2011 NAREN National Conference Schedule

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• Pre-Conference Seminar
• Conference Schedule
• Post-Conference Seminar
• Conference Sponsors

More info...

• About the Conference
• Conference Breakout Sessions
• Conference Registration Forms
• Conference Presenter (only) Registration
• Sponsor & Exhibitor Opportunities

Pre-Conference Seminar

Cost: $150 per person ($120 for NAREN Associates)

Register now for the 2011 Pre-Conference Seminar!

Anthony Dallmann-Jones

Monday, February 21, 2011

• 8:00am-9:00am & Continental Breakfast (provided)

• 9:00am-Noon & 1:15pm-4:30pm — The Educating for Human Greatness School, with Anthony Dallmann-Jones PhD, author of Shadow Children and editor of Educating for Human Greatness.

  There has been much talk about the new book that was published in March, 2010: Educating for Human Greatness by Lynn Stoddard. To be inspired by a paradigm shifting idea is easy. Particularly in education, we love new programs, new curriculum, new initiatives — something we can latch onto that will give us hope. Maybe THIS one will work! is thought. The EfHG movement is in its early stages, but it is gathering momentum like a lazy snowball, but at some point it will take flight. Will you be ready?

  HOW do you implement something so monumental as Educating for Human Greatness? This seminar, led by Anthony Dallmann-Jones PhD, the editor of the book by Lynn Stoddard, will lead an all day seminar on just this topic. How do we focus on what students do well, are inclined towards, have aptitudes for, are excited by, show a proclivity for, and still meet the standards and testing created by those standards? Simple. Not easy. Simple. It can be done, as it has been done. This seminar will show you how the affirming of diversity will lighten your load and brighten your students' performance in school.

  You absolutely CAN have your cake and eat it too!

  [Each seminar participant will receive a free copy of Educating for Human Greatness by Lynn Stoddard. Lynn will also be the keynote speaker for NAREN on Tuesday, February 22nd.]

  NOTE: One graduate credit is available for this course via Marian University, an NCATE accredited university. Forms will be available at the pre-conference. Some online research, and a reflective paper is required to complete the course.

• 6:00pm-8:00pm & The NAREN Registration Desk open in the Conference Center, if you wish to check in and get your nametags, etc. No need coming before 6:00pm — please let the staff get set up before approaching the desk. You can also wait to check in on Tuesday morning at between 8:00am-8:45am. The reception, last year held on Monday night, will this year be on Tuesday night at 7:00pm

Register now for the 2011 Pre-Conference Seminar!

Just Added — Special Interactive Feature Program! We are pleased to announce that percussionist Steve Ferraris will be presenting several breakout sessions utilizing drums on Wednesday, as well as a culminating activity that will inspire you as you return home! Drumming for At-Risk Teens This interactive drumming workshop demonstrates techniques and strategies for implementing group drumming as a tool for developing emotional intelligence, risk prevention, and a means of building resiliency. Directed group drumming immediately engages and motivates adolescents, presenting an opportunity for teaching and learning valuable social and personal skills. We know that social alienation is the root cause of risky, self-destructive behaviors. This drumming program helps kids feel that they "belong" to something positive and specifically helps them develop emotional intelligence which directly reduces risk taking behaviors. Studies have documented that students who participate in ongoing group drumming activities have fewer absences from school and after school programs, fewer behavior issues in school and develop greater self-esteem. Intended Audience: All Presenter(s): Steve Ferraris, Percussionist, Music Faculty, University of Vermont; Director, RootSystem Drumming

Conference Schedule

Register now for the 2011 Conference!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

• 8:00am-8:45am & Continental Breakfast (provided)

• 8:45am - 9:00am — Welcoming Speech by Anthony Dallmann-Jones PhD, NAREN Director

Lynn Stoddard

• 9:00am - 9:50am — KEYNOTE: Education for Human Greatness, with Lynn Stoddard

  Lynn is a revolutionary octogenarian. Nothing slows the man down except a bad night of bowling. He has 36 years experience in education as teacher and principal. Lynn originated — along with a group of his teachers — the concept of Educating for Human Greatness and has been fleshing it out ever since. His new book, by the same title, was published in March of 2010 (and is for sale on the NAREN website) and offers up, finally, the answers — the Paradigm Shift — we have all been looking for in education. You must come hear Lynn speak to clearly see what has been missing and how to add it back into our schools — public, charter, alternative, and private alike! —so that education can be that thing we hate to miss and love to run towards!

• 10:00am - 11:10am — Breakouts: Session I

  • How to Create Strategies for Nurturing the Seven Dimensions of Human Greatness

    A Question and Answer follow up to the opening session. The "Great Brain Project" and other strategies for nurturing student inquiry, imagination and other dimensions will be featured along with devious ways to insert Educating for Human Greatness into your school system.

    Intended Audience: All

    Presenter(s): Lynn Stoddard

  • Utilizing Art to Enhance Language Arts

    Neuroscience research confirms that engaging students in artistic endeavors increases motivation and engagement. Students who are motivated and engaged through arts-based/projects-based programs are more likely to attend school. Art enhances right brain hemisphere activity, increasing achievement in the more linear left brain where language and reading are often challenged in students who are frustrated with school and drop out. Art is a mechanism to facilitate social emotional learning and growth that is correlated with greater success in school.

    Intended Audience: All

    Presenter(s): Patty O'Grady; University of Tampa, Tampa, FL

  • From Frazzled to Dazzled: Proven, Practical Strategies for Improving Behavior So You Can Have the Energy to Teach!

    Discover different strategies for different kids to help them to be successful. Learn how to set limits that are both proportional and logical. Be sure the consequences relate to the infringement.

    Intended Audience: Elementary School, Jr. High/Middle School

    Presenter(s): Bonnie P. Halprin, Center for Teacher Effectiveness, St. Petersburg, FL

• 11:15am - 12:45pm — Lunch on your own at nearby eateries, one being the Edgewater Resort's Ocean's Grill onsite and next to the ocean!

• 11:30am - 12:30pm — Drumming for At-Risk Educators — Drop-In Drumming Session with Steve Ferraris!

  These informal sessions are for all to experience the challenges, joys and revelations of directed group drumming and discover how drumming can be used in at-risk education. No experience necessary and drums provided.

• 1:00pm - 2:10pm — Breakouts: Session II

  • On-the-Spot Counseling with Emotionally Challenging Students

    At-risk youth often experience chronic stress in their lives, or struggle with low self-esteem or self-defeating beliefs. Convinced that "no one cares," these youth often act out their issues with defiance or withdrawal, rather than talking them out with helpful adults. This interactive workshop briefly explores the psychological world of troubled youth, then delves into a non-clinical "on the spot counseling" strategy that any educator can use to de-escalate and process with youth in emotional crisis.

    Intended Audience: Jr. High / Middle School, Senior High, Supervisor

    Presenter(s): Dr. Steve Parese; SBP Consulting, Inc., Danbury, NC

  • A High School At-Risk Program that Works!

    Learn how to develop a successful at-risk program on a limited budget. The Success Program of L.C. Bird High School in Chesterfield County, VA was created 11 years ago to help at risk freshmen have a successful transition to high school. Since that time, it has expanded as a safety net for this school's entire at-risk population. Students now have the opportunity to stay in the program, thus receiving all of the resources it provides, for the entire four years of high school. Despite the high academic and behavior expectations, over 99% of our students opt to stay in the program for all four years of high school. The Success Program students actually score higher than any of the "top" high schools in the county in math state scores.

    Intended Audience: Jr. High / Middle School, Senior High

    Presenter(s): Matthew Bland, L.C. Bird High School, Chesterfield County, VA

  • Comprehension is Not What You Think: Implementing YALP's 3Gs with At-Risk Youths

    Comprehension — the act of making sense out of any context — is a fundamental, yet often ignored, life skill. YALP's Get it? Got it! Good! (3Gs) is a powerful comprehension model that is elegantly simple and readily applicable to any school or real life setting. Its key strategy is the systematic use of questions. Main messages from this presentation: Comprehension is more than reading texts; Comprehension can and should be taught in every classroom in connection with every subject, school activity, and real life situation; Students can be taught how to ask questions for better comprehension.

    Intended Audience: All

    Presenter(s): Judy Yaron PhD, YACHAD Accelerated Learning Project (YALP), Australia and Israel

• 2:15pm - 3:25pm — Breakouts: Session III

  • C² (Character Challenge): Using Movies for Teen Strength Training

    This evidence-based curriculum employs the research of Positive Psychology with peer-interactive teaching methods. The movies make it "cool". Written at the request of a judge, C² lays the foundation for successful adulthood that at-risk teens didn't receive at home. One teen said "C² changed my life."

    Intended Audience: Jr. High / Middle School, Senior High, Supervisor, Higher Education

    Presenter(s): Mark Liston; Pursuing Happiness, Joplin, MO

  • Islands of Strength: The Role of Peer Leadership in Eradicating Bullying

    How to build an effective peer leadership program that taps into the natural helping skills of at-risk students and one that shows students how to effectively intervene when bullying occurs. Based on the innovative program Sources of Strength which aims to strengthen how teens handle stress and other problems by training influential teen peer leaders who work to change typical behaviors among peers such as standing by instead of standing up to bullying.

    Intended Audience: Jr. High / Middle School, Senior High

    Presenter(s): Phillip Lester; Columbia High School, Maplewood, NJ

  • Dropout Prevention for Students with Disabilities: Florida's Current Status and Strategies for Improvement

    This presentation will focus on Florida's current outcomes and strategies attributed to success in selected districts with low dropout rates for students with disabilities. National data, risk factors, and exemplary programs will be shared. Activities of Florida's State Secondary Transition Interagency Committee and Dropout Subcommittee designed to assist districts with dropout prevention of students with disabilities will also be discussed.

    Intended Audience: Jr. High / Middle School, Senior High

    Presenter(s): Lori A. Garcia, PhD, Project 10: Transition Education Network, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, FL

• 3:30pm - 4:40pm — Breakouts: Session IV

  • Fluency Solutions

    Readers struggling with fluency need a structured set of strategies to help them increase their rate while also maintaining and assisting their comprehension of the text. Fluency Solutions will provide you with a detailed explanation of 3 strategies that will help struggling readers improve their fluency.

    Intended Audience: Elementary, Jr. High / Middle School

    Presenter(s): Angela Flavin, Read Naturally, Gainesville, FL

  • "It's Nothing Personal!" — Why Some Staff Just Don't Get It

    Emotionally challenging children and youth can push problems to the limits, and learn how to push buttons on staff as well. Staff who work to manage these students can sometimes find themselves taking problems too personally, reacting from a home-based perspective rather than a set of professional ethics. This workshop provides staff and administrators with valuable insights helpful in maintaining a professional perspective in challenging situations.

    Intended Audience: Elementary, Jr. High / Middle School, Senior High, Supervisor

    Presenter(s): Dr. Steve Parese; SBP Consulting, Inc., Danbury, NC

  • Another Option for At-Risk High School Students: One School District's Effort

    This session focuses on a school district's effort to address the needs of a target group of at-risk high school students using an Early College High School Model. Information will be shared regarding the process and strategies implemented to reduce the mismatch between the students' needs and the district's and schools' capacity to support these at-risk students.

    Intended Audience: Senior High, Supervisor, Higher Education

    Presenter(s): Lavetta B. Henderson; Florida A&M University, Tallahassee, FL

• 7:00pm — Welcome Reception

  Open bar, mixer activities, short film and presentation on the Singapore Conference (the first international conference on at-risk education). Discussion will be led by Frank Kros, NAREN Board Member and presenter at the Singapore ICARE Conference in November. There will be a drawing for some very significant door prizes — this will be a fun night! Be sure to bring your business cards, brochures and other things to share.

  PLUS! Interactive Performance — The History and Mystery of African Drumming and Dance, with Steve Ferraris and James Marshall. This exciting, colorful presentation allows the audience to experience the "wisdom of the Ancients" through drumming, song and dance.

Register now for the 2011 Conference!

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Angela Engel

• 8:00am-8:45am & Continental Breakfast (provided)

• 8:45am - 9:30am — KEYNOTE: Claiming the Joy in Teaching and Learning, with Angela Engel

  How school leaders can begin the process towards hope and healing for ourselves and our students.

  Angela Engel, author of Seeds of Tomorrow; Solutions for Improving our Children's Education, has been an advocate for children, families and the advancement of education for more than 15 years. Clear and direct, she writes from her extensive experience in the education system as a teacher, school administrator and parent of two school-age children. Her writing brings solution-based thinking and a gift to articulating complex issues in concrete, meaningful ways that connect with the diversity of stakeholders in the education system.

  Currently, her work includes empowering teachers, parents, and students in civic engagement and leadership as a facilitator for the Family Leadership Training Institute, and as a trainer and presenter for Motivational Media Assemblies. She is also engaged in the development of state and national education policies. Previously, she served as project director for the 2008 Children's Action Agenda, organizing children's advocacy groups from around the state on a common legislative platform with many of the initiatives being adopted by the Colorado legislature. In 2006, Engel was a candidate for the Colorado House of Representatives, earning 49 percent of the vote and bipartisan support. Engel has taught in public and private schools for elementary to high school age students. She served as a high school instructor and academic director for the "Denver Street Schools," a privately funded, alternative high school providing "last chance" education to inner-city schools. She has appeared on radio, television and in print media, and regularly participates in panel discussions about improving our children's education. She is a powerfully inspiring speaker and activist, and moves all ages to advocate on behalf of children, public education, and a free and just society. She received her bachelor's degree in communication from the University of Denver and her master's degree in curriculum and instruction the University of Colorado — Denver.

• 9:40am - 10:50pm — Breakouts: Session V

  • Education Policy by Dummies — You know who I mean!

    This session is designed to help administrators and educators understand the history and significance of both recent and past education reforms and trends and what it means for their schools and classrooms — including national policies such as ESEA, Goals 2000, NCLB, and Race to the Top, and the National Standards Initiative. This interactive workshop addresses the core problems facing American education today, identifies the power players, and provides solutions to positively affecting educational progress. Participants can expect to learn strategies for building alliances, increasing membership, strengthening messaging, utilizing the media, engaging communities, and ensuring that a free and just society begins in our classrooms.

    Intended Audience: Jr. High / Middle School, High School

    Presenter(s): Angela Engel

  • What Teachers REALLY Want

    Many teachers welcome hands-on training in classroom management. This presentation will highlight interventions that will empower teachers to: build positive student-teacher relationships, teach classroom routines in much the same way you would teach instructional content, eliminate multiple warnings, refocus disruptions before they become office referrals and empower students to take responsibility for their choices.

    Intended Audience: Elementary, Jr. High / Middle School, Senior High, Supervisor

    Presenter(s): Ron Odell, Educational Therapist/Trainer, Marietta, GA

  • A New Set of Tools to Re-Surface Your At-Risk Population

    The at-risk student handles the re-surfacing process with great success. Deeper access to their own mental programming results in transformational realizations about why certain aspects of the at-risk student's life have fallen short and what they can do to correct them. You will be introduced to the Avavtar set of tools to assist you in teaching your students how to experience reality without judgment, separation or distortion.

    Intended Audience: Senior High, Supervisor, Higher Education

    Presenter(s): Gretchen Geary, Aspen High School, Aspen, CO

• 11:00am - 12:10pm — Breakouts: Session VI

  • Engagement Strategies for At-Risk Readers and Writers

    All students need to be able to read and write — few want to do it. This session will present three concrete strategies audience members can take directly to their own classrooms to engage and excite at-risk students about meaningful reading and writing activities.

    Intended Audience: Jr. High / Middle School, High School

    Presenter(s): Elizabeth Mintie, Individualized Learning Center, Rockwood School District, Rockwood, MO

  • Relationships as the Catalyst for Achievement

    Often overlooked as an essential element promoting student achievement, this presentation will highlight the conditions and strategies that help students connect with adults, their school, and their own learning.

    Intended Audience: Jr. High / Middle School, High School, Supervisors

    Presenter(s): Ryan Champeau, Forward Design, LLC, Waukesha, Wisconsin

  • Self-Paced Online Learning: Why Alternative Ed Students Succeed

    Distance learning, also known as online learning or e-learning, has been serving the K-12 population for years. During that time a significant segment of the student population served have been alternative ed students. This session will explain the aptitudes, attitudes, skills and talents that alternative ed students possess which have a proven record of success.

    Intended Audience: Jr. High / Middle School, High School, Supervisors

    Presenter(s): Ron Davies, The Learning Springs, New Port Richey, FL

• 12:15pm - 1:45pm — Lunch provided by NAREN

• 12:30pm - 1:30pm — Drumming for At-Risk Educators — Drop-In Drumming Session with Steve Ferraris!

  These informal sessions are for all to experience the challenges, joys and revelations of directed group drumming and discover how drumming can be used in at-risk education. No experience necessary and drums provided.

• 1:50pm - 3:00pm — Breakouts: Session VII

  • A High School At-Risk Program that Works!

    Learn how to develop a successful at-risk program on a limited budget. The Success Program of L.C. Bird High School in Chesterfield County, VA was created 11 years ago to help at risk freshmen have a successful transition to high school. Since that time, it has expanded as a safety net for this school's entire at-risk population. Students now have the opportunity to stay in the program, thus receiving all of the resources it provides, for the entire four years of high school. Despite the high academic and behavior expectations, over 99% of our students opt to stay in the program for all four years of high school. The Success Program students actually score higher than any of the "top" high schools in the county in math state scores.

    Intended Audience: Jr. High / Middle School, Senior High

    Presenter(s): Matthew Bland, L.C. Bird High School, Chesterfield County, VA

  • Jack's Brain, Jill's Brain: Why Gender Differences Matter

    This workshop introduces participants to the rapidly emerging research on how the brains of females and males are developmentally, structurally and functionally different. Based on these differences, participants will learn academic approaches customized to the distinctly different learning styles of girls and boys. In addition, this session will acquaint participants with the practical application of gender research to behavioral and emotional interventions with a focus on helping both sexes maximize their potential.

    Intended Audience: Elementary, Jr. High / Middle School, High School

    Presenter(s): Heather Higgins, The Upside Down Organization, Baltimore, MD

  • Academic Literacy Support: From Conception to Creation to Connection

    An in-depth dissection of the PASS/ALS (Personal Academic Social Success/Academic Literacy Support) programs of Wauwatosa West and Wauwatosa East High Schools in Wisconsin highlighting its history, various strategies used, and sharing techniques designed to eliminate Ds and Fs from report cards. This is not intended to be a "one size fits all" or "cookie cutter" approach to student learning. It is a student-centered, goal-centered innovation.

    Intended Audience: Jr. High / Middle School, Senior High, Supervisor, Higher Education

    Presenter(s): Peg Grafwallner, Pat Gilbert, and Carol Brown; Wauwatosa West High School and Wauwatosa East High School, Wauwatosa, WI

• 3:10pm - 4:20pm — Breakouts: Session VIII

  • Classroom Connection: Building Relationships, Resiliency, and Readiness

    Learn about a new standards-based program for Grades K-5 underwritten by AT&T that addresses the behavioral reasons at-risk youth are not successful in school. Find out how belonging, optimism, contribution, coping, thinking and social skills, self-management, self-control, teamwork, and personal and group responsbility can be infused to the core curriculum.

    Intended Audience: Elementary

    Presenter(s): Karen Williams; Rainbow Days, Inc., Denison, TX

  • Change Your Language, Change Their Lives: What Adults Can Say Differently Today to Transform the Tomorrows of Our Youth

    Neuroscience discoveries have revolutionized our understanding of how the brains of our children learn and grow. In particular, brain research reveals how the specific language used by adults who teach, mentor and counsel youth has a much more profound effect on their development than previously realized. Learn the four powerful "Languages of the Brain" that will transform the lives of the children you serve. Walk away with a new way of talking to youth that builds resilience, promotes intrinsic motivation, enhances cognitive stimulation and creates kaleidoscope thinkers. What you say matters, more than you ever knew!

    Intended Audience: Elementary, Jr. High / Middle School, Senior High

    Presenter(s): Frank Kros, MSW, JD; The Upside Down Organization, Baltimore, MD

  • 10 Minutes a Day — That's All it Takes! The YALP Approach to Accelerated Learning

    For the past six years the Yachad Accelerated Learning Project (YALP) has been delivering accelerated learning practices, developed together with the NCJW Research Institute for Innovation in Education, at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel to Australian at-risk students in both Indigenous and non-Indigenous in remote, rural and regional settings.

    Intended Audience: All

    Presenter(s): Judy Yaron, Yachad Accelerated Learning Project (YALP)

• 7:00pm — Panama City Premiere of the Film Race to Nowhere

  Showing and discussion, led by Angela Engel, author of Seeds for Tomorrow. A concerned mother turned filmmaker, Vicki Abeles, aims her camera at the high-stakes, high-pressure culture that has invaded our schools and our children's lives. Race to Nowhere points to the silent epidemic in our schools: cheating has become commonplace; students are disengaged; stress-related illness and depression are rampant; and many young people arrive at college and the workplace unprepared and uninspired. Race to Nowhere is a call to action for families, educators, and policy makers to challenge current assumptions on how to best prepare the youth of America to become healthy, bright, contributing and leading citizens. This will be a meaningful night!

  • Tickets: $15 at the door, $10 in advance — click here to order your advance tickets!
  • Download the press release for this special NAREN National Conference screening
  • Download the official Race to Nowhere press kit
  • Visit the Race to Nowhere website

Register now for the 2011 Conference!

Thursday, February 24, 2011

• 8:00am-8:45am & Continental Breakfast (provided)

• 8:45am - 9:50am — Breakouts: Session IX

  • PLC and Data-Driven Decision Making for Students' Success: One school's journey from low-performance to full accreditation and AYP status

    The Title 1 school highlighted in this presentation has made tremendous gains both academically and professionally over the past three years. Double-digit gains were made in statewide standardized assessments, as well as becoming fully accredited and making AYP in all areas. The presentation depicts several practices that can be taught to other at-risk schools so they, too, can make such progress. These practices include: Professional Learning Communities, implementation of 21st-Century skills, RTI teams, Data-Driven decision making that drives instruction, Development of Instructional Leadership Teams, Academic Remediation Programs both in school and after school, as well as parental involvement and community partnerships.

    Intended Audience: Elementary

    Presenter(s): Dr. Joanne Pereira and Melissa Asaro, MSW, Holland Elementary School, Virginia Beach City School System, Virginia Beach, VA

  • Why Kids Do What They Do

    If you have asked yourself this question time and again, this presentation is for you. This workshop will address the latest brain research and stages of adolescent maturation in the context of risky adolescent behavior. Evidence-based prevention education that teaches essential life skills will be showcased. Learn why kids do what they do — and what we can do about it!

    Intended Audience: Jr. High / Middle School, Senior High, Supervisor

    Presenter(s): Regina Hudson Birrenkott, Director of Prevention, C.E. Mendez Foundation, Tampa, FL

  • Supporting Students "At-Risk" of Dropping out of High School: A Case Study of a Successful High School

    This session presents a case study which focused on the administrator, teacher and student perspectives of strategies that are implemented to assist struggling students. The data presented provides detailed descriptions of the strategies being used to reach students who are becoming "at-risk" of not graduating from high school, and discusses the commonalities between the data collected from the administrators, students and teachers who participated in the study.

    Intended Audience: Senior High

    Presenter(s): Janene M. Beck-Hafner, PhD, Unified School District of Antigo, Bryant, WI

• 10:00am - 11:10am — Breakouts: Session X

  • Curriculum Model for Raising Attendance

    Designing, writing and incorporating state standards-based curriculum and building one-to-one student-teacher relationships; a model that increases attendance and lowers student office referrals.

    Intended Audience: All

    Presenter(s): Ann Robertson; Sioux Falls School District — Whittier Middle School, Sioux Falls, SD

  • Relationships as the Catalyst for Achievement

    Often overlooked as an essential element promoting student achievement, this presentation will highlight the conditions and strategies that help students connect with adults, their school, and their own learning.

    Intended Audience: Jr. High / Middle School, High School, Supervisors

    Presenter(s): Ryan Champeau, Forward Design, LLC, Waukesha, Wisconsin

  • Drumming for At-Risk Teens

    This interactive drumming workshop demonstrates techniques and strategies for implementing group drumming as a tool for developing emotional intelligence, risk prevention, and a means of building resiliency. Directed group drumming immediately engages and motivates adolescents, presenting an opportunity for teaching and learning valuable social and personal skills. We know that social alienation is the root cause of risky, self-destructive behaviors. This drumming program helps kids feel that they "belong" to something positive and specifically helps them develop emotional intelligence which directly reduces risk taking behaviors. Studies have documented that students who participate in ongoing group drumming activities have fewer absences from school and after school programs, fewer behavior issues in school and develop greater self-esteem.

    Intended Audience: All

    Presenter(s): Steve Ferraris, Rootsystem Percussion Resources, Norwich, VT

• 11:20am - 12:30pm — Breakouts: Session XI

  • Partnering for Potential: One System's Comprehensive Approach to Helping At-Risk Students Unlock Their Potential

    Are your students homeless? Medically at-risk? Struggling academically? Challenged socially? Battling emotional issues? All alone? Come learn how one school system partners together to remove barriers and help unlock the potential of these at-risk students. We will discuss specific programs and strategies to comprehensively address students' at-risk factors.

    Intended Audience: All

    Presenter(s): Leigh Bagwell, Kim Snell, Karen Meador and Josh Kubly, Rutherford County Schools, Murfreesboro, TN

  • Forging Successful Business and Education Partnerships to Support Student Learning

    The Second Chance Program operated by Second Chance Partners for Education of Pewaukee, WI exists to create partnerships between local businesses and education to meet the needs of a growing population of non-traditional high school learners. Through this program, business and education join forces to provide an authentic learning experience for students who question the validity of the traditional high school curriculum. This practice provides credit deficient students with the opportunity to earn their high school diploma through an integrated learning experience linking academic standards with real-world application.

    Intended Audience: Senior High

    Presenter(s): Marty Gholston and Wayne Evert, Second Chance Program / CESA #1, Pewaukee, WI

  • Drumming for At-Risk Teens

    This interactive drumming workshop demonstrates techniques and strategies for implementing group drumming as a tool for developing emotional intelligence, risk prevention, and a means of building resiliency. Directed group drumming immediately engages and motivates adolescents, presenting an opportunity for teaching and learning valuable social and personal skills. We know that social alienation is the root cause of risky, self-destructive behaviors. This drumming program helps kids feel that they "belong" to something positive and specifically helps them develop emotional intelligence which directly reduces risk taking behaviors. Studies have documented that students who participate in ongoing group drumming activities have fewer absences from school and after school programs, fewer behavior issues in school and develop greater self-esteem.

    Intended Audience: All

    Presenter(s): Steve Ferraris, Rootsystem Percussion Resources, Norwich, VT

Register now for the 2011 Conference!

Post-Conference Seminar

Cost: $150 per person ($120 for NAREN Associates)

Register now for the 2011 Post-Conference Seminar!

Frank Kros

Friday, February 25, 2011

• 8:00am-9:00am & Continental Breakfast (provided)

• 9:00am-Noon & 1:15pm-4:30pm — The New IQ: Understanding & Teaching Executive Function Skills In & Out of the Classroom, with Frank Kros, Director of The Upside Down Organization

  Teaching young minds to think — clearly and efficiently — is a universal goal of parents and teachers alike. Thinking skills such as planning, goal setting, organizing, prioritizing, self-monitoring, accessing working memory, inhibitory (impulse) control and sustaining focused attention are critical to academic, vocational and relationship success at every age. Most important, the development of these skills allows youth to mature into independent, healthy and functional adults.

  Despite the importance of these "executive function" skills, these thinking processes are not systemically taught at home or in schools and are not the focus of mainstream school curriculums. Rather, schools emphasize the content or the "what" of learning. Executive function skills are the "how" of learning. When a student has poor or underdeveloped executive function skills, they can appear disorganized, unprepared and unmotivated. By providing explicit instruction in executive function processes, parents and teachers can significantly elevate the thinking abilities in their children and students.

  In this NAREN Post-Conference Seminar, participants will first learn what constitutes an executive function skill and where these thinking processes happen in the brain. Next, the workshop identifies the "Top 7 Skills for School and Life Success" and provides parents and teachers practical tools for assessing executive function abilities in their children and students. The third phase of the workshop introduces exercises and techniques to directly teach the Top 7 Skills to youth using innovative, highly accelerated methods. These methods are based on the very latest neuroscience and will arm you with knowledge and skills that can truly transform the youth you work with. Packed with practical, applicable tools, you'll leave the seminar equipped to immediately build better brains!

  Research has demonstrated that strength in executive function skills is more important to academic success than IQ. Students with solid executive function abilities are happier, more resilient and independent, use time wisely, possess excellent social skills, are effective problem solvers, and are more self-aware and socially attuned. More than any other education adults can provide, teaching youth executive function skills places them on the most direct path to success and happiness. The Upside Down Organization guarantees you'll be a better teacher, counselor, mentor, parent and grandparent by participating in this workshop. You will have a clear, concise and effective roadmap for helping youth achieve human greatness!

Register now for the 2011 Post-Conference Seminar!

Conference Sponsors

To be announced.

If you would like to become a sponsor for our 2011 conference, please see our Sponsor & Exhibitor Opportunities page for more info.

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