CCSD Superintendent’s Conference Day Keynote: Dr. Fernando Reimers

On November 8, 2022, the Chappaqua Central School District welcomed Dr. Fernando Reimers as the keynote speaker for our Superintendent’s Conference Day. Dr. Reimers is the Ford Foundation Professor of the Practice of International Education and Director of the Global Education Innovation Initiative at Harvard University. An expert in the field of Global Education, his research and teaching focus on understanding how to educate children and youth so they can thrive in the 21st century.

Dr. Adam Pease, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction, introduced Dr. Reimers, quoting from his book, Educating Students to Improve the World:

“There are at least two reasons why teachers and education leaders may want to make global education a priority of the institutions they lead. The first is that doing so would help make what happens in school more relevant to the world in which students are growing up. The second is that in focusing on the adaptive challenge of making education relevant, educators will engage in practices of transformation that will also make learning and teaching more effective and engaging, for students as well as for teachers.”

Dr. Reimers shared his research and curriculum work aligned to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Through a global citizenship curriculum, he argued, students can find more authentic and relevant opportunities for learning and to impact our world. Dr. Reimers challenged our staff to think of themselves as agents of change and to empower students. 

Dr. Reimers then led staff members through a series of activities examining the District’s Profile of a Greeley Graduate. Staff members worked together to identify and discuss competencies that support global awareness and agency within our graduate profile.

Following Dr. Reimers’ keynote presentation, staff participated in a full day of professional learning. They chose to engage in sessions focused on important themes for our students’ learning and futures, including diversity, equity, and inclusion; sustainability and environmentalism; technology and digital media; and civics, and economics, and business. In some sessions, staff members also had the opportunity to learn from our students, who ran Symposium Sessions, facilitated EdCamp discussions, and gave Spark Talks.

In addition to the Conference Day learning, parent/teacher conferences were held in our elementary schools and student-led conferences in grades 5 and 6.

The November 8th Superintendent’s Conference Day is just one of the many professional learning opportunities for CCSD staff throughout the year. We are thankful to Dr. Reimers, our staff presenters, and our students for a great day of professional learning and for the impact this work will have in our classrooms and with students.