Breakout Session C – 2024 ICGS Conference

Breakout Session C
Monday, June 24
4:40-5:30 p.m.

Girl Power Isn’t Enough: Get Real With Girls About Leadership with Lean In Girls
Traditional definitions of leadership don’t resonate with girls, who also face expectations to conform to limiting stereotypes and experience pushback when they don’t. To empower girls to lead, we need to redefine leadership and prepare them for what stands in their way. Through strength-building activities and real talk on topics like bias and allyship, Lean In Girls helps unlock girls’ leadership superpowers and equips them to be self-assured, resilient, and inclusive everyday leaders. In this session, you’ll experience aspects of this free curriculum and hear from girls’ school educators on how Lean In Girls has impacted their students’ social-emotional learning.

Presenter: Latricia Barksdale, VP, Head of Lean In Girls | Lean In Girls (United States)

Audience: Middle School; Upper/Senior/High School; Heads of School/Principals/Presidents/Headteachers; Senior Administrators; Teachers/Faculty; School Counselors; Extracurricular/Co-Academic Programs; Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice Practitioners

The Power of Purpose
What is your superpower? What is the unique way that you interact with the world? In this session we will examine how to help students identify their passions through strengths-based and purpose driven programs. We will discuss strategies for cultivating confidence and self-awareness so that our students feel grounded and empowered in their lives. You will leave this session with tools, models and resources to help you celebrate the uniqueness of each student in your school.

Presenter: Connie Blunden, Jane Bagley Lehman Director, Center for Public Purpose | Greenwich Academy (United States)

Audience: Middle School; Upper/Senior/High School; Heads of School/Principals/Presidents/Headteachers; Senior Administrators; Teachers/Faculty; Admissions/Enrollment; Student Life; Extracurricular/Co-Academic Programs; Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice Practitioners

Coaching: A Key to Success
Most school administrators come to their jobs without direct experience in many of their new responsibilities. We learn our jobs primarily by doing, often through trial by fire. Wouldn’t it be helpful to have someone guide us through this learning process? Someone with experience and someone trained to help us build confidence by finding the resources within ourselves to succeed?. Someone who offers a judgment-free zone to process. That’s what a coach does. Two experienced girls’ school heads and certified executive coaches will share research and their own experiences on the benefits of coaching for Heads and other senior administrators.

Presenters: Susanna Jones, Senior Consultant; Ann Teaff, Coaching & Mentoring Practice Leader | Carney, Sandoe & Associates (United States)

ColLABorate: A workshop on creative partnership with unlikely school colleagues
Schools are busier and more fragmented than ever. Amidst the frazzled nature of schools we all know that collaboration is more important than ever – especially between teaching and non teaching roles. Alex and Jessica will share how they achieved success with multiple projects that combined the talents and skills of the teaching faculty, the marketing team, and the admissions department. While some of this session will show our demonstrated success, we will devote most of the workshop to creative brainstorming that can help any school employee build bridges and work in sync with even the least obvious partners. Get ready to expand your network and your job creativity!

Presenters: Jessica Campbell, Dean of Academic Innovation | Saint Mary’s School; Alex Maegdlin, Marketing and Communications Manager | Educators Collaborative (United States)

Audience: Early Childhood; Elementary/Primary/Lower School; Middle School; Upper/Senior/High School; Heads of School/Principals/Presidents/Headteachers; Senior Administrators; Teachers/Faculty; Admissions/Enrollment; Communications/Marketing; Development/Advancement; School Counselors’ Student Life; Extracurricular/Co-Academic Programs; Alumnae Relations; Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice Practitioners

Federal Education Programs for Private School Students and Teachers
U.S. Department of Education will provide a basic outline of federal education programs that provide benefits and services to private school students and teachers under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Blue Ribbon Schools, Green Ribbon Schools, Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools and other federal education programs. Participants will gain a general understanding of these programs and receive official Department of Education resources and materials.

Presenter: Maureen Dowling, Director, Office of Non-Public Education | US Department of Education (United States)

Audience: Elementary/Primary/Lower School; Middle School; Upper/Senior/High School; Heads of School/Principals/Presidents/Headteachers; Senior Administrators; Teachers/Faculty; School Counselors

Wellbeing for Learning: Designing an Evidence-Informed Strategy
Based on Moreton Bay College’s partnerships with the University of Adelaide and an external wellbeing consultant, this session will explore the benefits of adopting a research-informed approach to wellbeing and co-designing an EY-12 strategy with wellbeing experts. Participants will explore why a school establishes such partnerships; the processes of implementing wellbeing measurement through a school-university partnership; and the use of data to co-design a wellbeing strategy. They will also examine de-identified data and consider its use in the design process. Overall, participants will gain an understanding of processes used to transform evidence into wellbeing strategy.

Presenter: Michelle McKersey, Deputy Head of Secondary (Students) | Moreton Bay College (Australia)

Audience: Early Childhood; Elementary/Primary/Lower School’ Middle School; Upper/Senior/High School; Head of Secondary Students; Wellbeing Practitioners

Summer Experiential Learning Programs: a Team Approach
Upper School students at Roland Park Country School (RPCS) may apply for a summer internship through the Gore Leadership Institute (GLI) or fellowship as part of the School’s Holliday Heine STEM institute certificate program. For both internships and fellowships, students select a topic, whether it is career-based or centered on an interest/passion that they would like to explore further. The internship and fellowship placement team works with each student to develop a plan for her to engage in a personalized, authentic, real-world opportunity over the summer. Students earn transcript credit for their efforts.

Presenters: Sarah Pope, Gore Leadership Institute; Melissa Carter-Bey, Assistant Head of the Upper School; Neda Blackburn, Director of The Holliday Heine STEM Institute; Elisha James, Assistant Head of School for Culture, Community, and Belonging | Roland Park Country School (United States)

Audience: Upper/Senior/High School; Heads of School/Principals/Presidents/Headteachers; Senior Administrators; Teachers/Faculty; Development/Advancement; Student Life; Extracurricular/Co-Academic Programs; Alumnae Relations; Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice Practitioners

The Human in the Humanities — How the Writing Center is addressing AI
When the human is eliminated from the Humanities, what role does human face to face interaction have in the writing process? The Writing Center has become a repository for Humanities-centered concerns, and AI is the most recent conundrum. The revision process is deeply revered here, so eliminating revisions is out of the question. Teachers are using the writing center in their pivot from out of class writing to in class writing, to stave off AI concerns.

Presenter: Tarra Stevenson, English Department Chair & Writing Center Co-Director | Westridge School for Girls (United States)

Audience: Middle School; Upper/Senior/High School; Heads of School/Principals/Presidents/Headteachers; Teachers/Faculty; Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice Practitioners

Intercultural Thinking: Tools to help our students thrive beyond their comfort zones
How can we encourage students to move beyond their comfort zones and meaningfully engage with diversity? How can we transform discomfort into curiosity and become explorers of our world? For this workshop, we have distilled the most important concepts from the growing and evolving discipline of intercultural competence and translated them into meaningful lessons to share with your students. You will learn how to strengthen intercultural skills while actively participating to build flexibility, tolerance with uncertainty, and empathy. Join us for honest conversations, stimulating ideas, and engaging activities. You will walk away with strategies that you can use in challenging situations personally, as you support student learning, and explore the world, as well as a resource kit to continue your professional development back home.

Presenter: Erin Blair, Associate Director of Curriculum & Academics | WorldStrides (United States)

Audience: Middle School; Upper/Senior/High School; Extracurricular/Co-Academic Programs

Building Emotional Engagement and Strengthening Social Bonds: Leveraging Small Habits for Significant Connections in Girls
Global Action Research Collaborative on Girls’ Education Research Presentation
In this session, we delve into the integration of the Harvard Thinking Routines, the Harvard Family Dinner Table Project, the CASEL framework and Circles Pedagogy to cultivate essential social and emotional skills in girls. Explore how these frameworks have been tailored to bolster girls’ individual toolkits for emotional regulation and interpersonal connection. From teacher-led micro interactions in secondary education settings to collaborative emotional regulation activities in primary contexts, witness the impact on girls’ relationships with each other and their parents. Join us to learn practical strategies for fostering a supportive environment where girls can engage with their feelings and forge meaningful connections with peers and family members.

Presenters: Kate Giles, Head of Wellbeing K-6 | Pymble Ladies College (Australia); Rachel Butler Wills, Director, SPIRITUS Scholars Program, Educator, Global Goals Program | Seymour College (Australia)

Together we can do so Much More: Creating a Classroom Culture Where all Girls Have a Seat at the Table
Global Action Research Collaborative on Girls’ Education Research Presentation
Harkness learning can be used as an effective collaborative-discussion based approach in the classroom. Learn how this approach inculcates a culture of critical thinking that supports girls to grow in confidence to take intellectual risks. This session will provide an insight into Harkness learning, how it can benefit all learners, and will focus on how the Harkness learning model can be unpacked and applied in your classroom through reflections in two different humanities settings in two different hemispheres – a Geography and a History secondary school classroom.

Presenters: Nick Fitness, Head of Social Sciences Faculty | Woodford School (New Zealand); Laura Tuggey, Teacher of Geography | Streatham and Clapham High School, GDST (United Kingdom)

A Storm in a Teacup: Navigating the Choppy Seas of Senior School, Placing Girls at the Helm
Global Action Research Collaborative on Girls’ Education Research Presentation
This presentation discusses the process and outcomes of collaborative action research in the area of confidence building and personal development for students aged 10-16 in two UK independent schools. Leanne Telford from Brighton Girls is Key Stage 2 Lead (students aged 7-11) and her project focussed on the role of collaborative mentoring between Year 6 and Year 8 pupils to foster confidence in transition between Prep and Senior school. Rebecca Musson from Norwich High School is Head of Year for KS4 (students aged 14-16) and her project focussed on the collaborative self creation of content for the personal development curriculum, where the lessons really are ‘Made by Girls’.

Presenters: Leanne Telford, Key Stage 2 Lead and Head of Prep English | Brighton Girls, GDST (United Kingdom); Rebecca Musson, Head of Year, Key Stage 4, Teacher of History and Politics | Norwich High School for Girls, GDST (United Kingdom)

Breakout Session C – 2024 ICGS Conference

<img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-33320 alignright img-fluid" src="https://girlsschools.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/ICGS_logo_Baltimore24-e1706721762137-300x242.png" alt="" width="300" height="242" />Breakout Session C Monday, June 24 4:40-5:30 p.m.

Breakout Session C
Monday, June 24
4:40-5:30 p.m.