Thursday: Upstanders, Change Makers, and Contributors: Teaching a People’s History of Immigration in the Bay Area (with Sam Modest)

Immigration could not be a more timely, or important, topic for students to study. This talk will give attendees a look at our year-long curriculum focused on immigration into California. We help students to see themselves as change-makers who can do something to ease the plight of people beginning a new life. Students also learn about the contributions of immigrants and about those who stood up to unfair treatment. We have honed this curriculum over the past four years and continue to see lasting results in our students. While we teach this curriculum to second graders in California, it could easily be adapted to any grade in elementary or middle school, and to any location. Resources will be provided.

Friday: Insights from the Student Journey (with Rich Crandall)

Journey mapping is a Design Thinking technique that helps us understand a user's experience as it relates to steps in a process (a student learning to use a new digital tool or transitioning from high school to college, for example). This new understanding helps us develop empathy and enables us to design more successful experiences for our students and teachers. In this session, leaders from design and strategy consultancy Intentional Futures will share student success insights gained from using journey mapping at various altitudes in their work (from the lesson level, course level, or PreK to college completion systems level). Attendees will also have the chance to apply insights and methods learned during the session to a meaningful student success challenge.

Friday: Cybersecurity for Digital Natives

The digital revolution has changed every aspect of our lives — how we communicate, share, learn, do business and even drive cars. The current generation of students graduating from high school are true digital natives. Their world has been connected from day one. How do we guide and teach them important life skills, ethics of acceptable communication, and the consequences of online actions without sounding as if we belong in the dark ages?

The next phase of the digital revolution is upon us. Artificial intelligence, big data, and the Internet of Things are about to change the way we live and carry out everyday tasks. Cybersecurity, privacy, and the risks facing students will only become more challenging. We may not always appreciate where our personal data is and who has access to it. The right to be forgotten, Europe's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and other legislation may attempt to protect them, but how do we guide them to engage and understand the potential risks?

Join me for a lively discussion about cybersecurity and the challenges the digital revolution presents students, parents, and educators.

Friday: Why Does Grandpa Hate Contemporary Art?

How do we attend to new, alien art forms? Stanford University composer Mark Applebaum shares his thoughts on teaching students a framework for the appreciation and creation of contemporary art. He will explore the relationship between discipline and innovation; examine the twin dangers of progress and tradition; reference the aesthetics of levity and gravity; and argue for the value of both improvisation and predeterminate expression. The presentation will comprise a lecture-recital, including a concise survey of his own work, and performances of a jazz piano improvisation and a work for hand gestures synchronized to pre-recorded sound.

Friday: Academic Acceleration: How this Simple Intervention Can Close the Excellence Gap

The succinct definition of academic acceleration, "progress through an educational program at rates faster or at ages younger than conventional" (Presesy, 1949, p. 2), belies both the complexity of implementing the intervention in schools as well as the potential for addressing one of the fastest-growing issues in the United States, the excellence gap. Similar in concept to the achievement gap observed between the average performances of majority/minority students, the excellence gap concerns the disparity in performance between high-ability economically vulnerable students and high-ability economically secure students (Plucker & Harris, 2015). Topics for this presentation include (a) the robustness of the research supporting the various forms of academic acceleration as an intervention that has strong positive effects across the academic, psychological, and social-emotional realms (Rogers, 2015); (b) an explanation of procedures for identifying candidates for acceleration; and (c) a discussion of the relevance of this intervention to address the excellence gap. The aim is to demonstrate why and how our most vulnerable high-ability students must be able to move at a faster pace and experience greater depth of content. This intervention is an essential option for educators and students.

Friday: Experience on Demand

In this talk, Bailenson draws upon two decades spent researching the psychological effects of VR and other mass media to help people understand this powerful new tool. He offers guidelines for interacting with VR, and describes the profound ways this technology can be put to use — not to distance ourselves from reality, but to enrich our lives and influence us to treat others, the environment, and even ourselves better.

Thursday: Where Are All the Gifted Kids of Color? (with Hillary Freeman)

Black and Latino students are significantly underrepresented in gifted and talented programs across the nation. In fact, Black students are only one-third as likely to be placed in such a program, while Latino students are about half as likely to be identified as gifted learners. The ramifications of this are profound as we consider the ways in which implicit bias and racism work to keep kids of color from benefitting from the kinds of programming that both challenge them and provide a path to greater long-term success. This workshop will help teachers better understand how to identify gifted learners in their own classrooms. We will look at specific behaviors to watch for, discuss what to do if you do think a child is gifted, consider strategies for meeting the needs of gifted kids, and talk about what schools can do to address the bias that often contributes to students of color not being identified.

Thursday: Demand the Impossible! Teaching Hope and Change (with Alison Williams)

At a time when many people are feeling anxious and concerned about issues as wide-ranging as climate change, immigration, mass incarceration, and women's rights, it is important that we provide our students with narratives grounded in hope and change. This past year, we did so by offering a high school course on activism. The course examines the idea of activism through both aspirational and historical lenses — we want students to learn how to unfetter their imaginations and envision a world rooted in liberation and justice, while also grounding their visions in a long, continuous history of activism and social change movements. This workshop explores the framework and philosophy of our course while providing concrete strategies on implementation, ways to engage students in expansive questioning, a list of readings, an overview of the movements we studied including our rationale, and more! The workshop is interactive and will engage participants in the process of asking impossible questions and coming up with entirely possible paths forward, while helping educators conceive of ways they could integrate similar curriculum in their own classrooms — whether as a unit, an elective, or as a part of a community service program.

Thursday: Critically Conscious Teaching — Pedagogy through a Social Justice Lens (with Alison Williams)

What is social justice? How can the tenets and goals of social justice be applied to the classroom? What makes a school inclusive and equitable? Join us for a lively and engaging workshop that focuses on some of these questions while providing concrete tools for evaluating your teaching practice from a social justice standpoint. We will delve into the notion of "critical consciousness" as it applies to equity and inclusion work and explore how to move towards critical consciousness within one's own life and practice. We'll consider the many facets of teaching — from curriculum to classroom environment to teacher-student relationships — and reevaluate our practice with specific tools that ask us to explore our own identities and biases. The workshop is interactive and we will provide participants with a number of resources and readings to further your engagement with this topic. Additionally, we are committed to creating brave and safe spaces for all to feel included in this conversation; we welcome folks of all races, ethnicities, genders, sexualities, abilities, socioeconomic status, and faiths. This is lifelong work and we look forward to building understanding and dialogue with you all!

Friday: Dimensions of Gender

In virtually every aspect of our society, from popular culture to our nation's schools, transgender experiences are front and center. Yet few people actually understand what it is to be transgender, or what the term "gender" even means. Most individuals rarely explore gender, others' or their own; they haven't needed to. While the spotlight has been on the transgender individuals, a broader story remains untold: the degree to which limited assumptions about gender impact everyone, in the process preventing our society from benefitting from the full brilliance of all of its members. Just what is gender, and how can we understand it in all of its complexity? How can we create spaces in which every person, regardless of their gender, is accepted? This session will provide an invaluable framework for thinking about gender, including commonly used (and misused) terms and concepts.

Friday: From Perspective to Practice: Creating Gender-Inclusive Schools

What does it look like for a school to systematically create a truly inclusive climate that respects the gender diversity of every student (including those who are transgender or otherwise gender-expansive)? Workshop participants will be introduced to a framework that incorporates internal, institutional, interpersonal, and instructional approaches in developing a school environment that accounts for the gender experiences of all children. Included will be many of the tools, resources, and best practices for training school leaders and staff, conducting parent and community education, developing and implementing classroom activities, and creating policy documents. Based on work in public and private preK–12 schools throughout the country, the session will offer a hopeful picture of educational possibility and transformation.

Friday: Combating Eating Disorders with Evidence-Based Strategies (with Claire Mysko)

Eating disorders are the third most common chronic condition among adolescents after obesity and asthma, making them a serious public health concern. Educators and parents play a critical role in helping young people develop healthy attitudes towards food, weight and body image. They are also on the front lines of early detection, which can significantly improve treatment outcomes for eating disorders. This session will provide an overview of eating disorders, using the popular NEDA Parent and Educator Toolkits as a basis. Attendees will learn about scientifically supported approaches to eating disorder intervention and prevention, including the Body Project (BP), an evidence-based program that NEDA has begun disseminating in schools nationwide. The BP has been shown to not only improve negative body image but also reduce maladaptive dietary restraint, early-stage eating disorder symptoms, and the onset of some eating disorders. In addition to providing a brief overview of the scientific support for the BP, this session also will demonstrate how strategic partnerships have helped translate BP science into practice and allowed the global BP community to reach millions of girls and young women around the world.

Thursday: Opening Remarks: Blurred Boundaries and Beautiful Questions

In this interactive talk, the author of A More Beautiful Question will share his findings about the connection between questioning and innovation. Berger believes that if we’re willing to ask the right questions, we can challenge the status quo, explore new ideas, and begin to connect fresh insights to our existing approaches. While making the case that today’s education leaders need to become “beautiful questioners” in order to lead a new era of change, Berger also reminds us that it has become more important than ever to equip our students with the “21st century survival skill” of questioning. He’ll discuss the forces that conspire against questioning in schools and in the world at large — and lay out practical strategies for encouraging more student inquiry in classrooms.

Friday: The Power of "Beautiful Questions" in the Classroom (and Beyond)

The author of A More Beautiful Question will share his findings about the connection between questioning and innovation. He'll also discuss the forces that conspire against questioning in the classroom and in the world at large, why we need inquiring minds (and critical thinking) more now than ever, and what strategies seem to help in encouraging more questioning.

Thursday: A New Approach to Humanities in the Lower and Middle School

STEM gets all the attention in schools these days, but the humanities have never been more important. Of course reading and writing are essential, even more so now in the online world in which our students live. And we see every day in the news what happens to those who don't have a deep understanding of the sweep of human history. But just as important is students' ability to communicate clearly and think for themselves critically, logically, and creatively. How can they learn to make sense of the onslaught of information that is part of their daily lives? How can they learn to make their way through the misleading and manipulative minefield that our national discourse has become? What an increasingly out-of-control world needs is a generation that grows up learning to think, write, and converse critically, clearly, rationally, and sensibly. This session will give a very brief overview, with resources for further investigation, of an integrated and perception-altering approach to the humanities that combines reading, writing, and history with philosophy, ethics, and logic; a revolutionary approach to language arts; pattern-finding; and script (not cursive) — an approach that uses the techniques of Design Thinking, provides a new language for SEL, and allows students to begin to sharpen their critical faculties to make sense of what they read, see, and hear.

Thursday & Friday: The Mindset Revolution: Teaching Mathematics for a Growth Mindset

In this presentation we will consider together how students' mathematics pathways can change dramatically, leading to higher achievement and enjoyment. New scientific understanding of the brain is revealing critical information for mathematics teachers, parents, and learners that Jo will share. In recent years scientific studies have also demonstrated that student and teacher "mindsets" have a profound impact on learning. Students with what Carol Dweck characterizes as a "growth mindset" — who believe that intelligence and "smartness" can be learned and that the brain can grow from exercise — learn more effectively, displaying a desire for challenge and showing resilience in the face of failure. Such behaviors encourage greater math persistence, engagement, and determination. Mathematics teachers and parents play a critical role in the development of mindsets. In this presentation we will consider what it means to teach mathematics for a growth mindset and to encourage a growth mindset in the home. Using classroom videos and working on mathematics ideas together, we will look at different mathematics tasks, encouragement and praise, and many other aspects of mathematics teaching.

Friday: How to Have the Time of Your Life

Living in the 21st century, we have more "time-saving devices" than ever before and yet, no one seems to have enough time. Many people live in a state of extreme time poverty. Life seems to be getting more stressful. With the nature of work changing radically, and our natural rhythms and sleep cycles more distorted than ever, the ability to take time off or to find time to do what we value most is at serious risk. We are all becoming "crazy busy." In this provocative, philosophical, and ultimately positive talk, Martin Boroson explores the way we experience time, how our understanding of time has changed over time, and even what "time" really is. Martin will also share with you the one simple "mindshift" you need to finally start getting a grip on time. For the real key to time management lies not in the clock, or in any device, but in the very thing you have most control over: your state of mind. And each moment offers you an opportunity to play with time, expand time, conquer time, and finally have the time of your life.

Thursday: Structured Word Inquiry in Middle School: Enhancing Understanding of Any Subject Area through Scientific Word Investigation (with Karen Tiegel)

This model lesson in a middle school classroom is co-led by Nueva middle school teacher Karen Tiegel and visiting presenter Pete Bowers, PhD. Observe students investigating the etymology and structure of words drawn from their current studies. See how students develop a deeper understanding of the possible meanings of the vocabulary word they started with, and how that relates to various relatives they discover along the way. This lesson illustrates how teachers at Nueva and around the world use SWI as a way to leverage understanding of core concepts in any subject area, and to facilitate students’ ability to express that understanding orally and in writing.

Thursday: Structured Word Inquiry in Middle and Upper School: Deepening Students' Understanding of Any Subject Area

Whether you teach science, history, mathematics, English, or music, Dr. Bowers will show you how to deepen understanding of key terms and concepts in any subject area by scientifically investigating the structure and history of any word. Participants will see model investigations from classrooms around the world to illustrate this process. You will be invited to suggest words to investigate to show how the scientific investigation of the morphology and etymology of any word can bring insights that are otherwise absent or lost. This will be an active "workshop-like" session. Bring your questions!

Friday: Structured Word Inquiry for the Seriously Curious: For Parents, Teachers, and Researchers Interested in Understanding and Teaching the Written Word

In this talk, Dr. Bowers will investigate the fascinating and ordered way English spelling is structured to represent the meaning, history, and pronunciation of words. Bowers will draw on over a decade of experience using scientific investigation of the written word in classrooms from pre-school to high school around the globe, including working as a visiting scholar at Nueva in the 2015–2016 school year. The strategies for reading/spelling/vocabulary instruction that are used with students of all ages and abilities will be used to help participants understand words typically treated as "irregular" words that have to be memorized because they can't be understood! Beyond literacy, participants will see how SWI provides leverage for learning in any subject area. Teachers, parents, and researchers will gain ideas for literacy instruction that has transformed the practice at Nueva and schools around the world. Bowers will also address the utility of SWI for learners of all ages and abilities.

Friday: Four Big Ideas about Learning

Students generally go about learning in the wrong ways: the kinds of studying or practice that feel productive too often turn out to be labor in vain. Research into learning and memory has been particularly fruitful in recent years, yielding a body of highly effective, evidence-based strategies to replace less effective but widely accepted practices.

Brown is lead author of the best-selling book Make It Stick. In his presentation, he will discuss four big findings from cognitive science that are reshaping how people go about teaching and learning.

Friday: Experiential Learning at the Forefront of Global Climate Change

Scientific research and anecdotal evidence demonstrate that environmental leadership is rooted in immersive experiences that foster students' connection to the natural world, nurture their sense of place, and illustrate their profound interdependence with the natural systems of our planet. Yet many students, especially in urban areas, are growing up both disconnected from the natural world and feeling powerless in the face of global climate change.

How can we refocus climate change — from the abstract, negative, politicized, and paralyzing to the tangible, positive, unifying and eminently solvable? Students must grasp the fundamentals of climate science, and — recognizing that this science is mature to the point of irrefutability — move beyond science into the social and political realms of living mindfully and catalyzing collective action. Inian Islands Institute, a field school in the heart of the southeast Alaskan wilderness, is pioneering a new model of place-based, experiential high school curriculum that couples immersive field science and exploration with more traditional discussions and classroom learning.

In this presentation, I will introduce Inian Islands Institute's approach to education and our climate change curriculum, and share highlights from this summer's inaugural Nueva upper school course in the wilds of Southeast Alaska.

Friday: How Childhood Adversity Affects Health across a Lifetime — and What We Can Do about It

Pediatrician and author of the upcoming book The Deepest Well: Healing the Long Term Effects of Childhood Adversity, Dr. Burke Harris will discuss the science of childhood stress and trauma and how they literally get under our skin and change our biological systems in ways that can last a lifetime. In this session, she will cover what this science means for children both in and out of the classroom and how it gives us new hope in breaking the cycle of childhood adversity. She'll also cover how we — as parents, pediatricians, educators, and other child-serving practitioners — can disrupt this cycle through interventions that help retrain the brain and body, foster resilience, and help children thrive.

Friday: Why School? (with Erin Raab)

Why school? At a time when the answer to almost any question is literally at our fingertips 24/7, why do we even have schools? Assumptions about the purposes of schooling drive debates about processes and pedagogies abound, but are we even solving the right problem?

Friday: Personalized Learning: What We've Learned, Where We Are Headed (with Brian Greenberg)

Over the past five years, technology has clearly gone mainstream in K–12 education. But rather than just putting students on software for thirty minutes a day, some schools are creating bold, different education models. These schools are questioning fundamental assumptions about how schools and classrooms are organized in hopes of creating a more personalized learning experience for students. In this conversation, Brian will share what the Silicon Schools Fund has learned from 31 schools in its Bay Area portfolio that are on the leading edge of the personalized learning movement, and Yanira will talk about the specific innovations Lodestar is trying. We will look at what is working and what remains challenging, and where we think the education sector is heading.

Thursday: Building and Nurturing Innovative Mindsets (with Ellen Deutscher)

The development and practice of certain mindsets in learning environments can serve to enhance, engage, and connect with today's student in a more meaningful way. In this hands-on, high-energy session, we will explore ways to build and nurture innovative mindsets daily in your classrooms.

Practicing these human-centered mindsets is crucial to building a community of learners who embrace risk-taking, creative problem-solving, and collaboration and have a bias towards action. How might we provide opportunities for students to grow in their learning by empowering mindful, intentional daily practice of these mindsets? Participants will engage in activities that can be brought back and experienced directly and immediately in their own communities.

Friday: Integrating Neuroscience and Interventions in Pediatric Trauma

Research in pediatric traumatic stress has identifed defcits in executive function, memory, and emotion regulation. Our laboratory has identifed altered structure and function in brain regions implicated in these functions; namely, the prefrontal cortex, the hippocampus, and the amygdala. We are currently engaged in treatment outcome research investigating preventive and treatment interventions in longitudinal studies with multimethod assessments that include polysomnography, functional near-infrared spectroscopy, sMRI, fMRI, behavioral and academic outcomes, and salivary cortisol. This presentation will summarize preliminary findings of a yoga and mindfulness intervention at an elementary school district of 3,500 students. The Stanford Cue-Centered Treatment Protocol for Youth with Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms will be presented.

Thursday: The Roller Coaster Effect: What Happens When the Design Thinking Workshop Ends…

When educators leave a Design Thinking workshop they are energized, enthusiastic and excited. But what they often discover is that implementing Design Thinking is a lot harder than learning what Design Thinking is. Yet being able to apply the Design Thinking process and mindsets to support students’ everyday learning and life experiences is what matters the most. This presentation will explore how educators can integrate Design Thinking into K–12 classroom curriculum and support their instructional goals.

Thursday: Violin Master Class

The Nueva School creates a dynamic educational model that enables gifted learners to learn how to make choices that will benefit the world. Our school community inspires passion for lifelong learning, fosters social and emotional acuity, and develops the student’s imaginative mind.
    — Nueva Mission Statement

I grew up in Hong Kong. I had my first piano lesson when I was nine and my first violin lesson when I was ten. I started teaching and performing professionally in New York City in 1972, and I joined the Nueva Menuhin violin faculty in 1991. As a performer who has taught violin and coached ensembles, large and small, I see the Nueva mission statement as a universal truth, appropriate for adults and youths. It supports a performing artist's lifelong pursuit of standards of artistic excellence. For the past 26 years, it has guided my teaching and performance, and as a direct result I have grown and matured as a person, a violin instructor, and a performing artist.

In brief, the Nueva mission statement works, and we will illustrate and celebrate it in this class!!!

Thursday: Producing a Podcast as a Vehicle for High School Students to Have Their Voices Heard on Educational Issues (with David Gould)

This presentation will focus on the production and technology issues of producing a high-quality podcast. High school students will be taken through the steps of producing a podcast that can be a strong avenue for having their voices heard regarding educational issues that are important to them. "The Window," a podcast developed at the Belin-Blank Center, will serve as the model. Nicholas Colangelo hosts "The Window," David Gould is the producer, and Joshua Jacobs is head of technology.

Friday: The Window: Avenue for Discussion of Critical Issues in Education (with David Gould)

"The Window" is a new podcast from the Belin-Blank Center and focuses on interviews with leading educators, artists, and policy-makers regarding future issues in education and developing academic and leadership potential in students. The presentation will include an analysis and summary of major issues dealt with in the podcast and implications for the future of education, from pre-K to postsecondary. Nicholas Colangelo hosts "The Window," David Gould is the producer, and Joshua Jacobs is head of technology.

Friday: Insights from the Student Journey (with Greg Amrofell)

Journey mapping is a Design Thinking technique that helps us understand a user's experience as it relates to steps in a process (a student learning to use a new digital tool or transitioning from high school to college, for example). This new understanding helps us develop empathy and enables us to design more successful experiences for our students and teachers. In this session, leaders from design and strategy consultancy Intentional Futures will share student success insights gained from using journey mapping at various altitudes in their work (from the lesson level, course level, or PreK to college completion systems level). Attendees will also have the chance to apply insights and methods learned during the session to a meaningful student success challenge.

Friday: The Pedagogy of Purpose: Lessons from Developmental Science and Innovative Educational Practice

Purpose is a long-term, forward-looking intention to accomplish aims that are both meaningful to the self and of consequence to the world beyond the self. Purpose has long been identified in philosophy and psychology as an essential component of a well-directed life. Over the past ten years, a burgeoning scientific study of purpose has confirmed that purpose can lead to academic and vocational success, motivation, resilience, achievement, and psychological and physical well-being throughout the lifespan. Advances in methods of assessing purposefulness have led to a wave of new educational approaches, and some of these approaches have been used to promote recent interests in personalized learning and other educational innovations. This presentation reviews the progress that has been made over the past ten years in encouraging purposefulness in students' present and future activities.

Friday: The Framework for Teaching: A Flexible Tool for Understanding and Improving Instruction

The framework for teaching, originally published in 1996, is now the most widely used definition of practice, adopted as the sole model (or recommended as one of a few) for instruction in over 25 states in the US and a few countries overseas. It's used to structure teacher preparation, recruitment and hiring, mentoring and induction, professional development, and performance appraisal. While the tool has evolved somewhat in the intervening years, the essential underlying principles have remained intact.

This session will explore the "big ideas" of the framework for teaching, and describe its use in many settings. There will be an opportunity for questions and dialogue.

Thursday: Overview of Nueva Design Thinking Program: Fifth to Twelfth Grades (with Connie Liu, Kim Saxe, and Scott Swaaley)

Design Thinking at Nueva (now in its 11th year) permeates every aspect of the student experience — from our K–12 DT Curriculum, Quest Program, and Innovation Lab to our work on creative mindsets, social -emotional learning, and international student exchanges. In this presentation, Innovation Lab Director Kim Saxe will highlight recent developments in our program and explain how we are preparing our students for both personal and professional success beyond the classroom. You'll also hear from several experienced Nueva I-Lab teachers and practitioners about how they put these ideas into practice in their respective grades and classrooms. This is a great way to begin your journey through the Design Thinking strand of this conference, and this presentation has relevant content for beginning and advanced teachers of DT, administrators, and even parents!

Thursday: Design Thinking Process: Seventh-Grade Design Engineering for Social Good (with Scott Swaaley and Students)

An effective Design Thinking curriculum gives students the opportunity to navigate the entire DT process. What does this look like in a classroom? What makes it effective? With need-finding, ideation, prototyping, and iteration each requiring its own share of time, physical resources, and expertise, how do you fit an authentic Design Thinking project into the constraints of an everyday classroom environment? In this panel presentation, you will hear from seventh-grade students about how they worked to meet the needs of a third grader struggling with cancer. You will also hear briefly from their teachers about how this entire project motivated students greatly and helped their parents realize the incredible value of Design Thinking.

Thursday: Building and Nurturing Innovative Mindsets (with Mary Cantwell)

The development and practice of certain mindsets in learning environments can serve to enhance, engage, and connect with today's student in a more meaningful way. In this hands-on, high-energy session, we will explore ways to build and nurture innovative mindsets daily in your classrooms.

Practicing these human-centered mindsets is crucial to building a community of learners who embrace risk-taking, creative problem-solving, and collaboration and have a bias towards action. How might we provide opportunities for students to grow in their learning by empowering mindful, intentional daily practice of these mindsets? Participants will engage in activities that can be brought back and experienced directly and immediately in their own communities.

Friday: All The Mathematical Methods I Learned In My University Math Degree Became Obsolete In My Lifetime

When I graduated with a bachelor's degree in mathematics from one of the most prestigious university mathematics programs in the world (Kings College London) in 1968, I had acquired a set of skills that guaranteed full employment, wherever I chose to go, for the then-foreseeable future — a state of affairs that had prevailed ever since modern mathematics began some three thousand years earlier. By the turn of the new millennium, however, just over thirty years later, those skills were essentially worthless, having been very effectively outsourced to machines that performed faster and more reliably, and were made widely available with the onset of first desktop- and then cloud-computing. In a single lifetime, I experienced first-hand a dramatic change in how mathematics is done in the world.

Yet, for all my obsolescence, since the start of the millennium I have been involved — as a mathematician — in projects for a US Intelligence Agency, the US Navy, and the US Army, and have successfully co-founded and launched an educational technology company. What skills was I using? And what does my experience (which is typical for mathematicians today) tell us about the mathematical skills we should be imparting to our children?

Friday: Schools of the Future: Where Is the Puck Going and Why Does it Matter for Your School? (with Mark Kushner)

The session will offer an overview of the main education trends affecting schools, including the blended learning world and observations on high-profile operators such as Alt School and Summit Learning. What can your school do to increase effectiveness, efficiency, and productivity? Why do it? How can you innovate without getting into the penalty box? What are the obstacles? What are some tools that can make your school much more effective even if you aren't able to change your model significantly?

Friday: High Achievement and Superior Performance in Adulthood: Reverse Engineering of Developmental Conditions of Children and Adolescents Based on the Expert-Performance Approach

The traditional approach to talent development seeks to identify talented children and adolescents in academic, artistic, and athletic domains as early as possible and then offer these children opportunities and allow them to pursue their interests and develop the abilities freely. The opposite approach is to have adults, often parents, impose rigorous training for children from an early age in special domains, such as dance, music, and sports, to produce outstanding performers (prodigies). Neither approach has been very successful in designing the developmental experiences for young individuals that lead them to attain consistently expert and eminent performance as adults. To research the factors that are necessary for adult success, the expert-performance approach starts at the end point by studying adults who have attained reproducibly superior performance in a domain of expertise, such as dance, music, science, and medicine. This approach is examining what performance aspects make these individuals different from less-accomplished performers and how their training during development differed. When the goal is to facilitate the development of individuals for adult expert achievement, it is critical to know how these individuals acquired skills during their development and most importantly how they can sustain their development and productivity as adults.

Thursday: Inquiry Science, NGSS, and Design Thinking: A Triple Win! (Attendance limited to the first 10 educators.)

Interested in combining a hands-on inquiry science unit with a design thinking project while hitting key Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)? This workshop presents a model unit illustrating how a middle school physics module coupled with a design thinking project. Our goal is to show how most any inquiry science unit can be transformed by incorporating a design thinking component. We'll explore key elements of inquiry science and show how these elements link to the design thinking process. A method for making this transformation will be highlighted. Participants will begin work on modifying one of their own units and leave with an action plan. In the context of modifying and creating lower and middle school science curriculum, we'll consider how NGSS acts best as a compass for deeper, more authentic science, rather than as a set of rote, prescribed steps. This workshop will be most immediately applicable for science teachers, STEM specialists, and classroom teachers teaching science in the lower grades. Administrators and parents seeking a deeper understanding of inquiry science, design thinking, or NGSS are also welcome. Teachers are encouraged to bring ideas about a unit they might want to modify.

Friday: Thinking Differently

David will discuss his book Thinking Differently and will address ways in which Eye to Eye plans to serve more students and strengthen the school/community relationship throughout the state of North Carolina. The "big ideas" for the talk are sharing what it means to be a different thinker in the world at large, and the positive effects of accepting a world where learning differently is celebrated. Engaging the audience with his own LD/ADHD journeys and paths, David will describe how a different thinker like himself has broken though stereotypes and traditional barriers, touching the nation with his nonprofit organization Eye to Eye. David poses the question: What would the world be like without different thinkers? A bleak and tragic place might be the answer. Through the lens of an authentic speaker, with real experiences, every audience leaves David's talks feeling like they too can change the world.

Thursday: Sustaining a Teaching Practice: Maintaining Inspiration and Balance through Collaboration, Feedback, and Mentorship (with Carolee Fucigna and Jenny Rinn)

How do educators keep their work dynamic and thriving? This workshop focuses on methods that support sustainable, inspired teaching practices. Our practical research is in three areas: mentorship that aligns practice with values, collaborative assessment and development for teachers based on peer feedback, and models for faculty exchange. This work engages in "blurring boundaries" between schools, disciplines, and classrooms. We see mentorship, collaboration, and feedback as ways to use the collective experience and diverse expertise of faculty as a source for communal learning and inspiration. In this workshop we will introduce our list of super-values, which we feel promote teacher development. Participants will then be guided to shape strategies for implementation that fit their own practice or institutions. Each of us will scaffold exercises and provide examples from our own institutions, as well as research from other schools.

Thursday: Where Are All the Gifted Kids of Color? (with Alegria Barclay)

Black and Latino students are significantly underrepresented in gifted and talented programs across the nation. In fact, Black students are only one-third as likely to be placed in such a program, while Latino students are about half as likely to be identified as gifted learners. The ramifications of this are profound as we consider the ways in which implicit bias and racism work to keep kids of color from benefitting from the kinds of programming that both challenge them and provide a path to greater long-term success. This workshop will help teachers better understand how to identify gifted learners in their own classrooms. We will look at specific behaviors to watch for, discuss what to do if you do think a child is gifted, consider strategies for meeting the needs of gifted kids, and talk about what schools can do to address the bias that often contributes to students of color not being identified.

Thursday: Critical Thinking Through Writing: New Approaches in an Eleventh-Grade English Curriculum (with Claire Yeo)

In this session, we will discuss a variety of innovative strategies that teachers across the disciplines can use to help students develop critical thinking faculties through writing. Drawing from our eleventh grade American literature course at Nueva, we will present a series of writing assessments — from traditional essays to creative, interview-based pastiches — that allow for student choice and buy-in. We'll take you through the writing process, focusing on crafting precise language in assignments instructions, helping students select an appropriate level of challenge in their topic and approach, using the peer-review process effectively, and providing targeted feedback. Throughout, we'll emphasize writing as a vigorous, exciting way for students to deepen their thinking and engagement, NOT just as the default, dreaded task at the end of a unit of study. In the second half of the session, we will ask session participants to design their own new writing tasks, either by developing an existing assessment from their curriculum or by adapting one of the tasks we present. We invite teachers from the STEM fields as well as the humanities; we believe that we all have much to learn from how our colleagues from different disciplines approach writing!

Thursday: Sustaining a Teaching Practice: Maintaining Inspiration and Balance Through Collaboration, Feedback, and Mentorship (with Saraleah Fordyce and Jenny Rinn)

How do educators keep their work dynamic and thriving? This workshop focuses on methods that support sustainable, inspired teaching practices. Our practical research is in three areas: mentorship that aligns practice with values, collaborative assessment and development for teachers based on peer feedback, and models for faculty exchange. This work engages in "blurring boundaries" between schools, disciplines, and classrooms. We see mentorship, collaboration, and feedback as ways to use the collective experience and diverse expertise of faculty as a source for communal learning and inspiration. In this workshop we will introduce our list of super-values, which we feel promote teacher development. Participants will then be guided to shape strategies for implementation that fit their own practice or institutions. Each of us will scaffold exercises and provide examples from our own institutions, as well as research from other schools.

Thursday: All Kinds of Minds: A Framework for Supporting Diverse Students' Learning

All Kinds of Minds is a very accessible, neurodevelopmental framework that helps us understand how our students learn. It is a system designed for teachers, who are expert at watching students but who don't always have the language to describe what they are seeing or may not know what to do to address a student's difficulties. This session explains how to use this strengths-based framework to find strategies to support your students' learning.

Thursday: One Size Never Fits All: How to Successfully Differentiate Instruction for High School Students

"If, as teachers, we increase our understanding of who we teach and what we teach, we are likely to be much more flexible about how we teach."
— Tomlinson and Strickland, 2005

Teachers are often intrigued by the notion of differentiating instruction for their students, but don't know where to begin — getting started seems so daunting! Nueva's upper school learning specialist will provide a context for why differentiating instruction makes sense. You will also try out a handful of differentiating strategies that you can use in your classrooms right away. Appropriate for high school educators.

Friday: The Double-Edged Sword: Reframing Diversity for the 21st Century

In this talk, Dr. Gay explores the irony that the word diversity often undermines diversity goals. Gay argues that conventional organizational framings conceive diversity as an identity representing historically marginalized groups. By extension, individuals perceive personal benefits differentially, often informed by dominant and marginalized group membership. How, then, should educators reconceptualize diversity in ways that resonate with all identities, while also providing students with critical cultural competency skills to navigate an interconnected, yet increasingly inequitable, society?

Friday: E = MC²: Science and Practice of Mindfulness, Compassion, and Communication

This presentation will include the results of empirical research on and some guided experiential practices of mindfulness, compassion, and communication. The goal is to identify an arc of training the mind from contemplation to interpersonal skills to social activism.

Thursday: Producing a Podcast as a Vehicle for High School Students to Have Their Voices Heard on Educational Issues (with Nicholas Colangelo)

This presentation will focus on the production and technology issues of producing a high-quality podcast. High school students will be taken through the steps of producing a podcast that can be a strong avenue for having their voices heard regarding educational issues that are important to them. "The Window," a podcast developed at the Belin-Blank Center, will serve as the model. Nicholas Colangelo hosts "The Window," David Gould is the producer, and Joshua Jacobs is head of technology.

Friday: The Window: Avenue for Discussion of Critical Issues in Education (with Nicholas Colangelo)

"The Window" is a new podcast from the Belin-Blank Center and focuses on interviews with leading educators, artists, and policy-makers regarding future issues in education and developing academic and leadership potential in students. The presentation will include an analysis and summary of major issues dealt with in the podcast and implications for the future of education, from pre-K to postsecondary. Nicholas Colangelo hosts "The Window," David Gould is the producer, and Joshua Jacobs is head of technology.

Thursday: A Glimpse at Design Thinking in Nueva's Lower School: Experience How the DT Process Evolves and Changes from First Grade to Fourth (with Emily Mitchell)

Design Thinking in the lower school grows and changes as the children move from grade to grade, but the principles and themes remain the same. A close look at projects in both the first grade and fourth shows that, while the projects differ, the foundational skills and mindsets are constant. In this session participants can break down the steps of DT to see how they may incorporate them into their own existing projects. They will also gain insights into how to create new and exciting projects.

Thursday: Running a Robotics Team Program (Grades 6-12)

This presentation will focus on running robotics teams in the FIRST programs — specifically focusing on FIRST Lego League (grades 4–8) and FIRST Robotics Competition (grades 9–12), with a little bit about FIRST Tech Challenge (grades 7–12). I will talk about the benefits of the program and how to start teams, and some high school FRC students will explain their robot and answer questions.

Thursday: Fourth-Grade LED Lamp Presentation (Grades 2-6) (with Emily Mitchell)

In this presentation, we will give a comprehensive look at the first formal Design Thinking and engineering class of our strand, where fourth graders design and make an LED lamp to meet the need of a family member. We will talk about the Design Thinking process, how we teach it, and some of the engineering aspects and tools the students are introduced to and use to make their lamps.

Thursday: Fifth-Grade Design Engineering Demo Lesson (Grades 3-8)

In this class observation session, you will have the chance to see how we teach Design Thinking in action! Fifth graders will be working on creating a mechanical "treehouse-inspired" toy for first graders. Students learn how to use tools, exercise their creativity, and practice collaboration as they work on their projects.

Friday: Personalized Learning: What We've Learned, Where We Are Headed (with Yanira Canizales)

Over the past five years, technology has clearly gone mainstream in K–12 education. But rather than just putting students on software for thirty minutes a day, some schools are creating bold, different education models. These schools are questioning fundamental assumptions about how schools and classrooms are organized in hopes of creating a more personalized learning experience for students. In this conversation, Brian will share what the Silicon Schools Fund has learned from 31 schools in its Bay Area portfolio that are on the leading edge of the personalized learning movement, and Yanira will talk about the specific innovations Lodestar is trying. We will look at what is working and what remains challenging, and where we think the education sector is heading.

Friday: Bringing Maker-Centered Learning into Low-Income Schools to Support All Students (with Nico Janik)

Join Nico and Laurie to learn about how maker-centered learning is being implemented in multiple ways to support students traditionally under-represented in STEM fields. Leave with K–8 classroom-tested ideas for whole-class projects, self-directed projects, and projects integrated across content areas (including Next Generation Science Standards, English language arts, and art). The presenters will also address why making is critical for our most disenfranchised and vulnerable students.

Friday: Screens, Stress, and ADHD: How to Thrive, Not Just Survive

Dr. Edward (Ned) Hallowell, child and adult psychiatrist and world-renowned ADHD expert, will share his advice on the questions he is most frequently asked regarding elementary school children and young adults. In this modern age of 24/7 technology, many parents and teachers are concerned about the short- and long-term effects of electronic over-usage combined with academic, family, peer, and extracurricular stress. Dr. Hallowell will provide strategies to help with the most formidable challenges today's young people face: how to manage the unprecedented stress today's world imposes on them and how to deal with this world's ubiquitous screens without becoming addicted. This presentation addresses stress, toxic stress, and screen usage and over-usage for all young folks. It will also highlight how these concerns are amplified in people with ADHD or LD. You will learn how to: o Work with, not against, your child to develop healthy lifestyle choice o Distinguish between ADHD and an over-scheduled young person o Understand what warning signs to look for o Seek professional help if needed. Each of these problems is eminently solvable, with guidance. The goal is to thrive in life, not merely survive, and Dr. Hallowell has practical tips on how this can be done.

Thursday: First Grade SEL Classroom Observation

In this session, participants will observe an hour-long social-emotional learning lesson with first graders. The lesson will allow participants to build at firsthand a better understanding of how skills such as emotional awareness, emotional management, and social awareness are developed through interactive and responsive activities.

Friday: Cognitive and Social-Emotional Resilience — What is the Neuroscience Behind It and How Can We Promote It?

This talk will introduce a resilience model that unifies cognitive and social-emotional factors that promote children’s success. Dr. Hoeft will talk about the neuroscience behind cognitive and social-emotional resilience and strategies we can incorporate in everyday life to promote resilience in our children. Learning differences and dyslexia are used as examples, but much of this information is broadly applicable to all children. This model affords a framework for understanding success in children and generates testable hypotheses for future research, much of which is currently being conducted at the UC Precision Learning Center (PrecL.org, where Dr. Hoeft is Executive Director) and the UCSF Dyslexia Center (dyslexia.ucsf.edu, where she is Deputy Director).

Friday: Bringing Maker-Centered Learning into Low-Income Schools to Support All Students (with Laurie Gross)

Join Nico and Laurie to learn about how maker-centered learning is being implemented in multiple ways to support students traditionally under-represented in STEM fields. Leave with K–8 classroom-tested ideas for whole-class projects, self-directed projects, and projects integrated across content areas (including Next Generation Science Standards, English language arts, and art). The presenters will also address why making is critical for our most disenfranchised and vulnerable students.

Thursday: Visual Art and Fabrication in the I-lab (with Rob Zomber)

This session introduces attendees to the goals, structure, and assignments in an Art and Fabrication 1 class. It is an opportunity to interact with students and discuss their individual projects. This course is designed to encourage students who have little experience in the I-lab to become familiar with the tools and materials it offers while also providing a new approach for students familiar with the I-lab to push their technical skill in new directions. This component is maximized with the facilitation of both an artist and an engineer. Students in this course work in a variety of media to create projects that demonstrate understanding and consideration of craftsmanship and the elements and principles of visual art. Students gain firsthand knowledge and experience with construction by using a variety of hand tools, power tools, and materials, such as the hand drill, chop saw, band saw, belt and orbital sander, wire, foam, wood, and sheet metal. Students create work that is representational, abstract, and inspired by historically and contemporary significant artists and art movements. Throughout their process, creative problem-solving and intentional decision-making will play a significant role in their ability to express visual ideas.

Thursday: Design Thinking and the Reggio Approach: Finding the Sweet Spot for Supporting Young Innovators (with Julia Myrick)

How do the mindsets and methodologies of Design Thinking and the Maker Movement intersect with the philosophy of the Reggio approach, and how can those connections support young innovators? In this workshop, co-presenters Julia Myrick and Lauri Jones will share a series of student experiences that highlight possibilities for this blended approach. Join us in a conversation about how these three approaches combine to impact our students' capacity for critical creativity.

Thursday: Connecting Across the Disciplines: Interdisciplinary Learning

The theories and standards promoted in educational literature regarding the gifted consistently underscore the need to pursue interdisciplinary teaching and learning. This demonstration lesson will present a model of instruction applicable across grade levels and contention areas that emphasizes the cognitive, social, and personal strategies to teach for and about interdisciplinary learning.

Friday: A Continuum to Differentiate Curriculum for Gifted Leaners

The importance of recognizing and responding to individual differences among gifted learners is considered in the "continuum of differentiation." The continuum enables teachers and students to match curricular and instructional options to gifted students, both in groups and individually. The what and how of this continuum will be presented.

Thursday: Opening Remarks: Alone, Together! Transforming Communities with the Power of Quiet

Surrounded as we are by alpha, daring, and gregarious leaders, it is all too easy to impose a one-size-fits-all ideal on today’s students. How can we set the stage so that all voices can be heard — in their own ways? A dramatic shift in mindset is needed: one that has at its core the “blurring of boundaries.” Dr. Kasevich invites us to explore Quiet power with research-based strategies for restoring the balance between calm and excitement, strengths and stretches, deliberation and action. The ultimate goal is to unleash the creative potential of everyone at the table.

Friday: Empowering Quiet Leaders

Are great leaders introverts or extroverts?

It depends. Too often, however, we simply enable the bold, dynamic talkers to take over our podiums. It's time to empower those with quieter dispositions — those more inclined to be charismatic connectors than charismatic orators — to step forward. But it's more than building confidence in those who have hitherto been marginalized as leaders. It's time to encourage everyone to cultivate the quiet leadership strengths of humility, perspective, and prudence. Let's explore new research that supports the case for quiet leadership and take a deep dive into strategies for nurturing quiet power in our communities.

Thursday: The Subtraction Reversal Mystery: Differentiating Math in Authentic Ways (with Lora Saarnio)

Observe the launch of the Subtraction Reversal Mystery, a low-floor, high ceiling, inquiry-based problem that is engaging for students and highly differentiated. The problem highlights the value that Nueva's math program places upon developing mathematical mindsets among our students — we give them active practice and authentic exposure to the importance of trying and failing, learning from failure, and persevering. The problem also provides insight into where students are in terms of computational skills, pattern recognition, and conjecture-making. Finally, the problem reflects an important aspect of our mathematical culture, where we join together as a community of learners who can preserve the mystery and joy of discovery for others who are still making sense of the problem.

Thursday: The Student-Made Math Problem (with Lori Mustille)

Over the course of the school year, students are introduced to math concepts through project-based learning activities. They are often exploring new concepts individually and in groups. Teachers model how to ask good questions and find out more about the concepts by trying practice problems. After drafting problems of their own, students test out problems with peers in the classroom. After feedback is given to the students, they finalize their problems. In the past we have published student problems in our STEM Fair magazine and shared content with other schools. Some of our favorite student-made puzzles were inspired by Dr. Pickle and Dan Finkel. Join us for this session to see how you can use the student-made problem process for concept mastery and as an assessment piece for math concepts.

Friday: Science of Happiness: Insights for Social Progress

In this talk I will detail the latest science of happiness, focusing on themes such as awe, compassion, gratitude, empathy, and play. I will chart the evolution and neurophysiology of these core dimensions of human nature and the cultural forces that undermine these essential experiences in contemporary education. I will also discuss science-tested practices for boosting well-being.

Friday: Nurturing Creativity at a Global Scale: From a Learner's Point of View

Get the latest sneak peek into DGLOBAL.ORG, a project born from Stanford University's d.school. In this session, we will look inside DGLOBAL's most recent experiments in continuous situated learning, doing, and teaching, and ask the question "How might we begin to nurture and unleash creativity on a global scale?" The d.school has helped usher in a larger Design Thinking movement that actively teaches mindsets and skills that are not traditionally taught in school, but are essential for students, teachers, and leaders living in the 21st century. In a rapidly changing educational landscape and an increasingly global context, how might we adapt and advance Design Thinking so it works in more extreme contexts? How might learners everywhere take responsibility for their own creative experiences without requiring the presence of teachers to guide them? And how might we amplify the impact of Design Thinking pioneers to accelerate this larger cultural shift in education and work?

Friday: Understanding Creative Young People: Lessons from the CLEOS Project

Creative children and adolescents have unique needs that challenge both parents and educators to find new ways of guiding them toward their goals. For twelve years, the Counseling Laboratory for the Exploration of Optimal States (CLEOS) has provided career and personal counseling for adolescent artists, inventors, performers, and writers. I will share what we have learned about their dreams for the future as well as the barriers they perceive in their daily lives. About a third of our students have never been identified as gifted, particularly those who are talented in the arts. Despite their creative productivity, these students have uneven academic achievement because of their "selective conscientiousness." They are persistent and passionate only in the areas that interest them. Even creative, straight-A students claim that they are not truly engaged by school, but go through the motions of being well-rounded and affable. Many of our students struggle with high levels of anxiety and depression. Our profiling methods are able to identify a very diverse group of students. We have learned that low-income and rural students from under-resourced schools are most at risk for abandoning their dreams of becoming musicians, artists, and inventors. Those creative adolescents who are thriving are those who have had accepting families, mentoring and coaching for their advanced skills, opportunities to perform, exhibit, or publish their work, at least one caring teacher, and a small group of like-minded, creative peers. I'll share the ways we help creative students find the recognition and support they need to keep their dreams alive.

Friday: Harnessing Digital Education

Our digital age changes the way we learn and teach, and puts more tools directly into our hands. Now it is possible to learn what we want to know when we want to learn it, and personalized learning has become a reality. CK-12 offers more than just textbooks and videos — we harness the digital power at our fingertips to help students learn through a data-driven, adaptive, interactive platform! We can track how students are doing, so they know their progress as well as what they are missing. We can predict, plan, and provide assessments of what they need to cover in order to help them move in a more deliberate way towards their goals.

Friday: Broadening Participation in Computing

Computing is one of the least diverse disciplines in science and engineering in terms of participation by women, African-Americans, and Hispanics, and the only discipline where participation by women has significantly decreased over the last three decades. While our discipline does well in encouraging members of underrepresented groups to go on to graduate programs, we have been less successful in attracting members of these groups into undergraduate programs. This talk discusses successful strategies K–12 schools can use to significantly increase the number of women and students of color majoring in computer science.

Thursday: Pythagorean Possibilities in the Elementary Classroom (with Lora Saarnio)

Visual and hands-on math is full of fascinating patterns that can stimulate logical reasoning and can be a bridge to higher math concepts, such as algebraic thinking. This approach is in the spirit of the first ancient Greek philosophers and mathematicians, the Pythagoreans, who around 2,600 years ago used pebbles to arrange numbers into geometrical shapes in their search to find out how and why the universe was formed. They formulated a style of rational thinking from which we still benefit today.

Teachers will work through the introductory levels of low-floor, high-ceiling Pythagorean problems that can they can bring back to their classrooms. Through visual and hands-on math, we bring together the three strands of math: the numerical (arithmetic), the visual (geometry), and the formal symbolic (algebra). All three strands woven together make up a fundamental part of the rich tapestry of math.

Thursday: Paving the Path to Interdisciplinary Learning (with Tom McFadden, Jennifer Perry, and Lelia Youn)

At Nueva we break through boundaries by practicing interdisciplinary thinking with our students to tackle big questions regarding cultural identity and food security. We have employed concerns about agriculture and food to grapple with authentic questions of globalization in curricula across disciplines, and you are encouraged to bring your own areas of interest. Work with the eighth grade teaching team (biology, writing, and humanities) to practice achieving core discipline-learning goals and skills, while sharing essential questions, field trips, guest speakers, projects, and class time. We will explicitly share activities and experiences that range from accessible and easy (having students "map their refrigerators") to more resource- and time-intensive (field trips to bakeries, local farms, or UC Davis to talk to wheat geneticists) and writing and reading assignments designed to deepen thinking. We also welcome your stories of the joys of and obstacles to interdisciplinary collaboration. Join us in interdisciplinary teams to develop novel approaches to some of humanity's greatest challenges.

Thursday: Build-a-Math-Project (with Danielle McReynolds-Dell and Mandy Mudde)

Finding authentic assessment that demonstrates student growth can be difficult and time-consuming, but it is an important aspect of culture. Some of the questions we will be considering are: What makes an effective project? How do you scale it for multiple levels of learners? How do you ensure that you are meeting content objectives? How do you foster a growth mindset that enables students to explore an open-ended passion within mathematics? In this session, we will discuss how we created a number of projects, small and large, which promote student growth and mathematical competency. We will explore how to create rubrics, promote student reflection, guide students through the process, and discuss grading practices. Participants will discuss ways to modify these projects to fit their particular schools and timelines and will leave with documentation of many of the projects discussed in the session.

Friday: Schools of the Future: Where Is the Puck Going and Why Does it Matter for Your School? (with Scott Ellis)

The session will offer an overview of the main education trends affecting schools, including the blended learning world and observations on high-profile operators such as Alt School and Summit Learning. What can your school do to increase effectiveness, efficiency, and productivity? Why do it? How can you innovate without getting into the penalty box? What are the obstacles? What are some tools that can make your school much more effective even if you aren't able to change your model significantly?

Thursday: Perfectly Imperfect — Personal Practice and Mindful Education

Students do their best academically, socially and emotionally when they feel safe and connected. Cultivating safe and connected learning environments begins with us. This session is not about how to create a perfect classroom, it's more about how we relate when things aren't going our way. We'll focus on the benefits of a personal mindfulness practice and how this supports our relationship to challenges that arise in our classrooms. When we're caught up in reactivity, we're less likely to model the social-emotional skills we're trying to develop with our students. Our personal mindfulness practice invites us to slow down, develop greater awareness and create space to respond more skillfully to triggering situations. As we nurture mindful awareness in our own lives, we'll be more available for our students and better equipped to model what we're asking of them. Through regular practice, mindful classroom routines, and opportunities to share our experiences, we can cultivate safe and connected learning environments.

This workshop is for teachers of all experience levels looking to foster mindful presence both personally and professionally. We'll explore and practice research-backed mindfulness exercises, set intentions for nurturing our personal practice, and learn simple ways to integrate mindfulness into our classrooms. We'll have time to share resources, experiences and ask questions.

Thursday: Transitioning from Teacher Evaluation to Professional Growth: Personalized Learning, Empowerment, and Project-Based Learning are for Teachers Too in 21st Century Schools

"The only person who behaves sensibly is my tailor; he takes my measurements anew every time he sees me, while all the rest go on with their old measurements and expect me to fit them."
    —George Bernard Shaw

Shaw was not speaking about teacher evaluation, but the quote fits. As we lead our schools into the future, many schools continue to use evaluation systems that are based in instruction supervision models from the 20th century. As we focus more on 21st century skills, shouldn't our "evaluation" programs reflect the same philosophy and pedagogy? Practitioners, researchers, and policy makers agree that most current teacher evaluation systems do little to help teachers improve or to support personnel decision-making. There's also a growing consensus that evidence of teacher contributions to student learning should be part of teacher evaluation systems, along with evidence about the quality of teacher practices. This session will help participants think deeply about their current practice and help make the case for a program that promotes teacher growth and student learning.

Friday: Nurturing Change Agents: Bringing it Home

The Liger Learning Center in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, provides a truly experiential learning environment for deserving students from provincial government schools. The students learn by doing. The model encourages global awareness while placing strong emphasis on providing expertise for students to identify and impact important problems in their own country. The teachers support students in exploring their culture and environment while creating tangible incentives for them to stay in-country for the long term — and all this while still enabling them to learn everything they'll need to know. Learn how the students were selected and the curriculum designed, and hear about some of the amazing outcomes.

If this is possible in a developing country like Cambodia, why not everywhere?

Friday: Mindful Tech: Cultivating Skillful and Ethical Attention in the Digital Age

Today's digital devices and apps, it is now clear, are both powerful and powerfully distracting, and can serve both as instruments of learning and connection on the one hand, and of distraction and disconnection on the other. For more than a decade, through my research and teaching, I have been developing methods to help students (as well as faculty, staff, and adult professionals) investigate and improve their relationship with their devices and apps. Central to this work has been the use of various mindfulness exercises that help people cultivate their attention and direct it in skillful ways. In this presentation, I will describe some of these exercises with particular focus on their implication for developing what might be called an "ethic of attention."

Thursday: Deepen Your Lesson Study: Mock-up Lessons, Final Commentary, and Content Study

Lesson study is a teacher-led, student-focused collaborative inquiry cycle that includes careful observation of live classroom lessons. Although there is rigorous evidence that lesson study can improve student learning, not all lesson study work is equally effective. Presenter and participants will share strategies to deepen lesson study work. Free online resources to deepen content study, mock-up lessons, and final commentary will be introduced.

Friday: Explore a Fractions Lesson-Study Kit: Is Your Fractions Instruction the Best It Can Be?

Explore a lesson-study kit designed to help educators deepen their understanding and teaching of fractions. Find out how Japanese educators introduce fractions, and ask why this approach is not used more in the US. The lesson-study kit includes a summary of research on students' misconceptions, fractions tasks to solve, student work to analyze, classroom video to watch, and curriculum materials to try out. A randomized trial recently published in the Journal for Research in Mathematics Education found this lesson-study fractions resource kit had a significant impact on both student and teacher understanding of fractions.

Friday: Neural Substrates of Musical Creativity

Musical creativity has existed since the earliest days of human civilization. Until recently, though, how the brain actually produces musical ideas was poorly understood. Recent advances in brain imaging have allowed us to address questions of artistic significance that were previously felt to be inaccessible to scientific inquiry. Of the multiple creative processes that take place in music, improvisation — the spontaneous generation of musical material — provides an inspiring tool to study these processes. This presentation will highlight several functional neuroimaging studies that have examined the process of musical improvisation in expert jazz and hip-hop musicians, as a window into the complex neural processes that give rise to creativity.

Thursday: Overview of Nueva Design Thinking Program: Fifth to Twelfth Grades (with Al Davies, Kim Saxe, and Scott Swaaley)

Design Thinking at Nueva (now in its 11th year) permeates every aspect of the student experience — from our K–12 DT Curriculum, Quest Program, and Innovation Lab to our work on creative mindsets, social -emotional learning, and international student exchanges. In this presentation, Innovation Lab Director Kim Saxe will highlight recent developments in our program and explain how we are preparing our students for both personal and professional success beyond the classroom. You'll also hear from several experienced Nueva I-Lab teachers and practitioners about how they put these ideas into practice in their respective grades and classrooms. This is a great way to begin your journey through the Design Thinking strand of this conference, and this presentation has relevant content for beginning and advanced teachers of DT, administrators, and even parents!

Thursday: Design Engineering for Social Good: Students Making an Impact (Attendance limited to the first 25 educators.)

A highly popular session at the Design Thinking Institute, this combined talk and workshop is now being offered at the ILC. It will show you how to set up a classroom that allows students to tackle authentic, real-world problems. When students have the opportunity to make a difference in the community, they are empowered with the confidence, curiosity, and creativity to continue doing this important work in the future. We will show you how to create the perfect environment for facilitating a classroom focus on taking action in the community. Although most case studies and examples will cover implementation on the high school level, many of the themes and lessons are applicable across all grade levels.

Thursday: Design Thinking in Middle School Science: Strategies and Tools for Teachers and Students

This session will cover how we integrated Design Thinking into our sixth grade physics curriculum in order to bring our students a more authentic scientific experience. We are also working to elucidate scientific habits of mind so that students better understand concrete strategies for thinking like a scientist. How does this conceptual shift in teaching lead to innovations in curriculum? How might we create a culture centered around developing and practicing scientific habits of mind? How to assess Design Thinking skills in the science classroom? How do we get students to understand and practice what it means to be a scientist? We will showcase student projects, assessment guides, tips and strategies for teachers, and our latest effort to send a student experiment to the International Space Station.

Friday: Creating a New High School Transcript: The Mastery Transcript Consortium

The fact that most high school transcripts are organized around grades, single-discipline classes, and Carnegie units of time is one of the biggest roadblocks to curricular and pedagogical change. Learn more about a joint effort among independent schools to create a transcript organized around student mastery, not seat time. The goal is to develop a transcript that features authentic assessment of learning, not simply letter grades.

Thursday: A Third Grade Interactive Spelling Lesson with Structured Word Inquiry (with Erin Metcalf)

Throw out your spelling lists and instead understand how to use scientific inquiry to teach spelling! Using Structured Word Inquiry, students will analyze a bank of words to determine their potential connections by considering the words' etymology (history) and morphology (meaningful structure). They will demonstrate the process using two of SWI's most commonly used tools: the word sum and the lexical matrix. This process allows students to analyze the deeper structure of words and their meaningful elements, such as prefixes, suffixes, and bases. Students approach new words with confidence, applying their knowledge to seemingly unconnected words. Going further to discover new and surprising connections inspires a joyful attitude towards language learning and builds classroom community. By studying content words across the curriculum, student vocabulary levels increase and complex subjects are demystified as the meaning of words becomes clear. Instead of giving a spelling list centered on a given sound pattern, capitalize on the brain's ability to organize information based on meaning. Starting from meaning promotes deeper understanding and retention. Come watch how you can bring curiosity and engagement to your spelling lessons and transform your students' learning experience.

Friday: Real American: A Memoir

In my new memoir, Real American, I explore the so-called microaggressions I experienced growing up Black and biracial, the plunge into self-loathing that ensued through adolescence, college, and career, and ultimately how, in the era of Black Lives Matter, I located a self I could love and began to prepare my Black son for the world that awaits him.

Friday: Can We Talk? Shifting Girls' Relationship to Conflict as a Foundation for Building Confidence and Resilience

While girls have never had more opportunities than they have today, they've also never had more pressure. Studies show increasing pressure on girls to please others, online and off. We see the evidence in rising levels of stress, anxiety, and depression. While there is no silver bullet, practicing conflict requires a nexus of social and emotional skills that can make a powerful impact on confidence and resilience. For parents and teachers, this is as much about what we teach girls as what we role model. Simone will present the latest challenges and trends in girls' development and offer concrete steps to ensuring every girl knows the power of her voice.

Friday: The Science of Learning: What Every Teacher Should Know

Columbia University and the Klingenstein Center of Teachers College have created a MOOC about the science of learning and its practical implications. In our session we will discuss current research regarding how children learn and how it now powerfully informs the day-to-day teaching of any teacher. We will also discuss the pros and cons of creating a MOOC with the edX platform and then brainstorm together ways we can more meaningfully infuse into our schools best-practice research about learning.

Thursday: Hip Hop in the Science Classroom

What would it be like to blend science and hip hop in your classroom? Students writing lyrics about their questions at the start of a unit? Collaborative music videos to showcase learning? Students educating teachers about issues relevant to their lives, finding new applications for class content?

Learn by doing in this hands-on workshop — from short, easy-to-incorporate "finish the rhyme" activities to time-intensive explorations of socially-relevant projects that breed student buy-in and interdisciplinary collaboration. Come for the live science raps. Stay for the open dialogue about cultural exchange and appropriation. Leave with tools that can apply to a science classroom and beyond.

Thursday: Paving the Path to Interdisciplinary Learning (with Cynthia Kosut, Jennifer Perry, and Lelia Youn)

At Nueva we break through boundaries by practicing interdisciplinary thinking with our students to tackle big questions regarding cultural identity and food security. We have employed concerns about agriculture and food to grapple with authentic questions of globalization in curricula across disciplines, and you are encouraged to bring your own areas of interest. Work with the eighth grade teaching team (biology, writing, and humanities) to practice achieving core discipline-learning goals and skills, while sharing essential questions, field trips, guest speakers, projects, and class time. We will explicitly share activities and experiences that range from accessible and easy (having students "map their refrigerators") to more resource- and time-intensive (field trips to bakeries, local farms, or UC Davis to talk to wheat geneticists) and writing and reading assignments designed to deepen thinking. We also welcome your stories of the joys of and obstacles to interdisciplinary collaboration. Join us in interdisciplinary teams to develop novel approaches to some of humanity's greatest challenges.

Thursday: Build-a-Math-Project (with Veena Krishnan and Mandy Mudde)

Finding authentic assessment that demonstrates student growth can be difficult and time-consuming, but it is an important aspect of culture. Some of the questions we will be considering are: What makes an effective project? How do you scale it for multiple levels of learners? How do you ensure that you are meeting content objectives? How do you foster a growth mindset that enables students to explore an open-ended passion within mathematics? In this session, we will discuss how we created a number of projects, small and large, which promote student growth and mathematical competency. We will explore how to create rubrics, promote student reflection, guide students through the process, and discuss grading practices. Participants will discuss ways to modify these projects to fit their particular schools and timelines and will leave with documentation of many of the projects discussed in the session.

Thursday: A Third Grade Interactive Spelling Lesson with Structured Word Inquiry (with Rebecca Loveless)

Throw out your spelling lists and instead understand how to use scientific inquiry to teach spelling! Using Structured Word Inquiry, students will analyze a bank of words to determine their potential connections by considering the words' etymology (history) and morphology (meaningful structure). They will demonstrate the process using two of SWI's most commonly used tools: the word sum and the lexical matrix. This process allows students to analyze the deeper structure of words and their meaningful elements, such as prefixes, suffixes, and bases. Students approach new words with confidence, applying their knowledge to seemingly unconnected words. Going further to discover new and surprising connections inspires a joyful attitude towards language learning and builds classroom community. By studying content words across the curriculum, student vocabulary levels increase and complex subjects are demystified as the meaning of words becomes clear.

Instead of giving a spelling list centered on a given sound pattern, capitalize on the brain's ability to organize information based on meaning. Starting from meaning promotes deeper understanding and retention. Come watch how you can bring curiosity and engagement to your spelling lessons and transform your students' learning experience.

Friday: Education for an Ecological and Civil Society: Science on the Hidden Resource

Science converges on a hidden resource that leads to a more ecological and civil society. A great body of research conducted by many labs shows that every student is born with an innate spiritual core, which if supported throughout K–12 leads to ecologically and civic-minded citizens. (It also leads to students who are healthier and happier.) Basic science will be shown to support a pathway for spiritual development in youth. The harvesting of this science together with expertise of master teachers is shared in the new K–12 national Collaborative for Spiritual Development: Educating for a Democratic and Ecological Society.

Thursday: A Glimpse at Design Thinking in Nueva's Lower School: Experience How the DT Process Evolves and Changes from First Grade to Fourth (with Michelle Grau)

Design Thinking in the lower school grows and changes as the children move from grade to grade, but the principles and themes remain the same. Look closely at projects in the first and fourth grades to see that, while the projects differ, the foundational skills and mindsets are constant. In this session, participants can break down the steps of DT to see how they may incorporate the process into their own existing projects. They will also gain insights into how to create new and exciting projects.

Thursday: Fourth-Grade LED Lamp Presentation (Grades 2-6) (with Michelle Grau)

In this presentation, we will give a comprehensive look at the first formal Design Thinking and engineering class of our strand, where fourth graders design and make an LED lamp to meet the need of a family member. We will talk about the Design Thinking process, how we teach it, and some of the engineering aspects and tools the students are introduced to and use to make their lamps.

Thursday: Beyond Brain Breaks: Intelligence in Motion

This active session will focus on different ways of allowing students the flexibility to move while they learn in the classroom. Only some students don't mind sitting still for long; while brain breaks help interrupt the sedentary spells, integrating movement and activity can benefit memory, focus, motivation, and comprehension.

Thursday: Class Meeting in Action

Guests will be invited to our classroom to observe a 30-minute class meeting that integrates democratic teaching techniques and systems.

Thursday: Upstanders, Change Makers, and Contributors: Teaching a People’s History of Immigration in the Bay Area (with Damon Allswang)

Immigration could not be a more timely, or important, topic for students to study. This talk will give attendees a look at our year-long curriculum focused on immigration into California. We help students to see themselves as change-makers who can do something to ease the plight of people beginning a new life. Students also learn about the contributions of immigrants and about those who stood up to unfair treatment. We have honed this curriculum over the past four years and continue to see lasting results in our students. While we teach this curriculum to second graders in California, it could easily be adapted to any grade in elementary or middle school, and to any location. Resources will be provided.

Friday: An Introduction to Talking to Kids about Race

How does one start a conversation about race with a child? In the wake of the presidential election results, uprisings and protests in Ferguson, New York, Baltimore, Oakland, and South Dakota, many of us are imagining that another world is possible. We know that the potential for a world in which unarmed Black Americans are not killed regularly by police and people of color are not the targets of systemic racism and hate crimes has to start with us. In fact, the most powerful change we can make is on the micro level, with what we teach our children about race and implicit bias. This introductory session will help us unpack our own understanding of race and outline developmentally appropriate language to use with kids.

Friday: The Psychology of Technology: Connecting with the Always-On Generation

Supporting educators and parents to understand, empower, and mentor students in their digital lives is a cornerstone of the My Digital TAT2 program. We believe that the role of teachers and parents as digital mentors helps students deal with the challenges of technology and social media and encourages safe, kind, and ethical use.

We have learned from 19,000+ children and teens over the past six years, from fourth grade through high school — the true experts about their evolving digital landscape and current online trends. Come hear about the psychology of technology and how social media is impacting kids' body image, sleep, social interactions, and social-emotional well-being. Strategies for advocating, responding, and supporting children and teens will be highlighted.

Thursday: Build-a-Math-Project (with Veena Krishnan and Danielle McReynolds-Dell)

Finding authentic assessment that demonstrates student growth can be difficult and time-consuming, but it is an important aspect of culture. Some of the questions we will be considering are: What makes an effective project? How do you scale it for multiple levels of learners? How do you ensure that you are meeting content objectives? How do you foster a growth mindset that enables students to explore an open-ended passion within mathematics? In this session, we will discuss how we created a number of projects, small and large, which promote student growth and mathematical competency. We will explore how to create rubrics, promote student reflection, guide students through the process, and discuss grading practices. Participants will discuss ways to modify these projects to fit their particular schools and timelines and will leave with documentation of many of the projects discussed in the session.

Thursday: The Student-Made Math Problem (with Katie Kelly)

Over the course of the school year, students are introduced to math concepts through project-based learning activities. They are often exploring new concepts individually and in groups. Teachers model how to ask good questions and find out more about the concepts by trying practice problems. After drafting problems of their own, students test out problems with peers in the classroom. After feedback is given to the students, they finalize their problems. In the past we have published student problems in our STEM Fair magazine and shared content with other schools. Some of our favorite student-made puzzles were inspired by Dr. Pickle and Dan Finkel. Join us for this session to see how you can use the student-made problem process for concept mastery and as an assessment piece for math concepts.

Thursday: Design Thinking and the Reggio Approach: Finding the Sweet Spot for Supporting Young Innovators (with Lauri Jones)

How do the mindsets and methodologies of Design Thinking and the Maker Movement intersect with the philosophy of the Reggio approach, and how can those connections support young innovators? In this workshop, co-presenters Julia Myrick and Lauri Jones will share a series of student experiences that highlight possibilities for this blended approach. Join us in a conversation about how these three approaches combine to impact our students' capacity for critical creativity.

Friday: Combating Eating Disorders with Evidence-Based Strategies (with Carolyn Becker)

Eating disorders are the third most common chronic condition among adolescents after obesity and asthma, making them a serious public health concern. Educators and parents play a critical role in helping young people develop healthy attitudes towards food, weight and body image. They are also on the front lines of early detection, which can significantly improve treatment outcomes for eating disorders. This session will provide an overview of eating disorders, using the popular NEDA Parent and Educator Toolkits as a basis. Attendees will learn about scientifically supported approaches to eating disorder intervention and prevention, including the Body Project (BP), an evidence-based program that NEDA has begun disseminating in schools nationwide. The BP has been shown to not only improve negative body image but also reduce maladaptive dietary restraint, early-stage eating disorder symptoms, and the onset of some eating disorders. In addition to providing a brief overview of the scientific support for the BP, this session also will demonstrate how strategic partnerships have helped translate BP science into practice and allowed the global BP community to reach millions of girls and young women around the world.

Thursday: Transforming Your Math Curriculum: Meeting Standards through an Inquiry-Based Classroom Experience

This workshop will discuss how to move from a traditional math curriculum to one that embraces projects in an inquiry-based classroom. The first purpose will be to share how the Nueva Upper School used a design thinking process and the common core to develop its three-year spiraled, integrated math program. The second purpose will be to share how this process can be extended in all schools, drawing on our experience developing curriculum with teachers at Peninsula Bridge, a school focused on preparing highly motivated, low-income students for high school and college.

Thursday: Paving the Path to Interdisciplinary Learning (with Cynthia Kosut, Tom McFadden, and Lelia Youn)

At Nueva we break through boundaries by practicing interdisciplinary thinking with our students to tackle big questions regarding cultural identity and food security. We have employed concerns about agriculture and food to grapple with authentic questions of globalization in curricula across disciplines, and you are encouraged to bring your own areas of interest. Work with the eighth grade teaching team (biology, writing, and humanities) to practice achieving core discipline-learning goals and skills, while sharing essential questions, field trips, guest speakers, projects, and class time. We will explicitly share activities and experiences that range from accessible and easy (having students "map their refrigerators") to more resource- and time-intensive (field trips to bakeries, local farms, or UC Davis to talk to wheat geneticists) and writing and reading assignments designed to deepen thinking. We also welcome your stories of the joys of and obstacles to interdisciplinary collaboration. Join us in interdisciplinary teams to develop novel approaches to some of humanity's greatest challenges.

Friday: Why School? (with Erik Burmeister)

Why school? At a time when the answer to almost any question is literally at our fingertips 24/7, why do we even have schools? Assumptions about the purposes of schooling drive debates about processes and pedagogies abound, but are we even solving the right problem?

Friday: The Underachievement Dilemma

The underachievement of gifted learners is one of the most frustrating issues that teachers encounter. What causes underachievement? How can parents and teachers help develop talents in students who underachieve in school but not in creative outlets outside of school? What interventions work for what types of underachievement? How can we motivate gifted learners to achieve? We will explore all these questions and more in this session.

Thursday: Sustaining a Teaching Practice: Maintaining Inspiration and Balance through Collaboration, Feedback, and Mentorship (with Saraleah Fordyce and Carolee Fucigna)

How do educators keep their work dynamic and thriving? This workshop focuses on methods that support sustainable, inspired teaching practices. Our practical research is in three areas: mentorship that aligns practice with values, collaborative assessment and development for teachers based on peer feedback, and models for faculty exchange. This work engages in "blurring boundaries" between schools, disciplines, and classrooms. We see mentorship, collaboration, and feedback as ways to use the collective experience and diverse expertise of faculty as a source for communal learning and inspiration. In this workshop we will introduce our list of super-values, which we feel promote teacher development. Participants will then be guided to shape strategies for implementation that fit their own practice or institutions. Each of us will scaffold exercises and provide examples from our own institutions, as well as research from other schools.

Friday: Wired to CREATE! How Experience and Environment Matter in Children’s Creative Development

In our increasingly complex world of disruption, innovation, and globalization, creative problem-solving has emerged as a fundamental skill that all children will need to thrive as adults. Fortunately, research demonstrates that creativity is built through experience; particular kinds of childhood activities — especially those that teach creative collaboration, foster a creative mindset, and encourage diversity of thinking strategies — wire our brains for creative problem-solving. In this session, Dr. Rood will explore this research and share practical findings, highlighting what kinds of environments and educational experiences maximize children’s creative potential.

Friday: Changing the Subject

What should students learn in the 21st century? At first glance, this question divides into two: what should students know, and what should they be able to do? But there's more at issue than knowledge and skills. For the innovation economy, dispositions come into play: readiness to collaborate, attention to multiple perspectives, initiative, persistence, and curiosity. While the content of any learning experience is important, the particular content is irrelevant. What really matters is how students react to it, shape it, or apply it. The purpose of learning in this century is not simply to recite inert knowledge, but, rather, to transform it. It is time to change the subject.

Friday: Disappearing Problems

To survive, let alone have a good life, it is necessary to have an ability to deal with problems. Most of the time we think in terms of solving our problems. After all, the world is full of problems that need to be solved. Clearly a central role in education must be to increase student’s problem-solving abilities. One tactic is to give students practice in enough problems so that, like a top chess master, they have memorized enough games to only rarely face an entirely new situation. This is analogous to learning content. Without a basic knowledge of content one appears to be ignorant. Yet content alone does not get you through life successfully.

Along with content we need to have an appropriate set of experiences, mindsets, and abilities. Experiential learning, if carried out with mindfulness, can go a long way to building problem-solving abilities. It turns out that with the right mindsets we can even move to a higher level — we can simply disappear problems. In this talk, mindsets and abilities that are useful in disappearing problems will be discussed, and some simple problem-disappearing rules will be presented.

Thursday: The Subtraction Reversal Mystery: Differentiating Math in Authentic Ways (with Katie Kelly)

Observe the launch of the Subtraction Reversal Mystery, a low-floor, high ceiling, inquiry-based problem that is engaging for students and highly differentiated. The problem highlights the value that Nueva's math program places upon developing mathematical mindsets among our students — we give them active practice and authentic exposure to the importance of trying and failing, learning from failure, and persevering. The problem also provides insight into where students are in terms of computational skills, pattern recognition, and conjecture-making. Finally, the problem reflects an important aspect of our mathematical culture, where we join together as a community of learners who can preserve the mystery and joy of discovery for others who are still making sense of the problem.

Thursday: K–4 Computer Science and Computational Thinking at Nueva (with Jen Selby)

This session will focus on the philosophy and implementation of computer science and computational thinking at Nueva, with a focus on grades K–4. In recent years, Nueva has been expanding our program, with all students gaining exposure and experience with computer science and computational thinking throughout K–12, and we are not alone. A few years ago, the UK took a hard right toward computer science by mandating a national curriculum for all students. Chicago, San Francisco, and New York City all have plans to roll out K–12 computer science programs, and perhaps your school is going in the same direction. We'll share our pedagogy and projects to help elementary teachers and administrators who are interested in learning more about the process of integrating computer science into their curriculum.

Thursday: Pythagorean Possibilities in the Elementary Classroom (with Peter Koehler)

Visual and hands-on math is full of fascinating patterns that can stimulate logical reasoning and can be a bridge to higher math concepts, such as algebraic thinking. This approach is in the spirit of the first ancient Greek philosophers and mathematicians, the Pythagoreans, who around 2,600 years ago used pebbles to arrange numbers into geometrical shapes in their search to find out how and why the universe was formed. They formulated a style of rational thinking from which we still benefit today.

Teachers will work through the introductory levels of low-floor, high-ceiling Pythagorean problems that can they can bring back to their classrooms. Through visual and hands-on math, we bring together the three strands of math: the numerical (arithmetic), the visual (geometry), and the formal symbolic (algebra). All three strands woven together make up a fundamental part of the rich tapestry of math.

Thursday: Keep It Simple and Profound: SEL Practices for Personal Insight and Differing Views (with Janice Toben)

Adolescents are hungry for direct experiential inspiration and insight that draws on the power of their individuality as well as their collective humanity. They wish, as Daniel Pink writes, to be "meaning makers, empathizers, and creators" of their future. Given our already full academic plans, how do we simply, yet effectively, design learning experiences that bridge a compassionate self-understanding with respect for others and differing viewpoints? How do we lead the way for students to process thoughtful responses to the world's news or embrace disagreement while asserting values and opinions? What elements build genuine and caring relationships that resonate in school culture, impact well-being, and catalyze a meaningful future for our students?

In this session we will:

a) provide a brief context for social and emotional learning.
b) engage in a sequence of experiences and pedagogical practices that can be implemented in your academic classrooms (grades 3–12), advisory periods, parenting groups, and faculty meetings.

You will leave with:

a) practices for grades 3 through adult as well as lesson plans with relevant elements for addressing positive communication and deep listening.
b) flexible applications including the challenges of growing up, interfacing with social media, ethical dilemmas, parenting, etc.

Friday: Blurring Disciplinary Boundaries: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst

What is the biology of humans behaving at their most wonderful, most appalling, or in between? One thing that is clear is that you'll never have a good understanding of this if you believe that there turns out to be THE part of the brain, or THE hormone, or THE gene, or childhood experience, or evolutionary mechanism that explains it all. Instead, human behavior requires considering everything from the neurobiology of the actions of brain cells over the course of milliseconds, to selective pressures stretching back millions of years. Using this interdisciplinary approach, this lecture examines the complex biology of humans at our best and worst.

Friday: The Confluence of Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science: Deep Learning in the Brain and Mind

Should attempts to build artificial intelligence try to mirror the workings of the human mind? The answer is not obvious. After all, humans developed the ability to fly not by copying the flapping wings of birds, but by building planes with engines and fixed wings. Yet, remarkably, today's best artificial intelligence systems do in fact draw inspiration from the brain and mind. Artificial deep neural networks, the same algorithms used by nearly all major tech companies to recognize objects in images, convert speech to text, and win complicated games like Go, are also some of our best models of learning in the brain and mind. I will describe recent results at this multidisciplinary intersection, including experimental efforts to reverse-engineer the learning processes at work in the brain, and a theory of how changes in the connection strengths between individual neurons might over time yield the changing conceptual repertoire held by infants as they develop. The confluence of AI and cognitive science could have pedagogical implications as well: just as physics provides a motivating application domain for traditional math curricula, I will suggest that neuroscience and psychology are ripe with captivating scientific applications for computer science curricula.

Thursday: Overview of Nueva Design Thinking Program: Fifth to Twelfth Grades (with Al Davies, Connie Liu, and Scott Swaaley)

Design Thinking at Nueva (now in its 11th year) permeates every aspect of the student experience — from our K–12 DT Curriculum, Quest Program, and Innovation Lab to our work on creative mindsets, social -emotional learning, and international student exchanges. In this presentation, Innovation Lab Director Kim Saxe will highlight recent developments in our program and explain how we are preparing our students for both personal and professional success beyond the classroom. You'll also hear from several experienced Nueva I-Lab teachers and practitioners about how they put these ideas into practice in their respective grades and classrooms. This is a great way to begin your journey through the Design Thinking strand of this conference, and this presentation has relevant content for beginning and advanced teachers of DT, administrators, and even parents!

Friday: Understanding White Racial Socialization: What Every White Child Should Know about Race

Recent displays of overt white supremacy have reminded us that racism is alive and well in the United States. And while most people agree that this explicit racism has no place in a just society, we must also recognize that the implicit forms of white supremacy are more pervasive, go largely unchallenged, and arguably do much more to perpetuate a system of racism. If we are committed to preparing the next generation to be leaders in creating a more racially just society, we need to support our white youth in understanding the role that racial identity and racial ideology play in their lives. This presentation will explore the process of white racial socialization, the myriad ways that a racial ideology of white supremacy is present in everyday life, and ways in which white people can be active allies. Learn how educators and parents can help white youth develop a positive racial identity and acquire skills to actively work against an unjust racial system.

Thursday: Grades 5–12 Computer Science & Computational Thinking at Nueva (with Carl Shan)

Thinking of adding a computer science program at your middle or high school? Tasked with creating one? Have one and looking for more ideas? Then this session is for you. We'll talk about why we think computer science and computational thinking are important and explain the philosophy and approach that we take in our required classes, our elective classes, and in cross-disciplinary projects. You'll see some examples of projects our students have done and how they incorporate design thinking and ethics considerations. And finally we'll leave you with a list of some of our favorite online resources.

Thursday: Advanced Topics in Computer Science: How You Can (and Why You Should) Teach Machine Learning and Computer Security in High School (with Carl Shan)

Machine Learning and Computer Security are typically offered as advanced undergraduate or graduate courses. This makes sense, as they require pulling together knowledge from a variety of areas, both within computer science and without. However, we believe that the core concepts are within reach of high school students. Seeing the context of these applications can motivate learning and increase retention of many of the underlying concepts. In this session, we'll explain what machine learning and computer security are and describe the enduring understandings that we expect our students to attain as well as the many pieces of content they will pick up as side benefits. Whether you are a computer science teacher, an administrator, or just someone who would like to know a bit about some of the hottest topics in computer science, please join us!

Thursday: Lifelong Learning in Computer Science: How to Get Started and Keep Going as a CS Teacher (with Carl Shan)

Technology changes so quickly, it can be hard to keep up with the latest ideas and find your way through the sea of jargon. Whether you are just getting started teaching computer science or you have been writing code for years, the task of following the news can be daunting. First, let us reassure you that the core concepts have hardly changed in decades. Then, join us as we share some of our favorite resources and ways to find exciting ideas that can support our teaching of the most important ideas and show their relevance in current events. Blogs, games, meetups, forums, talks — there is a wealth of information out there for any area of computer science that interests you.

Thursday: K–4 Computer Science and Computational Thinking at Nueva (with Lora Saarnio)

This session will focus on the philosophy and implementation of computer science and computational thinking at Nueva, with a focus on grades K–4. In recent years, Nueva has been expanding our program, with all students gaining exposure and experience with computer science and computational thinking throughout K–12, and we are not alone. A few years ago, the UK took a hard right toward computer science by mandating a national curriculum for all students. Chicago, San Francisco, and New York City all have plans to roll out K–12 computer science programs, and perhaps your school is going in the same direction. We'll share our pedagogy and projects to help elementary teachers and administrators who are interested in learning more about the process of integrating computer science into their curriculum.

Thursday: Grades 5–12 Computer Science & Computational Thinking at Nueva (with Jen Selby)

Thinking of adding a computer science program at your middle or high school? Tasked with creating one? Have one and looking for more ideas? Then this session is for you. We'll talk about why we think computer science and computational thinking are important and explain the philosophy and approach that we take in our required classes, our elective classes, and in cross-disciplinary projects. You'll see some examples of projects our students have done and how they incorporate design thinking and ethics considerations. And finally we'll leave you with a list of some of our favorite online resources.

Thursday: Advanced Topics in Computer Science: How You Can (and Why You Should) Teach Machine Learning and Computer Security in High School (with Jen Selby)

Machine Learning and Computer Security are typically offered as advanced undergraduate or graduate courses. This makes sense, as they require pulling together knowledge from a variety of areas, both within computer science and without. However, we believe that the core concepts are within reach of high school students. Seeing the context of these applications can motivate learning and increase retention of many of the underlying concepts. In this session, we'll explain what machine learning and computer security are and describe the enduring understandings that we expect our students to attain as well as the many pieces of content they will pick up as side benefits. Whether you are a computer science teacher, an administrator, or just someone who would like to know a bit about some of the hottest topics in computer science, please join us!

Thursday: Lifelong Learning in Computer Science: How to Get Started and Keep Going as a CS Teacher (with Jen Selby)

Technology changes so quickly, it can be hard to keep up with the latest ideas and find your way through the sea of jargon. Whether you are just getting started teaching computer science or you have been writing code for years, the task of following the news can be daunting. First, let us reassure you that the core concepts have hardly changed in decades. Then, join us as we share some of our favorite resources and ways to find exciting ideas that can support our teaching of the most important ideas and show their relevance in current events. Blogs, games, meetups, forums, talks — there is a wealth of information out there for any area of computer science that interests you.

Friday: Meet the Director: Clips and Conversation with Filmmaker Marc Smolowitz from The G Word

San Francisco-based independent filmmaker Marc Smolowitz is currently in production on The G Word — a feature-length documentary that aims to be the most comprehensive film to date on giftedness, intelligence, and diverse learners. Smolowitz brings a social equity lens to all of his films, as well as an intense focus on narratives informed by trauma and combating stigma. At the heart of The G Word will be questions of race, gender, class, sexuality, geography, and identity, especially as they relate to education access and overall policy. A key question driving his inquiry is Who gets to be gifted in America — and why? He is capturing stories across a range of settings and topics, including prisons, twice exceptional (2e), brain science, new ideas around what constitutes intelligence in the 21st century, and more. The film will also look at the history of giftedness and gifted media portrayal, never shying away from the darker, more difficult sides of gifted experience across the entire life cycle. Join Smolowitz at ILC for a screening of three clips plus lively discussion and feedback that considers the power of storytelling as it relates to the social and emotional needs of our nation's gifted population. As part of his session, he will be screening a "sneak preview" of a brand new video that profiles the story of Ilan, a 19-year old gender-nonconforming gifted young person from Los Angeles who will be a significant character in the final film. Come get an early look at the filmmaker's process on The G Word, which will be completed in 2019.

Thursday: More Than Diversity: Innovation Culture for Today's Social and Technical Environment

Innovation has no dominant race, gender, age, or culture. Paradoxically, the innovation culture of many tech companies and educational environments has been under increasing criticism for its lack of diversity. In order to make the innovation culture more fruitful and healthy, we need to create spaces where people of differing identities can come together as professionals and innovators — as producers of technology. StreetCode Academy is fostering a high-performing innovation center by perceiving students as producers of technology (irrespective of age, current skill level, gender, culture, etc.) who have the potential to change the world for the better. They are not addressed simply to be "helped" or even trained to learn a few skills — they are there to be developed as professionals. StreetCode is demonstrating what happens when people of varying identities come together to innovate.

Friday: Creating Moments of Impact in Our Classrooms: Educator as Designer

In a world filled with increasing volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, leaders and educators need to find new ways of teaching students how to navigate and solve adaptive challenges. They need to get comfortable with ambiguity and seek insight from a broader range of places. They need to continuously frame and reframe not only their answers but also the questions they pose. In other words, they need to approach education much less like mechanics and more like designers.

Lisa Kay Solomon, innovation advisor, executive educator, and author, will share leadership and engagement insights from her bestselling book, Moments of Impact: How to Design Strategic Conversations That Accelerate Change, and her more recent Design A Better Business: New Tools, Skills and Mindset for Innovation and Strategy. In her dynamic session, Lisa will cover the strategic foundations of design in education and how we can all apply those principles to our classrooms, schools, and education environments. Whether you are an educator, administrator, community influencer, or parent, you will walk away with strategic advice and practical tips on how the practices of design can accelerate positive engagement and impact.

Thursday: How Will We Know When Students Have Learned "It"?

In order to answer this question, teachers need to utilize quality assessment practices. This session will illustrate a simple, effective tool that can be used to improve the validity and reliability of classroom assessments and to ensure an appropriate balance of formative and summative assessments.

Friday: Assessing 21st Century Learning Skills

Character. Collaboration. Communication. Creativity. Critical Thinking. Cultural Competency. These are the kinds of skills that underlie a 21st century education. While many schools implicitly address concepts such as these, few have figured out how to assess them. This session will focus on strategies for explicitly assessing these skills.

Thursday: Actively Learning Mathematics: A Lecture (just kidding)

In this presentation, we consider active, inquiry-based approaches to teaching and learning mathematics. Using specific examples of participatory tasks and "Tactivities" (tactile math activities), we highlight certain themes, ideas, and misconceptions that span mathematics latitudinally and longitudinally. No math skills or training beyond the elementary level will be required. But no refunds will be given for any calculus learned accidentally.

Friday: The Space In Between: Learning Mathematics Contextually

In this presentation, we consider the teaching and learning of mathematics through a contextual approach. This take on mathematics lies somewhere between the pure and the applied — or somewhere else entirely, depending on your geometry. Math toys — sorry, manipulatives — will be made available in the course of the talk, to help you through any (purely hypothetical) rough patches. Some higher-level mathematical ideas (e.g., calculus) will be explored, but prior exposure to such ideas is completely optional (if not actively discouraged).

Friday: Lost in Connection: Rebooting Healthy Boundaries in Our Use of Technology

The exciting opportunities of new digital technologies for communication can feel overwhelming! Tech enables us to transcend boundaries of time and place, yet paradoxically blurs boundaries, leaving us confused and upset. It's so easy to forget that we are operating in a technologically mediated world that has unique neurological, social, and emotional dynamics. Students (and adults) often believe that there is no difference between interacting face to face and using tech, and believe they have set good boundaries, are paying full attention and being fully present — yet new research tells us it is not so. Our powerful devices can distract and confuse us in obscure ways: for example, it seems that merely having a phone on the desktop, face down, can negatively impact learning. How can we use these wonderful devices for learning and prosocial communication and at the same time teach ourselves and our students to establish healthy boundaries?

This workshop will present new research on the positive and negative impact of tech-mediated communication on attention, empathy, learning, and social skills. It will offer suggestions about how to create healthy boundaries with tech use at home and at school.

Thursday: NGSS across the Curriculum

The convergence in California of Common Core English Language Arts and Mathematics, Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), the Blueprint for Environmental Literacy, and the new California History/Social Science Framework provide a unique, historic opportunity to engage students in deep conceptual understanding, academic discourse, evidence-based reasoning, and using science and engineering to solve environmental and social problems.

In this session, educators will participate in a three-dimensional NGSS-style adult learning experience that represents the vision of what classrooms may be like in the NGSS/Common Core era. After the learning experience, participants will have opportunities to discuss both the content and pedagogy of the lesson, and the implications it has for their own instructional practices and the design of NGSS classroom units.

Thursday: Overview of Nueva Design Thinking Program: Fifth to Twelfth Grades (with Al Davies, Connie Liu, and Kim Saxe)

Design Thinking at Nueva (now in its 11th year) permeates every aspect of the student experience — from our K–12 DT Curriculum, Quest Program, and Innovation Lab to our work on creative mindsets, social -emotional learning, and international student exchanges. In this presentation, Innovation Lab Director Kim Saxe will highlight recent developments in our program and explain how we are preparing our students for both personal and professional success beyond the classroom. You'll also hear from several experienced Nueva I-Lab teachers and practitioners about how they put these ideas into practice in their respective grades and classrooms. This is a great way to begin your journey through the Design Thinking strand of this conference, and this presentation has relevant content for beginning and advanced teachers of DT, administrators, and even parents!

Thursday: Design Thinking Process: Seventh-Grade Design Engineering for Social Good (with Al Davies and Students)

An effective Design Thinking curriculum gives students the opportunity to navigate the entire DT process. What does this look like in a classroom? What makes it effective? With need-finding, ideation, prototyping, and iteration each requiring its own share of time, physical resources, and expertise, how do you fit an authentic Design Thinking project into the constraints of an everyday classroom environment? In this panel presentation, you will hear from seventh-grade students about how they worked to meet the needs of a third grader struggling with cancer. You will also hear briefly from their teachers about how this entire project motivated students greatly and helped their parents realize the incredible value of Design Thinking.

Thursday and Friday: Teaching through Problem-Solving: Multi-Day Series of Live Demonstration Lessons (Grades 3–12)

Come see how a thread of mathematical thinking is developed with students by connecting visual models, numerical and algebraic expressions, and justification with intriguing problems. Master teacher Dr. Takahashi will lead a middle school class through a deep dive into important mathematical ideas. The students will come to understand the usefulness of mathematical expressions by solving a series of problems and comparing their solutions with their peers' approaches. Each of the lessons encourages students to communicate their own reasoning to others, and at the same time they learn to infer their peers' ways of thinking. Throughout, students will be expected to justify the reasonableness of their own and others' strategies and mathematical expressions. This fosters their skill at developing viable arguments and critiquing the reasoning of others (CCSS-M MP3,) while the process of writing and interpreting mathematical expressions helps students develop the ability to reason quantitatively and abstractly.

Friday: Teaching through Problem-Solving: A Japanese Approach to Promote Mathematical Practice

Teaching mathematics by telling students facts and procedures may be an easy instructional method for teachers. However, when students are passively listening to teachers, their opportunities to understand mathematical concepts and procedures and to develop mathematical competencies are not maximized. As the Common Core State Standards emphasizes, students need to develop mathematical practice through active involvement in mathematics — by doing mathematical activities and solving problems — rather than just listening to teachers talk. Influenced by US publications on problem-solving, including Polya's How to Solve It (1945) and NCTM's Agenda for Action: Recommendations for School Mathematics of the 1980s (1980), Japanese researchers and teachers have worked collaboratively to develop an approach to promote mathematical thinking and problem-solving: mondai-kaiketsu gakusyuu means "teaching through problem solving" (TTP). This session will use some of the examples from Japanese mathematics textbooks to discuss key features of TTP and how schools can use this approach to promote CCSS-M mathematical practice. (Session attendees will stay after this session and debrief during lunch; a box lunch will be provided.)

Thursday: Explorations of Chaos: Glimpses into an Inquiry-Driven Math Classroom

Our interactive lesson will explore chaotic dynamics in a math circle–type setting. The primary goal is to provide an example of inquiry-driven classroom experiences. The main objective of the lesson is to investigate how bewildering complexity can arise by iterating simple linear functions. Along the way, the students will cultivate mathematical practices and mindsets by formulating questions and refuting and confirming each other's conjectures.

Thursday: Structured Word Inquiry in Middle School: Enhancing Understanding of Any Subject Area through Scientific Word Investigation (with Pete Bowers)

This model lesson in a middle school classroom is co-led by Nueva middle school teacher Karen Tiegel and visiting presenter Pete Bowers, PhD. Observe students investigating the etymology and structure of words drawn from their current studies. See how students develop a deeper understanding of the possible meanings of the vocabulary word they started with, and how that relates to various relatives they discover along the way. This lesson illustrates how teachers at Nueva and around the world use SWI as a way to leverage understanding of core concepts in any subject area, and to facilitate students’ ability to express that understanding orally and in writing.

Thursday: Keep It Simple and Profound: SEL Practices for Personal Insight and Differing Views (with Rush Sabiston Frank)

Adolescents are hungry for direct experiential inspiration and insight that draws on the power of their individuality as well as their collective humanity. They wish, as Daniel Pink writes, to be "meaning makers, empathizers, and creators" of their future. Given our already full academic plans, how do we simply, yet effectively, design learning experiences that bridge a compassionate self-understanding with respect for others and differing viewpoints? How do we lead the way for students to process thoughtful responses to the world's news or embrace disagreement while asserting values and opinions? What elements build genuine and caring relationships that resonate in school culture, impact well-being, and catalyze a meaningful future for our students?

In this session we will:

a) provide a brief context for social and emotional learning.
b) engage in a sequence of experiences and pedagogical practices that can be implemented in your academic classrooms (grades 3–12), advisory periods, parenting groups, and faculty meetings.

You will leave with:

a) practices for grades 3 through adult as well as lesson plans with relevant elements for addressing positive communication and deep listening.
b) flexible applications including the challenges of growing up, interfacing with social media, ethical dilemmas, parenting, etc.

Friday: Learning Engineering: A New Discipline to Bridge Learning Research and Teaching Practice

A growing movement of researchers, educators, and policymakers is recognizing that education is our most important applied science, and that insights from the science of learning can inform decision-making in education practice and policy. However, scientific disciplines that make an impact in the world do so not through their scientists, but through their associated engineering disciplines, whose function is to translate scientific findings into real-world solutions (while also advancing the science). In this talk, I will discuss a growing movement that aims to launch the engineering analog to learning science, as the discipline of "Learning Engineering." This discipline aims to create bidirectional, generative dialogue between researchers and educators to leverage: (1) the principles of science of learning, (2) the processes of human-centered design, and (3) the platforms of technology and social infrastructures, to engineer solutions to the grand challenges in education, whether they be problems of practice or problems of research. In the process, Learning Engineering has the potential to reshape educational practice, learning science, and technology/program development, and thus may fundamentally transform our understanding of how people learn and our implementation of how educators teach.

Friday: Deeper Learning through Portfolio Defense

A growing number of schools around the country are challenging students to assemble evidence of their learning and to defend that portfolio of work before a panel in a kind of academic rite of passage. Portfolio defense can function as a coherent, schoolwide performance assessment system, not only deepening students' understanding of the purpose and progress of their education but also helping teachers focus their curricula and calibrate their assessments. In this session, teacher and consultant Justin Wells shares examples of great portfolio-defense systems, identifies their essential elements, and analyzes their transformative effects on students and the learning communities that serve them.

Thursday: Demand the Impossible! Teaching Hope and Change (with Alegria Barclay)

At a time when many people are feeling anxious and concerned about issues as wide-ranging as climate change, immigration, mass incarceration, and women's rights, it is important that we provide our students with narratives grounded in hope and change. This past year, we did so by offering a high school course on activism. The course examines the idea of activism through both aspirational and historical lenses — we want students to learn how to unfetter their imaginations and envision a world rooted in liberation and justice, while also grounding their visions in a long, continuous history of activism and social change movements. This workshop explores the framework and philosophy of our course while providing concrete strategies on implementation, ways to engage students in expansive questioning, a list of readings, an overview of the movements we studied including our rationale, and more! The workshop is interactive and will engage participants in the process of asking impossible questions and coming up with entirely possible paths forward, while helping educators conceive of ways they could integrate similar curriculum in their own classrooms — whether as a unit, an elective, or as a part of a community service program.

Thursday: Critically Conscious Teaching — Pedagogy through a Social Justice Lens (with Alegria Barclay)

What is social justice? How can the tenets and goals of social justice be applied to the classroom? What makes a school inclusive and equitable? Join us for a lively and engaging workshop that focuses on some of these questions while providing concrete tools for evaluating your teaching practice from a social justice standpoint. We will delve into the notion of "critical consciousness" as it applies to equity and inclusion work and explore how to move towards critical consciousness within one's own life and practice. We'll consider the many facets of teaching — from curriculum to classroom environment to teacher-student relationships — and reevaluate our practice with specific tools that ask us to explore our own identities and biases. The workshop is interactive and we will provide participants with a number of resources and readings to further your engagement with this topic. Additionally, we are committed to creating brave and safe spaces for all to feel included in this conversation; we welcome folks of all races, ethnicities, genders, sexualities, abilities, socioeconomic status, and faiths. This is lifelong work and we look forward to building understanding and dialogue with you all!

Friday: Self-Regulated Learning

It's self-evident that students become increasingly responsible for their own learning as they move through grades. Whether kindergartners learn or not is deemed the credit (or failure) of the teacher. But by grade 12, expectations are high that students can learn on their own; it's routine to lecture, expecting students to take good notes and study them effectively for a quiz. Recent research has shown that students — even successful college students — use terrible note-taking and study strategies. They are successful in spite of how they study, not because of it. In this talk I'll focus on research into the best ways to take notes and study. This research not only has important implications for students, but for how teachers convey content.

Friday: Preparing Students to Save the World: 4Cs Whole-School Sustainability Model

This generation of students is increasingly told that they will need to solve climate change and all the other daunting environmental sustainability and social justice problems that plague our future. Yet, few schools have an effective strategy for preparing students to deal with these complex, multifaceted, wicked problems. Come be inspired to transition your classroom and school to take a whole-school sustainability approach that will equip students with the tools, resources, and life experiences to create an environmentally sustainable, socially just, and economically viable world. The session will identify the principles and strategies needed for building pathways to bring sustainability into all facets of an institution: Campus and operations, Curriculum and instruction, Community programs and partnerships, and overall Culture.

Thursday: Critical Thinking Through Writing: New Approaches in an Eleventh-Grade English Curriculum (with Allen Frost)

In this session, we will discuss a variety of innovative strategies that teachers across the disciplines can use to help students develop critical thinking faculties through writing. Drawing from our eleventh grade American literature course at Nueva, we will present a series of writing assessments — from traditional essays to creative, interview-based pastiches — that allow for student choice and buy-in. We'll take you through the writing process, focusing on crafting precise language in assignments instructions, helping students select an appropriate level of challenge in their topic and approach, using the peer-review process effectively, and providing targeted feedback. Throughout, we'll emphasize writing as a vigorous, exciting way for students to deepen their thinking and engagement, NOT just as the default, dreaded task at the end of a unit of study. In the second half of the session, we will ask session participants to design their own new writing tasks, either by developing an existing assessment from their curriculum or by adapting one of the tasks we present. We invite teachers from the STEM fields as well as the humanities; we believe that we all have much to learn from how our colleagues from different disciplines approach writing!

Thursday: Paving the Path to Interdisciplinary Learning (with Cynthia Kosut, Tom McFadden, and Jennifer Perry)

At Nueva we break through boundaries by practicing interdisciplinary thinking with our students to tackle big questions regarding cultural identity and food security. We have employed concerns about agriculture and food to grapple with authentic questions of globalization in curricula across disciplines, and you are encouraged to bring your own areas of interest. Work with the eighth grade teaching team (biology, writing, and humanities) to practice achieving core discipline-learning goals and skills, while sharing essential questions, field trips, guest speakers, projects, and class time. We will explicitly share activities and experiences that range from accessible and easy (having students "map their refrigerators") to more resource- and time-intensive (field trips to bakeries, local farms, or UC Davis to talk to wheat geneticists) and writing and reading assignments designed to deepen thinking. We also welcome your stories of the joys of and obstacles to interdisciplinary collaboration. Join us in interdisciplinary teams to develop novel approaches to some of humanity's greatest challenges.

Friday: Choosing Empathy

Empathy — people's ability to share and understand others' emotions — supports moral and prosocial behaviors, but often fails when we need it most — for example, when people encounter members of other groups. In this talk, I will argue that people exert surprising amounts of control over their empathic experiences, and can use that control to empathize in broader and healthier ways. I will discuss work in my lab that uses techniques from social psychology to encourage empathy in difficult circumstances, and new applications of this work to educational settings.

Thursday: Visual Art and Fabrication in the I-lab (with Courtney Johnson)

This session introduces attendees to the goals, structure, and assignments in an Art and Fabrication 1 class. It is an opportunity to interact with students and discuss their individual projects. This course is designed to encourage students who have little experience in the I-lab to become familiar with the tools and materials it offers while also providing a new approach for students familiar with the I-lab to push their technical skill in new directions. This component is maximized with the facilitation of both an artist and an engineer. Students in this course work in a variety of media to create projects that demonstrate understanding and consideration of craftsmanship and the elements and principles of visual art. Students gain firsthand knowledge and experience with construction by using a variety of hand tools, power tools, and materials, such as the hand drill, chop saw, band saw, belt and orbital sander, wire, foam, wood, and sheet metal. Students create work that is representational, abstract, and inspired by historically and contemporary significant artists and art movements. Throughout their process, creative problem-solving and intentional decision-making will play a significant role in their ability to express visual ideas.