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The Professional Learning Organization for Educators
July 2024
Upcoming events, resources, and information to support leaders of professional development.
What's New with LFTX
2024 Learning Forward Texas
Annual Conference Highlights
The 2024 Learning Forward Texas Annual Conference, held in June, was a remarkable event that brought together educators and professional learning enthusiasts from across the state. The conference began with a series of full-day pre-conference sessions, providing in-depth training and valuable insights on the latest trends and strategies in professional learning. The opening keynote speaker, Debbie Silver, captivated the audience with her inspirational address, setting a positive tone for the days ahead. Throughout the conference, attendees had the opportunity to participate in over 60 sessions, each taught by seasoned professionals dedicated to enhancing the quality of education through effective professional learning practices.
As the conference drew to a close, Amber Teamann delivered a powerful closing keynote that left participants feeling motivated and energized. The success of the conference was made possible by the dedication and hard work of our speakers, vendors, and volunteers. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to all who contributed to this event. As we look ahead, we are excited to announce that next year's conference will be held from June 16-18, 2025, in Hurst, Texas. Be sure to mark your calendars and join us for another enriching experience. In the meantime, enjoy the short video featuring highlights from this year's conference, capturing the vibrant spirit and shared learning of our community.
Thank you to our Corporate Partners!
Blue Level
Green Level
Sponsored Content
Texas Educator Spotlight: Naina Gonsalves, Austin Achieve
In this interview, Naina Gonsalves, the AmeriCorps & Special Programs Director at Austin Achieve, an open enrollment public charter in Austin, Texas, shares why SIPPS is their intervention of choice for small-group literacy instruction with older striving readers in grades 3–12.
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Professional Learning Resources - Energizers
As you plan for next school year, you might need to review Energizers. Learning Forward Texas has curated a list of resources to help you plan your next meeting or learning session. The lists include Learner Agreements, Engaging Processes, Reflection, and Grouping strategies.
LFTX Blog
Reflective Leadership and Building a Culture of Appreciation
For the summer Learning Forward Texas conference, we’ve presented a series of interviews with our keynote and pre-conference speakers. We’re wrapping up this series with Amber Teamann, who was our closing keynote speaker at this year’s event.
Regional Affiliates
The Learning Forward Texas Regional Affiliates are meetings hosted and planned by local school district professional learning leaders. Based on feedback from participants, the leaders determine the topics. All regional affiliates are working on their schedules for the fall. Watch for more information in the August newsletters.
Click here for more information from each of the regional affiliates.
2024 LFTX Conference
Shared Resources
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5 ways to support novice teachers with instruction Poster designed by Jamie Clark | jamieleeclark.com - An illustrated one-pager written by Haili Hughes presents five powerful mentoring strategies for supporting novice teachers. According to Haili, "Mentoring has many different facets, but one of these is to facilitate improvements in teaching." Download the poster.
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'At the heart of every coaching conversation resides an inquiry into what people want.' Coaching Conversations with Jim Knight podcast
This episode provides valuable insights into effective coaching practices, the significance of empathy and understanding, and the transformative impact of dialogue in fostering growth and development. Jim Knight and Haesun Moon delved into the concept of scaling in coaching conversations and the importance of focusing on progress rather than deficits. Watch the interview
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Sometimes, we have to create our own professional learning practice - The Intercom- formerly Edutopia - Instructional coach John Schembari presented several strategies and resources for teachers to use in order to take charge of their own professional learning, especially when they feel unsupported by administrators. He cited newsletters The Marshall Memo and The Main Idea as good go-to places for current articles on K-12 education and teaching and invited readers to consider, "How might we take inspiration from these examples of collective caring and of independent and collaborative learning to infuse our practice with new information and meaning?" Read More
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Let’s get it right — everyone deserves a coach - Learning Forward Blog - A culture which reflects that everyone deserves a coach because everyone deserves to grow, transform, and support the positive impact of student achievement is an imperative message that must be made loud and clear in order to help make shifts in teacher practice. Read More
2024 Professional Learning
Professional Learning Opportunities
Check our webpage for the most up-to-date learning opportunities.
2025 Learning Forward Texas Annual Conference
June 16-18, 2025
Hurst Conference Center, Hurst, TX
Information will be available in September
Have you planned your summer and fall Professional Learning?
Contact us to help!
We have consultants available who specialize in a variety of topics:
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Coaching
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New Teacher Support
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Mentoring
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Communication
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Professional Learning for Instructional and Non-instructional Staff
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Strategic Planning
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Leadership
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Much, much more
Contact Lisa Ham, Executive Director,
ed@learningforwardtexas.org 512-266-3086 ext. 1
News from Learning Forward
On June 27, the House Appropriations Subcommittee that handles education funding marked up a fiscal year 2025 appropriations budget that would slash education funding, including FULL ELIMINATION of Title II-A. Learning Forward has issued a statement (view here) from President & CEO Frederick Brown.
The House markup begins the appropriations process for FY 2025. This means that there is still time to let Congress know that they need to reject the House version of the appropriations bill. You can send a message to your members of Congress by clicking here.
2024 Learning Forward Annual Conference
Learning Forward's 2024 Annual Conference sessions are now available to review and select. Many sessions will fill up quickly, so ensure that you have a seat in your favorite sessions by reserving your spot today. Join us Dec. 8-11, at the Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center, Denver, Colorado. Begin your conference registration and see each day's session titles, descriptions, and more. If you have already registered, you can go straight to session selection here. Register now.
Learning Forward Texas
516 E. Byron Nelson Blvd., #1279
Roanoke, TX 76262
