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St. Sebastian's Faculty Members Participate in the IBSC in Montreal

St. Sebastian's Faculty Members Participate in the IBSC in Montreal

Faculty members Ed McCarthy and Michael Deschenes attended the 2019 International Boys Schools Coalition annual conference, held in Montreal from June 26-29. The IBSC, founded in 1995, as a way to bring together school heads to discuss boys' education, currently includes several hundred school members from over 15 countries across five continents. This year's event had 600 participants from 10 countries. Plenary sessions at Fairmont Queen Elizabeth and workshops at Selwyn House School included such topics as executive functioning, digital literacy, neurodiversity, relational learning, cognitive development, and global collaboration. The theme "Boys and the Arts: Great Minds, Big Hearts" allowed for opportunities for demonstrations and discussions on how music, drama and other arts are important to boys' learning. Notable speakers included authors Adam Cox and Michael Reichert, both of whom have several years of research working with boys and schools. Ed presented a workshop on how visual learning (mindmaps) can be utilized to aid in the writing process. Action research projects and global collaboration were focal points during the conference; Michael, during the 2008-2009 year, participated in an IBSC action research project. Ed and Michael look forward to bringing what they heard and discussed back to St. Sebastian's.