New this year: Exclusive Extended Lunch & Learn Opportunities to Engage with Keynotes and Featured Speakers

Thursday, October 10th (2.5 hours - Lunch, Session 3, and Session 4) - Carl Hooker's "Using AI to Design Innovative Solutions to Educational Challenges" In an era marked by rapid technological evolution and shifting educational paradigms, equipping our students for the forthcoming challenges is crucial. This groundbreaking workshop invites educational leaders to apply their collective expertise to address a specific "problem of practice" within their fields. Through an immersive and collaborative process, participants will harness a range of cutting-edge AI tools to dissect current educational challenges, project future trends, and craft innovative solutions tailored to their unique contexts. This session is designed to not only forecast the future of education but to actively shape it by solving real-world issues that educators face today. Attendees will leave with actionable insights, strategies, and tools that can be implemented in their respective areas, aiming to elevate educational standards across the state of Maine and beyond. Each participant will contribute to a rich tapestry of solutions, benefiting from a shared repository of knowledge and forward-thinking approaches to education. 

Friday, October 11th (2.5 hours - Lunch, Session 3, and Session 4) - Scott McLeod "Redesigning Lessons for Deeper Learning and Student Engagement" 

As much as we’re worried about ‘learning loss,’ our students aren’t going to learn if they’re not first engaged. Let’s create reasons for students to come to school and opportunities to do things that are interesting! In this active, hands-on Redesign Lab, we will use the free 4 Shifts Protocol to redesign lessons, units, and other instructional activities for critical thinking and problem solving, greater student agency, more real-world authentic work, and robust technology infusion. We also will peek inside some deeper learning schools around the country to see how they’re approaching this instructional design work. Bring a charged laptop and be ready to collaborate!

Audience

• Administrators, teachers, and instructional coaches (perfect for leadership teams!)

Participant Outcomes

Participants will walk away with the following knowledge, skills, and resources (based on empirical research from 90+ deeper learning schools, not just anecdotes, and design work with tens of thousands of educators):

• The ability to use the 4 Shifts Protocol to redesign lessons and units for higher student engagement and deeper learning

• The ability to use the 4 Shifts Protocol as a curriculum planning resource, not just an instructional design tool

• Numerous exemplars of deeper learning in action

• On-ramp strategies to help schools and design teams get started

• Techniques and suggestions for navigating instructional, curricular, and organizational speed bumps and roadblocks

• Key instructional mindsets and design behaviors

• Discussion questions for teaching staff, leadership teams, and families

Board Game Night

There will be a late afternoon Board game session on Thursday after the vendor session from 5:30 - 7:00 until After Hours starts. People are welcome to drop in. Snacks and drinks will be available. Bring your favorite board game!

Join us for the 3rd Annual After Hours Event!

Carl Hooker returns for the 3rd Annual After Hours Event! Join us from 6:30pm - 11pm for food, networking, a fun team challenge that will have you engaged in several activities across the Civic Center, and more!