Ready for Anything
Virtual Institute

Underestimated Students

and the Opportunity to Dream

June 23, 2020 10am-12pm PST | 1pm-3pm EST

Ready for Anything Virtual Institute Description

At times like these, thought partners can play a constructive role in helping educators look to the future. Bringing together experts and seasoned leaders who understand what schools are facing and what they will need in a post COVID world provides an active platform for sharing, discussion, and reaction to our fluid circumstances.

The Ready for Anything Virtual Institute is a free 2 hour on-line institute, featuring a powerful panel of experts and presenters that will help educators explore next practices for continued leadership and learning in these uncertain times.

Expert Panel 10am-11am PST | 1pm-2pm EST

Hear from a panel of experts about sparking new habits of mind around the way ‘schooling’ is done. Panelists will offer strategies for disruptive teaching, learning and leadership to establish future-focused processes as we move into a new, yet uncertain school year.

Dr. Suzette Lovely

Former Superintendent, Author

Dr. Lovely has spent 38 years serving K-12 schools in every capacity from instructional aide to teacher to principal to central office administrator to Superintendent to strategic planning partner.

During her role as Superintendent in Carlsbad, California she spearheaded several efforts to support future-ready learning including the implementation of a county-wide Career Pathways grant; transformation of school libraries into Makerspaces; formation of dual enrollment partnership with the local community college; and leveraging the state standards and accountability system to ensure underserved students achieved at higher-than-expected levels of performance.

Dr. Lovely is the author of four books, including her 2020 release of Ready for Anything (Solution Tree). She is also a co-founder of the Women in Education Leadership (WEL) Network in Southern California.

Stedman Graham

Author, Educator, Businessman

Stedman Graham is chairman and CEO of S. Graham and Associates, a management and marketing consulting firm. He is the author of 12 books, including two New York Times best sellers and one Wall Street Journal bestseller.

As a businessman, educator and speaker, Graham lectures and conducts training programs for corporations and educational organizations worldwide on the topic of identity leadership, based on the philosophy that one cannot lead anyone else until you first lead yourself.

He has delivered Identity Leadership programs in The Netherlands, Germany, China, Canada, the UK, Bermuda and South Africa. His proven Nine Step Success Process® drives his powerful message. This success process is based on the principle that it doesn’t matter how the world defines you. It only matters how you define yourself. Graham is honored as a distinguished visiting professor at colleges and universities throughout the country. He is a former adjunct professor at the Northwestern Kellogg School of Business where he taught the course, “The Dynamics of Leadership.”

His New York Times best seller, Teens Can Make it Happen, has become a program utilized in numerous middle and high schools in the US and abroad. With dedication to community development, Graham is the founder of the Concerned Citizens of Whitesboro and the Concerned Citizens of Lake Wacamaw, North Carolina. He is also the co-founder of the Community Alliance for Youth Success.

Silver McDonald

General Manager, LEGO Education North America

Silver is responsible for LEGO Education’s North America business to deliver STEM learning and to empower teachers and students with LEGO Education solutions. She has been in the technology industry for more than 20 years with the large majority of those focused on education and sustainability. Silver began her career as a Managing Producer with Razorfish, working with McKinsey and Company, Sega of America and many other clients as they embraced the digital space.

She was an early employee with Schoolnet, an Instructional Improvement System company, and remained with Schoolnet for 10 years. Pearson later acquired Schoolnet, where Silver served as Senior Vice President of K12 Solution Sales, focused on the largest school district and state engagements in the United States. Silver was also Chief Commercial Officer at BrightBytes, an educational research analytics organization focused on improving how the world learns.

Daquan Oliver

Founder and CEO, WeThrive

Daquan J. Oliver is the founder and CEO of WeThrive, a national edtech nonprofit. Using entrepreneurship as a practice field, WeThrive allows underestimated youth to explore their passions, create a revenue-earning business venture, and acquire the essential skills to become future-ready. WeThrive works in more than 20 cities and has gained support from major corporations such as AT&T, Microsoft, Fossil, WeWork, and others.

Daquan founded WeThrive at 21. Prior to WeThrive, Daquan established Jossie, a youth marketing agency. Working with large brands like Zipcar, Uber and KarmalLoop, Daquan amassed a national student network of more than 100,000 youth.

Daquan has been named as a brash entrepreneur on Forbes’ annual 30 Under 30 list. He is also an Echoing Green Fellow and an Ashoka Fellow. In 2014 he was named one of Five Top Black Student Leaders to Watch by the Clinton Foundation, and received recognition by Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for his work.

Breakout Sessions 11am-12am PST | 2pm-3pm EST

What do we want to stop doing, keep doing and start doing as we plan for our new normal? Participants select from a menu of timely topics to hear from educators, thought leaders, and students about deviating from the status quo. Rather than going back to school, topics will focus on going forward to school. Each session will have its own unique Zoom link and will be recorded so that participants can enjoy other sessions after the Institute.

Master Scheduling for Equity in a Post Pandemic World

Ana Diaz-Booz, Principal Kearny Educational Complex

Cheryl Hibbeln, CEO IlluminatED Collective

Preston Thomas, Chief Systems and Services Officer, OUSD

Crucial Competencies for Future-Focused Learning

Jorge Espinoza, Principal, Carlsbad Unified School District

Dr. Suzette Lovely, Former Superintendent, Author of Ready for Anything

Dr. Jim Rickabaugh, Former Superintendent, Senior Advisor, Institute for Personalized Learning

Discover Your Purpose

Bobbi DePorter, President, Quantum Learning Network

Candice Fee, Program Manager, SDUSD

Stedman Graham, Author, Educator, Businessman

Supporting Underestimated Youth Through Entrepreneurship

Daquan Oliver, Founder and CEO WeThrive

Hands-On Learning in the Time of Social Distancing

Silver McDonald, General Manager, LEGO Education North America

Zoe Randall, STEAM Resource Teacher SDUSD

Andrew Sliwinski, Head of Technology, the LEGO Group

The Power of Compassionate Dialogue to Achieve Disruptive Equity Leadership: A COVID Case Study

Kelly Cole, Equity Supervisor, Epoch Education

Dr. Nancy Dome, Co-founder/CEO, Epoch Education

From Remote to Restart: Future Proofing School

Dr. Frances Gipson, Director, Urban Leadership Program, Claremont Graduate University

Dr. Kecia Ray, President K20 Connect

The Hidden Impact of School Closures and E-Learning: Changing Views of Students, Parents and Teachers

Julie Evans, Executive Director, Project Tomorrow

Leveraging Partnerships to Implement TK-16 Work-Based Learning

Sarah Burns, Director of Research and Evaluation, San Diego Workforce Partnership

Doug Henderson, Director of STEAM, Val Verde Unified School District

Presenter Resources

Session One:

Master Scheduling for Equity in a Post-Pandemic World

Session Two:

Crucial Competencies for Future-Focused Learning

Session Three:

Discover Your Purpose

Session Four:

Supporting Underestimated Youth Through Entrepreneurship

Session Five:

Hands-on Learning in the Time of Social Distancing

Session Six:

The Power of Compassionate Dialogue to Achieve Disruptive Equity Leadership: A COVID Case Study

Session Seven:

From Remote to Restart: Future Proofing School

Session Eight:

The Hidden Impact of School Closures and E-Learning: Changing Views of Students, Parents and Teachers

Session Nine:

Leveraging Partnerships to Implement TK-16 Work-Based Learning (Part 1)

Session Nine:

Leveraging Partnerships to Implement TK-16 Work-Based Learning (Part 2)

Session Nine:

Leveraging Partnerships to Implement TK-16 Work-Based Learning (Part 3)

Expert Panel Slides