Tomorrow's Education in Today's Classrooms
Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA)/Syfr
Part I: A Whole New Brain – July 19 – 22, Austin, TX
Part II: A Whole New Education – September 9 & 10 Houston, TX
Part III: A Whole New World – October 27 & 28 Austin, TX
This is a three session series. You may choose to enroll in one or two events or as a package for the district, or for individuals in the district. The sessions are designed for superintendents, chief academic officers and/or small district teams of two to five. The series explores facets of 21st century work and research, its ramifications for today's classrooms, an exploration of today's and tomorrow's assessment requirements and how to interlace them to meet the performance requirements of today. Options to extend the work into your own district will be made available.
Syfr Summer Retreat, Austin TX
The Brain, The Classroom, The Connection
July 19 – 22, 2009
For the past 30 to 40 years research has been evolving about the plasticity of the brain or its ability to re-organize itself during the learning process. This research did not come into the mainstream of science exploration until the early to mid-90's, so what we know is relatively new and its lessons for teaching and learning are still in their infancy. This conference is designed to explore recent neuroscience research and discuss its possible applications for the classroom. The conference ends with a suggested plan for working with brain research in the classroom and a way to continue the conference collaboration post conference.
As always, we will have an evening that includes music with which to continue our conversation. Helen Sung will return to us to discuss the cultural intersections of music, illustrated with her own compositions, which will provide an opportunity for collaboration with your students once you return home.
Syfr Fall Retreat, Los Angeles, CA area
More Information Coming Soon!
Excellence and Equity through Innovation and Creativity
September 24 – 26, 2009
"Creative Destruction" (a topic from a retreat a few years ago) is a name for the way the private sector generates most of its creativity at the organizational level. New organizations develop around new ideas and these new organizations become dominant as they push the old organizations out of the way. We are watching the end of this process for Chrysler, and, obviously something is happening at General Motors and Ford. There are, however, corporations who generate the "creative destruction" process internally. They depend on creative people, creative group processes, and usually new technology. The Southern California conference looks to apply these lessons to public education in two ways. How do we develop innovative educational practice? How do we produce creative students?
As always, we will have an evening that includes music with to continue our conversation and Helen Sung will return to us. She will discuss the cultural intersections of music, illustrate with her own compositions, and provide an opportunity for collaboration with your students once you return home.
Past Syfr Events
Click here to
view a summary of past summer retreats, which covered the following
topics:
• The Impact of Globalization
• Technology on Education
• Educating in the 21st Century
• The New Economy: Ramifications for K–12 Education
• The American Presidency: Lessons in Leadership for Educators
• Education as a Civil Right
• Education as a Human Right
• Is Accountability Enough?
Custom Professional Development Programs & Conferences:
Syfr works directly with school districts around the country to develop a customized professional development program consisting of workshops, book groups, and online resources. Working with local hosts, we bring innovative speakers and cutting edge research to teachers and administrators around the country. Our
events focus on several broad themes in education:
• Women in Leadership (as a main conference or pre-conference)
• Science Reform (promising leadership approaches, best practices from the classroom,
the changing global economy)
• Technology (media literacy, classroom integration, etc)
• Special Education
• Creativity & Innovation (within an organization, within student learning)
• Student Differences (gender, language, non & cognitive skills, and income)
We have developed a full program for each theme, complete with speakers and collateral, that can be taken to any school district in the country.
For information about how Syfr can develop a customized professional development program for your district, please contact Richard Erdmann at 360.694.8071.
