Wednesday Break-Out Sessions for Elementary Teachers:

Barbara Nealon – Engage and Motivate Secondary Students to Develop Science Literacy Learn successful, classroom-tested techniques that can motivate and engage students to develop vocabulary skills, reading strategies and written communication skills in the secondary science classroom. These skills can develop confidence in reading, writing and critical thinking as students prepare for the Science PSSA.

Danielle Runkle – Content Area Reading Strategies for Secondary Teachers This session will provide specific researched based reading strategies that will increase comprehension of content area material. These strategies will focus on before, during and after reading. Participants will leave with ready to use ideas for any content.

Michael Bubb – Essential Engagement: A Productive, Challenged, Happy Classroom When students are motivated, happy, and secure, they are willing to take risks and engage in challenging tasks across the curriculum.

Paula Gilbert and Shawn Sipe – New Book Titles for Elementary Teachers Relax and enjoy browsing the newest and most interesting books on the market.

Kathy Stetter – Digital Portfolios in the Primary Classroom Investigate how to create electronic “artifacts” that show growth in student learning using a varied of common desktop software tools. Educators will also learn strategies to design and organize student-centered, standard-based electronic portfolios, as a powerful tool to guide formative assessment.

Justin Hartman – Metacognitive Experiences in the Visual Arts Explore how using technology in the classroom to create a project based lesson improves motivation and reaches all students. Participation in the process of creating meaningful art and using the critiquing process to evaluate the finished project will also be discussed.

Jacquline Clymer – The Link between Engagement and Standards-based Assessment Learn about standards-based grading: how it works; the essential role formative assessment plays in informing teacher and student actions; and why it increases student engagement and achievement.

Nathan Hammond - Recording Engagement--MP3 Style Learn how you can harness the power of the technology already in your students hands--their cell phones for creating innovative assignments. Also learn free webbased solutions to record students answers (even answers to multiple prompts) without any of the typical hassles.

Emily Kissner – Making Way for Meaning: Building Comprehension through Talking and Movement While teachers can’t possibly give students all of the topic knowledge they will need for every text, teachers can build students’ background knowledge of different kinds of text, and help them to learn and refine strategies for working with narrative, informational, and poetic text. In this session, teachers will explore easy ways to get kids talking and moving while still building their schema for reading.

Amy Musone, Kim Thoman, Mandy Wolfe - Using Web 2.0 Tools for Language Arts Instruction The Internet has many interactive, free tools that can be used to enhance Language Arts instruction across the grade levels. Participants will gain ideas on how to use Skype for comprehension and fluency, Moodle for book discussions, Wikis for writing and research presentations, and Google Docs for the writing process.

Jeff Remington - Internet Innovations to Inspire Global Education Partnerships This workshop will focus on recent Internet platforms and technologies that make access to global learning partnerships easier than ever before. It will highlight an educational wiki that is being used as a model to educate students in developing countries. Teachers will be exposed to a variety of Internet technologies that they may find helpful in their own teaching or for creating a global partnership.

Michele Vitelli - What does your Body Language Say? Everybody knows that a firm handshake and direct eye contact are a given for demonstrating positive body language…but beyond that…most people are unaware of how powerful subtle changes in nonverbal communication can influence overall effectiveness. As an educator, pinpointing and eliminating negative body language are critical to successful leadership. Learn how to keenly focus in, and literally see how minor changes in your walk, posture, facial expressions, placement of your hands, etc., can improve overall presence.

Divonna Stebick - Thinking Digitally Participants will learn how to use a digital forum when applying Pearson’s Gradual Release Model of Instruction for comprehension instruction. Participants will learn about current comprehension research and best practices implemented through an integrated approach which has been developed and field tested. Participants will also apply a step by step process to develop digital think alouds in their own classrooms.

Professional Learning Communities Integration and Application Session Take some time to integrate and apply all the research and ideas you learned throughout the week. Administrators and literacy coaches will be available to help you streamline your instruction so you are ready to motivate metacognitive minds for the 2010 - 2011 school year.