NAIS National Conference: Call for Proposals

 

 Knowing all the fantastic work that so many of you have done this year, the magic you have made happen in the classroom, in the BCI and Makerspace, on the stage and on the fields, I couldn’t pass up this opportunity to invite you to just think about offering a workshop at NAIS next March… and let the world know all the really cool things we are doing at Germantown Academy.

Consider the classes that made students and teachers excited.  Remember the moments of tremendous satisfaction.  The instances when imaginations soared. Step back in time to the beauty of special programs that crossed divisions and brought the school, joyously, together.

Let me know this week if you have an idea for a workshop, and I’d be thrilled to talk it over with you and help you put the proposal together. The conference topics are broad enough that almost any educational experience will fit somewhere. 

 

Click here for the NAIS Conference theme and mini-topics. 

Got Books? The Final GA Salon of 2016-17

On Thursday, April 20, the GA Salon convened for the final meeting of the year.  Mary Fraser’s brilliant suggestion to bring a few books we’ve read recently and would recommend to our colleagues resulted in an extensive list of excellent titles.  Thanks to the hard work of both Rod Thomas and Mary you now have a ready-made, annotated, and artfully illustrated collection of fiction, non-fiction, brand new novels, classics, historical fiction, and sci-fi, futuristic stories from which to make your summer selections. 

Click here and enjoy!

Mind, Brain and Teaching

On the first Thursday of each month, GA teachers gather to hear from colleagues on topics of interest pertinent to our work with students.  This past Thursday, February 2nd, third grade teacher, Charlotte Dean shared with a group of Lower, Middle, and Upper School teachers some of the work on the Mind, Brain, and Teaching, which she has undertaken over the past several years through the Johns Hopkins School of Education. Specifically, she discussed one of the Brain Targets: Designing the Learning Experience – Using Concept Maps.  Our brains are wired to make connections and see patterns.  The more teachers can help students see these connections and attach new information to existing schema, the more content and skills will stick.  Click here to view Charlotte’s power point presentation.

Research on the brain is informing many educational practices. The Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning, located at St. Andrew’s School in Potomac, Maryland, supports teachers’ efforts to craft classroom activities that make use of this brain research.   The Center’s “mission is to create and innovate in the field of Mind, Brain and Education Science to allow teachers to maximize their effectiveness and students to achieve their highest potential.”  Among other initiatives, the Center hosts a number of workshops during the summer.  Please click here for information about those offerings.

Any questions, please ask Maggie!

Teaching Social Justice at Rowan University: Register by January 4

Professional Development Workshops at Villanova

Registration is now open for Spring 2017 Professional Development Workshops at Villanova University.  Earn  1 graduate credit which is equal to 30 Act 48 credits for each workshop.  Villanova Loves Teachers and offers a 20% tuition discount for teachers who register for these workshops.  Groups of 10 or more may qualify to have a workshop held at their school.  

For more information or questions please contact Dr. Jerusha Conner, jerusha.conner@villanova.edu 

Registration ends January 15th

In-service Day ExCamps a Huge Success

Sometimes the very best professional development is homegrown. 

Building on the success of last year’s inaugural EXCamp, once again the GA faculty proved themselves to be talented, interested, and generous professionals.  On Monday, November 28^th, GA held its second EXCamp, a gathering of teachers, sharing with colleagues their expertise on a wide variety of subjects. 

In two different sessions, teachers chose from among many presentations pertinent to their work in the classroom.  Some of the workshops included the following:

Standard-Based Grading

Brain-Targeted Teaching

Mindfulness

Padcasters

Digital Duality

Multi-age Classrooms

Teaching empathy through creative writing

Electronic binders

Designing for the laser cutter

Conferring with confidence

Simulations in the classroom

Please enjoy the following pictures of the EXCamp in action.

In order to help the Professional Development Task Force plan for future professional development activities, please take a minute to complete the following feedback form.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Iokc-igWVg5JJzg-AZEbxXG7ZZZRD8P8Xkh1SenNo-E/edit?usp=sharing

Penn Charter Hosts a Roundtable on Biracial and Multicultural Perspectives

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Penn Charter extends an invitation to the community to join them for the following event:

"Biracial and Multicultural Perspectives:

         A Student and Parent Round Table." 

Balderston Commons (Middle School)

Tuesday, Oct. 18, 6:00 pm




To help springboard the conversation, please complete this short survey. Your voice is important to the discussion!

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The GA Salon

Have you heard…or have you said…

“There’s so little time at school to talk about important ideas with our colleagues.”

“I wish teachers would get together socially more often.”

“Who is that?  They work here?  I’ve never seen them before.”

“All of our meetings are about how to use technology.  What about just discussing an idea for its own sake?”

It seems we want to talk to each other…about interesting ideas simply because they are intriguing.

Voila!  The GA Salon was born, an informal gathering of interested and interesting people who share a passion for ideas across a broad range of topics.  Each meeting of the Salon will begin with a five to seven minute presentation by a colleague on a topic/concept/idea of interest to her or him.

A glass of wine (or beer or seltzer), and some snacks, a provocative topic, a smart group of people: what could be better!  I’m hoping that many of you will have ideas that spark your interest, which you would welcome discussing with colleagues: gun control, dream analysis, climate change, veganism, the paranormal, retirement, what defines a civilized society.  To keep the conversation fresh, the topic and presenter remain a secret!

So…here’s the date:  Thursday, October 20^th, 3:30 p.m. -5:00 p.m.

Other dates below.

·            IMPORTANT! We need numbers for delicious hors d’oeuvres and beverages.

·            Let me know if you have an idea you’d like to discuss with your colleagues.  You can lead a Salon sometime this year.

Thursday, October 20, 2016      3:30-5:00 p.m.               

Thursday, January 19, 2017       5:00-6:30 p.m.               

Thursday, March 16, 2017                 3:30-5:00 p.m.

Thursday, April 20, 2017          5:00-6:30 p.m.

First Thursdays Are Back!

First Thursdays ~ 3:30-5:00 p.m.

We work with brilliant colleagues…and in recent years GA has made a concerted effort to maximize the expertise of these teachers and create opportunities for them to share knowledge acquired off-campus as well as expertise honed in the classroom with their colleagues.  Monthly 1^st Thursdays bring faculty together from all three divisions to explore a topic of pedagogical interest.

All are welcome!  If you have an idea for a 1^st Thursday, please let me know.

Thursday, Oct 6, 2016       New Com 2.0. Chidi Asoluka & Cory Eklund BCI

Thursday, Nov 3, 2016      Metacognition ~ Janelle Collett ~ BCI

Thursday, Dec 1, 2016      Brain-based Learning ~ Charlotte Dean ~ BCI

Thursday, Feb 2, 2017       Topic and location to be announced

Thursday, Mar 2, 2017      Topic and location to be announced

Thursday, May 4, 2017     Topic and location to be announced