Mawi Asgedom's Blog

Upcoming Conference Keynotes

Here are some conferences I’ll be keynoting in the coming months:

1) Illinois Association of School Boards: This will be to about 2,200 school board members and school leaders in my home state.

2) Arizona Department of Education: This will to about 1,000 ELL educators at the annual statewide conference.

3) New Teacher Center: This will be to about 1,000 educators at their annual conference in February.

4) Florida Student Council: This will be to about 1,500 student council leaders across the state of Florida.

My Ted Talk on Immigration

I gave this Ted Talk with the hope of helping our country and world come together on the tough issue of immigration from a place of love. If the message resonates with you, please sign up below to help us share it with the world. 

Please sign up here to help us spread our message.

Interview with Kwame Simmons

What are the keys to turning around under-performing schools? How do school leaders and educators build trust and goodwill in their community? In this stirring audio interview,  Kwame Simmons shares best practices and key lessons from his work with students across the United States.
 
Kwame Simmons is an award-winning principal who has won widespread recognition for his work in schools. He is presenting at our summer conference. Learn more about the conference and register to hear Kwame in person today!

http://mawiasgedom.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/LAF3494_02232016121602233_1163182.mp3

Social Emotional Learning Interview with Karen Van Ausdal

Karen Van Ausdal is the Executive Director of the Office of Social and Emotional Learning at Chicago Public Schools. In this interview, Mawi asks Karen to share her best practices and innovative techniques around restorative practices and SEL programming.

Karen is one of the Keynote Speakers at our Powerful Educator Conference this July. Learn more about the conference and register to hear Karen in person today!

http://mawiasgedom.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Karen-Van-Ausdel-Interview.mp3

Powerful Educator Conference Interview with Karen Van Ausdal

Karen Van Ausdal is the Executive Director of the Office of Social and Emotional Learning at Chicago Public Schools. In this interview, Mawi asks Karen to share her best practices and innovative techniques around restorative justice and SEL programming.

Karen is one of the Keynote Speakers at the Powerful Educators Conference this June. Learn more and register to hear her in person today!

http://mawiasgedom.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Karen-Van-Ausdel-Interview.mp3

Powerful Educator Sneak Peek with Coach Pat

Have you registered for the Powerful Educator Summer Conference yet? During this two day conference you will learn from industry experts. Check out this sneak peek of Coach Pat’s presentation on the Turbo Button and Victim Button. At his session during the conference you will learn concrete skills and tools to change school culture and performance.

Learn more and register today: http://mawilearning.com/ml2016conference

In my twenty-five years as an educator and now as the Director of Training at Mawi Learning, I have had a front row seat to watching young people succeed and struggle. It is encouraging to watch a young person grasp a new concept or gain a new skill, while it’s heartbreaking to watch that same young person become discouraged and quit. So, what is the difference between the kids who are successful and those who do not find success? While there are many factors that contribute to success (family, support, ability, resources etc.), there is one question that is the best predictor of whether a student is successful.

The question is, How do I respond to setbacks, rejection and/or failure?

All of us have a choice when things go poorly. We can face the difficulty head on, work through it and look for opportunities to grow or we can blame others, avoid the situation or shut down and become angry. In those critical pivotal moments in life, we have a choice how we want to respond.

At Mawi Learning, we say you can either hit your Victim Button or your Turbo Button in life’s toughest situations. The Victim Button sounds like this: Why did this happen? This is totally ruined! I am just not good at math. Who is to blame? The Victim Button erases all hope of progress being made.

The most successful students hit their Turbo Button during their most difficult times. The Turbo Button sounds like this: What happened? What can we learn from what happened? What is the way forward? The Turbo Button focuses on taking initiative, moving forward and growing.

We are excited to teach students the Turbo Button and launch them on their way to successful lives.

3 Summer Speaking Engagements

Here are three of my upcoming presentations for Summer 2015.

1) Chicago Public Schools Summer Principal Summit: I will be delivering three keynotes to all 600 Chicago Public School principals this summer on how to increase student success by leveraging both “Heart” and “Mind.”  Really excited for this opportunity to inspire principals in my home state.

2) Leon County Teacher Leader Celebration: I will be keynoting in Leon County (FL) at a celebration for teacher leaders who are having distinctive impact in the district. This will be my second time speaking in Tallahassee this year, and I’m really looking forward to it.

3) Orland Park (IL) Teacher Institute: I’ve spoken to students in this Chicagoland district before, and I’m excited to return to inspire educators this August.   I love presenting at teacher-back-to school Institute Days because the positive energy is exhilarating.  

Do you think you could be a school principal?

Later this month, I’m keynoting to all 600 principals in the Chicago Public Schools. Do you think you could handle being a school principal?  If so, imagine a scenario where…

You were responsible for the safety of 1,000 kids for 180 days a year.
You had to manage 50 staff members, each with their own needs, challenges, and developmental needs.
You had a local school board that you had to keep happy, or you could get fired.
You had an administration above you that you also had to keep happy.
Your school board and administration changed every few years so you couldn’t be sure what upper management looked like.
You had to ignore gossip about you among staff, parents, and students.
You didn’t have one person in the building that you could 100% share everything with because ultimately the buck stops with you.
You hadn’t seen your own kids for three straight nights because you got home at 8:30 and your kids were asleep by 8.
You were supposed to be an expert on Common Core, manage the budget, handle operational issues, lead the team, and inspire the students.
You couldn’t remember the last time you weren’t exhausted.

With all these demands, our principals show up every day and  lead. Only they know how much they’ve sacrificed to serve, and I admire them tremendously for everything they do.  

ELL Students in the United States

There is a massive and persistent ELL achievement gap in the United States. This infographic shows some of the issues that ELL students face as well as how Super ELL can help your students grow.

Social Emotional strategies to encourage ELL participation

As an ELL student turned Harvard graduate myself, I know that English Language Learners have no limits to their success. That’s why we created Super ELL, a success course specifically for ELL students. Thousands of students have taken the course and one of the most common questions from ELL educators is, “How can I encourage my ELL students to talk?”. This is a struggle that many ELL educators and students face. Here are 5 social emotional tips on how to encourage class participation.

Value bilingualism and cultural diversity. Encourage students to be proud of who they are and share their culture with classmates. One of my favorite memories was having “parties” to celebrate different cultures with music, photos, dances and games.
Introduce opportunities for students to speak English outside of the classroom. Does one of your students love animals? Encourage them to volunteer at an animal shelter on the weekends.
Change students’ negative beliefs and attitudes about making mistakes. Sandra, a student in Super ELL says, “I was embarrassed to speak English and to make mistakes but now I don’t care because I learn with every mistake I do.” Create an environment that boosts confidence and encourages learning.
Encourage social interactions between students.

-Arrange seating to promote discussion.

-Allow students to occasionally check answers with peers before offering them to the entire class.

-Periodically divide the class into smaller groups.

-Purposefully connect English Language Learners with peers.
Use Super ELL in your classroom. The course teaches research-based SEL skills such as Grit and Growth Mindset, increases student sense of belonging through cultural training, and provides students with core academic skills for classroom success. Preview 2 lessons in the course today!