Learn how role-playing games can be used to hone written and analytical skills through play. Participants will simulate a brief activity to showcase how students can practice using evidence in argumentation, underscoring the influence of perspective in determining the actions of diverse historical actors. Participants will be briefed on the background on the historical period before assigning roles and objectives. Attendees will role-play a town meeting in a fictional French town during World War I. Participants must use their role sheets to decide whether to alert the local military commander, who will destroy their beloved church to root out a foreign threat, or save their church by saying nothing, and hoping the threat passes. Learn how the activity can be adapted to emphasize writing, discussion, and research skills and cultivate curiosity and empathy without agreement with historical actors' decisions.
Improve outcomes for the most at-risk learning profiles. Focus on the root causes of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), Autism Spectrum Disorder, ADHD, substance abuse, and anxiety, and develop strategies to directly benefit these students.
Since 2020, many students and teachers have been inundated with technology tools and virtual learning training in the growing demands of education in our electronically connected world. The ability to be successful in the digital space has received much attention. In this new pedagogical framework, public speaking, presentations, and direct verbal communication have taken a backseat. Coupled with growing diagnoses in anxiety and erosion of some social skills due to technology, teachers are less inclined to create assessments that call out fears in public speaking. This session will provide data, strategies, and encouragement encouragement for teachers to bravely engage in assessments that involve public speaking and provide administrators and school counselors with ways to provide space and practice for adults in the school setting to role model the skills. Come spend some time practicing public speaking with your peers!
