2022 Annual VTPBIS Forum
Better Together: Building Connections to
Strengthen Ourselves and our School Communities
Monday, October 3, 2022
Killington Grand Resort Hotel
8:30am-3:30pm
$190 per person
Join us for the first post-2020 in-person Annual VTPBIS Forum to learn, share, and celebrate together. School teams or individuals who are looking to learn more about social, emotional, behavioral, and mental health supports within the PBIS framework, and schools that are interested in exploring PBIS implementation are all welcome to attend.
For reservations at The Killington Grand Resort, call 1-800-282-9955 and mention the VTPBIS Annual Forum for a special rate of approximately $160 double occupancy per night.
Please contact Anne Dubie at [email protected] with any questions.
Agenda:
8:30-9:00 – Registration and Morning Refreshments
9:00-9:15 – Opening Remarks – VTPBIS State Team
9:15-10:00 – Keynote Presentation: Connections, Care, and Commitment – A PBIS Team Approach to Student and Staff Success – Holly Rouelle, GCS Principal and 2022 NAESP National Distinguished Principal for Vermont
Gertrude Chamberlin School (GCS) is a long-standing VTPBIS Exemplar School. This keynote will highlight the ways in which consistent leadership, vision, data-based decision making, and teamwork promote a positive school community that embraces PBIS, explicit teaching of social-emotional learning, mindfulness, and restorative practices as integral parts of both the daily curriculum and layered supports for students and staff.
10:15-12:00 – Workshop Session 1:
A. CANCELLED! Introduction to PBIS: This session is for individuals and school teams exploring PBIS implementation in their schools. There will be a focus on the key features of PBIS, including how to infuse equity from the start. Intended Audience: Ideally, this workshop will be of benefit to school teams (including administrators) from schools who are not yet implementing PBIS but are interested in learning more. Other individuals who want to learn about PBIS are also welcome. Presenters: Representatives from the VTPBIS State Team
B. VTPBIS Coordinators Learning and Networking Session (same session offered in the morning and afternoon): This session for Vermont PBIS School and SU/SD Coordinators will offer opportunities for reflection, collaboration, and planning related to your PBIS roles. Participants will learn about the ways in which the PBIS framework has grown and how to integrate these changes into your systems, data, and practices. Resources and concepts that will be discussed include key language changes, the TFI Integrated Companion Guide, constructs for integrating equity and inclusion into your implementation, and family engagement. Coordinators will be able to develop an action plan to bring back to their PBIS teams. Intended Audience: VTPBIS School and SU/SD Coordinators. Administrators are also welcome. Presenters: Representatives from the VTPBIS State Team
C. Conducting FBAs/BSPs with a Restorative Lens (same session offered in the morning and afternoon): PBIS can be seen as an “umbrella” to hold effective practices. The VTPBIS State Team has long supported both FBA and restorative practices. During various trainings (Universal, Targeted, and Intensive) Jon and Jeremy began to have transparent conversations about the overlap and integration of restorative practices and the FBA process. The potential for each practice to inform and enhance the other became clear as they learned from each other. This workshop is offered to share their learning with you but also to create a shared learning environment for practitioners of either or both practices to share their learning and experience with each other. Intended Audience: Individuals who conduct FBAs/BSPs to support students with behavior concerns. Presenters: Jon Kidde & Jeremy Tretiak, VTPBIS Trainers/Coaches
D. Strategically Leveraging Building Leaders to Foster Adaptive Change for an Effective, Sustainable Multi-Tiered System of Supports (same session offered in the morning and afternoon): Today’s school leaders not only need to know how to create a Multi-Tiered System of Supports to effectively and efficiently improve meaningful and measurable student and staff outcomes, they also need to exercise leadership moves that interrupt the status quo. This interactive presentation, given from a superintendent/former principal’s perspective, will provide an evidence-based approach to developing a cohesive system that supports the SEL/Mental Health and academic needs of students. The presenter will share: key insights and lessons learned from developing a district-wide, robust system focusing on data-based decision-making; the formalized MTSS structures created by the district; practical leadership strategies that are crucial for success; and the meaningful outcomes realized by the district for both students and staff. Intended Audience: School Leaders, District Leaders, Building or District Staff who want to “manage up.” Presenter: Mark Pellegrino, Ed.D., Superintendent, Gardner Public Schools, Massachusetts
E. Building Collective Ownership from Staff and Students in the Creation of PBIS Practices: In this workshop, participants will hear about the process used by an elementary school to ensure staff and student voice in the creation of their PBIS practices by applying transparent, systematic, and consistent protocols. Participants will learn how the school reform initiative (SRI) tuning protocol provided structure for the discussion and opportunities for staff feedback, including how this protocol was used across various school teams (BEST Institute team, PBIS team, and full building staff). Participants will engage in the tuning protocol and consider how the process could be modified to best suit their school needs, culture, and build collective ownership among staff and students. Intended Audience: PBIS Leadership Teams. Presenters: Lauralee Keach, BCBA and District PBIS Coordinator, South Burlington School District, VTPBIS Coach/Trainer and Zachary Rhoads, SEL Coach and School PBIS Coordinator, Rick Marcotte Central School
F. SoulCollage® Workshop: Creative Collage to Promote Well-Being: Let your art and soul out to play! SoulCollage® is an easy, creative, and fun process of using your intuition and imagination to create collaged cards, made from simple materials: magazine images, scissors, glue, and cardstock. It is a process that is truly accessible to everyone, even people who believe they have no artistic ability, and it allows for easy, artful self-expression. Learning Objectives: Participants will:
- Create collaged cards that are meaningful to you
- Explore a creative process for self-discovery, acceptance, and personal empowerment
- Share in an inclusive, diverse, and cooperative community for mutual encouragement
Intended Audience: SoulCollage® is for everyone because it meets people wherever they are on this journey called life! No one has to be an artist in order to make SoulCollage® cards and have the satisfaction of meaningful creativity. No experience is necessary. Limit of 25 participants. All materials provided. Optional: Bring a “unique to you” magazine with images to donate for another SoulCollage® workshop. Presenter: Carolyn Tatlock, School Counselor, Monkton Central School
G. Authentically Building Social/Emotional Skills and Community Through Nature-Based Learning (same session offered in the morning and afternoon): Join Eliza Minnucci outdoors for an active workshop of routines, games, and lessons that help build a positive class culture. Bringing school learning outdoors offers authentic opportunities to develop relationship skills, responsible decision-making, and self-management. Carefully facilitated experiences that integrate gross motor activity, inquiry, natural sensory input, and risk-taking with social-emotional learning effectively reaches a diverse learner group. Elementary educators will leave this workshop with collaborative nature-based morning greetings, active ways to develop trust in an outdoor classroom setting, and nature-based, standards-connected activities with embedded social-emotional learning. This workshop will be active and will take place outdoors. Be ready to play! Intended Audience: For elementary classroom teachers, support professionals, special educators, behavioral interventionists and administrators. Presenter: Eliza Minnucci, ForestKinder Founder, Elementary Flexible Pathways teacher in Tunbridge, VT
H. Using Play to Build a Community of Care (same session offered in the morning and afternoon): Play is one of the most effective and direct ways to create community and connection with students. In this workshop, we will actively explore the concepts of progressive risk taking, and how well-led play can be used to deepen safety and trust in any engaged learning community. Using a variety of Energizers, cooperative games, improv theater games, and active play from his extensive tool kit, Howard Moody will also have everyone laughing in this experiential and fun workshop.
In this workshop, participants will:
- Experience together, by actively engaging in play what it feels like to be connected and feel safe within social play experiences.
- Learn concrete skills of effective play leadership – How to lead games successfully in a variety of settings and with different groups of students.
- Explore the concept of progressive risk taking. How to choose activities that have just enough risk that which helps to build trust and safety in a group.
- Reconnect to their inner childlike spirit and be reminded that joy is a gateway to a person’s passion.
Intended Audience: Applicable for educators at any grade level. Presenter: Howard Moody, Play Specialist
I. Caring Without “Crashing”: Practices to Prevent Burnout: People who have a gift for caring are sorely needed in this world. But they need the tools to do their work in a way that is life-giving, not life-draining. This workshop offers you some of those tools. Empathy is a powerful and necessary skill in order to be of benefit to our students and colleagues, but empathy on its own can actually be detrimental. Being able to feel other people’s feelings is how we are able to effectively attune to their needs and show compassion through our actions, but if we remain in that empathetic state, we lose objectivity and risk becoming emotionally exhausted. In this way, empathy is simply a tool, not a state of being we should aspire to all the time. In this workshop, we will explore what empathy and compassion are and learn some simple practices for strengthening your empathetic skills and activating the life-giving experience of true compassion.
In this workshop, participants will:
- Reflect on your personal experiences of compassion and empathy in your work and life.
- Examine definitions and individual understandings of empathy, compassion and compassion fatigue.
- Explore practices that strengthen empathy and compassion while preventing compassion fatigue.
Intended Audience: Applicable for educators at any grade level. Presenter: Annie O’Shaughnessy, Co-Founder, Starling Collaborative
J. CANCELLED! Supporting Students Together: Effectively Engaging Parents/Caregivers in Student-Level Meetings: In this workshop, participants will learn how their Universal practices contribute to effective and efficient student meetings. We will explore practices that contribute to family and caregivers feeling more comfortable and confident as partners in their child/ren’s education. Additionally, we will explore some strategies to ensure that caregivers are prepared to partner in meetings which will assist in meeting new special education rule change requirements that take effect in July 2023.
Objectives:
- Explore current practices for involving and engaging families
- Learn effective ways to keep families informed
- Provide ideas for increasing family engagement and how this can contribute to more effective student meetings
- Explore questions to consider when planning student meetings
- Explore follow-up strategies to ensure caregivers have opportunities to connect, ask questions, and provide feedback.
Intended Audience: Any educators who facilitate meetings. Presenter: Kristin Beswick, VTPBIS Coach/Trainer
12:00-1:15 – Lunch, Celebration, and Annual Acknowledgements!
- New VTPBIS Schools will be recognized, along with those who self-nominated for Annual Acknowledgements
- Nominate a colleague for the 2022 “Sherry Schoenberg PBIS Champion of the Year” Award! Nominations due by Sept. 14th!
1:15-1:40 – Q&A or Team Time (Optional. No pre-registration necessary)
Q&A Sessions:
- Rule 4500
- SWIS
- Universal Screening
- Targeted 2022 Cohort Meeting (for those trained at the Targeted Level in 2022)
- Classroom Behavior Practice Coaching (for those trained as CBPCs only)
1:45-3:30 – Workshop Session 2:
K. Re-invigorating the Use of Data (for Decision-Making) to Achieve Better Outcomes for Everyone: In the past couple of years, the use of VTPBIS data for decision-making has decreased, likely due to the pressures of the pandemic. This workshop will promote team strategies for using PBIS assessments, feedback surveys, and student behavioral data to help you meet your anticipated outcomes and make meaningful connections with your team members, staff, students, and families/caregivers. While we will not spend time drilling into your school/district data, we hope to set you up for success so that you and your team can facilitate data review, decision-making, and data sharing as a routine at your school/district.
Session objectives include:
- Identifying outcomes for change;
- Exploring different data sources and their use;
- Examining a model for team-based data review and problem-solving;
- Hearing an example of one VTPBIS school’s success with using data for better outcomes;
- Considering ways to both gather feedback and share data; and
- Building an action plan to take back to your school.
Intended Audience: VTPBIS SU/SD and School-Based Coordinators; Administrators; VTPBIS Team Members; Anyone Who Loves Data. Presenter: Sherry Schoenberg, VTPBIS Coach/Trainer
L. VTPBIS Coordinators Learning and Networking Session (same session offered in the morning and afternoon): This session for Vermont PBIS School and SU/SD Coordinators will offer opportunities for reflection, collaboration, and planning related to your PBIS roles. Participants will learn about the ways in which the PBIS framework has grown and how to integrate these changes into your systems, data, and practices. Resources and concepts that will be discussed include key language changes, the TFI Integrated Companion Guide, constructs for integrating equity and inclusion into your implementation, and family engagement. Coordinators will be able to develop an action plan to bring back to their PBIS teams. Intended Audience: VTPBIS School and SU/SD Coordinators. Administrators are also welcome. Presenters: Representatives from the VTPBIS State Team
M. CANCELLED! Conducting FBAs/BSPs with a Restorative Lens (same session offered in the morning and afternoon): PBIS can be seen as an “umbrella” to hold effective practices. The VTPBIS State Team has long supported both FBA and restorative practices. During various trainings (Universal, Targeted, and Intensive) Jon and Jeremy began to have transparent conversations about the overlap and integration of restorative practices and the FBA process. The potential for each practice to inform and enhance the other became clear as they learned from each other. This workshop is offered to share their learning with you but also to create a shared learning environment for practitioners of either or both practices to share their learning and experience with each other. Intended Audience: Individuals who conduct FBAs/BSPs to support students with behavior concerns. Presenters: Jon Kidde & Jeremy Tretiak, VTPBIS Trainers/Coaches
N. Strategically Leveraging Building Leaders to Foster Adaptive Change for an Effective, Sustainable Multi-Tiered System of Supports (same session offered in the morning and afternoon): Today’s school leaders not only need to know how to create a Multi-Tiered System of Supports to effectively and efficiently improve meaningful and measurable student and staff outcomes, they also need to exercise leadership moves that interrupt the status quo. This interactive presentation, given from a superintendent/former principal’s perspective, will provide an evidence-based approach to developing a cohesive system that supports the SEL/Mental Health and academic needs of students. The presenter will share: key insights and lessons learned from developing a district-wide, robust system focusing on data-based decision-making; the formalized MTSS structures created by the district; practical leadership strategies that are crucial for success; and the meaningful outcomes realized by the district for both students and staff. Intended Audience: School Leaders, District Leaders, Building or District Staff who want to “manage up.” Presenter: Mark Pellegrino, Ed.D., Superintendent, Gardner Public Schools, Massachusetts
O. Reset, Refresh, and Engage: Building School-Wide Collective Ownership: Join Monkton Central School principal, Mike Lansing, as he shares his methods to gain school-wide collective ownership for PBIS implementation at both the teacher and student level. Mike has reset and guided state recognized PBIS programs at schools in Vermont and Nevada. In doing so, he led both schools to various levels of distinction, including a PBIS Diamond award in Nevada. Mike looks forward to sharing his success methods and helping you build buy-in at your school! Intended audience: Administrators and Leadership Team Members in new and existing PBIS schools. Presenter: Michael Lansing, Principal, Monkton Central School
P. Utilizing De-escalation and Relationship Building Skills: This workshop focuses on relationship building, de-escalation, and conflict resolution skills needed by all school staff. Participants will learn how to support students with self-defeating behaviors by building positive, restorative relationships. Intended Audience: Any school staff. Presenter: Ken Kramberg, VTPBIS Trainer
Q. Authentically Building Social/Emotional Skills and Community Through Nature-Based Learning (same session offered in the morning and afternoon): Join Eliza Minnucci outdoors for an active workshop of routines, games, and lessons that help build a positive class culture. Bringing school learning outdoors offers authentic opportunities to develop relationship skills, responsible decision-making, and self-management. Carefully facilitated experiences that integrate gross motor activity, inquiry, natural sensory input, and risk-taking with social-emotional learning effectively reaches a diverse learner group. Elementary educators will leave this workshop with collaborative nature-based morning greetings, active ways to develop trust in an outdoor classroom setting, and nature-based, standards-connected activities with embedded social-emotional learning. This workshop will be active and will take place outdoors. Be ready to play! Intended Audience: For elementary classroom teachers, support professionals, special educators, behavioral interventionists and administrators. Presenter: Eliza Minnucci, ForestKinder Founder, Elementary Flexible Pathways teacher in Tunbridge, VT
R. Using Play to Build a Community of Care (same session offered in the morning and afternoon): Play is one of the most effective and direct ways to create community and connection with students. In this workshop, we will actively explore the concepts of progressive risk taking, and how well-led play can be used to deepen safety and trust in any engaged learning community. Using a variety of Energizers, cooperative games, improv theater games, and active play from his extensive tool kit, Howard Moody will also have everyone laughing in this experiential and fun workshop.
In this workshop, participants will:
- Experience together, by actively engaging in play what it feels like to be connected and feel safe within social play experiences.
- Learn concrete skills of effective play leadership – How to lead games successfully in a variety of settings and with different groups of students.
- Explore the concept of progressive risk taking. How to choose activities that have just enough risk that which helps to build trust and safety in a group.
- Reconnect to their inner childlike spirit and be reminded that joy is a gateway to a person’s passion.
Intended Audience: Applicable for educators at any grade level. Presenter: Howard Moody, Play Specialist
S. Running Staff Meetings and PLCs Restoratively
Based on her experiences supporting schools, Annie believes successful implementation of any relationally-based approach is hindered or helped by the degree to which the approach is practiced by the adults in the buildings or district. Too often schools implement positive and restorative approaches with students without first focusing on the culture, climate, and practices of the staff. In this workshop, Annie will offer a model for running staff meetings, PLCs, and other committees based on the restorative “Balance in the Process.” She will offer real examples from schools she is currently working with to demonstrate what it looks and feels like to be part of a restorative culture and provide time to identify ways to make your meetings more restorative and effective.
In this workshop, participants will:
- Experience how a restorative meeting is structured to create the skills, capacity, and motivation to work together as a team, including all voices, develop trust and be effective.
- Reflect on adaptations you might make for different meetings in your milieu.
- Identify achievable goals to modify your meetings and learn a simple assessment tool to check your progress.
Intended Audience: All are welcome. Presenter: Annie O’Shaughnessy, Co-Founder, Starling Collaborative