In addition to the topics listed below, job-embedded coaching, tailored presentations, and strategic planning services for teachers and administrators are also available. Everything listed below can also be facilitated virtually in a highly engaging format using Zoom. Eric partners with schools and districts across the world on a long-term basis to help them develop and then successfully implement sustainable change in the following areas:
Disruptive Thinking in Our Classrooms: Preparing Learners for Their Future (Keynote, Workshop)The world has and continues to change in ways that are difficult to predict. Regardless of the forces at hand educators play a pivotal role in preparing students for success now and in the future. The best way to do this is to create a disruptive thinking culture in our classrooms and schools that future-proofs learning for ALL kids! Get ready for a roller coaster journey that weaves stories, practical ideas, and insights from thousands of classrooms to create meaningful learning experiences that will withstand the test of time. It’s time to challenge the status quo when it comes to teaching and learning in our classrooms. Our learners—and their future in a bold new world—depend on us.
Digital Leadership: Changing Paradigms for Changing Times (Keynote, Workshop, or Breakout Session)
Change isn’t coming as it is already on our doorstep. Educators need to recognize this in order to prepare learners with critical competencies to thrive in a dynamic world. As the world continues to evolve so must educational practice. Digital leadership represents a strategic shift in mindset and actions that work to usher in needed changes to improve teaching, learning, and leadership while building powerful relationships with stakeholders in the process. The time is now to work smarter, not harder, to achieve better results. Using the Pillars of Digital Leadership, a framework to assist all educators in implementing sustainable change, attendees will be exposed to actionable strategies to support and enhance current areas of professional practice through a digital lens.
Empowering Learners Through Voice and Choice (breakout session or workshop)
Students want to be involved in the classroom. When they aren’t the chances increase for off-task behavior. The key is to leverage ways that involve them early and often in a whole group setting. Attendees will be immersed in a session that leverages sound lesson design and effective Tier 1 instructional strategies in ways that empower them to use their voice and choose how to respond to certain question prompts. Each participant will leave with practical strategies and resources that can be used in the classroom or during a meeting.
Creating Schools That Work For Kids (Keynote, Workshop, or Breakout Session)
Schools have traditionally been designed to work well for adults, but the conventional school design hasn’t always served our learners. Students today need to be empowered to take ownership of their learning in relevant and meaningful ways to prepare them for a constantly evolving world. This session will explore how to cultivate shared ownership, respect, and trust, creating a school learning culture that students value and to which they want to belong in the digital age. Attendees will be exposed to a variety of successful strategies and initiatives implemented at schools with a focus on the purposeful integration of technology, a redefinition of learning spaces, personalized learning, and the whole child.
Inspiring Students: Bringing Awe Back to Learning (Keynote, extended breakout)
Awe is a huge component of life—it’s hardwired into our brains. When we experience the sensation of awe, we are consumed by wonder, relevancy, emotion, engagement, inspiration, and real-world connections. Awe is a driving force for learning that will benefit not just our students now but also well into their future. However, traditional views and functions of school deprive many students of experiencing the joy and power of awe as a catalyst for meaningful learning. During this keynote, Eric will share innovative, research-based practices that you can implement to bring back a sense of awe to learning.
Learning Transformed: 8 Keys to Designing Tomorrow’s Schools, Today (Keynote, extended breakout)
The current speed of technological breakthroughs has led to the coming age of workplace automation, dramatically altering the world of work that our students will enter. With all that is known about how students learn and the predictions regarding the world that our students will face tomorrow, a one‑size‑fits‑all approach to teaching and learning is educational malpractice. Built on the foundation of leadership and school culture, a redesigned learning experience fundamentally shifts the teaching and learning paradigm to one that’s personal. It alters the use of authentic assessments, how technology is leveraged, the spaces in which the learning occurs, the way educators grow professionally, how schools collaborate with the community, and the sustainability of the system as a whole. Eric will dissect this approach to unlocking tomorrow’s schools so that today’s modern learners leave ready to create new industries, find new cures, and solve world problems.
BrandED: Tell Your Story, Build Relationships, and Empower Learning (Keynote, breakout, or workshop)
If you don’t tell your story, someone else will. Regardless of your position or where you work, the digital age compels you to define yourself, your school, and your organization or be defined. Stories that pull on emotions while linking to successful outcomes can drive and sustain change. BrandED is a strategic mindset that harnesses the magic power of storytelling to showcase all the good that happens in our schools while building dynamic relationships. In this presentation, Eric will showcase ways that every educator can become the storyteller-in-chief while illustrating how feeling can be cultivated through image, promise, result, vision, belief, emotion, and value. The time is now to unlock the potential of brandED. Note – The presenter will tailor the message to the specific audience he is addressing.
Pedagogical Leadership: Seeing the Bigger Picture (breakout session or workshop)
Instruction is what the teacher does, whereas learning is what the student does. Here is where a sole emphasis on instructional leadership might not lead to efficacy at scale. Pedagogical leadership, on the other hand, encompasses all the many ways to support effective teaching and learning. The main differentiator here is a broader view that includes more attention to what the learner is doing, and the supports needed for success. During this immersive session, attendees will focus on strategies as well as numerous responsibilities and roles that work to ensure a vibrant learning culture that helps to meet the needs of all students.
Personalized Learning: The Why, How, and What (Keynote or breakout)
How are you or your school making learning personal? If all kids are doing the same thing the same way at the same time, a change of course is warranted. Personalized learning is not about putting all kids in front of a device at the same time on an adaptive learning tool to “collect” data. It’s about a fundamental shift from the “what” to the “who” to emphasize personal ownership of learning through relevant contexts and applications. The goal is equity for all. In this session, participants will explore blended strategies and examples of how to personalize learning with and without technology in any classroom.
Return on Instruction (ROI) (Keynote or Breakout Session)
Our country spends billions of dollars on educational technology. How do you know that the money you are spending is actually having an impact on learning and achievement? Most school leaders cannot honestly answer this question. This session will focus on developing evidence to support a Return on Instruction (ROI) when investments are made in technology, programs, innovative ideas, and professional development. Attendees will be exposed to a variety of proven strategies to not only improve pedagogy in the digital age but also to curate various forms of evidence to validate expenditures and garner stakeholder support.
Four Keys to Effective Blended Learning (Keynote, Breakout session, or Workshop)
To prepare students for their future, we can no longer reside in the past. A more personalized approach that blends sound pedagogy, flexible spaces and the use of data can empower kids to think and apply what they have learned in more effective ways. This session will dive deep into what this looks like by focusing on a pivotal shift from instruction to learning. Blended instruction is what the teacher does with tech. Blended learning is where students use tech to have control over path, place, and pace in a high-agency environment. Attendees will leave with a firm understanding of the 4 keys (strategies, elements, models, solutions) needed to effectively implement blended learning in K-12 environments through practical examples from schools across the country.
Digital Pedagogy for Deeper Learning (Keynote, Workshop, or Breakout Session)
As technology changes, so must pedagogy. Learning today should unleash the creativity of our students and prepare them with essential skill sets for success in a digital world. Attendees will discover how to seize the opportunity inherent in ubiquitous connectivity, an evolving real-time Web, open-source technology, mobile devices, and personalization to integrate digital learning across the curriculum. The presenter will address how to create a teaching and learning culture that empowers all learners to think and apply their thinking in relevant ways to improve outcomes.
The Power of Personal Learning Networks (PLN’s) (Workshop and/or Breakout session)
Personal Learning Networks (PLN’s) have been around for centuries and can be defined as relationships that individuals leverage for learning. Attendees will learn how innovative educators can utilize the Internet and an array of digital tools to create their PLN’s and customize their “always-on” learning networks to better prepare and understand the latest pedagogical techniques, college & career readiness, technology integration, engaging learners, and effective leadership strategies.
Educational Options for a Changing World (Breakout session)
One of the many challenges that school leaders face is ensuring that all students are college and career-ready. The key to overcoming this challenge is to make learning relevant and meaningful to our students. This session will focus on New Milford High School’s journey to radically transform the learning culture through the formation of our own Academies. They represent a bold new direction for education, one that considers student interest, national need, and global demand for highly qualified graduates capable of competing at the most challenging levels. Participants will learn firsthand how we have created and sustained our own Academy structure and be provided with the tools to create their own in a cost-effective manner.
