Early Bird ends on April 30!
Just added: Fundraising Practicum
Pre-conference
Leader’s Day and Practicums
Wednesday, June 19, 2024
One day that inspires all year
Pre-conference workshops and gatherings provide teachers, school leaders, and administrative staff with targeted topics to help them as they work in schools day-to-day. Just as importantly, these gatherings bring like-minded people together for fellowship and prayer.
- Leader’s Day and Practicums are held the day before the official opening of the conference: June 19, 2024.
- Many attendees note that these targeted workshops and meetings provide not only practical information, but a helpful extra day to get settled in before the main conference begins.
Welcome to Leader’s Day 2024
Meet with experienced leaders who can encourage and assist as you guide our movement forward. Come together to advise and pray for one another.
Participants in this practicum will learn what to look for in a lesson, and how to offer feedback on what they see. They will develop an eye for distinguishing effective lessons from ineffective ones, and they will build a vocabulary that helps them articulate this difference to their colleagues. This practicum is for administrators who are responsible for assessing the quality of classroom instruction. It is also for teachers who want to hone their craft. All participants will come away with practical tips about how they might implement teaching lab exercises in their own schools.
Our experienced facilitators have assessed classroom lessons in dozens of ACCS schools around the country. They will lead you through the process of classroom observations and help you deliver effective feedback.
CHRISTOPHER SCHLECT, PhD, has worked in classical and Christian education for over thirty years. At his home institution, New Saint Andrews College, Chris is Head of Humanities and Director of the Classical and Christian Studies graduate program. He also teaches courses in history, education, and classical rhetoric. Read More.
Audience: Upper school teachers or anyone interested in this topic.
Description: A demonstration of how to lead high school students through lessons from five different classic texts.
Young teachers have a tendency of over-preparing for literature classes, depending too much on their lesson plans, and then becoming disoriented when the conversations they intended on having don’t pan out (either because students can’t answer their questions or give overly simplistic answers that don’t lead to anything interesting or disputable).
For the last fifteen years, nearly all of my literature classes have proceeded along a very simple lesson plan: read and discuss. I read our texts out loud in class and occasionally pause to ask questions, make observations, paraphrase unusual expressions, or offer stories to illustrate confrontational claims made by the author. Granted, this sounds quite simple, but it’s one thing to describe it and another thing to see it done.
Joshua is married to Paula and they have two daughters, each of whom has seven names. You can learn more about his work at GibbsClassical.com.
The Institute for Classical Languages (ICL) exists for one purpose: to help teachers and schools teach Classical Languages with greater success. The ICL Latin Practicum is designed for teachers and administrators at every level of skill in Latin. We do this by organizing participants into multiple skill-based tables, so every participant will be with those of similar skill and working on exercises that match their own skill level. No matter their skill level coming in, all participants will learn or practice powerful techniques useful for teaching Latin in their own schools.
This year’s practicum will focus specifically on techniques for teaching students to speak Latin aloud. Ideally, language education includes exercises in all four pathways: speaking, hearing, reading, and writing. While having students speak Latin is extremely powerful in the classroom, it is also daunting for teachers.
Each session is focused on a topic or technique useful for getting students to speak Latin, then participants work at their table with skill-level peers on skill-appropriate exercises related to the topic or technique. Participants at advanced tables will complete exercises while using advanced Latin, while others will use simpler and more basic forms.
TIM GRIFFITH is a Senior Fellow of Classical Languages at New Saint Andrews College, chairman of the Institute for Classical Languages, and director of the Universal Latin Exam. He has spent the last 17 years improving methods for teaching ancient languages in a modern context. Most recently he has developed Picta Dicta (www.pictadicta.com), an online learning platform specifically designed to assist parents and teachers with teaching ancient languages.
Hosted by the FOCUS Group, this three-hour workshop is designed to resonate with the distinct values and educational philosophies of classical Christian schools. Our session aims to deepen understanding and practical application of relational fundraising, aligning with the classical virtues of truth, goodness, and beauty.
Workshop Overview:
Part One: Self-Assessment and Strategic Discussion
Participants will complete a brief self-assessment at the workshop, focusing on their. current fundraising practices and outcomes.. These responses will be shared and discussed, allowing for a communal reflection on how current efforts can be more deeply integrated with the classical Christian approach to education and be more effective.
Part Two: Foundations of Relational Fundraising
Begin with an exploration of relational fundraising, rooted in the rich tradition of classical Christian thought. Participants will review the fundamentals of forming meaningful connections with donors, emphasizing the importance of aligning fundraising efforts with the mission of nurturing virtuous scholars.
Part Three: Escaping the Fundraising Treadmill
The FOCUS Group team will contrast the common event-driven fundraising approach with a more strategic, relational, and sustainable model. We will introduce the Taking Donors Seriously® framework, which includes developing a Case, Leadership, Prospects, Strategy, and Plan, to help visualize an improved approach to annual. fundraising efforts.
Outcomes of the Training
This workshop will equip educators, administrators and board members from classical Christian schools with the knowledge and tools to enhance their fundraising efforts. Participants will leave with actionable strategies that can be immediately implemented to foster a culture of generosity within their communities.
BRAD LAYLAND, CEO of The Focus Group, first learned how to raise money as a college student in 1993, while seeking to raise personal support as a part-time staff member for Young Life. Over the course of 20 years at Young Life, he developed his passion for and expertise in relational fundraising, to the point where he was asked to train other area directors around the country, and eventually became the Chief Development Officer for the entire organization.
Brad joined The FOCUS Group in 2012 as a Senior consultant and became the owner and CEO in 2015. In 2013, he launched the Taking Donors Seriously® e-learning and coaching program to make the firm’s expertise accessible to individuals and smaller nonprofits. … LEARN MORE
The FOCUS Group is a fundraising consulting firm serving Christian nonprofits around the US and internationally. In recent years, it has served Geneva School of Boerne (TX), Veritas School (Richmond, VA), Paideia Academy (Knoxville, TN), Cedar Tree Classical Christian School (Ridgefield, WA), Faith Christian School (Roanoke, VA), Westminster Academy, (Memphis, TN), Covenant Christian Academy (Harrisburg, PA), Regents School (Charlottesville, VA) and the ACCS itself.
From Past Attendees …
So much wisdom and hard work done by others is presented to us in a nutshell.
It is nice to know we are not the only ones experiencing a certain issue. I appreciate receiving wise counsel from others!
I love to hear the wisdom of those who have gone before us in the movement.
I loved that this offered practical advice for grammar school teachers. It’s a great conference for someone just starting in classical education and someone who is looking to improve upon their teaching.
The vision casting brings unity to each school and to the ACCS body. It is a balanced mix of vision and practical.