The conference programme was themed for teachers under two key competencies - Managing Self and Relating to Others. The conference perked up everyones early morning moods with the first presentation from Rhythm Interactive - "Action Speaks Louder Than Words". Before too long everyone was involved in creating music by using an African styled hand drum and believe it or not all those educators did it without speaking and via non verbal instruction.
The Keynote Speakers included...
Francoys Gagne
The DGMT (Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent) theory of talent development was delivered to us highlighting the clear distinction between outstanding potentialities (the gifts) and outstanding achievements (the talents).
Allie Mooney
In an exciting delivery we heard about the four different personalities there are in life Playful, Peaceful, Precise and Powerful. It was certainly entertaining and thought provoking.
Wilson McCaskill
Brought to us key messages about play and how we empower children to manage their emotions. His beliefs of how the power of games acts as a universal language for the development of positive social behaviour was incredibly passionate.
Graham Watts
Shared many practical tools in his workshop presentations that can be easily transferred into classroom programmes e.g. 10 tools to combine literacy and thinking. His keynote messages encouraged us as educators to look critically at what we are teaching and why we are teaching. Are we heading in the right direction for the 21st century learner and how will it look for our learners in the next 100 years?
Jeni Wilson
Asked us to take a step back and ask ourselves... What does it look like at our school from a students point of view? How passionate are we about what we teach? Have we personalised learning to meet the needs of our students? We were given grand examples of learning spaces and "Big Picture Learning". Within her workshops there were clear guidelines to use Thinking Strategies uphold the value of belief in ones self. Creating action plans using personal learning goals and reflections to meet the students needs which applies personalised learning for students.
James Nottingham
Delivered a powerful message about the methods of feedback. He explained how praise feedback was ineffective to the next steps of a students learning and how process feedback was essential.
I have added slides that James has shared as I am inspired to learn more.
It was a tremendous conference and I a grateful for the chance to have attended this marvelous form of Professional Development in Southland.
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