The Human Brain:  Setting the Stage, with Eva Dwight and Michael Gurian. Body, mind, and soul are not three isolated systems.  Intricately woven together, they give us the human experience.  In our culture now, our children’s bodies, minds, and souls are experiencing significant stress.  This opening session of the conference will link our weekend of training to the deep issues of our time in schools and neighborhoods, and provide a primer on the amazing human brain–both its natural resilience and its potential fragility.

Boys and Girls Learn Differently – Two-Part Strategies Session, with Eva Dwight, Gurian Institute Master Trainer.  This two-part session will give participants a tool box full of practical strategies that can be adapted for use in any classroom to increase teacher effectiveness and make sure the needs of both boys and girls are being met. The workshops will model the strategies as if in a classroom setting.  This two-part session is a requirement for applicants for Gurian Institute Trainer Certification and includes specific innovations for coeducational classrooms and for single sex classrooms and academies.

Soothing the Stress Response in Girls and Handling Girl Drama, with Eva Dwight.  Our girls are under constant stress today and “girl drama” can be difficult to navigate.  When is it normal, when is it bullying?   Eva Dwight has three decades of experience in this field and provides positive discipline and girl-friendly tools for soothing stress responses and activating processing mechanisms.  Because individual children often respond to stress differently, this workshop’s focus on the nexus of nature, nurture, and culture make it immensely practical—its tools can be used immediately in schools, home, and neighborhood environments.

Becoming a Man:  What Does it Mean to Boys, and How Do We Teach it? with Gurian Master Trainer, Rob Kodama.  For more than 20 years, Rob has worked as a teacher, coach, and Director of Admissions at Crespi Carmelite High School for Boys in Encino, CA.  With his colleagues, he has developed a leading edge “Becoming a Man” course for the young men.  In this workshop, Rob will explore the experience of masculinity and manhood the boys are living and trying to live, and how adults can help boys live it wisely, empathically, and successfully.  Because Rob has taught the course to a widely diverse group of boys from all races and socio-economic origins, he has developed both a culturally sensitive and universally applicable wisdom on masculine and male development.  This workshop will include strategies, anecdotes, stories, and action plans you can use right away.

The Pressured Child:  Helping Boys and Girls Navigate and Heal Their Worry and Anxiety, with Gurian Certified Trainer and Mental Health Counselor, Theresa Moore, LCSW, LPC.  Anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues are paramount in our minds today as the CDC reports that at least 1 in 5 children are grappling with mental health issues.  The rise of digital technologies and general performance pressure among children have increased the number of worried children, as well.  Theresa Moore is the mental health counselor at San Antonio Academy, a Gurian Institute Model School, and has developed unique programs for helping children facing mental health issues.  She is an Equine Certified Facilitator and will share “equine stories” (from her counseling practice utilizing horses and animal assistance), and concrete tools used in nearly 3 decades in the field that help children move from fear to focus, and build resiliency from pressure.  Theresa’s workshop will also include strategies for dealing with worried and anxious parents, as well.

Working with Sensitive Boys and Girls:  Strategies for Classrooms and for Coaching Parents, with Theresa Moore, LCSW, LPC.   One of the most profound questions on all of our minds is “How do I work with highly sensitive and sensitive children?”  When we study boys and girls, we see that “sensitive boy” and “sensitive girl” is also a factor–sex and gender impact sensitivity both as inherited traits and in social outcomes.  Added to all of this is the role of parents–they are hungry to know how to best help their sensitive children.  In this workshop, Theresa Moore provides practical strategies and tools that have worked in San Antonio Academy, a Gurian Model School, and in her counseling practice with children and parents.  This workshop will both discuss and model best practices, and engage participants in takeaways they can use immediately back home.

Changing the Classroom and Playground Culture for Our Youngest Kids, with Phoenix Head Start Director and Gurian Certified Trainer, Marion Hill.  Brain science holds powerful clues and best practices for setting children up for success in both learning and social-emotional development from birth onward.  In this workshop, Gurian Certified Trainer and Phoenix Head Start Director, Marion Hill, models best practices and strategies for birth to five, and beyond.  The Gurian Institute, Phoenix Head Start, and the Greater Phoenix Urban League are collaborating on a Gurian Institute Pilot at Cartwright School in Phoenix.  Marion is one of the directors of the Pilot and has also founded MANCAVE, which brings fathers and men into the picture for struggling children and youth.  Marion will present differences between what boys and girls often need, and strategies and tools for making classrooms and playgrounds into positively managed learning cultures.

The Digital Child:  Helping Them Take the Best and Leave the Rest, with Abigail Wald. This workshop will focus on where tweens are in their brain and social development, how we can help them create with tech rather than just consume it, and why this shift is protective of both their self-esteem and their future work life.  Tech is here to stay, and more than just limiting screen time–which is necessary and important, but not the whole story–we need strategies for making homes and schools safe havens for tech.  As Abigail presents relationship strategies that make this safety possible, she will provide a new framework for equipping children to master tech as a healthy rite of passage into adolescence.

The Secret to Getting Students to Actually WANT to Learn from You, with Abigail Wald. At some level, we all know this to be true:  students learn best from the teachers who have profound relationships with their students.  Attachment, bonding, trust between adults and children are essential to both SEL and academic learning, even through high school and college.  What are the secrets to motivating learners through attachment and relationship?  How do we bond and build trust even with our most difficult learners?  This workshop answers these questions strategically and through modeling and interactive process.  You will leave this session with multiple strategies and tools to take back to your classrooms right away.

Dynamic Rites of Passage for Boys and Girls:  How to Develop and Use Strategies, Models, and Successful Programs in Your School or Community, with Tim Wright, Pastor, Author, and Master Trainer.   A long time partner with Michael Gurian on the Rites of Passage Programs and The Wonder of Parenting Podcast, Tim Wright is an inspiring community leader.  A pastor for more than thirty years, he is also an internationally recognized speaker for his dynamism.  This workshop is a practical and powerful look at what we can do to help both boys and girls become adults of character and emotional depth through Rites of Passage programs.  Tim will discuss, model, and illustrate programs that have already been proven successful around the country.  He will also discuss the Helping Boys Thrive initiative and summits that have been happening around the country, providing strategies for providing a Helping Boys Thrive initiative in your school or community.

Friday June 12, 2020

6:00 – 8:00 pm All guests are welcome to join us for a reception at the Rec Hall

Saturday June 13, 2020

8:00 a.m. Registration and Continental Breakfast

8:45 – 9:30 The Human Brain: Setting the Stage, with Eva Dwight and Michael Gurian

Brain Break

9:35 – 11:30 Keynote, Michael Gurian, Protecting the Emotional Lives of Boys and Girls

11:30 – 12:30 Lunch, Discussion of the Boy Crisis in America, Saving Our Sons, and Suicide/Violence Prevention led by Michael Gurian

12:30 – 1:45 First Afternoon Workshop, Concurrent Sessions

Boys and Girls Learn Differently, with Eva Dwight, Part I.  For individuals becoming certified trainers, it is a required course.

The Secret to Getting Students to Actually WANT to Learn from You, with Abigail Wald

Becoming a Man:  A New Approach to Masculine Development, with Rob Kodama

Break

2:00 – 3:15 Second Afternoon Workshop, Concurrent Sessions

The Pressured Child:  Helping Children Navigate and Heal Their Worry and Anxiety, with Theresa Moore, MFT.

Dynamic Rites of Passage for Both Boys and Girls, with Tim Wright.

Boys and Girls Learn Differently, with Eva Dwight, Part II.  For individuals becoming certified trainers, it is a required course.

Break

3:15 – 4:00 Meeting with Michael Gurian, Eva Dwight, and people interested in becoming Gurian Certified Trainers.  Renewing Trainers are also welcome.

Sunday, June 14, 2020

8:00 – 9:00 a.m. Tour of Army and Navy Academy, and Q & A with Student and Faculty.

9:00 – 10:00 Keynote, Marion Hill, The Culture We Make:  Working with Children of Color in the Classroom and in Their World

Break

10:15 – 11:30 Second Morning Keynote, Dr. Michael Gurian, The Stone Boys:  Gender-Specific, Trauma-Informed Strategies for Helping Children Learn and Grow

11:30 – 12:30 Lunch, Discussion and Action Planning on The Minds of Girls, Girl Drama, and Girls and STEM, led by Michael Gurian

12:30 – 1:45 Afternoon Workshops, Concurrent Tracks

The Digital Child:  Helping Them Take the Best and Leave the Rest, with Abigail Wald

Changing the Classroom and Playground Culture for our Youngest Kids, with Marion Hill

Working with Sensitive Boys and Girls:  Strategies for Classrooms and for Coaching Parents, with Theresa Moore

Break

2:00 – 3:15 Afternoon Workshops, Concurrent

 Soothing the Stress Response in Girls and Handling Girl Drama, with Eva Dwight

The Power of Single Sex Classrooms and Environments, with Amy Coe

The Power of Diversity:  Teaching and Mentoring Latino and Dual Language Learners, with Marlene Ortiz and Shandeen Gomez

Break

3:15 – 3:30  Closing Activity for Conference Participants.

All keynotes and workshops highlight gender-friendly theory and strategies applicable to both coeducational and single sex classrooms, schools, and academies.

Schedule is subject to changes and additions.

Monday Morning, Certification of Trainers Session, 8:00 – 12:00, for those individuals becoming Gurian Certified Trainers

Transportation: If you are flying into the San Diego airport, Uber or Lyft can bring you from the airport to Carlsbad. It’s about a 40-minute drive, depending on traffic. Also, your hotel may have shuttle services.

Address:

Hotels:  There are multiple hotels to choose from in Carlsbad, many of which are close to the beach.  We suggest you plan ahead to make your reservations while the hotel prices are lower.  As time gets closer to summer, the hotels raise their prices.  Here are three in close proximity to the conference.

West Inn and Suites, 760 448-4500.  We have a room block at the West Inn and Suites.  If you would like to see if there are rooms left in that block, please call the hotel and mention the “Gurian Institute at Army and Navy Academy.”

Best Western, 760 729-1151.

Hilton Garden Inn, 760 476-0800.

There are many other hotels in Carlsbad.  If you Google, “Hotels in Carlsbad, CA” a number of others in various price ranges will be featured and listed.

Meals, Snacks, and Beverages

Lunches for both Saturday and Sunday are provided, as well as snacks on Friday evening and snacks and coffee/water during Saturday and Sunday.

Certificates of Participation

Upon request, participants who complete the two days of training will receive a Certificate of Participant for 14 hours; participants who also complete Monday morning’s certification training will receive 18 hours.

Learning and Training Objectives

Describe how the field of gender neuroscience is altering what you know about the psychology and education of children and adolescents.

Discuss specific needs and issues of boys and girls from birth to adulthood, including analysis of the gender spectrum, with focus on both academics and social-emotional development.

Assess how generally institutionalized educational, counseling, and parenting models do or do not fill the specific developmental needs of girls and boys.

Identify new logic models and strategies for motivation, learning, and behavioral intervention.

Summarize key stressors and social-emotional factors that differ between girls and boys.

Demonstrate new strategies for learning, counseling, and assessment, including strategies for working with highly sensitive girls and boys.

Implement new strategies and practical tools beyond the training institute, in your own curricular areas and environments.

Target Audience:  educators, administrators, counselors, social workers, early childhood specialists, coed and single sex educators, parents, mentors, coaches, government agency professionals, and policy makers working with children and young adults.

More Workshops

The Power of Single Sex Classrooms and Cultures, with Amy Coe, Assistant Dean of Academics, Army and Navy Academy.  This workshop is designed for teachers, administrators, counselors, and all those interested in developing a deeper understanding of what works in single sex school cultures, and why.  The workshop is divided into three sections: useful brain-based sex differences based on Michael Gurian’s work; practical classroom strategies for teacher and student mentoring of boys and girls; and strategies to nurture the nature of boys and girls in single sex school “emotional” cultures (the hidden worlds of both boys and girls). 

The Power of Diversity:  Teaching and Mentoring Latino and Dual Language Learners, with Marlene Ordaz and Shandeen Gomez, Gurian Certified Trainers and Cartwright School Educators.  For over 40 years collectively, Marlene and Shandeen have worked in early childhood populations and built bridges into elementary and secondary education, focusing specifically on learning, literacy, and cultural climate strategies that work with Latino populations and dual language learners.  They work now at Cartwright School in Phoenix, Arizona, which is our newest Gurian Model School.  Their workshop explores barriers of language and culture on both the student and teacher and ways to address the needs of our Latino and dual language populations.  Participants will learn techniques and strategies for  engaging students in a culturally and linguistically diverse learning community.