From Wednesday, March 21to Friday, March 232012, educators from Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont gathered in Norwood for a three-day conference sponsored by the New England Secondary School Consortium.
The conference was held to bring together members of the League of Innovative Schools and other New England secondary schools to learn about strategies for communicating with the media, examine the critical role of local policy development, create a network between schools throughout the five states and share best practices that are transforming learning for students around New England.
Over the three days, concurrent presentations took place that involved a variety of topics on how schools are creating innovative opportunities. Big Picture South Burlington High School, Cabot School and Essex High School gave presentations to a collection of audiences. School approaches to the presentations varied from bite-size Cabot Cheddar cheese bars to a panel style discussion that was led by students who engaged the attendees.
All presentations focused on school efforts to bring real world experiences into course curriculum that encouraged students to use 21st century skills such as communication, collaboration, leadership, problem solving and the reflective process.
Some of the highlights were Cabot Schoolâ s music production of the song â One Day’through the Global Citizen Project, Big Picture South Burlingtonâ s cutting edge internships that focus on the global community and Essexâ s Academy of Visual and Performing Arts which is tailored to students’individual learning goals.
Vermont Department of Education. 4.3.2012.