TIFFANY MAHON

Happy, Confident Teachers and Engaged Students

Tiffany started her career as an amateur and professional Musical Theatre performer before realising her true passion was teaching young people. She is currently Deputy Principal at Namadgi School in Tuggeranong in the ACT.

Tiffany’s presentation, “Happy, confident teachers and engaged students,” will focus on positive body language, confidence and wellbeing for teachers. She will provide participants with a toolkit of Drama activities that can be used in any classroom (K-12) to build more positive peer and teacher relationships, and will demonstrate how we can use brain breaks and fun, interactive games to engage students in learning.

Tiffany was a writer of the ACT Every Chance To Learn Curriculum and an Australian Curriculum Writer.  She is a specialist Drama Teacher with a passion for coaching and mentoring teachers at all stages of the AITSL Classroom Practice Continuum. She has been an  INSPIRE Associate and  Curriculum Studies Tutor with the University of Canberra (UC) and worked in partnership with Education Changemakers (EC) on Design Thinking in schools. Tiffany also co-led the national AITSL Learning Frontiers project in the ACT and has presented at national conferences for ACTATE, EduTECH and AITSL.

PHIL DYE

Understanding the Learning Brain 

Phil is a Sydney based author, teacher, entrepreneur and musician.

He is the author of The Father Lode published by Allen and Unwin (1998), 101 Ways to Improve your Business Writing (2006) and The Australian Sports Media Manual(2013).

As a corporate trainer, Phil has worked with some of the world’s largest companies such as Oracle, Vivendi and HSBC to help them communicate more effectively. He has taught every level from Kindergarten to Master’s Level University.

He is the past Director of Studies and Head Lecturer in Communication at the THINK Education Group and has lectured in Media at the University of Technology Sydney. As a specialist science communicator, he recently spent three years as an educator in the School of Medical Science at the University of NSW (UNSW). He is the winner of a ‘Golden Target’ Award for his communication programs on organ donation.

As a journalist and social commentator, Phil has written on topics as diverse as fatherhood, the role of the mass media in society, human relationships, gender and corporate citizenship. He has written for the Melbourne Age and Sydney Morning Herald opinion pages as well as ABC Opinion Online.  He has been interviewed over 100 times for Australian radio and TV and is an occasional correspondent for Canadian TV on major Australian issues.

His most recent project, Mindz Brainplay stems from his work at UNSW where Electroencephalographs (EEGs) are used to educate the non-medical public about brain health and function, learning states and the future of brain-computer interfaces. Mindz Brainplay operates in NSW and Western Australia. His ‘Mind Journey’ Experience is one of the top 10 Sydney experiences according to AirBnB ratings and one of the most popular school incursions in Australia.

As a professional entertainer, he has provided music for the ABC, released four CDs and performed to members of the Royal Family in London.

Phil’s presentation: Understanding the Learning Brain 

This presentation will contribute 2 ½ hours of NESA Registered PD addressing 3.2.2, 3.4.2 and 6.2.2 from the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers maintaining Proficient Teacher Accreditation in NSW.

Summary

While an explanation of the brain and nervous system function can equip students with knowledge, being able to put students at the centre of this understanding is vital in engaging today’s ‘me’ generation student. For teachers, understanding the electrical system of the brain and its relevance to a positive learning environment is essential in educating students in 2019 and beyond. Sharing this knowledge with students is also important.

This presentation will begin by looking at basic brain function as it relates to learning and behavior. We’ll look at the latest developments in brain research and look at what is relevant to teachers in the real world. We’ll also look at some common fallacies in relation to brain science.

During the presentation you’ll be observing the brain of some participants using completely safe Electroencephalographs (EEGs) and take an actual look at what is happening inside their mind. We’ll look at how creating specific electrical states can improve both learning and behavior.

You’ll also have the chance to use an EEG to see how well you can create the most positive electrical brain state for learning. You’ll be guided in the use of the equipment with plenty of Q and A time.

FIONA PIGOTT

“To know thyself is the beginning of wisdom.” Socrates

Having lived in Cambodia for five years, Fiona is delighted to return to the land of silk and spice to act as your theroksaa m’teay, or group custodian, assisting you to have a comfortable experience, navigate cultural issues and engage deeply in professional learning whilst visiting this enchanting country. A passionate and experienced krou bongrien, Fiona has taught other educators in a diverse range of settings including simple Khmer government classrooms, local village halls under mosquito nets, well-resourced international schools, conference rooms in Bangkok, by the banks of the Shoalhaven River and in staff rooms of NSW Department of Education schools.

Fiona’s hands-on workshop Know thyself embodies Kolb’s experiential learning theory enabling participants to consolidate content covered in Ian Luscombe’s presentation by engaging in practical activities and professional reflection. Using traditional Cambodian rituals and cultural artefacts, participants will be given the time and space to contemplate what they have seen and heard both in the seminars and during local excursions, integrate it with their existing expertise and apply this new learning to their home context. We will engage in experiences that act as protective factors against workplace stress and teacher burnout, and can reduce anxiety and aggression in students. A conference paper will be provided that grounds the workshop in current psychological, educational and neurological research. As leaders in education, participants will utilise the session’s practice and theory with the teachers and students they work with each day.

Fiona is a research practitioner, who works both ‘at the coalface’ supporting students with additional learning needs, and contributes to the knowledge base that informs evidence-based interventions in schools. Fiona examines how creative and responsive pedagogies (what we do) interact with the physical and emotional learning environment (the world we create around us) to enable students to successfully engage in quality learning. She is currently an Assistant Principal and Learning & Support Teacher at Nowra East Public School, NSW, where she supports teachers, students and their families thrive within a challenging environment.

Along with teaching at the International School of Phnom Penh, her consultancy work in Cambodia included writing and delivering a teacher training program for the country’s first educators of deaf students; evaluating a nation-wide UNICEF intervention using quality teaching practices to increase student attendance; and working in remote communities with CARE Australia to implement literacy programs with ‘at-risk’ youth. Fiona’s Masters of Education thesis examined the impact of the physical and emotional learning environment on student’s neurological ‘readiness to learn’. Her most recent publication is Lasting lessons in outdoor learning: a facilitation model emerging from 30 years of reflective practice. (Gray, T. and Pigott, F., 2018) Ecopyschology. 10, 195-204.

DR CHRISTINE RICHMOND AM

Dr Christine Richmond is an experienced teacher of students with severe behaviour challenges in clinical and school settings. She also worked as a senior guidance officer, family therapist and academic. Dr Richmond is well known in Australian education circles through her research and publications in behaviour management, her work in schools, and as a speaker at regional, state, national and international conferences. In 2004 she was made a fellow of the Australian Council for Educational Leaders and was their national travelling scholar throughout 2007. Christine was appointed to give the prestigious Annual Lecture for the Queensland College of Teachers in 2009. She held academic positions at the University of New England and Bond University before moving into private practice. Her books, Teach More, Manage Less: A Minimalist Approach to Behaviour Management for teachers and its companion text, Lead More, Manage Less: Five Essential Behaviour Management Insights for School Leaders are published by Scholastic.

LOUS SILVESTRO

Loui draws live at seminars, capturing the main ideas and producing compelling pictorial metaphors.

He is currently involved in a University of Western Australia Law Faculty research program, “Comic Book Contracts,” where he creates visual representations of complex legal concepts, thus making them easier to comprehend.

www.louisilvestro.com.au