{"success":true,"data":[{"ID":1423,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1757954018,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"How Does This Work, and Why Does It Work This Way?","Handle":"how_does_this_work-and_why_does_it_work_this_way","ShortDescription":"Descriptions of how things work are often made more complex than they need to be. Let's cut through  the noise.","Description":"Testing and evaluating software and services remains an underappreciated and misunderstood skill. This session will address this reality on multiple fronts, including:\r\n\r\n1. How can we identify the questions we should ask about a service?\r\n2. How can we assess the claims and promises made in both marketing materials and legally binding policy documents?\r\n3. What are easy and affordable ways to do meaningful privacy and security testing?\r\n\r\nFrom the audience -- and before the session occurs -- we will collect questions and informations from people in schools about what they want to know about the technology they use, and what existing barriers exist to getting good answers.\r\n\r\nIn many ways, this is an old conversation. And, given the continuous increase in data incidents -- to say nothing of reckless uses of what passes for \"AI\" in education -- it's a conversation that still needs to occur.","Link":["https:\/\/machinegobeep.com"],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"Prior to the session, I will create a list of openly licensed and freely available resources that can be  used to evaluate software and services, including AI tools.\r\n\r\nDuring the session, this resource will be augmented and improved. The updated version will be re-shared, and if there is interest I will recruit and support multiple co-authors to maintain the resource over time.","Presenter":["Bill Fitzgerald"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Machine Go Beep"],"PresenterEmail":["bill@machinegobeep.com"],"ScheduleSlotID":187,"ScheduleLocationID":32,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":13},{"ID":1398,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1754916155,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Change History: Thematic Instruction","Handle":"change_history--thematic_instruction","ShortDescription":"This workshop explores the use of thematic instruction to intentionally make history classrooms more thoughtful places.","Description":"History is most often taught in a strictly chronological and linear manner. History is also an area of weakness for Americans.  Thematic instruction of history may offer a key pedagogical approach to intentionally shift a social studies classroom to emphasize critical thinking skills and engage a new generation of students. Based on research of Clark County Nevada, the fifth largest district in the country with over 300,000 students, this session explores how schools can intentionally support a thematic transformation of history classrooms to make them more thoughtful.","Link":[],"Audience":["High School","Middle School"],"Practice":"Participants will build a thematic unit for their own schools based on a topic of interest, leaving the workshop with a clear idea of how to adapt to using thematic instruction.","Presenter":["Adam Gold"],"PresenterAffiliation":[],"PresenterEmail":["Adamgold@rutgers.edu"],"ScheduleSlotID":188,"ScheduleLocationID":32,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":"I completed my doctoral research on this topic and I was initially inspire by the work being done at SLA. I\u2019d like to credit SLA, share my research, and then offer an interactive and productive workshop building a thematic classroom unit. Thanks!","LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":13},{"ID":1426,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1757973397,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"The Oxygen Mask First: Rethinking Staff Wellness as Intentional Practice","Handle":"the_oxygen_mask_first--rethinking_staff_wellness_as_intentional_practice","ShortDescription":"What if staff wellness was treated as central to student success? In this conversation, we\u2019ll explore how intentional structures for educator wellbeing can reduce burnout, strengthen school culture, and transform sustainability. Together, we\u2019ll reimagine how schools can proactively support the adults who hold them up.","Description":"Schools often center student wellness while unintentionally overlooking the wellbeing of the adults responsible for creating safe, thriving learning environments. Yet, educator burnout and attrition are at crisis levels, undermining stability and equity. In my role as a school-based counselor for staff, I intentionally support educators with individualized and group wellness practices, reducing secondary trauma, building resilience, and strengthening retention.\r\n\r\nThis conversation invites us to rethink how schools can prioritize the adults at their core. What would it look like if staff wellness was not an afterthought but a deliberate design principle? How might we embed intentional practices\u2014counseling, reflective groups, wellness spaces, and community care\u2014into the DNA of a school? And most importantly: how might this shift ripple out to benefit students, families, and entire communities?\r\n\r\nGrounded in my school\u2019s experiment with this unique role, I\u2019ll share what has worked, what challenges remain, and what possibilities lie ahead. Participants will leave with concrete strategies and collective inspiration to design school systems where staff wellbeing is not optional, but essential to meaningful educational transformation.","Link":["http:\/\/www.southbronxcommunity.org"],"Audience":["High School","Middle School","Elementary School","All School Levels"],"Practice":"Participants will discuss their biggest pain points as educators, what personal experiences (not related to their roles as educators) inform this tension, and what practical support looks like in their contexts. Participants will leave with mental health resources and a proposal for their school leaders related to their own wellness.","Presenter":["Jeannette Bautista","John Clemente"],"PresenterAffiliation":["South Bronx Community Charter High School"],"PresenterEmail":["jeannette.bautista@southbronxcommunity.org","john.clemente@southbronxcommunity.org"],"ScheduleSlotID":189,"ScheduleLocationID":32,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":13},{"ID":1433,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1758024600,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Bridging History and STEM Towards A Sustainable Future","Handle":"bridging_history_and_stem_towards_a_sustainable_future","ShortDescription":"Concerned about climate change? Trying to combat student hopelessness and inspire them to take action for the future? Sign up! By working cross-curricularly, we can use examples from history on sustainable living, uncover everyday STEM practices of civilizations across the world, and build hopeful action for the future.","Description":"This workshop will focus on 3 things:\r\n1. Why it's important to study PAST examples of sustainable living and technology\/innovations so that students can see that we don't need wait for something new and shiny to save us from climate disaster.\r\n2. Use indigenous examples of sustainable STEM practices so that we can empower hidden histories and also so that students can more readily see that they and their ancestors have already been deeply involved in STEM practices, even if they don't identify with STEM related occupations.\r\n3. Work cross-curricularly between STEM and history teachers to foster a wraparound approach to climate education.\r\nThe workshop will go like this:\r\nA brief presentation setting up the central theses.\r\nTwo concrete examples of everyday sustainable STEM  practices of civilizations found in world history.\r\nCross-curricular team-up time to brainstorm an example and a cross-curricular lesson that educators can take with them and use in their classrooms.","Link":["https:\/\/my-climate-story.org\/exhibits\/climate-classrooms\/frankie\/"],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"Participants will have time firstly to brainstorm their own examples, but more importantly later to work with other educators across curriculum silos in order to create a lesson that they can turn around and use in their classrooms. I will be there to help brainstorm and plan as a resource, and I will be uplifting and highlighting their work to the whole group as they plan.","Presenter":["Freda Anderson"],"PresenterAffiliation":["Prentiss Charney fellowship","Deeper Discussions in World History curriculum writer","SDP World History Curriculum Writer","My Climate Story Curriculum Writer","Lindback Award Winner"],"PresenterEmail":["fandersonteaches@gmail.com"],"ScheduleSlotID":190,"ScheduleLocationID":32,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":13},{"ID":1427,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1757973779,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"New York at the Vanguard: Supporting the Shift to Performance Based Learning and Assessment","Handle":"new_york_at_the_vanguard--supporting_the_shift_to_performance_based_learning_and_assessment","ShortDescription":"Join South Bronx Community Charter High School as we share our journey as a mentor school in New York State\u2019s PLAN pilot, transforming graduation pathways through performance-based, student-centered learning. This interactive session will explore how we built systems for real-world assessment, support peer schools, and center equity and youth voice. Walk away with tools, strategies, and inspiration to lead personalized, competency-based learning in your own school or district.","Description":"South Bronx Community Charter High School (SBC) proposes a dynamic session focusing on our lived experience as a mentor school in New York State\u2019s ambitious Performance-Based Learning and Assessment Networks (PLAN) pilot. This statewide initiative is laying the groundwork for expanded graduation pathways that prioritize student-centered, competency-based learning. As one of the first schools selected to support this pilot, SBC has played a key role in modeling systems change at both the school and network levels.\r\n\r\nOur session will begin by situating attendees in the context of the PLAN pilot\u2014what\u2019s at stake, what\u2019s new, and why it matters. We'll share our internal strategies for leading change, including how we built staff capacity, designed curriculum around real-world performance tasks, and established clear, transparent systems for assessing mastery. We\u2019ll also highlight how we\u2019re supporting peer schools, building buy-in through meaningful collaboration, professional learning, and resource sharing.","Link":["http:\/\/www.southbronxcommunity.org"],"Audience":["High School","Middle School","Elementary School","All School Levels"],"Practice":"The session will be highly interactive: participants will engage in small-group simulations of our student Gateway Presentations, analyze a sample of performance-based assessments, and discuss strategies for scaling performance based learning in their own contexts. We will center equity throughout, sharing how PLAN creates space for multiple ways of knowing, demonstrating learning, and honoring student voice\u2014particularly for historically marginalized students.\r\n\r\nAttendees will leave with concrete strategies and tools for leading performance-based transformation in their schools and systems, along with inspiration from a school community deeply rooted in equity, youth voice, and community collaboration.","Presenter":["Christipher Fleming","Rob Gulya"],"PresenterAffiliation":["South Bronx Community Charter High School"],"PresenterEmail":["christipher.fleming@southbronxcommunity.org","robert.gulya@southbronxcommunity.org"],"ScheduleSlotID":191,"ScheduleLocationID":32,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":13},{"ID":1408,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1757096609,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Empowering Digital Citizens: AI Tools for Teaching Democratic Participation","Handle":"empowering_digital_citizens--ai_tools_for_teaching_democratic_participation","ShortDescription":"This conversation will engage educators in an interactive discussion about innovative approaches for teaching digital literacy and democratic participation using AI tools.","Description":"As Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to proliferate our world and impact how we engage with information, it is critical for schools to meet the moment by preparing students for the ways that this technology will shape their lives as citizens in democratic societies. Likewise, AI is becoming a widely used tool by educators because of its ability to aid in developing engaging lessons and materials, and personalizing content to meet diverse student needs. By employing AI tools in the teaching of digital literacy and civic participation, educators can equip students with the knowledge and skills to actively engage in the democratic process in a way that meets their learning needs. \r\nThis conversation will engage educators in an interactive discussion about innovative approaches for teaching digital literacy and democratic participation using AI tools. Participants will explore practical strategies for incorporating AI-assisted learning activities that help students critically evaluate political information, understand democratic processes, and develop informed civic engagement skills. It will also address how teachers can prepare students for the ways that AI technologies will continue impacting democratic systems (like elections) and particularly address the potential harms AI could cause to civic engagement. Through guided demonstrations and collaborative exercises, educators will gain concrete tools and lesson ideas that bridge technological literacy with democratic education.","Link":["https:\/\/pedagogy.ventures\/","https:\/\/pedagogyfutures.io\/"],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"Slides will only be used as a guide to pose ideas and questions to spur a lively discussion for participants. If teachers have devices, there will also be opportunities for hands-on workshopping.","Presenter":["Nina Bamberg"],"PresenterAffiliation":["PedagogyVentures"],"PresenterEmail":["nina@pedagogy.ventures"],"ScheduleSlotID":192,"ScheduleLocationID":32,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":"Feel free to reach out if you want to discuss revisions to the proposal. I'm happy to build something that meets the unique needs of those who will be in attendance.","LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":13}],"conditions":{"Status":"Accepted","ConferenceID":13,"ScheduleLocationID":32},"total":6,"limit":false,"offset":false}