Tuesday Breakout Session Descriptions
August 5, 2008
10:30 a.m. - Noon

Differentiated Grading: Fair Isn't Always Equal ……………..Rick Wormeli

Auditorium

Differentiated instruction is a nice idea, but what happens when it comes to grading students? Being sensitive to students' readiness levels and learning styles while holding them accountable for the same standards can be a challenge. What's fair and leads to real student learning? Join us for a provocative look at what grades really mean and how to handle the burning issues of grading: averaging, homework, late work, re-doing work, setting up the grade book, formative vs. summative assessments, 4.0 vs. 100.0 scale, alternative report card formats, and much more. Based on research and practical tips offered in the international best-selling book, Fair Isn't Always Equal, and work with teachers and principals around the world, this workshop reveals participants' core beliefs about teaching and learning. Don't miss it!

Implementing a Response to Intervention Model in Your School ……John McCook

Enclosed Cafeteria

The session will address the steps necessary to successfully implement RTI in your school. Issues addressed will include support team process, universal screening, progress monitoring, interventions and data requirements. Data from the Knoxville implementation will be shared and questions and interactive participation is encouraged.

Success is the Only Option for All Learners - Elementary…………….Vera Blake

Room E-165B

Today's classrooms and schools require that school-based stakeholders have an ever increasing repertoire of knowledge, skills, commitment, and support to ensure that all students meet and exceed standards though many have varied and unique learning needs. Participants will examine and practice several successful strategies that enhance achievement for all students. The presentation will focus on successful classroom approaches that work well for struggling and high achieving learners. Strategies will address classroom climate issues that impact learning and the use of multiple instructional strategies that actively engage students and foster increased success rates for students.

Ensuring Excellence for ALL Students: Engagement, Affirmation, Discipline, Inspiration, and Love ………….Ernest Morrell

Room E-119

In this talk Morrell will draw upon fifteen years of successful projects with K-12 youth to offer a model of empowering classroom practice. Morrell will begin by outlining principles of empowering teaching that emanate from educational research, critical pedagogy, community activism, and conversations with parents and community members about what they want for their children. Morrell then explains how these principles have translated into innovative practices with young people across the K-12 spectrum. He offers numerous examples that include the use of popular culture in the classroom and working with youth as researchers and advocates in their own communities. Morrell will talk about the impact of these projects on identity development, literacy and academic achievement, and the development of tolerance and civic responsibility. He will also discuss some challenges associated with this work as well as some possibilities for school reform, curricular innovation, and classroom practice.

Don't Eat Cactus Cookies – The Rhythm of Literacy ….....................Monte Selby

Media Center

Come have fun with Dr. Monte Selby as he shares music and activities from his high-energy books/CDs published by Frog Street Press. Leave with great ideas for all preK - 1st grade early language learners.

Plan to move and groove, explore hands-on learning activities, share ideas, and examine innovative ways to engage young students (including the most reluctant). Explore dynamic ways music can be used to promote word play, phonemic awareness, creative rhyme development, science concepts, numbers, colors, etc. - while promoting a respectful, polite learning environment.  No musical talent required!

Classroom Management and Organization for Diverse Learners ..........Elise Trumbull and Catherine Daley

Room E-168

Just as a universal approach to instruction is not successful with all students, a universal approach to classroom management and organization often falls short of its goals. Textbooks on classroom management mention “culture” as something to be considered, but they rarely offer explicit ways of understanding and responding to cultural differences.

In this workshop, we show how a simple framework for understanding the cultures of home and school can be used to guide observation, inquiry, and innovation. The presenters will share strategies used by the teacher-researchers of the Bridging Cultures Project and facilitate discussion of how educators in other environments can identify and implement an approach to classroom management and organization that taps the cultural strengths of their students—while expanding students' ability to respond to a range of classroom expectations.

Thriving as a Leader…………………………………………...……..Pam Robbins

Room E-107

 This session will introduce what research indicates are leadership actions that influence student achievement. Participants will examine the impact of culture and climate on student achievement. They will explore the emotional side of leadership and its influence on organizational productivity. Tips for managing bifocally, balancing management and leadership responsibilities simultaneously will also be provided. Participants will leave the session with resources they can apply immediately.

Resistance and Conflict………………………………………………Ann M. Delehant

Band Room

If you have ever encountered resistance or witnessed a conflict and wondered how to respond, plan to attend this session and learn more about the challenging situations that you face every day. Be prepared to participate actively, practice using new tools and have fun learning together.

Participants will:

•  Identify possible causes of resistance and define strategies for facilitating groups experiencing resistance.

•  Define five types of conflicts and consider strategies for responding to each.

•  Consider your personal style of resolving conflicts.

Reflect upon how you will use the information learned in this program

Communication and Conflict Resolution ………………………..…..Robert Garrity

R oom B-103

School Division personnel work with many people every hour of everyday. They must communicate, inform, learn, decide, and resolve things with students, parents, and colleagues throughout the day. Effective communication and conflict resolution are vital to be confident, comfortable, capable, and successful in their work.

In this workshop, participants with learn about, discuss, and practice:

•  Knowledge, skills, and methods for effective communication, problem-solving, and conflict resolution

•  Building, maintaining, and restoring positive working relationships

•  Restorative Thinking and Restorative Practices

•  Conflict mediation for educators around cultural differences.

•  Responding to difficult situations.

•  Mediation in schools.

Bob Garrity works as a mediator, facilitator, and trainer. He has provided training and services for over forty school divisions, as well as federal, state, and local government agencies, businesses, and other organizations.

A Call to Action: Helping Our Children to Learn Well, Eat Well, and Play Well ……...................................…..…..Leslie Bonci

Choir Room

This interactive session will help participants to create an action plan to enable and empower students to improve their health and well-being. Creative strategies to encourage healthy food choices and eating habits as well as physical activity will be presented. We will discuss some of the obstacles and focus on the what we CAN do rather than what we CANNOT. Children who are competent in culinary skills and physical activity will live well and stay well, and have the tools they need to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Your Classroom: Simple Ways to Create a Positive Learning Climate ……Marilyn Peplau

Room E-134

This session will introduce Developmental Assets to participants and encourage them to foster all 8 asset categories in their day-to-day classroom interactions. Achievement motivation (asset #21) and school engagement (asset #22) are two building blocks of human development within the Commitment to Learning asset category that can be supported through active, brain-friendly, constructivist, and differentiated learning. Explore the educational role of “guide on the side” rather than “sage on stage” as we work intentionally to foster relationships for the common good. An asset-rich classroom will be modeled with many strategies that help transform the room from a “same old” directed learning to co-investigative and interdependent learning. Rather than just talking about relationships and asset-rich environments, this session give educational leaders an opportunity to create both! Engage and achieve!