Two more Webinars!

	APRIL 21  |  1:00 PM CT  |  60 MINUTES

Formative assessment is a critical piece of teaching that enables educators to have a deeper understanding of students’ learning, helping identify their strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement. When used effectively, formative assessment techniques and data can also provide immediate and accurate feedback to the learner, shifting the mindset of the student and allowing the student to measure, monitor, and manage their own learning.

However, implementing formative assessment practices and analyzing the results can be overwhelming, challenging, and time intensive. Among the challenges are finding time to effectively re-teach to students who did not demonstrate mastery, developing differentiated instruction, and providing real-time feedback to students. 

Join us for a complimentary webinar featuring Linda Foote, Digital Learning Specialist at Poway Unified School District in San Diego, CA, and Pete Gonzalez, Regional Manager at NWEA™, to learn:

• The meaning and purpose of formative assessment – what it is and why it is important
• Successful, teacher-proven strategies from Poway Unified School District on how to shift the mindset of both learners and educators to be growth-focused
• Techniques to engage and motivate students to become learners who are active participants in their own education
• Tools that can help educators save time and automatically deliver individualized learning paths for students based on assessment data

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Overview

Title: "From STEM to STEAM & how to bring it to your school," presented by littleBits

Date: Thursday, April 28, 2016

Time: 02:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time

Duration: 1 hour

Summary

How do educators prepare students for jobs that don’t even exist yet? Now more than ever, it is important that students engage in STEAM learning in order to be ready for what is around the corner. STEAM – adding Arts to STEM – provides a full 360-degree approach to 21st-century learning.

This webinar will give you the inspiration to start your own STEAM learning initiative in your school or district as well as the necessary tips, tricks, and tools for implementing a successful program.

You’ll hear from educators such as Helen Mowers and Anna Adam from Killeen ISD in Texas. Find out how STEAM permeates the entire curriculum and how tools such as littleBits get students inventing and reimagining the world around them.

Speakers

Ayah Bdeir, Founder & CEO, littleBits

Ayah Bdeir is the founder and CEO of littleBits, an award-winning platform of easy-to-use electronic building blocks that is empowering everyone to create inventions, large and small. Bdeir is an engineer, interactive artist and one of the leaders of the open source hardware movement. Bdeir’s career and education have centered on advancing open source hardware to make education and innovation more accessible to people around the world. She is a co-founder of the Open Hardware Summit, a TED Senior Fellow and an alumna of the MIT Media Lab.

Anna Adam and Helen Mowers, Founders, Tech Chick Tips

 

Anna Adam and Helen Mowers are the creators of Tech Chick Tips, a podcast with tips for educators about using technology in instruction to engage students. Both work in Central Texas at Killeen Independent School District. Anna has served for the last 18 years as a campus instructional technologist and district-level Digital Learning Specialist. Helen’s 22 years of experience include being a science teacher, instructional technologist, professional developer, and most recently as the Executive Director for Technology Services. Anna is the proud wife of one and mom to three digital kids, ages 16, 14 and 12, and Helen is proud auntie to two digi-nieces, ages 9 and 6 years! Helen and Anna are Apple Distinguished Educators, Google gurus, and addicted to cool gadgets, blogs, podcasts, and social media. The Chicks have presented at numerous state, national, and international events and conferences, including TCEA, TxLA, ISTE, and Bermuda Union of Teachers. You can find them online at Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter as @techchick94 and @betterannamac. They can often be found surfing the web at all hours of the day and night looking for new tips and tools that can engage students and teachers! 

By registering for this webinar, you are agreeing that SmartBrief may share your registration information with sponsor of this event and that you agree to receive future messages from the sponsor.

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Webinars

Closing Math Learning Gaps with Data & Formative Assessment

When combining digital curriculum that provides formative assessment data with everyday instructional practices, educators are equipped to address math learning gaps in real-time.  Join Kristine Tipton, Innovation Coach at DeKalb County Central United School District, Ind., as she shares how she's been able to use digital curriculum like DreamBox Learning Math to support deeper learning at her schools.

This interactive discussion includes:

• Creating a personalized learning environment to enhance instructional practice 
• Leveraging formative assessment data to close math learning gaps

Guest:

Kristine Tipton, innovation coach, DeKalb County Central United school district, Ind/

This webinar will be moderated by Joe Trahan, curriculum designer, DreamBox Learning.

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 Formative Assessment:  Balancing grading and a focus on improvement

Many experts say that tasks used for formative assessment should not be graded.  Formative assessment is about gauging progress toward a learning goal, giving feedback, and working with students to fill in the gaps.  Grading can complicate that process, they argue.

But drawing a line between formative assessment and grading can be tough in the classroom setting.  Teachers may get pressure from parents and the district to give grades on student work.  And some students may be more likely to complete tasks when they're scored.  In this webinar, an education research professor and an English teacher will discuss why many people say formative assessments and grades shouldn't mix, and what teachers can do to get around that.

Guests:

Lorrie Shepard, dean and distinguished professor of research and evaluation methodology, the University of Colorado Boulder

Scott Filkins, English teacher at Central High School in Champaign, Ill., and member of the National Council of Teachers of English Task Force on Assessment

This webinar will be moderated by Liana Heitin, assistant editor, Education Week.

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Assessment includes a wide variety of methods that educators use to evaluate, measure, and document the academic readiness, learning progress, and skill acquisition of students. But testing alone does nothing. Join us as we welcome special guest Nancy W. Sindelar, Ph.D,  teacher, consultant, and author of Assessment Powered Teaching and Using Test Data for Student Achievement to learn strategies for teachers and administrators to gather and use student test data to enhance student learning and close achievement gaps. During the webinar, Dr. Sindelar will cover: The meaning and purpose of different assessment types and how they complement one another How high performing schools use formative and summative assessments to make sound instructional decisions Strategies to take back to the classroom, including using data to provide effective feedback and motivate students with the results of their learning Tips on implementing peer tutoring based on assessment results

Two webinars for next week

 

The Rise of Kindergarten-Readiness Testing All 3,500 kindergarten teachers in Maryland are using a new readiness assessment this year that rests on teachers' observations of children's work and play to build a detailed picture of what they need as they begin the school year. Maryland's work reflects a national surge of activity in kindergarten-readiness testing. In this webinar, you'll hear early-childhood experts discuss the promise—and the risks—of kindergarten testing. Underwriting for the content of this webinar is provided by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Guests: Stephanie Feeney, professor emerita of education, University of Hawaii, Manoa, and adjunct professor, Graduate School of Education, Portland State University Judith Walker, chief of the Early Learning Branch, Division of Early-Childhood Development, Maryland Department of Education This webinar will be moderated by Catherine Gewertz, associate editor, Education Week

Register now for this free live webinar.

 

Sponsored by: Personalized Learning: Turning Lofty Aspirations Into Specific District Policy "Personalized learning" seems to be everywhere these days—in the instructional goals set by school districts, in state and federal policy, and in the promises made by educational technology companies trying to do business with schools. In recent years, school officials have sought clarity on what real personalized learning looks like—in the hope that the guidance will provide more specific and useful information to the K-12 community. This webinar will examine what a growing number of school and technology advocates have identified as the core elements of personalized learning. They see the foundation of personalized learning encompassing not only instruction tailored to individual students' needs, but also a rethinking of the overall learning environment in schools. Our guests will examine the core elements of personalized learning, and present examples of what it looks like in a district trying to better meet students' academic needs. Guests: Andrew Calkins, deputy director, Next Generation Learning Challenges Theresa Ewald, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning, Kettle Moraine School District, Wis. This webinar will be moderated by Sean Cavanagh, associate editor, Education Week Register now for this free live webinar.