East Asia Regional Council of Overseas Shools

PRELIMINARY LIST OF PRESENTERS AND WORKSHOPS
(TO BE UPDATED AS NEW INFORMATION IS RECEIVED)

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Thom Henley

Letting in the Light—Lessons from the Illiterate
The global agenda to end illiteracy and provide elementary education to every child within two decades will obliterate the world’s last oral tradition societies—societies that may well have more to teach us than we have to teach them. http://www.rediscovery.org/bookFORM.html

Biography
Thom Henley is the recipient of numerous national and international human rights and conservation awards. He is perhaps best known for initiating the 13-year campaign to save the southern third of the Queen Charlotte Archipelago on the west coast of Canada from the ravages of clear cut logging. He also founded the Rediscovery program in 1978, a wilderness adventure program that brings together aboriginal and non-aboriginal youth to discover the world within themselves, the cultural differences between them, and the natural world around them. Today there are nearly 50 Rediscovery camps in Canada and countries throughout the world.

Thom Henley is the author and co-author of 8-books: "Islands at the Edge - Preserving the Queen Charlotte Archipelago", "Rediscovery - Ancient Pathways, New Directions", "Penan - Voice for the Borneo Rainforest", " Waterfalls & Gibbon Calls - Exploring Khao Sok National Park, "Living Legend of the Mentawai", "Reefs to Rainforests - Mangrove to Mountains", "A Seed of Hope", and a new book about to be released, "River of Mist, Journey of Dreams". Thom is currently completing a ninth book: "As If The Earth Mattered - Re-dedication to Environmental Education".

Thom initiated the "Reefs to Rainforests" study program in Southeast Asia that allows international school students and teachers to learn about 7 ecosystems in an 8-day study program that combines fun and soft adventure with learning. In the past year he has been extensively involved in tsunami relief work with the Moken on Koh Surin and Burmese street kids, some of whom lost their parents to the tsunami.

Miraca U. M. Gross

Gifted Education: Why Give “More” to Those Who “Have It Already”?
A common misconception is that gifted and talented students are successful achievers from professional families in the dominant culture of their country. This session examines current definitions of giftedness and talent, explores current research on the causes of underachievement among gifted students, and suggests practical strategies through which schools can respond.
http://gerric.arts.unsw.edu.au

Biography
Professor Miraca U.M. Gross is Director of the Gifted Education Research, Resource and Information Centre (GERRIC), at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.

Miraca is a leading international authority on the education of gifted and talented children, particularly in the areas of ability grouping, acceleration, socio-affective development and underachievement. She has won five international research awards, becoming, in 1987, the first non-American to win the Hollingworth Award for Excellence in Research in Gifted Education. She is a regular keynote and invited presenter at international educational conferences. She served on the Executive of the World Council for Gifted Education from 1995-1999. Recently, for the John Templeton Foundation of Pennsylvania, she co-authored a major international report on acceleration: “A Nation Deceived: How Schools Hold Back America's Brightest Students.” The report can be downloaded cost free from its website nationdeceived.org. In 2003 she was awarded the Sir Harold Wyndham Medal for service to Australian Education.

Jim Winter

The Sense of Humor
Humor engages the brain, enhances retention, reduces stress and is a key component in creating enthusiastic learning environments. This presentation reviews the research and provides the theories behind humor's effectiveness in boosting us physiologically, psychologically and pedagogically. In addition to jokes, anecdotes, cartoons and video clips, activities include interactive improvisational exercises designed to enhance participants' spontaneity and ability to create a fun, healthy climate for learning and living.
http://www.wavelength.biz/web/edu_sensehumor.htm

Biography
Jim Winter is the Director and founder of WAVELENGHT, an award-winning, theatrical ensemble from Chicago. Formed out of the Players Workshop of Second City in 1980, Jim and Wavelength have performed internationally for over one million people in over 1000 educational organizations.

Jim received a BA in English Literature from Quincy University and an MA in Popular Culture from Governors Sate University. For five years he was a high school English teacher, tennis coach and student council advisor and was voted “Most Spirited Teacher” by the students. In the corporate world, Jim worked as a communication trainer for Arthur Andersen where he was voted “least likely to work for an accounting firm.”

He has won awards for acting, writing and producing Wavelength training videos and occasionally performs at the Art Institute of Chicago. Jim’s article on humor for school administrators “She Who Laughs, Lasts” was published in the March/April edition of Principal magazine.