We are excited to welcome Dr. Michael Gurian to our Summer Institute! He will be doing three keynotes this year, which are featured in today’s newsletter.  Michael is one of America’s most dynamic speakers.  His presentations have been called “life-changing” and “education-changing.”

To learn more about our Summer Institute and to register, click:  https://gurianinstitute.com/events/gurian-summer-institute-2023/.  We have been holding Summer Institutes for 25 years, and each one is packed with leading edge research committed to using neuroscience to help schools, families, and children.  We hope you’ll join us for this exciting event!

Keynote, June 25. The Minds of Boys and Girls: Protecting, Nurturing, and Educating Our Children in a Complex Age

We are living in a complex age, one in which children are overusing digital and tech, our definitions of sex and gender are being negotiated in social media, academe, and our schools, and teachers and parents feel almost desperate for tools to help the children in their care.

In this dynamic keynote presentation, Dr. Gurian will explore how the minds of boys and girls learn and grow, including brain differences that impact K – 12 education, early childhood, and social emotional development throughout the lifespan.  He will provide insight into best teaching, parenting, counseling, and mentoring practices.

Michael’s presentation will include PET, SPECT, and MRI scans that display sexual dimorphism (male/female brain differences) as he focuses on educating, raising, and counseling boys, and educating, raising, and counseling girls.  He will also show brain scans that help us understand the whole gender spectrum.

Michael will lead two working lunch discussions, as well.  The books that underlie these discussions are Saving Our Sons and The Stone Boys for Saturday and The Minds of Girls for Sunday.  We hope you will read these books ahead of time.  In these working lunches, we will study and strategize regarding violence/suicide prevention, and mental and emotional health in our schools, families, and communities.

Second Keynote, June 25. The Resilience Code: Gender-Specific, Poverty-Sensitive, and Trauma-Informed Strategies for Helping Boys and Girls Thrive

Dr. Gurian’s Second keynote focuses on children’s resilience-building in school, at home, and in our communities.  Michael will help us look at our adult roles in children’s resilience-building and provide strategies for developing trauma-informed, poverty-sensitive classrooms and environments.   Participants will learn how to build strong relationships and attachments with traumatized boys and girls, as well as those raised in poverty, and how to provide strengths-focused education for all children.

Michael will also tell a bit of his own story, both of trauma and resilience-development.  A product of early childhood trauma, he scores a 7 out of 10 on the Adverse Childhood Experiences, ACE survey.  The publication of his book, The Stone Boys, made public some of his own childhood trauma.  We hope you will read The Stone Boys ahead of time for a deep dive into boys’ potential trauma-responses in particular.  Resilience-building is a crucial part of child success and this keynote explores it with brain science as a focus.

Bonus Keynote, Saving the Digital Child: Strategies for Protecting and Empowering Boys and Girls in the Digital World, with Michael Gurian

This bonus keynote, which will be available for viewing before, during, and after the weekend, will focus on how to help schools, teachers, and children use tech safely and effectively.  Overuse of social media and tech is a national mental health problem but tech is here to stay, especially in the post-Covid era.  Limiting screen time–which is necessary and important–is not the whole story.

This keynote focuses on tech use as both a positive and negative stressor.  Dr. Gurian will look carefully at the neural connection between tech use, especially among young children, and brain issues later.  Because some schools are one-on-one (one I pad/device for every child), he will bring parents into the equation who may need to cut back on child tech use at home so that teachers can use it in school.

In this dynamic and moving keynote, Michael will provide insight and tools, strategies, and real-time conversations to have with boys and girls as parents and teachers help them navigate their digital world.
We hope you’ll join us for our Summer Institute 2023!  To learn more and to register, click here:  https://gurianinstitute.com/events/gurian-summer-institute-2023/.

If you would like to send groups of 5 or more, let Gail know at info@gurianinstitute.com.

If you would like to look at becoming a Gurian Certified Trainer, please check out our Trainer pages on www.gurianinstitute.com and then fill out the Application.  We will be holding the extra four hour session for Trainer Certification on Monday morning, January 26.