Presented by Dr. Wendy Amato, Chief Academic Officer, K12 Coalition; Scilla Andreen, Founder and CEO of iMPACTFUL, CEO and Co-Founder of iNDIEFLIX, Author, Speaker, and Award-Winning Filmmaker; and Keely Keller, Director of Professional Programs, Teaching Channel

Sponsored by Teaching Channel

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As students, school staff, and families approach back-to-school time, nervousness mixes with anticipation and excitement with anxiety. Students wonder about their new teachers. Educators plan and prepare for beginning-of-the-year lessons. Leaders communicate with stakeholders, transportation companies, and last-minute hires. Families begin to prepare their children and themselves for the impending return-to-school schedules. All are faced with the stress of trying to balance their school/work lives with their home lives.

View this edWebinar with Dr. Wendy Amato, K12 Coalition’s Chief Academic Officer, Scilla Andreen, CEO of iMPACTFUL and Film Producer of the documentary Angst, and Keely Keller, Teaching Channel’s Director of Professional Programs, for an authentic conversation about back-to-school anxiety. With the goal of providing information, resources, and strategies for students, educators, and family members, they discuss reasons for back-to-school anxiety, observable indicators, and coping methods. This session provides resources, strategies, and tools, as well as inspiration, solutions, and hope for those experiencing or navigating back-to-school anxiety.

This recorded edWebinar is of interest to PreK-12 teachers, paraprofessionals, and school leaders.

About the Presenters

Dr. Wendy Amato earned her master’s and Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction from the University of Virginia. She holds an MBA from James Madison University in strategies for competitive advantages in complex industries. She began teaching in 1991 at Universite Blaise Pascal in Clermont Ferrand, France, has served as a middle school administrator, and still teaches at UVA’s School of Education. Dr. Amato works tirelessly to support educators with resources and tools that support student learning outcomes. She collaborates with education leaders, researchers, and presenters who share the mission of teaching for the greater good. A thoughtful and engaging speaker, Dr. Amato has delivered teacher professional development workshops and student leadership workshops across the U.S. and internationally on five continents. Outside of work, Dr. Amato is a pickleball enthusiast and lives with her husband near Charlottesville, Virginia.

Scilla Andreen, CEO and Founder of iMPACTFUL, is an award-winning filmmaker and author. Working closely with mental health professionals, brain scientists, educators, and experts in wellness, DEI, and HR, she created the Creative Coping Toolkit (CCT), a film-based mental health literacy program built around Angst, LIKE, The Upstanders, and RACE to Be Human. Using story, the CCT is designed to normalize talking about mental health by bringing about awareness, deeper understanding, and character education through film, engagement tools, and support services for employees, educators, staff, students, and their families.

Her work has been featured in The New York Times and on Good Morning America and Today. Scilla works with corporations and thousands of schools around the world. She loves learning and exploring new technology and uses story to bond, bridge, and model empathy. She has six kids and resides in Seattle, WA. She is on a mission to change the world with film.

Keely Keller holds a Bachelor of Science in special education from St. Cloud State University and a Master of Arts in Education from Hamline University. Keely is certified in three special education categories and holds both a Director of Special Education and a Principal License. Throughout her teaching career, Keely served students with special needs and subsequently served as a special education coordinator in a suburban Minnesota school district. She has also taught as an adjunct professor at St. Mary’s University of Minnesota. Keely joined Learners Edge in 2016 and has developed numerous courses, trainings, and content pieces on a variety of topics in support of educators. Currently, Keely serves as the Director of Professional Programs for Teaching Channel. She creates and facilitates new teacher programming.

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