Opportunities

Alan November’s Building Learning Communities Conference at the Park Plaza Hotel, July 25-27, 2018 in Boston, MA.

Building Learning Communities Education Conference 2018 (BLC) is probably the most important conference that leverages school districts’ investment in technology to increase both core skills and new opportunities to empower teachers, such as making students’ learning visible.

I have attended BLC since its inception 16 years ago. It is a wonderful event! You and your team will return to your school/district with a strong sense of urgency to drive change and improve learning for your students. You will acquire practical, proven best practices from around the world.

The BLC Education Conference offers the unique opportunity to network and learn from international neighbors. Past BLC conferences have included participants from such countries as China, India, Vietnam, Brazil, Iceland, Finland, Denmark and Singapore. Last year participants represented 25 countries.

Yale professor, Dr. Marc Bracket one of the world’s leading researchers on emotional intelligence applied to education will be BLC18’s keynote speaker. Marc’s message and practical findings during this time of increased anxiety and stress on our children is vital.

Alan November leads the BLC Education Conferences and is committed to improving the quality of education in Massachusetts. I have known Alan since he was a teacher at Lexington High School and invited him to speak at all the school districts I worked in after that! Alan has worked in 40 countries and taps his global network to bring the most successful leading ideas from around the world to BLC.

If you have any questions about discount Alan is offering, please call Donna Lang at 781-631-4333.

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Application for the Massachusetts Math and STE Ambassadors Program Now Open!

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE), in conjunction with the STEM Education Center at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), seeks applicants to represent Massachusetts on a new Math and Science/Technology/Engineering (STE) Ambassadors team. Over the last two years, Massachusetts has adopted new Math and STE Curriculum Frameworks. The Ambassadors will be a part of the implementation process.

The Math and STE Ambassadors will provide leadership in their districts and with a partner district. ESE and WPI will select up to 20 Math Ambassadors and 15 STE Ambassadors representing a diverse spectrum of backgrounds, experiences, and regions across the Commonwealth. Ambassadors will be required to attend six days of Ambassador Academy meetings between April 2018 and June 2019. The Academies will prepare Ambassadors to produce deliverables with support from their cross-school teams. The first two Academies are scheduled for April 11th, 2018 & June 12th, 2018 (9:00 a.m.- 3:00 p.m.).
Four additional Academies will be scheduled during the 2018-2019 academic year, dates TBD in consultation with the Ambassadors.

Ambassador’s responsibilities and deliverables:

  1. Ambassadors will attend 6 Academies between April 2018-June 2019.
  2. Ambassadors will recruit 5- 8 educators from within district to be part of a task development team; these teachers should represent the following grade bands:
  3. Grades 4th-8thfor math, from all critical areas of math.
  4. Grades 6th-12thfor STE, from all science domains (life, physical, ESS, tech/engineering).
  5. Ambassadors will lead a minimum of 5 cross-school professional development sessions for the task development team to guide those teachers in development and piloting of the following tasks:
  6. For math: Minimum of 8 tasks aligned with 2017 MA math curriculum frameworks.
  7. For STE: Minimum of 5 tasks aligned with the 2016 MA STE curriculum frameworks.
  8. All tasks will be posted to the ESE website for public use.
  9. During the 2018-19 school year, Ambassadors will initiate two additional instances of collaboration with neighboring district/school teams of their choice to share the work and their associated tasks (presentations, sharing of resources, reviewing student work, rubric development, data analysis, etc.).

It is highly recommended that Math Ambassadors attend the Middle Grades Math Institute on June 5th, 2018 at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Please complete an application and upload all required documents on or before Sunday, March 25th, 2018through the following link: MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from “urldefense.proofpoint.com” claiming to be http://bit.ly/2HXk8Oo

We will make selections and provide notifications by Friday, March 30th, 2018.

Questions?

For Math Ambassador questions, please contact Leah Tuckman at MathAmbassadors@doe.mass.edu   

 For STE Ambassador questions, please contact Nicole Scola at scienceambassadors@doe.mass.edu  

For general logistical questions, please contact Mia Dubosarsky at mdubosarsky@wpi.edu

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If you have not visited the Waterworks Museum in Chestnut Hill, you should bring your students and/or your family to the incredible site…history, machinery, technology all intermingle on a scale which can only be admired.

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The April/May 2016 printed issue of THE Journal is all about STEM Education: Students Take Over. It was sent to GOZ at BU but it is about K-12.

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