All About ASCD: 2018 Empower Conference Highlights

Educators at this year’s ASCD conference learned the latest impactful techniques for caring for the whole child.  Over a three day period, academic professionals of all kinds were given the strategies, resources and relationships needed not only to teach students, but to set them up for a successful adulthood.

Conference attendees were encouraged to bring their personal visions into focus by attending sessions that were relevant to their professional circumstances and academic settings.

Educators could choose sessions from six different focus areas including The Whole Child, Transformational Leadership, Teaching and Learning, Global Engagement, Poverty and Equity, and Redefining Student Success.

ASCD offered participants six different session styles including:

• Poster Presentation Galleries which allowed educators to showcase their ideas on poster boardsand share them with other professionals
• Learning Labs, which involved using interactive collaboration  to solve simulated school issues
• Student and Practitioner Panels which prompted discussions between students and teachers on the latest challenges facing our schools
• Reflection pools which provided a comfortable space to utilize reflection and brainstorming to come up with innovative classroom ideas on the spot
• EdCamp which gave attendees the power to create their own professional development experience and
• Successful Schools Showcase which featured a variety of presentations from schools and programs leading in innovation.

In addition to these innovative session styles, teachers could attend general (keynote) sessions with speakers from a wide range of academic areas.  Among the diversity of speakers was former second lady and college professor Dr. Jill Biden, original Freedom Writer Manny Scott and former Secretary of State Colin Powell.  Topics ranged from reigniting your passion for teaching to creating modern learning spaces in the classroom.

Educators were also given plenty of free time to explore the latest instructional materials and curricula at exhibit shows.  They could attend books signings/author talks and other special events that allowed for networking and relationship building.

Each professional left empowered with the strategies, tools and connections needed to empower their students.  Until next year!

By Monet Stevens Monet A. Stevens is a graduate student at Georgetown University. She has interned with several organizations across the Greater Baltimore and Washington D.C. Metropolitan area including the Smithsonian and the Surety and Fidelity Association of America. Monet is passionate about strengthening communities and empowering individuals through mass communication. She recently graduated from Towson University and moved back to her hometown near Washington, D.C. where she hopes to make a positive impact.