Sunday, 7 – 10:30 AM
Registration
Sunday, 7 – 8:30 AM
Coffee & Tea
Sunday, 8 AM – NOON
Exhibit Hall Open
Come explore an enticing assortment of high-quality Montessori materials, classroom furniture, gift items, and more.
Sunday, 8:30 – 10 AM
Workshops: Session 7
The letters following each workshop description indicate target interest group(s):
I&T (Infant & Toddler) • EC (Early Childhood) • EL (Elementary) • SEC (Secondary) •
TE (Teacher Educators) • ADM (Heads & Administrators) • PUB (Public Schools) •
PAR (Parents) • ALL (All Audiences)
 SPOTLIGHT PRESENTATION: All Kinds of Minds: Understanding Learning and Learners
Michele Robinson , Jennifer Bitner , Elizabeth Hickey
The All Kinds of Minds approach to education brings the latest research on learning to your work with students. In this workshop, explore eight constructs that impact learning, and practice the application of this framework to specific teaching challenges. You will also have a chance to reflect on your own learning profile and consider its impact on your instructional decisions. Learn to deepen your observational skills, consideration of students’ learning strengths and weaknesses, and store of effective teaching strategies to individualize instruction while celebrating the many kinds of minds at work in your classroom.
Sponsored by Montessori Schools of Massachusetts.
(ALL)
Public Policy Boot Camp
Cindy Acker
What is public policy? How can you get involved in it? This boot camp will cover all the basics of legislative functions and budget considerations as well as a history of important legislation that has affected Montessori education. Renew your commitment to the bigger picture by role-playing conversations with lawmakers and learning how to advocate in your own area(s).
(ALL)
Adolescence and Modern Literacy: Embrace the Metamorphoses!
Lynn E. Bensen , Alan S. Koesten
Adolescence has always been a time of developmental metamorphosis, but today’s adolescents enter adulthood in a world that is also being transformed by all manner of digital wonders. As teachers, our job is to instill literacy—but is our definition of literacy, developed in a print world, now outdated? This exploration of modern “literacy” will look at critical technologies and, most importantly, the teacher’s role in helping students develop the habits of mind to apply their own technology use effectively and responsibly.
(EL, SEC, TE, ADM, PUB, PAR)
Creating Effective and Enjoyable Community Meetings
Shelli Caldwell , Kathryn Miller , Munir Shivji
Looking to reinvigorate your daily community meetings? In this hands-on session, experience and share creative lessons and activities, such as music, story reading, movement, and relaxation exercises. You will also explore sample meeting plans, props, and materials as well as a thematic yearlong schedule that will reinvigorate your meetings and make them enjoyable for you and your students.
(EC)
Effective Feedback: Making Difficult Conversations Productive
Steve Clem
School leaders engage in difficult conversations on a daily basis. When we’re tuned in, listening, and analyzing feedback effectively, we maximize successful outcomes and strengthen relationships. This interactive session will define good practices and test different conversational approaches through role-plays and discussion so that you will leave a stronger communicator and problem solver.
(TE, ADM)
Essentials of Effective Governance
Claudia Daggett
What is the role of the board in a healthy independent school? To maintain effective school leadership, heads and boards need to be clear about their respective roles and how to best navigate their partnership. This reflective session will provide an outline of best practices, discussion of case studies, and resources for continued inquiry and support.
(ADM)
Continuing the Conversation: The Head of School’s Role in Creating and Maintaining Organizational Stability
Marge Ellison , Bill Simmer , Independent School Management
“It was the best, most useful info I heard . . . and it was on Sunday morning . . . to think I almost missed this!” —Participant in 2009 Continuing Head’s Networking Session
At the AMS 2009 Annual Conference in New Orleans, school heads analyzed the key characteristics of financially stable schools, with a special focus on how to thrive in this uncertain economy. This year, zero in on your role as head and learn how you can ensure the development of the characteristics that make you an effective leader. How can you “lead from behind” with your board or other governance entity, helping them become the strategic group you need them to be? How do you balance appropriate teacher autonomy with your own leadership toward a focused, collaborative vision? Whether you were present for last year’s presentation or not, if you are a head of school, don’t miss this opportunity for a valuable continuation of the networking experience and an exploration of the core disciplines of leadership.
(ADM)
The Art of Report Card Writing
Sarah Enright
Now, more than ever, parents are demanding accountability from schools. This participatory session will explore all the skills teachers need to accurately, and reassuringly, convey complete information about student progress. You will review sample report cards (both good and bad examples!) and walk away with confidence in your own reporting strategies.
(I&T, EC, EL, SEC, TE, ADM, PUB)
The Simple Approach to a Beautiful Classroom
Jessica Christina Hammes
Think you need more complex lessons, more expensive work materials, or a fancier classroom? This workshop is about getting back to basics: in lessons, materials, and classroom layout. Be reminded that bigger and more do not necessarily mean better, and leave with simple, inspiring ideas to share peace, order, and beauty with your students.
(EC, EL, PUB)
Better than Hypnosis, Brainwashing, and Jedi Mind Tricks: Tools for Positive Guidance and Discipline
Amanda Phy Rainey , Janet Jolley
Has classroom discipline become a distraction? In this participatory workshop, practice managing children's behavior through positive interactions, redirection, and problem solving. Learn about direct and indirect strategies for eliciting appropriate behavior and the brain research that supports a proactive approach.
(I&T, EC, PAR)
Habits of Heart: Building Character and Empowering Children
Marjorie Maher
Discover Full-Circle Learning, an integrated education model using character- and service-based practices and projects to instill an altruistic worldview and empower students to understand the relationship between positive behaviors and learning concepts. Come practice Full-Circle Learning activities and strategies and learn how to further enhance the culture of your own classroom.
(EC, EL, TE, ADM, PUB, PAR)
Elementary Technology Tutorial
Tom Muro
Many schools make technology available, but if teachers don’t have the time and education to know how to use it, it goes to waste. This practical workshop will demonstrate three specific technologies to get you moving: mail/merge to create customized weekly student work plans, safe and savvy Internet use, and SMART Board technology for lessons and class meetings.
(EL, SEC, TE, ADM, PUB, PAR)
Building Spatial Thinking with the Early Childhood Materials
Nancy Meckley Remy
Montessori has never been more relevant than it is now: research indicates that spatial thinking, a hallmark product of the early childhood materials, is an essential skill for success in 21st-century schools and life. This discussion will take a closer look at specific materials, including the triangle boxes and the geometric cabinet and solids, to investigate the best ways to encourage visual thinking and organizing.
(EC, TE, ADM, PAR)
Fostering a Loving Relationship with Nature
Barb Rueter , Susie Shelton-Dodge
“Knowledge without love will not stick. But if love comes first, knowledge is sure to follow.” —John Burroughs
Foster a deep respect for and love of nature through gardening, hiking, and science activities. You’ll leave with specific, inspirational ideas for outdoor experiences and complementary indoor projects.
(EC, ADM, PAR)
Where Have All the Aprons Gone?
Carol S. Woods
In the early childhood environment, one result of the increased focus on “direct” academic work is a lost recognition of the value of complex water and art activities. Come be reminded of the vital importance of these activities, and renew your commitment to them with exciting new ideas for wonderfully messy activities!
(EC, TE, ADM, PUB)
Sunday, 10:30 AM – NOON
Daniel Pink: Closing Keynote Address
Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us
External rewards often backfire: they can actually reduce both creativity and satisfaction. In this provocative and entertaining presentation, best-selling author Daniel Pink will survey three decades of behavioral research that calls into question what many people believe about high performance and supports what Montessorians already know.
Daniel will share research findings that corroborate what can be observed in Montessori classrooms every day: people of all ages who are intrinsically motivated—who do what they do because of enjoyment of the task itself—routinely outperform those who are motivated by external rewards. Drawing on examples from cutting-edge companies and intriguing experiments around the world, he’ll reveal the three key ingredients of those intrinsically motivated high performers—and demonstrate how any organization or school can create contexts that tap workers’ and students’ deepest motivations to produce the highest results.
 Daniel Pink writes books that are reshaping how organizations operate and how individuals channel their creativity and navigate their lives. He is an expert on innovation, competition, and the changing world of work.
Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us, just released in January 2010, explores what really motivates us to achieve.
A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future, published in 2005, charts the rise of right-brained thinking in modern business and explains the six abilities professionals need to survive in an outsourced, automated age. A Whole New Mind was a New York Times and BusinessWeek best seller for more than two years and has been translated into 18 languages.
Pink’s articles on business and technology appear in many publications, including the New York Times, Harvard Business Review, and Wired, where he is a contributing editor. He has provided analysis of business trends on CNN, CNBC, ABC, NPR, and other networks in the United States and abroad. And as an independent business consultant, he has advised start-up ventures and Fortune 100 companies on recruiting, innovation, and work practices.
Pink says his last “real” job was in the White House, where he served from 1995 to 1997 as chief speechwriter to Vice President Al Gore. He’s also worked as an aide to U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert B. Reich, an economic policy staffer in the U.S. Senate, a legal researcher in India, and a latrine builder in Botswana.
Daniel Pink holds a JD from Yale Law School and lives in Washington, DC, with his wife and their three children.
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