Experience a HOT Schools strategy that exemplifies all three of the HOT Schools Core Components: Strong Arts, Arts Integration and Democratic Practice.  The day will provide an opportunity to work directly from paintings in the New Britain Museum of Art (which can be replicated in the classroom using postcard reproductions) as prompts for writing poetry. The standards-based, curriculum-connected Postcard Poetry process reinforces student voice, choice, participation and responsibility. Led by MaryAnn McAndrew, Classroom Teacher, Pleasant Valley HOT school, South Windsor.

The Leadershop will be an informational session with time for discussions and small group work. The focus will be creating, revising, and enhancing a Student Senate program in schools. The presenters will share how the program started at Jack Jackter Intermediate School, evolution over time, organization, student selection, meetings, and the overall structure. Student Senators will provide a tour of the building and explain some of their service projects and roles within the school.

Time will also be given for small groups to discuss and develop ideas to establish and run a Student Senate in their own schools. This workshop is important because other school systems will be provided with specific information about establishing and running a Student Senate, models of how the Student Senate is run at Jack Jackter, and time to plan and discuss ways to create a Student Senate when participants return to their own schools. In a HOT school, student governance goes beyond the more traditional approach of deciding whether or not to have "Hat Day" and collecting goods for other service organizations. Student Senators view their role in the school as an important one and one of leadership. They address real issues that bear importance in their lives.

An ECHOs Leadershop will guide educators through the process of creating a practical plan to engage students in real world learning that is student-driven and that facilitates Higher Order Thinking. When teachers structure instruction considering students’ abilities, interests, and learning styles, high-end learning takes place. ECHOs is a HOT Schools strategy that engages all students (often in multi-aged groupings) in active learning.

In this interactive Leadershop, school teams will be provided with background knowledge needed and time to discuss and develop their own school plan to implement ECHOs. ECHOs were developed as a practical way to integrate the work of researchers Maria Montessori, as well as Joe Renzulli, Benjamin Bloom, John Dewey, and Howard Gardner, whose ideas formed the philosophical underpinnings for the HOT APPROACH.

John Lyman Elementary School participants will experience first-hand, HOT Schools theory in action as they observe and are guided through the ways in which John Lyman Elementary School structures instruction through the HOT Schools core components of strong arts, art integration and democratic practice; providing each student with the tools to achieve high academic standards and become a creative, successful, lifelong learner.  John Lyman faculty will be joined by faculty from other HOT schools to provide grade level discussions. HOT Schools shares the same broad goals identified in the Common Core State Standards readiness anchor standards for reading, writing, speaking and listening, and HOT practices affect work habits (imagination, investigation, construction and reflection) identified by the National Core Arts Standards. Appropriate for arts and non-arts classroom teachers, teaching artists, parents and arts organization educators.

Pleasant Valley Elementary School participants in this leadershop will see voice and choice in action in classrooms through morning meetings, classroom activities, arts integration experiences, a Student Council Meeting, Art Selection Board, and the bi-monthly whole school assembly which is completely designed, organized, and performed by students.