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

REGISTER HERE

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.

REGISTER HERE

Webinars

Content provided by: 5 Steps to Building an At-Risk Student Model It is important for school districts to create and implement "On-Track Early Warning Systems" in order to identify students that are at risk for academic failure, disengagement, and mental health concerns. Through the systematic use of data, educators can promote more effective prevention and intervention services, while better understanding the root causes of these student issues. In this webinar, we will address the importance of implementing an "On-Track Early Warning System." We will also take a deep look into what a comprehensive "Early Warning System" looks like, including how data is most effectively used to build one. Also included will be an exploration of the following: Research-based methodologies and measures for identifying at-risk students A step-by-step process to create and implement an Early Warning System Existing models in use today, reviewing the most predictive indicators and cut points. Guest: Chris Balow, Ph.D., director of professional development, Illuminate Education Dr. Balow has been involved in education for over 30 years with former roles including district administrator of research & assessment, district RTI coordinator, district lead school psychologist, and university adjunct lecturer. His areas of expertise include assessment design, MTSS/RTI, student academic, and behavioral and social/emotional interventions. This webinar will be moderated by Jim Yang, senior director of marketing, Illuminate Education REGISTER HERE Content provided by: The Power of Data and Digital Resources: Boosting Science Achievement Through Informed Instruction What role can digital resources play in driving engagement, authentic understanding, and incremental gains in K-12 science? Join this conversation between education leaders as they reveal how digital resources have been a key driver in their summative and formative assessment efforts. Barb Reinert from Scottsdale Unified School District, Ariz., will share how her team has garnered widespread science gains by helping educators prepare students for state assessments using a targeted collected of digital resources. Luis Solano from Collier County Public Schools, Fla., will explain how his educators are using technology enhanced tools in classrooms to maximize formative assessment efforts and provide students with a relevant and engaging learning experience. Guests: Barbara Reinert, curriculum science specialist, PreK-12, Scottsdale Unified School District, Ariz. Luis Solano, associate superintendent, curriculum & instruction, Collier County Public Schools, Fla. This webinar will be moderated by Amy Gensemer, director of science curriculum, Discovery Education REGISTER HERE

National Autism Awareness Month

Autism Society website

Autism Speaks website

National Autism Association website

Autism Services & Resources Connecticut website

National Math Month!

FROM NEA:

Math Awareness Month

2016 Theme: The Future of Prediction

The theme for Math Awareness Month 2016 is The Future Of Prediction. Explore how mathematics and statistics are the future of prediction.

Resources for:

• Grades K-5
• Grades 6-8
• Grades 9-12

Also check out these sites:

http://www.ams.org/samplings/math-awareness-month/mam

http://www.mathaware.org/index.html

Celebrate National Library Week

Celebrate National Library Week 2016 (April 10-16) with the theme "Libraries Transform"

Follow along during
National Library Week

#NLW16

#LibrariesTransform

Twitter

Facebook

Flickr

Visit ilovelibraries.org

The 2016 National Library Week theme is Libraries Transform, and Gene Luen Yang will serve as Honorary Chair.

Gene Luen Yang is an award-winning graphic novelist and the 2016-2017 National Ambassador for
Young People’s Literature. His 2006 book, "American Born Chinese," was the first graphic novel to be a
finalist for a National Book Award and the first to win the American Library Association’s Printz Award.
It also won an Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album. Learn more at geneyang.com.

First sponsored in 1958, National Library Week is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country each April. It is a time to celebrate the contributions of our nation's libraries and librarians and to promote library use and support. All types of libraries - school, public, academic and special - participate.

Celebrations during National Library Week include:

• Monday, April 11: State of America's Libraries Report released, including Top Ten Frequently Challenged Books of 2015.
• Tuesday, April 12: National Library Workers Day, a day for library staff, users, administrators and Friends groups to recognize the valuable contributions made by all library workers.
• Wednesday, April 13: National Bookmobile Day, a day to recognize the contributions of our nation's bookmobiles and the dedicated professionals who make quality bookmobile outreach possible in their communities.

Library Week

Library Week is April 10-16, and it's the perfect time to teach your students the proper way to use the library. We have everything you need to teach about the Dewey Decimal System, ways to use dictionaries and encyclopedias, and research projects.

Library Resources

School Climate Resources

Department of Education Releases Resources on Improving School Climate

Free, First-of-Their-Kind Tools Will Support Enhanced Learning Environments for all Students

The U.S Department of Education today released new school climate surveys and a quick guide on making school climate improvements to help foster and sustain safe and supportive environments that are conducive to learning for all students.

The ED School Climate Surveys (surveys) and the Quick Guide on Making School Climate Improvements will enable states, local school districts, and individual schools to collect and act on reliable, nationally-validated school climate data in real-time. These new free and adaptable resources will enable educators, administrators, and school system leaders to understand and create environments where every child can be successful.

“All students deserve schools that work to ensure safe and supportive school climates in which they can reach their full potential,” said James Cole Jr., General Counsel, Delegated the Duties of Deputy Secretary of Education. “These new surveys and quick guide will support any school that seeks to make significant improvements in all students’ safety and sense of respect and connectedness at school. We owe it to our children to ensure that school is not only safe and engaging, but that we are also working to continuously improve school climate by using resources like these.”

Research shows that students learn best when they are in environments in which they feel safe, supported, challenged, and accepted. Positive school climates foster trust, respect, communication and cooperation among students, school staff, parents and the community at-large. By improving school climate, schools lay the foundation for improving daily school attendance and high achievement by all students.

These new resources build on two Administration initiatives: President Obama’s Now is the Time Plan, and his My Brother’s Keeper Taskforce, which recommended that the Department work on the issue of school climates. As part of Now is the Time, the Department announced efforts to place a high priority on helping schools create safer and more nurturing school climates. One result was that the Department funded its National Center for Education Statistics to develop the surveys to create a school climate measurement platform in coordination with the Office of Safe and Healthy Students.

The new school climate surveys, which are on a web-based platform, are designed for middle and high school students, instructional staff, non-instructional staff, and parents and guardians. Moreover, the platform can process real-time data and provide user-friendly reports. Education agencies and schools administering the survey can store school climate survey data on their state, local, or school-based data systems. The federal government is planning to conduct a sample-based study using the surveys for benchmarking but will not collect or store data generated by the schools using the surveys for any other purposes.

In addition to the Quick Guide, a series of tools will be released later this this spring and summer as part of the School Climate Improvement Resource Package, a web-based suite of action-oriented, research and evidence-based resources to help create and support positive school climates.

Questions? Contact Us