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New AERO Conference Information!

This has been a turning point week for the upcoming AERO Conference, August 3-7 in Portland, OR. Below are a few of the announcements, along with a way to get a 10% discount or win free conference fees! You can still use the $50 deposit to hold the current price.

You can see a partial list of workshops here

 

AERO Childcare to be Mini-School

We pleased to announce that the childcare at the AERO conference will be directed again by Village Free School's Jessica Graves. Jessica plans to run it as a sort of mini-Village Free School, with some of its students participating. This will be complete with a democratic meeting that conference participants can observe. This program will only cost $100 for the whole conference and is open to any children 12 and under. The number may be limited so sign up soon!

 

Grauer Announced as Keynoter

We're very excited to tell you that Stuart Grauer, founder of the Grauer School in San Diego and author of Fearless Teaching will be a keynoter at the AERO conference. Grauer's book has been a best seller on Amazon in several categories. He has traveled all over the world to see unusual schools and unusual teaching situations. He is a widely praised story-teller and his talk will be about how to get story telling back into teaching. Grauer will join Yong Zhao and Peter Gray as keynoters at the conference.  

 

AERO Conference 10% discount for Two Days

To celebrate all of this news we are offering a coupon for a 10% discount for the conference for the next two days. It will even apply to the low income andstudent rates. Now is the time to register. Don't expect this offer to be repeated. As we have said, as the conference fills up the rate will increase. The coupon code is aerocon10. To use it paste it in at checkout to the coupon code box.

 

New AERO T Shirts for This Week's Registrants

We are in the process of making new AERO T-shirts. This week all new registrants will get a free AERO T shirt. Eventually they will be available to everyone. We'll let you know.

 

AERO Conference Sweepstakes

AERO will be giving away three free registrations to the AERO conference. This will go to three of our applicants. We are asking all those interested to publicize the conference on their list serves, forums and social media along with a few sentences on why you want to attend. Send us links so we can confirm this. We will then pick three winners. If you've already registered we can reimburse you or you could bring someone else!

We are asking those interested to send out a link to our conference. If you have a network of people you can contact, here's a short message you can send them:

Every year the Alternative Education Resource Organization hosts one of the most important gatherings of learner-centered educators. It is called the AERO Conference and this year it will be from August 3-7 in Portland, OR. It is always relatively inexpensive. This year it will feature keynoters such as Yong Zhao and Peter Gray,  TED-like mini-talks on the first day, over 40 workshops, new documentaries, Agile Learner Center training, the Education JAM, and school visits, among other things.
 
The registration fee right now is $275, $200 for students. But for our network we have permission for you all to register at the $225 low-income rate for this week. If you’ve never been to an AERO conference, this is the year to go!

You can see the conference flyer here.

 

 

Two Important Groups Announce Events at AERO Conference!

Agile Learning Centers Training

At this year's conference, facilitators from the Agile Learning Centers Network will be offering a series of special workshops. The ALC model is an exciting and innovative approach which is catching fire around the country and around the world. 


In addition to their annual ALF Summer intensive training, the ALC Network will be offering a 3-day Mini Training right after the AERO Conference in Portland. Save $200 by signing up for both the AERO Conference and theALC Mini-TrainingLearn more here!

 

The 2016 Education Transformation JAM
Former AERO keynoter Shilpa Jain has been co-organizing YES! Leadership JAMs all over the world for many years. She is the Executive Director of YES!JAMs bring together personal, interpersonal and systemic transformation, and create profound spaces for learning, unlearning, connecting, healing, growing and collaborating. Each JAM has about thirty participants — in this case, a diverse, multigenerational group engaged with transforming education in all ways. The Jam will be starting three days in advance of the AERO Conference in a retreat center just outside Portland. To find out more about the JAM, and apply to be a part of it, go here.

You can reserve a hotel room here or you can call toll free 1 855 642 6271 . 

Get more info or register here!

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IDEC Crowdfunding Campaign

In 1993 the inaugural meeting of what became the International Democratic Education Conference was held in Israel. Since then there has been a meeting of the IDEC virtually every year to nurture the fledgling movement. They have met, in England, Austria, Ukraine, Japan, New Zealand, United States, India, Germany, Australia, Canada, Brazil, and Korea. These meetings have sometimes been important for the development of democratic education in the places where they were held. There are now more that 200 democratic schools in the world and the number is beginning to grow fast.

But it is crucial that we continue the tradition of supporting low-income and third world schools and individuals who want to participate in the IDEC. This is often the difference between having democratic schools in these countries and not having them. We do not want this to become an elitist movement. As it is there are democratic schools in many struggling area such as Uganda, Thailand, Nepal, Bolivia, and Ukraine.

This year's IDEC will be in Scandinavia for the first time, In Finland in June. In order to facilitate the participation of developing world and low-income schools and individuals we have organized a crowd funding campaign to raise funds for their travel and expenses. The IDEC will donate the conference fees.

Of course, these days travel is not cheap, so please give generously as soon as possible, as visa's from these countries often take a long time, sometimes involving many late night calls (to far different time zones) to embassies stalling approval.

Thanks so much for your help!

Go to the IDEC Crowdfunding Campaign HERE

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Middle School Open House Queens Paideia School

Middle School Open House

Queens Paideia School

 

Saturday, March 5, 2016

10:30 to 1 p.m.

 

To attend, email info@queenspaideiaschool.org

queenspaideiaschool.org

 

Education should never be about just filling in the blanks or simply getting to the next level. At Queens Paideia it is about challenging math problems, stimulating texts, research on topics students care about, meaningful essay development, and exposure to world history and the scientific method. QPS middle school students embark on personal learning paths, tied to our standard curriculum, that give them choices about what they do and how they learn. Under the guidance of QPS’s experienced learning managers, students form a larger sense of the world and are excited to learn more about it.

 

Queens Paideia’s high degree of personalization–6:1 student ratio–means students achieve academic and personal development, including social-emotional goals and organizational habits. When our students leave for high school, they are ready for what comes next, including experience with managing their workloads, planning out projects, meeting deadlines, and collaborating successfully with others. They take with them a solid foundation of skills and knowledge as well as communication and interpersonal skills.

 

Queens Paideia is at the forefront of school reform, both in terms of the conversation we want to have with you and what we actually do with our students. We invite you to visit and learn about how your child can become a more independent learner, armed with skills, knowledge, and creativity that will make a true difference for life.

 

QPS is located in the LIC Arts Center in Long Island City, accessible from Manhattan, and Brooklyn by the E/M/R/7/G trains, and at the heart of Queen’s culture and tech boom. For more information, see our Web site (queenspaideiaschool.org) or send us an e-mail at info@queenspaideiaschool.org.

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SelfDesign Graduate Institute Winter Faculty and Learner Webinars

SelfDesign Graduate Institute Winter Faculty and Learner Webinars

All webinars are free!

 

April 3, 4 PM PDT—The Image You Use to Describe The Lives of Children and Teens Makes All the Difference, with David Marshak

Please register at:

https://zoom.us/webinar/register/35f9d4b533a8acb8d746f627e8486654

 

April 10, 4 PM PDT— Chasing the Dream—A Community Play to Celebrate 100 Years of History, with Annie Smith

Please register at:

https://zoom.us/webinar/register/ef9a92fe8eb45633dc2040ba88984b7b

 

April 17, 4 PM PDT: Education, Consciousness, Development, and Self Knowledge, with Ba Luvmour

Please register at:

https://zoom.us/webinar/register/bf084b25ceeb7f88d746f627e8486654