Differentiation Tips for SMART Notebook

Discover how technology, specifically your SMART Notebook software, can help you address the diverse strengths and weaknesses of the students in your classroom. We'll provide background information on differentiating instruction, along with strategies and resources to help you differentiate planning, instruction, management, and student assessment. This session will focus on creating additional supports to complete SMART Notebook activities for a variety of learners in your classroom.

Using the SMART Board for Early Childhood Literacy

In this session, we will look at how literacy teachers can inspire and motivate students using online resources and technology through the SMART Board. We'll take a look at some tips and tricks you can use to make decoding and phonics simpler for your students. We will explore different online resources in order to create lessons and then dive into the SMART Notebook software to explore various features you have access to in order to build custom activities with your students such as the gallery and SMART Speller. By the end of this session, you will come away with multiple skills to begin generating differentiated multimedia lessons for whole class instruction and center use.

Redefining Creative Writing Prompts: Story Dice

While attending PAX 2017 we stumbled upon a low cost "game" that we thought would be perfect for the ELA classroom, Story Dice. Join us as we discuss what story dice are, and how they can help redefine creative writing prompts! We will also give you suggestions on ways to incorporate them into your classroom and how to create a grading system to make sure your students are staying on task and meeting specific standards.

Introducing STEM Role Models Through Literacy

Why are role models so important? Some reasons to have a role model include inspiration, learning how to overcome struggles, and garnering the traits of a successful individual to become the best version of you. It's important to provide students with numerous opportunities to find role models for themselves. As educators, we may sometimes want to suggest role models for specific behaviors and characteristics we think our students would benefit from — like opening up the world of STEM, for instance. Join this session to learn about some elementary level literacy resources you can use to introduce STEM role models to your students.

Literature-Inspired STEM Activities for the K-2 Classroom

A picture is worth a thousand words, and that's why picture books are perfect for connecting STEM and literacy learning! Engage your K-2 learners with hands-on engineering challenges that use children's literature as a launch pad. Do you want to see your young learners asking questions, demonstrating skills to tackle a problem hands-on with their peers, or designing – and even redesigning – a product or idea? Join us for some fun as we dive into our favorite stories and guide our Kinder-Engineers to “redesign” the story. From creating protective attire for Humpty Dumpty, to developing a new home for the three little pigs, with these best practices and example activities, you will soon be integrating STEM into your storytelling time!

Engaging Students with Video:PlayPosit

Do you assign students videos and clips to watch for complicated content? Maybe you provide multimedia for students to use as additional resources and review. How can you tell with the utmost certainty that your students are actually utilizing these videos, and learning from them? With PlayPosit, you can add interactivity to your videos and get data about students' use and performance with embedded assessment items. From popular sites like YouTube and Vimeo, PlayPosit allows you to stream videos on to your personal dashboard and customize the user experience with pauses, questions and more! Now integrated with Google Classoom, PlayPosit makes it easy to use video in your already seamless workflow! Join the Curriculum Specialists as we guide you through the platform, so you too can begin using this wonderful learning tool in your class!

Technology to Support the Danielson Framework - Domain 1

In this first of four-session series, we'll explore how you can best incorporate technology resources to demonstrate your effectiveness of various components of Domain 1 of The Danielson Framework. The Danielson Framework is a constructivist set of instructional components aimed at helping teachers in four domains: Planning and Preparation, Classroom Environment, Instruction, and Professional Responsibilities. From demonstrating knowledge of resources, content and pedagogy, to designing student assessments, our curriculum specialists will guide you through their favorites websites, platforms, and software programs for Planning and Preparation!

Technology to Support the Danielson Framework - Domain 2

Join our Curriculum Specialists as we explore a variety of resources and technology to support Domain 2 of the Danielson Framework, focusing our attention on your efforts in creating an exceptional "Classroom Environment." Priorities for establishing a classroom environment full of respect and rapport, a culture for learning, and organizing the physical space include the teacher's ability to create an atmosphere for students that is not only safe and comfortable, but gives all students the feeling of success. Teachers and students begin to work together to establish routines, behavior management strategies, and every-day procedures that work while constructing a caring and warm space, fostering a professional learning setting for all parties involved  As a result, there is mutual respect, understanding, and ultimate success for both teachers and students. 

Technology to Support the Danielson Framework - Domain 3

Are you struggling to engage your students in learning? Do you ever ask yourself, "How can I bring this complex content that MUST be taught...to life for my students?" If you answered yes to all these questions, then you're in the right place! Our Curriculum Specialists will guide you through a variety of resources and technology to support Domain 3 of the Danielson Framework, Instruction, where their focus will be to provide strategies for improving your communication with students, introduce different techniques for questioning and discussion, and enhance your flexibility and responsiveness during any type of lesson. Here in Domain 3, teachers execute the plans that they previously created in Domain 1: Planning and Preparation. This domain is considered the "heart" of teaching and we are more than excited to support your passion for instruction as we boost students' passion for learning!

Technology to Support the Danielson Framework - Domain 4

Teachers face countless choices  daily when it comes to their students, lesson planning, parent interaction, and the environment of where learning takes place. With a profession as challenging as teaching, self reflection is beneficial for teachers as it presents opportunities for growth. Thinking about what works, and why it works as well as what didn't work and why it didn't work plays an integral role in the development of becoming a better teacher and role model for students. Join our curriculum specialists as we go through strategies for reflecting on teaching, maintaining accurate records, communicating with families, participating in the professional community, growing and developing professionally, and showing professionalism all while creating engaging lessons for our students and keeping students informed, motivated, and improving performance. As the final session of our  "Technology to Support the Danielson Framework" series comes to a close, we will help support you as you juggle the many responsibilities assigned to you.