Solution and Planning Teams
14190/August 16–19: Ocracoke; 14191/August 23–26: Cullowhee
14205/September 26–29: Cullowhee
14254/October 18–21: Cullowhee
14268/November 21–23: Ocracoke; 14270/November 29–December 2: Cullowhee
14278/December 19–22: Cullowhee; 14279/December 19–22: Ocracoke
14281/January 3–6: Ocracoke
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.
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14183 • Get Wired: Exploring ELA Standards Using Technology
August 1–5: Cullowhee
Discover ways to seamlessly include technology tools into everyday English Language Arts lessons. Technology, when folded into instruction, adds another dimension to teaching and learning. Expand the four walls of the classroom to invite new possibilities for collaborating, thinking, and exploring. Find the interface of research and technology. Create a network of tools to support lesson design. Learn about electronic creative collaboration. Investigate digitized text sets. Navigate plugged-in ways to check your students’ progress. Design infographics to engage students and enhance instruction. See how a read-aloud can change with technology. Come prepared for a systems update!
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14184 • Get Your PBL On! Designing Project Based Learning in Digital Format
August 1–5: Cullowhee
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 that allow 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.
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14186 • Reading Resources: Equipping Your Classroom for Reading Success
August 8–12: Ocracoke
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.
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14192 • The Canvas Connection
August 23–26: Ocracoke
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!
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14195 • Supporting the Literacy of Gifted Children
August 30–September 2: Ocracoke
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 children, 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.
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14198 • Google Tools in Schools
September 13–16: Cullowhee
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.
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14199 • Teaching English 2: Enrich the Mind and the Scores Will Follow
September 13–16: Cullowhee
Designed for high school ELA teachers and those who coach them
A false dilemma offered by critics of standardized testing is that they force teachers to focus on low-level skills if their students are to perform well on end-of-course exams. This is simply untrue. The NC English 2 End of Course tests (EOC) requires that students analyze written text in the service of extracting meaning, recognizing the effect of particular words, and identifying an author’s stance on an issue, among other valuable skills. In this program, teachers will consider the “big picture” issues that English 2 should address. They will also engage in a variety of activities intended to enhance students’ reading, writing, and thinking skills.
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14200 • Using Social Studies to Enhance Literacy and Digital Skills of Elementary Students
September 13–16: Ocracoke
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.
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14201 • Literacy Strategies for 21st Century Teaching and Learning
September 20–23: Cullowhee
The 21st Century has revealed a rapidly changing and evolving world that has affected teaching and learning. With advances in technology, teachers and students have instant access to vast amounts of information. What literacy strategies do teachers employ to help today’s learners process, critique, and analyze this endless stream of data? Participants will investigate information literacy, intentional questioning, and dialogue. Using informational text, teachers will explore how intentional questioning can foster student dialogue and effective communication. Additionally, teachers will examine how current events and technology can be used to foster critical thinking skills and collaborative problem solving.
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14202 • Motivating Disengaged Students
September 20–23: Ocracoke
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.
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14203 • Technology Tools to Enhance STEM
September 20–23: Cullowhee
The study of STEM—science, technology, engineering, and math—stimulates children to think critically and problem solve. STEM skills are crucial to building workforce readiness. Purposeful integration of tools found in the workplace can make STEM learning more authentic and relevant. Explore various types of technology and tools that can be incorporated into these existing lessons to make them even better. Maximize classroom time by integrating technologies that can make data collection and analysis easier. Experience lessons that give students a desire to ask questions and engineer solutions. Various technologies will be explored including Vernier sensors, coding software, design software, 3D printers, web 2.0 resources, mechatronics and more. Join us as we make messes, break things, fix things and create minds-on STEM learning environments.
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14204 • Holocaust Education: Effective Strategies and Resources
September 26–29: Cullowhee
Designed for educators teaching students in 6th through 12th grade
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.
Four 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.
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14206 • Success From the Start: How to Survive and Thrive Your First Three Years in the Classroom
September 27–30: Ocracoke
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.
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14247 • Middle Grades ELA: Teaching Beyond the EOG
October 4–7: Cullowhee
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.
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14248 • Middle Grades Math: Nix the Tricks, Rules that Expire, and Teaching for Understanding
October 4–7: Cullowhee
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!
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14249 • Integrating Primary Sources in the Middle and High School Curriculum Through Digital Learning
October 11–14: Ocracoke
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.
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14250 • Reaching Reluctant Readers: Bringing Boys to Books
October 11–14: Cullowhee
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.
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14251 • The Canvas Connection
October 11–14: Cullowhee
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!
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14252 • Flipping Instruction Without Flipping Out: The Digital Learning Classroom
October 18–21: Cullowhee
“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.
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14256 • Expanding Your Technology Toolbox: Getting the Most Out of Digital Learning
October 24–27: Cullowhee
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.
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14257 • Reading and Writing in the Elementary Math Classroom
October 24–27: Cullowhee
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.
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14258 • Thinking with a Pencil: Exploring Writing as a Tool for Thought
October 24–27: Ocracoke
Designed for teachers of grades K–3.
Discover new ways to turn reading strategies into writing opportunities that deepen comprehension and extend student learning. This interactive program will explore multiple tools to unlock “thinking” in the classroom, including the use of journal responses, writing as inquiry across the content areas, and the power of authentic interactions with poetry and prompts.
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14259 • 4C-ing a Better Learning Experience: Technology and Tools to Transform Your Teaching
November 1–4: Cullowhee
What can’t technology do these days? Unfortunately, for many of us, technology is something that happens to us rather than a powerful tool we can use to make our lives simpler and more productive. Technology can engage our learners and open opportunities for communication, collaboration and creativity in exciting ways. Come participate in interactive, personalized sessions that will put you back in control, regulate the deluge of incoming notifications, and spark new ideas to inspire student learning opportunities both in and out of the classroom. Our time together will culminate in a Lesson (re)Design that synthesizes your learning into a tangible takeaway you can implement right away.
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14260 • Literacy in the Middle Grades: Reading Proficiency = Content Mastery
November 1–4: Cullowhee
Designed for teachers of grades 5–8.
As our students transition to Reading to Learn, we are often unsure how to support those who struggle with comprehension. Knowing how to identify reading deficiencies and provide necessary interventions is unknown territory for many late elementary and middle school teachers. Learn how to drill down and assess individual gaps in reading skills and the intervention strategies to help students become better readers. Focus on vocabulary strategies for building students’ word knowledge and access to difficult texts. Explore close reading and comprehension strategies for empowering students to think deeply about text.
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14261 • Writing Instruction in the Elementary Grades
November 1–4: Ocracoke
Designed for teachers of the elementary grades.
Writing instruction is not only important but also vital for today’s students. Yet finding the time to teach writing in the elementary classroom can prove challenging. In this program, teachers will explore the various purposes for writing, the writing process, and strategies to integrate writing in other content areas. Additionally, teachers will investigate creative strategies to motivate students to write.
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14263 • Motivating Disengaged Students
November 7–10: Cullowhee
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.
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14264 • Teaching English II: Enrich the Mind and the Scores Will Follow
November 7–10: Cullowhee
Designed for high school ELA teachers and those who coach them.
A false dilemma offered by critics of standardized testing is that they force teachers to focus on low-level skills if their students are to perform well on end-of-course exams. This is simply untrue. The NC English II End of Course tests (EOC) requires that students analyze written text in the service of extracting meaning, recognizing the effect of particular words, and identifying an author’s stance on an issue, among other valuable skills. In this program, teachers will consider the “big picture” issues that English II should address. They will also engage in a variety of activities intended to enhance students’ reading, writing, and thinking skills.
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14265 • Digital Citizenship
November 15–18: Ocracoke
With students learning in 1:1 environments, there is a push for integrating more technology into the classroom. However, technology is changing constantly. So how does one keep up? How does one teach their students to become responsible digital citizens? Come learn why it is important to address the responsible use of technology with your students as they learn to connect, collaborate, and communicate effectively, and safely. Explore resources, articles, and lessons that promote digital citizenship in the classroom. Learn how to weave digital citizenship into your curriculum and create lessons that allow students to become more social media savvy.
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14266 • The Reading Foundations Training
November 17–22: Cullowhee
The Reading Foundation’s six day training will provide teachers with a solid foundation of knowledge and skills needed to deliver effective reading instruction to all students. It also will increase their understanding of reading difficulties and their ability to help struggling readers succeed. In this course teachers are introduced to the knowledge, skills and procedures needed to provide effective instruction for students with persistent reading difficulties. The principles, techniques, methods, and strategies presented in this program are based on research-validated instructional strategies. Through this program teachers must assess students and plan a comprehensive series of daily instructional lessons which include explicit instructional procedures, activities and materials for teaching phonemic awareness, letter-sound associations, word identification, spelling, reading fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. The program will provide teachers with a strong understanding of what it takes to build an individualized reading instruction program that will have a direct effect on the academic performance of their individualized reading instruction program that will have a direct on the academic performance of their students. The completion of this course will qualify the participant to obtain 5 CEUs or 3 hours of Graduate Level Credit through Mars Hill University. Information will be provided at the start of the session.
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14269 • Literacy Instruction and Students with Special Needs: Strategies for Instructing ALL Students
November 29–December 2: Cullowhee
Designed for teachers of the elementary grades.
Today’s classrooms are filled with diverse students who have unique learning needs. Students identified with special needs have specific learning goals as mandated by their IEPs. This program is designed for elementary teachers who would like to enhance their repertoire of literacy strategies to meet the various needs of all students in their classroom, including students who are identified with special needs. Teachers will investigate various exceptionalities and explore ways to accommodate and modify literacy assignments and instruction to meet their specific learning goals.
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14271 • Using Science as a Motivator for Improving the Literacy Skills of Exceptional Students
November 29–December 2: Ocracoke
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.
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14272 • Beyond the PowerPoint: Crafting Effective Professional Development Experiences for Educators
December 6–9: Cullowhee
Designed for those who regularly deliver staff development to faculty and/or staff.
Standard 1 of the North Carolina Professional Teaching Standards reads, “Teachers demonstrate leadership”. More and more, they are being asked to lead outside their classrooms by presenting new ideas or initiatives in their PLCs or at school and district-wide professional development sessions. This can be a daunting prospect. Teachers who wouldn’t flinch in the face of a roomful of hostile teenagers are paralyzed by the idea of that same room filled with their peers. Participants in this program will learn how to structure presentations for maximum engagement at the learning level of an adult audience.
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14274 • Reaching Reluctant Readers: Bringing Boys to Books
December 6–9: Ocracoke
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.
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14275 • Developing Teacher Leaders In and Out of the Classroom
December 13–16: Ocracoke
As a teacher, what are your strengths, in and out of the classroom? What are your leadership skills, in and out of the classroom? Standard 1 of The North Carolina Professional Teaching Standards requires that teachers demonstrate leadership that extends beyond their own students. If ambitious, creative, effective teachers could remain in the classroom while still finding means to have impacts on their schools, districts, or communities, the entire educational system would benefit. Teacher leaders will examine their work settings and their roles in them. Teachers will develop means to integrate intellectual growth and leadership skills, as well as explore ways to have continued impacts, in and out of the classroom. They also will step out of their comfort zones for a day of engaging with the US Coast Guard to examine their teamwork and leadership models and hear from leaders in other professions.
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14276 • Google Tools in Schools
December 13–16: Cullowhee
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.
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14277 • Middle School Mathematics in the Digital Age
December 13–16: Cullowhee
Designed for middle school mathematics teachers of grades 6–9.
Participants will receive the tools and resources needed to effectively incorporate various technologies in their mathematics classes, including the use of tablet apps, Java-driven applets, and websites. Explore and use these technologies while reflecting on standards for mathematical practice. Work in teams on tasks that will help you reflect on problem solving, persistence, and connections in mathematics. Return to your school with digital and multimedia resources (including links to a variety of applets and apps such as those from Shodor Interactivate, NCTM Illuminations, GeoGebra, etc.) a new sense of community, and a refreshed perspective on teaching mathematics.
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14282 • Success From the Start: How to Survive and Thrive Your First Three Years in the Classroom
January 9–13: Ocracoke
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.
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14283 • Relevant Literacy Instruction: It’s More than Just Books
January 17–20: Ocracoke
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.
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14284 • The Canvas Connection
January 17–20: Cullowhee
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!
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14285 • Developing Reading Comprehension in the Early Grades
January 23–26: Cullowhee
Designed for teachers of 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.
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14286 • Math I: Reaching out to Struggling Learners
January 23–26: Cullowhee
Designed for high school math teachers.
Struggling learners often need concrete and visual experiences to develop understanding as they move seamlessly between linear, quadratic, and exponential functions and in creating equations. This program will include vertical alignment as it relates to the structure of mathematics (MP 7), making connections to the middle grades curriculum in order to utilize the strategies students already know or have been exposed to. We will spend considerable time focused on the major clusters in Creating Equations and Interpreting Functions; making connections to the building blocks of middle grades and the Math I standards. Participants will step outside their abstract comfort zone to reach down to the concrete and pictorial levels where struggling learners can grasp concepts that generally elude them. We will incorporate the TI-84 graphing calculator as an instructional tool to move students from concrete concept development to abstract application. You will experience the 8 Mathematical Practices as a student experiences them and examine the Mathematics Teaching Practices as outlined in “Principles to Action” (NCTM).
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14288 • Motivating Disengaged Students
January 31–February 3: Ocracoke
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.
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14289 • Moving From Consumers to Creators: Empowering the Digital Generation
January 31–February 3: Cullowhee
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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14290 • Writing in the Elementary Classroom: A Mode of Thinking
January 31–February 3: Cullowhee
Designed for teachers of grades K–5.
Struggling to get kids writing? Wondering how to encourage young writers to better demonstrate their thinking on paper? Does the phrase “written response to text” give you nightmares? We will explore structure and organization, tools and strategies, rubrics and differentiated support for helping students become confident, prolific writers who know how to demonstrate their thinking in writing. Written comprehension only works if students have the words to use and the tools to comprehend text. Examine methods for developing strong reading comprehension skills in your students and discover how those methods can be utilized to develop strong writers as well.
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