Monday, July 1

8:30-9:00         Arrival and Registration

9:00-9:20         Introductions and Welcome

9:20-9:30         What is Guide? – Dive into the shift from classroom teacher to guide.

9:30-10:00       What is a Good Teacher? – Socratic Seminar around the idea of what is a ‘good’ teacher.

10:00-12:00     Guided Lesson – Experience of what a guided lesson looks like from the perspective of a student.

12:00-1:00       Lunch

1:00-2:00         The Entrepreneurial Mindset – How can apply an entrepreneur’s mindset to the school.

2:00-2:15         Break

2:15-3:15         Who is in Control? – When do we step into assist students, and when do we step back?

3:15-4:00         The Pitch Competition – Your very own Teacher’s Shark Tank.

4:30-6:00         Entrepreneurs Panel – Panel of local entrepreneurs sharing their perspective on Entrepreneurship and Education.

Hosted in Scratchtown Brewing.

6:00-8:00           Dinner at Jubilee Catering

Tuesday, July 2

8:00-8:30         Continental Breakfast

8:30-9:30         Building Relationships – The foundational virtue of guiding.

9:30-10:45      Developing Recipes – Identifing potential hurdles or pain points and building a plan to tackle them. 

10:45-11:00     Break

11:00-11:45     Round 1 – The first round of pitching your Guide plans, followed by structured time to brainstorm and share ideas.

11:45-12:30     Lunch

12:30-1:00       Round 2 – The second round of pitching your Guide plans, followed by structured time to brainstorm and share ideas.

1:00-1:15           Final Pitches – A final round of Guide plan pitching, followed by feedback and brainstorming.

1:15-2:00           A Teacher’s Manifesto – The why behind you teach.

2:00-2:30           Conclusion – Sharing of manifestos and closing of the conference.

Please take some time to do a little bit of prework before you come to Guide. These items were each specifically chosen to provide context for what Guide entails. Some of these are a bit wacky – but that’s ok. We promise they’ll connect when you get to guide.

1. Watch: Stop Stealing Dreams | Seth Godin
2. Watch: The Story of the Savanna Bananas 
3. Optional Watch: Most Likely to Succeed Documentary 
4. Optional, but encouraged: Create your Teaching Manifesto

Stop Stealing Dreams | Seth Godin

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXpbONjV1Jc 

Questions to think about / take notes on: 

1. What do you think school is for? 
2. Mr. Godin has eight radical ideas – which ones do you agree with? Or don’t agree with?

   Watch: The Story of the Savanna Bananas 

The Story of the Savanna Bananas

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5RkB7_qNh8 

Questions to think about / take notes on: 

1. What is motivating the Savanna Bananas to do the baseball park experience differently? Why are they doing this? 
2. What would a Savanna Banana classroom look like? 

Most Likely to Succeed | Documentary

Link: https://www.whatschoolcouldbe.org/most-likely-to-succeed

Questions to think about / take notes on:

1. What is your reaction to how the school sets up their teaching structure?
2. What parts excited you? What parts made you uncomfortable?

Your Teaching Manifesto

When Paul Engler opened the doors for the Engler Program, he said that he wanted individuals with a ‘fire in their belly.’ 

That Fire in your Belly can take many forms, but for us, we define it as purpose. 

A sense of purpose is what keeps you going. It pushed you when you encounter resistance. It’s the rudder that steers you forward. It picks you up when you experience failure. It’s the embers that don’t go out. 

To help our students stay focused on their purpose, we ask them to write a personal manifesto in their first Engler class. 

Here are the instructions of the assignment that we give to students:

Remember the book Alice in Wonderland? There is a great passage where Alice comes to a fork in the road and asks the Cheshire cat as to which path she should take. He asks Alice – “where is it that you wish to go?” “I’m not sure”, she responds. “Then it really doesn’t matter which path you take”, retorts the cat. Let’s be honest with each other – it is hard to have your future nailed down at 18 years of age – it isn’t that easy at 60. However, like the cowboys of old we know that if we are in Texas and want to deliver the herd to Dodge City – we have to head roughly north. This exercise is designed to get you to respond to the Mad Hatter and to determine which general direction you are going to push your life. 

Use your own style in completing this assignment but complete at least the following few phrases to get you started. But don’t stop with these – build something worthy of your potential. Play big – humble is fine but DO NOT PLAY SMALL! Be as creative as you wish – remember “You are the storyteller of your own life”! 

Hopefully, you will continue to revisit this document to refine it, create clarity, and build with new perspectives. 

My mission in life is to… 

My core values never to be violated are… 

My personal policy is to… 

I will not be satisfied until… 

You may be wondering, so what format do I use to complete my manifesto? The answer is to use the format that makes sense to you – the end product should be something that you can look at each and every day – it can be in the format of print, images, video, sound, etc. – the key element is that it must represent YOU and serve as a guide for making choices, allocating your time and energy, and establishing your network. The manifesto will be the first document to enter your Engler Story and it will become part of your file if you choose to align with the Engler program in pursuit of your goals so make it valuable. 

Our assignment for you?

Write a Personal Teaching Manifesto. 

What is your mission as a teacher? 

Your assignment is to write a teaching manifesto. The purpose of why you teach. 

This is version 1, and we aren’t writing it in stone tablets. It’s ok if it changes, so don’t put the pressure that it has to be perfect. It just needs to motivate you. 

The same rules apply that we provide to our students – the Manifesto can take any form – it just needs to be motivating to you.