No matter what happens, the AERO regional at Earthlands in Massachusetts will be an intimate affair. It will be a chance to interact in depth in a way that may not be possible in bigger, more hectic venues. This will be particularly helpful for the schools starters who have already registered and others who may still come, as they will have AERO School Starter Course instructors Chris Mercogliano and Jerry Mintz to themselves for consultation on their projects. The same is true for the other workshop presenters. For example, anyone interested in Goddard College can find out all about it.

We have a new treat for attendees of this AEROx. When Jerry was in Colombia he had the pleasure of watching a new and original documentary about a fantastic treatment community in Ecuador that works with traumatized babies and toddlers. It is called Grandir. We probably have the only copy of this video in the United States.It has English subtitles.  It is a truly beautiful documentary. 

We've decided to keep the early bird rate for now, as many people still are making arrangements to participate.  

The early bird rate is only $195, and this includes registration, lodging, and meals from Friday night's dinner to Sunday lunch.  Children, presenters and low income participants are $150 this week. 

So, the first AEROx regional conference will be in the East, in Petersham, Massachusetts at Earthlands Preserve November 20 – 22, 2015. 

Author/educator Chris Mercogliano will be a keynoter on Saturday the 21st. Chris was long-time director of Albany's Free School and has written many books, including How to Grow a School, and his latest, "A School Must Have a Heart."

Register Here 

Meals

Friday: 

Dinner 5-7: Buffet style. Soup, bread, salad, fruit, dessert, tea, coffee

Saturday: 

Breakfast 8-9:30: Continental buffet, Variety of fruits, whole grains, yogurt, hot cereal, tea, coffee.

Lunch 12-1:30: Soup, salad, fruit, starch, fermented veggies, tea, coffee

Dinner 6-7:15: Buffet: Soup, salad, fruit, entrée, bread, starch, fresh veggies, dessert, coffee, tea 

Sunday:

Breakfast 8-9:30: Buffet, eggs, pancakes, fruit, tea, coffee 

Lunch 11:45-12:30: Buffet style, Casserole, veggies, bread, fruit, soup, salad, coffee, tea

Schedule

FRIDAY 11/20 

3  – 5:30 PM: Registration, settle in, networking.  

5:30 – 6 PM: Opening ceremony and Welcome. 

6 – 7:15 PM: Dinner / Networking 

7:30 – 9 PM: Screening of ‘Class Dismissed’

9 – 9:30 PM: Discussion of ‘Class Dismissed’ with Jerry Mintz 

9:30 – ?: Networking, games, discussions, campfire 

SATURDAY 11/21 

8:30 – 10:00 AM: Breakfast / Networking 

10:05 – 11:05 AM: Group A Workshops 

11:10 – 12:10 PM: Group B Workshops 

12:15 – 1:30 PM: Lunch 

1:35 – 2:35 PM: Group C Workshops

2:40 – 3:40 PM: Group D Workshops

3:45 – 4:45 PM: Networking / Break , Etc. 

4: 50 – 5:55 PM: Group E Workshops 

6 – 7:15 PM: Dinner / Networking 

7:30 – 8:30 PM: Chris Mercogliano's Keynote 

8:30- 9:30 PM: Documentary 

9:30 – ?: Networking, games, campfire 

Sunday 11/22

8:30 – 10:00 AM: Breakfast / Networking 

10:05 – 11:05 AM: Group F Workshops 

11:10 – 12:10 PM: Group G Workshops 

12:15 – 1:15 PM: Lunch 

1:15 – 2:00 PM: Closing ceremony & wrap up

Notes

• The conference will also feature plenty of time for networking, forging relationships and impromptu discussion groups. 
• Lodging is rustic style shared rooms with bunks in off the grid, environmentally sustainable buildings.  
• Meals are vegetarian and vegan, provided by Earthland's resident chef. People can also camp on the site. Click here to learn more 
• This conference will have the quality workshops, networking opportunities, and keynoters you have come to expect from AERO events. We are still collecting workshop proposals. Send them to pberg7468@gmail.com, or jerryaero@aol.com.  

Register Here

Confirmed Workshops

School Starters Workshop

The Total Package: The Full Circle Learning Model

Presenter- Linda Aronson 

Full Circle Learning is a transformational model that encapsulates our common values and practices as progressive educators. It is true to the descriptors of learned-centered, personalized, and self-directed learning. Direct experience is its keystone. It is a learner’s creation within a framework that acts as a guide and support from the conception of an idea, question, goal to a point of cathartic completion and celebration. Learning happens in starts and ongoing spurts within the learner’s own pacing. Mentors offer guidance and coaching.  Ongoing self-assessment and mentor feedback mark progress and navigate direction. All learning counts and is put in a context of the naturally chaotic nature of deep learning. Reflection integrates and deepens learning on all levels. Upon completion, the learner shares and is honored within a community celebration.  Linda Aronson will illustrate The Full Circle Learning Model with real learner work and the journey of several AERO member schools that have adopted this model along with its impact. 

Student-Run Conflict Resolution:  How to Empower Kids While Teaching Moral Reasoning and Problem Solving

Presenters – Mark Jacobs & The Longview School 

One of students’ most common complaints is that they are powerless in school.  Democratic schools address this by sharing the power with their students, but even for more traditional schools, it is possible to empower kids by having them be integral to conflict resolution.  Longview School, using a modified Sudbury judicial system modeled upon the US court system, has been successfully resolving conflicts using its Judicial Committee for over 10 years.  Over the last two years we have added a peer mediation system to resolve issues which are more a result of interpersonal conflict than of rule breaking.  In this workshop, we will explain our JC and Mediation systems, even going through the process with the attendees. 

A Moderated Discussion about Required Curriculum vs. Student Freedom

Moderators – Mark Jacobs & The Longview School

There is a wide range of approaches as to how to involve students in choosing what they learn.  On one end of the spectrum are traditional public schools, in which kids take mostly required courses in a core curriculum supplemented by a few electives.  On the other end are Sudbury schools where staff are not even supposed to offer a class unless a student or students request it. Longview School has been pioneering a middle ground approach.  In this workshop, there will be some presentation laying out the range of possibilities and describing some different approaches before attendees are involved in a discussion of the issues based upon their own experience.

Goddard College Alternative Model

Presenter – Patricia Younce 

Kumari Patricia Younce will present a session that explores the model of experimentation and radical pedagogical inquiry that Goddard College is well known for.  She will describe the way learning unfolds and new models of discovery that Goddard is beginning to explore such as its Group Studies. She will give an overall description of the Goddard "learning by doing" model then answer specific questions depending on the participants. She will begin by addressing the Undergraduate Studies first.

Kumari is the Director of the Education Program at Goddard, which offers BA and MA degrees in self-designed studies, Community Education, Dual Language Teaching and Teacher Licensure, including Bilingual Education (new!).  

Inquiry Into School Culture

Presenter – Leo Fahey 

Dr, Graham Nuthall in The Cultural Myths and Realities of Classroom Teaching and Learning:  A Personal Story (Teachers College Record, Volume 107 Number 5, 2005, p. 895-934) argues that each classroom contains three distinct cultural contexts through which students and teachers act and through which students grow and learn:  the public teacher- managed activity routines and rules which can be referred to as The Adult Culture; the largely hidden but powerful cultural context of peer relationships and interactions which can be referred to as The Child Culture; and the personal cultural context of beliefs, attitudes, and knowledge that individual students bring into the classroom from their family and neighborhood backgrounds which can be referred to generally as The Family Culture.  Understanding students’ participation in classroom activities (and the consequent shaping of their minds through internalization), Nuthall maintains, requires an understanding of these three separate cultures and the ways in which students simultaneously 

affect, and are affected by, these cultures. This participant interactive workshop explores the affects of these cultures within our intentional learning communities on community adult and student interpersonal and learning behavior and outcomes.

Putting on an AEROx event :  The Need for More Local Events

Presenters –  Jerry Mintz & Peter Berg 

There has been an increasing demand for more local AERO events.  The need for these events are becoming more apparent and critical.  This workshop / discussion will explore the interest and feasibility of putting on additional AEROx regional events along with goals and outcomes. While Jerry and Peter will discuss the successful strategies much of the time will be spent on diving deep into a collaborative discussion that will produce action items. 

Learning in the Outdoors

Presenter – Peter Berg

Humans have a deep connection with the natural world, indeed for centuries we have learned from the natural world around us. Our current way of life doesn’t always allow time for us to spend time exploring, and learning in the outdoors. This can lead to what Richard Louv and others have dubbed the Nature Deficit. We can partner with the natural world around us to spark our love of learning and innate curiosity. In this workshop we will discuss and explore simple ways to use the natural word as the catalyst for deep, personalized, learning driven discoveries. Part or all of this worksop will take place outdoors weather permitting.