Extreme weather events offer multiple opportunities to create engaging lessons across grade levels and the curriculum. Real-time media coverage of devastating storms like Katrina creates the ideal catalyst for motivating student interest in science, math, literacy, technology, and social studies lessons. Hear accounts from Outer Banks residents who have experienced hurricanes firsthand and see evidence of damage caused by recent storms. Partner with science, literacy, and digital learning experts to explore how extreme weather events are the perfect storm for creating lessons that will enhance K–12 curriculum.

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, brain-compatible teaching, assessment, the effect of poverty on achievement and behavior, and classroom management. Come prepared to build professional competence and confidence, improve student achievement, and reinforce your commitment to this critically important profession.

Preference will be given to teachers in Grades K–3.

In order for students to become globally competitive, it is imperative students receive a good foundation in literacy instruction. With new challenges facing teachers each day, this task can be daunting. Examine key aspects of the Read to Achieve legislation to insure alignment in your classroom and school with research-based strategies and best practices. See how to “fit it all in” by integrating literacy across the curriculum. Learn how to effectively maintain a progress monitoring assessment schedule. Use data to develop engaging lessons that foster a love for reading while still teaching foundational skills. Develop a reading and writing environment that is welcoming and inviting to students of all developmental levels.

It’s easy to see how engineering applies to robots, but how does it apply to the life sciences? Use an engineering problem-solving strategy, the engineering design cycle, in the studies of ecology, molecular biology, genetics, and other life sciences. From the micro to the macro, tackle these and other questions: How do molecules move into and out of cells? Why is clean water critical to healthy ecosystems? Investigate the natural integration between literacy and science as we analyze informational texts to support innovation, learn strategies to help students uncover facts as they read, and challenge students’ preconceptions. Utilize the cycle with literacy strategies, simulations, and data collection tools to motivate creative thinking. Geared toward the middle grades, the concepts can easily be scaled up or down to fit your classroom needs.

New technologies and related initiatives have been arriving in the classroom with alarming frequency: Chromebooks, iPads, interactive white boards, Web 2.0 and 3.0 tools, student response systems, and countless apps. In an effort to remain current, many teachers may find themselves in a classic tail-wags-dog scenario; their curriculum is driven by the technology, when it is the technology that should support the curriculum. During this program, teachers will receive instruction in how to use digital tools to support and enhance their reading, writing, speaking, and listening instruction.

Generation Z has never known a world without cell phones, texting, and the Internet. Our students are more comfortable with the use of technology than former generations. However, this technology-driven style of learning seems to have resulted in a generation of learners who seek immediate gratification—are prone to boredom and ready to jump to the end of the book. How do we teach the Zs? In a mash-up of professional education—a blend of an EdCamp, an interdisciplinary conference on active learning and assessment, and a gamification boot camp—educators will answer that question.

Learn research-based methods for using the natural human desire to be involved in “play” to enrich classroom outcomes. Game-based learning can be a powerful educational tool. Meet your curricular goals by giving students tools to collaboratively design solutions in an environment that encourages intellectual risks. Explore the fundamentals of game-based learning that engages students in core subject areas based on their interests and needs. Led by the Institute of Play, participants will create, modify, prototype, and playtest non-digital games for their individual classrooms. Leave with play-based activities tailored to the needs of your students.

Preference will be given to teachers in Grades K–5.

Meeting the needs of academically or intellectually gifted children can be a challenge for teachers who have these students in regular or enrichment classroom settings. The North Carolina General Assembly, through special legislation, mandates that public schools identify and serve gifted students, and each LEA is required to have an AIG plan. Join teachers of AIG students and experts in the field of gifted education as we investigate strategies to provide enhanced literacy instruction integrated across the curriculum. Create lessons that enrich, extend, and accelerate AIG literacy standards. Explore the policies and best practices of AIG expectations, create ways to challenge gifted children, enhance literacy needs, and encourage continual intellectual growth.

Join the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and NCCAT as we look at ways to enhance student literacy skills through the natural world. Take a critical look at the human connection with nature through American literary greats. Learn to use nature journaling as a tool to motivate your students and improve their writing. Study the environment and participate in citizen science projects using informational texts and digital tools. Discover ways to sharpen your students’ skills in reading, writing, and researching through the natural world.

Preference will be given to teachers in Grades K–3.

Develop your teaching tool kit to support the reading initiatives in North Carolina’s Read to Achieve legislation. Join us as we examine best practices for developing a welcoming and enriching reading and writing environment for the early childhood classroom. Open to teachers in grades K–3, this program will focus on developing strategies that link foundational skills to comprehension in the classroom. Set the stage for comprehension at the listening level for kindergarten students and transition instruction to thinking beyond the text as students move through the early grades.