“MCL’s Learning Opportunities” (Keynote) Bea McGarvey, Author & Consultant, MCL National Alliance The MCL Vision is transformative. It is not about buffing and shining the Industrial Age Structures. This vision requires us to think differently; to ask different questions; to create different structures. In this Keynote, Bea will compare MCL and Industrial Age, assembly-line schools, highlighting one of the different customizing structures: MCL’s Learning Opportunities. Click here for materials
Wednesday, August 8th 12:30 – 1:30
“Community is Calling! Now What Do You Do!” Rebecca Miller & Kyle Rhoads, Ed.D Participants will gain ideas and communication strategies to engage the greater school community to understand and support the mission/vision of customizing learning for all. (Skilled Leadership, Transformational Technology) Room 208 Click here for materials
“The “WHY” Factor” Patricia Metta How do you explain to stakeholders the “WHY” behind your passion and commitment to transforming your learning community? When the MCL Vision “runs through your veins” how are you communicating with all your stakeholders about why it is important to change practices and structures like grading and how you group learners? Join us for a discussion about the different communication strategies leaders are using to build capacity and ownership. (Skilled Leadership, Shifting the Mindset) Room 209 Click here for materials
“PD Through EduPlanet21 Learning Paths” Bea McGarvey Bea will preview her first learning path, “Shifting the Mindset” which is ready for purchase. These asynchronized learning opportunities represent the future of professional learning. They will provide flexibility and choice within your professional development plan. Join Bea to learn about the design of these learning paths and what they include. (Shifting the Mindset, Customizing Structures) Room 227 Click here for materials
“Designing Learning Pathways” Shelly Mogul & Stephanie Marris Curricular learning targets and learning progressions are the basis for planning in a customized, proficiency-based classroom. Classroom teachers can easily feel overwhelmed by the process of planning for instruction and assessment of these targets. In this session explore strategies and approaches to organizing and sequencing learning targets in a way that works for teachers and learners in any content area and at any grade level. There may even be a chance to practice the process for yourself!! (Viable Learning Outcomes, Motivating Learning Opportunities) Room 228 Click here for materials
“MCCL Resources & Professional Development” Deb Taylor Participants will leave this session with an understanding of the variety of digital resources and professional development opportunities available to MCCL members. They will review how to access resources on the website, Basecamp, and Eduplanet21. We will provide some time for exploration of resources, brainstorm ways to leverage these resources with staff at your school or district, and review how to contribute resources to the online community. Please bring a laptop if possible. (Skilled Leadership, Shifting the Mindset) Room 229 Click here for materials
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Wednesday, August 8th 1:45 – 2:45
“Flexible Grouping: A Path to Learner Engagement and Agency” Rebecca Masse & Meghan Rowe In this session, participants will hear about how we have used flexible grouping in grades 3 & 4 at Park Avenue Elementary School in Auburn, Maine. Teachers will describe how they use data and learner voice and choice to group and regroup learners to best meet all needs. Teachers will also talk about the importance of informing families and the benefits of doing so. (Shifting the Mindset, Quality Instruction, Motivating Learning Opportunities, Varied Evidence of Learning, Customizing Structures) Room 208 Click here for materials
“Putting It All Together: Integrating the Three Circles in Thematic Units” Nicole Hewes Content Knowledge, Habits of Mind, and Complex Reasoning are all essential components of meaningful learning experiences — but how do we put them all together? In this session, participants will view examples of elementary-level, thematic units that make connections across different content areas and combine these elements. Participants will have the opportunity to begin generating their own ideas for teaching thematically with the three circles. (Quality Instruction, Motivating Learning Opportunities, Varied Evidence of Learning) Room 209 Slides Handout
“Igniting Learner Passions with Self Directed Projects” Elizabeth Firnkes, Crystal Priest & Kirby Reardon This team of learning facilitators will demonstrate how learners developed their own STEAM projects using the Maine 3 Circle Model of Instruction and career action plans. The presentation will include videos of learners presenting their projects and how resources were leveraged to make these projects possible. (Viable Learning Outcomes, Quality Instruction, Motivating Learning Opportunities, Varied Evidence of Learning, Customizing Structures) Room 227 Click here for materials
“The Impact of Effective Feedback on Student Learning” Holly Leighton The benefits of feedback go far beyond the impact on immediate learning. Effective feedback can be thought of as feedback that encourages students to think and act like learners and results in deeper learning. Feedback done well or poorly shapes attitudes towards learning and affects student’s identities as learners. Feedback done well promotes a mastery learning orientation, a belief that they can and will succeed with effort and the commitment to continue learning. (Quality Instruction, Varied Evidence of Learning) Room 228 Click here for materials
“Intrinsic Motivation, Shifting the Mindset & Providing Learners with Effective Feedback” Linda Laughlin What structures, practices and/or procedures are you transforming to shift the focus from “doing school” to “learning”? Are your efforts at providing learners with effective feedback leading to greater learner investment? Join us for a discussion about the MCL Power Sequence and what learning communities are doing to build investment. What else must we do to provide the conditions learners need to be intrinsically motivated to learn? (Shifting the Mindset, Motivating Learning Opportunities, Quality Instruction) Room 229 Click here for materials
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Thursday, August 9th 9:00 – 10:00
“Removing Roadblocks to Sharing Responsibility and Regrouping” Rebecca Miller & Laura Record & Kyle Rhoads Ed.D Elementary teachers may challenge sharing responsibility for learners and using strategies such as flexible grouping. Come hear a brief version of a K-3, 800-student elementary school’s journey to shift from homogeneously-grouped classrooms to PLCs and regrouping learners as an institutionalized strategy for shared responsibility. Our story will ignite opportunity for all participants to discuss the topic in small groups facilitated by a member of our school. (Customizing Structures, Shifting the Mindset, Skilled Leadership) Room 208 Click here for materials
“Preparing for Life: The Importance of Teaching Complex Reasoning & Habits of Mind” Lindsay Mahoney Content Knowledge is essential, but useless for learners if they do not know how to reason and persevere through new and challenging material. We must explicitly teach learners how to analyze and use the content knowledge. If learners know how to analyze and use knowledge, leads to frustration on both the teacher and student’s part. Explicitly teaching learners skills in complex reasoning and habits of mind gives them the tools to be successful with new knowledge. (Viable Learning Outcomes, Quality Instruction, Varied Evidence of Learning) Room 209 Click here for materials
“Making Your Strategic Plan a Living Document” Linda Laughlin Given the changes to Proficiency-Based legislation, schools will need to depend on their vision and strategic plans. These plans, with the appropriate elements, can guide your work and provide you with critical tools to make transformational changes. (Shifting the Mindset, Skilled Leadership) Room 227 Click here for materials
“Administrative Management of the Empower LMS” Heather Rockwell & Renita Ward-Downer) The MCCL curriculum has a lot of resources and supports embedded. There are certain steps to take when asking for a cohort curriculum revision or when determining if you want to accept the revision if you use Empower or any other LMS. Learn about the processes of accepting a revision into your site, as well as ways to build ownership around implementing the curriculum in your school and/or district. (Transformational Technology, Viable Learner Outcomes, Skilled Leadership) Room 228
Hot Topics The Summit Room will be open during this breakout time slot for small group conversations and discussions about specific “hot topics”. Summit Room
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Thursday, August 9th 10:15 – 11:15
“School-wide Structures and Systems to Aid in Customizing Learning for K-3 Learners” Rebecca Miller & Laura Record We will share school-wide structures as well as systems we’ve put in place across teams and grade levels to customize the learning for our learners. (Skilled Leadership, Customizing Structures) Room 208 Click here for materials
“Learner Management Systems: More Than a Grade Book” Elizabeth Firnkes & Kirby Reardon Participants will see how Cornville’s High School/Middle School Learning Facilitators are using their learner management system (Empower) to transform instruction and learning. (Viable Learning Outcomes, Quality Instruction, Transformational Technology) Room 209 Click here for materials
“Using Learner Data to Customize Instruction” Lindsay Mahoney Customizing the learning experience for learners must start with identifying what each learner is ready for. Using data collected in our learner management system, Empower, we identify learning needs and group learners based on these needs. Empower allows us to identify strengths and weaknesses in groups of students and customize instruction and learning experiences. Monitoring a learner’s progress using technology can also provide opportunities for learners to monitor and have ownership in their learning. (Transformational Technology, Quality Instruction, Customizing Structures) Room 227 Click here for materials
SPED, RTI, Title I: A Discussion Linda Laughlin How are you providing additional quality instruction to learners who need it, in a way that sends the message that it is “OK” that we learn in different ways and different time frames. What are the implications for how we provide traditional SPED, RTI and Title I services. Join us for this discussion and help us problem solve how we can do this within a growth mindset culture. (Skilled Leadership, Shifting the Mindset, Quality Instruction) Room 228 Click here for materials
Empower Work Group Heather Rockwell & Renita Ward-Downer This will be a work session for those who have questions about the Empower Learner Management System. (Transformational Technology) Room 229