Conference Sessions and Workshops

If you are not familiar with what the PHM DVT/Planetarium, Air & Space Museum has to offer, this is for you! A laptop may be helpful, but not necessary. Just bring your curiosity!

This presentation will provide educators with a basic, working knowledge on how to utilize Google Forms as a formative assessment tool in the classroom. An emphasis will be placed around managing and utilizing a form’s synced data via Google Sheets. Subtopics to be explored include: using forms as quick comprehension checks in real time, using synced data to monitor academic integrity, sharing responses classwide while maintaining confidentiality, and giving feedback. Join us!

This session will share examples and techniques on how to integrate both Canvas and Google in daily lesson plans to help create and establish an incredible learning experience for all students.

Let’s face it – we all have trauma in our lives. And with the collective trauma we have all faced with the Covid-19 Pandemic, we all need easy to implement self-regulation strategies. You will walk away from this session with 10 research based and classroom tested ideas that work. You will find something for everyone, possibly even yourself! I’ve done the work – you just need to show up and gain knowledge!

Thanks to Hangouts & Zoom, teachers can connect with people and places all over the world. Join us as we talk about the speakers who have joined us in the classrooms at North White. It started in our 1980s class in 2013 with original MTV VJ Mark Goodman speaking to our students about MTV and its beginnings. Our speaker list continues to grow and now collaboration is taking place with the North White Music Department on these interviews (History of Rock and Roll and GarageBand classes). We will also focus on how to use the Library of Congress Primary Source Analysis site to supplement the lesson. Put the textbooks away and invite the storytellers to join you in the classroom!

Technology changes all the time, and children are constantly finding the newest websites, apps, and gadgets. It’s vital they learn the rules of Internet Safety so they can use technology responsibly. The information provided will assist parents, community leaders, educators, and youth group leaders in understanding the online challenges children face and suggest some tips for both children and adults to navigate the online world.

Inbox Overwhelm? Gmail offers LOTS of ways to help you organize your inbox, but who has time to learn them, right? Attend this session and walk away with a good start on taming your inbox and strategies to keep it from getting wild again! You will find a tamed inbox will help you be more productive and save time! Make sure to have your device so you can get started immediately!

Constantly playing phone tag with parents? Emails being left unanswered? Try Talking Points! This tool can be accessed online and through an app to text parents without using your personal number. It translates messages, makes announcements to groups, sends pictures, and collects data for your parent contact documentation. It’s easy enough for beginners! Bring a laptop and smartphone.

This action-packed session will present different types of non permanent surfaces (whiteboards and Google Jamboards) used to enhance student engagement and inquiry in your classroom and give you a student experience in a highly-engaging class like this. We will introduce some easy-to-use tech tools to keep you from wiping-out on classroom management. Beginners and experts welcome! No skills needed, but bring a device with you.

Did you know ELLs are the fastest growing population in US public schools? In this session, we will explore several different ways technology and UDL, coupled together, can support multilingual students. We will examine how instructional design strategies and edTech combined can support students in mastering a new language (English), as well as celebrate their native language(s). We will explore a variety of practical design strategies to support ELLs, as well as translation tools to support the ELL newcomer. Plus, we will have the opportunity to explore and practice using technology tools that provide learners with flexible options to showcase their learning that help to remove barriers, rather than create barriers. Attendees will leave the session with design tips, as well as a collection of ready to use translation, vocabulary, reading, speaking, and listening tools. Target Audience: Any grade area or subject area staff who work with ELLs

Paper assignments, digital assignments, late assignments, missing assignments-as learning has gone more digital in the 1:1 world and learners are provided options in how they express their understanding, trying to provide feedback to students may sometimes feel like navigating through the upside down. While this session will not magically grant you the powers to grade/provide feedback on assignments instantaneously, attendees will learn ELEVEN ways they can better provide feedback to their learners and how to provide feedback that serves multiple means of representation. By the end of this session attendees will learn the value of providing timely, personalized feedback, the role of feedback in furthering learning, and several practical, free accessibility-based tools for providing feedback to students. Tools covered in this session will include Mentimeter, PearDeck, Poll Anywhere, Quizlet, Screencastify, and more!

STEM and PBL are often taught in classrooms on a daily basis either intentionally or unintentionally. Through collaborative learning and discussion, we will share how PBL and STEM are taught in the classroom, how we utilize it within different subject areas, the impact they have on scholars and how PLTW supports this work. Participants will leave with a strong understanding of STEM and PBL and takeaways that they can immediately bring back to the classroom.

Google Presentation Decks are the perfect progress monitoring tool. You can include images, audio, video, and text to create a record of progress over time. Need more data – just add a slide. New goal – add a slide. You can even date them and use the same slide deck several years to really start showing progress over time. And the best part – because it is a Google tool, Slides makes it super easy to share with all involved with the student. Anyone you allow can add evidence and data to the deck, and others can have just view only access. Come find out why I LOVE using Slides for progress monitoring and get my template to start creating your own decks.

This session is for those with some experience with Google Sheets or Excel. We will explore different formulas and functions within Google Sheets to assist with data tracking for students (standard mastery, assessments, classroom interventions, guardian contact, etc.). We will also look at Autocrat and how that system can help populate documents based on Google Form submissions.

Ready to rethink your professional learning? The Indiana Learning Lab, funded by the IDOE, is a central hub for resources, live and on-demand workshops, and all growth hours completed in this micro-learning platform. Brainstorm with a digital learning expert, access collections of resources curated to maximize your learning, or join a community to collaborate with other Hoosiers. Find everything needed to elevate instructional practices and improve student learning!

Risk-taking and celebrating failure can be great ways to stimulate creativity in the classroom. During this very interactive session based on the best selling book Ready, Set, FAIL!, we’ll discuss the science behind failure and the roadblocks to creativity. Then, attendees will engage in several activities designed to help students activate the creative side of their brain. Come prepared to move, think, and leave your inhibitions at the door. It’s not how you fall down, it’s how you get back up!

Reaching reluctant learners in the general education classroom requires you to build a strong relationship with these students and guarantee their success. This session will share tips for building relationships with and supporting these learners, as well as strategies for modifying the curriculum to ensure that, if a student puts forth the effort, they will be successful.

Participants in this session will learn how to effectively integrate Chromebooks in the primary classroom. Come away with a solid plan to help roll out professional development and support for those targeted teachers. Best practices of how to integrate this model into whole group, small group and station settings will be shared.

This session will tackle a question I get asked often…What sites or resources do I use to create presentations, digital lessons and hyperdocs? Come and learn all of my trade secrets! Trust me, you will look like a pro. 😉 We will even have a Nailed it challenge to wrap up our time together.

Meet EyeOn, the world’s slimmest, lightest-weight, fastest, and most accurate tablet with a fully integrated eye tracker. This Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) device combines the portability of a tablet with the predictive power of eye-tracking technology for all-in-one, hands-free accessibility.Designed to strike the perfect balance between form and function, the FDA-registered EyeOn stands out from the competition by delivering unprecedented accuracy and reliability, amplified sound, up to 10 hours of battery life, and high-resolution imaging day or night. Plus, its slim form is housed in a protective casing for unmatched durability.*Beginners can use, and this device is suitable for anyone who needs different access methods to communicate and learn. Anyone can use it though!

The Indiana Department of Education and the Indiana Governor’s Workforce Cabinet have created new Career and Tech Education (CTE) pathways for our students. With the recent change in graduation requirements to include career pathway concentrators, these new pathways have become even more important in schools. The new graduation requirements start with the class of 2025 and schools must use the new NLPS pathways by then.

Computer science can be a difficult subject to teach. With more states, school boards, and institutions requiring computer science concepts to be taught at younger and younger ages, finding the right curriculum, training educators, and delivering a comprehensive course that students enjoy, is difficult. During this session, we will share curriculum, tools and free resources to help educators teach computer science across grade levels and still meet the state’s standards.

Come learn about how Elm Road has turned their Library time into an opportunity for students to experience and enjoy a STEM lab!

Bring the energy to your learning environment with all-star-worthy activities, projects, and ideas! In this session, we’ll explore ways to score big with familiar and new technology tools to encourage learners to expand their work beyond the classroom, engage in authentic learning activities, and engage in critical thinking. We’ll focus on ways to offer options in terms of action and expression, while also considering how projects can boost engagement as well. Tools featured in the session will include Book Creator, Canva, Spark, Google Slides, and more, and will show examples from several different grade levels and content areas. Attendees will not only see examples from real classrooms, but will have opportunities to consider how to implement the ideas in their own classroom or role.

This session will focus on how to use daily Google slide decks in order to streamline student independent work, easily create plans for substitute teachers, and get interrupted by students’ questions fewer times per day! All teaching content areas and levels of technology proficiency are welcome. Please bring a computer and your Google login!

This session will focus on using Google Site in the K-5 setting.

This session will show how to create a Google Sites for your classroom. It’s straightforward enough for beginners and all you need is a Google account! This is also a great way to push out information to parents or students.

Have you ever used Seesaw and wanted to learn other ways it can work in your classroom that keeps students engaged? This session is for you! In this session we will explore using Seesaw Activities, app smashing with Seesaw, blended learning with Seesaw, and creating your own Seesaw Activities.

This session is best for those that have basic understanding of how to use Seesaw or have used Seesaw in their classroom. Please bring a computer, Chromebook, and iPad in order to engage in this session.

Are you looking for one of the most meaningful tech tools to add to your tool belt in elementary? Look no further! Seesaw is a robust digital portfolio and so much more! Come to this interactive and engaging session where you will learn the basics of Seesaw, how to get started, and receive many take-aways for grades K-5 that you can implement immediately in your classroom this year.

This session is best for those new to using Seesaw in their classrooms. Please bring a computer, Chromebook, and/or an iPad to engage with this hands on session.

Do you know about GIS? (geographic information sciences/systems) GIS and all geospatial technologies knowledge and experiences are skills that many employers are looking for … helping innovate today’s human and environment conservation through data acquisition, management and analysis toward problem-solving and planning creating a better tomorrow. Join us to learn about GIS and classroom possibilities, diverse resources, and (existing and unimaginable) employment opportunities, preparing your students for their global future. Geography is MORE than “where is Mishawaka?”!!!

Do you want to learn a 21st century storytelling tool? Do you want your students to become better communicators? Join us to create your first Story Map, a tool that incorporates all types of text, limited only by the author’s imagination: graphs, charts, written words, videos, photographs, maps and more.

Interested in getting on the “coding bandwagon,” or learning what it’s all about in the first place? Even if you teach a non-STEM subject, your students can benefit from the logic and problem-solving skills that come from learning about computer science. No matter the age or ability level, kids who learn to code gain confidence, build communication and collaboration skills, and get excited about learning. So why wait? We’ll also show you tools and strategies that will help you connect coding, computer science, and cybersecurity concepts into any subject, from language arts to math to art, all using totally free apps and lesson plans.

Have you ever seen an interactive notebook and wondered how it would work with your class? In this session we will be looking at how interactive notebooks can enhance a student’s resources inside and outside the classroom. We will look at how these notebooks can be paired with Peardeck to create engagement during the class and outside of the classroom, as well as how to construct them for your class needs. Please come with your personal device.

Traditionally, teachers have opened the door to their vault of knowledge in a limited context. In some cases, students have been for the most part “passive learners” and their learning has been dependent upon teachers and how far they can go in the confinement of their own classroom. The role of a teacher in a blended learning classroom is to give students the key to the vault so they can take as much (or as little) knowledge as they desire. Teachers can more effectively empower students in their desire to learn any content by integrating Constructivist Theory applications and utilizing 5E Learning Models of Instruction (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate & Evaluate) into instructional strategies. Session(s) are for teachers at any K-12 level and in any subject area. Teachers should have laptops / chromebooks to participate in the session.

Today’s students are not just the leaders of tomorrow, they are the leaders of today. As educators, it is our responsibility to help them develop the skills they need to advocate for themselves and others, including mental wellness, diversity and identity, self-exploration, coping strategies, and interpersonal relationships. We’ll examine online activities that address all of these needs -and more- in a self-paced, interactive format which allows students to engage with content in a personal, meaningful way. These lessons can easily be used with in-person, hybrid, or remote learning and are absolutely FREE.

Starting an elementary robotics team can sound overwhelming. Join us to learn how easy it actually is to apply for a start up grant, register a team, learn about this year’s game, and find out everything else you need to know to start a team at your school. No robotics experience necessary. Seriously, none.

The ICAC Task Force in partnership with the Internet Keep Safe Coalition (iKeepSafe) understands that Technology and the Internet have become indispensable educational tools. However, educators know that our digital world is filled with risks and dangers. This Readiness and Response tool offers suggestions to help you prepare for technology-related incidents in your school and respond quickly and appropriately when they happen. This workshop will demonstrate how you can use the Incident Response tool.

Come learn how to incorporate Google CS First and Google Applied Digital Skills, Ozobots, Makey Makey and Adafruit!

Discover why I WILL NOT teach reading without Read Theory, the absolute best comprehension intervention tool I’ve used with students in over 30 years of teaching. The best part – the free version is all you need! I’ll walk you through exactly how I use the free version of this tool to empower students to increase their comprehension skills in a way that easily transfers to anything they are reading. There will be time for you to get accounts set up too. You will have plenty of time to explore Read Theory for yourself and start setting up how you will use it. PS: I am not affiliated with Read Theory, and get no compensation from them. I simply LOVE sharing things that work! Best for grades 5-10

In this session John Syljebeck, the Indiana Territory manager, will present information about Certiport’s industry recognized certification programs that are promoted by the Indiana Department of Education and the Department of Workforce Development. This includes Microsoft Office Specialist, Adobe Certified Professional, Autodesk Certified User, and App Development with Apple Swift. Additionally you will learn about the curriculum options and practice programs that support certification.

In this session you will have the opportunity to certify in one of the certification programs that are promoted by the Indiana Department of Education and Department of Workforce Development. This includes Microsoft Office Specialist, Adobe Certified Professional, or QuickBooks Certified User. Special accommodations will need to be made for Autodesk Certified User. Please reach out to Josiah Parker and John Syljebeck by July 10th for details. John.syljebeck@pearson.com Bring your own computer!

Best practices for the Student Math Growth Session is a great way to learn more about how to monitor student progress and usage best practices with the help of the Happy Numbers platform. The session will focus on how to use built-in reports to tailor instruction to each student, share what tools to use to measure and monitor student progress and how weekly math routines lead to sustainable math growth. Happy Numbers keeps PK-5 students learning independently and provides you with actionable insights into student growth!

It’s frustrating to realize students aren’t interacting with your digital lesson plans, especially when you’ve spent hours on their construction and design… or maybe they are? But how do you know? Kristin, who has been teaching asynchronous online courses for over a decade, will share shifts she has made to her online teaching practice to verify whether (or not!) students are reading updates, engaging with materials, and understanding performance task expectations. This session is for Canvas LMS users. Audience: 6-12

This session is a hands-on session focused on how to utilize Google tools to boost the accessibility of the classroom, including accessing some of the assistive technology tools in Google Workspace for Education tools. Furthermore, the session will explore add-ons and extensions that will supercharge the accessibility of Google Chrome. Plus, we will practice planning using Google Workspace for Education, learning how to leverage Google cloud-based tools to provide students with options and choice, to create a more accessible, equitable, inclusive educational experience

IXL is a tool used in many classrooms to provide laser-focused skill practice. But did you know IXL has an extensive data collection system and fantastic reporting resources? IXL is more than just digitized classroom practice. Come to this session to learn about ways to dig deeper in IXL and harness all of its capabilities.

This session is for upper elementary and middle school teachers who want to learn how to incorporate 3D modeling into Math and Science class. This is a beginners class where people will learn the basics on 3D modeling using online software: TinkerCAD.

This session will be talking about the usage of 3D printing in the high school setting, but the information could be of value to all teachers. We want to touch on the basics of 3D printing, how we use it at Penn in Robotics, and how it can be leveraged inside the classroom.

The average kindergarten student can last about 5 minutes before they need some sort of transition. By the time they reach adulthood, that range is closer to 18-20 minutes. Yet when you go to a professional development session, you spend a majority of the time “sitting and getting” rather than actively learning. This session will discuss some of the neuroscience around movement, the benefits of brain breaks on classroom culture, and a treasure chest of ideas to bring more movement back into your classroom. Applicable to all ages from 2 to 102.