2019 Agenda & Session Overviews
THURSDAY, PRE-CONFERENCE
5:45 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. Pre-Registration
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. Make & Take Classroom Resources (must sign-up in Online Registration) and Exhibitions Open
FRIDAY, CONFERENCE
7:00 a.m.-8:00 a.m. Complimentary Breakfast
8:00 a.m.-8:15 a.m. Welcome
8:15 a.m.-9:15 a.m. Keynote
9:15 a.m.-9:45 a.m. Book Signing / Networking
9:50 a.m.-10:55 a.m. Session 1
11:05 a.m.-12:10 p.m. Session 2
12:15 p.m.-1:30 p.m. Lunch & Dedicated Exhibitor Time
1:30 p.m.-2:35 p.m. Session 3
2:45 p.m.-3:30 p.m. Closing Session
Session Descriptions
Make & Take Classroom Resources
Thursday night activities include come & go, hands-on sessions to create curriculum projects to take back to the classroom! Projects vary in content and will meet the needs of every curriculum area. Attendees must indicate on registration that they plan to attend.
George Couros
Keynote: The Innovator’s Mindset
Carol Dweck’s work has focused on the ideas of “fixed” and “growth” mindset, yet educators will need to go a step further with these notions to create the learning opportunities and that our students and schools deserve. We need to focus not only what we know, but what we do with what we know. In this talk, George will discuss the idea and characteristics of “The Innovator’s Mindset” (as discussed in the book of the same title), and share powerful examples on why this is so crucial for all educators. George’s presentations are known to be emotional, humorous, all while pushing your thinking, and will definitely connect to your heart first, in a way that will last with you long after this keynote.
Administration Training (Sessions 1, 2, and 3): Leading Innovative Teaching and Learning
Although schools are moving forward, change is always something that many struggle with. Focusing on an innovator’s mindset and our “why”, this workshop is meant for leaders to help others within their organization not only accept change, but embrace it, to create better powerful learning opportunities for our learners. It is not focused on the “how to” of technology, but is more focused on the conversations that will help staff move forward in a way that they will be excited yet feel supported in their journey.
Lori Oczus
The Powerful Reading Vitamin: Boosting Comprehension with Reciprocal Teaching and Close Reading Workouts
Are you ready to revolutionize your teaching and dramatically improve the engagement and comprehension of all of your students? Would you like to take your comprehension instruction to the next level so your students are the ones doing the work and using the strategies when they read on their own? Many students decode and yet don't comprehend what they read. The Fabulous Four, or reciprocal teaching strategies (Palincsar and Brown) predict, question, clarify, and summarize work as a powerful package to begin to yield dramatic results in reading comprehension in as little as 15 days. This exciting NEW version of reciprocal teaching is loaded with dozens of new lessons for read alouds, whole class lessons, close reading with poetry, informational text, guided reading, stations, and a practical Response to Intervention Model. This model yields student growth of six months to two years in just three months. Come to this practical, hands-on, and entertaining workshop to learn ideas you can use tomorrow to strengthen student comprehension using any reading material.
Literacy Strong All Year Long: Empowering Learners with Interactive Lessons
Motivate and engage your elementary students with scaffolded lessons that spiral across the entire year as students accumulate literacy achievement. Come learn; practical techniques for starting the year off strong, creative ways to fend off the mid-year blahs, empowering ideas for ending the school year on a high note, and proven strategies for engaging students in literacy all summer long! Boost achievement in comprehension, phonological awareness and phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and motivation. Focus on reaching the diverse learning styles of your students with engaging lessons using this unique gradual release model that really works! Lori will share her "Top Five" ideas every teacher must know for the hottest topics in literacy including; motivation, read aloud, guided reading, independent reading, comprehension strategies for close reading of informational texts, best tips for teaching fluency, vocabulary, and creative ways to accelerate learning for ELL and struggling students! Whether you are a veteran or a new teacher, you will leave with loads of interactive lessons
Guided Writing: The Missing Middle Piece: Practical Lessons, Powerful Results!
Come learn the powerful effect scaffolded writing instruction can have on your students. Guided writing is the “missing middle piece” that supports students during that fledgling phase between modeled/shared writing and their solo work. Lori’s practical lessons show you how to easily transform dull, lifeless writing into colorful organized pieces full of voice. You’ll walk away with the steps and “cool tools” to guide students as they write everything from personal narratives to response to literature, poetry, and reports. Strengthen and dramatically improve student writing and craft using mentor texts, modeling, impromptu dramatizations, and cooperative group writing. Proven ways to reach struggling, reluctant writers will be included throughout the day. The presentation is based on Lori’s best selling Heinemann book, Guided Writing: Practical Lessons, Powerful Results. You’ll leave with dozens of proven and exciting ideas to use immediately to improve your students’ writing.
Ginny Dowd
Purposeful Writing in the Primary Grades
Did you know that there are 11 different ways your student might be asked to write on an achievement test? This workshop will create successful, confident young writers in your classroom. See how you can use literature as a springboard for any good writing program. You’ll learn quick and easy strategies to get everyone in your classroom fired-up for writing! Learn an effective way to incorporate phonics instruction across the language arts curriculum. Discover effective ways to use the hunks and chunks to enhance creative writing. Explore word wall strategies that not only introduce and review high frequency words but reinforce Language Arts concepts. Ginny demonstrates how you can give your writing lessons a purpose to improve skills in writing research, poetry, letters, fiction and much more. Plus, learn how literature can be the perfect springboard to start your whole class writing. Explore the ways children write as you discover new writing activities to engage every level of writer in your classroom. You’ll learn specific skills to assist your learners as they continue to develop as writers. This workshop will make the writing experience fun for both you and your students even if you have never attended a Phonics Dance Workshop.
Comprehension Made Easy
There are five steps to literacy: phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. This seminar focuses on vocabulary, fluency and comprehension instruction . The goal of this presentation is to: (1) Enhance higher level thinking in your classroom by engaging your students in a variety of comprehension lessons (2) Simplify Language Arts instruction and provide motivational activities to boost learning and increase creativity (3) Demonstrate how differentiation can be done with all levels of students.
Cara Carroll
Guided Math Made Simple
Create a math block that meets all your students' needs! Take advantage of some of Cara's ideas for teaching the fun and engaging way—with guided math. See how to help students master key concepts by learning math at their level. Unpack the essential components of guided math as you discover how to meet with all students every day in a small-group and provide meaningful math centers to boost their learning.
Hands-On, Minds-On! Math Games that Teach!
Start using the very best, hands-on skill games and activities in your whole-groups, small-groups, and partners to promote cross-curricular learning in fun ways. Come explore how to use games to teach and reinforce math outcomes. Turn your math instruction into an engaging, meaningful, hands-on, and FUN experience for all with math games & activities that are kid-tested and teacher-approved. Learn how to reinforce the standards and promote retention using practical, engaging materials that are right before your eyes.
Collaborative STEMagination
Stemgineers, get ready! Learn how to set-up and manage a stem block that will quickly become your littlest engineers favorite time of the day. Cara shares teacher-tested and student approved ideas for an easy-to-manage makerspace as well as low-prep challenges certain to engage even your most reluctant learners! Get ready to engage your students in exciting andcollaborative stem challenges... it’s time to let your “stemaginations” run wild!
Dr. Jane Humphries and Kari Rains
A Fighting Chance: Supporting Young Children Experiencing Disruptive Change
Many programs are dealing with change in the lives of the young children enrolled in their programs. These disruptions create issues within the child’s emotional competence which often time results in stress for early childhood providers. With a plethora of research readily accessible that provides information on brain development, social/emotional regulation, the impact of trauma and toxic stress in children’s lives mixed with a multitude of disorder diagnosis, it can be overwhelming.
Children today are living and learning to function in many societal circumstances, some more complicated than others. Early childhood providers can either reel from this changing landscape of society and ignore the impacts on young children and their families or continue to seek out information, resources and activities that support their classrooms. It is the purpose of this presentation to lend practical solutions and approaches to give these children a fighting chance not only in the classroom or
program environment, but also in daily life. It is our belief and experience that early childhood professionals can largely impact the trajectory of these children’s lives. Paramount is the participants grasping and understanding that early childhood providers are a pivotal part in the trajectory of how these disruptive change events could potentially implode a child and their family’s circumstances or create opportunity for resilience.
Dan St. Romain
I Can Make Good Choices
“You’re not my friend!”, “That’s not fair!”, “I don’t want to do that!” Each year educators are dealing with more behavior problems in the elementary classrooms. Come to this interactive session and get some quick and easy ideas for teaching behavior and social skills using visuals, literature and simple chants and activities.
Teach Skills and Break Habits: Moving Beyond the One-Size-Fits All Approach to Behavior Management
How do you create long-term change for students with behavior problems? Join Dan to learn about the downfall of behavior tracking systems and why time out, clip systems, behavior folders and office referrals do not work. You'll also discuss specific ways to support behavior with regard to prevention and intervention efforts in the classroom.
Debbie Clement
On the Road to Writing: Fine Motor Development in Song & Dance
Come sing and dance with songs designed for fine motor support and readiness. Blast off with a "Sky Writing" machine. March to print directionality instructions. Disco anyone? "Hold your Crayon." Come for Inspiration and examples.
The ARTS Turn STEM into STEAM!
Use the ARTS to put the STEAM into your STEM explorations. Join nationally award winning Author/Illustrator Debbie Clement as she shares her uniquely-STEM driven songs and dances and then takes them one step further by infusing them with an Art-rich response! Sing your way into Science, use Technology to expand your classroom, Post-it Notes are turned into an exercise in Engineering while Math will be explored through the inherent patterns within Music!
If You Can't Sing Good Sing Loud
Get UP! Get Active!! Get Moving!!! Come learn simple songs and dances that are based on active movement. Learn the choreography that brings the dances to life. Patterns and sequences that scaffold upon each other. Cross the midline with your feet! Build group cohesion through shared dancing experience. Let’s MOVE!
Carolee Koehn Hurtado
Developing Number Sense Through Choral Counting
Counting is fundamental to learning mathematical concepts and developing number sense. Let’s count together, examine number relationships, and explore how counting can support children’s mathematical development through the elementary grades and beyond. Lesson planning tools will be shared.
Developing Number Sense Through Counting Collections
Children love to count! Come to this session to learn about Counting Collections- an instructional activity that engages students in powerful mathematical ideas and brings joy to math class.
Fun in Math Class? Games and Routines to Support Number Sense
Let’s Play! Join this session to learn math games and routines to support children’s mathematical thinking.