KEYNOTE SPEAKING
Here is a sample of keynote topics...please contact me for more info
Find the Why Behind Your Teaching
Coming out of the pandemic, many of you are more aware than ever of the struggles of our industry and that Education is primed for a series of significant changes that will revolutionize learning & teaching forever. First and foremost, we need Educators everywhere to press the reset button and reconnect with what got us all into this amazing profession in the first place. Based on my experience as an educator and my passion for always wanting to get to the heart of WHY all things happen in this world, this session will inspire you to search beyond WHAT and HOW you do things to understand the power and impact of the WHY behind your teaching. By rediscovering the individual & collective WHY's: You, your school and even your entire district can be the agent of these changes to transform your community into the place all Students and Teachers want to be, EVERY SINGLE DAY!
The Awe-Full Learning Process
Over the past 5-7 years of my career in education at the high school level, I have seen a drastic decline in the engagement and interest of students as it pertains to wanting to learn. As students progress through the K-12 experience, they come to school largely to complete tasks which help them earn points to get the grade they think they need to get, to get into the college they think will change their life forever. What this has done is create a generation of fact regurgitators who lack the critical analysis, thinking & problem solving skills necessary to positively impact the world beyond school, resulting in an Awful Learning Process. In this session we will look at the latest research & studies which shine a light on this issue, while also brainstorming ways to reverse this frightening trend. It is time for educators to leverage all the data & information in front of us to help us create a love of learning within all our students, which inspires each school to build their own Awe-Full Learning Process.
Listen To Your Brain
Brain research is so powerful & we have tremendous information about how the brain learns and makes connections. Teachers can explore a few easy-to-digest pieces of research to transform their classroom into an engaging, inspiring place to learn. After attending a Learning & the Brain conference during the summer of 2018 in New York City, I became inspired to make changes in my classroom and across my school campus based on the incredibly insightful information I learned. While we all face similar challenges of meeting District, State & Federal standards along with other challenges, I can't help but notice we are ignoring the most important component of this equation: How Students Learn. In this session, we will take a look at a few examples of brain research and discuss the impact understanding that research could have on our classrooms. We will share best practices, debate a few educational strategies, and ultimately will leave with a better understanding of how the latest research can impact our Students and their learning. Potential topics that will be addressed during the session may include: classroom management, lesson design, assessment, Teacher Education & PD, and more.
Assessment Does Not Have To Mean Grading
As students progress through their K-12 experience, the stress and intensity of grading practices becomes more and more impactful on student and teacher mental health, ultimately preventing the students from reaching their full potential while leaving students, teachers, parents, and administrators frustrated and at odds. Whether it be the sheer quantity of assignments, the imbalance of weighted grading systems, or the inconsistency of targeted feedback to students...our current assessment & grading practices are broken and it's time for all stakeholders to take ownership in their part of this process to create substantive change. In addition, with advances in technology, teachers, schools and districts have more opportunities to use real-time data than ever before to drive learning & instruction which we have yet to be able to leverage effectively as industry. While the mountain to climb is daunting, we will work together in this session to balance some individual reflection with group discussion to look at strategies to put in place to improve assessment & learning in your school community.
