On-line Registration

International Conference of Teacher Research (ICTR)

 In Chicago, April 13-14, 2007

From Theory to Advocacy: Using Practitioner Research as a Catalyst for Change

Hosted by

NATIONAL-LOUIS UNIVERSITY
At our downtown campus
122S. Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60603

Find us at: www.nl.edu/ictr

THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE FOR TEACHER RESEARCH (ICTR) is a small conference that occurs before or after AERA most years. Its mission is to promote practitioner research among educators, and to foster conversations among academics and classroom teachers. For this reason, there is no one-day registration – All registrants are urged to attend for the full two days of the conference.

This year our theme, From Theory to Advocacy: Using Practitioner Research as a Catalyst for Change, and our purpose, to enable practitioner researchers to play a leadership role in influencing education policies, are structuring the entire conference, as we work to achieve the goals we have set for ourselves:

1. To provide a forum for practitioner researchers to share the results of their research.
2. To explore effective strategies of advocacy for practitioner researchers to influence policies.
3. To determine appropriate and effective ways for teacher educators and teacher researchers to collaborate in influencing policies.
4. To educate and persuade policy-makers to invite practitioner researchers to participate in policy-making decisions.
5. To identify currently available opportunities for practitioner researchers to influence policies at the local and/or national levels.

Program Outline:

Museum Visits on Thursday April 12th:
Take a day to enjoy Chicago's world-class cultural institutions. Meet the knowledgeable and professional staff from the Art Institute of Chicago, the Chicago Children's Museum, the Chicago Shakespeare Theater Company and the Shedd Aquarium and learn about their work with teachers and students. Go behind-the-scenes; experience an animal encounter; take a tour of their teacher resource centers, see some amazing exhibits and more! Choose from one of two tours, both of which include travel to and from each institution, guided tours, resource materials and lunch. Tours depart from the ICTR Chicago conference location at 8:45 a.m. and return to the Chicago ICTR conference location between 4:30 and 5:00 p.m. ICTR often offers school visits on the day prior to the conference start. This year, that day is one of testing in Chicago Public Schools. So instead of school visits, we have decided to highlight some of Chicago's wonderful cultural delights, with two options for Thursday 12th. Both visits are to two sites, and include lunch.
Both visits will start in NLU’s downtown campus lobby at 8:45 am, Thursday 12th.

Tour #1: Art & Science: Art Institute of Chicago and the John G. Shedd Aquarium
Start your day by traveling to the John G. Shedd Aquarium learn about their work with students and teachers. You'll tour their Education Center and see students in action in the Shedd's labs and classrooms, get an up-close and personal with the live animal collections at Shedd and tour some of the exhibits at Shedd. After lunch, you'll travel by coach bus to the Art Institute of Chicago to participate in "Classroom Connect." This seminar is just for educators and highlights the Art Institute's educator resources. Learn about practical applications for museum resources in the classroom. You'll also tour the Art Institute's Teacher Resource Center, learn about teacher workshops, and participate in gallery activities with Museum Education staff.

Tour #2: Learning Through Play: Chicago Shakespeare Theater and the Chicago Children's Museum
Participants will attend a performance of "How Can You Run with a Shell on Your Back" at Chicago's Shakespeare Theater located on Navy Pier. This adaptation of Aesop's timeless fables in an entertaining musical, reveal universal truths through simple allegories that have engaged readers of all ages for thousands of years. Following the one-hour performance Shakespeare Theater Educators will take you behind the scenes to look at teacher resources that may be used in productions and/or in teaching Shakespeare and other classics to students of all ages. After lunch, you'll travel to the Chicago Children's Museum (also at Navy Pier) and participate in a workshop entitled "What is Play and Learning?"

This interactive session focuses on play in its many forms and the role of play in enhancing children’s social, cognitive, and emotional development. You will also consider how critical it is for adults to support and facilitate quality play, as well as the importance of open-ended play materials.
Chicago Children’s Museum

Cost of Museum visits on Thursday 12th $65.00

Note: Due to the requirements of some of our hosts for these visits, registration for either visit combination is required by March 12th.

Hotel Information:
Those individuals attending the AERA Annual Meeting can receive discounted hotel rates for ICTR conference attendees through the AREA Housing Bureau. For more information, visit the AERA website at www.aera.net and follow the link to the AERA Annual Meeting, or contact the AERA Housing Bureau: toll free at: 1-800-262-9974, or direct at: 1-404-842-0000.

Other discounted hotel accommodations can be made through the following online links:
www.hotels.com
www.priceline.com
www.discounthotels.co.uk 

Note: NLU's downtown campus, at 122 S. Michigan Ave, Chicago, is in the heart of the downtown area. There is easy bus travel up and down Michigan Ave. If your selected hotel is close to the Art Institute or Millennium Park, then it is close to NLU. Click here for The National-Louis University DownTown Campus Map

Cancellation Policy:
ICTR will refund registration fees according to the following schedule:

• Early Bird Registrations will be refunded 100% BEFORE March 5, 2007.
• Early Bird and Regular Registrations will be refunded 75% BEFORE March 19th, 2007
• All Registrations will be refunded 50% BEFORE April 2nd, 2007
• We regret that no refunds can be made AFTER April 2, 2007

Question and Queries:
For other questions and concerns not addressed on these pages, please contact Sue Hansen at shansen@nl.edu