Energy through Synergy
Powerful Designs for Leadership

We are no longer accepting workshop proposals. Workshop will be presented on the four focus issues below. All presentations, including general sessions and workshops by the National School Reform Faculty and The Gallup Organization, are scheduled on Friday, July 27, or Saturday, July 28.

About the conference

Pi Lambda Theta’s mission is to honor outstanding educators and inspire them to be effective leaders who address critical issues in education. This conference pulls together outstanding general sessions and workshops that present cutting-edge, practical programs, practices, designs, and strategies for addressing some of those issues. 

This conference will explore tools for achieving student engagement in higher education and K-12, and the structure and training that are prerequisites for applying those tools successfully. The National School Reform Faculty's Critical Friends Groups design provides the necessary  framework and The Gallup Organization's strengths-based education program provides the necessary tools.

Audience

The conference content is suited to higher education (teacher educators and education students) as well as K-12 (teachers, administrators, teacher educators, and staff-development professionals). Proposals should specify a target audience.

Increasing K-12 and higher-education student engagement
Increased student learning and teacher fulfillment are now understood to be results of increased student engagement. Workshops on this focus issue will highlight approaches to increasing student enthusiasm and focus. Approaches might be based on what is known about, for example, parent engagement, brain function, gender differences, classroom management, student diversity, mainstreaming, positive psychology, or strengths-based education. Workshops on new-teacher support and mentoring are encouraged.

Building peer-support networks
Eliminating teacher isolation and drawing on colleagues to improve teaching practice are the essence of professional learning communities in K-12, and increasingly in higher education as well. Workshops on this focus issue will highlight successful programs in which educators are inspired to come together collaboratively to examine student work, help each other improve teaching practices, and give each other feedback that is challenging without being threatening.

Legislative/administrative advocacy
Non-educators dominate the ranks of legislatures, tax authorities, and regulatory bodies at all levels of government-even local school boards. Teacher-leaders have learned to identify the important issues and present the educator's point of view to those non-educators. Workshops on this focus issue may address effective approaches to specific advocacy issues, e.g., testing, standards, curriculum, and performance measures. Workshops may also highlight general techniques and strategies for identifying key education policy makers, understanding education issues from their perspectives, gaining access, communicating a point of view clearly and effectively, and maintaining a constructive, ongoing relationship. 

Senior interests
Retirees have the time to do things that working educators simply don’t have time to do. Conversely, having a place of employment allows working educators to take for granted things that may not be available to retired educators, e.g., computer training, routine use of the Internet, insurance and investment management, online travel management, and e-mail. Some workshops on this focus issue will highlight opportunities for the constructive, creative use of time; others will highlight skills and knowledge that are not easily available outside the workplace.

types of presentations 

Full Workshops (75 minutes): Single-presenter, multiple-presenter, point-counterpoint, and conversation formats will be considered. Presentations should allow for Q&A.

Mini Workshops (up to 20 minutes):  Several presentations will be combined in one 75-minute session when a shorter presentation is called for, e.g., pilot studies, embryonic ideas, student research, action research, best-lesson descriptions, what-works vignettes, and calls to action. To the extent possible, presentations will be grouped by focus issue and topic. Mini workshops allow presenters to hear each others' presentations, and participants to hear several presentations in a single time slot. 

information required for on-line submission 

Below is the information that you will need to have assembled prior to starting the on-line submission. Note:  There is no requirement for subsequent submission of papers.

1. Workshop title, type, and focus issue

2. 30-word description of the workshop:  This will be reprinted verbatim in the conference program.

3. Relationship to the conference theme:  State how the presentation is pertinent to Energy through Synergy:  Powerful Designs for Leadership in the context of the specific focus issue.

4. Objective:  State what workshop participants should expect to learn from the presentation and how they can expect to make practical use of what they learn. Specify your target audience.

5. Substantive content:  As appropriate, describe the premise or hypothesis, the history, perspective, theoretical framework, and practical applications. When presenting research and applications, discuss the underlying theory, research design, data source, analytical techniques, and results.

6. Step-by-step description:  Describe the sequential flow of the presentation: method of presentation, participant involvement, and use of AV equipment. (The description can be simple and brief.)

7. AV requirements and room set-up:  Room set-up is theater style unless otherwise requested. State the exact AV requirements and indicate if you plan to provide the equipment or if you wish PLT to arrange for rental use of the equipment. 

Overhead projectors and flip chart/markers will be provided upon advance request at no charge. Rental fees for any other equipment will be the responsibility of the presenter. Presenters are welcome to bring their own equipment.  VHS VCR/monitor: $53,  LCD video projector $195  Other equipment: fees available upon request.

8. Identifiers:  Provide workshop organizer's name, institution, and contact information. You will also need the names and institutions for all additional presenters. All communications will be with the workshop organizer.

selection process 

PLT's Conference Committee reviews the proposals, assessing them on the basis of content, process, and relevance to theme.

deadline for submission 

The deadline for submission is January 8, 2007. The decisions of the program committee will be mailed in February 2007. Presenter confirmations and registration fees must be received by April 1, 2007. Presentations not confirmed by that date may be dropped from the program.

registration and hotel rates

All presenters must register for the conference. Presenter registration fees are due April 1, 2007. Full conference registration includes four meals; two-day registration includes two meals. PLT does not pay travel, per diem, or other costs for presenters. 

*All presentations, including general sessions and workshops by the National School Reform Faculty and The Gallup Organization, are scheduled on Friday, July 27 or Saturday, July 28.

Pi Lambda Theta group rate at the Omni Richmond Hotel: Single/Double $112 or Triple/Quad $132 plus 13% state and local taxes.

contact 

For more information, contact Robyn Mintier in the Pi Lambda Theta International Office. 
E-mail:  conference@pilambda.org                      Phone:  800-487-3411