It’s time to start thinking outside the box! Teachers often think projects take too much time to plan or don’t know how to align them with curriculum. PBLs are an effective and enjoyable way to learn which allows students to work as a team, reflect, ask questions, build confidence, work with a purpose, problem solve, and learn time management. Investigate what essential questions, unit questions, and content questions will enable you to develop your own PBL unit. Return to your classroom with a PBL unit you create that will excite and engage your students as they claim ownership of their learning.

NCCAT’s Holocaust Education Program works to promote Holocaust education in North Carolina public schools. It is important to continue our efforts to promote student understanding of the ways in which our individual and collective actions shape the direction of the present and the world of the future. Join fellow alumni of our Holocaust education program as we explore teaching the Holocaust through writing and literature with various genres, including personal narrative/memoir, biography, poetry, and film. This program will help teachers focus on the power of individuals’ personal stories as an effective vehicle for teaching about the Holocaust, so they may involve students in appropriate and powerful study of this difficult topic. The Gathering is open to teachers who have participated in NCCAT’s “Teaching the Holocaust” programs or in comparable intensive Holocaust education programs.

Reading, as the old saying goes, is fundamental. However, not all public school students have access to the variety of materials necessary to build a strong reading foundation. Research grant opportunities for purchasing books, digital devices, and other materials to aid in literacy instruction. Explore multiple means of acquiring literacy-related donations and discover open-access materials online. Finally, participate in the sharing of strategies for the effective use of these resources.

Social Studies lessons in the elementary classroom often receive minimal coverage as much of the school day must focus on language arts and math lessons. Join experts in the field of digital learning, history, and other social studies content as we explore the best resources to engage elementary students in ways that will ultimately improve their literacy skills. Create lessons from the history, economy, and current events of our state that will encourage students to read more and to explore on their own the vast amount of digital resources now available.

Educational research and experienced teachers recognize that most school-aged students learn by doing. Teachers who build kinesthetic movement into their instruction report that their students are less disruptive and more engaged. Research supports that physical activity improves memory retention, comprehension, and self-regulation in students of all grade or achievement levels. Learn how you can transform a typical desk-and-chair classroom into an active classroom. Design and create your own movement-enhanced lessons with low-cost materials for use in the pre-K–12, differentiated, and exceptional classrooms.

What should literacy instruction look like in today’s classrooms? High quality literacy instruction promotes and advances critical thinking. This program will investigate intentional instruction that fosters critical thinking skills. Examine strategies to “dig deeper” into the text and discover the art of dialogue and purposeful questions. Utilize multiple media and technologies to support and enhance a student’s critical eye for thoughtful interpretation of ideas.

Meeting the needs of exceptional children can be a challenge for teachers who have these students in regular classroom settings. It can also be a challenge for EC teachers who have experience, but who must teach in multi-grade and multi-categorical self-contained classrooms. NCDPI mandates that public schools identify and serve students with disabilities, and that these students demonstrate progress on Regular or Extended content standards. Join teachers of EC students and experts in the field of special education as we investigate strategies to provide enhanced literacy instruction integrated across the curriculum, with an emphasis on science. Create lessons that differentiate for all learners. Explore the policies and best practices of EC expectations, create ways to challenge EC children, enhance literacy and science needs, and encourage continual intellectual and developmental growth.

Experts in early grades literacy agree that parental involvement is a key component of early literacy success and future academic achievement. Involving parents and other caregivers in the learning process is an essential part of the challenge of helping children learn to read and continuously improve as readers and writers. Discover best practices for engaging parents in the learning process, including ways they can help their children see the association between the written and the spoken word. Recognizing the importance of support teams for implementing instructional change, teams from the same school are encouraged to apply. Participants will share information with their fellow teachers with the ultimate goal of implementing school wide parent engagement programs.

Designed for elementary grades teachers.

Many elementary literacy assessments group students and provide differentiated activities based on each student’s needs. While this is extremely helpful, how do elementary teachers use data from assessments that don’t provide this information? This program will provide support for you in your analysis of student data to diagnose strengths and weaknesses in your students. Gain understanding of Rates of Improvement (ROI) while you investigate the student needs in your classroom. Discuss literacy goals and objectives that are S.M.A.R.T.

This program introduces and investigates the eight components of a Digital Age Learning Ecosystem (DALE) and shows the relationship it has to creating an inclusion educational classroom for students with disabilities (SWD). Teachers will engage in a variety of strategies and create differentiated activities for use in their classrooms. Explore various technology-based teaching tools and how their applications contribute to building an inclusive learning environment for all students.