If you missed or would like learn more about our presenters see the listing below for this year's panel.
Thank you to everyone who participated!
The IALS 2021 International Virtual Conference
When July 7-9, 2021
Who A conference for those associated with or interested in learning from Laboratory schools including educators, pre-service educators, administrators, researchers and faculty
What An incredible opportunity for professional development, connection, and collaboration to share with and learn from Lab School colleagues
How Webinars, video forums, papers, posters, presentations, keynote speakers, online workshops, breakout sessions, and virtual visits to International Lab Schools will be facilitated
Where In the comfort of your own home, school, or office
Why IALS is committed to providing a forum for lab schools to connect, collaborate and contribute to the improvement of instructional practices and effective learning for all
Stay up to date about the latest conference developments.
Click here to renew your membership or become a member now!
Keynote Speaker for IALS 2021
Dr. Todd Whitaker
Dr. Todd Whitaker is a professor of educational leadership at the University of Missouri and emeriti professor at Indiana State University. Todd has spent his life pursuing his love of education by researching and studying effective teachers and principals. One of the nation's leading authorities on staff motivation, teacher leadership, and principal effectiveness, Todd has written over 50 books including the national best seller, What Great Teachers Do Differently. Other titles include: Shifting The Monkey, Your First Year, Dealing With Difficult Teachers, 10 Minute Inservice, The Ball, What Great Principals Do Differently, Motivating & Inspiring Teachers, and Dealing With Difficult Parents. Todd is married to Beth, also a former teacher and principal, who is a professor of educational leadership at the University of Missouri. They are the parents of three children; Katherine, Madeline, and Harrison.
To learn more about Dr. Whitaker visit his website.
Meet our presenters!
Thursday
Thursday
9:00
Natural Curiosity: The Importance of Indigenous Perspectives in Children’s Environmental Inquiry
Haley Higdon (OCT) is a guest and settler on Turtle Island and is the Program Director of Natural Curiosity, Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study (JICS) Laboratory School, OISE-University of Toronto. She has her BEd and MA in Child Study and Education from JICS. She has spent the last four years working as the managing editor for the development and creation of Natural Curiosity 2nd Edition: The Importance of Indigenous Perspectives in Children’s Environmental Inquiry. Haley has extensive experience in supporting educators with incorporating environmental inquiry into their practice.
Rosa Na is the Program Manager of Natural Curiosity.
10:00
Partnering to Build Up STEAM: University and Lab School Collaboration
Dr. Alison Mellott is an Assistant Professor in the Teacher Education Department at Shippensburg University. Her experiences in the field of early childhood education have focused on the development of social and emotional skills in young children and utilizing coaching strategies to build positive classroom environments. Her research interests include teacher perseverance, the integration of social and emotional instruction in classroom settings, and eliminating suspension and expulsion in early childhood settings.
Dr. Andrea Malmont is an Associate Professor at Shipppensburg University in the Teacher Education Department. Dr. Malmont’s experiences include Special Education in both Middle/High and Elementary schools, Training Curriculum Specialist for US Air Force child and youth programs including home based child care in Alaska, and higher education. Dr Malmont has degrees in Early Childhood, Elementary Education, Special Education, STEM, Elementary Administration, and Educational Leadership. Her interests are in action research, mental health of youth, and STEAM in early grades.
Ms. Holly Garner is the Director of the Grace B. Luhrs Elementary Lab School and an assistant professor in the Teacher Education Department at Shippensburg University. She has worked over 28 years in education as an elementary teacher, reading specialist, literacy coach, and elementary principal. She is passionate about forming meaningful partnerships between university and elementary students. Her interests are in trauma informed practices, supporting struggling readers, and building writing skills in elementary students.
10:30
Lighting the Fire: Enriching Children’s Environmental Inquiry through Indigenous Perspectives during
COVID-19
Haley Higdon (OCT) is a guest and settler on Turtle Island and is the Program Director of Natural Curiosity, Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study (JICS) Laboratory School, OISE-University of Toronto. She has her BEd and MA in Child Study and Education from JICS. She has spent the last four years working as the managing editor for the development and creation of Natural Curiosity 2nd Edition: The Importance of Indigenous Perspectives in Children’s Environmental Inquiry. Haley has extensive experience in supporting educators with incorporating environmental inquiry into their practice.
David Osorio is a Lab School Teacher with the Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study at the University of Toronto. Focusing on land-based learning and how children learn best through evidence-based pedagogy, David also mentors Masters level teacher candidates, hosts graduate study research in his Grade Two classroom, and shares his experiences as a guest speaker in the MA-CSE, MeD, and Natural Curiosity education programs. David recently became a Doctoral student in the EdD-Child Study and Education program at OISE, researching narrative pedagogy and traditional indigenous storytelling for land-based inquiry.
11:30
Giving Voice: A Photography Group with Grade 5 Students
Ellie Lathrop is a social worker and therapist who has focused her career on working with children and families since graduating from the University of British Columbia with her Masters of Social Work in 2000. Ellie started working at Jackman Institute for Child Study in April 2020 and also works in private practice. Ellie has had the opportunity to work in many areas of child and youth services. She has worked in child welfare and adoption, at a children’s mental health centre in Scarborough and then at SickKids in psychiatry and medical programs supporting children with complex health needs. Ellie has always found working with children to be a privilege and a joy. She has loved joining the JICS community and having the opportunity to collaborate with educators at a lab school.
Meaghan Jeremic is a teacher, who was a part of the grade five teaching team at the Jackman Institute of Child Studies for the 2020-2021 school year. She graduated in 2020 with her Master’s of Arts in Child Study and Education from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. Meaghan has had the opportunity to work with children in a variety of settings across the Greater Toronto Area, in both public and independent schools. She is passionate about working with children, and ensuring that they feel the classroom is a space where they can express their emotions, self-identities and voices.
Thursday
9:00
Reflections on Preschool in Quarantine: Teacher's Stories
Our team, Laura King, Dan Gordon, Cindy Rouner, Sara Taylor, Joseph Haughey, Tim Wall, consists of the Leet Center director, the Horace Mann principal, three professors in the Professional Education Unit, and the dean of the School of Education.
9:30
Disrupting Early Childhood Pedagogy in the Midst of a Pandemic
Lisa Wright, EdD serves as the director of The Hollingworth Center, a program within the Department of Curriculum and Teaching at Teachers College, Columbia University. Under Dr. Wright’s leadership of 33 years, the Center develops model programs and offers enriched educational services for graduate students, educators, and children. Dr. Wright is also on the faculty in the Department of Curriculum and Teaching at Teachers College, teaches graduate courses, supervises student teachers, and co-directs an annual summer institute for teachers and administrators on responsive curriculum and pedagogy. Lisa holds a Master of Arts Degree in Educational Theater from New York University and a Doctoral Degree in Curriculum and Teaching from Teachers College, Columbia University. Lisa taught in private and public schools at the elementary and secondary levels prior to coming to TC. She has published a variety of articles for peer review journals and has received two Paper of the Year awards (with James Borland, Ph.D.) from the National Association for Gifted Children. Lisa presents nationally and consults with formal and informal education institutions across the United States and internationally. Her research interests include responsive differentiated curriculum design, the development of pre-service teachers in the field of early science education, LGBTQ children’s literature, and the play of children as they “tikkun olam” (repair the world). Lisa’s critical stance is embedded in a social justice perspective and access and equity for all children as they grow their potentials. Lisa’s greatest professional joy is collaborating with her graduate students and she is, and always has been, most at home in the classroom.
Sarah Duer stepped into her new role as preschool director of Hollingworth Preschool in Summer 2020 and has worked for Hollingworth in various capacities for the last six years. She has a Masters Degree from the Curriculum & Teaching Department at Teachers College in the Gifted Education program and a second Masters Degree in Educational Leadership from Banks Street College in the Progressive Leaders program this December 2020. Previous to her role as preschool director, Sarah was the Director of New Initiatives for the Hollingworth Center, and designed and taught two new innovative programs: “Expeditions & Explorations”, a community centered program with outdoor exploration, nature play, and engineering, as well as “Inquiry & Me”, a project-based inquiry program inspired by scientific phenomena. Sarah is also a professional learning leader. She has acted as a mentor teacher for Hollingworth Preschool by supporting the development of assistant teachers in their teaching practices and portfolios and taught as a teacher for the Hollingworth Science Camp since 2014. In addition, Sarah has experience as a classroom teacher in a city-wide gifted and talented public school in Queens where she specialized in differentiated inquiry-based curriculum. In her work as preschool director, Sarah encapsulates all of her roles in education: professional learning leader, mentor, classroom teacher, and student in order to create collaborative opportunities for all learners and equitably engage with opportunities to develop their potential. Sarah, as a life long learner, is a doctoral student in the department of Curriculum and Teaching at Teachers College, Columbia University.
10:00
Heart for You- Virtual Engagement in Early Childhood
Lynnette Weaver serves as the Program Director of the Center for Early Education Lab School and Early Childhood Education faculty at Montgomery College. She started at Montgomery College in 2011 as a lead teacher working in mixed-age classrooms. Since 2016, Ms. Weaver has taught credit and non-credit courses for Montgomery College in both the School of Education and Workforce Development and Continuing Education. Courses taught include Developmentally Appropriate Practice, Child Growth and Development, STEM in Early Childhood Education and Curriculum Planning in Early Childhood. Lynnette Weaver holds a Master of Education degree in Early Childhood from Towson University. Prior to Montgomery College, she worked for the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) where she mentored programs and assessed early childhood environments for quality.
10:30
Exploring Creativity - Implications for Child Development
Dr. Ella Karia is an Associate Researcher and Post-doctoral Fellow with the Atkinson Centre for Society and Child Development at the University of Toronto. She has been involved with two major government funded research teams - 1) Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) Innovation Project and the recently released 2) 2020 Early Childhood Education Report (ECER).
11:00
Service Learning with Young Children
Jessica L. MacLeod, M.S., is the Director of the URI Child Development Center (CDC), a NAEYC accredited laboratory preschool, on the Kingston Campus. She has expertise in early learning program leadership, early childhood education, child development, and teaching young children as well as adult learners. A certified Early Childhood Education (ECE) Teacher, Jessica has experience teaching in a Head Start program as well as 10 years of experience teaching kindergarten and preschool children at the URI CDC prior to becoming the Education Coordinator and Administrator. Jessica has an extensive record of successfully creating and presenting professional development that supports implementation of quality improvement efforts aligned with evidence-based best practice. In addition to teaching college courses at URI, Jessica is also co-PI on the URI Preschool Development Grant and the RI DHS I/T Apprenticeship Pilot Project Grant.
11:30
New Futures for Family-School Partnerships in a Child Development Lab
Ashley Kimble, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the department of Human Development and Family Science, Early Childhood Education program at Oklahoma State University. She is a former kindergarten teacher. Her work focuses on family-school partnerships, teacher-child relationships, and early childhood teacher preparation.
Larisa Callaway-Cole, EdD is an Assistant Professor in the department of Human Development and Family Science, Early Childhood Education program at Oklahoma State University. She is a former early childhood educator working with children birth-5-years-old. Her work focuses on culturally sustaining pedagogies, especially as they occur in the home through family caregiving practices.
Sandy Major, MS is the Director of the Cleo L Craig Child Development Lab at Oklahoma State University. She is a retired educator who has been practicing in the field for more than 30 years.
Thursday
9:00
A Laboratory School's Dual Mission: Providing an Excellent Education and the Focus on Preparing Future Teachers
Lisa Clayton, Ed.D. is a professor and the Elementary Education Program Coordinator at the University of North Alabama in the Department of Teaching, Learning, and Leadership. She has 21 years of experience in education. Currently, as a professor, she teaches undergraduate and graduate students and supervises interns. Before starting to work at the university, she was recognized as a National Board Certified Teacher in the area of Early Childhood Generalist.
Jeff Cornelius, Ed.D. is the Chair of the Department of Teaching, Learning, and Leadership and a professor of Instructional Leadership and Teacher Leader at the University of North Alabama. Prior to joining higher education, he was employed in a public school district for 15 years while serving as teacher, assistant principal, principal, and assistant superintendent. He has over 12 years of administrative experience.
Chris James, Ph.D. is currently completing his twenty-fifth year in education. During his career, he has served as a secondary mathematics teacher, assistant principal, principal and director of Kilby Laboratory School. He has also served as the Director of Teacher Education at the University of North Alabama. He teaches graduate level coursework in the Instructional Leadership and Teacher Leader programs at the University of North Alabama.
9:30
Impact of Lab Schools on Recruitment and Retention: Making it Work in Times of COVID
Our team consists of the Leet Center director, the Horace Mann principal, three professors in the Professional Education Unit, and the dean of the School of Education.
10:00
Insights, Challenges, and Lessons Learned from an Emerging University-Public School District Lab School Initiative
Maggie Struck is an Assistant Professor in the School of Education. She currently serves as the faculty liaison for the lab school initiative. As faculty liaison, she works to connect faculty, staff, and students from Hamline University (HU) with teachers and students at Hamline Elementary (HE) through academic pairings and service-learning opportunities. As a professor of elementary literacy education, she helps HU students build literacy instructional skills to help support the teachers and students at HE. As a child, she attended Malcolm Price Laboratory School in Cedar Falls, Iowa. She grew up having college students and professors participate in lessons at her elementary school and took many field trips to the university campus for interdisciplinary projects and events. These experiences shape her commitment to and passion for the lab school’s vision and the longstanding partnership between Hamline University and Hamline Elementary.
Patty Born is an Assistant Professor in the School of Education. She serves as the Inquiry lead and STEAM-team liaison between the University and the Elementary School. At the University, she is the program director for the Master of Arts in Environmental Education and teaches STEM and environmental education courses. Grounded in inquiry-based pedagogy, this work allows her to help teachers and teachers-to-be find ways to use the environment as an integrating context for teaching and learning. Working with the lab school, she helps teachers and students engage in meaningful, joyful learning through real-world experiences including outdoor learning, use of the school’s makerspace, and community explorations.
Mike Reynolds is a Professor of English, who served during the development of the lab school initiative as the Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, with a particular focus in the School of Education; he has previously served in administrative roles across the University, and also serves in neighborhood and community organizations in the Midway. His work at Hamline has often focused on student success development -- pedagogical, institutional, and co-curricular efforts to shape more inclusive systems and strategies. As he has returned to the English department, his continued collaborations with the lab school initiative are invested in developing new partnerships between our institutions which could enhance design- and inquiry-centered learning for undergraduate education.
10:30
University Academies: Case Studies in Teacher Preparation and School Improvement
Michael Odell is a Professor of STEM Education and holds the Sam and Celia Roosth Chair in the College of Education and Psychology. He holds appointments in the School of Education and the College of Engineering. He is the Co-Founder of the University Academy Laboratory Schools and serves on the School Board. He also provides oversight for the UA Curriculum. He is the Co-Director of the UTeach STEM Teacher Preparation program and the Co-Director of the Ed.D. in School Improvement Program. His research interests are Education Policy, Sustainable Education, PBL, School Improvement, and STEM Education. Dr. Odell holds a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from Indiana University.
Jo Ann Simmons is currently the Superintendent of the University Academy Laboratory Schools in the College of Education and Psychology. She is also an adjunct faculty member in the Education Leadership program and Coordinator of the Superintendent Program. She is also an Adjunct for the Ed.D. in School Improvement. Her research interests include Education Policy, School Reform, and School Improvement. Dr. Simmons holds an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from Stephen F. Austin State University.
11:00
Ecologically Sustainable Laboratory Schools: Why We are Rooted in The Community
Dr. Henrietta Muñoz is the Executive Director of the Texas A&M - San Antonio University Institute for School and Community Partnerships. Dr. Muñoz oversees the Senate Bill 1882 school partnerships within Edgewood ISD and whose mission is to design an equitable quality school pipeline for students in the South and Westsides of San Antonio, Texas. Dr. Muñoz has over 20 years of nonprofit experience and 15 years of school-community partnership experience within the west and east sides of San Antonio. Muñoz is a proud Annie E. Casey Foundation Children and Families Fellow (2009-2010), and part of a Community Advisory cohort of the Dallas Federal Reserve. Muñoz received her PhD from the University of Texas at San Antonio in Culture, Literacy and Language in 2009, where she served as Adjunct Faculty until 2013.
Dr. Melissa M. Jozwiak is an Associate Professor at Texas A&M University- San Antonio. She has worked in the field of education as an early childhood and secondary teacher, program director, teacher trainer and professor. Her research interests focus on examining continuity and discontinuity in early childhood education and early childhood systems with an emphasis on developing community-based Laboratory Schools and School-University Partnerships. Melissa has presented at numerous conferences at the local, state and international levels, is Co-Chair of the Consortium for Early Education Research and Family Empowerment, and is the co-author of Continuity in Children’s Worlds: Choices and Consequences for Early Childhood Settings.
11:30
It all began with mint on a cold April morning! A gardening project with preschool children
Freshteh Bibishahrbanoui is a registered early childhood educator with more than 18 years of experience working with kindergarten and preschool children. Freshteh is a life long learner who has pursued her higher education with a focus on holistic education and a return to nature as a foundation for education to ensure well-being and mental health in children. Freshteh has a BA in early childhood education with a minor in psychology and M.Ed. in Developmental Psychology and Education from OISE. She is a pat-time instructor at the School of Early Childhood, George Brown College.
Friday
Thursday
9:00
Restoring Children’s Relationship to the Natural World: A Virtual Tour of One Laboratory School’s Ongoing Journey towards Indigenous Education, During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Educators at the Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study (JICS) Laboratory School, OISE-U of Toronto. This team of educators will be co-facilitating a virtual tour of green spaces at the Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study Laboratory School, a Nursery to 6th Grade school based at the University of Toronto. Natural Curiosity is an environmental education program for educators, housed at the JICS Lab School.
Doug Anderson is an Indigenous educator that supports the JICS Lab School. He is an advisor to the Natural Curiosity Program and co-authored Natural Curiosity 2nd Edition: A Resource for Educators: The Importance of Indigenous Perspectives in Children's Environmental Inquiry.
Chriss Bogert is the Vice Principal at the JICS Lab School and a member of the Natural Curiosity team.
Haley Higdon is the Program Director of Natural Curiosity.
Norah L'Esperance is the Nursery Teacher at the JICS Lab School.
Rosa Na is the Program Manager of Natural Curiosity.
Raadiyah Nazeem is the Grade 1 Teacher at the JICS Lab School.
David Osorio is the Grade 2 Teacher at the JICS Lab School.
Krista Spence is the Nursery teacher (as well as Teacher Librarian and Technology Integrator) and supports Indigenous Education at the JICS Lab School.
10:30
Supporting students in the Arts during the pandemic
Brian Moody is the 8th-12th grade Visual Arts instructor at PK Yonge DRS in Gainesville, Fl. I have been teaching Visual Art for seven years, and was an elementary teacher prior to that for five years at PK, and a 1st-8th grade teacher for three years prior in Alachua County Schools. I am passionate about my subject area, but more-so about teaching and supporting my students.
Thursday
10:00
Pandemic Pivoting in Teacher Preparation Lab School Settings
Monica Miller Marsh is Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education and Director of the Child Development Center at Kent State University. Her areas of interest include home, school, community collaboration, the formation of teacher and student identities, and curriculum development. She is co-founder, (with Dr. Tammy Turner-Vorbeck) of the Family Diversity Education Council, a non-profit organization, which publishes The Journal of Family Diversity in Education.
Adonia Porto is a lead preschool teacher at the Child Development Center. She graduated from Kent State University with a Ph. D in Curriculum & Instruction. Her area of interest is young children’s connections and interactions with nature. She supports curriculum development at the Child Development Center as the coordinator for the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program.
Robyn Brookshire is Director of the Early Learning Center for Research and Practice at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Her applied research focuses on teacher development in collaborative communities of practice, cross-cultural studies of teacher pedagogy, and nature-based practices. Kathryn Humber is a Demonstration Teacher at the Early Learning Center for Research and Practice at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Her areas of interest include increasing children’s use of outdoor learning environments during the preschool day and supporting teacher preparation students across age ranges.
Kathryn Kidd is Associate Director at the Early Learning Center for Research and Practice at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She teaches a number of undergraduate courses, including senior prekindergarten practicum and was instrumental in generating and supporting the work to pivot instructional methods during the pandemic.
Katie Pollock is the Nature Preschool Teacher at the University of Delaware Lab School where she has taken on many different teaching roles including full-day Kindergarten, Pre-K, and Play & Grow. Katie’s areas of interest include nature-based education and curriculum development, and preservice and inservice early childhood educator mentoring and coaching. Katie earned an MS in Literacy from Wilmington University and a BS in Early Childhood Education from the University of Delaware. She is a licensed Delaware Teacher of Early Childhood & Early Childhood Special Education and Early Childhood Administrator, as well as a former public school teacher, and an undergraduate instructor and clinical educator at the University of Delaware.
Dorit Radnai-Griffin is the Director of the University of Delaware Lab School. Dorit is an Instructor in the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences where she has taught undergraduate and graduate courses for over a decade. Dorit earned a PhD and an MS in Human Development and Family Studies from the University of Delaware and BS in Psychology from Delaware State University. She also has a Delaware Department of Education Early Childhood Administrator certification. Her research interests include coaching and mentoring of Early Childhood Education in-service and pre-service teachers and nature-based practices.
Friday
10:30
Collaboration between Laboratory Schools and University Faculty to Deliver Comprehensive PD and Mentoring
Jessica L. MacLeod, M.S., is the Director of the URI Child Development Center (CDC), a NAEYC accredited laboratory preschool, on the Kingston Campus. She has expertise in early learning program leadership, early childhood education, child development, and teaching young children as well as adult learners. A certified Early Childhood Education (ECE) Teacher, Jessica has experience teaching in a Head Start program as well as 10 years of experience teaching kindergarten and preschool children at the URI CDC prior to becoming the Education Coordinator and Administrator. Jessica has an extensive record of successfully creating and presenting professional development that supports implementation of quality improvement efforts aligned with evidence-based best practice. In addition to teaching college courses at URI, Jessica is also co-PI on the URI Preschool Development Grant and the RI DHS I/T Apprenticeship Pilot Project Grant.
Delia C. Hall, M.S. is the Director of the URI Dr. Pat Feinstein Child Development Center (CDC), a NAEYC accredited laboratory preschool, on the Providence Campus. She has expertise in early learning program leadership, early childhood education, child development, and teaching young children as well as adult learners. A certified Early Childhood Education (ECE) Teacher, Delia has 12 years of experience teaching kindergarten and preschool children at the URI Dr. Pat Feinstein Child Development Center prior to becoming the Education Coordinator and Administrator. She successfully partners with varying sectors of the ECE field, working to develop and present professional development that supports programs and professionals in implementing quality improvements aligned with evidence-based best practice. In addition to teaching one college course per semester at URI, Delia is an on-going trainer for the RIELDS classroom series through the Rhode Island Department of Education and the Northern RI Collaborative.
Thursday
10:00
The Learning Journey of Children Through Provocations
Cindy Rouner, Sandy Seipel Leet Center for children and Families.
10:30
RStaying true to their mission: How a Lab School worked to meet the needs of children and family during remote programming during the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic
Jennifer Gallo-Fox is an Associate Professor at the University of Delaware in the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences in the Early Childhood Education Program, and a former 1st and 2nd grade teacher. She has a PhD in Teacher Education, Curriculum & Instruction, and an MS. Ed. in Early Childhood and Elementary Education from Bank Street Graduate College of Education. She specializes in early childhood curriculum and instruction, science education, and teacher learning. She collaborates closely with the Lab School at the University of Delaware to support the early educator learning and science education, and actively worked to support the program throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Annette Pic is a doctoral student at the University of Delaware in the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences in Early Childhood Policy and Systems. She has a MS in Human Development and Family Sciences with a concentration in Early Childhood Development and Inclusive Education. She is a certified Delaware Early Childhood Education Teacher. Her research interests include child-initiated learning in nature-based preschools, peer conflict resolution in the context of free play, and early child education access.