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Talks

Keynote Speech
The Future of Learning: A Glimpse Inside
By Dr. Kari Stubbs

This 45 minute keynote is a peak into emerging trends in the field of education technology. It targets teaching practice, blended learning models, digital content, and technologies predicted to impact education in the coming years. Dr. Kari Stubbs has extensive experience in education. Earning her PhD in Curriculum with a technology emphasis following 11 years in the classroom has given her perspective on the role of technology in learning from multiple angles. Kari studied emerging technology trends as part of her doctoral work, and most recently served on the advisory board for the Horizon K12 Report on predicted technologies, trends, and challenges in K12 education. Dr. Stubbs is the Director of 21st Century Learning at BrainPOP, a leading developer of online, animated, curriculum-based content. BrainPOP hosts more than 6 million visits to its web sites each month, from thousands of schools worldwide. Previously, she was the Director of Professional Development for ePals, the world’s largest K12 learning network. In December of 2008, Dr. Kari Stubbs traveled to China to study technology in education. In November, 2006 she was recognized by the National School Boards Association as one of “20 to Watch” rising leaders in the field of educational technology. She is also a recipient of the Making it Happen Award, and was the National Teacher Training Institute Teacher of the Year in 1997. A poised, experienced speaker, Dr. Stubbs’ keynote on emerging trends in education technology is based on a collection of leading sources in the field.

Target audience: All educators

Networked Learning Communities: School Improvement for Educational Leaders
By Dr. Sonia Ben Jaafar

Networks and professional learning communities of teachers, principals, schools, and even districts have become a common method in education for trying to sustain change in practice. Although there are many positive characteristics that are attributed to networks, there is limited direct investigation of how networks operate and how they can be purposefully and strategically constructed for school improvement and effectiveness. This talk will present those key features and offer insights into the following questions:
i. How formal and informal leadership roles in networks are critical to making a network into a learning network?
ii. How networks have managed to use collaborative inquiry as a process to generate new learning amongst teachers?
iii. How systematic data analysis and accountability play a central role to ensuring joint decisions are made based on evidence and end in results.

Target audience: Educational leaders at all levels (department, school, group of schools, government), school operators, education policy makers, trainers, lead teachers, and educational companies

Monitoring and Evaluation Supporting School Improvement and Effectiveness
By Dr. Sonia Ben Jaafar

There is an increasing emphasis on school success. Resources are not limited and the most precious of these is time. The time that teachers and students spend together needs to be effective so that student are capitalizing on opportunities to learn and ultimately achieving pre-determined educational standards. There are many different components to schools and factors that influence success. Educational leaders can readily become overwhelmed with where to start to make a difference. Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) allows for purposeful evidence-informed decisions to become part of the school culture. When M&E is well designed, planned, and conducted, educational leaders have the information necessary to direct the school’s attention on gaps and successes. This means that when a change or improvement is introduced, it is being introduced in response to a need rather than to a fad or savvy educational business sales team. This talk will present a theoretical framework that highlights outcomes-based evaluation and logic models. At the end of this talk, the audience will have gained insight into the following questions:
i. What is the role of monitoring and evaluation in school operations?
ii. When should monitoring and evaluation be conducted?
iii. What is a logic model and how is it related to M&E in schools?
iv. How systematic data collection and analysis can become part of school culture?

Target audience: Educational leaders at all levels (department, school, group of schools, government), school operators, education policy makers, trainers, lead teachers, and educational companies

Handwriting Skills in the Classroom: What are the Concerns?
By Dr. Denise Donica

This talk would be a great introductory session for the content that will be covered in my workshops. The format of this session is an interactive discussion where the trainer and participants will discuss current handwriting practices in participating countries and struggles faced by these teachers. These concerns will be specifically addressed throughout the workshops as appropriate.

Target audience: Pre-school and elementary school teachers and administrators

Functional Pencil Grasp: How Do We Get There?
By Dr. Denise Donica

Inefficient grasp patterns are often identified in children who struggle with handwriting skills. This talk will identify mature versus immature grasps and will teach the participants when pencil grasp should be taught, how it can be altered, and adaptations available to help children be more successful with tool grasp.

Target audience: Pre-school and elementary school teachers

Habitudes for the 21st Century Learner: Keys for Lifelong Learning and Success
By Dr. Angela Maiers

Creativity, Innovation, Problem Solving... buzz words no longer! To meet the complexities of today's world, our students need more than skills -- they need Habitudes! Successful students, workers, and citizens have identifiable habits and behaviors, which allow them to manage emotions, communicate effectively, and sustain themselves as independent and successful lifelong learners. This session explores intentional lessons and conversations that nurture and develop these habits and attitudes; the Habitudes that ensure our students' success far beyond our classrooms.

Target audience: All educators

THE HUMAN WEB: Beyond the Tech and Tools
By Dr. Angela Maiers

Web 2.0 and emerging technologies have provided us with a new platform to engage, communicate, and connect in unprecedented ways. But we ain’t seen nothin’ yet!

Web 3.0 presents an entirely new way of seeking and sharing meaning. As facts become obsolete faster and information continues to grow exponentially, literacy and basic technology skills are not enough. Web 3.0 demands a new fluency; a new understanding about how knowledge is created, constructed, and shared.
Together we will examine several emerging trends that will profoundly challenge our fundamental assumptions of what it means to be a learner, teacher, and citizen in the 21st Century. I will lay out what is most essential to know and teach as we all prepare to operate in this new world, pushing one another to ask new questions, such as:

• What lies ahead for learners as the web continues to evolve and change?
• What challenges and opportunities do we face in a Web 3.0 world?
• What are the implications for current methods of teaching, learning, and assessment?

Join me as we challenge one another to think deeply about the answers!

Target audience: All educators

The Importance of Debate on Children’s’ Mental Development: Essential Debating Skills for the Classroom and Beyond
By Dr. Kate Shuster

Debate training helps students develop, practice, and refine skills that are essential for success in all levels of school and life. These skills include oral literacy, critical thinking, reading comprehension, evidence evaluation, media literacy, research competence, active listening, and collaborative learning. This session introduces teachers to curricular and extracurricular debating, drawing on research-based best practices for use in any classroom with any subject matter. Teachers in any subject area as well as administrators interested in beginning debating programs at their schools will benefit from this talk, which introduces debate essentials in a manner appropriate for integration into any classroom.

Target audience: Teachers of upper elementary, middle and high school

Toward Portfolio-based Assessment
By Dr. Kate Shuster

Grades are increasingly criticized for not capturing the breadth and depth of a student’s experience in class. This session will introduce the concept of portfolio-based assessment and present introductory information about using this technique in classes across the curriculum.

Target audience: All educators

Growing Digital Citizens
By Dr. Kari Stubbs

The advancement of technology including web 2.0 tools has created a new learning platform for students. How can educators help children become good digital citizens of those resources? In this talk, Dr. Kari Stubbs features tools to help students make safe online choices. She discusses the power of modeling how to interact in social networks, teaching about plagiarism, and confronting cyber bullying. TeachME’s conference theme, Make the Great, emphasizes students who are empowered to chase knowledge. An understanding of how to navigate online information, master the new literacies of the Internet, and stay safe is an important ingredient to securing your students’ success.

Target audience: all educators

CLASSROOM HABITUDES “Learning to Think Visually”
By Jocelyn Wallace

The ability to think and communicate visually is both a habit and an attitude required for success in the 21st Century. As we struggle to survive in a world of information and technology overload, how do learners of all ages cope? This session will review the popular text written by Angela Maiers, Habitudes of a 21st Century Learner, but takes an interesting twist. Visual communication techniques incorporate a unique set of Habitudes which can be learned and applied at any age, in any setting, for any subject, for any purpose -- even within the maze of technology. Together we will explore intentional lessons and conversations which do just that, leading to success far beyond the classroom.

Target audience: All educators

Celebrating Health in Schools
By Nibal Hamdan Barq

Good schools can highly contribute to the well-being of the nation by providing a comprehensive and effective health education program and devoting an adequate time to health education in classrooms. In this workshop, participants will celebrate World Health Day in different ways depending on the grade level and the subject matter they teach. They will play games that use scientific knowledge, Math skills, vocabulary puzzles, through which they learn how to read and analyze a food label, choose a healthy and balanced diet, calculate their BMI, IBW and calorie intake, keep their body physically fit and prevent the attack and spread of microbes. They will also share ideas about good and bad health and dietary practices. All the hands-on-activities in this workshop will help participants realize the great role that educators play in providing a healthy and a well cared for environment.

Target Audience - All teachers, coordinators and administrators of all levels

Using touch applications in the classroom: iPod touch platform initiation
By Patrick Beyrouti

Making learning fun has always been the never ending tale of teaching. Over the decades technology has been accepted and introduced in to schools to help improve learning in the classroom.
The problem with this has always been that children may just not be interested in machines that were originally developed for business. To date we have not really had a device that was being used by children at home, but that was appropriate for use in the class. With the introduction of the iPod touch and its updates over the last few years we finally have this device.
The iPod touch is seen as a toy by children and truly it is this for them. However it is also a powerful learning tool that can be used to help children direct and channel their own learning and interests without even realising that they are learning. We can finally keep learning fun and allow children to feel as if they are playing, but still get them learning and their own pace.
 
During this workshop we will showcase how the iPod Touch can fit in to your classroom and what amazing results you will see once your children have this device in their hands.

Target Audience - Teachers/Educators of all grade levels

ممارسات خاطئة في تعليم اللّغة العربيّة
المحاضر: مازن الشيخ

تتناول هذه المحادثة بعض الممارسات الخاطئة الّتي يرتكبها معلّمو اللّغة العربيّة عن غير قصد. وستوضّح المحادثة كيف تقف هذه الممارسات عائقاً أمام اكتساب اللّغة، كما ستقترح حلولاً عمليّة تساعد المعلّمين على تفادي هذه الأخطاء.

الحضور: معلّمو اللّغة العربيّة



معلّم يراقب معلّماً
المحاضر: مازن الشيخ

تتناول هذه المحادثة أهميّة مراقبة المعلّمين صفوف زملائهم وهم يعلّمون. فسيتعرّف المشاركون إلى الفوائد الجمّة لهذه العمليّة وكيفيّة تطبيقها في المدارس للاستفادة منها استفادة قصوى.

الحضور: معلّمو اللّغة العربيّة

طرق تدريس اللغة العربية بوصفها اللغة الأم، هل يختلف كثيرًا عن تدريسها للأجانب؟ وهل ثمة فارق بين تدريس اللغة العربية بوصفها لغة ثانية، وتدريسها على أساس أنها لغة أجنيبة؟ المحاضرة ترمي إلى ترسيخ هذه المفهومات المختلفة التى من شأنها تغيير وجهة نظرنا حيال تعليم اللغة العربية للناطقين بغيرها.

المحاضرة لكل مدرسى اللغة العربية للناطقين بغيرها.

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