Speaker Spotlight: Mary-Dean Barringer

This blog is no stranger to how passionate you are about empowering teachers as leaders.

That's one of the reasons we're psyched that Mary-Dean Barringer, CEO of the All Kinds of Minds institute, stopped by to talk to us about her 2008 ASCD Annual Conference session on transforming teacher preparation so that teachers will be the lead learning experts in the school community.

Barringer outlines the key considerations for changing teacher prep . . .

What are your big questions about and ideas for transforming teacher training?

Barringer's (with copresenter Dr. Arthur Levine) AC '08 session details:

Sunday, March 16, 1:00–2:30 p.m.
Paradigm Shift: From Teaching to Learning

The presenters will lead a dialogue about transforming the preparation of teachers so they become the "lead learning experts" in the school community. Questions that will be covered include the following: What are the new core competencies required of teachers to transform classrooms and think boldly about new models of learning? How do we bring the growing knowledge base about learning gleaned from neuroscience research to current practitioners? What does teacher preparation look like as we shift the focus of professional preparation to learning about learners?

Since her first day of teaching autistic students in 1976, Mary-Dean Barringer has been devoted to unlocking the mysteries of why students struggle with learning. Solving this puzzle requires that teachers develop deeper expertise about learning variation, work with other professionals to bring multiple perspectives about complex students and engage in communities of practice to share the successful approaches in a case-study format.

Comments

[Bonnie Lesley]

Cognitive neuroscience and the new understandings of brain plasticity are exciting new areas of study for educators at all levels. Already there are educational programs on the market and in use in schools that take advantage of this new research, making it possible for many, many students who formerly did not learn to read or learn mathematics to do so successfully.

We at Creative Education Institute make the point that remediation, reteaching, and tutoring will work for some students falling behind, but for many of them, it is a useless waste of time. That is why NCLB's Supplemental Services are having such a dismal impact. What those students need is a therapeutic intervention that includes the kinds of brain exercises that strengthen or rebuild or wire around the brain's neural pathways that make learning possible. Once students have the critically important foundations, they can then access the general education curriculum. Examples ot these new ways of highly effective learning for the lowest performers can be found at www.ceilearning.com. It's an exciting time to be in education!