PASB Educators’ Conference: Better Together

At PASB, we take pride in our tradition of hosting the PASB Educators’ Conference since 2019, held during one of our half-day professional development sessions. This conference stands as a cornerstone event, promoting collaboration, innovation, and professional growth within our educational community. Each year, teachers from diverse backgrounds and disciplines gather to share their expertise and insights through workshops centered around a common theme. These workshops serve not only as platforms for valuable knowledge exchange but also as catalysts for inspiring creativity and adopting new teaching methodologies.

The PASB Educators’ Conference serves as a platform for preselecting workshops for the esteemed AMISA Educators’ Conference (EdCon), a premier annual event bringing together educators, administrators, and stakeholders from member schools to exchange best practices and explore innovative teaching methods. Being selected to present at the EdCon by AMISA reflects the quality and impact of our educators’ work, offering a valuable opportunity to showcase expertise, contribute to the broader educational community, and receive valuable insights and feedback. Our recent showcase at the AMISA EdCon 2024 in Asuncion, Paraguay, exemplifies PASB’s dedication to excellence and global recognition.

Please see what our teachers have to say about it:

“I was fortunate to represent PASB at the 2024 AMISA Educators’ Conference in Paraguay a few weeks ago. This conference is known for providing a chance to connect with old colleagues from other schools as well as networking and learning from others. Educators from 19 countries in America, from 24 different international schools,  visited Asunción to address the central theme of this year’s international conference: “Growing and Connecting: Better Together,” a unique opportunity to glean insights, forge connections, and share the best practices in education. We attended important sessions on positive school culture, connection and community, innovation in education, and best practices in teaching and learning. Attending keynotes by prominent speakers such as Dr. Eric Mazur, physicist and educator at Harvard University, and Dr. Eugenia Cheng, mathematician, educator, author, and scientist-in-residence at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, ignited profound reflections and friendly debates. My presentation was centered around positive school culture. I shared several experiences our middle schoolers participated in as we engaged in conceptual learning engagements aimed at bolstering our inquiry practice through social-emotional learning. It was a powerful experience for us since we were able to showcase how the MS uses self-reflection to cultivate skills, attitudes, and environments that advance students’ learning and emotional competence.” – Maria Camogli – MS ELA Teacher and Learning Coach

“I had the excellent fortune to be invited to present at the AMISA conference in Asunción, Paraguay. At our school, teachers prepare presentations or develop ideas that might serve as workshops. They then present their ideas in workshop form to fellow educators at PASB. I developed a presentation with a colleague, Salma Howard, about maintaining and nurturing healthy and productive relationships between teachers and parents. It seemed tailor-made for the AMISA conference with its overall theme of growing and learning together. In the end, we were among those who were invited to present in Asunción. I wanted very much to be chosen because, in the past at previous educators’ conferences, I was able to take advantage of the many and varied workshops offered and found immediate use for many of the ideas I listened to or learned about. One thing that must also be said about the experience is the motivational energy one encounters at conferences like these. People who’ve come from near and far to share their best practices create a joyous and collegial atmosphere. Salma and I were nervous about presenting, but it worked out well. Our main goal for our workshop was to equip teachers with tips about how to conduct effective parent meetings as well as share and reflect upon experiences that we’ve learned from in our classrooms and those of participants in our workshop.” – George Mercado – Year 3 Educator                                                                                                                                                                                                         

“When I think of our AMISA experience, from the warm and friendly welcome to the organization of over 100 workshops and several hundred teachers, the delicious spread offered up for our lunches, and even the coffee breaks, it left me with a thrilling sensation! I felt valued in what I could share with other teachers and the amount I received back. The workshops were dynamic, thought-provoking, and even funny at times. There was a message in the focus on ELD, inclusion, and belonging that ran through many of the workshops. The highlights for me were the high-caliber keynote addresses to the whole conference.” – Salma Howard – Year 2 Educator