2015 AASSA Educators’ Conference International School of Curaçao

2015 AASSA Educators’ Conference International School of Curaçao March 26-28, 2015

No Teacher is an Island: Making Connections

This year’s AASSA Educators’ Conference will be hosted by the International School of Curaçao. There will a new schedule format for this conference: there will be no pre-conference days; rather there will be a 2.5 day main conference and optional tours and activities in Curaçao on the final afternoon.

The theme of the main conference will be supported by an impressive group of keynoters and workshop leaders, among them:

➢ Belinda Karge (Special Needs) ➢ Catherine Steiner-Adair (Impact of Technology and Educating Girls) ➢ Christian Cicoria (Pre-AP English) ➢ Dickie Thomasson (Pre-AP Math) ➢ Karen Parker (College and Career Advising) ➢ Mark Engstrom (Blended Learning Environments) ➢ Michael Fisher (Curriculum, Digital Learning Strategies, Collaborative Action Planning) ➢ Michael Thompson (The psychological side of things: Understanding Families and Dealing with Difficult Parents, Male Development) ➢ Vincent Ventura (ESL Literacy, Literate Learners) ➢ Will Richardson (Educating Modern Learners)

The conference will be posted and registration is scheduled to open in late September. Space will be limited! Register early…. Conference registration will close at 500 participants There will be a maximum of 38 exhibitors’ tables

A Glimpse at the 2014 Educators’ Conference Program Keynotes:

1. Will Richardson Educating Modern Learners: Rethinking Schools and Classrooms for a Globally Networked World

2. Michael Thompson The Pressured Child: Helping Your Child Find Success in School and Life

3. Catherine Steiner-Adair The Big Disconnect: Protecting Childhood and Family Relationships in the Digital Age

4. Michael Fisher Your Own GPS: Where Are Your Going and How Do You Get There?

Featured Workshops Will Richardson

1. • Exploring New Literacies for a World of Networked, Self-Directed Learners and Makers

2. • From Old School to Bold School: Making the Jump from Traditional to Modern Learning

Michael Thompson

1. • Best Friends, Worst Enemies: Community, Friendship, Social Power and Bullying in Childhood

2. • Understanding Families and Working with Difficult Parents

3. • It’s a Boy: Understanding Male Development from Kindergarten through High School

Catherine Steiner-Adair

1. • Fast Forward Childhood: When to Push Pause, Delete and Play: The Impact of Tech on Elementary School Children’s Development and Education (elementary]

2. • The Student You See and that Student Online: How Schools Can Use Tech as an Ally to Build Healthy Relationships and Strengthen School Community (Middle & High School)

3. • Educating Girls to Lead: Teaching Smart Girls to Outsmart Unhealthy Cultural Values

4. • Full of Ourselves: A Wellness Program to Advance Girl Power Health and Leadership

Michael Fisher

1. • Upgrade Your Curriculum: Practical Ways to Transform Unites and Engage Students

2. • Digital Learning Strategies: How Do I Assign and Assess Digital Work?

Vincent Ventura

1. • A Recipe for Raising a Literacy Learner: Building Home/School Connections that Really Work

2. • For the Love of Language: Empowering ESL Literacy Learners in Early Childhood Classrooms

3. • 21st Century Readers and Writers: A New Era for New Ways to Teach and Guide Growing Learners

4. • Rethinking Small Group Instruction in Literacy: One Size Does NOT Fit All!

Dickie Thomasson

1. • Lost? Finding Area from Middle School through Calculus (Pre-AP Math)

2. • Connecting Algebra to Calculus: Adapting Advanced Questions for Earlier Grades (Pre-AP Math)

3. • It’s Time for Some Fun and Games in High School Mathematics (Pre-AP Math)

4. • What’s the Function (Pre-AP Math)

Christian Cicoria

1. • Using Journaling as Foundation for Expository Writing and Revision (Pre-AP English)

2. • Approaching Syntax and Schemes in ELA (Pre-AP English)

3. • The Jigsaw Approach in the ELA Classroom (Pre-AP English)

4. • Socratic Seminar and Student Centered Discussions (Pre-AP English)

Belinda Karge & Karen Parker

1. • Strategies to Engage ALL Elementary Students

2. • Strategies to Engage ALL Secondary Students

3. • College and Career Advising: How to Advise and Encourage Students to Use Current and Relevant Online Resources and Tools for Post-Secondary Planning

4. • Defining Disabilities and Cultivating Gifts: Strategies to Support College and Career Readiness for Atypical Learners

Mark Engstrom

1. • Start to Blend • Blending Further • Managing a Blended Learning Environment

Registration is scheduled to open in late September!

Teacher and Exhibitor Workshop Proposals are Currently Being Accepted for Curaçao!

Teacher workshops have become an integral part of the AASSA Educators’ Conference and teachers in the region are encouraged to put themselves forward as presenters.

Please see the requirements and submit an online proposal at: http://www.aassa.com/page.cfm?p=714

Presentations must be evaluated by a panel at each presenter’s school and the head of the school must submit the ranking sheet to me. We will then schedule the top-ranking presentations.

If you need any information on this process, please contact either Esther (enicolau@aassa.com) or Paul (ppoore@aassa.com).

The absolute deadline for submission by teachers is October 13, 2014.

 Heads’ rankings are due by October 27, 2014.

 Associate Members’ workshop proposals are due October 27th