Workshops & Events

PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS - FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20
(By advance registration only. Select one of five. Add $25, if not also attending the conference.)
9:00 AM - 1:00 PM Cost Per Person: $185

1. Using the Developments of Neuroscience as Best Learning Strategies in Your Classroom: An Exchange of Knowledge in Teaching to the Brain

In this workshop, educators will learn neurological strategies to increase student engagement, focus, memory, and build their emotional control as well as their executive functions such as goal-planning, critical analysis, organization, prioritizing, perspective, and creative problem solving.. Also, examine what hundreds of practicing educators have found to be the best practices in the real world of the classroom. (Appropriate for all grade levels)

Judy Willis, MD, EdM, Board-Certified Neurologist, middle school teacher in Santa Barbara, CA; author, How Your Child Learns Best (2008), Brain-Friendly Strategies for the Inclusion Classroom (2007) and Research-Based Strategies to Ignite Student Learning (2006)
Jeb Schenck, PhD, Adjunct Professor, University of Wyoming, middle and high school biology teacher; memory researcher; author of Teaching the Brain, Best Ideas and Best Practice (2009)

2. Memory Strategies: Eight Ways to Help You and Your Students Remember

This workshop will provide you with eight strategies to improve student memory. Brain rules and brain tools will be shared, modeled and practiced so you can use them immediately. Impress your students with your ability to build their memory powers.
Marilee B. Sprenger, MA, Adjunct Professor, Aurora University, former teacher; author of The Developing Brain: Birth to Age Eight (2008), Becoming a Wiz at Brain-Based Teaching (2006, revised edition), How to Teach So Students Remember (2005) and Learning & Memory: The Brain in Action (1999)

3. Teaching the Teen Brain in the Modern Age

Research has shown that teenagers are susceptible to their environments and one of neuroscience's current topics is exploring what effects modern society has on their brains. Explore the development of the teen brain, how it learns and remembers, and is influenced by sleep, stress, drugs, media, multitasking and the modern age. Explore how to best teach teens in this distressed, distracted age.

Frances E. Jensen, MD, Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School; Senior Associate in Medicine; Director of Epilepsy Research, Children's Hospital Boston; co-founder of the program "Teen Brain 101"
Willy Wood, MA, President, Open Mind Technologies; former high school and university teacher; national speaker on brain-based teaching

4. Smart But Scattered: Executive Skills Approach to Helping Kids Reach Their Potential

This presentation will use case examples along with interactive discussion to demonstrate how executive skills are manifested in daily home and school activities, and how executive skills are assessed, focusing on questionnaires and structured interviews developed by the presenters for this purpose. Participants then have an opportunity to assess their own executive skills with an adult version of this questionnaire. The final portion of the workshop will present evidenced-based strategies to help youngsters overcome executive skill weaknesses. Practitioners will leave with a set of tools that include strategies for task/environmental modifications, skill development through cognitive/behavioral techniques and coaching, and the creation of incentive systems.

Margaret (Peg) Dawson, EdD, School Psychologist; Co-Director, Center for Learning and Attention Disorders, Seacoast Mental Health Center, Portsmouth, NH; co-author of Smart But Scattered: The Revolutionary "Executive Skills" Approach to Helping Children Reach Their Potential (2009) and Executive Skills in Children and Adolescents: A Practical Guide to Assessment and Intervention (2003)
Richard Guare, PhD, Neuropsychologist; Portsmouth Regional Hospital; Co-Director, Center for Learning and Attention Disorders, Seacoast Mental Health Center, Portsmouth, NH; Adjunct Assistant Professor, Communications Department, University of New Hampshire; co-author of Smart But Scattered: The Revolutionary "Executive Skills" Approach to Helping Children Reach Their Potential (2009) and Executive Skills in Children and Adolescents: A Practical Guide to Assessment and Intervention (2003)

5. Brain Anatomy 101: An Introduction to the Brain & Neuroscience (Beginners)

Equip yourself with a basic understanding of the anatomy and physiology of the brain and learning and discuss the relationship between education, emotions, relationships and neuroscience, promising directions for applying neuroscience in the classroom, and the role of educators in shaping the future of cognitive neuroscience.

Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, EdD, Assistant Professor, Rossier School of Education; Research Assistant Professor, Brain and Creativity Institute for the Neurological Study of Emotion, Decision-Making, and Creativity, University of Southern California; author of "Making Sense of Brain Research in the Classroom" (2001, Council for Basic Education Journal)

6. ADHD-Related Executive Functions and Complications in Children & Adults

Dr. Thomas Brown will discuss new studies of high IQ adults, children and adolescents with ADHD, connections between executive function and memory impairments in ADHD, and practical information about how to recognize and effectively intervene for ADHD symptoms with other disorders of learning, emotion or behavior in children, adolescents and adults.

Thomas E. Brown, PhD, Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine; Associate Director of the Yale Clinic for Attention and Related Disorders; author of Attention Deficit Disorder: The Unfocused Mind in Children and Adults (2005)

EVENTS

MIT "BRAIN SCAN" TOUR: SEE THE BRAIN IN ACTION
THURSDAY NOV. 19 at 3:00 PM and 4:00 PM
FRIDAY, NOV. 20 at 10:00 and 11:00 AM
Cost per Person: $120
Sponsored by the ATHINOULA MARTINOS CENTER FOR BIOMEDICAL IMAGING, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Take this unique opportunity to see an fMRI brain scan in action.
Call 781-449-4010 ext. 101 for information and to register for a tour. One person from each tour will be selected by MIT to have their brain scanned.
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NETWORKING LUNCHEON
SUNDAY, NOV. 22 from 12:30 - 1:30 PM
Cost per Person: $29.50
Meet and dine with colleagues at this special networking lunch at the MIT Faculty Club.
Advance registration required on the registration form.

"MEETING OF THE MINDS" - Wine and Cheese Reception
FRIDAY, NOV. 20 from 5:45 PM - 6:45 PM
Free and Open to All Attendees
Enjoy this opportunity to meet other attendees, speakers, and some of the nation's brightest minds. Also, neuroscientist Richard M. Restak, MD, will be in attendance to sign his books.
Sponsored by THE DANA ALLIANCE FOR BRAIN INITIATIVES.
Advance registration required on the registration form.

CONFERENCE POSTER SESSIONS
Proposal deadline: October 16, 2009
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