Fall Forum 2010, Demanding Education That Matters: School Climate & Culture Strand

Register for Fall Forum: http://www.regonline.com/fall_forum_2010 

Transforming School Climate: The Key to School Safety, Student Motivation, and Academic Results
The Obama administration is putting school climate at the center of its school improvement efforts. This workshop will immerse participants in the SafeMeasures process that helps schools use data and student leadership to develop a positive school climate that values each student, engages all, and empowers students to own their learning and the success of the whole school community. Our research shows that improvements in school climate are correlated with significant improvement in test scores (as well as a lot of other valued outcomes). Participants will see how to align the work of CES with the new National School Climate Standards to serve as leaders in the ongoing efforts to improve education nationwide.
Compass School | Rick Gordon | Workshop
Friday, Nov. 12, 8:00-9:45am

Building Bridges with Social Media: Encourage Parent Participation and Build a Culture of Fairness and Trust
In this interactive session, participants will learn specific strategies to help build a culture of fairness and trust by engaging parents and community members through utilizing interactive social media and online tools. Beginning with the lessons learned during the first year of an essential school, participants will have an opportunity to share their own “tips from the trenches,” inspiring and encouraging session attendees to consider innovative ways to include their entire family into the learning community. 
Mentorship Academy | Brian Dixon | Workshop
Friday, Nov. 12, 8:00-9:45am

Creating Innovative Disciplinary and Mission Driven Protocols through Student Work
Student disciplinary issues can exhaust a school's resources and remove its focus from academic goals and the creation of a positive school culture. In this workshop, ARISE High School will demonstrate how it created innovative disciplinary and mission-driven protocols that motivate students, establish collaborative community relationships, improve student success and create school leaders. This innovative process will be modeled by students who will also discuss its impact upon their lives.
San Francisco Coalition of Essential Small Schools | Laura Flaxman, Victoria Li | Looking at Student Work
Friday, Nov. 12, 10:15am-12:00pm

Silence is Not Always Golden: Creating a Culture of Student Talk in the Classroom
Children should be seen and not heard. Unfortunately, this aphorism has governed education for too long. Through a participatory approach, the facilitators, who lead professional learning at their school and who help their staff implement a culture of student talk, will model specific structures to create a culture of talk in your classroom. Participants will leave with an implementation plan for creating, through student talk, an educational experience that matters for learning.
New San Juan High School | Steve Hunt, Nicole Kukral | Workshop
Friday, Nov. 12, 1:30pm-3:15pm

Attacking Gorillas: Developing a Culture of Growth through Fierce Conversations
Our session will engage participants in a discussion about varying educational concerns such as school culture and student achievement. As participants share concerns relative to their schools, others will offer ideas, experiences, and suggestions for improvement. The session will provide opportunities for all participants to be heard and we will address as many concerns as possible—including our own—specifically with respect to CES Common Principles. Participants will leave having shared experiences, listened to suggestions and advice, and resolved concerns that are having an impact on instruction.
Eastern Elementary School | Timothy Aitken, Amanda Bayer | Interest Group
Friday, Nov. 12, 1:30pm-3:15pm

Whose School Is It Anyway? Student Leaders at ARISE High School Tell It Like It Is
At ARISE High School, students are a part of all of the big decisions in the school. Students on the hiring committee interview potential teachers and even recommend whether current teachers should be asked to return, students run the school Community Meeting where problems as well as appreciations are shared, and student leaders even plan and run a week-long orientation for the whole school at the beginning of the year. ARISE also has a school-wide leadership team made up of teachers, administrators, parents, and students that makes important decisions about the school in areas that include budget and staffing. At ARISE, adults take students' opinions into consideration and strive to constantly include the students' points of view. In this session, ARISE student leaders will share their experiences and advice for building meaningful student leadership.
ARISE High School | Lorena Borrayo, Anthony Dominguez, Laura Flaxman, Romeo Garcia, Thalia Jauregui, Yessenia Saucedo | Workshop
Friday, Nov. 12, 1:30pm-3:15pm

Ownership in a Small High School
This workshop will illustrate how the Scarsdale Alternative School creates ownership of its rules through the participation of all students and staff in school governance. The facilitators and workshop participants will role play the structures that support self-governance at our school: agenda committee, community meeting, and fairness committee. Together we will model how these structures encourage the consideration of multiple perspectives and how the process builds ownership of the rules. We will allow time for participants to consider how their school could employ similar structures to engage in a more democratic approach to school governance.
Scarsdale Alternative School | Jennifer Maxwell, James Williams | Workshop
Friday, Nov. 12, 1:30pm-3:15pm

Collaborative Goal Setting: Constructing a Culture of High Achievement
The old Irish folk song states, “I know where I am going.” We certainly know our own objectives, but do the students know theirs? How do we ensure our students can formulate academic goals by analyzing their own academic and behavioral choices? A unified and structured approach will be presented by English teacher Adam Kinory and Inclusion Specialist Melissa Moskowitz, both from The School of the Future. Time will be allotted for collaboration, discussion, and planning.
The School of the Future | Adam Kinory | Workshop
Friday, Nov. 12, 1:30pm-3:15pm

Collaborative School Leadership: Building a Small School with Big Heart
Civitas School of Leadership was built upon the CES Common Principles. Fairness and trust, democracy and equity: these are the heart of our school culture. Our Principal always asks, “What do you guys think?” and “Is that fair?” Hiring, master schedules, professional development, employee evaluation, and curriculum design are tasks we complete collaboratively, coming to consensus. Students see a powerful model of democracy at work. Hear our story and share your experiences building equitable schools.
Civitas School of Leadership | Rosamaria Figueroa-Calderon | Interest Group
Saturday, Nov. 13, 8:00-9:45am

"That's So Gay": How Do We Create a Respectful Community?
Our mission is to create safe communities that embrace differences and practice inclusion and where the expectation is that students look out for one another. We’ll showcase programs developed at the Lehman Alternative Community School and elementary schools in Ithaca that address both prevention and intervention around issues of bullying, relational aggression, harassment, and bias. A key component is student involvement. The session will continue with participants sharing successes and challenges as they develop programs in their schools.
Lehman Alternative Community School | Celia Clement | Interest Group
Saturday, Nov. 13, 8:00-9:45am

“Both/And”: Is It Possible and How Can I Do It?
This interest group is for those who are practicing in schools where the main focus is, by necessity, the state test. How can we create democratic, thinking, learning climates for children AND prepare our children well, both emotionally and academically, for the tests that will determine their futures? What can we do to deepen the focus of the schools we work in to allow children to grow as human beings and thinkers?
Neighborhood House Charter School | Heidi Lyne, Cara McCarthy | Interest Group
Saturday, Nov. 13, 10:15am-12:00pm

A Calm, Happy Mind: Supporting Resiliency in Students
This workshop will help teachers of all subjects and ages to promote resilience by incorporating mindfulness and reflection into their classrooms. The workshop facilitators bring years of experience with mindful teaching and social and emotional learning to the question of how reflection, stillness, focus, and emotional awareness tools can help students be well and happy, the foundation of academic and life success. Using a collaborative format, workshop leaders will combine presentation, discussion, and experiential activities to help participants examine their own strengths and harness those strengths to bring mindfulness and well-being to their students.
Young Spirit Foundation | Megan Cowan, Randy Taran, Theodore Timpson | Workshop
Saturday, Nov. 13, 10:15am-12:00pm

From Bystanders to Peacemakers: Empowering Youth to Reduce Bullying and Improve School Climate
Electronic aggression, bullying, and violence adversely affect students’ perceived sense of safety and undermine their school performance. Recent research compiled by the American Educational Research Association and Centers for Disease Control shows strong evidence that school climate is a key factor in reducing risky behavior and increasing academic achievement, attendance, and graduation rates. Learn how to enhance school climate and foster safer, higher-achieving schools by equipping and empowering diverse student leaders with non-violent communication skills to prevent and stop bullying, harassment, and cyber-bullying.
Community Matters | Workshop
Saturday, Nov. 13, 10:15am-12:00pm

Register for Fall Forum: http://www.regonline.com/fall_forum_2010