulent Age
Mike Staver
San Diego Convention Center, Ballroom 20D
Mike Staver is an internationally respected author, coach, and speaker, heralded for his ability to make complex ideas simple. Staver’s message: we live in an age when it is more and more difficult to manage all of the information, demands, and challenges that are coming at us. It takes real courage to stand firm in what you believe and then to get your followers to understand what really matters and how to execute effectively. Your ability to influence your followers is key to every step of creating significant results. Courage is the key element in that process.
1:30 PM – 2:45 PM
Deal with It!! How to Stay Calm Under Pressure
Mike Staver
San Diego Convention Center, Ballroom 20D
Today, more than ever, you are being asked to do more and more. What it gets down to is how you choose to invest energy. It’s not the hours you work, it’s the value you get from the work you do. Do not, under any circumstances, let someone convince you that it is an easy process — but it is simple. In this session, participants will learn what it takes to stay calm and focused even if they don’t like the circumstances.
3:45 PM – 5:00 PM
The Naked Truth about Full-Frontal Presentations
Lynell Burmark, Associate, Thornburg Center
San Diego Convention Center, Ballroom 20D
PowerPoint victims (and perpetrators) need to recognize that the ultimate value of a presentation is what the audience takes away. Come learn presentation tips, use of handhelds, electronic and participatory handouts, the power of images (plus free image sources), and the latest brain research. Tangible giveaways include dark chocolate (seriously), koosh balls (not so seriously), and the chance to win award-winning books and an Epson projector!
Sunday, April 14
8:30 AM – 9:45 AM
Overcoming the Odds: Lessons from the School with No Name
Stacey Bess
San Diego Convention Center, Ballroom 20D
For 11 years, Stacey Bess taught homeless children in a small shed known as The School with No Name. Modeling love, self-worth, personal power, and courage, she transformed these children who had been labeled “unteachable.” Her memoir Nobody Don’t Love Nobody was adapted into the 2011 Hallmark Hall of Fame movie “Beyond the Blackboard.” Bess was honored with the esteemed National Jefferson Award for Greatest Public Service, along with First Lady Barbara Bush, Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackman, and Ambassador Walter Annenberg. She is a tireless advocate for the educational rights of impoverished children, and continues to change lives by inspiring educators around the nation.
1:30 PM – 2:45 PM
Smart Phones…Smarter Business
Jim Spellos
San Diego Convention Center, Ballroom 20D
Jim Spellos is a certified Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) and President of Meeting U, a company specializing in teaching technology applications. Spellos helps you unlock all the killer tools from your smart phone and maximize your iPad or tablet for productivity. Have you unlocked all of the killer tools from your smart phones? Are you really using your iPad (or other tablet) to help enhance your productivity? This interactive session will provide ideas for learning what these smart devices can do for all of your business needs. Attendees are encouraged to bring their devices and share best practices with their favorite mobile tools and apps.
McKenzie
Namit1:30 PM – 4:30 PM
A Deeper Look at…Leadership Skills for Dealing with Difficult People
Greg McKenzie, President, Window to Leadership, LLC;
Chuck Namit, President, Strategem LLC
San Diego Convention Center, Room 6E
Explore the behavior styles that most often cause group conflict and learn how to resolve it. Find out why other people’s behavior can be so frustrating that they become difficult people in tough situations. Master simple leadership skills to transform that annoying behavior into successful outcomes. This workshop is very interactive and will examine leadership from both theoretical and practical perspectives. You will take away tips to improve your own leadership style to become a more successful leader.
Monday, April 15
8:30 AM – 9:45 AM
Feeds & Needs
Jim Spellos
San Diego Convention Center, Ballroom 20D
What’s the most important tech topic of 2012? It’s mastering the tool that allows you to get out from under the avalanche of information. It’s the same one that enables you to create content-rich sites for your audience. Social Curation makes you a content publisher, as well as provides the tools to manage the information flow that comes into your computer, tablet, or smart phone. These tools are the critical time savers and information managers every business person needs.
12:30 PM – 1:45 PM
Google-licious: How to Find Anything on the Internet
Jim Spellos
San Diego Convention Center, Ballroom 20D
Back by popular demand, Jim Spellos will be doing his Google-licious session that has been so overwhelmingly popular since being introduced in San Diego, 2009. This session is for everyone, from Google novices to pros interested in learning how to use various search tools to find what you need, when you need it.
