Communicating in Challenging Times - Jennifer Abrams

Description: No matter where what role we play in a school (principal, department chair, team lead), we all strive to make our communications clear and understandable.  And yet, in this time of uncertainty, we often don't get enough of an opportunity to think about the specific language we use and what our audiences need. We end up not being as successful as we could be in getting our messages out. 

We need to build up a skill set of messaging capabilities, resistance management strategies and for the sake of our health, our stress tolerance. This webinar is based on Jennifer’s book Swimming in the Deep End: Four Foundational Skills for Leading Successful School Initiatives will provide support and a laugh – all to help you communicate more effectively in these unprecedented and uncertain times.

Participants will learn how to:

• Learn more about the communication of our initiatives, the complexity of it all and where we ‘trip up’ in our messaging 
• Review research on how others respond and resist change 
• Develop a linguistic tool kit for managing the resistance of others.

Presenter: Jennifer Abrams 

Formerly a high school English teacher and a new teacher coach in Palo Alto Unified School District (Palo Alto, CA), Jennifer Abrams is currently a communications consultant and author who works with educators and others on new teacher and employee support, being generationally savvy, effective collaboration skills, having hard conversations and creating identity safe workplaces.

Jennifer’s publications include Having Hard Conversations, The Multigenerational Workplace: Communicate, Collaborate & Create Community, Hard Conversations Unpacked - the Whos, Whens and What Ifs, and Swimming in the Deep End: Four Foundational Skills for Leading Successful School Initiatives.  Her upcoming book on being our best adult selves at school will be out in 2021.

Jennifer has been invited to keynote, facilitate and coach at schools and conferences worldwide and is honored to have been named one of the “18 Women All K-12 Educators Should Know,” by Education Week’s ‘Finding Common Ground’’ blog.  More about Jennifer’s work can be found at her website, www.jenniferabrams.com, and on Twitter @jenniferabrams

Description: How did you react when it really struck? Paralysis, denial, anger, depression? Maybe a mix of all four. As educators and as leaders we want nothing more than to support our colleagues, galvanise our communities and most importantly, lift up our students. The events of the last few months and the lack of certainty it has brought has left so many with a profound sense of a lack of control. In this uplifting session, Richard will share thinking and ideas that will help us, on a human level, feel a greater sense of empowerment and optimism as we move our schools and communities forward and out of the chaos. 

Presenter: Richard Gerver 

Richard Gerver has been described as one of the most inspirational leaders of his generation. He is an award-winning speaker, bestselling author and world-renowned thinker.

Richard began his career in education, most notably as headmaster of the failing Grange Primary School. In just two years, he famously transformed the school into one of the most acclaimed learning environments in the world. He was celebrated by UNESCO and the UK Government for its incredible turnaround.

Richard has since transitioned to the global stage where he uses his trademark humour and natural style to deliver passionate, provocative and authentic speeches. He draws upon the first-hand experiences and unique insights garnered from frontline education to explore the links between great leadership, human potential, change and innovation.

The three core principles underpinning Richard's philosophy are communication, empowerment and impact. He argues that great leadership is first and foremost about serving the needs of the people who work for you. His mantra: systems and structures change nothing; people do. More about Richard’s work can be found at her website, www.richardgerver.com, and on Twitter @richardgerver

Description: The world is changing at a rapid pace, and the importance of inclusion and diversity is clearer than ever. Leading through just and transformational change however, is no easy feat. Yassmin Abdel-Magied expertly combines personal experience and research to inform leaders on the tools of inclusive leadership, the common mistakes leaders can make, and how to be a just and empowering leader for the 21st century.

You will learn

• the difference between intention and impact, and how to bridge that gap
• how to focus on the root causes of challenges, rather than the symptom and
• how to lean into the uncomfortable, and be inspired to make a difference.

Presenter: Yassmin Abdel-Magied 

Yassmin Abdel-Magied is an engineer, author, broadcaster, and award-winning social advocate. Her powerful TED talk, “What does my headscarf mean to you” has more than 1.8 million views, and she has become an internationally renowned speaker on the topics of unconscious bias and leadership. Through her work and thought-provoking talks, Yassmin is on a mission to make diversity the norm across the world through empowerment, empathy, and the power of stories.

At the age of 16, Yassmin founded Youth Without Borders, a youth-led grassroots organisation focused on empowering young people to positively change their communities. Driven by her love of Motorsport, she also designed a race car at 19, and graduated valedictorian with first class honours from mechanical engineering. Yassmin then went on to work as one of the few female engineers on oil and gas rigs around Australia, while continuing to advocate for social justice.

A bestselling author, Yassmin published her debut memoir, Yassmin's Story at the age of 24 and her writing has appeared in publications worldwide, including The Guardian, The New York Times, and The Australian Financial Review. She is also the author of the children’s fiction book You Must Be Layla.

Yassmin has served on numerous boards and councils, and is currently the founder of Mumtaza and an internationally sought-after advisor on issues facing women, youth, and those from racially and culturally diverse backgrounds. She has spoken in more than 20 countries across five continents. 

Description: Join us for an informative 60-minute webinar with Indigenous education expert, Gabrielle Scrimshaw. During this webinar, Gabrielle will discuss the diversity of experiences faced by Indigenous students, share tools for reconciliation in education and discuss anti-Indigenous racism in the context of social justice movements sweeping North America. You’ll walk away with data, tools and a refreshed understanding of Indigenous experiences in education. This workshop is for all knowledge levels.

Presenter: Gabrielle Scrimshaw 

Gabrielle Scrimshaw is an internationally sought-after storyteller and expert in Indigenous education. She has an MBA from Stanford and is a Fellow at the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University.

Growing up in a rural Indigenous town of 800 people, Gabrielle was raised in a single parent household and is a proud citizen of the Hatchet Lake Denesuline Nation. She is the co-founder of the Indigenous Professional Association of Canada and is an expert on diversity, leadership, and social justice.

She is a regular contributor for North America's largest national media outlets and has been profiled by the New York Times and Forbes.

Description: What influences does the internet have on children and learning? Under what conditions are these influences optimal? How have these influences changed over time? What is to come?

‘On the internet, we know before we learn’, Sugata quotes from a 12-year-old in London. A sentence that 20 years of experiments and forecasts ‘the end of knowing’, as he puts it.

Presenter: Sugata Mitra 

 School Leadership for Continued Student Learning in COVID Times - Dr. Carol Campbell 

Description: Following the announcement of a global pandemic by the World Health Organization in March, 2020; over 90% of school age students globally were affected by school closures and 63 million teachers switched to emergency response remote learning. There is a growing body of evidence about the emerging impact of COVID-19 for students, educators, and parents/carers. The United Nations has forewarned COVID-19 could be a "generational catastrophe" for students. However, by identifying and addressing challenges, and by innovating and creating opportunities to effectively support students and staff; school leaders and leadership are crucial. Drawing on established research concerning the importance of school leadership for supporting professional learning and practice to improve student learning and equity, plus emerging new Canadian and international evidence during the pandemic, this webinar will discuss school leadership for continued student learning in COVID times.

Presenter: Dr. Carol Campbell

Dr. Carol Campbell is Associate Professor of Leadership and Educational Change at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. She is a member of the International Council of Education Advisors for the First Minister and Deputy First Minister of the Scottish Government, and serves on several international education and advisory boards, including an elected Board member of the International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement (ICSEI). Originally from Scotland, Dr. Campbell has held education, academic and government roles in Canada, the UK and the USA. In Canada, she previously held progressively senior government official roles in the Ontario Ministry of Education, including becoming the first Chief Research Officer. She was also appointed as an Education Advisor to the Premier and Minister of Education in Ontario from 2014-18. Dr. Campbell’s recent books are: Teacher Learning and Leadership: Of, By and For Teachers (Routledge), Empowering Educators in Canada (Jossey-Bass) and Empowered Educators: How High-Performing Systems Shape Teaching Quality Around the World (Jossey-Bass). She is an active Twitter contributor @CarolCampbell4.

Description: We communicate in three ways: with Assertions (statements, opinions); Facts (numbers, empirical truths); and Stories (the telling of an event of events). Stories are the oldest and most powerful form of human communication, and their power has perhaps never been stronger or more needed than today.

In this interactive workshop, Doug Keeley, CEO & Chief Storyteller of Stories Rule!,  will show you how to spot and build great personal and workspace stories, and how to integrate them into your communication. You’ll even get to work on one of your own stories.

Presenter: Doug Keeley

Doug Keeley’s clients are unanimous in saying he has hooked them onto the power of business storytelling. His unique multimedia presentations Inspire and Equip audiences to be better business storytellers, and use the power of stories to fuel sales, leadership, and culture.

Over the last 15 years, has inspired hundreds of thousands of people through his keynotes, workshops, and conference hosting, using amazing stories of people, companies and ideas that have changed the world. Keeley has worked with a long list of blue chip clients including Accenture, Bayer, HP, Microsoft, Pepsi, Scotiabank, Starbucks, Xerox, and many others. He is the author of the book, The Mark of a Leader, designed to inspire readers with amazing tales of ordinary people who have done extraordinary things with their lives. He is an inductee into Canada’s Meetings Hall of Fame.

Description: “Belonging is a manifestation of deep connection.” (Biss, 2019). What are the barriers in our schools that impact belonging? How do we ensure our school’s culture and climate is one where our students feel a genuine sense of belonging? What are those inclusionary practices that can ensure we create that culture and climate of belonging within our schools? In this workshop we will examine these questions and provide additional tools to create a deeper sense of inclusion and belonging in our schools so that students can truly see themselves reflected in what we offer to them as both education and schooling.

Presenter: Dr. Andrew B. Campbell  

Dr. Andrew B. Campbell (DR. ABC) is a graduate of the University of Toronto, with a PhD. in Educational Leadership, Policy, and Diversity. He is presently a Faculty member in the Master of Teaching (MT) Program at the University of Toronto and an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Queens University (online). He is an Ontario Certified Teacher (OCT) and has been an educator for over 25 years in Jamaica, The Bahamas and Canada. His research and teaching focus on Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Anti-Black Racism, Educational Leadership,  Black LGBTQ+ Issues, and Teacher Performance Evaluation. He has presented at numerous peer-reviewed academic conferences and has delivered many presentations as a motivational speaker, keynote, and workshop facilitator. He loves people, food, fashion, and travelling. More about Andrew’s work can be found at his website, www.drabc.ca, and on Twitter @DRABC14