Created and hosted by Mary Institute and Saint Louis Country Day School (MICDS), the Summit for Transformative Learning in St. Louis (STLinSTL) brings together experts and master teachers to share research-based, sustainable learning practices. STLinSTL seeks to prepare educators to create meaningful changes in their practice in order to meet the needs of today's learners. STLinSTL distinguishes itself from most conferences by offering experts in small classroom settings instead of larger auditorium venues. Learning for participants is student-centered, social, and personalized. One participant noted:
"This is the only conference where every session gives me ideas and pushes my thinking and the only one where speakers interact and learn right along with us. Despite the big names, my sessions were never bigger than 30 and Jay McTighe even called me by name." Educator, Woodward Academy
Watch the 2022 Recap to learn What Makes STLinSTL Unique
Conference ThemE
The overarching theme of this year's conference is Designing Learning with Students at the Center. Students must be at the center of all learning. In creating curriculum, we must consider what the future will look like and what skills students will need to meet it with confidence and competence. In order to design contemporary learning experiences, teachers must honor tried and true teaching methods, keep abreast of emerging research-based best practices, be adept at Social and Emotional Learning, and understand the research of Mind, Brain, and Education Science. On top of all of this, Artificial Intelligence (ai) and other emerging and existing technologies need to be carefully considered and embedded into the student experience. It is a complex job that requires ongoing professional learning. STLinSTL strives to bring together classroom educators and respected experts in order to help teachers develop and grow the skills necessary to meet the challenges of teaching with students at the center.
This year's conference will feature topics in several categories:
Embracing Technologies and their Educational Impact With the recent emergence and exponentially growing field of ai, education is being forced to reimagine approaches in many areas. The use of ai will permeate our classrooms and give us the opportunity to develop and embrace new approaches. Ai will not be the only new technology that teachers and students will encounter. Technology associated with making and immersive learning are becoming more common. Simultaneously, educators are still addressing the need to prepare students as digital citizens and computational thinkers. Sessions in this category will push attendees to better integrate and explicitly teach the necessary skills and content that technology affords us.
Deeper Learning and Literacy Today’s students need educational environments that allow them to engage in deeper learning. Six competencies encompass the deeper learning framework: content mastery, critical thinking and problem solving, collaboration, effective communication, academic mindset, and self-directed learning. Enacting deeper learning requires that the curriculum be relevant and that students be empowered. A deeper learning environment crafts experiences that engage students at high levels of attention and commitment. It cultivates both contemporary and traditional literacies, placing value on media and data literacy alongside information literacy, reading, and writing. Sessions in this category will explore ideas and strategies that help educators create classrooms of deeper learning.
SEL and Global Competency Understanding ourselves and each other is critical for the future. The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) has defined social and emotional learning (SEL) as the process through which children and adults understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions. Research has shown that without caring for and managing emotion, learning is negatively impacted, making this work the plate upon which learning is served. Furthermore, for our students to be relevant in the future, they must strive to be culturally and globally competent, able to engage in conversations about and across differences while having a clear understanding of self. Today’s students need to understand unique perspectives and be able to navigate and appreciate differences. Sessions in this category will help guide attendees in a deeper understanding of how to develop globally and culturally competent students through an SEL approach.
Best Practices in Assessment and Feedback Assessing students and providing feedback for growth is an essential component of teaching. Doing so in a way that ensures students love learning and are motivated to achieve at high levels can be challenging. Sessions in this category will provide attendees with ideas for improving on formative assessment, assessing more contemporary skills, aligning assessment to standards, creating rigorous and relevant assessments, and engaging students in peer and self-assessment. Sessions in this category will also be devoted to improving the feedback we give students and providing ideas on how to help students act on that feedback. Sessions will work to answer these questions: where am I going and why, how am I doing, and where to next?
Mind, Brain, and Education Science As put by Leslie Hart, “Designing educational experiences without an understanding of the brain is like designing a glove without an understanding of the human hand,” yet teacher training is often lacking in the realm of Mind, Brain, and Education Science (MBE). Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa, a frequent speaker at STLinSTL, challenges us to become learning scientists by incorporating the science of learning that we already know and using that research to revise our practices and test our implementations. Sessions in this category will help educators consider the emerging research and accompanying best practices in MBE Science.
This year on May 30-31, 2024, the Summit for Transformative Learning (STLinSTL) will be held on the MICDS campus in the School's state-of-the-art McDonnell Hall and Brauer Hall STEM Building. The 86,000 square-foot building includes an 800-person auditorium, nine large math classrooms, 10 science clabs (classroom/labs), and a commons and hearth room area designed for collaboration. The building serves as a teaching tool with visible working systems allowing students to track the energy the building consumes as well as the energy it produces. Learn more about the campus here.