11:40 - 12:40 a.m. (Session 2) 11:20 - 11:40 a.m.
Session Change • Exhibitor Appointments
11:40 a.m. - 12:40 p.m.
Session 2 Breakouts
MONDAY
Breaking Barriers for Youth in Foster Care: Flipping the Script Moderator: Taylor Draddy, MA, Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute, Washington, DC Panelists: Willie Moore, Jr., Celebrity Adoptee, St. Louis, MO Demontea Thompson, MS, Together We Inspire, Los Angeles, CA Christopher Scott, MA, Sun Scholars Inc., Hartford, CT Tanzy Kilcrease, EdD, Bibb County Public Schools, Macon, GA Sara Wood, EdD, Bibb County School System, Macon, GA Currently, there are over 400,000 children and youth in the U.S. foster care system. 125,000 of those children and youth are eligible for adoption and roughly 30,000 youth aged-out of the system last year. To us, educators, school systems, social workers, child welfare agencies, politicians, government leaders, community partners, religious leaders, and people with lived experiences in the foster care system must come together to break down the barriers and provide data driven and lived experience solutions that eliminate youth in care from repeating the cycle of poverty, abuse, neglect, incarceration. We must also put our best efforts forward to provide these children with support and stability that will lead them to a forever family. UBUNTU (I Am Because We Are): Using Professional Development Practices to Build Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Teaching and Leading LaMarr D. Shields, PhD, Cambio Group, Baltimore, MD In this interactive workshop, participants will explore what it means to teach and lead for equity within the current challenging contexts in which we all find ourselves. Dr. Shields will guide participants through a series of practical exercises to explore their emerging understanding of how equity work connects to other teaching and learning initiatives. In addition, the facilitator will guide participants through a series of reflective questions to deepen their understanding of equity work and will give them tangible strategies that can be used immediately when engaging with their most vulnerable, underserved students. The professional learning tools highlighted in this session are specifically intended to develop leaders with an equity lens and mindset. Using an equity lens, leaders will actively work toward the creation of equitable practices, policies, and structures and will be equipped to help related education networks and communities—small and large—to do the same. De-Escalation Made Easy: A Common Sense Approach Matt Eldridge, EdS, Certified Restraint Training, Hilham, TN Matt uses a common sense approach to de-escalating undesired / unwanted situations in the classroom. He will discuss many of the causes that lead to these unwanted situations. Oftentimes situations are magnified by the student’s actions and others are unknowingly escalated by the teachers. Matt will discuss what we can do to lessen aggressive and dangerous situations. Raise Them Up - Part 2 Julia Gabor, MEd, kid-grit, Redondo Beach, CA Jeffrey Jordan, BA, kid-grit, Bayone, NJ In part two of this two-part series, we will engage staff and address self-regulation in areas of mindfulness, healthy behaviors, tolerance and empathy, and digital/social consciousness. This workshop provides a brandnew approach to helping staff and students develop motivation, positive behavior, and resilience. They will provide team building and hands-on activities to implement in your organization as soon as tomorrow! SEL strategies are a powerful tool for helping young people and staff become culturally connected and allow them to have their own identities without judgment. This session provides myriad ways for staff to connect with each other as well as in the same ways as when they work with their students. 11 | #NYAR21
