John Hunter and Jamie Baker to present at NAIS

NAIS 2012 Keynote speaker John Hunter epitomizes revolutionary teaching practices. To teach well, Hunter believes a teacher must know their subject area and themselves. Since NAIS last year, John Hunter and Jamie Baker of the Martin Institute have been traveling across the country working with teachers to reflect upon their teaching practices. Their fundamental beginning belief is that in order to grow and change, one must first be fully aware and accepting of the habits, mindsets, and assumptions that ground one’s current practice. Their second important fundamental belief is that teachers must become comfortable teaching in a dynamic environment where the future is largely unknown. Brave teaching results from a clear vision of desired outcomes and a teacher’s secure belief in his or her ability to design and lead a student’s learning process.

Hunter and Baker will be presenting at the National Association of Independent Schools Annual Conference in Philadelphia on Friday, March 1, 2013. Their session entitled “Developing a Reflective Teaching Practice” will guide participants through a series of reflective questions designed to surface elements of a teacher’s operating beliefs that are hindering creative, engaged, and collaborative teaching and learning design. Outcomes of this session include:

• a specific look at the World Peace Game and its learning outcomes;
• guided questioning that surfaces operating beliefs too small for brave teaching;
• specific suggestions for developing creativity in one’s teaching;
• discussion of how to use risk-taking and failure to improve one’s teaching practice.