Professional Learning Conference

Alcoa City Schools - Professional Learning Conference
Tuesday, January 6, 2009

8:00- 8:30 Registration Opens/Breakfast provided

8:30-9:30 Break-out sessions—(Session A)
• Self-Eval Focus - Part 1
• Instructional Paraprofessional Training
• Front Office Staff Strategies

9:50-10:50 Break-out sessions—(Session B)
• Self-Eval Focus – Part 2
• Internet Safety
• Benefit Review
• PowerPoint 101
• Reaching ESL students in the Regular Classroom
• Assistive Technology Showcase for the Special Education Classroom
• Power Teaching
• Alternative School/Help Program
• On-line Resources Showcase
• “We Have a Problem”
• Instructional Paraprofessional Training- (Part II- continuation)
• What teachers need to know about Bullying Prevention

11:00-12:00- Break-out Sessions—(Session C)
• Internet Safety (Repeat)
• Benefit Review (Repeat)
• PowerPoint 201
• How to motivate ESL students in the Regular Classroom
• Lesson Planning and Bloom’s Taxonomy
• Audience Response Systems
• Using Thinklink for Interventions
• Parental Involvement
• On-line Resources Showcase (Repeat)
• Pre-K and Kindergarten Transitions
• Special Education for Regular Teachers
• Math/Science Roundtable

12:00-1:00- Lunch – in the cafeteria

1:15-2:15 - Break-out Sessions—(Session D)
• Internet Safety (Repeat)
• Excel 101
• Email Tips and Tricks
• Legal Issues surrounding ESL students
• Audience Response Systems (Repeat)
• Power Teaching (Repeat)
• Reading Intervention Programs Showcase
• PowerPoint and Literacy Strategies
• Challenging Behavior Part I-Troubled Children (Pre-K-2)
• Special Education for Regular Teachers (Repeat)
• English/Social Studies Roundtable

2:30-3:30 – Break-out Sessions—(Session E)
• Self-Eval- Focus –Part 3- (Final Wrap-Up)
• Internet Safety (Repeat)
• Benefit Review (Repeat)
• Excel 201
• Quality ESL Programs/Instruction -ESL Staff
• Freshman Academy
• Microscope Applications
• iWork 08
• Challenging Behavior –Part II- Troubled Children (Pre-K-2)
• Motivating and Engaging Students in Learning

Session Descriptions:

Alternative School/Help Program – Discussion of the new off-site alternate school program and the Help Programs at AHS and AMS.
Session B Room 209 Target Audience: All
Presenters: Brian Gossett, Joel Kirk, Richard Gamble

Assistive Technology in the Classroom - This session will be based on low to high tech solutions to use for students with various types of special needs. Internet educational activities and software will also be included.
Session B Room 106 Target Audience: Special Ed Staff
Presenter: Jennifer McNally
Audience Response Systems – How to use a set of classroom “clickers” to engage students.
Sessions C, D Room 106 Target Audience: All
Presenters: Lon Fox and Mike Delozier

Benefit Review – A time to review all the benefits available to Alcoa City Schools employees.
Sessions B, C, E Room 202 Target Audience: All
Presenter: Gennie Cardwell

Challenging Behavior – Part I and Part II - Troubled and Troubling Children– TN. Voices for Children presents Part 1 of practical ways to looks at the effects of our responses to children’s challenging behavior
Session D, E Room: 107 Target Audience: All PreK-Grade-2 Staff
Presenter: TN Voices for Children

Email Tips and Tricks – A review of email and how to make it work for you.
Session D Room 212 Target Audience: All
Presenter: Lisa Berry

Excel 101/201 – Basic and intermediate sessions on Excel spreadsheets and how they can be used by the teacher and with students.
Sessions D, E Room 204 Target Audience: All
Presenter: Archer Coppedge, II

Freshman Academy– Learn about the freshman academy and how it is designed to ease the transition between middle school and high school.
Session E Room 215 Target Audience: All
Presenters: Chad Coker, Tonia Gay, Karleen Brooker

Front Office Strategies – A session for principals, assistant principals, secretaries, front office clerks and clerical paraprofessionals. The new front door systems will be discussed as well as other security concerns.
Session A Room 208 Target Audience: See Description
Facilitators: Tom Shamblin and Archer Coppedge, II

How to motivate ESL students in the Regular classroom setting - How teachers can motivate ESL students in all class settings.
Session C Room 109 Target Audience: All
Presenter: Jan Lanier

Instructional Paraprofessional Training – Training for all paraprofessionals directly involved with instruction.
Sessions A&B Room 214 Target Audience – All Instructional paras
Presenter: Donna Ruckart

Internet Safety – Get an update on keeping students safe as they use the rich resources available on the Internet.
Session B, C, D, E Room 104 Target Audience: All
Presenter: Linda Uhrenholt, AT&T

iWork 08 – A look at Apple’s word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software and how it easily works together to create professional materials.
Session E Room 203 Target Audience: All
Presenter: Debbie West

Legal issues surrounding ELL students - Discuss the requirements for quality ESL instruction, state requirements, OCR issues, and the new ESL Policy.
Session D Room 109 Target Audience: All
Presenter: Jan Lanier

Lesson Planning and the Revised Bloom's Taxonomy - This session will focus on using the revised Bloom's taxonomy to plan and evaluate instruction and assessment.
Session C Room 215 Target Audience: All
Presenter: John Campbell

Math/Science and English/Social Studies Standards Roundtables – An opportunity for subject matter teachers to discuss standards across grade levels.
Session C, D Room 208 Target Audience: All
Facilitator: Sharon Faber

Microscope Applications - We will go over the basics of microscope parts, and also show how to project images and preserve them in a digital format.
Session E Room 213 Target Audience: Science Teachers
Presenter: Hardy DeYoung

Motivating and Engaging Students in Learning – In this entertaining session Dr. Sharon Faber will focus on the characteristics of children and the implications of these characteristics on curriculum, teaching, learning, and organization of schools.
Session E Room 208 Target Audience: All
Presenter: Dr. Sharon Faber
On-line Resources Showcase – A review of the on-line resources available to teachers in Alcoa schools.
Session B, C Room 203 Target Audience: All
Presenters: Teresa Sterchi and Debbie West

Parental Involvement – Learn about the resources available to our students through our Family Resource Center.
Session C Room 209 Target Audience: All
Presenter: Judy Rice

PowerPoint 101 - Participants will learn how to create a slide layout, insert clip art/pictures, spell check, print in various layouts, change/edit slide designs, use the notes function of PowerPoint, add custom animation to slides and presentations, work with slide transitions, and animated clip art.
Session B Room 204 Target Audience: All
Presenter: Karleen Brooker

PowerPoint 201 – Topics to be covered include adding color, sound, movies, pictures as background, grouping objects, package to CD, hyperlinks, and finally Jeopardy. We will spend the majority of the session working with a Jeopardy template. Paricipants need to bring 25 questions and answers to use as they create a PowerPoint that can be used in the classroom.
Session C Room 212 Target Audience: Anyone who completes PowerPoint 101 or is an experienced PowerPoint User
Presenter: Sarah Williams

PowerPoint and Literacy Strategies - Learn how to use PowerPoint to give the Literacy Strategies you have been using in your classroom some extra power.
Session D Room 203 Target Audience: All
Presenter: Debbie West

Power Teaching – Power Teaching is a growing worldwide methodology based on extensive brain research that incorporates both instruction and management.
Session A, D Room 100 Target Audience: All
Presenter: Mike Brown

Pre-K and Kindergarten Transitions – TN Voices for Children will present how to promote successful transitions from home or early childhood settings to pre-K and Kindergarten programs. Effective collaboration with families of children with challenging behavior will be addressed.
Session C Room: 107 Target Audience: All Pre-K-Grade 2 staff
Presenter: TN Voices for Children

Quality ELL Programs/Instruction - Discuss the requirements for quality ESL instruction, state requirements, OCR issues, and the new ESL Policy.
Session E Room: 109 Target Audience: All ESL Staff/Admin
Presenter: Jan Lanier

Reaching ESL students in the Regular classroom (even when they cannot speak English) - Modifications in all regular classes for ESL students.
Session B Room 109 Target Audience: All
Presenter: Jan Lanier

Reading Intervention Showcase – A review of the various reading interventions being used in Alcoa City Schools.
Session D Room 209 Target Audience: All
Presenter: Vickie Rodgers

Special Education for Regular Education – This session will provide general education teachers with information regarding special education rules and procedures. General education teachers will learn about how students are identified for special ed services, how IEP’s are developed, and what their role is in this process.
Session C, D Room 214 Target Audience: All
Presenters: Pam Parkinson and Deborah Smith

Using Thinklink probes to provide interventions – How to use ThinkLink results to design individual and sometimes group plans for students, how to set up virtual classes and practice probes, and how then to use the future assessments to adjust areas that the students are focusing on.
Session C Room 209 Target Audience: K-8
Presenter: Lesley Doherty

We Have a Problem – How families and schools can work together on challenging behavior of Pre-K and Early Childhood students
Session B Room: 107 Target Audience: All Pre-K- grade 2 Staff
Presenter: TN Voices for Children

What Teachers Need to Know about Bullying Prevention – Dr. Sharon Faber presents on creating a culture within schools where bullying and the destructive consequences are addressed. Specific prevention and intervention strategies at all grade levels will be addressed.
Session B Room 208 Target Audience: All Staff
Presenter: Sharon Faber