Managing Anxiety, Stress, and Parenting Under COVID-19

with Lisa Damour, Psychologist & Author
 

Dr. Lisa Damour explains the psychological science key to understanding how stress and anxiety operate, under everyday conditions and at times of heightened concern and disruption. Join us to learn more about: how to keep pressure and tension from reaching toxic levels; how to parent effectively in the current circumstances; and the most reliable strategies for managing ongoing stress.

Parenting in a Pandemic

with Michael G. Thompson,  Psychologist, Author & School Consultant
 

The Covid-19 pandemic has hit families. For almost a year, families have been forced to think about death and safety and the need to talk to their children about these realities.  They are dealing with the loss of regular school, remote learning from home all the while facing threats to their employment and the loss of social supports. Many parents are worried that their children will emerge traumatized from this long disruption. In this webinar, Michael Thompson will address the issues and fears affecting all families and will offer psychologically sound suggestions for steadying their children and themselves in this difficult time.

Speaking to Your Children About Race

with Y. Joy Harris-Smith, Phd, Educator & Author

Parents of children in independent schools share the same commitment to speaking with their children about race, but may also share the same fear that they do not know where to start or how to do this well.  Please join other parents as we hear from Dr. Y. Joy Harris-Smith, a senior lecturer at the Princeton Theological Seminar, who will  help parents to understand: Generation Z-Who are they? verbal, nonverbal and CQ communication, our differences and similarities and why they matter, and an overview of her book: The ABC’s of Diversity, understanding the framework and why the book was written.  Dr.  Harris-Smith will share important suggestions, tips and resources for parents and will provide opportunity for some questions.  We hope you can join this community of caring and committed parents who seek to effectively engage their children in the essential conversations about race. This session is for parents of children of all ages.

The Importance of Executive Function: Helping Them Show What They Know

with Steven Guy, Psychologist & William Benninger, Psychologist 

Parents and teachers are all struggling with ways to support learning and maintain productivity while learning from home. This live and interactive session will focus on understanding the executive/regulatory system, and more importantly, ways to enhance executive functioning to ensure kids learn at their potential while learning from home.

Audience: Faculty & Administrators, Grades 2-12

Let’s travel the world together in this active and engaging session using Google Earth, Google Maps, and Google's Arts & Culture. There are a multitude of ways to integrate geo tools into almost every discipline, and we will explore many during this session. Cultural understanding and global competencies are extremely important in our interconnected world. Join this fun and very valuable session to see how you can engage your students and make global connections to their everyday lives, world events, and curricular lessons using these awesome tools.

Audience: Faculty & Administrators, K-12

Immersing students in augmented and virtual learning experiences motivates, engages, and creates opportunities for deep understanding. In this webinar, we will explore resources that are available to use with students as well as how to create these types of experiences for your students. After this session, you will be ready to immerse your students in augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) educational experiences.

Audience: Faculty & Administrators, Grades 2-12

Technology provides multiple ways to differentiate and personalize learning for all students in our classroom. This webinar will explore tips, tricks, and tools that you can implement right away with your students. We will delve into using branching and response feedback in Google Forms, Newsela, Choice Boards, and more. After this webinar, you will be ready to implement these tools and strategies with students in your classroom!

Audience: Faculty & Administrators, Grades 1-12

Project–Based Learning (PBL) and Challenge Based Learning (CBL) engage students in authentic and relevant learning opportunities while connecting them to real–world issues. Students implement projects they help design, then collaboratively and actively work to find solutions to the problem. They then demonstrate their understanding of the concept and knowledge obtained by creating a product or sharing their solution through a presentation or digital artifact. Through this process, students develop the skills of writing essential questions, design thinking, critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication. This webinar will present the foundational approach to using PBL or CBL with your students. Additionally, examples and resources will be shared so you can implement your own PBL/CBL project, providing the opportunity for deeper learning, increased student agency, and engagement with your students as they learn that they can make a difference.

Audience: Faculty & Administrators, Grades 2-12

Promoting student agency with learners maximizes engagement and motivation. Digital Escape or Breakout Rooms promote opportunities for deeper learning, collaboration, communication, critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, and fun! The process of solving the inherent challenges is as important as the actual solution during these activities. In this webinar, experience an Escape Room activity, then explore resources and tips for setting up your own digital (or physical) escape room with your students.

Audience: Faculty & Administrators, K-12

While traditional assessment methods continue to be a part of the education landscape, there are multiple ways we can assess student learning, providing ongoing feedback and opportunities for student agency, choice, and authenticity—making learning more relevant. By including a variety of opportunities for students to “show what they know,” we tap into their strengths and their interests. With a combination of multiple assessment strategies, students can better demonstrate their understanding, increasing opportunities for increased student engagement and learning outcomes. Tools we will explore are Google Slides, Jamboard, Padlet, videos, and more. Join this webinar to explore creative ways for students to demonstrate understanding and “show what they know.”

Audience: Faculty & Administrators, Grades 2-12

Let’s spice up Google slides presentations by making them interactive with Pear Deck. This is a great tool that can be used for bell ringers, exit tickets, checks for understanding, and social-emotional learning. There is even a library of Pear Deck slides to supplement digital citizenship lessons. We also will learn how to make videos interactive with EdPuzzle, whether they are your own videos or those found on YouTube, Khan Academy, National Geographic, or other sources. Leave ready to engage students in your existing slide presentations or new ones you create as well as videos you use for instruction. (Note that there are advanced features that are not part of the free versions of these programs, but they are both very powerful tools to use with the basic, free features.)

Audience: Faculty & Administrators, K-12

Flipgrid is an amazing (and totally free) tool that provides creative opportunities for formative assessment, student reflection, demonstrating understanding, social-emotional check-ins, and so much more! With Flipgrid, students (and teachers) create quick videos that engage them with using the same type of tool they use in their personal lives. Come have fun with us and see the power of Flipgrid, including its Augmented Reality feature. You will leave with all you need to start your first Flipgrid activity with your students!

Audience: Faculty & Administrators, Grades 2-12

How do you engage students in active learning activities that are meaningful and creative, allowing for student agency and individualized learning opportunities? In this webinar, we will explore some of the most innovative tools for improving instruction and learning outcomes. Hyperdocs (also referred to as Choiceboards and Learning Menus) can provide flexible student choice in learning paths and how they demonstrate understanding. And, as an extra, we also will explore other creative and innovative ideas and tools and apps, including Adobe Spark. Leave with a wealth of ideas to implement with your students.

Audience: Faculty & Administrator, PK-2^nd grade

Join this session to get ideas for interactive and engaging activities for young learners using Seesaw and Google for Education. We will explore Seesaw activities to engage young students in active learning, then lesson ideas using G Suite with the “littles” will be shared. We also will explore some activities from the “Everyone Can Create” book for Early Learners. Finally, we’ll take a peek at some of the tried and true apps for active learning with young students. Come ready to share your best ideas as we spend time together exploring best practices and creative lesson ideas. Leave with a wealth of new ideas you can implement right away with your students!

Audience: Faculty & Administrators, Grades 2-12

Do your students have Chromebooks and you want to know more about how to support them on this device? This webinar is an exploration of Chromebooks with tips, tricks, shortcuts, apps, extensions, photo editing, and the basics of using Chromebooks and the Chrome OS. It’s a great overview for educators as well as one you can turn around and use with your students.