Join us for the 19th Annual Teacher Leadership Institute: Amplifying Excellence!

This institute brings educators from across Arizona together to share, learn, and find inspiration from skilled facilitators and passionate teachers from across Arizona.

Teachers have come to expect exemplary programs from the Arizona K12 Center through exceptional keynote speakers, stories from inspirational teacher leaders from around Arizona, and engaging sessions to re-energize their enthusiasm for the critical work of positively impacting students and their community. 

Working off of emotional resilience and the tenets of positive psychology, this year, we are focusing on enhancing our practice to amplify the excellent work educators do by digging into cognitive psychology, building relationships between teacher leaders and administration to uproot instructional inequities, and overcoming the barriers that are created when we let fear take over as the driving force in our life. This year’s professional learning event provides even more flexibility to better meet your learning needs as well as providing ample time to collaborate with and across teams or individual planning time.

Keynote Speakers:

Jill Harrison Berg, Ed.D., is a leadership coach, school improvement consultant, researcher and writer, specializing in teacher leadership, turnaround schools and instructional equity. With Dr. Berg’s support as a coach, professional learning leader and/or strategic planning partner, education leaders are able to strengthen their capacities for creating powerful, coordinated systems that maximize the leadership potential of teachers and enable schools to accelerate the success of each and every student. 

Take a peak at Jill Harrison Berg’s most recent book, Leading in Sync: Teacher Leaders and Principals Working Together for Student Learning, at this link.

Michelle Poler is a creative and passionate social entrepreneur, author, keynote speaker, fear-facer, and branding strategist. She is the founder of Hello Fears, a social movement that has reached over 70 million people worldwide and has empowered thousands to step outside of their comfort zone and tap into their full potential. Poler is the author of “Hello Fears: Crush Your Comfort Zone and Become Who You’re Meant To Be” and is also the creator of the project 100 Days Without Fear. 

Born and raised in Caracas-Venezuela, Poler currently lives in Miami and holds a master’s in branding from the School of Visual Arts in New York City.

Cindy Nebel, Ph.D., and Megan Sumeracki, Ph.D., are two members of The Learning Scientists, a team of cognitive psychological scientists interested in research on education.

Nebel is a director of learning services at Saint Louis University School of Medicine. She has broad interests in human learning and memory and applying cognitive concepts to improve education. She received her Ph.D. in experimental psychology from Washington University in St. Louis and has worked as the Assistant Chair of Psychology at Lindenwood University and Associate Professor of Psychology at Washburn University. 

Sumeracki is an associate professor at Rhode Island College and co-founded the Learning Scientists in January 2016. Her area of expertise is in human learning and memory and applying the science of learning in educational contexts. Sumeracki’s research program focuses on retrieval-based learning strategies and the way activities promoting retrieval can improve meaningful learning in the classroom. Sumeracki received her master’s in experimental psychology at Washington University in St. Louis and her Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from Purdue University.

Intended Participant Outcomes:

Amplify your practice and student success by: 

• Addressing your fears and assumptions that are holding you back from becoming the leader you want to be.
• Harnessing your bravery and overcoming imposter syndrome to reach your full leadership potential.
• Overcoming perfectionism to unleash your creativity and innovation.
• Increasing collaboration between teacher leaders and administrators to create a shared vision of academic success that leads to equitable outcomes. 
• Bridging the gap between current research in cognitive psychology and the classroom.
• Experience breakout sessions focused on classroom application, mentoring practices, and leadership.

Reservation Link
For any pre and post-night reservations at the Loews Ventana Canyon Resort, NOT covered with registration, you may use this booking link: https://www.loewshotels.com/ventana-canyon/group-19th-annual-teacher-leadership-institute-pre-post-nights