Ellis faculty present talks at National Conference on Girls' Education

Presenting at national conferences is a key component of Ellis’ leadership in the field of girls-only education. Recently, seven Ellis faculty presented three talks at the National Conference on Girls’ Education, which took place February 10-12 in Washington, DC. The conference is an international gathering of professionals committed to the healthy development of girls and young women.
Four Ellis faculty co-presented the workshop Leadership in Action, which helped educators learn to challenge middle school girls to better understand their own values, personalities, skills, interests and dreams. Lauren Laschon, dean of grades 8/9, Michelle Rust, history teacher, Kimberly Mechling, Middle School science teacher, and Jean Mercier, French and Spanish teacher in the Middle and Upper Schools, engaged participants in exercises that addressed conflict resolution, effective communication, team building, and creative problem solving. Together, Laschon, Rust, Mechling and Mercier addressed how to help students understand who they are and how identity translates into how students lead.
 
Upper School science teacher Theresa Richards, Ph.D., and technology integration specialist Elizabeth Perry, Ph.D., led the workshop Robotics Kits Across the Curriculum: Integrating STEM in Middle and High School Courses.  Robotics is a way to provide early exposure to a variety of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) experiences in the collaborative, hands-on environment in which girls and young women thrive. In this workshop, Richards and Perry presented examples of lessons already tested in the classroom, showed teachers how to use Robot Diaries kits with students, and shared how to integrate robotics across the curriculum at girls’ schools.
 
Finally, Norma Greco, Ph.D., Ellis School’s Academic Dean, co-presented the session Literature as a Vehicle for Leadership and Action with Douglas DuBrin of Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart (IL), and Aeire Treska and Kelsey Twist Schroeder of Roland Park Country School (MD). In this talk Greco and her colleagues described how reading and writing about literature can foster voice, agency, and leadership for girls and young women. As 21st century teachers in the humanities, the presenters encouraged teachers to use literature to help young women connect what they read to their own lives, develop voice and self-confidence, and ultimately launch their own ideas for change. By engaging with literature, girls and young women form their positions and compose themselves in the process.
 
The conference was co-hosted by the National Coalition of Girls’ Schools and the Young Women’s Leadership Network.
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