Girls' Education

I attended and presented at the ICGS annual conference in Philadelphia. My presentation was "Who Is a Scientist? Broadening Girls' Vision of STEM Role Models". In it, I summarized research about students' perception of scientists, particularly related to gender and race/ethnicity, and shared my "Scientist of the Day" routine that I work into each science class to give Burke's students a wide range of examples of real-world scientists. You can see my presentation slides here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1jCKdhIW1JVmD0UclDY8VJHeRUc7t1ur5_8VDbaTe5cs/edit?usp=sharing

I also attended various other presentations and workshops put on by educators from girls' schools around the world. A few highlights:

• A workshop about teaching consent from I Have the Right To, an organization focused on helping survivors of sexual assault. Key quote: "Teaching consent is like fire drills."

• A presentation about a framework for empowering student-led small-group discussions, with the guidelines of R.E.A.L. - Relate to what others have said, give Evidence, Ask…

Learning and the Brain: Teaching Stronger Brains

1. Associate Teacher

2. February 20-22, 2025 

3. This was a large conference with many excellent keynote speakers (Temple Grandin, for example) and smaller breakout workshops. If you are interested in neuroscience and the science behind learning, this is a conference you can nerd out at and learn many practical skills to use in the classroom. There was a wide variety of speakers, and you could tailor the experience to your needs. 

4.  I feel like, because there were so many different keynotes and speakers, I didn’t leave the conference with one big takeaway, but rather many small ones that I have been trying to integrate. Some of these things include challenging myself to see differences in behavior and learning profiles as neither better or worse, practicing fostering curiosity with students around mistakes- theirs and my own, and being more disciplined in practicing kindness where it might…