Keynote speeches and Workshops

SESSION A – Keynote Speeches
«Beyond Wit and Grit», Howard Earl Gardner (video – conference)

What makes people successful? The common-sense answer is “wit” (how smart you are) and “grit” (how hard you work). But the story is not so simple, says Dr. Howard Gardner. First, research on human cognition makes it clear that we have not one but many intelligences and ways of being “smart,” and so our concept of wit needs to be pluralized – “wits.” Second, while successful people do work hard in order to persevere, hard work can also be put to evil purposes; for example, Hitler’s army had plenty of grit. Therefore, we need to qualify grit as “good grit” that is marshaled toward positive ends for others and for society. In this presentation, Gardner describes an education framework that makes positive use of our wits and our good grit, and provides concrete suggestions about how to move toward a society that is both wise and caring.

«The Deliberately Developmental Organization» , Robert Kegan, 

In most organizations nearly everyone is doing a second job no one is paying them for—namely, covering their weaknesses, trying to look their best, and managing other people’s impressions of them. There may be no greater continuous waste of a company’s most precious resource—the time and attention of its people. The ultimate cost?: Neither the organization nor its people are able to realize their full potential.

What if an organization did everything in its power to create a culture in which everyone—not just select “high potentials”—could overcome their own internal barriers to change, using errors and vulnerabilities as prime opportunities for personal and company growth?

Harvard psychologist Robert Kegan is widely recognized as one of the world’s leading authorities on adult development. He and his colleagues searched for such companies, studied them for years, and, more recently, began helping organizations within and beyond the US to start their own journeys toward remaking their cultures into 21st century incubators for unleashing human and organizational potential.

«Approaches To Learning», Eric Lauzon 

Transforming classrooms and schools for 21st-century learners and preparing our children to live in a world of Accelerating Change.

Description:

We are going through a unique period of time with the rate of change increasing exponentially. The technological change will become so rapid and profound that the computer scientist and inventor Ray Kurzweil predicts that it will represent a rupture in the fabric of human history. This brings an emerging trend of a revolution in education to follow this rate of change and the Industry 4.0.

Many children will be working in jobs that don’t even exist today with technologies that haven’t been invented yet. Many scientists believe that in the near future, children will be able to connect their brain directly to the internet. What will be the impact on education of such changes? How can school prepare the children to become lifelong learners?

«The Changing Role of Teachers in the 21st Century», Katherine K. Merseth

For the keynote Professor Merseth will discuss the role of teachers and how the role needs to evolve to address the increasing demands of the 21st century society. She will explore the power of teachers and how, despite many institutional and organizational barriers, they fail to take advantage of this power to transform lives. She will also address changes in society that demand a change in the role of teachers, and how to assign teachers to students, content and time.

SESSION B – Workshops
 «Overcoming the Immunity to Change» –Robert Kegan

In this workshop, Kegan will give us a full tour of these pioneering organizations, their unusual practices, and shared principles. We will have the chance to hear from those who work in a DDO, sample an assessment instrument that helps us see how growth-oriented our own work setting may be, and even to try on a few “growth culture” practices for ourselves! Come expecting to be both challenged and inspired!

«How ATL skills can be practically implemented in the classroom» ( Eric Lauzon)

Topic 1. Introduction

– What are 21st Century skills?

– What is the evidence of the need for these skills in the present student population?

– What is the overall aim, rational and structure of a 21st C skills programme?

Topic 2. Self-Regulation

– What are the skills of the autonomous, self-managed learners?

– How can teachers help students to take responsibility for their own learning and develop into self-regulated learners?

– How do you teach a skill?

– What are the levels of proficiency of skill acquisition?

– How do you assess a skill?

Topic 3. Designing and Teaching Core Generic 21st C Skills – Affective Skills

– What are the Core Generic Affective skills?

– How do you teach them?

– What are strategies for teaching Affective Core Generic 21st C skills?

Topic 4. Teaching Resilience, Courage and Failing Well

– What is the significance of failure and a student’s reaction to it?

– How can students (and teachers) learn how to fail well?

– How can students learn to be more resilient?

– How can a school develop a resilience focused culture?

Developing Rigor in Mathematics through a Focus on the Instructional Core”, Katherine K. Merseth

The workshop will explore activities and exercises for teachers to use to expand the level of rigor in mathematics classrooms. What does it mean to have a rigorous classroom or for teachers to design rigorous tasks for students to complete? The workshop will be interactive and will engage participants in developing an understanding of rigor and how (and when) to achieve more rigorous activities in teaching. The workshop will be most appropriate for mathematics teachers of elementary and middle school children.

The conference features keynote speeches, closed seminars and training workshops. The working language of this conference is English but simultaneous translation in Greek will be provided at plenary sessions.

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