Educating Boys of Color:  Rules of Engagement with Dr. Vermelle Greene, Gurian Master Trainer Emeritus, Founder of the S.A.C.R.E.D. Life Academy for Boys, and Member, Maryland State Board of Education

Many of our boys, especially those of color, are falling behind academically and socially.  With training and commitment, dedicated educators can make a difference by utilizing instructional strategies and methods that fit the developmental and learning needs of these youngsters.  Come prepared to learn strategies and discuss how to best meet this challenge in your classroom and your school.  Because Dr. Greene has taught and worked with a widely diverse group of boys from all races and socio-economic origins, she has both 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.

Boys and Girls Learn Differently – Two-Part Strategies Session, with Dr. Vermelle Greene. 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.  Over the two hours, we will explore these among other bases for strategies:

• Using physical movement in classroom instruction — a critical ingredient for brain development in children, especially boys
• Incorporating a variety of teaching strategies that build upon the strengths of girls, boys, or both.
• Motivating the male brain and female brain by utilizing strategies that capitalize upon their different learning styles
• Overcoming literacy and STEM gaps with field tested, successful solutions

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.

Using Brain Science to Improve Classroom Management, with Gurian Master Trainer and Certified Positive Discipline Coach, Eva Dwight.  Brain science can give us profound and practical insight into why we experience classroom management challenges with both girls and boys.  It also holds powerful clues and best practices for setting kids up for success in both learning and social-emotional development.  In this workshop, Gurian Master Trainer and Certified Positive Discipline Coach, Eva Dwight, brings more than two decades of school- and parent-coaching experience to a solution-oriented hour of best practices.   She presents similarities and differences between what boys and girls often need and strategies and tools for making classrooms and playgrounds into positively managed learning environments.

Soothing the Stress Response in Girls and Handling Girl Aggression, 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.

Engaging, Motivating, and Managing Boys and Girls in the Standards-Driven Classroom, Dr. Lakeva S. Barnes, Gurian Certified Trainer and Gifted Differentiation Coach at Sycamore Elementary School in Collierville, TN. With the multitude of demands placed on teachers to manage large class sizes, plan standard-aligned instruction, and improve student growth-measures, many teachers are burning out–they are just finding it too difficult to balance their work load. This session will address best practices for how to engage, motivate, and manage boys and girls through novelty, a token economy, and August to May routines.  These practices and this session help teachers reduce inappropriate classroom behaviors and maximize instructional time while improving student achievement.  Dr. Barnes will share her real-world situations and solutions that have impacted students’ motivation and the teacher’s, including her own, ability to manage some of the worst student behaviors.

Communicating with Parents of Boys about their Behavior, Discipline, & Achievement, Dr. Lakeva S. Barnes.  Communicating with parents about boys’ behavior, discipline, and achievement can be difficult for educators and parents. Parents can get defensive when called to meet with school officials because many times it is not their first experience with hearing about issues their child(ren) may be having in school. Sometimes educators are anxious about the thought of communicating their concerns about male students because of past experiences with challenging parents. This session will provide educators with tools for conducting positive and effective parent-teacher conferences and meetings regarding the behavior, discipline, and achievement of male students. Dr. Barnes will share real experiences and methods used to conduct positive and effective meetings with difficult parents.

Strategies for Successful Executive Function, with Mary Olszewski, Gurian Certified Trainer and Lovett Executive Function and Athletics Coach.  For decades, academic research has indicated that students who have difficulties with Executive Function skills struggle with thinking flexibly, maintaining self-control, and accessing working memory.  This creates many challenges for students when learning in the classroom, on the field, or at home. In this fun and dynamic workshop, coach Mary Olszewski tells and invites stories from her own coaching experiences, and then provides proven strategies for coaching boys and girls most successfully toward high level executive functioning, from bonding mechanisms to coaching rituals to verbal cues, and much more.

Why Did You Do That? I…Uh…Don’t Know! with Joseph Moody, Dean of Student Life at Lovett Middle School, Atlanta, GA.  Students must deal with discipline, student communities, peer groups, and personal relationships with teachers, while simultaneously coping with the physical and emotional changes they experience during puberty and adolescence.  Their lives are in turmoil, and they need our help understanding who they are and what they are doing.  In this workshop, Joseph will outline evidence-based strategies that improve the student-teacher-administrative relationship from a brain-based perspective.  He will further explore factors that impact behavior, and ways to both set measurable goals for students and help them become leaders in school culture, even through distress.  Joseph will also provide strategies you can use to increase your visibility in the twin roles of advocate and disciplinarian.

The Digital Child:  What Teachers and Parents Need to Know About Tech Use, with Stacia McFadden, Director of Academic Technology, Lovett School.  This workshop will focus on how to help schools, teachers, tweens, and teens use tech most effectively and safely.  Overuse of social media and tech is a national problem, yet, tech is here to stay.  Limiting screen time–which is necessary and important–is not the whole story.  Teachers and parents, and kids themselves, need strategies for making homes and schools not only safe havens for tech but creative places with tech.  In this workshop, Stacia provides frameworks and strategies to help kids master tech as a healthy rite of passage into adolescence.

Friday January 24, 2020

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

Saturday January 25, 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, Dr. 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

Strategies for Successful Executive Function, with Mary Olszewski

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

Why Did You Do That?  I…Uh…Don’t Know! with Joseph Moody

Break

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

Best Practices for Working with Learning-Different Students, with Beth Black

Communicating with Parents of Boys about their Behavior, Discipline, & Achievement, Dr. Lakeva S. Barnes.

Boys and Girls Learn Differently, Part 2, with Dr. Vermelle Greene.  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, January 26, 2020

8:00 – 9:00 a.m. Tour of The Lovett School, with Students and Faculty.

9:00 – 10:15 Keynote, Troy Kemp, Part I:  Getting the Best Results in the Classroom and Beyond: Motivating Students to Accomplish Difficult Tasks

Break

10:30 – 11:30 Keynote, Troy Kemp, Part II: Trauma and Learning:  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:  What Teachers and Parents Need to Know about Tech Use, with Stacia McFadden

Educating Boys of Color:  Rules of Engagement, with Dr. Vermelle Greene

Using Brain Science to Improve Classroom Management, with Eva Dwight

Break

2:00 – 3:15 Afternoon Workshops, Concurrent

Engaging, Motivating, and Managing Boys and Girls in the Standards-Driven Classroom, Dr. Lakeva S. Barnes,

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

The Power of Single Sex Classrooms and Environments in Academics and Executive Function Development, with Morgan Rutherford, Middle School Design Team Leader and Gurian Institute Trainer

Break

3:15 – 3:45  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, January 27, 2020, Certification of Trainers Session, 8:00 – 12:00, for those individuals becoming Gurian Certified Trainers

Transportation: If you are flying into the Atlanta/Hartsfield airport, Uber or Lyft can bring you from the airport to your hotel. 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 Atlanta, many of which are close to the airport and/or to Lovett.  We suggest you plan ahead to make your reservations while the hotel prices are lower.  As time gets closer, hotels raise their prices.  Here are some hotels relatively near The Lovett School.

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 17 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

Best Practices for Working with Learning-Different Students, with Beth Black, Founder of Cherokee Creek Boys School and Gurian Certified Trainer.   Cherokee Creek Boys School is a therapeutic boarding school and Gurian Institute Model School that specializes in working with learning different boys and boys who present with behavioral issues.  CCBS works with boys on the ASD spectrum, boys with ADD/ADHD, boys with sensory integration difficulties, and boys diagnosed as behavioral challenges in mainstream schools.  Beth and CCBS have developed a holistic model that she will share in this workshop, one that is brain-based and uses boy-focused strategies.  Be prepared to explore exciting ways to get challenging and “difficult” boys in sync with the mission and values of your classroom and community.  

The Power of Single Sex Classrooms and Cultures in Academics and Executive Function Development, with Morgan Rutherford, Middle School Design Team Leader and Gurian Institute Trainer.  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, especially in academic areas and the area of executive function development.  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).