Produced in collaboration by long-time colleague Bradley Semans, this event was not meant so speak to people, so much as be heard, felt, smelled, tasted, and generally enjoyed. This was held in a kitchen of all places, was well-attended, and in general provided the right "feel" so many of us have been looking for in a community of teachers.

Abstract:
Get your hands dirty with Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) in this curated event: we’ll learn better ways to talk about (and enjoy) chocolate, let our nose start a conversation, outsource our brains with wooden blocks and dice, and learn to play the ukulele. It’s ok, there will be elementary and junior high school students helping you along the way. Oh yeah, we’re going to finish with an ice cream lab, toppings and discussion to follow.

CLIL engagements lend themselves to intrinsic motivation, and it is our goal that you may experience this, rather than “learn about it.” In such environments, you will find your job as an educator to be move away from the teacher and towards an enabler of independently-driven learning. 

Brad Semans develops curricula and trainings for the Saitama City Board of Education. He also owns and operates an English teaching service specializing in content based lessons for the purposes of developing functional bilingualism. His interests include application of theory to the classroom and playing ukulele in lessons. 

Hiroya, Haruki, Ayaha, Yu, Ao, Kotaro, and Minato have all studied a variety of subjects through English and are all ukulele enthusiasts.

Recipe for Plastic Bag Ice Cream

Page Link from Saitama JALT

Presented for the JALT2013 International Conference on behalf of the Omiya Chapter.


Self-assessment, peer support, student initiative, and self-determination, these are some of the fruits of learner autonomy that I have enjoyed in my classroom and look to enjoy with you. Bring your notebook, your lesson plans, your thoughts and concerns and let's have a ball.



Simply put, this was one of the best presentations and lessons I have ever given. Building upon the Omiya workshop, I specifically set out to help answer what people are talking about when they talk about Learner Autonomy, what it looks like in a moment and over time, and how we can promote the proper systems for learner autonomy in our own realms of education.

Participants left with their own learner logs, and in at least one case, a custom version of Red-Blue.

Click here for the entry on JALT's web page. 
Keynote and materials available upon request.

Are you ready to hear your students’ stories? Are you ready to bring Learner Autonomy to the classroom?

Self-assessment, self support, peer support, student initiative, and self-determination – these are some of the fruits of Learner Autonomy that leave teachers with a spring in their step, and a thousand more questions to ask.

Drawing on experiences from the classroom and the works of Frank Lacey, Leni Dam, and Tim Murphey, I produced a workshop where we could all get an immediate feel for Learner Autonomy not as some conceptual filament, but as something that works, is natural, and we can use this coming Monday.

We talked about setting up systems which support Learner Autonomy. We talked about setting up 

• Systems for student self- and peer-assessment
• Homework Menus
• Student control of group lessons and in-class content.
• Re-examing our role as a facilitator, educator, and documentarian

This workshop would be further developed and served as JALT Omiya's submission to the JALT2012 International Conference.

Presented especially for JALT Omiya. Click here for the entry.
Video Trailer here.
Keynote available upon request.

The Japan Intercultural Institute (JII) is an associate of the Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT), and in 2012 I was invited to be a speaker on behalf of JALT at the 2012 Conference held at Shirayuri College. It was one of my best presentations before like-minded professionals I had never met before.

The abstract is accurate:
Attention thinkers! In this engagement we will do some basic financial accounting of our most productive meetings, discuss where we’re most likely to find ideas and inspiration (and what the life sciences have to say about that), and take a moment to realize we are possibly in a moment of “Peak Opportunity.” This experiential lesson will include practical takeaway activities for teachers and other coaches of thought, and offer more than a few chances to share your own experiences. Let’s have the best thoughts we can. 

Click here for the JII 2012 Conference Page.
Due to size restrictions, this presentation is available on request.

Presented as a MyShare short-format presentation for Omiya JALT, March 13 2011.



This experience-based lesson demonstrates successful elements of contemporary and previous game shows, and how they might best be applied for content retention. Game-related issues such as problem creation, problem selection and scoring, and participant-response dynamics are specifically addressed through examples; a review of studies in cognitive science makes the case for testing as a means of effective content retention.

This presentation would further be developed and given as a lecture and workshop for the Nakasendo conference. 

This lesson used a PowerPoint version of Jeopardy originally developed by Kevin Culpepper. Click here for Jeopardy and other works.

Entry from JALT National's website available here.

Presented for Omiya JALT's Spring My-Share, March 14 2010.

Matt Shannon’s presentation will focus on deploying effective creative writing assignments in late junior and early senior public high school classes does not appear to have any foundation in MEXT curricula; this session will address some steps taken to allow creative student responses while staying within the scope of existing compositional and argumentative forms for this age group.

This was the public unveiling of the One Day One Story format, which asks students to combine composition with three to five pictures taken over the course of a single day. As viewers are naturally drawn to their own conclusions about what the pictures are saying, we find a compelling reason to scour the text as we seek to confirm or deny or own expectations. 

Entry from JALT National's website available here