Private Schools with Public Purpose: Full Schedule

Georgetown Day School is thrilled to host the 10th annual Private Schools with Public Purpose conference in Washington, DC. The themes this year are Engage. Collaborate. Create. We look forward to seeing you for three days in March to learn how educators from across the country are connecting their students to important social justice issues in their own communities.

8:45am EST

Morning Meal Preparation at DC Central Kitchen

Limited Capacity seats available

Meet at DCCK at 8:45am to be a part of the daily morning meal preparation. Participants will work alongside graduates of DC Central Kitchen’s Culinary Job Training program to prepare nutritious meals by cutting, chopping and/or peeling thousands of pounds of otherwise wasted food. With the help of volunteers DCCK prepares and delivers more than 5,000 meals to partner homeless shelters, rehabilitation clinics, halfway houses, and after-school programs each day. No cooking or food service experience is required. Storage space for volunteer personal belongings is limited, so please plan to travel light. Weekday morning volunteers are invited to stay for lunch at 12:00 PM. This activity is limited to 15 participants. Transportation is not provided, but DCCK is within walking distance of the Judiciary Square Metro station (Red Line).
Dress Code: Safety is our number one concern. All volunteers must wear appropriate and professional attire suitable for an industrial production kitchen. Please wear closed toed shoes, sleeves and long pants. Shoes with high-grip soles are strongly recommended.

Thursday March 9, 2017 8:45am - 12:00pm EST
DC Central Kitchen 425 2nd St NW, Washington, DC 20001

Direct Service, Pre-Conference Activity

Audience Administrator, Community Partner, Teacher

10:30am EST

Tour of the National Museum of American History

Limited Capacity seats available

Go on a VIP tour the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of American History. This hour long tour, led by a NMAH docent, will highlight the various exhibits and artifacts on display at the museum. Space is limited to 20 participants for this activity. Tour begins at 10:30am. Transportation is not provided, but the NMAH is within walking distance of the Metro Center (Red Line), Federal Center and Smithsonian (both Orange/Blue Lines) Metro stops.

Thursday March 9, 2017 10:30am - 12:00pm EST
National Museum of American History 14th St and Constitution Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20001

Sightseeing, Pre-Conference Activity

Audience Community Partner, Teacher, Administrator

2:00pm EST

Tour of the United States Capitol

Limited Capacity seats available

A visit to D.C is not complete without a guide of the US Capitol building. The tour will begin with screening of E Pluribus Unum. After this brief film, the group will go on a guided tour of the Rotunda, Old Supreme Court chambers, Statuary Hall and other spaces in the Capitol building. Space is limited to 15 participants for this activity. Tour begins at 2:00p.

Thursday March 9, 2017 2:00pm - 3:30pm EST
Russell Senate Building 475 Russell Senate Building, Washington, DC 20510

Sightseeing, Pre-Conference Activity

Audience Community Partner, Teacher, Administrator

2:30pm EST

National Network of Schools in Partnership Panel

Limited Capacity full
Adding this to your schedule will put you on the waitlist.

Join National Network of Schools in Partnership Executive Director Blake Kohn for an active workshop on integrating service learning and community engagement into your curriculum. Hear specific examples from schools on how they have transformed their programs into school-wide, curricular-based programs. Spend time brainstorming and planning with other participants and leave with ideas and inspiration on how to better include partnership and community engagement programs into a whole school curriculum.The panel will take place from 2:30-4:30pm at the GDS HS campus (4200 Davenport Street NW). Registration is limited to 15 participants.

Speakers

Blake Kohn

Executive Director, National Network of Schools in Partnership

Blake is the Executive Director of the National Network of Schools in Partnership. Prior to this appointment, she spent two years as the Program Manager for NNSP cultivating the membership, establishing its brand and advocating for collaboration and partnership amongst all schools.A... Read More →

Thursday March 9, 2017 2:30pm - 4:30pm EST
Odradek 4200 Davenport Street NW, Washington DC 20016

HS, Pre-Conference Activity | LS, Pre-Conference Activity | MS, Pre-Conference Activity

Audience Community Partner, Teacher, Administrator

9:30am EST

Georgetown Day School and Friendship Place: Authenticity in Action

Limited Capacity seats available

This workshop will explore the evolving relationship between Georgetown Day School and Friendship Place, a homeless services organization in the Tenleytown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Over the past five years, Friendship Place and GDS have collaborated in a number of ways--from the Policy Institute to projects for an English-11 class and on various design thinking initiatives. Attendees will be invited to discuss the successes and failures of various projects and to reflect on how to incorporate service-learning into their own curricula.

Speakers

Sean Read

Sarah Redmond

Faculty, GDS

Friday March 10, 2017 9:30am - 10:45am EST
Room 324 4200 Davenport Street NW, Washington DC 20016

HS, Workshop

Audience Administrator, Community Partner, Teacher

9:30am EST

A Rationale for Service as Social Justice

Limited Capacity filling up

This workshop will explore the development of the Purpose in Community program at The Spence School as a case study for understanding how to transform service learning into social justice activism. Participants will learn how the Spence service team used a backwards design model to build a service learning program that promotes anti-racism and anti-classism. The workshop will identify ways in which service programs in independent schools can inadvertently reinforce the very social hierarchies and oppression they are seeking to dismantle, and using Tania Mitchell’s research of “critical service learning”, provide a new way of envisioning service learning in a school from kindergarten to grade 12. Participants will engage in activities within small groups that will generate enduring understandings about service learning for their institutions and will leave with a new understanding of service learning as a tool for social justice, including a framework to use in their own schools.

Speakers

Danielle Passno

Director of Outreach and Public Purpose, The Spence School

I am interested in service as social justice and in creating enduring understandings that are taught K - 12 through the service curriculum.

Friday March 10, 2017 9:30am - 10:45am EST
Room 323 4200 Davenport Street NW, Washington DC 20016

HS, Workshop | LS, Workshop | MS, Workshop

Audience Administrator, Teacher

9:30am EST

Building productive collaborations: lessons from Pasadena’s Partnership for Success!

Limited Capacity seats available

This workshop will present a set of best practices for programs seeking to develop collaborations that enrich students’ experiences inside and outside the classroom. The workshop draws from the experience of Pasadena, California’s Partnership for Success!, a decades-old unique collaboration between four independent schools and the city’s public school district that serves over 400 students during nine consecutive summers. The workshop will show participants how to further their program’s mission by finding and utilizing existing resources, investing in partnerships that produce buy-in, and leveraging the passions and interests of those in the surrounding community. In each case, the lessons will be illustrated through individual case studies, such as the Partnership’s development of a Saturday tutoring program, a College 101 course, and a community-based book project.

Speakers

Jose Melgoza

Executive Director, Partnership for Success!, Polytechnic School

I serve as Executive Director for Partnership for Success! - a collaboration between 4 independent schools (Polytechnic, Mayfield Junior, Chandler, and Westridge) and Pasadena Unified School District that provides a fully-funded summer enrichment program designed to help students... Read More →

Friday March 10, 2017 9:30am - 10:45am EST
Room 325 4200 Davenport Street NW, Washington DC 20016

HS, Workshop | LS, Workshop | MS, Workshop

Audience Community Partner, Teacher

9:30am EST

DC-Area Service-Learning Practioners Panel: Collaborating and Engaging with our City

Limited Capacity seats available

Join service-learning coordinators from five DC-area independent schools to learn about the programs at each school. The group will then discuss how they have formed a network that meets regularly, collaborates on projects and shares resources to further their public purpose work.

Speakers

Lauren Brownlee

Director of Social Action, Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart

Christiane Connors

Director of Service & Civic Engagement, Burke School

Christiane Connors directs the Service and Civic Engagement program and teaches Activism and Global Citizenship to 11th graders at the Edmund Burke School in Washington, DC. She earned her doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction at George Washington University in 2015, focusing on... Read More →

Becky Fifer

K-8 Service Learning Coordinator, Spanish Teacher, Maret School

Nina Grillo-Balthrop

Lower & Middle School Service Learning Coordinator, Georgetown Day School

Shoshanna Sumka

Global and Community Engagement, Sidwell Friends School

Friday March 10, 2017 9:30am - 10:45am EST
Room 212 4200 Davenport Street NW, Washington DC 20016

LS, Panel | MS, Panel | HS, Panel

Audience Teacher, Administrator

9:30am EST

Classroom Simulations to Confront Privilege and Internalized Stereotypes

Limited Capacity seats available

We love simulations and are excited to introduce two that we created to other educators! The best way to do this, of course, is to have our workshop attendees experience the simulations themselves so they know best how to adapt the activities for their classrooms, students, or communities. Our first activity involves reading a description of a human and giving our attendees one minute to draw who they visualize in their mind upon hearing that description. Later, we reveal photos of the people we were describing. We provide ONLY crayons so people are forced to decide what skin color people have. The reflections and discussion from this activity are always fascinating. It is an amazing way to get people talking honestly about their own internalized assumptions about race, gender, and more. Next, we lead participants through our "pompom simulation" that we created to teach our students about privilege, systemic poverty, and oppression. In this activity, pompoms simulate wealth and power and participants learn about and feel the effects of privilege as they go through three rounds of opportunities to earn and distribute “wealth” (pompoms). This activity has 3 rounds and teaches people so much about themselves and the world. It also leads to dynamic discussion and collaboration about using this simulation to gain understanding, perspective, empathy and hopefully take action. We also tell participants about other activities and resources we enjoy and have used successfully so they walk away from our presentation with lots of ideas, dynamic understandings, and practical resources and activities.

Speakers

Gabby Arca

5th Grade Homeroom Teacher, Sheridan School

Nina Sethi

5th Grade Homeroom Teacher, Sheridan School

Friday March 10, 2017 9:30am - 10:45am EST
Room 217 4200 Davenport Street NW, Washington DC 20016

MS, Workshop

Audience Teacher

9:30am EST

Girls in the Middle: Authenticity and Body Image Awareness for Middle School Girls

Limited Capacity seats available

Five middle school counselors will explore the inter-school process we engaged with to conceptualize, collaborate and create a middle school girls empowerment conference. We will present data to support the critical need for such an event, explain our process with tips and strategies for how to launch a successful event, and allow participants time to brainstorm the feasability of this type of event within your school communities. Finally, you will hear lessons learned directly from girls selected by their schools to attend the conference.

Speakers

Ann Danner

Middle School Counselor, Green Acres School

Hope Hallock

Marilyn Wilson Odhiambo

Middle School Counselor, Washington International School

Ms. Wilson Odhiambo earned her B.S. at West Virginia University, her M.Ed. in Rehabilitation Counseling from University of Georgia and began her career teaching at public schools in Florida and Georgia. After receiving an additional credential, an Ed.S. in School Counseling, from... Read More →

Malikkah Rollins

Counselor, Lowell School

Friday March 10, 2017 9:30am - 10:45am EST
Odradek 4200 Davenport Street NW, Washington DC 20016

MS, Panel

Audience Administrator, Teacher

9:30am EST

Leadership Design and Improvisation

Limited Capacity seats available

In Charlotte, NC, Bruns Academy (a Charlotte-Mecklenburg public school) and Providence Day School (an independent school) wondered what would happen if 8th graders from both schools got together to learn about leadership and each other. Instead of traditional models of community service, these schools asked: What if this diverse group of students were given a radically collaborative and wildly creative problem solving process that enabled them to enact change in their respective and shared communities? This workshop will tell the story of how this public-private partnership enabled middle school students to engage, collaborate, and create while forming meaningful relationships. Even better, this workshop will give participants the chance to undertake the improvisation and design thinking processes used to launch and propel this endeavor. Everyone will leave with exploratory seeds and hints of the improvisation and design skills necessary to reinvent public-private partnership.

Speakers

Michael Magno

Head of Middle School, Providence Day School

Ryan Welsh

Design Strategist; English Faculty, Providence Day School

Friday March 10, 2017 9:30am - 10:45am EST
Room 213 4200 Davenport Street NW, Washington DC 20016

MS, Workshop

Audience Administrator, Teacher

9:30am EST

Creating authentic experiential learning experiences for our most at-risk youth

Limited Capacity seats available

Participants will learn about the mission and vision of Monument Academy PCS - which serves middle school youth currently or previously in foster care - and why/how experiential learning and student ownership is (as) important for our most at-risk students. We will describe how we are building this out in middle school and our plans for a high school. Then we hope to engage participates in an exercise to engage them in brainstorming and planning for how we can engage community stakeholders, including private schools, in this process.

Speakers

Emily Bloomfield

Founder/CEO, Monument Academy Public Charter School

Friday March 10, 2017 9:30am - 10:45am EST
Room 215 4200 Davenport Street NW, Washington DC 20016

MS, Workshop | HS, Workshop

Audience Teacher, Administrator

9:30am EST

Engaging in Service: Facilitating Student-Generated Change

Limited Capacity seats available

Character can and should be taught. In addition to traditional brick and mortar classroom lessons, students’ character can also be developed and forged in the reality of our natural urban environment. This workshop will engage participants in multiple experiential class-based exercises currently being delivered in schools through the Baltimore Chesapeake Bay Outward Bound School’s Character Curriculum. Heavy on practical application, we will highlight our exercises that focus on communication and collaboration; giving workshop participants a taste of how their own facilitation practice can impact socially based change management skills. Participants will learn how we have used this method to create an immersive experiential learning opportunity for students, Outward Bound’s Service Urban Expedition, a 5-day/4-night experience invites students into their own communities in a challenging and safe manner in order to engage in mutually beneficial service opportunities while learning where their own strengths and opportunities lay.

Speakers

Sara Gibb

Instructional Designer, Baltimore Chesapeake Bay Outward Bound School

]Come DO SOMETHING employing Intergroup Contact Theory! We’ll engage in activities to help us empathize with our students’ mindsets and explore best practices for measuring the experience. Let's talk about how brick and mortar school facilitators + experiential methods = MAGI... Read More →

Friday March 10, 2017 9:30am - 10:45am EST
Room 312 4200 Davenport Street NW, Washington DC 20016

MS, Workshop | HS, Workshop

Audience Teacher, Community Partner

1:15pm EST

Race, Place & Space: Re-imagining Community Partnerships With a Focus on Our Particular Place

Limited Capacity filling up

What might student-driven activism look like? How might we make space for students to claim and access their own power to positively impact the world beyond our classroom? The CENTER and a unique partnership between Catlin Gabel School’s PLACE Programs in Portland and Riverdale Country Day School in the Bronx, is bi-coastal case study of partnerships at the institutional, community, and student level that will provide the jumping off point for participants to examine ways they can bring their school missions to fruition while honoring local communities. Students will come together in Portland to begin a student-centered relationship co-learning content creation in June, 2017 with lasting outcomes throughout the following schoolyear. The CENTER (Create. Engage. Notice. Teach. Empower. Remember.) is co-governed by three local non-profits and three educational institutions in the heart of Portland’s historically African-American neighborhood with the mission of “joining organizational forces in the creation of authentic and inclusive opportunities that empower children and youth to lead positive change in their communities.”

Speakers

Emily Schorr Lesnick

Theater Arts Teacher, Upper School Director of Service-Learning, Riverdale Country School

As a theatre maker with a passion for ethnodrama, I am deeply invested in hearing and amplifying others’ voices.

George Zaninovich

Director, PLACE Programs and the CENTER, Catlin Gabel School

I've been teaching at progressive schools for 18 years with a focus on engaging students in authentic community partnerships and projects with real-world civic benefit.

Friday March 10, 2017 1:15pm - 2:30pm EST
Room 103 4200 Davenport Street NW, Washington DC 20016

HS, Workshop

Audience Administrator, Community Partner, Teacher

1:15pm EST

Building Reciprocal Community Connections: An Ethical Approach to Social Justice

Limited Capacity filling up

Developing and implementing meaningful service-learning projects that address some of our communities’ greatest challenges requires that we prepare ourselves and our students to engage in critical conversations about equity, inclusion, diversity, and global justice. This session explores the Nobis Global Action Model, which prepares educators to engage their students in critical conversations around race, class, and power, and ultimately design service-learning projects that reflect a deep understanding of and respect for the needs of their community partners. During this interactive workshop, explore the model through hands-on activities and brainstorm ways to enhance their curriculum. You will leave with lesson examples and an understanding of how to use the model’s conceptual framework in your classrooms.

Speakers

Christen Clougherty

Executive Director, Nobis Project, Inc.

Christen Clougherty, Ph.D. is the Founder and Executive Director of the Nobis Project, a non-profit educational support organization that focuses on developing educators’ capacity to foster reciprocal and meaningful community partnerships, build culturally responsive classrooms... Read More →

Friday March 10, 2017 1:15pm - 2:30pm EST
Room 100 4200 Davenport Street NW, Washington DC 20016

HS, Workshop | LS, Workshop | MS, Workshop

Audience Community Partner, Teacher

1:15pm EST

Leadership Development by Design

Limited Capacity seats available

The late John Gardner, founder of Common Cause, was fond of saying that “leadership is service.” This session explores civic engagement/social impact initiatives through the lens of leadership development. While leadership qualities are serendipitously absorbed by students engaged in public purpose activities, this panel makes the case that leadership skills, habits of mind and ways of being need to be incorporated by design rather than chance. In addition to the “why” and the “how” of this focus, it is important to consider students’ stages of readiness, being especially mindful of how best to spark authentic motivation and build confidence in their ability to become thought-leaders as well as leaders among their peers. It is also useful to track the extent to which students’ commitment to, and effectiveness in, leadership roles endure over time in order to provide a data-driven feedback loop that informs continuous program improvement.

Speakers

Al Adams

Principal, Al Adams Advisors

Crissy Caceres

Assistant Head of School for Equity and Social Impact, Georgetown Day School

Christine Godinez

Director of Student Inclusion, Leadership and Civic Engagement, Lick-Wilmerding High School

Friday March 10, 2017 1:15pm - 2:30pm EST
Odradek 4200 Davenport Street NW, Washington DC 20016

HS, Panel | LS, Panel | MS, Panel

Audience Administrator, Community Partner, Teacher

1:15pm EST

Developing Transformative Partnerships to Address Social Justice Issues

Limited Capacity seats available

Encouraging students to deconstruct economic, political and social issues is critical. Middle Grades Partnership (MGP) seeks to break down the silos of race by bringing together students from public and private schools to collaborate on important projects. MGP teachers utilize Project Based Learning and provide students with a platform to discuss social justice issues. Post-Freddie Gray we developed a student centered social justice emphasis that allows students to develop solutions to complex problems. At the conclusion of the session, participants will know how to: 1) develop partnerships with local organizations to address economic, political and social issues; 2) replicate MGP and other exemplar models that focus on social justice and 3) develop a strategic plan with guidance from MGP staff.

Speakers

Larry Walker

Program Manager, Middle Grades Partnership

Friday March 10, 2017 1:15pm - 2:30pm EST
Choral Room 4200 Davenport Street NW, Washington DC 20016

LS, Workshop | MS, Workshop | HS, Workshop

Audience Teacher, Community Partner

1:15pm EST

PSPP: The Power of Collaboration---A History

Limited Capacity seats available

Working, working, working for more than the past ten years, Barbara Gee and Carl Ackerman took the journey that we now call Private Schools with Public Purpose (PSPP). Reflecting on what put them on this journey, and some of the unexpected red lights, yellow lights, and green lights that occurred, Carl and Barbara offer an insightful look back over the past decade. They will also mention the wonderful people who have helped create the most vibrant PSPP, and a glimpse at its future development

Speakers

Carl Ackerman

Former PSPP Director, PSPP

Barbara Gee

Co-Founder, Director Emeritus, PSPP

I am one of the co-founders of PSPP (Private Schools with Public Purpose) and am currently a Co-Executive Director along with Carl Ackerman. I would be happy to discuss how Carl and I came together to create this annual conference and what our mission and goals were.

Friday March 10, 2017 1:15pm - 2:30pm EST
Library 4200 Davenport Street NW, Washington DC 20016

LS, Panel | MS, Panel | HS, Panel

Audience Teacher, Administrator, Community Partner

9:00am EST

Beyond Service: Seeding Social Innovation

Limited Capacity seats available

We believe in the power of young people to change the world. For many of us, that is why we became educators. This belief is central to many of our core missions and values. Yet acting on this philosophy is often easier said than done. Through this workshop we will model how social innovation can take community service and service learning one step further by putting students in charge of their own experiences. We have found social entrepreneurship creates space for students to engage with the social injustices and environmental challenges that anger them most; collaborate intentionally across schools, communities, and cultures; and create meaningful impact. We will draw on LearnServe International's 13 years of teaching social entrepreneurship to DC area high school and middle school students. The workshop will be co-facilitated by current LearnServe students (Jared Makheja, Leader, The Elevator Project: Special Needs Program and Madison Than, Founder, Cardboard Coders) who have launched their own dynamic social venture projects. If you share our belief in the power of young people to change the world -- and are curious how best to coach them through that process -- we hope you will join us.

Speakers

Lauren Jordan

Program Director of Seeding Social Innovation, LearnServe International

Jared Makheja

Fellow, LearnServe

Scott Rechler

Co-Director and CEO, LearnServe International

A Washington DC native, Scott is Director and CEO of LearnServe International, a non-profit organization that prepares high school and middle school students as community leaders, with a focus on social entrepreneurship and global awareness. Scott graduated from Harvard College with... Read More →

Madison Than

Fellow, LearnServe

Saturday March 11, 2017 9:00am - 10:15am EST
Room 103 4200 Davenport Street NW, Washington DC 20016

HS, Workshop

Audience Teacher, Community Partner

9:00am EST

Student-Led Partnership in Action: The E.E. Ford Foundation Community Engagement Fellowship Program

Limited Capacity seats available

In 2015, with support from the E.E. Ford Foundation, Rye Country Day School launched the Community Engagement Fellowship program. Each year, this program brings together a cohort of ten students in partnership with local organizations to develop and implement innovative and sustainable programs that address collaboratively defined community needs. Part of Rye Country Day’s mission is to “foster a lifelong passion for learning, understanding, and service in an ever-changing world.” This program aligns closely with the mission-driven goal of cultivating the values of empathy and compassion in our students. The goal of this session is to share the evolution of the Community Engagement Fellowship program from concept to practice. Participants will explore the rationale for this approach to public purpose and community engagement, learn how RCDS worked with community organizations to develop the program and support student ideas, and understand the challenges and successes of the program. Two students will share their experiences designing and implementing their Community Engagement Fellowship projects last summer. Participants will leave with a framework of ideas and sample materials that could inspire creation of similar programs in their own schools.

Speakers

Alonzo Diaz

Student, Rye Country Day School

Alison Doernberg

Director of Public Purpose, Rye Country Day School

Alexei Mentzer

Student, Rye Country Day School

Saturday March 11, 2017 9:00am - 10:15am EST
Room 101 4200 Davenport Street NW, Washington DC 20016

HS, Workshop

Audience Community Partner, Teacher

9:00am EST

Engaging and Partnering with Tribal Nations

Limited Capacity seats available

Standing Rock and the #NoDAPL movement has seen one of the greatest modern day displays of solidarity on tribal issues among both Native American and non-Native communities and allies. But water protection rights are not the only priorities expressed by Native American youth.

The Center for Native American Youth at the Aspen Institute (CNAY) is an advocacy organization located in Washington, DC dedicated to elevating diverse voices and perspectives of Native youth priorities into the national dialogue. Join CNAY staff for a workshop designed to give you a brief introduction to Indian Country, share strategies about meaningful partnerships with tribal nations, and discuss opportunities to engage Native American youth in your efforts. During this workshop, you will learn about youth priorities identified from over 160 Native youth roundtable conversations and national surveys, as well as learn about CNAY’s national efforts to support Native youth through initiatives like the National Native Youth Network created as a part of the Generation Indigenous initiative launched under the Obama Administration. Participants will leave the workshop with a better understanding of tribal nations and connections with CNAY to serve as a trusted resource on Native youth issues moving forward.

Speakers

Bettina Gonzalez

Center for Native American Youth

Teddy McCullough

Saturday March 11, 2017 9:00am - 10:15am EST
Room 108 4200 Davenport Street NW, Washington DC 20016

HS, Workshop | LS, Workshop | MS, Workshop

9:00am EST

Long-term Student focused Partnerships: One Summer at a Time

Limited Capacity seats available

The workshop will be in panel format providing participants the opportunity to hear from a diverse representation of Horizons programs based at independent schools. The primary goal will be to help participants learn about the value of long-term engagement strategies as a means to enhance service opportunities for students, make a meaningful impact and enhance the value proposition of the school to the greater community. Special emphasis will be made on the sustainability of Horizons and similar ventures, how to collaborate with local institutions (districts, other schools, service providers, etc.) and how data is a driver for quality. Horizons National (www.horizonsnational.org) has 52 program sites in 18 states and over 50+ years of experience in collaborating with independent schools.

Speakers

Dr. Judy Jankowski

Head of School, Chesapeake Bay Academy

Chesapeake Bay Academy is a proud host school for the Horizons summer program serving students from the Norfolk and Virginia Beach Public Schools. Personally, I am a product of the Chicago Public Schools, K-12, and have served in independent schools for nearly 20 years. My commitment... Read More →

Jose Oromi

Executive Vice President, Horizons National

Marjo Talbott

Saturday March 11, 2017 9:00am - 10:15am EST
Room 114 4200 Davenport Street NW, Washington DC 20016

HS, Workshop | LS, Workshop | MS, Workshop

Audience Administrator, Community Partner, Teacher

9:00am EST

PSPP: The Power of Collaboration---A History

Limited Capacity seats available

Speakers

Carl Ackerman

Former PSPP Director, PSPP

Barbara Gee

Co-Founder, Director Emeritus, PSPP

Saturday March 11, 2017 9:00am - 10:15am EST
Room 100 4200 Davenport Street NW, Washington DC 20016

HS, Panel | LS, Panel | MS, Panel

Audience Community Partner, Teacher, Administrator

9:00am EST

Composing Community

Limited Capacity seats available

The Young Composers & Improvisors Workshop (YCIW) began as a curriculum project at the Little Red School House & Elisabeth Irwin High School (LREI) in New York City in 2010. YCIW has developed into a community of schools, both public and private, that provides students with the tools and support to develop critical/creative thinking skills. YCIW uses music composition as the medium for developing lifelong skills and knowledge. Through the combination of a progressive curriculum, technological resources, online composer mentoring and live performance our goal is to help every kind of learner regardless of experience engage in music composition as a basic part of her education. We believe that our goal of a community of private and public school learners is one that will enrich the experience for all participants. The goal of this workshop will be to use our YCIW experience as a model case study for the development of high quality and sustainable partnerships and to foster dialog.

Speakers

Matt McLean

Middle School Music Teacher and Band Director, Little Red School House & Elisabeth Irwin High School

Mark Silberberg

Director of Learning & Innovation, Little Red School House & Elisabeth Irwin HS (LREI)

Saturday March 11, 2017 9:00am - 10:15am EST
Room 119 4200 Davenport Street NW, Washington DC 20016

HS, Workshop | MS, Workshop

Audience Teacher

9:00am EST

The Service Urban Experiential Expedition

Limited Capacity seats available

The Baltimore Chesapeake Bay Outward Bound School has designed and successfully delivered an experiential education program geared towards addressing a need familiar to some in the Independent education field; how do we as educators provide co-beneficial, empathy-building, service opportunities within our local community? By partnering with an organization proficient in the delivery of experiential education, educators and administrators have the chance to create unique and highly-impactful programs which form safe spaces for participants to ask themselves: “What? So What? Now What?” about student- driven issues affecting their community. Furthermore, by dovetailing the classroom experience and the in-the-field experience, educators can facilitate and support their students in actually creating change around those very issues. Participants at this workshop can expect to learn about Outward Bound’s 70 year history of successful experiential education programs, they will learn about a specific example of the Service Urban Expedition and how it came to life within one particular Independent School, they will learn about the 21st Century learning objectives targeted by the program, they will learn about the in-classroom wrap-around Character Curriculum and, finally they will learn about the program’s overall efficacy.

Speakers

Jen Mayotte

Corporate and Independent School Sales, Baltimore Chesapeake Bay Outward Bound School

Saturday March 11, 2017 9:00am - 10:15am EST
Room 102 4200 Davenport Street NW, Washington DC 20016

HS, Workshop | MS, Workshop

Audience Community Partner, Teacher, Administrator

9:00am EST

Transformational Experiences: Connecting with local refugees to enrich classroom learning

Limited Capacity seats available

For some high school students, the refugee migration crisis is just something they read about on Facebook or watch on the daily news. It’s hard to understand how this global issue can affect the our local communities. How can high schools help develop young leaders to become advocates for vulnerable populations who seem so far away? For the past six years, Notre Dame Preparatory School and the Baltimore City Community College Refugee Youth Project have partnered to create an exceptional service-learning model where high school students tutor and mentor local refugee youth. Learn how this mutually-beneficial service opportunity bridges cultures, builds empathy, and creates a lifelong impact on Notre Dame Preparatory students as well as participants of the Refugee Youth Project.

Speakers

Janie McDermott

Student, Notre Dame Prepatory School

Celeste O'Connor

Student, Notre Dame Prepatory School

Kursten Pickup

Coordinator, Refugee Youth Project

Steve Pomplon

Director of Social Service, Notre Dame Prepatory School

Saturday March 11, 2017 9:00am - 10:15am EST
Room 104 4200 Davenport Street NW, Washington DC 20016

LS, Workshop | MS, Workshop | HS, Workshop

Audience Teacher, Community Partner

9:00am EST

Creek to Bay: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Environmental Service Learning

Limited Capacity seats available

We would like to give other educators ideas and tools for developing and implementing an interdisciplinary, multi-modal service learning program. Our program, a year-long environmental service learning course for 7th graders entitled “Creek to Bay,” combines four kinds of direct and indirect service (trash pickup, invasive species removal, advocacy letter writing, and fundraising), hands-on experience, humanities and science education in the classroom, speakers, and field trips. All students participate in the program once a week, rotating among four “pods” each month: three on-campus classes and one off-campus service trip to a local national park. Our workshop will explain both the philosophy and logistics of our program, as well as highlight how the collaboration of multiple teachers and multiple nonprofit organizations has added depth, relevance, and efficacy to the experience for both our students and our partners.

Speakers

Becky Fifer

K-8 Service Learning Coordinator, Spanish Teacher, Maret School

Saturday March 11, 2017 9:00am - 10:15am EST
Room 112 4200 Davenport Street NW, Washington DC 20016

MS, Workshop

Audience Teacher

11:00am EST

A Conversation about Race and Policing

Limited Capacity filling up

Lead students and their teacher, Ayo Magwood, will present their plans for a student led Summit this spring at at Howard University. The Summit will bring together over 120 students from Maret School and Cesar Chavez Public Charter School for a half-day workshop. Issues to be discussed: How students build relationship and trust over the course of the year leading up to the Summit; the role of student leadership in both schools; curricular tie-ins for both US History programs; the role of a third party institution such as Howard University; best practices and take-aways from lead teachers and administrators at Maret School and Cesar Chavez.

Speakers

Ayo Magwood

Upper School Instructor, Maret School

Saturday March 11, 2017 11:00am - 12:15pm EST
Room 103 4200 Davenport Street NW, Washington DC 20016

HS, Workshop

Audience Administrator, Community Partner, Teacher

11:00am EST

ACT/SAT Framework: Tackling Test Prep and Integration

Limited Capacity seats available

A-List Education will equip teachers with the knowledge necessary to incorporate ACT and/or SAT skills into their classrooms. Teachers will learn to engage and support students by creating their own ACT and SAT prep courses with ease and efficacy. Students steeped in their teachers’ prep courses will build the confidence and expertise needed to reach their full academic potential. A-List will collaborate with educators from various school communities, creating effective ACT/SAT content for student engagement. Teachers will learn to partner with fellow staff to incorporate these college readiness skills in their classes. The program will help streamline the transition from high school to college by elevating students’ comprehension and test-taking ability. Through the use of integrated technology, teachers will be able to assess areas for improvement and can also relate their curriculum to current state testing standards. A-List aims to create impactful in-classroom instruction for teachers to galvanize students, improving ACT and/or SAT performance.

Speakers

Vanessa Oguchi

President, A List Education

Saturday March 11, 2017 11:00am - 12:15pm EST
Room 100 4200 Davenport Street NW, Washington DC 20016

HS, Workshop

11:00am EST

From DC to Round Rock: Connecting students to the Navajo Nation

Limited Capacity seats available

Over the past decade, nearly 100 Georgetown Day School students have traveled to Navajo and Pueblo communities throughout the Southwest. Now with the Dakota Access Pipeline making headline news, the stakes are higher than ever to create a new generation educated about the rights and experiences of modern American Indians. Attendees will learn about this service learning trip founded by GDS parent Faith Roessel and her three sons, members of the Navajo Nation, who have transformed the Navajo Nation, Pueblo villages, and urban Indian communities into DC students' classrooms to create allies for Indian Country. Relying on partnerships with public schools, non-profit domesitc violence organizations, tribal colleges, national parks, tribal government offices, and more, students engage in direct service in exchange for the unparalleled education they receive.

Speakers

Faith Roessel

Alumni Parent, Navajo Nation Service-Learning Trip, GDS

Saturday March 11, 2017 11:00am - 12:15pm EST
Room 102 4200 Davenport Street NW, Washington DC 20016

HS, Workshop

Audience Administrator, Community Partner, Teacher

11:00am EST

Reflecting on the 2016 Washington Area Independent School Summit on Sexual Assault and Consent

Limited Capacity seats available

Amy Killy, GDS HS Counselor, and a group of students will present about the 2016 Washington Area Independent School Summit on Sexual Assault and Consent. This conference was a student-driven initiative to connect high school students and educators from the DC metropolitan area in order to explore the complexity of sexual assault and consent issues. Guided by experts in this field and supported by their peers, this conference brought students, faculty, and administrators from more than 20 independent schools together for a whole day in November to examine current laws, policies, and programs established to support survivors, advocate for rights, and prevent sexual assault. The end-goal was to have participants apply this knowledge to their own communities where they can design initiatives and prompt culture change. During this session, PSPP participants will get a sense of what it takes to pull off such an event, as well as the successes and challenges.

Speakers

Amy Killy

Saturday March 11, 2017 11:00am - 12:15pm EST
Room 104 4200 Davenport Street NW, Washington DC 20016

HS, Panel

Audience Teacher, Administrator, Community Partner

11:00am EST

Where Do We Go From Here? The Beginning of a 5th grade service learning partnership with Pathways to Housing D.C.

Limited Capacity seats available

Tonight, over 500 individuals will be sleeping on the streets of DC. In your own life, recount the number of instances you saw or passed someone experiencing homelessness. How did you respond? Did you stop to talk or offer them a bite to eat? Or did you feel completely uncertain about how to engage? The students of Georgetown Day School saw the issue of homelessness in their city and knew there was a better way to help their vulnerable neighbors. Georgetown Day School believes that a GDS student will “build networks and collaborate across difference, self-advocate, think critically, communicate clearly and powerfully, tackle complex problems, engage as a just, moral, and ethical citizen, and lead.” These ideals are embodied in our fifth grade service learning program in connection with Pathways to Housing DC. Through this partnership, we have been given the opportunity to address misconceptions and stereotypes attributed to people experiencing homelessness and how to share our experiences with our community. The goal of this session is to identify ways in which your school’s core values are or could be reflected in your own service learning programs and identify potential community partners that would be willing to support your efforts. We will detail service learning lessons and opportunities that our fifth graders have been involved in with Pathways to Housing DC and areas where we hope to expand our service learning program moving forward.

Speakers

Katherine Mantus

Development Assistant, Pathways to Housing

Bryan Williams

Parent, GDS

Saturday March 11, 2017 11:00am - 12:15pm EST
Room 119 4200 Davenport Street NW, Washington DC 20016

LS, Workshop

Audience Teacher

11:00am EST

Student Attendance: Struggle, Despair, Hope and Change

Limited Capacity seats available

How do we ENGAGE our students when they donʻt even show up? Letʻs gather to COLLABORATE on sharing stories of struggle, despair, hope and change. CREATE an individualized attendance policy, tip & tricks for your program. Bring existing program attendance policies and stories.

Speakers

Kylee Mar

Archivist, Punahou School

Saturday March 11, 2017 11:00am - 12:15pm EST
Room 108 4200 Davenport Street NW, Washington DC 20016

LS, Workshop | MS, Workshop | HS, Workshop

Audience Teacher, Administrator

11:00am EST

An Exploration of Food Justice in 6th Grade

Limited Capacity seats available

There are many barriers to establishing a comprehensive community engagement program that meets service-learning best practice standards and that is also embedded in the academic curriculum. Our team will present an on-going experiment in overcoming challenges such as time, curricular relevance, community buy-in, and authentic relationships. Participants will also help us evaluate programming through interactive protocols designed to examine student work, and since the experiment isn't over, explore potential next steps. Queries include: How might middle school students learn about systemic roots of global and local hunger? How might global issue studies aid in academic skill development? What changes when service-learning becomes an academic priority? How can teams collaborate to develop meaningful community engagement programming?

Speakers

Lesley Younge

6th Grade Teacher, Humanities and Math, Sidwell Friends School

Lesley Younge is a sixth grade teacher at Sidwell Friends Middle School. She teaches math, language arts, and social studies, which means a lot of work, but a lot of fun. Her interests include all things interdisciplinary, experiential, and globally competent. Current projects... Read More →

Saturday March 11, 2017 11:00am - 12:15pm EST
Room 112 4200 Davenport Street NW, Washington DC 20016

MS, Workshop

Audience Teacher