Student Engagement with an Equity Lens

Communication – Collaboration – Creativity – Critical Thinking
Optimizing Equity Conscious Pedagogy through Virtual Learning
In collaboration with University of St. Thomas
Minneapolis, MN,  June 23—25, 2020
Download the NUA Program 2020 Guide (PDF)

Overview

National Urban Alliance and University of St. Thomas host three exciting days of collaborative professional learning for pre-K-12 educators and leaders. This annual event brings the fullness of NUA’s power of belief  virtual this year due to the pandemic. All keynotes and interactive presentations will be based on the principles and practices of The Pedagogy of Confidence within the equity-based CLEAR framework. The focus is on high intellectual performance for all students. Schools are encouraged to send collaborative teams ready to engage with practical critical thinking tools creating a Pedagogy of Confidence for whole school community success and a CLEAR view for equity.

Purpose
The NUA’s mission is to substantiate an irrefutable belief in the capacity of all public school children to achieve the high intellectual performances demanded by our ever changing global community. Our focus is teacher and administrator quality through professional development that incorporates current research from cognitive neuroscience on learning, teaching, and leading. We partner with school districts to support the building of their capacity to advocate community-wide responsibility for realizing the learning potential of its children.

Objectives
Extraordinary learning growth requires extraordinary teaching. The Pedagogy of Confidence model provides educators and leaders belief in their ability to inspire the vast capacity of their students. Rooted in the latest research on culturally responsive teaching, cognition and language development, The Pedagogy of Confidence uses the science of learning to engage, to teach, and to reach every child, and celebrates students’ strengths and builds on them. The unique approach shows educators how to focus on students’ strengths to inspire learning and high intellectual performance by:

• using processes that reveal students’ strengths to build on academic areas that need improvement
• amplifying students’ voices to encourage a growth mindset
• demonstrating culturally responsive lessons in the classroom to show engagement and motivation; reading of complex texts in the content areas; writing in the content areas to show understanding and for self-expression; and vocabulary and comprehension development to construct meaning of nonfiction texts.

Outcomes
NUA’s Professional Learning Model transforms beliefs about students’ academic potential, improves school-based practices, and revamps school structures to create educational climates where all students learn. Increasingly, teachers see students’ backgrounds and cultures as strengths and develop lessons that are relevant to students’ lives. The summer institutes bring together many excellent educators who are the learners and leaders of school success.
Download the NUA Program 2020 Guide (PDF)

Activities
Participants will:

• Participate in interactive activities proven to motivate and engage learners virtually and on-site.
• Explore the principles of neuroscience that most enhance student learning.
• Learn strategies that allow our most challenged students to access and engage in learning.
• Learn how to enhance reading and writing capacities and deepen learning for all students.
• Collaborate with team members to apply what you learn to your teaching situation.
• Strengthen existing professional relationships and build new ones.

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“National Urban Alliance (NUA) helped to transform my struggling school to a school of excellence. The professional development they provided was in-depth and thorough. The presenters were lively and provided practical tools for my teachers to implement in their classrooms. Their work made a significant difference in the lives of my school climate and culture. My school was considered a “priority” school, which in my state were schools in the bottom 5%. After working with them for two years, we were able to make significant gains and were no longer on the priority school list.”
Dr. Leona Derden, Principal

“I’ve worked with the National Urban Alliance in three different settings and have found their work to be stellar — the best I know of in the nation with regard to accelerating the achievement of students in urban settings. Their approach is firmly grounded in a set of values about the unlimited potential of our students, staff, and community and on powerful research about cognitive modifiability and building on assets and strengths to engage all students in high intellectual performance.

Their ability to engage educators, learners, and families together in enacting essential pedagogical practices is unparalleled. They deliver on their promises!”
Francisca Sanchez, Associate Superintendent