AMLE Experiences

My first session was called Let's Talk About Race and it was very valuable. We are encouraged to consider how we deal with our students and any pre-judging (good or bad) we may do based on a student's name or appearance. The coolest part was when we separated into groups based on blood type and the races in the room were irrelevant - causing one to immediately see that human beings have far more in common than not.

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The Developing Adolescent and Creating a Positive Learning Environment

This session was more about the developing adolescent than creating a positive learning environment. Having read The Teenage Brain , a lot of the information shared was not new to me. One interesting take away - an MRI of a brain after eating sugar is similar to an MRI of a brain on drugs (I think it was heroin). The few examples of creating a positive learning environment included incorporating movement and allowing for interaction. I was hoping to take away ideas on how to get students who are hesitant to join groups and participate more involved.

AMLE presentation "Middle School: A Place to Belong and Become"

"Middle School: A Place to Belong and Become" was presented at AMLE by Dr. Laurie Barron, principal, and Superintendent Patti Kinney. I LOVED THIS PRESENTATION!! Some thoughts presented: (Many things we already knew but some new thoughts) . Effective middle schools are where students feel they belong, are safe, respected and valued. . The foundations of middle school have to be strong. . We need to educate the whole child....physical, social and emotional. . The first biggest growth spurt in a child's life is birth to two years of age. The second biggest spurt and most critical time of development is ages 11-14....our middle school kiddos! . We need to focus on the outcome, not the structure. . Remember students are stakeholders too. Involve them and seek their input. i.e., designing a playground. . The first day of school: don't focus on rules and consequences. Instead, make the first day AWESOME! Some ideas presented to...

Growth Mindset, Debbie Silver

Debbie Silver's wit, sense of humor, and passion for education was evident in every facet of her presentation at the National AMLE Conference. She presented herself as human (and all of the faults that are associated with that) and wasn't afraid to identify singular mistakes that she made during her career; mainly buying into the idea early on that we should praise every child, often, and often times for things that they ultimately couldn't control (i.e. naturally smart). This was the prevailing educational thinking (even now in some circles) at the time (I still recall an undergraduate professor lecturing me on the evils of red pen on self-esteem). She went on to detail that she felt it her duty to insulate her students from failure or struggle. She summed all of these ideas up with one word, wrong. That led us to the not so new, but seldom used pedagogy of growth mindset. Debbie identified a few people as being responsible for helping her to shift her thinking from e...

Patton @ AMLE 2017

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