Learning Forward Conference

Avanti, a Solution Tree education technology product, is the first of its kind: a teacher-first, self-paced, subscription-based professional learning platform that helps teachers at the elementary, middle, and high school levels gain ideas and actionable strategies for teaching and honing their craft. Content includes short inspirational videos made by teachers, for teachers, on a variety of relevant, timely topics.

Participants will:

• See the benefits for staff and, in turn, students of professional learning platforms focused on teachers and teams;
• Understand what it takes to become a master educator and how these two platforms can accelerate that journey; and 
• Understand the key features of Avanti and Global PD Teams and why they are important to team and teacher growth.

Learning Forward’s vision is: Every educator engages in exemplary professional learning so every student excels. In most education settings, this professional learning begins with a book. Join a panel of authors who will share their writing experiences and the impact their books are making on educators and, ultimately, student success. Ask questions of the panel and pitch your own book ideas.

Participants will:

• Discover the process to move research and evidence-based practices into a published book;
• Gain insights into topics needed by educators; and
• Acquire strategies that first-time writers need to ensure their book is practical, focused, and user-friendly for educators.

Review the big ideas of mastery learning and gain practical guidance on its implementation across the range of grade levels or subject areas. Develop a working knowledge of the principles of mastery learning, including responding to learner differences and frequent use of feedback on learner progress. Apply this working knowledge to implementing mastery learning in both in-person and online settings. Harness mastery learning principles to the work of helping nearly all students become successful learners and gain the many positive benefits of that success.

Participants will:

• Develop a working knowledge of the principles of mastery learning, including responding to learner differences and frequent use of feedback on learner progress;
• Apply this working knowledge to implementing mastery learning in both in-person and online settings; and
• Harness mastery learning principles to the work of helping nearly all students become successful learners and gain the many positive benefits of that success.

Learn ways to create learning communities that work together through a collectivist lens of shared accountability with a focus on equity, and discover how these learning communities are empowered to explore how their collaborative actions and decisions propel learning forward. Explore the Visible Learning research that supports the identified pathways and pavers for designing fortifying learning communities.

Participants will:

• Understand the stumbling blocks that negatively impact the design of equitable learning environments;
• Engage in shared experiences for honoring and celebrating dimensions of identities, intersectionality, and the 3 Levels of Culture;
• Identify instructional practices that fortify students so they can show up in the fullness of who they are behaviorally, cognitively, academically, emotionally, and socially.

Take the Leadership Compass assessment to identify which of four leadership styles you embody. Examine any weaknesses in your leadership style that you could supplement through cooperation with leaders who have complementary strengths. Hear examples of advocacy experiences from a team of NEA teaching fellows and identify ways to enhance that work by drawing on the different strengths of other leaders.

Participants will:

• Identify and understand your personal work/leadership styles so you can build more effective teams with colleagues who have complementary strengths;
• Be introduced to authentic advocacy work going on in states and analyze that work to identify ways in which it could be improved through an awareness of work and leadership styles; and
• Identify one issue in your current professional environment that you can address through advocacy and in collaboration with other professionals.

Explore what it looks like to use professional learning, coaching, educator perception, and walk-through data to ensure that professional learning leads to impact. Learn how Fargo Public Schools designed a cohesive set of tools that would capture the instructional needs of educators and the areas in which coaching and professional learning time are being spent, adopted protocols and processes to set data-informed coaching goals, and examined data to determine the impact of professional learning on classroom instruction.

Participants will:

• Identify how data-capture instruments can be used to monitor the end-to-end educator support process; and
• Examine systemwide data for the purposes of designing professional learning and demonstrating its impact.

Wilson Language Training's fully virtual professional learning, launched in 2009, is designed to certify teachers to teach students with dyslexia in a Tier 3 instructional setting. Wilson has since expanded the program to include a virtual implementation support program that helps teachers improve their literacy teaching practice for students in Tier 1 and 2 settings. Learn how these programs support an engaged community of educators, provide easy access to instructional resources, and offer ways to connect teachers to expert literacy specialists and coaches for individual support.

Participants will:

• Understand how a high-quality curriculum can be paired with high-quality professional learning to positively impact teacher performance and student outcomes;
• Learn about the Wilson virtual platforms and dashboards that encourage teacher engagement and growth through a personalized and organized approach; and
• Be able to discuss and explain the features of these platforms and dashboards, such as just-in-time resources, scheduling tools, and streamlined access to online meetings, both live and recorded.

Learn how to help educators face the world we live in and respond to it. Explore professional learning developed by the Harvard Graduate School of Education to address this challenge, including Schooling for Critical Consciousness of Racism and Racial Injustice, which draws on the research of Harvard Professor Daren Graves' work in applying Paolo Freire's concept of critical consciousness to work with high school students, and Moral Leadership in a Troubled Time, which uses foundational work in moral development done at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Participants will:

• Come to know useful definitions of critical consciousness and moral leadership;
• Be able to apply both definitions as scrutinizing lenses for your own classroom pedagogy; and
• Learn how to apply both concepts to create meaningful and action-based curriculum for Black and LatinX students in particular.

Examine the current research around how video can be a powerful tool to support educator self-reflection as a job-embedded professional learning strategy. Experience how Rockdale County Public Schools uses video technology as a way to promote reflective practices to support teacher growth and collaboration. Learn the advantages of using video as a best practice for coaching and mentoring. Hear how Rockdale discovered that providing structured feedback drastically improved classroom practices. Additionally, Rockdale principals and coaches have data-driven proof that job-embedded professional learning directly impacts teacher retention and student outcomes.

Participants will:

• Have a greater understanding of the research-based evidence of the impact of video technology on teacher practice;
• Receive an overview of the benefits and challenges of implementation and use of video in the classroom; 
• Engage in an interactive experience that demonstrates how to use video technology for professional learning; and
• Identify strategies and next steps to leverage video technology in your own context.

Examine the connection between school climate and teacher effectiveness, satisfaction, and retention. Explore ways to develop and leverage teachers’ leadership skills to build a more positive school culture. Engage in an exploration of concrete steps leaders and teachers can take to increase trust, build collective efficacy, and produce positive schoolwide change. Walk away with specific ideas and routines to jump-start this effort in your school community.

Participants will:

• Engage in hands-on activities to increase educators’ and students’ well-being;
• Examine the connection between school climate and teacher retention;
• Explore ways to develop and leverage teachers’ leadership skills to build a more positive schoolwide culture; and
• Walk away with concrete practices you can apply in your schools and classrooms to strengthen collegial and student relationships and personal well-being.