Area-Wide Professional Learning Day – Nov. 1, 2022
‘You matter: Serving the Whole Child and the Whole Educator’
Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child
Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2022
Online: 8 a.m. to Noon
Welcome to the information page for the 2022 Char-Em ISD Area-Wide Professional Learning Day! Join us for an online learning opportunity with your colleagues ISD-wide, from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2022. AWPLD will once again be held online, based on feedback from local administrators and staff. Below you will find information about the keynote speaker and breakout sessions.
Registration deadline is Oct. 20, 2022. The online platform Hopin will be used to host the event.
REGISTRATION NOW OPEN!
As in past years, you will register for the overall conference, not for individual sessions. Once you are in the Hopin platform on Nov. 1, you will enter the sessions you’d like to attend! Registration deadline is Oct. 20, 2022.
Schedule
Keynote
Breakout Sessions 1
Breakout Sessions 2
Schedule for Nov. 1, 2022
7:45-8 a.m. – Begin logging in
8 a.m. – Welcome
8:10-9:10 a.m. – Keynote
9:10-9:25 a.m. – Break
9:25-10:25 a.m. – Breakout Sessions 1
10:25-10:40 a.m. – Break
10:40-11:40 a.m. – Breakout Sessions 2
11:45 a.m. – Wrap-up
NEW UPDATE: AMY WASSMAN’S TWO BREAKOUT SESSIONS HAVE BEEN CANCELED DUE TO A FAMILY EMERGENCY.
Keynote Presenter
Leadership that Transforms Communities: Thinking Beyond Limits to Serve the Whole Child
Dr. Tiffany Anderson
About the Keynote: Dr. Anderson will share practical innovative strategies to think beyond limits and to wrap services around the whole child. She will share how to move from being trauma informed to trauma equipped by using innovative tools that have worked for her teams in leading several districts to full accreditation with comprehensive wrap around services in place. The Washington Post referred to Dr. Anderson as, “The Woman Who Made Schools Work for the Poor” and she will share practical strategies that will inspire leaders to transform communities by thinking beyond limits to serve the whole child as leaders create systems to remove barriers. Dr. Anderson will demonstrate how to ensure zip codes do not determine destiny as she provides resources that any school or district leaders can use immediately to transform outcomes within education.
About the presenter: Dr. Tiffany Anderson is the first African American female superintendent of Topeka Public Schools and she has been a public school educator for 28 years, with the majority of that time as superintendent. In addition to her role as superintendent, Dr. Anderson advises Kansas officials on postsecondary policies, equity policies and legislation. In 2019, Kansas Governor Laura Kelly, appointed Dr. Anderson to the Postsecondary Technical Education Authority (TEA), as part of the Kansas Board of Regents and in 2020, Governor Kelly appointed Dr. Anderson to Co-Chair the Governor’s Kansas Commission on Racial Equity and Justice. Learn more about Dr. Anderson
Breakout sessions
Breakouts #1 – 9:25-10:25 a.m.
The Science of Stress Resilience
As a parent and veteran high school teacher, Chase has spent over a decade studying — and living — how stress affects our thinking, learning, and behaving. But this talk is not a boring lecture. It’s a captivating and practical exploration of how we can use the science of stress to become happier, healthier, and more resilient. Chase combines critical research with heartfelt and hilarious stories from his students, his teaching, and his parenting. Your audience will learn how to manage and leverage stress to not just survive but thrive in these stressful times.
Outcomes:
- COMPASSION – Use the science of stress to be more empathetic toward others and forgiving of ourselves.
- OPTIMISM – Reframe stress into positive actions that help us persevere.
- RESILIENCE – Apply simple, powerful actions to move from stress-resistant to stress resilient.
WSCC Tenet: Supported
Inquiry question: How might we support the health and well-being of every student and staff member?
Audience: All
Presenter
Chase Mielke
Award-winning educator, best-selling author, and speaker focusing on preventing teacher burnout and increasing student engagement
About the presenter
Chase Mielke has been awarded multiple honors, including being a Michigan Teacher of the Year nominee and an Allegan County “Outstanding People for Education” recipient. For his work minimizing the achievement gap with at-risk high schoolers, his Positive Psychology program received a Michigan Association of School Administrators’ “Winner’s Circle Award.” The program teaches concepts of positive emotion, engagement, meaning, and accomplishment to hundreds of students each year, especially at-risk high schoolers. Consistently, students reduce failure rates by at least 50% each year.
In addition to modeling excellence as an educator, he is a regular columnist for Ed Leadership and his writing has been featured on WeAreTeachers, Huffpost, Edutopia, and EdPost. He received a WordPress “Freshly Pressed” distinction for his viral blog and video “What Students Really Need to Hear,” which has been used across the world to motivate students. As an engaging, nationally recognized speaker, he has traveled across the nation and world to speak with students and educators on topics of resilience, mindset, applied neuroscience, and positive psychology.
Youth Mental Health – Youth Perspective
Inform schools what students are feeling and seeing among their peers. Actionable suggestions on how youth mental health could be improved, students supported. Hopes for the future and the change students hope to see.
Outcomes: The hope is that attendees will see a new perspective, relook at how they might be approaching youth and begin thinking collaboratively on how we can all work together to improve the lives of our students and their mental health.
WSCC Tenet: Healthy
Inquiry question: How might we support the health and well-being of every student and staff member?
Audience: Primarily teachers grades 9-12, but applicable to all teachers
Presenters
Charlevoix County Community Foundation- Youth Advisory Committee (YAC)
Targeted Strategies for Successful Inclusion: Universal Practices
This session will highlight the necessary supports in a high-quality setting that lead to successful inclusion. Session will focus on classroom routines, visual supports and adult roles and responsibilities. Strategies will support students independence and increased engagement that reduce the likelihood for challenging behaviors.
Outcomes:
- Participants will be able to identify what is high-quality inclusion.
- Participants will examine general modification and adaptation necessary for inclusion.
- Participants will examine routines within routines to support student independence and engagement.
WSCC Tenet: Engaged
Inquiry question: How might we actively engage learners and connect them to the school and broader community?
Audience: PreK-3rd grade teachers
Presenter
Ron Roybal
Research associate at the University of Denver in Denver, CO
About the presenter
Ron Roybal has worked over 25 years in early childhood as a teacher for 8 years and the last 18 as a trainer and coach. As a teacher, Ron was trained and worked in a Learning Experience Alternative Program for Preschool and Parents (LEAP) classroom. After leaving the classroom to join the center for Positive Early Learning Experience (PELE) at the University of Colorado Denver, Ron has spent the last 18 years coaching and training classroom teams in inclusive practices for children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder and other disabilities alongside typical developing peer using peer mediated strategies. Ron also provides training and technical support to school districts, head start programs, and childcare programs around the country to reduce the likelihood of challenging behaviors within educational settings. His mission is to bring high-quality inclusion for all students using evidence based practices.
Practical Strategies to Reduce Anxiety and Challenging Behavior – Part 1
This is the first of two sessions; participants are encouraged to attend the second breakout session on this topic.
With up to 30% of children struggling with anxiety, it’s no surprise that overburdened teachers are overwhelmed as they face this challenge with minimal training in mental health and behavioral principles. Understanding how anxiety impacts a student’s behavior is crucial and using preventative strategies is key. Using case studies, humorous stories, and common challenging situations, participants will learn interventions to reduce anxiety, increase self-regulation, work engagement, and self-monitoring skills in anxious students
Outcomes:
- Understand the impact of anxiety on a child’s learning and behavior.
- Describe why common teacher practices and interventions may not always work for students with anxiety-related behavior.
- Learn effective preventative tools, strategies, and interventions that will promote self-regulation, initiation, and anxiety management in students.
WSCC Tenet: Healthy
Inquiry question: How can we reduce the negative impact of anxiety on students?
Audience: All
Presenter:
Jessica Minahan, M.Ed BCBA
Behavior analyst, special educator, consultant to schools internationally
About the presenter
Jessica Minahan is a licensed and board-certified behavior analyst, special educator, as well as a consultant to schools internationally (www.jessicaminahan.com). Jessica has over seventeen years of experience supporting students who exhibit challenging behavior in urban public school systems. She is the co-author of The Behavior Code: A Practical Guide to Understanding and Teaching the Most Challenging Students (Harvard Education Press, 2012) and author of The Behavior Code Companion: Strategies, Tools, and Interventions for Supporting Students with Anxiety-Related or Oppositional Behaviors (Harvard Education Press, 2014).
Transferring Project Based Learning into the Everyday Classroom
Project Based Learning can be a deep dive, but we can pull best practices from the essential elements to better engage our students in deeper, more authentic, learning opportunities on a regular basis. Hear from local educators who will share their PBL units and the ways they utilize PBL elements to sustain inquiry, increase authenticity, allow for student voice and choice as well as building student problem-solving and soft skills, and while allowing students time for reflection and revision. PBL is an iterative process, but does not need to be all or nothing. Join us to find ways to begin best practices of PBL elements in your classroom or school.
Outcomes:
- Educators will gain a clearer understanding of Project Based Learning.
- Educators will identify opportunities to utilize Project Based Learning or the essential elements in their classrooms.
- Educators will be informed of professional learning opportunities surrounding Project Based Learning and awareness of PBL units that have been created by other local educators.
WSCC Tenets: Challenged & Engaged
Inquiry question: How might we actively engage learners and connect them to the school and broader community?
Audience: All
Presenters
Erin Luckhardt, Instructional Technology Coordinator, Char-Em ISD and
Linnea Gibson, K-12 Science Consultant
About the presenters
Erin Luckhardt is an educator who spent 10 years teaching secondary social studies in addition to serving as a technology integration specialist. Following that, she became a professional learning coach and worked with educators across the state of Michigan focusing on the intentional use of technology, effective coaching alongside educators, and blended and personalized learning. She then worked within a community health department to bridge the gap between education and health in school-based settings. Erin has a master’s in educational leadership as well as educational technology and enjoys continuing to learn and grow. She is passionate about designing and facilitating learning for adults in a way that is engaging, meaningful, and relevant.
Linnea Gibson serves as the K-12 Science Consultant supporting Char-Em ISD and surrounding northern Michigan ISDs. Having grown up in Michigan, and attended Michigan State University for her education degree, she then went to rural North Carolina with Teach for America and completed her master’s degree (again from Michigan State University). Linnea’s work with Project Based Learning began in 2013, with a deep interest in STEM and an emphasis in science. She moved to Raleigh, NC, to support magnet school programs. She served as the STEM coordinator, instructional tech facilitator, and magnet coordinator overseeing curriculum and instruction at an engineering magnet school. She was then presented the opportunity to redefine a magnet program, and did program development, professional learning, and wore many hats to design an entrepreneurial design magnet program rooted in PBL. At the district level, Linnea served as a coach and program designer for SummerSTEM.
What Students Wish We Knew
After a lesson from Kyle Schwartz’s classroom went viral, teachers across the world began asking their students to answer the beautifully simple question, “What do you wish your teacher knew?” Through handwritten notes from children of all ages, educators will explore topics of relationship building, belonging, and community. Educators will walk away with actionable steps they can use to better listen to students and respond to students’ needs.
Outcomes:
- Educators will explore pedagogical theories of trauma-informed teaching and relationship building.
- Educators will learn several strategies they can use in their classroom to build relationships with students.
WSCC Tenets: Healthy, Engaged, Safe & Supported
Inquiry question: How might we support the health and well-being of every student and staff member?
Audience: All
Presenter
Kyle Schwartz
Author and reading interventionist in Denver Public Schools
About the presenter
Kyle Schwartz just finished her 10th year of teaching at Doull Elementary in Denver, Colorado. In her first year of teaching, Kyle asked her students a simple yet powerful question: What do you wish your teacher knew? Her students’ candid responses inspired the #IWishMyTeacherKnew movement and sparked a conversation about the realities students face and how schools can become more supportive, safe, and welcoming. Her first book, I Wish My Teacher Knew: How One Question Can Change Everything for Our Kids focuses on realities that students face and how educators can respond to their students’ needs by building relationships. Her second book, I Wish For Change: Unleashing the Power of Kids to Make a Difference is a guide for educators, families, and mentors to help young people find a personal sense of power and use it to better their communities.
In addition to teaching, Kyle is a dedicated advocate for students. She has spoken internationally about supporting all students, differentiating instruction for students learning English, building strong classroom communities, and helping young people create change.
NOTE: AMY WASSMAN’S TWO BREAKOUT SESSIONS HAVE BEEN CANCELED DUE TO A FAMILY EMERGENCY
Building a Community of Care: Setting Up Conditions to Support Staff Wellness
Educators have more on their plates than ever before. How can we set up conditions that support their wellness and ability to find balance without tapping out the limited resources we have? This session will provide practical tips on how to support staff beyond muffin Mondays and jean Fridays.
Outcomes:
- Participants will understand why staff “self-care” is an equity issue.
- Participants will leave with ideas on how to create a stronger wellness culture in their buildings and identify which ones may work in their setting.
WSCC Tenet: Healthy
Inquiry question: How might we support the health and well-being of every student and staff member?
Audience: Administrators, ISD staff
Presenter
Amy Wassmann
SEL School Consultant at the Michigan Department of Education
About the presenter
During most of her career, Amy Wassmann has worked with schools and community organizations to provide system-wide implementation of evidence-based practices and interventions that promote student and staff health and wellbeing. Amy received her MSW at Michigan State University and has experience working in the areas of SEL, trauma/ACEs, staff wellness, suicide, and mental health issues.
Prioritizing Innocence: Dismantling Bias in Teacher-Student Relationships
This session will be repeated during the second breakout time slot.
In this session we will discuss the Innocent Classroom vision for an educational system liberated from racial stereotypes and negative narratives about Black, brown and Indigenous people. We will focus on the power we have in our individual relationships to create spaces free of stereotypes — spaces of innocence — for all people who enter and are served by our educational system. Participants will be introduced to the Innocent Classroom relationship building methodology that helps teachers create places free of implicit racial bias – leading to a transformed system in which each individual feels an authentic sense of belonging and believes that they can be successful. focuses on unpacking the MAP Center’s definition and framework of educational equity. Educational equity encompasses all students’ rights to access a high-quality, transformative education—one that cannot be realized if we are inattentive to minoritized students’ persistent barriers which perpetuate systemic inequities (Whiteman, Thorius, Skelton, & Kyser, 2015).
Outcomes:
- Recognize how guilt, the internalization of negative narratives, influences a child’s behavior and engagement with their academics.
- Demonstrate how their new knowledge of Innocent Classroom’s key concepts provides an enhanced understanding about how to motivate engagement in the classroom.
- Describe how enhanced relationships in the classroom dismantles racial bias in our educational system.
WSCC Tenets: Challenged, Healthy, Engaged, Safe, Supported
Audience: All
Presenters
Matthew E Brandt, PhD
Senior vice president, Innocent Technologies
About the presenter
Matthew Brandt is responsible for growing the reach and impact of the Innocent Classroom. He oversees partnership development, and communications. Over the course of his career, Matthew has launched successful national programs and produced award-winning websites and documentaries, including the Bdote Memory Map site and the traveling exhibit, “Why Treaties Matter.” He earned his Ph.D. at Marquette University.
Breakouts #2 – 10:40-11:40 a.m.
Growth Zone: Engaging Students with Academic Risk-Taking
Gallup surveys of millions of students have found that only 47% of learners are engaged. Twenty-nine percent are disengaged, and twenty-five percent are “actively disengaged.” And yet, engaged students are 2.5 times more likely to feel great about their learning and 4.5 times more likely to have hope for the future. So, how do we shift the trend? How do we help our students take academic risks and succeed in a way that builds competence and confidence?
In this workshop, Chase Mielke shares his greatest insights on student engagement he honed for 14 years as a classroom teacher and instructional coach. We’ll explore the social and emotional factors that affect student engagement and learn — and experience — dozens of research-based, teacher-tested practices for helping students become active participants in their learning.
Outcomes:
- INTENTIONALITY – Educators will identify methods that subtly, but effectively improve academic risk-taking in the classroom.
- PRACTICALITY – Educators will gain dozens of specific, research-based strategies that can be woven into any lesson to support student growth.
WSCC Tenet: Engaged
Inquiry question: How might we actively engage learners and connect them to the school and broader community?
Audience: PreK-12 educators
Presenter
Chase Mielke
Award-winning educator, best-selling author, and speaker focusing on preventing teacher burnout and increasing student engagement
Targeted Strategies for Successful Inclusion: Peer-Mediated Instruction
Peer-mediated instruction and intervention addresses social concerns by training peers how to initiate and respond to social interactions of all learners. Through the use of “real time” video examples and social skill posters, Ron Roybal will teach how to implement peer-mediated intervention to support learning. Teaching embedded social skills will support your student’s ability to regulate emotions and behaviors, build positive relationships and cooperate in group situations.
Outcomes:
- What is peer-mediated instruction
- What social skills are important to teach
- Embedding learning opportunities into daily routines
WSCC Tenet: Engaged
Inquiry question: How might we actively engage learners and connect them to the school and broader community?
Audience: PreK-Grade 3 educators
Presenter
Ron Roybal
Research associate at the University of Denver in Denver, CO
Practical Strategies to Reduce Anxiety and Challenging Behavior – Part 2
This is a continuation of the earlier session. Please plan to attend BOTH sessions.
With up to 30% of children struggling with anxiety, it’s no surprise that overburdened teachers are overwhelmed as they face this challenge with minimal training in mental health and behavioral principles. Understanding how anxiety impacts a student’s behavior is crucial and using preventative strategies is key. Using case studies, humorous stories, and common challenging situations, participants will learn interventions to reduce anxiety, increase self-regulation, work engagement, and self-monitoring skills in anxious students
Outcomes:
- Understand the impact of anxiety on a child’s learning and behavior.
- Describe why common teacher practices and interventions may not always work for students with anxiety-related behavior.
- Learn effective preventative tools, strategies, and interventions that will promote self-regulation, initiation, and anxiety management in students.
WSCC Tenet: Healthy
Inquiry question: How can we reduce the negative impact of anxiety on students?
Audience: All
Presenter:
Jessica Minahan, M.Ed BCBA
Behavior analyst, special educator, consultant to schools internationally
A Soft Place to Land
In this session, we will dive deeper into supporting all students in our classrooms, especially those who have experienced grief and loss. Through voices from students of all ages, we will reflect on shared experiences, challenges, and opportunities during these last years of pandemic teaching. We will explore the effects of trauma on learning and develop strategies to make our classrooms “soft places to land.”
Outcomes:
- Educators will explore concepts of childhood trauma in order to better understand what trauma informed instruction is — and what it’s not.
- Educators will walk away with strategies to support regulation and calm in their classrooms throughout ever day and also when a students is in crisis.
WSCC Tenets: Engaged, Safe & Supported
Inquiry question: How might we support the health and well-being of every student and staff member?
Audience: All
Presenter
Kyle Schwartz
Author and reading interventionist in Denver Public Schools
NOTE: AMY WASSMAN’S TWO BREAKOUT SESSIONS HAVE BEEN CANCELED DUE TO A FAMILY EMERGENCY
Staff Wellbeing: Rethinking Self Care
Self care is more than just yoga and meditation. While both can definitely help with personal wellness, this session will explore self-care in a variety of ways so that participants will leave with strategies that work for them. Strategies included in this session will focus on physical, professional, psychological and personal wellness.
Outcomes:
- Participants will learn why self care is important to physical and mental health.
- Participants will learn and practice strategies that support their personal wellness.
- Participants will learn about the 1% shift and create a plan to make self-care a daily practice.
WSCC Tenet: Healthy
Inquiry question: How might we support the health and well-being of every student and staff member?
Audience: All
Presenter
Amy Wassmann
SEL School Consultant at the Michigan Department of Education
Building Creative Connections: Using Art Experiences to Understand Ideas and Each Other
Learn how to take advantage of community arts resources in order to support, expand, and enrich classroom learning and student engagement. Consider how experiencing art encourages us to explore complex and important questions about ourselves and others, as well as the significant cultural themes of the past and present. Discover how you can integrate arts experiences into your curriculum in order to build connections between ideas and each other.
Outcomes:
- Participants will leave this session with increased knowledge about the arts resources, field trip options, and cultural learning opportunities available in their community.
- Participants will discover ways to get involved in cultural organizations in their community.
- Participants will have lesson plans and arts education resources to incorporate into their classroom.
WSCC Tenets: Challenged, Engaged, Safe, Supported
Inquiry question: How might we actively engage learners and connect them to the school and broader community?
Audience: K-12 teachers, all content areas
Presenter
Liz Erlewine
Visual Arts Director, Crooked Tree Arts Center
About the presenter
Liz Erlewine holds her BFA from the University of Michigan and MFA from Purdue University. She has taught art and art appreciation to youth and adults in university, community college, and community arts centers in Michigan, Indiana, and Wisconsin. In her current position as Visual Arts Director for Crooked Tree Arts Center, she curates, organizes, and designs art exhibitions for CTAC Petoskey and CTAC Traverse City, and organizes and teaches art classes for CTAC Petoskey. Prior to joining the staff of CTAC in 2018, Liz served as Director, Head Curator for Purdue University Galleries.
Creating a Blended, Self-Paced, Mastery-Based Classroom
We regularly hear about differentiating and meeting all our students where they are, but that can feel nearly impossible. But, what if…
– your students could move through their learning at their own pace?
– you could meet one-on-one with students to assess their learning but also dig into how they are learning?
– your students could support each other in their learning?
Join us to see how you can start to create your own blended, self-paced, mastery-based classroom.
Outcomes:
- Participants will have a clearer understanding of what a blended, self-paced, mastery-based classroom looks like.
- Participants will gain access to resources that can further their learning.
- Participants will be inspired by local educators who are currently implementing this model.
WSCC Tenets: Challenged, Engaged, Supported
Inquiry question: How might we actively engage learners and connect them to the school and broader community?
Audience: Grades K-12 teachers, administrators, ISD personnel
Presenters
Erin Luckhardt, Instructional Technology Coordinator, Char-Em ISD and local teacher panel
Prioritizing Innocence: Dismantling Bias in Teacher-Student Relationships
This session is a repeat from the earlier session.
In this session we will discuss the Innocent Classroom vision for an educational system liberated from racial stereotypes and negative narratives about Black, brown and Indigenous people. We will focus on the power we have in our individual relationships to create spaces free of stereotypes — spaces of innocence — for all people who enter and are served by our educational system. Participants will be introduced to the Innocent Classroom relationship building methodology that helps teachers create places free of implicit racial bias – leading to a transformed system in which each individual feels an authentic sense of belonging and believes that they can be successful. focuses on unpacking the MAP Center’s definition and framework of educational equity. Educational equity encompasses all students’ rights to access a high-quality, transformative education—one that cannot be realized if we are inattentive to minoritized students’ persistent barriers which perpetuate systemic inequities (Whiteman, Thorius, Skelton, & Kyser, 2015).
Outcomes:
- Recognize how guilt, the internalization of negative narratives, influences a child’s behavior and engagement with their academics.
- Demonstrate how their new knowledge of Innocent Classroom’s key concepts provides an enhanced understanding about how to motivate engagement in the classroom.
- Describe how enhanced relationships in the classroom dismantles racial bias in our educational system.
WSCC Tenets: Challenged, Healthy, Engaged, Safe, Supported
Audience: All
Presenters
Matthew E Brandt, PhD
Senior vice president, Innocent Technologies
Youth Mental Health – Youth Perspective
This session is a repeat from the earlier session.
Inform schools what students are feeling and seeing among their peers. Actionable suggestions on how youth mental health could be improved, students supported. Hopes for the future and the change students hope to see.
Outcomes:
The hope is that attendees will see a new perspective, relook at how they might be approaching youth and begin thinking collaboratively on how we can all work together to improve the lives of our students and their mental health.
WSCC Tenet: Healthy
Inquiry question: How might we support the health and well-being of every student and staff member?
Audience: Primarily teachers grades 9-12, but applicable to all teachers
Presenters
Charlevoix County Community Foundation- Youth Advisory Committee (YAC)
REGISTRATION NOW OPEN! Deadline is Oct. 20, 2022
Questions, further assistance
If you have questions about Nov. 1, 2021, please contact Pam Ciganick, Char-Em ISD Professional Learning Coordinator.
