day 1
Session 3
5 Tools for Building a Universally Designed Lesson
Participants will walk away with a toolkit of resources (both high tech and no tech) to support the use of Universal Design for Learning in classroom lessons. Ideas will be provided on how teachers can provide multiple means of representation, action and expression, and engagement to all learners. Further exploration will occur of the county-wide Read and Write for Google extension with these resources.
Amanda Denmon and Amy Scheifflee
ELA, Math, Science, Social Studies, Accessibility
K-5
Room: 2311
Bringing Authenticity to Your Classroom Without Pulling a Hammy
Google Suites makes ramping up authentic learning easy. Participants will build a model website to share with students around standards already taught. Experiencing the ease of using Google Apps will help you assist students in connecting with the real world. While examples will come from middle school ELA, application can be transferred to any subject.
Penni Arner
ALL
6-12
Room: 1212
Coming Soon: New Interactive Whiteboards
Want to check out the latest game changer in our classrooms? Come preview the new Clear Touch interactive displays that will be replacing our current interactive whiteboards. ​
Melissa Lodhi (Clear Touch Presenter)
K-12
Room: 1540
Content Centered Writing Lessons: Keeping on Topic
Learn to easily integrate your social studies standards into your daily writing lessons by seeing it as doable, creative, and connected to what you are currently teaching. You will walk away with a plethora of writing prompts and historical artwork that relates to each one of your social studies standards in all three writing genres.
Danette Hasek
Social Studies
3-5
Room: 2234
Designing Playlists for Personalized Learning
There is a growing focus on the use of instructional playlists as the cornerstone for personalized learning. Learn how SAFARI Montage makes it easy to design and share standards-based curriculum playlists that can be used for instruction, remediation, or acceleration and personalized to each student’s individual learning needs. Develop strategies for creating and effectively using engaging playlists in SAFARI Montage and integrating them with itslearning and Google Classroom.
Tim Clark
ALL
K-12
Room: 1308
HyperDocs - Utilizing Technology to Create Student Centered Lessons
Want to create meaningful technology enhanced lessons that are more than a list of links? Come learn about the basics of HyperDocs and the pedagogy behind digital lesson design. You'll leave this session excited and with new ideas that can immediately be put to use. Already know about HyperDocs? Come join as a 'peer expert' and help spread the love for these engaging creations.
Kayla Duncan
ALL
K-12
Room: 2220
Introducing EduProtocols
Are you stuck in the lecture-and-worksheet rut? Come preview The EduProtocol Field Guide by Jon Corippo and Marlena Hebern to find fresh, meaningful ways to develop original, engaging and effective instruction. In the session, we will explore 3 of classroom-tested protocols to break up clichéd lesson plans, build culture, and deliver content to K-12 students in a supportive, creative environment.
Meghann Farmer
ALL
K-12
Room: 2310
Little Changes=Big Impact: Welcoming Culturally Diverse Students
Increased student connectedness promotes classroom engagement and school attendance which increases students’ academic achievement and competency to overcome challenges. As the cultural demographic in Forsyth County Schools continues to grow exponentially, we need to be prepared to make these students feel welcomed. In this session, teachers will walk away with simple ideas that build highly effective cultural inclusiveness in the classroom.
Michelle Slaton
ALL
K-12
Room: 1311
Making the Most of Studies Weekly
Learn how to better utilize Studies Weekly including the digital component to transform your social studies instruction.
Studies Weekly Trainer
Social Studies
3-5
Room: 2248
myON Personalized Reading
What do teachers need to know to get students reading on myON? How do teachers monitor students’ reading? How does myON assess students who were using myON last year? How can students search for books in myON? How can teachers search for books in myON? How can students quickly build awareness of access to myON and have proper expectations set for initial and embedded assessments? How can learners monitor their reading growth through their myON account? The answers to these questions and more in this introductory session for myON.
Saralee Parker
ELA
K-5
Room: 1236
Nearpod Advanced Techniques
This workshop is designed for advanced users of Nearpod who want to discover additional techniques for teaching Nearpod lessons. Participants will uncover ideas for differentiation, combining interactive activities, and integrating favorite edtech tools with Nearpod.
Nearpod Trainer
ALL
K-12
Room: 2308
Next Steps in Student Owned Learning-Developing Success Criteria
This session focuses on developing success criteria with students. We will begin with a brief overview of what success criteria are and how they improve student learning. The remainder of the session will focus on sharing a variety of methods and tools you can immediately use in the classroom.
Kerry Ward and Penny Latimer
ELA, Math, Science, Social Studies
K-5
Room: 2216
Number Sense Routines For Middle/High School
Increase your students mental math skills while allowing them to become better problem solvers all in a 10 minute time frame! Students will love these activities and become engaged in you math class right away!
Jason D'Arcangelo
Math
6-12
Room: 1319
Simple Things You Can Do to Teach ELs: Establishing a Welcoming Environment
These sessions equip educators of English Learners with handy strategies and supports that can be easily incorporated into daily instructional practices, many of which can be employed at a moment's notice (or close to it!). Presenter will deliver successful techniques to work with ELs at all levels in content and co-taught classes from upper primary through high school. Part of the session will be spent in collaborative groups so that participants can brainstorm and develop concrete techniques and plans to employ in the classroom starting Day 1!
Bethanie Boswell
ELL
6-12
Room: 1217
Socrates Puts on His Thinking Hat
This presentation will highlight the implementation of the Six Thinking Hats within the context of Socratic Seminars in the Language Arts/ Social Studies setting. What are the Six Thinking Hats? Developed by Edward de Bono, Six Thinking Hats is a method that provides direction for group thinking and decision-making by building off the common notion of “putting on your thinking cap.” de Bono has developed six different “hats” that each focus on thinking in one particular direction (feelings, judgment, creativity, process, optimism, and facts). The Socratic Seminar aspect of this presentation will better enlighten educators on the purpose, use, and assessment of dialogue-based collaborative learning using a variety of sources and texts. Students can utilize the “hats” to better conduct Socratic Seminars by listening, articulating, and thinking about the given text from a variety of perspectives.
Jessica Schram & Joseph Wilson
ELA, SS, and More
6-12
Room: 2213
Spice Up Your Number Talks
Are you and your kids feeling bored with the number string number talks?! Come to this session if you want more engaging, fun, and meaningful number talk topic ideas! Be ready to leave with tasks you can implement immediately.
Dana Pratt and Renee Crouse
Math
K-5
Room: 2217
Support Services Crisis Response Overview
Have you wondered what happens once a student goes to the counseling office after disclosing thoughts of suicide, of harming others, or child maltreatment? How do we respond when a student or staff member passes away or there is a disaster in the community? This session will give educators an overview of our response to crisis events and ways you can be a support to students who are experiencing difficult situations.
Gail Freund
Student Support
K-12
Room: 1232