Graduating teacher candidates in the Stanford Teacher Education Program (STEP) present on guiding principles or habits of mind that teacher leaders and teacher scholars engage in throughout their careers.
9:15-10:30am Sessions
Let it Grow: Tools and strategies for helping students develop growth mindsets
Presenters: Mary Clare Bernal, Dana Pede, Adrienne Pinsoneault, Adejah Taylor, Christy Van Beek
Location: CERAS 101
“I’m not a math person.” “I just hate reading.” “I can’t do science.” Why do some students doubt themselves to the point of giving up before they’ve even started? What, as educators, parents, or friends can we do to better support them? Join us as we explore a phenomenon present in every classroom but acknowledged in few: the impact of students’ mindsets on their learning. Students’ success is correlated with the degree to which they have a growth mindset, meaning that they believe their abilities are not fixed, but that they can grow and develop. We will investigate specific tools and strategies for helping students see their intelligence as malleable when reflecting on their own learning processes.
Windows and Mirrors: Celebrating Diverse Identities and Experiences in the Elementary Classroom through Children’s Literature
Presenters: Jess Clark, Taryn Gardner, Lauren Leinweber, Allison Matamoros, Kelly Rambarran
Location: CERAS 204
As children develop their identities in school, they are exposed to images and words that both support and challenge their sense of self and place in the world. Depending on the students’ relationship to the majority culture, this media often either alienates the student due to its depiction of a norm that they don’t fulfill, or maintains the misconception that their own commonly represented experience is lived by all. As educators dedicated to social justice, we have the responsibility to teach media that validates students’ own experiences and depicts difference in a responsible and respectful way. In this presentation we will explore the classroom experiences of our students informed by the recently growing public conversation about the lack of diverse children’s literature.
When Will I ever Need to Know…?
Presenters: Luis Fernandez, Ramona Tumber, Oliver Yeh
Location: CERAS 300
We have created a website in order to shine a light on the interconnectedness of education and to suggest, as well as solicit, ideas on how multidisciplinary approaches of the different subject areas build and foster alternative career pathways beyond conventional ones. Leaders from different communities will share how they tapped into subject areas that, at first glance, seemed tangential or unrelated to their careers, but were key to their goal achievement. We will also gather information from “ordinary” folks who are able to leverage the knowledge and training they had acquired from school for their self-improvement. We hope that this information will empower educators and persuade students that it is through cross-pollination of seemingly unrelated ideas from different content areas that engenders original and fresh ideas and nurtures productive alternative careers.
The Self-Aware Writer: Composing Reflectively
Presenters: Jasmine Mark, Sierra Patheal, Anna Webster-Stratton, Ariadne Yulo
Location: CERAS 302
We write to think, but how often do we think to write? Come explore your own metacognitive approaches to writing as we playtest strategies for encouraging reflection on—and appreciation for—the idiosyncrasies of the writing process. Informed by the development of our own writerly identities, we will delve into productive thinking strategies for writing, learning to love the writers we are and the writers we want to become.
Teaching in the Face of Stress
Presenters: Jeff Dong, Laura Luttrell, Anna Roberds
Location: CERAS 513
As teachers we will be mentors, educators and advocates for hundreds of students each year, many of whom face stress on a regular basis. Schools and classrooms cause some of this stress through the pressure of grades and test scores and/or the social pressures that students feel in the school environment. Other stress can be “brought in” to the classroom from students’ personal lives and some students also experience traumatic events that could endure over a long period of time. Stress undoubtedly affects students’ ability to learn and function in school to their fullest potential and it is important that educators develop a deeper understanding of how to best support students in their growth and success while acknowledging the stress that exists. There are some cases where educators can take action to decrease negative stress and in other cases we do not have control over the cause of the stress. Through student feedback and research our group was able to get a better sense of how different types of stress impact students’ lives/needs and what we teachers can do to alleviate these roadblocks to learning.
Past and Present: Competing Narratives in the Quest for Historical Truth
Presenters: Jen Barrer-Gall, Danny Kambur, Amanda Klein, Elizabeth Marsden, Steven Roy
Location: CERAS 527
This presentation will focus on the different narratives of historical and current events. How are events documented and for what purpose? Too often, students are limited to a textbook narrative of history, instead of given multiple perspectives. Events are never black and white, but how do we find historical truth when given multiple sides to the same story? We will explore the varied strategies historians use to craft substantiated claims about what “really” happened. Additionally, we will explore how these strategies and methods of inquiry differ in various social science classrooms.
10:45am-12:00pam Sessions
Making every word count: The power of teacher talk in shaping student identity
Presenters: Aubrea Felch, Kalin Hove, Kate McDaniel Keith, Christine Moon, Matt Sheelen, Andrew Wyndham
Location: CERAS 204
Research on growth mindset and student identity have revealed that how teachers talk to students can have long lasting effects on student identity and performance. The words we use in the classroom-- negative or positive, neutral or evaluative-- can have an enormous effect on how students view themselves, and how they view learning. With these kinds of stakes, how can teachers ensure that their words are setting up students for success? In this session, we review the best practices for teacher talk and attempt to plot an honest, pragmatic course forward.
Empowering Students In and Outside of the Classroom
Presenters: Bianca Aguirre, Jacob Erisman, Olga Fostiy, Brittany Martino, Caroline Stirn, Cecilia Walsh
Location: CERAS 300
Yes, school is for teaching English, History, Math, Science, Foreign Languages, and the Arts, but what about teaching students how to navigate life? Being successful in school not only requires writing an effective thesis statement, but also requires life skills such as self-advocacy and resiliency. These skills not only help students buy into the curriculum, it also helps them combat issues from disengagement in classes to rising suicide rates. We believe that embedding life skills in our everyday curriculum and having students practice these skills through the work they do is essential to empowering students to succeed in school and in life. In this session, you will have the opportunity to engage in interactive stations to learn how to practically integrate self-advocacy, resiliency, and crow skills into humanities curriculum. Our hope is that you will learn strategies to use in your own lives and classrooms, as a friend, mentor, parent, or teacher.
Misunderstanding by Design: Structures and Strategies for Reteaching
Presenters: Grace Chiarella, Jessica Goldkind, Mackenzie Peterson, Christina Taylor, Tiffany Yuan
Location: CERAS 302
Students do not master concepts at the same pace, yet the curriculum often assumes uniform understanding as it proceeds with a new concept every lesson. Our group explored how to proactively plan at the unit level for what to do when students leave a lesson with different understandings. We compiled strategies and classroom structures for reteaching to meet the needs of students with these diverse conceptual understandings. Presenters will share how we redesigned a math unit plan to embed reteaching; participants will have the opportunity to do the same.
Weaving in Wellness
Presenters: Taryn Elliott, Shannon Hoopes, Allison Houghton, Cameron Kolk, Kira Maker, Jovel Queirolo
Location: CERAS 308
In a world of standardized testing, peer pressure, and rigid academic standards, how are our students learning to live with meaning and purpose? As teachers, family members, and friends, what is our role in this conversation?
This session will explore where and how to infuse wellness, leadership, and life skills into the classroom regardless of content area. Because students’ learning can and should expand far beyond academics, we hope to collectively answer the question: What is wellness and how can it be incorporated in the classroom to support students in dealing with all of the LIFE that happens outside of academic standards?
Let’s Go to the Tape: Using Video in the Classroom
Presenters: Jonathan Tomczak & Jing Xi
Location: CERAS 513
All video is educational. The question is: What is it teaching? Every day in classrooms the lights are turned off and the students watch any number of documentaries, movies, TV shows and news clips. Regardless of subject videos are a powerful way to deliver information, put content in context, and allow students to express their natural creativity. But are students getting the message, or are videos just acting as substitute teachers? In this presentation we explore the best strategies and practices for using videos—how to make sure the lessons onscreen are the ones that students walk away with at the end of the period.
1:00-2:15pm Sessions
Beyond the Four Walls: Engaging Students through their Environmental and
Social Communities
Presenters: Julia Hermann, Kyle Hillebrecht, Denise Kleckner, Izzy Pereira, Ana Sanchez Balsells
Location: CERAS 204
We will explore ways to make curriculum relevant, meaningful, and impactful by bridging the classroom to the community. In breaking down the four walls of the classroom, students are more likely to be engaged since learning begins by validating the intrinsic value of their life experiences and ideas. The products of our work in the classroom should have a direct impact on the students’ community and will thereby empower students to become agents of change in their environmental and social communities. We will highlight two case studies that demonstrate effective avenues for achieving these outcomes with our students. We hope that educators and community members alike come away with the tools and inspiration needed to engage K-8 public school students with their surrounding communities.
Gamification and Simulation: Two approaches to establishing and sustaining student engagement
Presenters: Daniel Brown, Peter Fabian, Sean McDonald
Location: CERAS 300
Come explore two fun approaches to learning: gamification and simulation. This session will engage participants in concrete strategies while reflecting on their most appropriate uses for learning and maintaining student engagement. While the focus is on the world language classroom and language production, these techniques can be easily utilized in other fields of instruction as well. Attendees will experience both ludic activities and “real life” simulations and will collectively reflect on how they can inspire confidence and excitement as students develop communicative competence. These activities include games, sports, object-based simulations, and role-playing “authentic” situations.
“Can’t we just watch the movie?”: Strategies for Making Reading Engaging in the Classroom Presenters: Megan Bridge, Tony Escandón, Kelleen Loo, Melissa Yam
Location: CERAS 302
Over the course of a regular school day, students spend a large portion of time reading and interacting with a variety of texts. However, classroom reading runs the risk of becoming monotonous and may result in students disengaging during learning segments. In the worst-case scenario, students may actually come to dislike reading in general, limiting the exposure, skills, and knowledge they could gain through text. We will explore different methods to engage students while they read in the classroom. We plan on unpacking a number of different actionable strategies that can be used during the reading process including drama, art, and different forms of educational technology to pique student interest. Through the use of these engaging strategies, we hope to avoid the question teachers dread from students: “Can’t we just watch the movie?”
You don’t know, now you know—using misconceptions to build understanding
Presenters: Sam Howles-Banerji, Michael Lupoli, Andrew Masley
Location: CERAS 308
Everyone comes into a science classroom with different ideas about how the world works, but many of them are based on deeply ingrained misconceptions. To connect science learning to the real world, science teachers encourage students to construct new explanations through authentic exploration and productive argument. Come do experiments with us to debunk your misconceptions!
Breaking Borders: How educators can support and empower Undocumented students through spreading awareness and educating the community
Presenter: Jan Quijada
Location: CERAS 513
It is estimated that there are 1.5 million undocumented young immigrants under the age of 30 who arrived in the United States as children. Commonly referred to as DREAMers, these students enter into our public education system where they usually face a sense of isolation, discrimination and uncertainty as they struggle to find their sense of ‘American’ identity and navigate a system that is not set up for their success. In this session, we will discuss how we, as educators, can spread awareness on the issue and create a community of trust and support for DREAMers and their families.
2:30-3:45pm Sessions
School-to-Prison Pipeline
Presenters: Nelly Alcantar, Alma Nunez, Leah Thomas, Abe Shklar, Stephanie Ullman, Helen Weldeghiorgis
Location: CERAS 204
Every year students from historically marginalized communities are funneled from schools to prisons all over the U.S. Known as the “School-to-Prison Pipeline” this oppressive process is systemically produced but largely ignored by the system in which it exists…leaving effected youth invisible. The “School-to-Prison Pipeline” is rooted in many different but interconnected spheres of society, though education is inarguably central to its existence and educators play instrumental roles in the preservation and/or destruction of this process. Our group would like to explore the pivotal role of educators and others in relation to this challenge and our workshop will present research on the root causes, diverse impacts, and potential “solutions” for the School-to-Prison Pipeline. We hope to shine a light on the invisible youth affected by it, bringing hope to ourselves and those we serve.
Bringing Identities and Community into the Classroom
Presenters: Larry Bạch, Linzy Bingcang, Ernesto Hernandez, Destinee Johnson, Nancy Ku
Location: CERAS 300
How can teachers bring their own identities and their students’ identities into the classroom? How can teachers incorporate these identities in building a classroom community? Through video interviews we explore how several educators have been successful in highlighting identity and community. Learn about the activities they use in their classrooms, and experience them for yourself in our workshop
Whose History is it Anyway? Discussion of Ethnic Studies
Presenters: Katie Low, Kyle Medeiros, Annie Tickell, Di Zhao
Location: CERAS 308
Ethnic Studies is grounded upon the notion of identity formation. This formation is often created through individual or group interactions with structural forces, while the structural continue to further shape our identities. We encounter this cycle of identity formation on a daily basis and it has become so deeply embedded in our society that it often turns into a smog or critical lens through which we see the world, causing us to overlook its significance. Due to its increasing importance in our highly globalized yet racialized world, Ethnic Studies is being rolled out by both SFUSD and OUSD in the coming academic year. Join us to discuss what Ethnic Studies is. What should the Ethnic Studies curriculum look like? Why is it important to teach Ethnic Studies?
