Leadership Series

School Leadership in the 21st Century

Giselle Martin-Kniep
November 2, 2011, 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Faced with the continually evolving landscape of education, how will you, as a leader, decide what is non-negotiable for 21st century schools?
Modern education embraces technology, but technology is a means by which students can learn, not an end. Often, how we approach teaching and learning is more important than the content of such teaching. Learner-centered practices are central to enabling students to succeed in the 21st century, and this workshop will help attendees identify and develop winning strategies for modern education.
In this program, participants will:

Explore the non-negotiable principles, conditions, and characteristics
of schools and leaders that promote 21st century learning

Identify the behaviors and practices of leaders who support 21st century learning and some steps for enacting them

Engage in a self-assessment of the knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed to support 21st century learning

Learning in a networked world

Will Richardson
January 10, 2012, 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Whether it’s online safety or information literacy, all too often we treat the new challenges that online learning networks are creating as discrete parts rather than larger, more general changes in how we do our learning business.

Even with our youngest students, we have to be able to model our interactions in our own learning networks and teach them safe, effective, and ethical use. This workshop will focus on eight important global shifts and how teachers and schools are already starting to integrate them into the classroom in seamless, ongoing ways.

Some of the topics to be discussed include:

Preparing students for a world of self-directed learning

Participating in learning networks in safe, effective, and ethical ways

How the role of schools is fundamentally challenged by the Web

How online networks enhance and extend our abilities to learn and to teach

BETTER LEARNING THROUGH STRUCTURED TEACHING

Douglas Fisher
March 6, 2012, 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Effective teaching in the 21st century requires a fusion of time-tested classroom techniques and the deft application of cutting-edge technology. Keeping students engaged in a culture of media saturation can be challenging, but creative use of intentional instruction results in increased student understanding. Teachers should focus on feed-forward teaching rather than relying on feed-back.
Participants in this workshop will learn to:

Identify 21st century skills addressed through quality instruction

Explore Literacy 2.0 skills and classroom implications

Discriminate between tools and function in a Literacy 2.0 environment

Identify opportunities to integrate technology tools that enhance instruction

Define four components of the Gradual Release of Responsibility Framework and describe how it can be used to build student competence.
* All workshops will be held at the BCIU Education Centre, 2010 Centre Avenue, Reading, PA 19605. Click here for directions.