5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Registration / Exhibits OpenReception | CHAMPION FOYER
8:00 AM – 9:00 AM
Breakfast Buffet | CHAMPION BALLROOM
8:00 AM – 6:30 PM
Exhibits Open | CHAMPION FOYER
9:00 AM – 10:30 AM
KEYNOTE
Speaker: Peggy Campbell-Rush, U.S. Fulbright Education Specialist, U.S. Fulbright Education Program
Division Level: All
Room: Champion Ballroom
This keynote is designed to share practical ideas and strategies to help all learners succeed. You will learn ways to adapt your instruction when working with children who learn in different ways and at different rates. Throughout the session, you will develop insights into the struggling learner’s capabilities and needs. We will also discuss how to help students without a diagnosis or IEP.
Participants will learn:
10:30 AM – 11:00 AM
Break
11:00 AM – 12:30 PM
BREAKOUTS
Division Level: Lower
Room: Salon 1
In this session, we’ll discuss:
Speakers: Jenn Hoover and Susan Huennekens, Learning Specialists, Savannah Country Day School
Division Level: Middle & Upper
Room: Palomino
Prepare to be immersed in an all-inclusive exploration of learning. Discover how you can integrate multisensory learning into your classroom, regardless of grade level, in order to decrease student anxiety and increase student engagement, retention of information, and most importantly, fun. Learn about the neuroscience behind the multisensory brain and the benefits students experience through this approach. Leave with a toolbox full of new strategies you can bring back to your classroom to benefit all students.
Participants will:
Speaker: Connie White, Director of Learning Design & Innovation, Woodward Academy
Room: Morgan
This session highlights assistive technology, software, emerging technologies, and classroom ideas to empower students with learning differences and disorders. The shared research-based suggestions and resources will give students of all abilities a greater voice in their learning. We will share ways educators can use these ideas to help them foster student independence and success. We will also highlight the latest research on emerging technologies such as using virtual reality with students with autism.
Many of our students have difficulty receiving and processing information in certain skill areas such as reading, writing, listening, speaking, or math. For each skill area, we will explore our favorite technology tools and programs that can be helpful for students whose brains are uniquely different. As we conclude the session, participants will collaboratively crowd-source and share ideas that have worked in our unique schools to help children with learning differences achieve success in the classroom.
Speakers: Brandon Boston, Founder, and Tanya Lynch, Co-Founder, The Boston Group
Room: Carothers
The landscape of education is ever evolving, and with that so is the makeup of our classrooms and schools. Students come to us with varying levels of abilities in all aspects of academic and non-academic endeavors. They have differentiated strengths and weaknesses. As we become more aware of the neurodiversity of our population, educators have a responsibility to meet the needs of all of the learners in their classrooms.
In this two-part, deep dive workshop, participants will have the opportunity to step inside the shoes of a student who has challenges with reading and listening comprehension as well as written expression; experiencing firsthand the daily struggles that many learners face. By developing empathy and building an increasing awareness of the vast diversity of the students sitting in our classrooms, educators will leave this workshop with concrete and actionable strategies to support all learners.
12:30 PM – 1:30 PM
Lunch Buffet | CHAMPION BALLROOM
1:30 PM – 2:30 PM
Speaker: Kimberly Carraway, Director/Cognitive Learning Specialist, Carraway Center for Teaching & Learning
This workshop will show participants how to put the latest cognitive neuroscience research into practice as we focus on practical teaching and learning strategies that are easy to implement. Over 30 specific “how to” strategies will be provided to help students in the following areas:
Useful examples and handouts will be shared that can be used with individual students or in a classroom setting. Participants will leave with an action plan and a set of ideas they can begin using the next day with their students.
2:30 PM – 3:00 PM
3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
This breakout session is designed to train educators how to best support students who are struggling in math. We will address several factors that impact mathematical processing, understanding, and recall. Most of the session will be focused on sharing very practical strategies for providing support to students in grades 3-12. Strategies will also be provided for aiding the impact working memory, executive function, visual spatial processing, and memory have on performing mathematical procedures. Educators will gain strategies for one-on-one instruction, ways to design tests and handouts, taking and checking math tests, catching “careless errors,” evaluating tests, and learning about favorite mathematical materials.
Speaker: Barbara Beachley, Executive Director of Learning & Development, ISM
Recent advances in brain science have greatly impacted how we approach teaching and learning. But teachers are busy and there’s so much information out there, where to start? This session offers a straightforward method to incorporate brain-based strategies in your classes in a way that will enrich and enliven the lessons you are already teaching. Come with a lesson in mind and be prepared for an interactive experience! Attendees will receive practical take-home resources. Appropriate for middle and upper school teachers and academic administrators.
Participants will learn
Speaker: Jared Clodfelter, Upper School Division Head, Currey Ingram Academy
In this session, attendees will learn about the executive function (EF) skills most crucial for academic success. Attendees will also be challenged to think differently about EF, ADHD, and motivation. The session will use real-world anecdotes and student case studies to learn how EF deficits impact learning and classroom performance and, most importantly, what teachers can do to support students with deficits. Takeaways will include an understanding of EF as an umbrella term, how EF deficits present in the classroom and impact classroom performance, common misconceptions of EF and ADHD, numerous low-intensity, high-impact strategies for developing students’ EF skills. Conversation will focus mostly on middle and upper school aged students.
Speakers: Nancy Weinstein, CEO, MindPrint Learning, and Carolina Williams, Learning Specialist, Gulliver Preparatory School
Division Level: Middle and Upper
We will share a strengths-based approach to improve outcomes for all students. Managing learner variability has always been a classroom challenge, but the large variations in student knowledge as we emerge from a global pandemic and the brighter spotlight on equity has made it clear that understanding and addressing learner variability is more important and complicated than ever before.
We will share a new lens on learner variability based on the science of learning best practices. We will start by introducing the four cognitive domains that drive learning success: complex reasoning, memory, executive functions, and processing. We will discuss which domains are more predictive of traditional academic success, and offer an approach that can help ensure all students are prepared for the ever-changing world that awaits them.
Participants will gain:
4:00 PM – 4:30 PM
4:30 PM – 5:30 PM
Small Groups:
5:30 PM – 6:30 PM
Reception | CHAMPION FOYER
Speaker: Michael Greschler, Director of SMARTS Executive Function Programs, ResearchILD
Why do so many students seem to struggle with executive function? Why do students get stuck and become anxious? How can teachers support students and each other to handle the executive function demands of school and everyday life? How do we empower every student to learn how to learn and to develop a more accurate self-understanding of their strengths and challenges?
Cognitive flexibility is a cornerstone of executive function and crucial to school and life success. This executive function process allows us to shift our mindset when life does not go the way we planned, when we face obstacles, and when we become stuck in the middle of a problem-solving situation. Cognitive flexibility allows us to take a step back, reflect on the situation, and consider a different plan of attack. In school, cognitive flexibility is essential across the grades and in all academic domains. From preschool on, students can learn to be more flexible in the way they approach tasks and social situations. The ability to shift approaches and to synthesize information in novel ways is essential for effective reading, writing, math problem-solving, note-taking, studying and test-taking. When students get stuck and their thinking becomes rigid, their ability to execute tasks decreases or comes to a halt. They may become rigid and may avoid or easily give up even on simple assignments. Their funnels get clogged.
In this session, participants will learn about the importance of cognitive flexibility and its critical role in school performance, growth mindsets, and reduced stress in school and life. Most importantly, we will focus on evidence-based strategies from the SMARTS executive function curriculum developed by Lynn Meltzer, PH.D. and ResearchILD, for promoting students’ cognitive flexibility so that they learn to shift and think flexibly in academic and social situations.
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
As students progress through the grades, many academic tasks including reading, writing, and note-taking increasingly rely on the successful use of executive function strategies. To support the learning needs of all students, executive function strategies must be embedded in content area lessons in all classrooms so students understand why and how to use the strategies they need to be successful. Through hands-on activities, attendees will learn easy-to-teach short, engaging, and high impact reading and writing strategies that can be adapted for any content area.
Speakers: Cathy Davis, Math Lab Coordinator, Jennifer Gunn, Writing Center Sponsor, Hollie Marjanovic, Upper School Learning Facilitator, St. Andrew’s Episcopal School
Two areas where students need the most support are writing and math. It seems that there are not enough hours in the day to support all of the needs related to these topics. This session will present a solution for using peer tutoring under the guidance of writing and math lab coordinators. At St. Andrew’s Episcopal School, 10-15 students are selected annually to participate in both the writing and math labs. They are trained by the coordinators in a summer workshop and continue to have ongoing, weekly training. They are then responsible for meeting with students from upper school and middle school in a large group setting, individual setting, or classroom setting. The writing and math lab fellows have been a huge boost to supporting their peers and faculty.
Participants will learn how to:
Speakers: Grace Benedict, Director of Learning Services, Samantha Rose, Middle & Upper School English Teacher, and Christy Sutton, Learning Specialist, The Webb School
This session will provide a framework for how to embed academic support within a multi-tiered system of support to facilitate the learning of all students. In addition, the presenters will cover how to use the unique knowledge of support specialists to build capacity within a teaching faculty to meet the needs of students with and without learning differences. The presentation will introduce The Webb School’s use of short term academic improvement plans in order to reduce referrals to the support program.
Speakers: Anna Claire McKay, Middle School Learning Coordinator, and Connie Fink, 5th Grade Social Studies Teacher, University School of Nashville
Division Level: Lower & Middle
As teachers learn more about Mind Brain Education science (MBE), we need to ask if we are offering our students access to this same information. In this session, we’ll share how to put MBE science into the hands of students. Walk through the story of fifth graders as they learn some basic brain facts, map out the journey of a memory, weave regular retrieval practice into class time and homework, and unlock the secrets of efficient and effective studying. Additionally, learn how teachers have made small shifts in their individual practices in order to demystify the learning process for students, reach and celebrate diverse minds, and feel more grounded in their own pedagogy.
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
1:00 PM – 2:15 PM
Speaker: Regan Humphrey, Director of Community Outreach, Currey Ingram Academy
Executive functioning challenges are widespread and can impact every aspect of a student’s life, including academic performance, social connections, family relationships, and more. It is critical that educators understand the important role that executive functioning plays in student success and that they are equipped to support students who experience difficulties in this area. In this session, participants will learn what executive functioning skills are, how they develop, and what happens when their development is delayed. Participants will leave the session with practical strategies that can be implemented in any classroom setting to help students who struggle with executive functioning reach their full potential.
Participants will be able to:
Speaker: Debra Wilson, President, SAIS
There are so many legal topics that arise when we are serving students with learning differences, it can be hard to keep it all straight. Come learn about some of the fundamentals of the laws in play and gain additional insights from your colleagues as we share common practices and challenges together. Case studies based on frequently asked questions will be used in this interactive session.
Speaker: Julie Oliver, Director of Middle School, The New Community School
Division Level: Middle
This session shares The New Community School’s IMPACT Math, a teacher-created middle school math program. IMPACT Math is an individualized, student-centered middle school program that allows children the chance to develop math confidence while progressing at their own pace. This program helps students develop success skills including Independence, Mindfulness, Problem Solving, Adaptability, Communication as well as Tenacity (IMPACT). This session will share the steps to the IMPACT Math approach. Participants will be guided through a student’s journey in an IMPACT Math self-paced module. This journey takes a student through guided notes with an accompanying video, an exit ticket, a multi-sensory activity, a practice, and a mastery check. Students also check in with the teacher at specific intervals throughout the module. A circle flow chart will be displayed on the poster along with an example of each step in the IMPACT Math approach.
Speakers: Tricia Anderson, Middle School Resource Director, and Jennifer Deslich, Occupational Therapist, Tallulah Falls School
How do we as school leaders partner with occupational therapists in the community to provide support that students need? Executive function and self-regulation skills are the mental processes that enable us to plan, focus attention, remember instructions, and juggle multiple tasks successfully. When children have opportunities to develop executive function and self-regulation skills through occupational therapy, students and society experience lifelong benefits. Occupational therapy addresses and supports the physical, cognitive, psychosocial, and sensory components of performance. In schools, occupational therapy practitioners focus on academics, play and leisure, social participation, and self-care skills. In this session, discover alternate routes to supporting students through partnering with community professionals.
2:15 PM – 2:30 PM
2:30 PM – 3:30 PM
SMALL GROUPS
3:30 PM
Adjourn
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