Designed for Teachers, Media Specialists, Instructional Technology Facilitators, and Instructional Coaches

Teachers, media specialists, and instructional technology facilitators recognize the benefits of technology in the classroom. Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) identifies the relationship between technology, content, and pedagogy. The purposeful blending of them is critical to enhancing instruction. We will discuss the relationship between the classroom teacher, media specialist and instructional technology specialist when it comes to using the TPACK model to develop strong teaching practices. Together we will look at the Follett Destiny library system and ways to incorporate digital research into classroom lessons. Participants will explore a variety of other digital resources and investigate ways pedagogy and content interweave with technology to best support student learning.

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Open to teachers in their first, second, or third year of teaching, this program supports motivated beginning teachers by strengthening their knowledge base and classroom expertise. Through experiential learning, teachers will explore pedagogical concerns including differentiated instruction, classroom management, formative and summative assessment, the effect of poverty on achievement and behavior, class procedures and expectations. Come prepared to build professional competence and confidence, improve student achievement, and reinforce your commitment to this critically important profession.

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Designed for teachers of grades 4–12

Teaching reading skills in English/Language Arts classes and across the disciplines is an almost guaranteed way to help students retain content. Unfortunately, the tendency to focus on the content is a real enemy to the ultimate goal of building reading skills. Without a repertoire of reading strategies that can be applied to any text, reluctant, struggling and disengaged students are not assured enough opportunities to read throughout the school day. In order to teach students to read effectively, teachers must be sure that they are not simply suppliers of information about a particular text but also instructors of techniques to build reading skills using materials that are relevant to their students. Participants in this program will review ideas about how to incorporate reading skill lessons into their curriculum so that they are enticing to struggling, reluctant, and disengaged learners.

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Invitations will be emailed to system level Teachers of the Year in March 2019

North Carolina’s 2018-2019 Teachers of the Year are invited to join us to examine educational leadership and positive responses to institutional change. Engage in the study and discussion of leadership principles, personal leadership traits, teacher leadership in schools, group dynamics and other aspects of leadership. Discover how to continue your growth as an educational professional. Look into your leadership strengths and areas of growth by focusing on challenges inside and outside the educational realm. Join in our dialogue about how teachers can spread their enthusiasm for learning to other members of the school community.

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Designed for teachers of grades 3–12.

The world of STEM—science, technology, engineering, and math—provides a rich environment that motivates children to want to learn more. Children often prefer reading about spiders and dinosaurs to fictional characters. STEM activities help students build vocabulary, incorporate problem-solving skills, and analyze complex text with real-world applications. Maximize classroom time by integrating literacy with the natural connections of STEM disciplines. Experience lessons that give students a desire to read, promote problem solving, and model strategies to cultivate reading comprehension. Join us as we make messes, break things, and create minds-on STEM learning environments.

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Educators have a responsibility to effectively integrate new technologies into the curriculum, preparing students for a literacy future we have yet to imagine. Discover how to create learning experiences that take your students from being consumers to creators of digital content. Help your students evaluate and analyze appropriate resources most beneficial to their success as creators. In this hands-on, make-and-take program, you will use free/inexpensive digital tools to create project examples that can be incorporated into your classroom. You will use multiple apps in conjunction (app-smashing) to create a final product. Seamlessly integrate applications to make standards-based learning fun and interactive. Come with tasks, projects, and ideas for your classroom that involve creation rather than consumption.

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Designed for teachers recently moved to or beginning to teach in the exceptional children’s classroom.

Understanding the ins and outs of the exceptional children’s classroom is a must for successful navigation of this critical teaching role. In this introductory program, teachers will develop their skills by learning effective strategies for teaching students with exceptional needs, writing Individual Education Plans, facilitating parent meetings, and collaborating with colleagues. Examine the NC Standards to maximize understandings of the content taught at each level. We will focus on inclusion and resource classroom settings. This program is not geared to teachers utilizing the NC Extend 1 Standards in their classrooms.

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Elementary teachers may find that “fitting it all in” is impossible! Using informational text and technologies, elementary teachers will discover that not only is it possible to “fit it all in” it is fun! Examine the North Carolina Essential Standards and make connections to the ELA and Writing Standards. Investigate text sets and the role they play in integrating multiple contents. Create engaging cross-curricular instructional units with culminating projects for assessments.

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Designed for teachers of grades NC PreK–K.

This program will dive into ways to integrate Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM) into the NC PreK and Kindergarten classroom. Learn what STEAM looks like developmentally and discuss the importance of introducing it to young students. Explore hands-on STEAM lessons that can easily be integrated into standards, content domains and goals while keeping in mind program accreditation.

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Explore disciplinary literacy and what it means to read, write, speak, listen and think critically within any content area. Through the use of online tools, such as online sticky notes, journal writing and mind maps, investigate literacy within the disciplines. These tools will assist your students in becoming more resourceful. Create new lessons or update current ones with digital tools that will make your lessons come to life and deepen your students’ knowledge of disciplinary literacy.

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