Archives: Events

On Tuesday, April 26, we’ll host the eighth and final session in our year-long series of free web conferences about differentiated instruction. This session will feature Dr. Joan Barnatt, author of the article “The Power of Nonfiction: Using Informational Text to Support Literacy in Special Populations,” and Paul Niles, veteran middle-school teacher at Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School in Massachusetts.

The presenters will discuss using informational texts, rather than fictional literature, as a way to help students develop literacy skills — particularly for English language learners, at-risk students, and students with learning disabilities.

The web conference takes place Tuesday, April 26, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Registration is free, and spaces are still available. Sign up for this event on our web form. For more information on the series of articles and web conferences, including archived videos of previous web conferences, check out Reaching Every Learner: Differentiating Instruction in Theory and Practice.

I wish that all educators knew about the huge impact deafness has on language, both receptively and expressively. Because their deafness, and the fact they don’t hear the language, impacts all academics. It impacts reading, it impacts social studies, science, math. And I think until you have experienced it, it is a very difficult thing to grasp.

Kathy Metzer, Guilford County Teacher of the Deaf, works with deaf and hard-of-hearing students in a mainstream school. Mrs. Metzer’s school serves students from across the county in a setting where deaf culture and deaf education are thoroughly integrated into the school community. Hearing students participate in an after-school sign language club, classroom teachers incorporate signs into their everyday instruction, and interpreters serve as a vital part of the mainstream classroom.

In the video “Deafness, Language, and Literacy,” Kathy Metzer and Mary V. Compton, Associate Professor of Special Education at UNC-Greensboro, discuss the role deafness plays in a student’s development of language, and how this affects the way a deaf student may write and speak. The video is one in a series of seven about educating deaf students in mainstream settings, associated with the article “Deaf Learners and Successful Cognitive Achievement.”

Join the conversation

Kathy Metzer and Dr. Mary V. Compton will be among the distinguished presenters on April 18, from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m., when we present the free web conference “Engaging Deaf Learners in the Mainstream Classroom.” Joining them will be Dr. David Martin, Professor and Dean Emeritus of Gallaudet University and author of “Deaf Learners and Successful Cognitive Achievement.” The three presenters will share their knowledge and answer questions on topics including instruction, communication, and classroom management.

The session is free, but registration is required. To reserve your seat in the conference, please visit our registration page.

Tune in on Monday, March 7, for the sixth in our year-long series of free web conferences about differentiated instruction. This web conference draws on the article “Inclusion in the 21st-Century Classroom: Differentiating with Technology” and features article author Bobby Hobgood and Mooresville Intermediate teacher Becky Goddard.

The presenters will share research-based best practices for integrating technology into differentiation, and the session will include plenty of time for questions from participants.

The web conference takes place Monday, March 7, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Registration is free, and spaces are still available. Sign up for this event, and other conferences in the series, on our web form. For more information on the series of articles and web conferences, check out Reaching Every Learner: Differentiating Instruction in Theory and Practice.

We’ve just published the latest in our series of articles about differentiated instruction. In “Managing and Improving Behavior in Inclusive Educational Environments,” Dr. Edward J. Sabornie of N.C. State University presents research-based best practices in classroom behavior management.

Dr. Sabornie writes, “In today’s diverse public school classrooms, where pupils with various types of disabilities, English language learners, and at-risk students with attention problems and disruptive behavior are educated side by side, effective classroom management and discipline control have never been more important.”

The article presents strategies that are effective for all students, addressing issues such as spatial arrangement, classroom rules, classroom climate, positive reinforcement, and how to decrease inappropriate behavior without using punishment.

Registration is open for the free web conference with Dr. Sabornie to be held on Monday, December 6, 2010 from 3:30-4:30. See the differentiation web conferences page for more information and to register.

On Monday, October 25, LEARN NC will host a web conference entitled “Deaf Learners and Successful Cognitive Achievement.” The conference explores the conditions necessary to ensure the success of deaf students in inclusive classrooms, and expands upon the ideas presented in an article by the same name. This is the second in a series of web conferences on differentiated instruction.

The conference will feature three prominent experts on deaf education:

• article author David Martin, Ph.D., a prolific writer and dean emeritus at Gallaudet University, the world’s only university for deaf persons
• Mary V. Compton, Ph.D., professor of special education at UNC-Greensboro
• Kathy Metzer, veteran teacher of the deaf at Monticello Brown Summit Elementary School in Guilford County

These three experts will share their knowledge and experiences, and will allow plenty of time for participants to have their questions answered. This promises to be a can’t-miss event for any teacher — whether or not they work with deaf students.

The web conference takes place Monday, October 25, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Registration is free, and spaces are still available. Sign up for this event, and other conferences in the series, on our web form. For more information on the series of articles and web conferences, check out Reaching Every Learner: Differentiating Instruction in Theory and Practice.

We’re thrilled to announce that we’ve published the second article in our year-long series about differentiated instruction, “Deaf Learners and Successful Cognitive Achievement.” Author David Martin, Ph.D., is a prolific author and dean emeritus at Gallaudet University, the world’s only university for deaf persons. In the article, Dr. Martin asserts that, under appropriate conditions, deaf students can succeed in inclusive settings. He includes a list of ideal instructional conditions for deaf students in the inclusive classroom.

Video

The article includes a series of videos featuring interviews with Dr. Mary V. Compton, a professor in special education at UNC-Greensboro; Kathy Metzer, teacher of the deaf at Monticello Brown Summit Elementary; and Martha Overman, interpreter at Monticello Brown Summit. Interview excerpts paired with classroom footage provide insight and practical suggestions for educators teaching deaf students in inclusive classrooms.

Web conference

On October 25, we’ll host a web conference featuring Dr. David Martin, Dr. Mary V. Compton, and teacher of the deaf Kathy Metzer. Registration is free. For more information on this and other web conferences in this series, see the differentiation web conferences page.

Archived web conference

Our September 27 web conference on creating tiered assignments was a great success! Author and educational consultant Linda Robinson and veteran teacher Anne Hawkins shared their experiences and suggestions for implementing this strategy equitably. If you weren’t able to join us, you can watch the archived session.

Stay in the loop

From time to time throughout the school year, we’ll send email updates about this series to interested educators. If you’d like to receive these emails, please contact Lesley Richardson.

How does LEARN NC take online professional development from a concept to a fully functional online course? This session explores the steps and methods we have discovered to greatly improve the professional development experience for teachers across the state. We’ll cover subject choice, making the content and course user friendly, and course maintenance and standards alignment.

Registration for the LEARN NC 2010 Interactive Conference is free. The conference, scheduled for Thursday, October 14, will take place in Chapel Hill at the Center for School Leadership Development. All face-to-face seats are currently full, but you may still register to participate online.

LEARN NC has several professional development resources, including:

Online Courses

Discover the advantages of earning renewal credit online. LEARN NC online professional development lets participants work and learn at a time and location most convenient to them, while fostering a comfortable, welcoming learning community through continual communication and discussion.

North Carolina Professional Teaching Standards

To help teachers satisfy the criteria of the North Carolina Professional Teaching Standards and the accompanying teacher evaluation instrument, we’re aligning all of our resources for professional development to the new standards. Just as you can find resources for your classroom by goal and objective of the Standard Course of Study, you can now find resources for your career organized by the professional standards they meet.

LEARN NC professional development – Frequently asked questions

Find the answers to frequently asked questions about LEARN NC professional development courses.

North Carolina e-Learning for Educators

North Carolina’s leaders in online professional development have collaborated on a series of courses that will bolster content knowledge and classroom technology integration at an affordable cost, with the convenience and flexibility only possible online. All e-Learning for Educators courses take place online, eliminating travel and substitute teacher expenses.

Teach an online course in your school

Teach an online course in your school system with LEARN NC and Moodle. We’ve made LEARN NC’s Moodle platform available to all public school teachers in North Carolina, enabling schools of any income level and geographic location to increase their teaching capacity online.

With classrooms exhibiting increasing diversity among learners, it’s no wonder that teachers feel a growing need to hone their strategies for differentiating instruction. At the LEARN NC Interactive Conference we will present “Differentiated Instruction: Research-based best practices,” which focuses on our new Differentiated Instruction series. Through a series of articles, web conferences, and an online professional learning community, LEARN NC will share research-based best practices on a variety of topics critical to differentiation.  This session will explore the four ways educators can benefit from this year-long series: Consume, participate, share, and integrate.

Registration for the LEARN NC 2010 Interactive Conference is free. The conference, scheduled for Thursday, October 14, will take place in Chapel Hill at the Center for School Leadership Development. All face-to-face seats are currently full, but you may still register to participate online.

LEARN NC has many resources that address differentiated instruction. These include:

Tiering to avoid tears: Developing assignments that address all learners’ needs

This article presents an approach to differentiated instruction in which teachers create tiered assignments for three groups of students: 1) Students who are not yet ready for that grade level’s instruction, 2) Students who are just ready, and 3) Students who are ready to go beyond. Includes step-by-step instructions and a list of ten criteria by which to modify assignments.

The challenge of a broken pencil

From dealing with meltdowns to setting a routine, Rhonda Layman shares communication and management strategies for students with autism spectrum disorders.

Gifted?

This article helps teachers learn how to identify and understand gifted children,  suggest  ways that they can meet the needs of these students, and provides  resources to help them differentiate instruction.

If you use digital content in your classroom, you’re already doing blended learning. But digital content is more than just another box to check off in your teaching! Used thoughtfully, digital content can help you teach across disciplines, practice a variety of skills, and reach different learners. This session at the LEARN NC 2010 Fall Interactive Conference will use examples from LEARN NC’s collections to show you how.

Conference registration is now open. The conference, scheduled for Thursday, October 14, will take place in Chapel Hill at the Center for School Leadership Development. Participants may attend in person or online.

LEARN NC’s collection of digital content includes thousands of resources, including:

Hurricane Floyd (from the NC Digital History Textbook)

This is a good example of using digital content to teach across disciplines.  Students will not only learn about how flooding from the hurricane devastated communities in eastern North Carolina, but will learn how hurricanes form and why flooding can occur.  It also discusses the geography of flood plains.

Vietnam waterways: Ecology and conservation

This interdisciplinary lesson for grades 6-8 uses maps, digital images, and audio from LEARN NC. Students will examine the relationship between the physical environment and cultural characteristics of the Mekong River valley in Vietnam. Students also evaluate the current conditions of the Mekong River and suggest long-range solutions for improving, restoring, or preserving the quality of the river.

Mandarin Chinese I | 中文课程1

In part one of this online textbook for Mandarin Chinese, you will learn the basics of the Chinese spoken and written language and to have basic conversations about yourself, your family, school, and daily activities.

Discover. Teach. Share.

Thursday, October 14th, 2010
8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. for face-to-face participants
1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. for virtual participants

About the conference

LEARN NC is excited to host educators from all over the state at our fall 2010 conference. Following the success of last year’s hybrid format, we will again deliver the conference both in person and online. The day is divided into morning and afternoon sections, with virtual participation options available for those who can’t make the trip to Chapel Hill.

The morning section consists of two face-to-face interactive sessions at the Center for School Leadership Development (CSLD) in Chapel Hill. Registration is open for a limited number of participants who will be physically present with us at the CSLD to explore new ideas in teaching and learning using LEARN NC. These are face-to-face sessions only, and will not be available via web conferencing. Morning face-to-face participants will remain with us at the CSLD for the afternoon sessions.

The afternoon section will be completely available online for remote participants via web-conferencing software. This format enables a larger number of participants to interact live with those of us in Chapel Hill. Remote participants may join us from the comfort of their desks — or wherever they access the internet.

Who should attend

Teachers, media specialists, technology coordinators, professional development coordinators, administrators, and other leaders in curriculum and instruction will all benefit from this conference. Whether you are teaching students in the classroom, or working at the school or system level developing curriculum and delivering professional development, the LEARN NC fall conference will provide new ideas and identify opportunities for collaboration to help you make the best use of your scarcest resource… time!

Conference agenda

The day will consist of a variety of sessions, including two hands-on interactive sessions in the morning for face-to-face participants, and afternoon sessions that cover topics like digital content for the classroom, differentiating instruction, and online professional development.

For complete details, see the conference agenda page.

Registration

• To register as a face-to-face participant, see the “Details for Face-to-Face Participants” page.
• To register as a virtual participant, see the “Details for Virtual Participants” page.