Fellowship Orientation Brings Over 40 Teachers to Philadelphia to Learn About Decision Education
As a national field builder for Decision Education, the Alliance partners with individuals and organizations across the country to make Decision Education part of every student’s K-12 learning experience. Teachers and school administrators are integral to this effort. Over 40 teachers from public district, charter, or independent schools joined Alliance staff for three days of presentations, connection, and collaboration at our Decision Education Teacher Fellowship Orientation.
Teacher Fellows bring our mission to life. They integrate Decision Education into a wide variety of subjects across grade levels, helping students develop essential skills and dispositions for making better decisions. They help us understand how meaningful these skills can be for students. At the onset of orientation this year, eighth grade Science and Living Environment teacher Annycardeli Lopez shared:
My students are going through puberty, which is already a difficult time in life. Add a developing prefrontal cortex and it feels like a decision-making disaster. I hope my students will have the ability to make more effective decisions consistently both in their academic and personal lives. I truly hope they use these skills consistently and find value in what they are learning.
Annycardeli Lopez
Eighth Grade Science and Living Environment Teacher, Decision Education Teacher Fellow
Through presentations on community building, knowing oneself as a decision maker, the Alliance and the Decision Education K-12 Learning Domains and Learning Standards, as well as a Q&A session with seasoned Decision Education Teacher Fellows who are in their second or third year of participating in our Fellowship program, this year’s Teacher Fellows gained foundational knowledge of Decision Education. They built upon this knowledge through small group collaboration, sharing unique perspectives from their classrooms and developing strategies for implementing Decision Education into their daily work.
Middle school principal and creator of the newsletter “Teachers Decide,” Kevin Parkinson, delivered a keynote presentation on cognitive biases and their impact on our happiness and productivity. He shared personal anecdotes from his years of teaching and administration, and engaged Teacher Fellows in activities that turned a lens on the ways that their own mental shortcuts can impact their teaching. You can watch a clip of his presentation where he presents his take on the negativity bias here:
Thank you to all of our Teacher Fellows for joining us to kick off another year of the Decision Education Teacher Fellowship. We are thrilled to be preparing for another school year with you and are excited to learn more about how you are integrating Decision Education into your classrooms. We hope this school year is filled with curiosity, open-mindedness, and strong decision-making skills.
