2016: Washington, DC
Teachers Conference: Celebrating Teachers
October 21-22, 2016
Keynote Speaker: Jessica Minahan
Jessica Minahan M.Ed, BCBA is a board-certified behavior analyst (BCBA), author, special educator and consultant to schools internationally. Since 2000 she has worked with students who struggle with mental health issues and challenging behavior in public school systems. She specializes in training staff and creating behavior intervention plans for students who demonstrate explosive and unsafe behavior. She also works with students who have emotional and behavioral disabilities, anxiety disorders, or high-functioning Autism. Her particular interest is to serve these students by combining behavioral interventions with a comprehensive knowledge of best practices for those with complex mental health profiles and learning needs.
She is a blogger on The Huffington Post, the author of The Behavior Code: A Practical Guide to Understanding and Teaching the Most Challenging Students, with Nancy Rappaport (Harvard Education Press, 2012), and author of The Behavior Code Companion: Strategies, Tools, and Interventions for Supporting Students with Anxiety-Related or Oppositional Behaviors (Harvard Education Press, 2014).
Keynote: Anxiety in the Classroom
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) reports that one in four thirteen-eighteen year olds has had an anxiety disorder in their lifetime. Without intervention, these children are at risk for poor performance, diminished learning, and social/behavior problems in school. Understanding the role anxiety plays in a student’s behavior is crucial and using preventive strategies are key to successful intervention. Effective behavior plans for these students must avoid the reward and punishment-based consequences from traditional behavior plans and focus instead on the use of preventive strategies and on explicitly teaching coping skills, self-monitoring, and alternative responses.
Other highlights
- Panels on Trauma Informed Teaching and Families and Teachers Working Together
- Sessions for elementary and middle school educators at all levels of Responsive Classroom experience.
- Opportunities to connect with other teachers from across the U.S. and around the world who share the Responsive Classroom mission of a high-quality education for every child, every day
- The very first RC Expo, with Consulting Teacher advice stations, giveaways, and other surprises
Leadership Conference: Engaging All Students
October 23-24, 2016
Keynote Speaker: Wes Moore
Wes Moore is a decorated Army combat veteran, youth advocate and CEO of BridgeEdU, a national initiative focusing on addressing the college completion and career placement crisis by reinventing the Freshman Year of college. He is also the author of two instant New York Times bestselling books, The Other Wes Moore, a story of the importance of individual decisions as well as community support, and The Work, which chronicles Wes’s journey to discover meaning in his work and how he found that meaning in service. Most recently he released This Way Home, a young adult novel about the choices we make and the friendships we keep.
Keynote: The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates
New York Times bestselling author and youth advocate Wes Moore knows that being a leader, both in your personal life and in the K-8 education world, comes down to one thing: personal responsibility. Drawing on his experiences as a leader in the public and private sectors and in the military, Moore explains that embracing your own personal responsibility—and holding yourself accountable for your choices—is a quality that makes great “transformational leaders:” leaders who create a vision, then inspire and empower those around them to execute that vision.
Other highlights
- Panels on Trauma Informed Practices for Leaders, Schoolwide Responsive Classroom Implementation, and Celebrating Successes
- Sessions for elementary and middle school educators at all levels of Responsive Classroom experience
- District and school leaders from across the U.S. and around the world who share our mission of a high-quality education for every child, every day
