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Lisa King

AUTHOR, SPEAKER AND SCHOOL COUNSELOR

Lisa has worked with students developing and using innovative practices as a school counselor for 20
years. She has won numerous awards in her district and presented her programs at local, state and
national conferences. Lisa has authored seven books including her latest book, Be Your Own Hero. Her
other books include Mindset Matters, Integrating Growth Mindset In Schools, Academic Advisement
Program, Teaching Career Essentials and How to Create A College Day. Lisa attended Tufts University
for her undergraduate degree and Georgia State University for her graduate degrees. She lives in
Marietta, GA (Atlanta suburb) with her husband and daughter.

Lisa's Keynote Session

In a world that changes so quickly, how can educators remain relevant and up-to-date on current trends when our plates are already so full? And as we strive to learn about innovative practices how can we remain resilient? This keynote session will provide inspiration as well as some practical ideas as we explore both the quest for learning and the need for self-care.

Lisa's Workshop Sessions

Although today’s world presents many situations where outrage and adversity reign, we as educators can take an active role in helping students find their voice to advocate for themselves. Self-advocacy is an important skill (and sometimes a tricky skill to teach) that encourages our students to stand up for themselves by expressing their needs/feelings in a way that can be heard. Participants will learn easy-to-implement strategies to use in classroom lessons, small group, or individual sessions. The 3 components of self-advocacy will be highlighted: understanding ourselves, knowing our needs/rights, and effective communication skills. Participants will leave with structured ways to foster a community that encourages everyone to embrace their inner hero. We will also address how educators can advocate for their roles in the building.

The past few years have brought new challenges in education. A mental health crisis for our students (as well as for educators) has become a clear reality in our classrooms. In this session we will discuss trends in mental health and what we can do to help students and families. We will go over easy to implement behavior interventions for students and wellness programs for staff. The session will also review the research supporting the benefits of creating connections within schools and communities along with practical applications.

Do you need new ideas to make learning fun for your students? Do YOU want to have more fun learning in professional development (and be able to share your knowledge with your staff)? Games are a great way to increase engagement and create relationships. This session will be full of easy to replicate game formats for lessons/small groups. We will also discuss the learning process and the importance of curiosity in higher-level thinking across all grades. Let’s dive into the history of play, it’s role in learning and how to link games to common life skill topics that will engage children (and adults) of all ages.

Do you ever wonder WHY our kids act the way that they do? This session will talk about figuring out the goal behind the behavior. And by understanding these goals, figuring ways to address the behaviors much more efficiently and with much more success. This session will cover the goals that children typically have for acting out such as looking for attention or wanting to be in control. Tune in to learn some strategies and ideas to help understand more about why our kids act the way they do and what we can do to help.

So much has happened since school closures began in March 2020. And when our students return to school, we will meet them where they are, which will differ by leaps and bounds for each learner… academically and emotionally. The great uncertainty ahead requires us to have a plan for re-entry. We will discuss creating a Growth Mindset Road Map as a starting point. What does this mean? This means creating a common language that revolves around dealing with change, overcoming obstacles, and the need to learn new skills. This map includes setting up how to address racism, equity issues in digital learning, and how the pandemic has accentuated many mental health issues for our families. Regardless of our mode of delivery, we need to create a foundation for students and teachers that provides a foundation and spring board for both staff and student learning.

Are you interested in learning more about Growth Mindset? This session will review how Carol Dweck’s research-based theory can be infused into your school to improve student success. Come learn about a new curriculum, Mindset Matters which uses the letters in the word MINDSET to frame your lessons: Mindfulness, Identify Brain Basics, Not Yet is OK, Determination/Grit, Self-Talk, Everyone’s Unique, and Teaching Others. Since these concepts align with social/emotional, academic and career domains, you will walk away with a clear way to structure your year of lessons/groups and have student outcomes to show the success that comes from teaching about growth mindset.

The research-based theory of growth mindset is a great fit for many small counseling groups. Whether your group is for unmotivated students struggling with self-esteem, underachievers, or high performers, this session will help you to structure your group from start to finish. I’ll share how to choose participants, easy ways to collect data, make/take projects, and lesson plan ideas for the concepts of mindfulness, neuroplasticity, and the power of yet. This small group has been a hit with students, parents, teachers and administration.

How can we help our schools adopt a culture of growth mindset? This session will help school leaders understand how to make grit, neuroplasticity, and mindfulness part of the common language in your classrooms. We will dive into understanding more about the ‘power of yet’ and understanding the impact of trauma on the learning process. Practical ideas will be given to teach students how to understand that calming their brain (practicing mindfulness) as well as growing their brain (neuroplasticity) are keys to success.

What could your school be doing differently to create a culture that promotes college/career readiness? This session will explore how students can ready themselves for the world of work as they navigate their current “careers” of being professional K-12 students. We’ll dive into how to promote characteristics that employers value such as growth mindset, grit and resourcefulness. Various ways to set up college days and career days will be presented so that you can get practical ideas that fit your program/school. Resources such as video clips, biblio-therapy lists, and parent engagement ideas will be provided.

Mindfulness is an important concept to learn about not only so we know how to teach students the basics, but also so we know how to practice it for self-care. We will discuss the different definitions of mindfulness and also review the research that show its effectiveness in stress reduction and decreased discipline referrals. Practical ideas for classroom lessons, small group, and individual sessions will be shared. And while mindfulness is one of the self-care ideas we will discuss, other ideas will be presented so we can learn to treat the compassion fatigue that can be inevitable while working in a school setting.