2021 CONFERENCE
The 2021 Sarah D. Barder Conference took place on February 26 & 27. It was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Check out the article below written by Katy Bowman, CTY's Communications and Marketing Writer. This article first appeared in the March 2021 CTY Staff Newsletter.
"Agile Teacher Thinking" is CTY Conference Theme
How can educators become agile thinkers, and in the process, create
classrooms that are dynamic and adaptive to students’ learning needs?
This year’s Sarah D. Barder Fellowship conference brought 10 new fellows
and 40 past honorees together virtually to explore the concept of
“agile teacher thinking,” share ideas, and participate in classroom simulations
to develop their skills. Rhonda Bondie from the Harvard Graduate School
of Education spoke about her research on agile teacher thinking, and how it
can facilitate differentiated instruction in the classroom.
Teachers can optimize students’ learning during classroom discussions by asking questions that prompt deeper contemplation of a topic.
“The idea is to respond to students’ answers in a way that pushes their thinking,” said Virginia Roach, CTY executive director. “It’s saying, ‘Tell me why you answered that way,’ and asking ‘Would that always work?’ or asking a student how their answer would change if a specific fact pattern changed. The teacher is reaffirming what the student is saying and being positive, but they’re also directing student thinking in a way that pushes them towards an optimal challenge.”
Bondie also introduced conference participants to a simulated classroom where they could practice some of the techniques they had learned. It included student avatars that were actually manipulated by an actor working behind the scenes to interact with the teachers in real time.
Bondie uses this type of virtual immersive classroom experience to collect data for her research. She makes transcripts of simulated classroom interactions, her research associates code them, and the resulting data is used to help understand how to develop good teaching strategies, so new teachers and those who are unsure how to differentiate instruction can apply those strategies in their classrooms, Roach said.
“The simulated classroom is the kind of medium where you can learn something and immediately apply it, and start patterning the new teaching practices,” Roach said.
The Sarah D. Barder conference is usually held in person, but was held virtually this year due to the pandemic. Nonetheless, turnout was high and the participants were engaged and eager to connect with one another, Roach said. In addition to the conference, Fellows had the opportunity to engage with each other on a new website created specifically for them. The site was designed by CTY’s own Ashley Flynn, who is also a Class of 2014 SDB fellow. The website launched on the first the day of the conference. While the website is public, it has a private discussion board and member directory accessible only to SDB fellows.
“We had content that was designed for a virtual space, and for that reason it went very well,” Roach said.
Check out these resources on classroom differentiation and agile teacher thinking:
