Chapters International

This session will feature ideas from the ASCD book by best-selling authors, Jay McTighe and Judy Willis, M.D. Jay and Judy will examine the intersection of the neuroscience of learning with the widely used Understanding by Design® framework. More specifically, participants will explore what the brain needs to maximize learning that lasts and examine specific teaching and assessment techniques for:

hooking and holding students’ attention;
engaging learners in active meaning-making needed to develop conceptual understandings;
developing learners’ executive functions for future transfer;
gathering evidence of all valued learning outcomes, not just those objectives that are easiest to test and grade; and
creating “brain-friendly” classroom environments to minimize stress and support “growth mindsets” for learners.

Jay McTighe

Jay McTighe is a veteran educator, having served as a teacher, resource specialist, program coordinator, director of a state program for gifted students, and administrator for innovative programs at the Maryland Department of Education. He is an accomplished author, having co-authored 18 books, including the award-winning and best-selling Understanding by Design® series with Grant Wiggins. His books have been translated into fourteen languages. Jay has also written more than 50 book chapters, articles and blogs, and is a regular speaker at state, national and international conferences. He has made presentations in 47 states within the United States, in 7 Canadian provinces, and internationally in 38 countries on six continents

Judy Willis

Dr. Judy Willis, a board-certified neurologist in Santa Barbara, California, has combined her 15 years as a practicing adult and child neurologist with her teacher education training and years of classroom experience. After five years teaching at Santa Barbara Middle School, and ten years of classroom teaching all together, in 2010, Dr. Willis reluctantly left teaching middle school students and dedicated herself full-time to teaching educators. With an adjunct faculty position at the University of California, Santa Barbara graduate school of education, Dr. Willis travels nationally and internationally giving presentations, workshops, and consulting while continuing to write books for parents and educators. She is an authority in the field of learning-centered brain research and classroom strategies derived from this research.