Elementary Stem Con & Beyond!
What happens when a STEM junkie pulls together a group of teachers and presenters who love hands-on teaching and learning, technology, student-centered strategies, and meeting the needs of ALL learners?
Something SPECTACULAR happens and I’m here to tell you all about Elementary Stem Con 2021 today!
To be real and completely transparent—Kerry Tracy, the conference host and one of the amazing presenters, has been a close friend of mine for over 5 years now. I’ve watched her develop authentic STEM opportunities and lead phenomenal, impactful training for other teachers. Her passion exudes the type of teacher we all look up to—and she’s brought along an amazing roster of presenters who will no doubt deliver amazing PD for you!
WHAT IS ELEMENTARY STEM CON & BEYOND?
Elementary Stem Con and Beyond is a virtual conference for teachers. The LIVE conference happens April 16-19, but teachers will have a years’ worth of access to the conference videos and resources!
If you were lucky enough to enjoy STEM CON last year, you’ll be excited to learn that the conference has expanded to include more workshops for secondary teachers, more AUTHENTIC STEAM trainings, more SPECIAL EDUCATION ideas, and MORE MORE MORE of everything you loved last year! Can you tell how EXCITED I am that Kerry is hosting this another year?!
5 SESSIONS I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO
I wanted to share 5 of the sessions I’m looking forward to - but please know, it was REALLY hard to pick only 5. You’ll want to scan through the whole conference webpage to see all that it has to offer!
Authors on Creativity Panel featuring Kobi Yamada (What Do you Do With an Idea?), Shana Keller (Ticktock Bannekers’ Clock), Chris Van Dusen (If I Built a School), Katey Howes (Be a Maker) — Ummmmm, how could I not get excited about these amazing picture book authors? Each of these are books that I know and love and I’m so excited to hear directly from the authors. It’s like a bonus on top of a bonus of the Elementary Stem Conference! Need I say more?!
Teaching Executive Functioning Skills Through STEM with Canissa Grant — While this session is focused on teaching students with disabilities related to social skills and executive functioning, I guarantee the ideas offered can benefit all students’ growth in social interactions, organization skills, and planning. Canissa will show us how to engage students with disabilities in the STEM design process while teaching essential executive functioning skills. Teachers, you know we need all the tips we can get to help our students learn emotional control, flexible thinking, perseverance, organization, and planning/prioritizing strategies. I’m super excited for this session!
If You Want Successful Students, Let them Fail presented by Kerry Tracy — okay, okay, I already told you that Kerry and I are besties, and honestly, there are so many amazing sessions to recommend-but this session focuses on another topic that is near and dear to my heart—allowing failure to be a regular, healthy part of our classroom environment so that our students LEARN TO SUCCEED! In this session, Kerry will show us how to help our students learn to fail productively and with finesse! 💃
Builders Going to Build from Chelsey Odgers — This session caught my attention because Baby Charlotte received two different styles of blocks for Christmas—bristle blocks and Duplos—and that’s on top of her baby-friendly Mega Bloks that we just can’t bring ourselves to get rid of yet and all of the towers she builds when we bring in a package of paper towels. From Charlotte, I’ve learned that building allows for CREATIVITY, PROBLEM-SOLVING, PERSERVERANCE, and learning how to use a finite amount of resources. Chelsey agrees—she says “Your students were built to BUILD!” I couldn’t agree more—except I’d say your students were BORN TO BUILD. I can’t wait to learn how to make this a bigger focus in my classroom and tap into students’ instincts to build and play!
(More) Top Read Alouds for STEM with Brooke Brown—Brooke’s session at last year’s conference was such a big hit, she’s at it again with more STEM Read aloud suggestions and teaching connections. She’ll share a diverse collection of favorite read-alouds, paired with simple STEM challenges and extensions that are sure to "hook" your students and provide meaningful connections between literacy and STEM.
The best part of STEM CON is how it caters to everyone’s needs—whether you are a beginner, intermediate, or uber-experienced STEM teacher or integrator, you’ll find many sessions that help you hone your STEM/STEAM teacher skills.
Ready to register? Check out the full conference page here.
WHY YOU SHOULD ATTEND STEM CON
⚙ Learn with like-minded teachers who want to GROW in their understanding and implementation of STEM and STEAM.
⚙ Walk away with ideas that not only inspire, but are IMPLEMENTABLE and DOABLE!
⚙ Address the reality and challenges of modern education — but fuel your desire to teach with passion and remain connected to your calling!
⚙ Did I mention the PICTURE BOOK AUTHORS PANEL?
⚙ This conference will be LIT 💥 🚀…with rocket fuel! I want to *virtually* see you there!
INTERESTED?! WHAT NEXT?
👉 Download the Conference at a Glance PDF. Get ready to get highlighter happy! You can print this PDF to get up close and personal with the Conference Overview, Presenters and Presentations, and Daily Schedule. I recommend sharing this conference with your team and principal. The Conference PDF is the perfect tool to use to get your principal to cover the cost of the conference.
👉 Head over to the conference registration page. You’ll find a button at the top to register if you are ready to jump in. If you have questions, find the FAQ at the bottom of the page.
WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT WHAT’S INCLUDED?!
45+ video trainings/workshops
Special guest interviews and presentations
Discussion Panels
Surprise Bonuses and Raffles during the conference!
Potential PD Credits (check the FAQ!)
FREE STEM teaching resources sent to your inbox weekly from the amazing presenters and sponsors! (Starting January 18th so that you don’t have to wait for STEM CON to start for the excitement to begin!)
PLUS, if you missed out on last year’s conference but want ALL the resources, ADD ON THE VIDEO VAULT from STEM CON 2020 and you’ll receive 28 video sessions, STEM lessons and resources, recordings of the special guest interviews and presentations, and a 3-part Intro to Distance Learning video series.
All of this for the early bird price of $35.98 (or $69.98 if you choose to add on the 2020 Conference Vault)
EARLY BIRD PRICING ENDS JANUARY 31, 2021.