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Annual Educator Conference
October 6, 2016
Thank you for a fantastic event! This year we celebrated the moment you knew you could reshape your craft. Thank you to our speakers and to Summit County educators for making this our most exciting gathering yet.
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This year’s theme was: Reshaping Your Craft.
GAR Foundation’s Annual Educator Conference brought together over 160 K-12 teachers and administrators from Summit County to provide teachers and schools with innovative strategies for student engagement and success in the classroom. We focused on ways educators can reinvigorate their craft. Whether you’ve been an educator for two or 20 years, our speakers offered innovative tools and ideas to help you look through the lens of possibility.
Access resources from the event by clicking on the session of your choice.
Morning Talks 9:00 am
How can we make classrooms and schools an environment that gives students an opportunity to flourish and find their own voice? In this talk led by founder and executive director of local organization Alchemy, Kwame Scruggs, PhD will share the powerful tools and methods he uses to cultivate students to develop a sense of purpose in life and to thrive as members of a family, school and community.
Presenter: Kwame Scruggs, Alchemy
@alchemy_inc
When children learn to walk, we allow them to stumble, fall, and try again. These steps, however messy, are necessary so that growth and progress can occur. Often times in education, this concept is forgotten and students are forced to learn the same content at the same time. Instruction designed for the “the middle” leaves higher-abled students uninspired and unengaged, yet many educators have accepted the standard bell curve as normal. What if we could reach students where they are as opposed to where “should be,” while preventing lower performing students from falling through the cracks? Learn how Chad Ostrowski, founder of The Grid Method – Mastery Learning System tackled the most challenging year in his teaching career at a high-needs urban classroom by developing and implementing successful methods to break the traditional bell curve of student achievement. Session Resources:
Presenter: Chad Ostrowski, Progressive Mastery Learning, LLC
@ChadOstrowski, @TheGridMethod #GARed16
Storytelling is a powerful tool to develop the student-teacher relationship and teach many subjects. Stories expose students to long-standing archetypal models that engage the imagination, stimulate emotions and feeling, and cause students to think more deeply about subject matter. During this talk, Royse Crall, experienced teacher, mentor, and storyteller will share how storytelling will support your work as an educator, the history of stories and how it is related to child development, how to use storytelling with a variety of subjects, and overcoming the fear factor and begin storytelling in your classroom. Session Resources
Presenter: Royse Crall, Spring Garden Waldorf School
@SpringGardenWS #GARed16
Recommended Story Sources
Authentic Learning Experiences have the potential to break the mold of teaching and learning to the assessment and encourage student performance that is beyond what the instructor and student might think possible. In this talk, Eric Ling will share how he was able to maximize student learning by designing experiences in which students solve real world problems that they present to a uniquely interested audience equipped to bring their solutions to a reality. These exceptional conditions, combined with a teacher who effectively facilitates and encourages students, can result in students breaking through the achievement ceiling and begin to fully realize their true potential.
Presenter: Eric Ling, Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy
#GARed16
Breakout Sessions – 10:30 am
Developing novel collaborative partnerships can bring new energy to a classroom and reframe curriculum in ways that make it more accessible and more relevant to students. Biology teacher, Cassandra Hanna from the National Inventors Hall of Fame STEM High School partnered with Great Lakes Biomimicry, a regional organization which uses educational partnerships as a core element to drive economic development through innovation inspired by nature. The result was two years of exploration and experimentation with exciting results and lots of learning for both organizations. This session will explore ways educators from all grade levels and subjects can learn what effective collaborative partnerships look like, why you might build one, how to form them, and what to expect once you have formed one. Session Resources
Presenters: Cassandra Hanna, STEM High School & Torrey McMillian, Great Lakes Biomimicry
@Channa2Hanna, @GLBiomimicry2 #GARed16
As educators, you work tirelessly to inspire – always thinking of the next best idea to help your students achieve the seemingly impossible. What’s your big idea for your students and what’s stopping you from achieving it? Hear Foundation experts speak about the role of philanthropy in education and the innovative ways GAR Foundation elevates teacher-initiated ideas. Come prepared to look through the lens of possibility in this hands-on session to learn about the steps you can take to Reshape your Craft and become an even stronger leader in your field. Session Resources:
Presenters: Kirstin Toth & Lucille Esposito, GAR Foundation
@Toth4GAR, @GARFoundation #GARed16
Educator Initiative Grant Applicant’s Guide
As a Literacy Coach and an Adjunct Professor, Shelley Houser makes it a mission to try to encourage all teachers, whether they are veterans in the field or brand new to the classroom, to think of ways to make learning challenging for kids, but fun! As a supporter of promoting critical thinking, she spends a lot of time sharing ideas with teachers that stimulate deeper comprehension and schema building in kids’ brains. This engaging session will highlight the important elements of a Literacy Coach, how to turn typical lessons into engaging, meaningful experiences, best practices in teaching, and how everyone can contribute to understanding.
Presenter: Shelley Houser, The University of Akron
#GARed16
Keynote Presentation
Learning is a journey without a specific destination. Whether we meet with success or failure, there is always more to be learned. What factors motivate students to takes steps forward in their own learning? How can teachers help all students find and keep that motivation? How can teachers find that motivation for themselves? Most importantly, how can a culture of positive, persistent growth dramatically improve outcomes and reduce achievement gaps? This keynote will address these issues and help everyone reshape their practices, like wet clay on a potter’s wheel. Session Resources:
Presenter: Matthew Deevers, PhD
@matthewdeevers #keeptheclaywet #GARed16
Annual Educator Conference Speakers
Matt Deevers, Summit Education Initiative
We're thrilled to introduce Dr. Matthew Deevers as our keynote for the Annual Educator Conference this fall. Matt's 20 year career supporting student motivation and success has taken him from teaching high school English to serving in several school leadership roles, to his current role as senior research associate at Summit County's educational attainment organization, Summit Education Initiative. Matt specializes in understanding the relationships between school climate, student motivation, and academic achievement, and has become one of the most influential voices in regional educational attainment through his work entitled The Persistence Paradigm.
Lucille Esposito, GAR Foundation
Lucille Esposito joined GAR Foundation in 2013 and manages the Educator Initiative Grants (EIG) program. As a career educator, Esposito most recently hails from the Hubbard Exempted Village School District as assistant superintendent and special assistant to the superintendent, where she led and managed curriculum and instruction for instructors and students throughout the district. She has taken an active role in supporting teachers’ adoption of new learning standards, assessments and innovative teaching platforms. A lifelong Summit County resident, she has also taught throughout the region, including many years at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School and is adjunct instructor for Ashland University.
Kirstin Toth, GAR Foundation
Kirstin Toth joined GAR Foundation in 2007 as senior vice president. She previously served as the consulting project director for the Great Lakes Environmental Finance Center at Cleveland State University’s Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs. Prior to that, she was the director of marketing at Bank One and worked as an aide to the president of the Board of Cuyahoga County Commissioners. A public education expert deeply committed to the success for all students, Kirstin led the strategic re-positioning of the Cradle to Career alliance as the chair of Summit Education Initiative’s board of trustees, setting a new course for community-wide attention to education as an economic development imperative. She also serves on the Summit County’s First Things First advisory committee, United Way of Summit County’s Education Allocations Team, the Regional Economic Competitiveness Strategy Educational Attainment committee, the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs MPA and Nonprofit Degree Programs Advisory Board, and is an active member of the national Grantmakers for Education and Philanthropy Ohio.
Cassandra Hanna, STEM High School
Named one of Akron Public School’s top eight educators in 2013, Cassandra Hanna has been an educator in the Akron Public School District for sixteen years. In her role as a Biology Learning Coach at the National Inventors Hall of Fame® Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (NIHF® STEM) High School, she works collaboratively with external organizations and internal teams on designing and implementing interdisciplinary problem based learning experiences. Her roles at NIHF® STEM High School also include the advisor of the Health Professions Affinity Community, Building Test Coordinator, a member of the Intervention Assistance Team and School Improvement Team. Her robust experience as an educator also include training in Blended Learning, Problem Based Learning, International Baccalaureate Biology, Advanced Placement Biology, counseling, Ready High Schools Network, and English as a Second Language.
Eric Ling, Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy
Eric Ling is an educator of Economics and Business at Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy. His love for pursuing "what works" in education drives his instructional practices. Having developed seven curricula ranging in eight years as an educator, Eric has experienced the despair of getting it desperately wrong and the pure joy of finding something that transcends the classroom. Out of his appreciation of those that have done the same for him, Eric simply wants to share what he feels truly works in the classroom with his fellow colleagues in the noble pursuit of preparing young men and women for the future.
Royse Crall, Spring Garden Waldorf School
An educator, mentor, and storyteller with over two decades of experience, Royse has spent the last 16 years teaching classes from first through eighth grade at Spring Garden Waldorf School. She previously taught in the Peace Corps for and in the Cleveland Heights school system. Royse has also worked with home school families and teaching adults to use the Waldorf curriculum while attaining her Waldorf Teacher Training. In addition to her teaching experience, Royse has led dance workshops for adults and children, published a day care guide, and supervised teachers' aids and adult volunteers.
Chad Ostrowski, Progressive Learning, LLC.
Chad Ostrowski started his career in education when he was chosen as one of only 50 individuals in Ohio to be granted the Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowship through the Ohio STEM Learning Network. Through this fellowship he received his Master’s in Science Education and gained intensive training and expertise in STEM education, Problem Based Learning, inquiry based instruction, and other cutting edge educational methods. He has continued to thrive in education as a middle school Science teacher in a high-needs urban district and has fulfilled roles as Department Chair and Co-Chair of Science Curriculum at both the building and district levels. He created and developed the “The Grid Method - Mastery Learning System™ ” in order to synthesize his knowledge of best practices in education into a system that allows ALL of his students to meet and exceed their potential.
Torrey McMillan, Great Lakes Biomimicry
An experienced and innovative educator with nearly two decades of classroom teaching experience ranging from elementary to University level, Torrey directs Great Lakes Biomimicry’s Education Consortium and K12 Programs and teaches their Professional Education modules. As an expert in sustainability education, she also works with schools to embed the principles and practices of sustainability into the curriculum, operations, and culture of the institution. She is also the Director for the Center for Sustainability at Hathaway Brown School and adjunct faculty for the Baldwin Wallace University Sustainability major. Her strengths as an educator working at the interface of multiple disciplines help students imagine and build a more vibrant, flourishing future.
Shelley Houser, The University of Akron
Shelley Houser is an ABD (all but dissertation) doctoral student in Curriculum and Instruction at The University of Akron. She is also a Literacy Coach at the Center for Literacy at UA and is an Adjunct Professor who teaches Reading Endorsement courses in the College of Education. She has been a Literacy Coach for nearly 7 years and is currently coaching in three school districts in Summit County: Norton, Copley-Fairlawn, and Twinsburg. Previously, Shelley received a Bachelor of Science degree in Early Childhood Education from Kent State University. Also, from Kent State University, she received her Reading Endorsement and a Master's Degree in Reading Specialization. She has worked with children and young adults in all grade levels from PreK to High School, primarily in the area of literacy instruction.
G. Kwame Scruggs
G. Kwame Scruggs has over 20 years experience using myth in the development of urban male youth. He holds a Ph.D. and MA in Mythological Studies with an emphasis in Jungian Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara, California. Kwame also holds a MS degree in Technical Education with an emphasis in Guidance and Counseling from the University of Akron where he also completed all coursework for a Masters degree in Community Counseling. buy soma without prescription He has conducted numerous workshops on the use of myth to engage urban youth, presenting at C.G. Jung sites of New York, Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia. In 1993, after being formally initiated into the Akan System of Life Cycle Development (African-based rites of passage), Kwame became a Certified Facilitator of this process. tramadol online without prescription In 2013 Kwame was presented with the first Wendy Davee Award for Service from The Pacifica Graduate Institute Office of Alumni Relations and the Alumni Association, which honored him for his many activities and achievements that embody Pacifica’s mission to “Tend the Souls of the World.” In 2016 he was one of three recipients presented with the University of Akron’s Black Male Summit Legacy Award. ultram for sale Kwame is a member of the National Guild for Community Arts Education and was selected for the 2014 class of CAELI (Community Arts Education Leadership Institute). Kwame has also served as a consultant for a project with the Joseph Campbell Foundation and as an advisor for the film, “Rites of Passage” by Warrior Films and is on the National Advisory Panel for Rutgers University-Newark’s Center on Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice.