This book outlines the principles of planning, implementing, and evaluating successful professional meetings and conferences in education. The following are among the topics discussed: (1) the knowledge base of effective meetings and conferences (nine principles held by effective meeting designers; characteristics of effective meetings and conferences; principles of effective adult learning); (2) early planning (identification of target audiences, conference budgets, identification of cosponsors or partners; selection of locations and dates; delegation of responsibility for conference design and planning); (3) design issues (selecting activities and approaches; identifying the view of participants assumed in the design; using the authentic task approach; choosing and supporting speakers; communicating with leaders, facilitators, and presenters; marketing conferences; preparing preconference participant mailings; managing conferences); (4) evaluating a conference or meeting (focusing the evaluation; identifying the evaluation's audience; choosing data collection methods; evaluating the meeting design and process; selecting evaluation methods; using evaluation information to make improvements; and conducting regular evaluations of small meetings and working sessions; and (5) producing conference proceedings (purposes of proceedings and ways to capture the meeting and add analysis to reporting). The following items are appended: examples of topics addressed by professional meeting planners; sample agendas; and sample evaluations. The bibliography lists 23 references. (MN)

Meetings don’t have to be painfully inefficient snoozefests—if you design them. Meeting Design will teach you the design principles and innovative approaches you’ll need to transform meetings from boring to creative, from wasteful to productive. Meetings can and should be indispensable to your organization; Kevin Hoffman will show you how to design them for success.

Use data as an effective tool for school change and improvement! This resource helps data team facilitators move schools away from unproductive data practices and toward examining data for systematic and continuous improvement in instruction and learning. The book, which includes a CD-ROM with slides and reproducibles, illustrates how the authors' model has proven successful in: Narrowing achievement gaps in all content areas and grade levels Achieving strong, continuous gains in local and state assessments in mathematics, science, and reading Initiating powerful conversations about race/ethnicity, class, educational status, gender, and language differences Developing a vision for a high-performing, data-informed school culture

This book provides a wealth of practical literacy strategies tailored for adolescents who have had interrupted formal education or come from newly arrived immigrant populations.

Leadership skills are indispensable in language teaching and learning, and the effectiveness of these skills directly affect the quality of language education, the soundness of a program, and the satisfaction level of both teachers and students in the language classrooms and beyond. Part 1 of this collection provides the theoretical underpinnings of leadership development. Part 2 focuses on leadership skills and strategies on the topics of interpersonal communication, personal organization skills, and program organization skills. Part 3 discusses ELT leadership issues in U.S. public schools. The contributors to this volume include leaders who have contributed to the TESOL profession in various capacities. Their collective expertise makes this volume an excellent resource for teachers and program directors.

"Author and peer conference expert Adrian Segar shows you how peer conferences use innovative group process to not only generate the right conference sessions but also encourage meaningful and memorable attendee interactions. Using insightful sidebars illuminating key details as well as real-world stories illustrating important concepts, he guides you step-by-step through his proven strategy for creating productive conferences that attendees love."-- Back cover.

"Hosts of all kinds, this is a must-read!" --Chris Anderson, owner and curator of TED From the host of the New York Times podcast Together Apart, an exciting new approach to how we gather that will transform the ways we spend our time together—at home, at work, in our communities, and beyond. In The Art of Gathering, Priya Parker argues that the gatherings in our lives are lackluster and unproductive--which they don't have to be. We rely too much on routine and the conventions of gatherings when we should focus on distinctiveness and the people involved. At a time when coming together is more important than ever, Parker sets forth a human-centered approach to gathering that will help everyone create meaningful, memorable experiences, large and small, for work and for play. Drawing on her expertise as a facilitator of high-powered gatherings around the world, Parker takes us inside events of all kinds to show what works, what doesn't, and why. She investigates a wide array of gatherings--conferences, meetings, a courtroom, a flash-mob party, an Arab-Israeli summer camp--and explains how simple, specific changes can invigorate any group experience. The result is a book that's both journey and guide, full of exciting ideas with real-world applications. The Art of Gathering will forever alter the way you look at your next meeting, industry conference, dinner party, and backyard barbecue--and how you host and attend them.

The quality and success of schools depend upon school leadership. Increasingly, in many countries worldwide, this belief has led to designing and implementing appropriate training and development programs for educational leaders. In an international comparative research project, current school leader training and development programs in fiftee

What is understanding and how does it differ from knowledge? How can we determine the big ideas worth understanding? Why is understanding an important teaching goal, and how do we know when students have attained it? How can we create a rigorous and engaging curriculum that focuses on understanding and leads to improved student performance in today's high-stakes, standards-based environment? Authors Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe answer these and many other questions in this second edition of Understanding by Design. Drawing on feedback from thousands of educators around the world who have used the UbD framework since its introduction in 1998, the authors have greatly revised and expanded their original work to guide educators across the K-16 spectrum in the design of curriculum, assessment, and instruction. With an improved UbD Template at its core, the book explains the rationale of backward design and explores in greater depth the meaning of such key ideas as essential questions and transfer tasks. Readers will learn why the familiar coverage- and activity-based approaches to curriculum design fall short, and how a focus on the six facets of understanding can enrich student learning. With an expanded array of practical strategies, tools, and examples from all subject areas, the book demonstrates how the research-based principles of Understanding by Design apply to district frameworks as well as to individual units of curriculum. Combining provocative ideas, thoughtful analysis, and tested approaches, this new edition of Understanding by Design offers teacher-designers a clear path to the creation of curriculum that ensures better learning and a more stimulating experience for students and teachers alike.