Professional Learning Conversations

How can we teach our students how to take meaningful action that makes a difference in the world and enhances their learning? In this episode Cathryn Berger Kaye from CBK Associates is interviewed by Angeline Aow about her approach to service learning. Cathryn is an author and international educator who travels over 200 days annually throughout the United States and globally providing professional learning programs, conference keynotes, in-depth institutes, custom designed curricula, and onsite assistance to schools. She works with educators to develop and enhance their approaches to service learning, 21st century competencies and approaches to learning, social and emotional realms, school climate and culture, youth leadership, effective teaching strategies, and environmental sustainability.

To find out more about Cathryn, visit her website www.cbkassociates.com or follow her on Twitter @CBKaye. You can also follow Angeline and Professional Learning International to find out more about upcoming events in your area.

Katierose Deos and Sarah Gilmore are experienced international PYP educators who have a passion for high-quality transdisciplinary teaching and learning. They believe that technology can be a useful tool to enhance how we teach and how we facilitate learning for our students, but that doing so effectively requires a holistic, meaningful and thoughtful approach. Through their company, Intechgrate, and the book they are currently writing for Heinemann publishers, they aim to support teachers, leaders and everyone involved in education at all levels to develop a vision around what purposeful technology integration means in their context, and guide the effective planning and implementation of that vision at all levels.

In this interview with Angeline Aow, they discuss the interdependent roles of mindset, curriculum, pedagogy and tools in facilitating or hindering technology integration that really enhances student learning experiences, as well as how technology can support student agency.

You can follow Sarah, Angeline and Professional Learning International on Twitter to keep up to date with upcoming events and interesting educational content!

For specialists working within the PYP, there can be many questions around how to make integration meaningful, taking a transdisciplinary approach to subject specialism, and the logistics of collaborative planning. In this episode Andy Vasily, an internationally experienced pedagogical leader and sports teacher, discusses with Sarah Gilmore just how he does this, including his approach to inquiry, provocations and much more.

Andy has a passion for transdisciplinary subject specialist teaching, sports education and the role of fitness in combating mental illness and promoting healthy living. In this episode Sarah and Andy also refer to his fantastic and moving TEDx talk, which we highly recommend!

To learn more about Andy and his work, check out his website or follow him on Twitter. Sarah is also on twitter and you can follow Professional Learning International to find out how you can work face to face with amazing educators like Andy.

Jennifer Abrams, is a “voice coach,” who is based in Palo Alto, California. She works as an international educational  and communications consultant for public and independent schools, hospitals, universities and non-profits. In this episode with Angeline Aow, she talks about coaching, voice, relationships and what is means to have hard conversations in a humane way.

Jennifer’s publications include Having Hard Conversations, The Multigenerational Workplace and Hard Conversations Unpacked. She is also currently working on a new book and Jennifer writes a monthly newsletter/blog, Voice Lessons, which you can read and subscribing to on her website, www.jenniferabrams.com. You can follow Jennifer, Angeline, and Professional Learning International on Twitter to stay up to date with news, conversations and events.

Anne van Dam is an international educator who has worked in schools in the Netherlands,

China, Singapore and Switzerland in a variety of roles; as a teacher, PYP coordinator,

assistant principal and school Director. As an independent consultant she has travelled the

globe to work with schools, facilitate workshops and present at conferences. Anne is

experienced with the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (IB PYP), is a workshop leader and developer and most recently has worked with the PYP development office in the Hague as a consultant on the enhanced PYP.

In the first part of her episode with Angeline Aow, they discuss Early Years education, including the role of play, documentation, assessment and the rise of accountability around the world.

Anne and Angeline are on Twitter, and you can follow Professional Learning International to keep up to date with news and events!

In this episode, Angeline Aow and Sarah Gilmore are interviewing Ron Ritchhart from Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education about his work on visible thinking and cultures of thinking.

Ron's most recent book, Creating Cultures of Thinking, is a fantastic resource for leaders, educators and anyone interesting in how we can create a culture of thinking in any learning environment. You can find out more about Ron's work at Project Zero by visiting the Cultures of Thinking website and by following him on Twitter @RonRitchhart.

Angeline and Sarah are also on Twitter and you can follow us at Professional Learning International to keep up to date with events, podcasts and more.

In this episode, Sarah Gilmore is interviewing Guy Claxton about his new book The Learning Power Approach, which communicates his vision for how schools and educators can help students to learn to be more successful learners by building dispositions and characteristics such as resilience, open-mindedness, flexibility and the ability to be critical and discerning about information and ideas.

During the episode Guy and Sarah mention two books, Futurewise: Educating our Children for a Changing World, by David Perkins, and Open: How We'll Work, Live & Learn in the Future, by David Price. They also talk about Three Miles, an episode of the podcast This American Life that explores the role of  economic disparity in the self-belief of learners, and the impact on students' chances of college completion and "success".

Follow Sarah and Professional Learning International on Twitter: @s_j_gilmore and @prolearnint

Jeff Utecht is an educational technology consultant, educator and author. He has founded many businesses including Eduro Learning, contributed to numerous books and writes his own enormously successful blog, “The Thinking Stick”. He has is the author of Reach and has co-authored Your Connected Classroom.

In this episode, Jeff Utecht and Sarah Gilmore discuss the role of technology in education and how to make learning successful in your connected classroom. Click here to watch Jeff''s full TEDx talk, which you will hear an excerpt of in this episode.

What role do concepts play in your classroom and curriculum? How can a concept-based approach to curriculum and instruction help students to make connections and construct deep and meaningful understandings?

Rachel French is the co-author of the soon-to-be released Concept-Based Inquiry in Action,  and Concept-Based Curriculum & Instruction for the Thinking Classroom and Angeline Aow is an educational leader and consultant.

In this episode Rachel French and Angeline Aow talk in depth about the developing role of concept-based curriculum and instruction and explore why and how this approach is so valuable for teaching and learning.

Follow them on Twitter @prolearnint and @angeaow

Kelvin Sparks is an educational consultant and experienced teacher living in Australia. He specialises in inquiry, creativity and conceptual understanding in maths and in this episode, he and Angeline Aow discuss the role of inquiry in mathematics learning and understanding.

Follow Angeline and Professional Learning International on Twitter to stay up to date with news and events.