Workshop and Keynote Topics

The following titles and descriptions can be used for Keynotes or full–day or multiple-day workshops. Most of the keynote/workshops use examples, tasks and strategies from multiple content areas and grade levels. Each presentation can be customized to particular grade levels or content areas.

The Power of Student Engagement

An engaged learner masters more content and develops deeper skill sets. Even more important, students who can articulate their own thinking become better problem solvers in the academic work and the real world.

Science tells us that the facets of learner engagement are simultaneously intellectual, academic, and egocentric. John Antonetti takes us on a journey through the latest brain research in a humorous, interactive workshop that integrates strategy, thinking and engagement—truly a 3-dimensional approach.

From the Learning Cube, participants will 1) examine the power of personal response as a lever for thinking and engagement; 2) integrate middle- and upper-level thinking from Bloom’s Taxonomy into student-controlled activities; and 3) incorporate researched-based instructional strategies into lessons of critical and creative thinking. Antonetti has been described by Effective Schools founder Larry Lezotte as a teacher’s teacher and brings his experience teaching at all grade levels to the workshop. He has helped schools throughout the country make classrooms more engaging and rigorous. While hands-on work in schools is his passion, he is a highly sought keynote speaker.

John integrates the research of John Medina’s brain rules with the big names in education and action research from the ASCD book he co-authored with the late Dr. Jim Garver, 17,000 Classroom Visits Can’t be Wrong: Strategies that Engage Students, Promote Active Learning and Boost Achievement.

You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll leave with something you can use in your classroom tomorrow!

Personal Response: What Engages Today’s Learners

Facebook, texting, and talking to ourselves—each of these illustrates something very important about human beings: We want to think, we want our ideas heard, and we need audience. John Antonetti will take us from the brain rules into the engaging qualities of personal response. Vision, patterns and emotions are the three pillars of long term memory storage. We will look at a number of ways to increase long term storage of ideas as well as building in the “fun” of learning. This session is designed for educators of all levels and will give teachers ideas for immediate use in the classroom.

Rigor is Not a Four-Letter Word

As he works with schools around the country, John Antonetti is often asked to help teachers plan rigorous instruction. Sadly, we often confuse rigor with difficult, tedious, lengthy or hard. Webster’s Dictionary actually defines rigor as “a condition that makes life difficult, challenging or uncomfortable.” What student would want that? John will help us to discover that rigor is not a single entity, but rather a product of three important design facets: personalized thinking…captured by each unique learner…in tasks of engagement. In other words, my thought that comes from the way my brain works to make sense of this problem. The Powerful Task Rubric will help us analyze and plan instructional tasks of true rigor. (Shhh! Don’t tell anybody it’s rigor—just thinking, logic and laughter.)

Rebranding Mathematics: It just makes sense!

The biggest problem with problem solving is problem finding. Join John Antonetti as we continue to find ways to engage learners in mathematical personal response. No fuzzy math here, just opportunities for learners to make sense, hypothesize, attack and connect problems in the elementary or secondary math classroom. Using an approach John and his colleagues call “content bookends,” the session will explore how mathematical thinking is facilitated, discovered, rebranded and then connected.

Engagement³: The power of thinking in the math classroom

An engaged learner masters more content and develops deeper skill sets. Even more important, students who can articulate their own thinking become better problem solvers in the academic work and the real world.

Science tells us that engagement is simultaneously intellectual, academic, and egocentric. John Antonetti takes us on a journey through the latest brain research in a humorous, interactive workshop that integrates strategy, thinking and engagement—truly a 3-dimensional approach to look at what makes each of our math students unique.

John integrates the latest research of John Medina’s brain rules with action research from thousands of classrooms across North America.

You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll do some math! You may even leave with a new understanding of your students (as well as yourself).

Writing and the Common Core: The REAL Work of Collaboration

As schools make the move to the Common Core standards, how do we ensure that our students become better thinkers and writers? How do we break the standards into manageable pieces? Where is the rigor and engagement in the standards? Join John Antonetti as we answer these questions and more in his keynote that looks at the work to be done to guarantee student success. Using a process known as REAL, John will help principals and teachers negotiate the work that must be done at the adult level to make writing engaging and meaningful for our students. Be prepared to laugh and learn (in that order).

Mathematical Practice #1: The Core of the Core

At the heart of all mathematical thinking is the ability of the learner to make sense of a situation, problem or challenge. Join John as we look at ways to explicitly teach Mathematical Practice #1 Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them. With examples and anecdotes from four years of work with Kentucky’s implementation and assessment of the common core mathematics, John has designed this workshop to be interactive, rigorous, and completely safe for those with math anxiety!

Using Writing as a Measure and Model of Thinking

As schools around the country face increasing accountability and public demands for improved student performance, it becomes obvious that we must look to high-yield, research-based strategies to bring about the increases in student achievement.

One of the most influential and productive strategies employed by schools who are experiencing this type of achievement growth is the systemic use of writing as the assessment of our curriculum standards.

Writing with a focus on modeling and measuring thinking skill produces much more than the old “writing across the curriculum”. Join John Antonetti as we look at strategies to build writing as a reflection of thinking.

(Antonetti’s book, Writing as a Measure and Model of Thinking, is a great resource for the day of training and as follow-up support.)

Keynotes and Workshops about Digital Engagement

The following keynotes can be extended to full day workshops. Clients may choose between working titles or customize to fit the needs of the audience.

Title #1 Student Engagement: the Tech and the Task

Title #2 Making Meaning: The beginning of engagement
Vision, Patterns, Emotion. These are the building blocks of cognitive engagement. Using stories, examples, and insights garnered from over 17,000 classroom visits across North America, John Antonetti will help us to LOOK at what engages learners, CONNECT to what we already know about technology, and LAUGH at ourselves.

Title #3 This is your brain. This is your brain with a power cord.

Title #4 Cognitive Engagement in the Digital Classroom
What happens to the brain when it encounters modern technology? Based upon observations in over 17,000 classrooms across North America, John Antonetti shares what he has learned about the power of technology to amplify learning tasks and increase student engagement.

In each of these keynotes or workshops about technology, the primary focus is to look at what naturally engages learners and then to match that to the power of technology in the classroom. Depending on the audience and intended outcomes, activities can include:

• Analyzing videos of classrooms
• Tasks that demonstrate the engaging qualities of student work
• Tasks that define rigor
• Analyzing task amplification through technology
• Determining the pitfalls of using technology for technology’s sake
• Using the Engagement Cube as a reflective analysis tool and/or a planning tool
• Using the Powerful Task Rubric as a reflective analysis tool and/or a planning tool
• Using the SAMR Technology Continuum as a reflective analysis tool