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.

Designed for teachers in grades 3–12.

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.

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.

Designed for teachers of the elementary grades.

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.

Designed for elementary educators and administrators.

The Excellent Public Schools Act of 2013 has charged teachers with the responsibility of integrating arts education across the curriculum. Did you know that low-income students who are highly engaged in the arts are two times more likely to graduate college as their peers with no arts education? And did you know that students involved in the arts are four times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement? There is new research and a renewed focus across the nation on the value that the arts have in a child’s education. What can this mean for elementary literacy instruction? While most teachers are aware that children exposed to dance, drama, media arts, music and visual arts do a better job at mastering content in the non-art subject areas, many feel ill equipped at designing integrated literacy learning. Explore ways to engage students through arts-integrated literacy experiences and discover how the arts can motivate students while building critical skills that support literacy learning and mastery.

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

Designed for high school ELA teachers and those who coach them.

Many freshmen struggle academically, not because they lack ability but because they are not prepared to exercise the personal responsibility their teachers expect of them. Successful teachers of English I find ways to bridge the gap, to support the recent middle schooler without alienating the high schooler. This program will examine the knowledge and skills necessary to make that transition. Teachers will engage in and then craft their own language arts activities that support and extend their students’ abilities. Activities will address reading, writing, thinking, speaking and listening skills.