Designed for elementary math, ELA, or self-contained teachers of grades 3–5.

Students who struggle with the abstract and symbolic nature of mathematics may benefit from leveraging their reading and writing skills to analyze, evaluate, and solve complex problems. In this program, teachers will engage in a series of activities that combine reading and writing skills with mathematical inquiry. They will then have time to create or revise lessons that integrate these areas. Teachers of younger or older students may benefit, but activities will be geared to the upper elementary grades.

Designed for educators teaching students in 6th through 12th grade.

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

The aim of this program is to gain an understanding of the precursors, events, and consequences of the Holocaust and to grapple with the problem of how best to convey this history and the meaning that it can have in the lives and civic practices of our students. To accomplish this goal, we will explore the exhibits and other resources of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. Participants will meet our bus at predetermined locations across the state and then journey together to Washington for this intensive week. Under the guidance of museum staff and teacher fellows, we will study in the museum which has earned an international reputation for the quality of its contents, presentations, architecture, and technology. This program is for educators involved or interested in teaching about the Holocaust to students eleven years of age and older. (Two participants to a room. Participants must be physically able to walk up to 1/2 mile over level ground, stand for extended periods, and ride for up to 8 hours on an excursion bus without detriment to their health.)

Three days of substitute teacher costs are covered. Applicants must exhibit a seriousness of interest in the subject matter as expressed in an essay that is reviewed by NCCAT staff as a part of the application process.

Designed for teachers in grades 4–12.

Students are engaged when they are involved in their work, persist despite challenges and obstacles, and take visible delight in their accomplishments. Solving student engagement issues is complex. What works in one class may be a failure in the next, with every year presenting new challenges for engaging students in various lessons. This program will review and evaluate strategies for motivating disengaged students and will prepare you to implement them upon your return to the classroom.

Whether or not your school or district has adopted a Google Chromebook environment, if your LEA infrastructure allows for the use of Google Tools and/or Apps, the “Googlesphere” can be an immense help. It can aid in engaging students, keeping in touch with parents, automating feedback and assessment, sharing documents, and more. Hone your skills with the Google Chrome Browser, with Google Apps, with Android Apps, and with Chrome OS so that you can engage your students using freely available tools on almost any platform.

The multiple transitions that North Carolina has made in the mathematics curriculum have students, teachers, administrators, and parents scratching their heads. How can we navigate the complexities of a very difficult subject in a world where numerical fluency is increasingly important? Many high school students have given up. They are turning to Wolfram-Alpha or deciding that “I’m not a math person.” Explore ways to engage students in the secondary mathematics classroom to show the relevance and importance of math in their everyday lives. Discover interactive digital resources to use in the classroom and connect with other educators across the state to form supportive networks.

Designed for teachers of grades K–8.

Today’s students use phones, tablets, computers, and video games as ways to obtain information. Information does not always link to understanding! What types of strategies can teachers use to include this type of information sourcing? Are literacy strategies the same for traditional text as they are for digital text? Discuss the digital divide and the complexities involved with nontraditional text. Investigate strategies for “digging deeper” into digital text. Explore a variety of digital tools you can use to make literacy instruction and learning more authentic and relevant.

Digital learning is a broad category that encompasses the use of digital resources and technology to enhance and differentiate instruction. The number of available options, however, can be overwhelming. Gain experience with free high-quality tools for: video and audio production, blended lessons, games in education, online content, augmented reality, and digital formative assessment. Dive into robotics and discover how inexpensive classroom robots can be used across grades and subjects to teach higher-order thinking and problem solving. Participants will learn how to make their own rudimentary robots! Those who attend this session will explore these digital tools as students, determine how to use them effectively as teachers, and leave NCCAT with a virtual toolbox of techniques to take back to the classroom

Designed for teachers of grades 4–8.

The North Carolina General Assembly mandates that public schools identify and serve gifted children, and each LEA is required to have an AIG plan. Join teachers of AIG students and experts in the field of science as we investigate strategies to motive the critical thinking skills of gifted children. Create lessons that enrich, extend, and accelerate AIG science standards. Explore the policies and best practices of AIG expectations, create ways to challenge gifted children, and encourage continual intellectual growth.

Canvas, North Carolina’s Learning Management System (LMS), is your place for one-stop learning and course management. Teachers will become familiar with the features of Canvas such as the settings, notifications, and tools in building a course. Create modules using a variety of items such as discussions, assignments, quizzes, and content pages. Set up generic or tailored rubrics for use with a variety of content. This program is designed for beginning users and will allow time to experiment, collaborate, and build at your own pace. Teachers will have a module or more ready to implement on returning to the classroom.

Designed for teachers in grades 4 to 12.

The statistics are consistent: young male readers lag behind their female counterparts in literacy skills. In many instances, the reading scores of boys bring down the reading scores for the entire school. Explore the social, psychological, and developmental reasons why boys lag behind girls. Identify reading materials you can use in your classroom to capture and keep the attention of your struggling readers. Experience a variety of instructional methods such as text selection designed for boys, contests and competitions, focus reading groups, and the latest websites and blogs to boost literacy achievement. Discover solutions to capture the attention of reluctant male readers and examine strategies that motivate boys to sustain reading in the classroom and at home.