Home
Lectures & Presentations
About
Contact |
lectures & PresentationsKeynotes | CommencementConferenece Planning
|
Great Legal Trials That Changed The Course of History: 
Presented by Dr. Sylvia Solomon Sylvia Solomon is an experienced educator who has worked for the Ministry of Education in the area of school curriculum as well as being a published author and international lecturer. |
Description | Who should attend? |
|
These are interactive learning sessions For many of us Socrates, Galileo, Joan of Arc & some other "witches"*, Dreyfus, Leo Frank*, Scopes, Nuremberg, Brown v Bd. of Ed’n*, Eichmann*, Roe.v.Wade, – and others - are names that echo down through time. Why? Because the debate and the decisions that arose from these famous trials changed the course of Western civilization. This course will make you familiar with not just the “players,” but with the times in which they lived and the enormous influence that the verdicts had. You will explore how the law, while it is the essential underpinning of our democracy, can be bent and twisted by the very societies it exists to protect. How this happens is the story of great trials that changed the course of history and civilizaton forever. |
Anyone with an interest in:
|
|
Living a Life, not just Earning a Living: 
|
Description | Who should attend? |
|
We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.
Winston Churchill was right when he said these words, and they are just as true today. Our schools have become focused, however, on making a living. What kind of a world will our children be living in if we don't recognize that teaching them how to live life in a full and rich way is the key to happiness. This presentation / workshop will clarify the changes that we need to make in our schools to ensure a better and more peaceful future for our children. |
View a clip (2:26) |
|
Dreaming about a 
|
Description | Who should attend? |
|
As I look around the world I sigh, and think: We could at least give peace a try. Exeter-West Greenwich Junior High, West Greenwich, RI We've had schools that focus on science and on the arts for many years. Isn't it time we had schools that focus on peace? This presentation / workshop will help you explore the barriers to peace in your schools and classrooms and provide an opportunity to plan for change. |
Everyone concerned about educating for peace. |
|
Schools that nurture harmony and peace: 
|
Description | Who should attend? |
|
H.G. Wells said that "human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe".
What are you doing, in your school, to make sure that education wins? What gets in the way? What can you change? Come to this presentation to explore the ways we must change what we’re focusing on in elementary or secondary schools to ensure that we are teaching our children how to live in harmony and peace. |
View a clip (1:16) |
|
Putting the Puzzle Together: Preventing conflicts in Special Education 
|
Description | Who should attend? |
|
A “culture of collaboration” can help parents and educators to work constructively together to address concerns related to programs and services before they become sources of conflict. Shared Solutions: A Guide to Preventing and Resolving Conflicts Regarding Programs and Services for Students with Special Education Needs. Ontario Ministry of Education (2007) Today’s classrooms have changed to adapt to new technologies, diverse cultures, and students with a variety of needs and interests. Meeting the needs of all students can be challenging. This workshop will help you promote a positive school climate and establish effective lines of communication among parents, students and teachers. |
|
|
Meeting the needs of all students 
|
Description | Who should attend? |
|
Several years ago I interviewed Mrs. Sleep, a teacher who had started her career in a one-room schoolhouse. What she said that has stayed with me is that, as far as she saw it, her job was to “teach any student who is able to make it into my classroom." Sylvia Solomon, Keynote Address, TESL Hamilton, 2008 Our job as educators is to reach – and teach – every student … regardless of age, ability, background or interest. Any student. All students. Not just the students who are eager to learn and easy to teach. All of them. Participating in this workshop will provide you with awareness, understanding, principles and practices for meeting the special needs of all students. |
|
|
The challenges and joys of working with English Language Learners: Educational services for immigration that works 
|
Description | Who should attend? |
|
Language not only expresses ideas and concepts, but it actually shapes thought.
Language is not simply a reporting device for experience but a defining framework for it. Benjamin Whorf, Linguistic Anthropologist Teaching English language learners has to go well beyond the teaching of basic language skills. How do we meet the challenges of an increasingly multilingual and multicultural student body? This presentation / workshop will focus on the specific challenges of making peace and harmony a focus in the work that we do with students who are in the process of learning English. |
All staff that work with students who are English language learners, administrators, managers, board members, immigration support workers, settlement workers, parents. |
|
Everything I learned about teaching I will share with you: Reflections on a teaching career and lessons to guide teachers 
|
Description | Who should attend? |
|
I retired from teaching in 2008, after nearly 30 years in classrooms. This seemed like an opportune moment for me to reflect on all that's happened in my teaching career and try to make some sense of what worked and what didn't, what was useful and what wasn't, what I’ve learned along the way, and what thoughts I'd like to leave behind for those of you who continue to teach our children.
This presentation / workshop will identify some of the lessons learned through 30+ years as an educator, focusing on the things we need to change to really nurture our students. Being a teacher, the thoughts will lead to lessons of course, so those will be shared as well. |
Everyone connected with teaching and learning, focused particularly to those new to teaching. An excellent teacher mentorship opportunity! View a clip (2:11) |
|
Social Justice in 
|
Description | Who should attend? |
|
You've got to be taught
To hate and fear, You've got to be taught From year to year, It's got to be drummed In your dear little ear You've got to be carefully taught These Rogers and Hammerstein lyrics, written 60 years ago, are as true today as they were then. Our young children trust us to prepare them to live in a world of peace and harmony. How does social injustice occur in early childhood settings? How can we work together to ensure that the world that our young children grow into will be one of harmony and peace? This presentation will help you to understand the role that you can play in ensuring that the experiences you're providing to young children support their right to social justice and their ability to live with others in peace and harmony. |
|
|
Genocide and Holocaust Education for the 21st century: The elephant in too many classrooms 
|
Description | Who should attend? |
|
Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral. Paulo Freire, Brazilian educator We cannot continue ignoring the tensions that exist among students in our classrooms; often these are tensions with historical and very personal connotations. This presentation / workshop will explore the ways in which genocide/holocaust education has changed in the past 50 years and how we need to teach so that we ensure a more peaceful future. |
Everyone connected with teaching and learning, especially those who work with a diverse and multicultural student body. View a clip (3:47) |
|
The Disappearance 
|
Description | Who should attend? |
|
Gifted girls disappear. They disappear as gifted students in classrooms; they disappear on honour roles; they disappear as high scorers on SATs, PSATs and ITBS evaluations. Their disappearance continues when they leave school and enter the workforce. Sylvia Solomon in Quilting a New Canon: Stitching Women's Words. Where are they going? How do ensure that gifted girls grow up to share their talents and gifts and receive the rewards that they should? This presentation / workshop will focus on the achievement of young women in our school system and what we need to do to encourage them to not "disappear". |
|
|
Description | |
| "Not long ago I visited Antarctica. I noticed that when you look at icebergs at night you just see a sort of rough, looming shape in front of you. But when you look at them in the night of day they become something magnificently beautiful. Every surface carries a surprise and sometimes, when you're very lucky, the sun hits the ice and a blue, magical light seems to shine out from the core of the ice. The education you carry with you is like the sun on the iceberg. Let it help you to see the nuance of what you come up against in life. Let it help you to understand what you're looking at, who you're looking at. Let it turn the fear of darkness into the joy of sunshine. Let the light of your learning illuminate your life and bring magic to it." | ||
|
Description | |
| Conferences/meetings are often the best way to inspire people to action.
The planning that you do will make all the difference in whether or not you achieve your outcomes. I can help you with:
|
||