Archives: On the road

LEARN NC staff members will give several presentations at the North Carolina Technology in Education Society (NCTIES) Conference, held March 2-4 at the Convention Center in Raleigh. All LEARN NC presentations will take place in Third Floor Registration 1. A summary of presentations is below.

Technology innovators as school leaders

Emily Jack and Kimberly Hirsh

Thursday, March 3, 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.

The new Professional Teaching Standards and evaluation tool represent a renewed focus on teacher leadership. School librarians and instructional technologists are uniquely poised to lead in the school and to support teachers in developing their leadership capacity. We’ll share resources to fulfill teachers’ professional development needs, including Web 2.0 tools to make the evaluation process easier.

Critical decisions in a Web 2.0 environment: An analysis and guide for technology leaders

Bobby Hobgood and Ross White

Thursday, March 3, 10:10 a.m. – 11:10 a.m.

Teaching and learning with interactive tools requires a range of literacy skills that students and teachers alike may not possess. This interactive session explores the range of skills demonstrated by students and teachers as they engage in 21st century learning, and how technology leaders can support both.

Fund your professional development plan with the Invest in Teachers Award

Ross White and Bill Ferris

Thursday, March 3, 2:40 – 3:40

Effective professional development begins with needs assessment and planning. LEARN NC’s Invest in Teachers Award helps fund professional development for North Carolina schools and LEAs that have crafted comprehensive plans that address school needs. This session will help you put together an award-winning plan of your own.

Engaging digital natives: Technology isn’t always the answer

Bobby Hobgood and Dan Kelo

Thursday, March 3, 3:50 p.m. – 4:50 p.m.

While students love technology, it doesn’t always provide sustained engagement to meet the needs of digital natives. This interactive, research-based session explores student behaviors and offers strategies that don’t begin with technology. Participants will leave with a framework for a student-centered environment where technology is seen as one resource among many.

Discover great online resources for teaching

Bill Ferris

Friday, March 4, 8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.

Bring your laptop and come play with the latest free online teaching tools. The folks behind LEARN NC’s Instructify blog will guide you show you the latest educational games, animation programs, and time savers, as well as cover how you can use them in class.

LEARN NC’s Lesley Richardson will presenting at the sixth annual Librarian to Librarian Networking Summit Saturday, January 29 at the East Carolina University Joyner Library. Her presentation is titled, “Quality Teaching Across the Curriculum: Identifying Online Support with LEARN NC,” and a description is below:

Quality teaching traits have new-found importance when viewed through the lens of the new NC Professional teaching standards. LEARN NC facilitates excellence in education by providing classroom and professional development resources correlated to the current North Carolina standards. Come join us as we explore the elements of quality teaching in the 21st century with LEARN NC

Dr. Bobby Hobgood will serve on an advisory board for STARTALK, a program from the National Foreign Language Center at the University of Maryland that provides information for teaching and learning world languages. The board will meet on Friday, December 3 to focus on advocating for professional development opportunities and training for world language teachers across the United States.

For more information about STARTALK, please visit the National Foreign Language Center website.

LEARN NC’s Emily Jack will present with Linda Schmalbeck from the North Carolina School of Science and Math at the North Carolina Science Teachers Association Professional Development Institute. The conference takes place in Greensboro at the Koury Convention Center November 11-12. A description of their presentation is below:

Powering a Nation: Teaching about energy use through technology

Teach your students about American energy use while you help them develop valuable 21st-century skills including scientific inquiry and skillful use of technology. We’ll introduce standards-aligned lesson plans that draw on real-world scenarios and use interactive technology to solve problems.

Please come and join the LEARN NC staff as we present the following sessions at this year’s NCSLMA conference in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

On Wednesday, Bobby Hobgood and Melissa Thibault will present at the pre-conference workshop “Classroom Assessment by the Minute: Teaching Students to Monitor Their Own Learning.”

LEARN NC will also present four concurrent sessions:

• “Critical Decisions in a Web 2.0 Environment: The Role of the School Librarian in Supporting Teachers and Students” with Bobby Hobgood and Ross White at 10:00-11:00 a.m.
• “Teacher Librarian as an Instructional Leader” with Emily Jack and Kimberly Hirsh at 11:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
• “Using “Digital History” to Promote Inquiry and Higher-order Thinking” with David Walbert at 2:00-3:00 p.m.
• “Digital Natives 3.0: Where Assumption Meets Reality for the School Librarian” with Bobby Hobgood and Dan Kelo at 3:15-4:15 p.m.
• “Learning and Leading with LEARN NC” with Bill Ferris and David Walbert at 11:15a.m.-12:15 p.m.

On September 23, Bill Ferris and Jason Don Forsythe will present at the North Carolina Association of
Colleges and Teacher Educators (NC-ACTE) Teacher Education Forum. A description for their presentation, “Discovering Great Online Resources for Teachers,” is below.

Bring your laptop and come play with the latest free online teaching tools. The folks behind LEARN NC’s Instructify blog will guide you through the latest educational games, animation programs, and time savers, as well as cover how you can use them in class.

Bill Ferris and Lesley Richardson will present at the Bladen County Instructional Technology Workshop Tuesday, August 24. The presentations will take place at 10 a.m. and noon, and will be general information about LEARN NC. For more information, please visit the Bladen County Schools website.

Bill Ferris and Jason Don Forsythe will present “Discovering great online resources for teaching” at the Rockingham Educator Conference on Monday, August 16 at Rockingham County High School. A description of the presentation is below:

Bring your laptop and come play with the latest free online teaching tools. The folks behind LEARN NC’s Instructify blog will guide you show you the latest educational games, animation programs, and time savers, as well as cover how you can use them in class.

LEARN NC’s Bobby Hobgood and Bill Ferris will present at the 2010 Algebra Readiness Summit at SAS in Cary, North Carolina on Thursday, August 12.

A description for the presentation, “Understanding Algebra with Technology: An Approach to Technology Integration for the Algebra Classroom,” is below:

Technology alone doesn’t teach students. With access to more software, hardware, and resources than ever before, how do we purposely identify what, how, and when technology should figure into student learning? This hands-on session will explore techniques for identifying resources for the Algebra classroom through the lens of a research-based framework for technology integration. Participants will leave with new skills and ideas for enhancing student learning.

LEARN NC staff members will present several sessions at the Southern Conference on Language Teaching, which takes place April 15-17 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The list of presentations is below:

What You Need to Know About LinguaFolio — Ross White, with Ann Marie Gunter, Helga Fasciano, and Ruta Couet

This session provides a brief overview of the creation of LinguaFolio and focuses on why this important tool is essential for the 21st Century tool kit of world langauge professionals.  See varied examples of LinguaFolio implemented as swell as learn about the next steps to take if you are already using this tool.  Training resources will be provided.

Results of the Critical Languages Initiatives that Benefit All Languages — Bobby Hobgood

There are a number of critical needs language programs that can serve as models for all languages: STARTALK Institutes, FLAP grants and state/local initiatives. Panelists present a variety of
programs from across the SCOLT region that span the K-20 arena, including online resources like a virtual mentoring course for Chinese teachers and digital textbooks with materials for Arabic and Chinese courses.

Building Online World Language Courses — Bobby Hobgood, with Ann Marie Gunter

Online courses offer students access to a language when a face-to-face course is not available. By combining effective instructional design and different technologies, asynchronous courses can move students toward proficiency in all four language skills. A series of online Chinese courses, funded by two different grants (FLAP and AP), incorporate several unique features that lead to greater student engagement and achievement, which has garnered national attention for North Carolina’s innovative approach to distance learning with world languages.