Chapters International

Overview:

Diversity is a hallmark of most contemporary schools. Students represent a variety of languages, cultural groups, economic backgrounds, levels of adult support, learning issues, degrees of academic advancement, and so on. Nonetheless, most classrooms still operate from a one-size-fits-all approach to teaching--an approach that defies common sense and our best knowledge from both psychology and neuroscience. For that reason, many school leaders have an interest in leading their faculties in developing effectively differentiated or responsive classrooms. While taking on that leadership role is daunting, it is doable, and outcomes for students and faculty alike are highly positive.

In this one-day workshop, participants will explore:

The characteristics of effective differentiation
Common barriers teachers encounter in thinking about and planning for differentiation
Challenges and opportunities of leading "second order change"
Establishing a vision for change
Planning for the change
The stages of change in schools and classrooms
Understanding and supporting teacher growth in differentiation
Leaders as models of differentiation
Seeing resistance as opportunity

We'll use school and classroom examples and leadership rubrics to guide thinking and discussion. Participants should leave the workshop with a clearer sense of how to be a leader for school change that extends learning for each student in a school.

Potential Audience:

This workshop should be attended by Principals. Their leadership role in school change is essential. Others who could benefit from the session would be instructional coaches who work with differentiation, special educators who work in classrooms with teachers to meet students' varied needs-and likewise, reading specialists, English language specialists, gifted education specialists-and any others whose role carries with it the expectation that they help classroom teachers continue to grow in their ability to teach academically diverse student populations.

Carol Ann Tomlinson

Carol Ann Tomlinson is William Clay Parrish, Jr. Professor and Chair of Educational Leadership, Foundations, and Policy at the University of Virginia's Curry School of Education where she is also Co-Director of the University's Institutes on Academic Diversity. Prior to joining the faculty at UVa, she was a teacher for 21 years. During that time, she taught students in high school, preschool, and middle school and also administered programs for struggling and advanced learners. She was Virginia's Teacher of the Year in 1974.

Carol is author of over 250 books, book chapters, articles, and other educational materials including: How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed Ability Classrooms, The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners, Fulfilling the Promise of the Differentiated Classroom, (with Jay McTighe) Differentiating Instruction and Understanding by Design, (with Kay Brimijoin and Lane Narvaez)The Differentiated School, (with Marcia Imbeau) Leading and Managing a Differentiated Classroom, and (with David Sousa) Differentiation and the Brain: How Neuroscience Supports the Learner-Friendly Classroom. Her books on differentiation are available in 13 languages.

Carol was named Outstanding Professor at Curry in 2004 and received an All-University Teaching Award in 2008. In 2012 she was #27 on in the Education Week Edu-Scholar Public Presence Rankings of university-based academics who are contributing most substantially to public debates about schools and schooling. In that same list, she was ranked in the top five most influential voices in Teacher Education, Curriculum, and Instruction. Carol works throughout the United States and internationally with educators who seek to create classrooms that are more effective with academically diverse student populations.

Venue:
Brisbane

8.30 am to 3.30 pm
Registration at 8.00 am
on the 21st August 2021.