Sheila Harrity and Maura Banta join Amy Carrier for 10/23 INSPIRE 2014 Conference “Differentiation for Real Life” Keynote

On October 23, 2014 in Norwood, MA I will be giving the mid-day keynote at the INSPIRE 2014 education conference. My talk is entitled “Differentiation for Real Life“ – it’s about the kind of differentiation that must happen for our students to figure out who they are and where they want to go in life. No two of us have taken the same path in life and nor will our students. So how do we support them? How can we possibly take this to scale for all students? Come listen to the talk! Lunch is included! (There are unique discounts and a link to registration at the bottom of this article – take a look and join us.)

The National Institute for Student Centered Education (NISCE) engaged me as a speaker for their INSPIRE 2013 conference. I gave a 5-minute IGNITE talk on the importance of engaging community members and partners in student learning (watch my talk here). My message hasn’t changed. My determination to help YOU make it happen has only grown stronger.

My work is centered around engaging the community (through business, university and nonprofit partnerships) in order to teach students 21st century empowerment skills. We are building a movement by demonstrating that incorporating new curriculum that prepares students for real-world success and building communities and networks around every individual student. When we empower each student with a network of caring adults, we improve the odds. I am committed to proving that this is true and possible to bring to scale so that all of our students have access.

When NISCE asked me to speak about my approach to differentiation, I was happy to. But I believe in action and deliverables. While I can certainly speak about this work for 45 minutes, I had a better idea: I wanted to engage two dynamic leaders from each side of the bridges I build. I wanted to bring these two people on stage for a fireside chat because three heads are always better than one. So I went about reaching out to two of the best leaders I could think of.

I will be speaking for 15 minutes and then bringing these two phenominal women on stage to give you more insight. Sheila Harrity is a school leader who has proven that partners strengthen the teaching and learning life and career readiness skills. On the other end of the bridge is Maura Banta, a Corporate Citizenship and philanthropy powerhouse who has been with IBM for over 30 years. Maura is also dedicated to education and understands so much of the education ecosystem from her post as the previous chairwoman of the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

So please join me, Sheila and Maura on October 23rd and let’s start building bridges!

My guests for “Differentiation for Real Life:”

From the education side: Dr. Sheila Harrity

Dr. Sheila M. Harrity is the Principal at Worcester Technical High School. In 2013, she was selected as the Massachusetts Principal of the Year and in 2014 she was selected as the National High School Principal of the Year. In addition, in October of 2013, the school received the National Blue Ribbon School distinction for outstanding student achievement by the U.S. Department of Education. Dr. Harrity was given the Terrel H. Bell Award for Outstanding School Leadership at the National Blue Ribbon Ceremony.

On June 11, 2014, President Barack Obama was the commencement speaker for Worcester Technical High School. The President selected one high school from the entire country to address the Class of 2014 Graduates. President Obama selected WTHS for this incredible honor based on their achievements.

 

From the business side: Maura O. Banta

 

Maura O. Banta is IBM’s Director of Citizenship Initiatives in Education. She joined IBM in 1973 as a marketing representative and held positions in Sales, Insurance Industry Consulting and Marketing Management before joining the Corporate Citizenship Department. In 2006 Maura was named Eastern Regional Manager for IBM’s corporate philanthropy, government relations and community relations. She assumed her current role in 2012.

Ms. Banta is a board member of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, the Boston Plan for Excellence, The Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy, and The Carroll School of Management at Boston College. Maura is a former chair of the board of the Mass Business Alliance for Education. She served for 6 years on The Massachusetts Educational Management and Audit Council under both Governor Swift and Governor Romney. Maura chaired the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education from 2008-2014 under an appointment by Governor Patrick.

---

Register to attend Amy Carrier’s Keynote at INSPIRE 2014
with these two unique discounts:

OPTION 1: Attend Amy’s keynote, enjoy lunch and attend either the morning or afternoon workshops for half the conference price ($100) using code MIDDAY.

OPTION 2: Attend the entire conference with a 25% discount ($150) using code CARRIER.

Register here.