Events
It’s a party! . . . at the East Palo
Alto Charter School
The Baylands “cyber-tracking” project that DEF and the Riekes Center for Human Enhancement have been working on with East Palo Alto fifth graders is wrapping up with a celebration on April 17 at the school. At this time, students will present the results of their environmental research and decision-making exercises to members of the Palo Alto and East Palo Alto city councils, Aspire board members, and others interested in the results of this year-long program.
Magnet Schools of America
2008 MSA Chattanooga Conference
April 28 – May 1, 2008
DEF is heading to Chattanooga, Tennessee for the 26th National Conference of Magnet Schools of America, hosted by Hamilton County Schools. Program Director Chris Spetzler is scheduled to present at a break-out session. We’ll also be hosting a booth in the Chattanooga Convention Center.
Magnet Schools of America (www.magnet.edu), provides leadership for innovative instructional programs that promote equity, diversity, and academic excellence for all students in public school choice programs.
Small Boarding School Association
March 2008 Conference
DEF Program Director Chris Spetzler will join Dan Slack, Academic Dean, The Haverford School, in presenting “Decision Education and Curriculum Mapping at the Haverford School” at the 2008 Small Boarding School Association Conference. This year’s event will be held at The Rectory School in Pomfret, Connecticut.
Founded in 1987, the Small Boarding School Association (www.smallboardingschools.org) enables educators involved with small boarding schools (200 students or fewer) to address issues unique to their teaching environment. DEF looks forward to introducing this audience to the potential of decision skills training within a variety of classroom settings and sizes.
JobTrain Life Skills Course
DEF is joining with JobTrain (www.JobTrainworks.org) in offering Youth Decisions, a life skills course taking place this spring in East Palo Alto, California, through JobTrain's after-school vocational training program, known as School After School for Successful Youth (SASSY). Decision skills are the key focus of the 18-session course, with personal productivity and job search skills as areas of application. This project provides JobTrain participants, who are middle and high school students, with powerful and relevant skills through DEF’s interactive and innovative curriculum.
JobTrain is a Bay Area non-profit organization that works to change the lives of people in the communities of Menlo Park and East Palo Alto through education, attitude and job skills training, career placement, and youth and child development.
DEF Presents “Teaching Decision Skills” at CLHS Conference
On January 12, DEF Managing Director Laurie Mandel and Program Director Meg Barrager presented an hour-long session, "Teaching Decision Skills to High School Students," at the annual conference of the California League of High Schools held in Monterey, California. The conference, which was co-sponsored by the California Teachers Association, focused on new methods and strategies for learning communities.
“We were pleased by the attendees’ keen interest in this topic,” said Laurie. “There was a general sense that training in how to make quality decisions is a vital skill that has been neglected in the high school curriculum.”
October 27 DEF Benefit: A “Full House” for Annie Duke
100+ Attend “An Evening with Annie Duke: Good Decision Making and Other Life Lessons Learned from Poker”
DEF hosted “An Evening with Annie Duke” to introduce Annie, a champion professional poker player and our newest board member. Attendees were fascinated by the parallels Annie drew between poker strategy and life-shaping decisions. Read more