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, digital formative assessment, and LMS (Learning Management Systems). Participants 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.

The NCCAT Solution and Planning Teams program offers educators an opportunity to meet in a residential setting devoid of distraction to create and advance departmental, school, or district-wide projects. These projects might consist of new programming, research, planning, or curricula. Gather a team together to create or refine your own innovative solutions. Early grades literacy or digital learning projects will be given preference, however, all project proposals will be considered. Single rooms, meeting space, Internet access, and meals for the participants will be provided by NCCAT. Travel and the cost of substitute teachers are not covered. Teachers, administrators, central office personnel, and district coordinators are encouraged to apply.

NCCAT schedules Solution and Planning Teams programs throughout the year. If your team is interested in a date that NCCAT has not already scheduled, contact Teacher Services to see if we can accommodate the date you prefer.

The NCCAT Solution and Planning Teams program offers educators an opportunity to meet in a residential setting devoid of distraction to create and advance departmental, school, or district-wide projects. These projects might consist of new programming, research, planning, or curricula. Gather a team together to create or refine your own innovative solutions. Early grades literacy or digital learning projects will be given preference, however, all project proposals will be considered. Single rooms, meeting space, Internet access, and meals for the participants will be provided by NCCAT. Travel and the cost of substitute teachers are not covered. Teachers, administrators, central office personnel, and district coordinators are encouraged to apply.

NCCAT schedules Solution and Planning Teams programs throughout the year. If your team is interested in a date that NCCAT has not already scheduled, contact Teacher Services to see if we can accommodate the date you prefer

 “Schoolwork at home and homework at school” is one of the many definitions of a flipped classroom. Explore the history, styles, and benefits of flipping your classroom, including practical, hands-on ways to create, curate, and differentiate video content. With help from experienced teachers and educational technologists, each participant will identify what elements of their curriculum could be flipped and will have the opportunity to create a ready-to-roll video lesson with ideas for assessment and follow-up activities. We’ll look at the possibilities created by flipping, including time for project-based and mastery learning. Come gain the confidence, tools and skills to flip your curriculum and create a more responsive, active, social, and creative classroom.

Canvas, North Carolina’s Learning Management System (LMS), is your place for one-stop learning and course management. Canvas is a trusted, open source LMS which provides a new way of teaching, learning, and thinking. Create modules, lessons, assessments, discussions, and portfolios. Have your grade book, course information, feedback, and student analytics all in one place. Come be a part of the education revolution—it’s Canvas Time, North Carolina!

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.

Primary sources, such as photographs, manuscripts, maps, and government documents, are now digitized. Educators can easily access and use them to enhance digital learning for their students. Join us at NCCAT as we partner with university libraries and online programs that provide relevant and engaging teaching resources in user-friendly online forms. We also will discover other online sources and explore means of using them that promote critical thinking and analysis skills and engage middle and high school students in technology, language arts, science, social studies, and other subjects. Together we will locate materials relevant to your own North Carolina hometowns or counties and share ways to improve your students’ digital literacy and make these sources more meaningful to them.

Designed for math teachers of grades 6–8.

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) tells us to beware of rules that expire; others say “Nix the Tricks.” Common Core says teach for understanding. Wouldn’t it make sense to students to divide when it says divide, rather than multiply when we are dividing fractions? It’s no wonder students and adults alike find math confusing and therefore hard and boring. Come engage in mathematics, make connections between the domains and grade levels, and leave ready to invigorate your classroom with depth and reasoning, at a level accessible to ALL students! We will open investigations concretely and utilize the 8 Mathematical Practices to build knowledge and understanding while moving to abstract representations of concepts. Explore the obvious connections between Ratio and Proportion and Expressions and Equations and the less obvious connections to Probability/Statistics and Geometry. Bring your TI-73 or TI-84 (limited number available). Let’s have some fun as we experience middle school math in new and exciting ways!

Designed for ELA teachers of grades 6–8 and those who coach them.

Middle grades ELA inhabits a type of educational limbo. Intellectually, students are capable of taking on complex reading and writing tasks but many are still developing the necessary maturity to do so. This program will examine the knowledge and skills necessary to transition successfully from elementary to high school. Teachers will engage in and then craft their own language arts activities that engage both the child and the budding adult in each of their students. Activities will address reading, writing, thinking, speaking and listening skills.