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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What is literacy? How does literacy cross all content areas? How can I integrate literacy strategies into my class when I don’t teach reading? All teachers share the responsibility of ensuring our students are literate and prepared for college and careers. In this program, teachers will investigate ways to integrate literacy instruction into their content area by collaborating, exploring and creating literacy activities and/or lessons that they can take back and employ with their students. This program is designed specifically for teachers who teach art, music, and physical education in the elementary grades.

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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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Designed for teachers of grades 6–12.

200-word essay required for placement (see below for details)

This program offers teachers an opportunity to broaden and deepen their knowledge of the historical context of the Holocaust. Focusing on best practices, appropriate strategies, and meaningful resources for instruction, you will gain an understanding of the precursors, events, and consequences of the Holocaust. Teachers will also have the unique opportunity to collaborate with veteran Holocaust educators from across the state, drawing on years of experience and expertise. Learn how best to convey this history and the meaning that it can have in the lives and civic practices of students.

Applicants must exhibit a seriousness of interest in the Holocaust subject matter as expressed in an essay that is reviewed by NCCAT staff as a part of the application process.

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Collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity—the 4 Cs—are critical components of the digital learning competencies that support and enhance student learning and success for our global society. Google Classroom teachers can integrate the 4 Cs into their instruction when they incorporate a variety of Google Apps for Education and digital tools in their lesson design. What are the best “Apps” and “tools” to use? How can you embed the digital competencies in lessons using Google Classroom? In this program, Google Classroom teachers will build their repertoire of skills by learning about and using a variety of Google Apps for Education and tools that foster seamless communication, encourage collaboration among students, promote critical thinking, and, support student creativity—the 4 Cs.

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North Carolina’s coastal ecosystems can provide rich lessons to enhance the high school biology curriculum, including how the living organisms within these environments demonstrate interdependence, adaptations, and stability. Close focus of these ecosystems will reveal the complex workings of carbon and nitrogen cycles, energy pyramids, and biochemical processes and energy use in the cell. Understand how humans impact these coastal ecosystems through population growth, technology, consumption of resources, and production of waste. Partner with biologists and other science experts to create lessons that will engage high school students and advance their learning of North Carolina biology standards.

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Whether you are new to a 90-minute literacy block or have already begun to implement one in your classroom, this program is for you. Take a fresh look at best instructional practices  through the lens of the differentiated core instruction provided by an effective literacy block. Together, we will explore ways to effectively “build your block,” while strengthening student comprehension and increasing student engagement. Join our journey to create life-long learners one block at a time!

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Differentiated instruction is one of those terms, like “rigor” or “fidelity,” that many people use but few understand. Grounded in the work of Carol Ann Tomlinson, who insists that all learning tasks should “respect the learner,” this program will provide guidance in how to adjust instruction so that all students are appropriately challenged and highly engaged. Participants are asked to bring a growth mindset and a steadfast belief that all students can learn. Teachers will develop lesson plans for their content using differentiated instruction strategies, learn how to incorporate differentiation techniques into whole class, small group, and individual instruction, and gain understanding of personalized learning.

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A digital educator uses technology to enhance their students' learning practice. In this program, educators will become familiar with a wide spectrum of tools and practices to help change their classroom into a digital learning environment. A partial list of digital resources will include BreakoutEdu, Virtual Reality, Twitter, CoSpaces, Edpuzzle, Educreations, and Google Suites. Create a digital learning environment that is personalized for each student with project-based learning. Using these digital resources you will learn how to create and plan for learning that is blended, interactive, and flexible for student-centered instruction. Leave with plans on how to implement student-centered instruction in your classroom or school.

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Children today spend less time outdoors than ever before—and it may be detrimental not only to their physical health, but also to their cognitive development. Current research shows that students in schools with more “greenness” in their surroundings report higher scores on standardized testing in English and math. We will examine research on the “nature deficit disorder” and will develop and share plans for connecting literacy and nature. Come join us as we explore the rationale for exposing students to nature and strategies for connecting literacy activities to green spaces in and around our public schools.

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