2009 Convention Workshop Schedule

8:30 - 10:30 a.m.

Why be a National Board Certified Teacher?
This dynamic and high-powered presentation from teachers in one of Maryland’s top-ranking counties for National Board Certified Teachers is a blueprint for bolstering participation in the process. National Board Certification has a proven impact on school culture, teacher leadership and student learning environments.

Presenters: Adrienne Henderson-Cole, NBCT, Stacye A. Palmer, NBCT, Michele Johnson, NBCT; Dr. Pamela Shetley

Children of Addicted Parents
More than 28 million Americans are children of alcoholics and/or drug addiction. These children exhibit distinct behavioral and emotional problems. This workshop will present an overview of these problems and suggestions for educators to use in dealing with them. Presenter: Kim A. Henson

Addressing Diversity: Narrowing the Gap
The achievement gap between African American and white students continues to be a troublesome issue. Educators have used the Process Education Model® (PEM) to make impressive gains in reaching more students of all races who exhibit learning and behavioral differences in the classroom. PEM is a dynamic way to identify student strengths and needs, and help classroom teachers individualize instruction and manage behavior. Presenters: Dr. Dianne Bradley, Dr. Carmen White, Lennie Smith

Get Up and Learn Grammar: Applications to Writing
This session walks middle and high school English teachers through an interactive, kinesthetic approach to motivating students to learn grammar. You’ll be competing with colleagues playing interactive games using computers, projectors and whiteboards, and experiencing firsthand the value of this innovative approach to teaching grammar and its application to writing. Presenter: Angela Malicki

How High is Your Self Esteem?
Professional and personal successes are built on healthy self-esteem and awareness. How high is yours? Can it be raised? Take an in-depth look at yourself in a safe environment and discover strategies to strengthen your self-esteem. This workshop is designed to benefit all members. Presenter: Veronica Henderson, M.S.

Sense Meditations for Stress Relief
Who has time to spend hours meditating? On the other hand, who can afford to be stressed out all the time? Learn simple meditations that connect you to your senses, your body, and the moment. Presenter: Lela Simon

I Want to Teach Like My Hair’s on Fire
Ever think about the everyday woes of education—high-stakes testing, undisciplined kids, limited parental involvement, and insufficient budgets—and ask yourself: “Why in the world am I doing this?” Join this interactive workshop in which one teacher shares the books, movies and events that continue to inspire him. Forget about lesson plans, faculty meetings, and parent conferences for a few minutes and nurture your educational muse.
Presenter: Carlton Cartwright, Jr.

Teacher-Friendly Classroom Management Ideas
This innovative and interactive workshop has everything you need for great classroom support: easy behavior management routines, integrated curriculum, hands-on math activities, service projects, and more. Your students will be motivated to self-monitor their learning and behavior through participation in engaging Voluntary State Curriculum activities. Presenter: Pat Krysiak

Down and Dirty Technology for the Classroom
Learn how to use a graphing calculator to reduce fractions, change fractions to decimals, solve a linear equation, graph equations, do statistics and scatterplots, plus use Inspiration and Geometer’s Sketchpad. This session is for all members, but could be especially helpful for special education teachers and teaching assistants. Presenters: Alana Dale Turner, Sandra Stamer

Math is Not a Universal Language!
Join this hands-on session and explore specific challenges that English Language Learners face with number formation, story problems, math vocabulary and native language/cultural influence. Instructional tips, strategies, activities and cultural information will be shared. Extensive resources will be provided for classroom use or professional development. Presenters: Pamela Mesta, NBCT; Olga Reber

Playing with Poetry for Comprehension
Help students understand content materials using cognitive learning and multiple intelligences theories and experience the connection between research and pragmatic practices. Poetry and authentic content material will be used through all three phases of the reading process as participants construct manipulatives and participate in interactive reading and writing activities. This workshop provides creative tools for the beginning teacher to use immediately. Presenters: Dr. Judy Sherman, Carolyn Mehl, Shawn Lees-Carr

Culture of Health
As rising health care costs continue to consume an ever-increasing percentage of school district budgets, many school districts are:

• Making significant changes to control those costs and improve the health, morale and productivity of their employees;
  
  
• Embracing a new culture that focuses on proactive health promotion and disease prevention instead of reactive treatment to sickness;
  
  
• Empowering employees to make better choices and improve behaviors that affect their personal health.

This session will guide you through the necessary steps to create a positive culture of health in your organization. Presenter: Daniel J. Doyle, Regional Vice President, CIGNA Healthcare

Teacher Leaders: Facilitating, Learning and Leading
Participants will engage in a process to identify the components of a well-designed professional learning community plan built around the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Components include an impact on student learning through direct instruction, cohort participation, teacher retention, increased skill level of teaching force, use of reflective teaching, increased teacher leadership capacity, increased data analysis and utilization, and infusion of the architecture of accomplished teaching in daily work. Presenters: Beverly Donovan, NBCT, Felicia Messina-D’Haiti, NBCT

Autism in the School System: Understanding, Diagnosis and Interventions
Participants discuss the clinical features of the autism spectrum disorders, including Autistic Disorder, Asperger Syndrome, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified. You’ll examine some of the early manifestations of the conditions and address the areas of assessment, treatment and intervention. Presenter: Dr. Erica J. Edelman

Taking Charge: English Language Learner Challenges
Emphasis in this workshop is on understanding the “Asset vs. Deficit” theory model by embracing a number of issues related to educational outcomes, including culture, socioeconomic status, language acquisition and language learning differences. Participants will explore and learn about the most recent information on the NEA’s newly established English Language Learner Initiative, including key issues on effective ELL programs and training. All members teaching linguistically diverse learners in ELL communities will discover research-based best teaching strategies, curriculum resources and classroom management techniques. Presenter: Linda Ana Cabral

Tell Me a Story
If they can talk, they can write! Encourage creative writing through the art of oral storytelling. Presentation includes examples from Asian, European and African cultures. Learn to adapt the lesson to multiple content areas, all learning abilities and any grade level. Presenter: Mary Beth Cuddy

Supporting Our Own: ESP Mentoring
A mentoring program can enhance cooperation and teamwork, and increase communication within and across job families. This training is designed to assist Local Associations and/or school districts plan and implement a mentoring program specifically for ESP. Presenter: Wanda L. Newman

Tips for New Teachers
Get your career off to a great start with tips on classroom management and student engagement! Presenters: Vivian M. Cade, Linda A. Civetti

On Your Feet! Learning Through the Arts at D.C. Historic Sites
Join Ford’s Theatre and Tudor Place Historic House to explore Civil War Washington using inquiry-based learning strategies that you can put to use throughout the school year. Educators who participate in this active workshop will come away with strategies for integrating the visual and performing arts into social studies curriculum in order to enhance student understanding and create alternate entry points into history lessons for the active learner. The program also focuses on critical literacy skills that emphasize “reading” objects and performing primary source texts. Presenters: Sarah Jencks, Director of Education, Ford’s Theatre Society; Talia Mosconi, Director of Education, Tudor Place Historic House and Garden

Stopping Bullying Behaviors
Participants will leave with background information about bullying, cyberbullying and sexual harassment in schools; will recognize our responsibilities under laws and policies to stop bullying behaviors; and will learn about the strategies, actions and resources available to them. Presenter: Joann Sebastian Morris

Technology for the Next Top Teacher
Discover easy and innovative ways to incorporate technology into your lessons, including the use of Microsoft Movie Maker and Photostory to enhance your lessons and student presentations. Learn about free applications such as Audacity, Infraview, Imagination Cubed and more. Presenter: Laura J. Brown

The Natural Classroom
Whether your school is an abundant parkland or a paved paradise, the outdoors can serve as an integral tool to foster children’s understanding of nature and science. This presentation will give participants the tools to find nature in everyday settings and will help integrate any outdoor school setting into your curriculum.
Presenter: Lara Rosa

(H.E.L.P.) Hip Hop Educational Literacy Program: Achieving Educational Excellence
Our cultures, learning styles and varied experiences affect the ways we teach and learn. Connecting with students, and valuing what each individual brings to the classroom, are keys to ensuring that all students achieve at high levels. Learn how contextual factors influence educators' instructional decisions and issues of race, ethnicity, culture, social class, and communication styles influence teaching and learning. Participants review and refine curricular and instructional practices for cultural relevance to better meet student needs. Presenters: Gabriel Benn, Sherida Britt Dozier

Long Term Care Insurance—Protect Your Assets
The fact that long-term care expenses are not generally covered by traditional health insurance or Medicare makes this a necessary topic for financial planning. Participants will learn about the financial risks as they pertain to potential long-term care, and how a properly structured long-term care insurance program can help alleviate those risks. Examples of policy design and how premium can be affected by age and health will be given. This will be the time for participants to receive the information they need to begin making informed decisions about long-term care insurance and to ask questions.
Presenter: Michael Markowitz

Transforming School Culture and
Impacting Student Achievement
Positive school climate and culture can be elusive for principals and school leaders to attain. In this interactive session, learn practical and proven strategies to positively impact school climate and school culture. Participants will also learn ways to diagnose and gather information related to your improvement efforts along the way. Participants will leave with strategies and tools that can immediately be implemented in their site or district. Presenters: Dr. John Eller, Sheila Eller

Classroom Management and the ADD/ADHD Child
Setting the stage for success and advocating for the ADD child is the responsibility of all educators, not just the special education teacher. What approaches work? How can we translate successful approaches into valued and authentic teacher practices? How do we advocate for the ADD child when at an IEP Team meeting? What should be the physical structure of the classroom? How can we use positive reinforcement to build confidence? What instructional approaches work best with ADD children? How can we make instruction motivating for the ADD child? How can we advocate for the needs of the ADD child and their family? Presenters: Dr. Gregory W. Bryant, Dr. Brenda Rainwater

Teaching for Multiple Intelligences
Do you often feel your students are not exposed to enough social studies and science topics? Does your curriculum leave little room for creative learning experiences? Classroom teachers will be introduced to a new concept in comprehensive team teaching. Presenters will review the importance of integrated learning experiences that address the multiple intelligences and social development through cooperative learning. All participants will receive a packet containing all lesson plans and associated instructional materials. Presenters will guide teachers through an experience of a typical day of these learning experiences. These lessons are easily adaptable for different grade levels, to challenge gifted and talented students and engage special needs and English language learners. This program was featured on Montgomery County Public School’s Instructional TV. Presenters: Jacqueline L. Sherry, Stacy A. Watkins

Effective Fluency: Know Your Focus
The link between fluency and comprehension is well established. After struggling readers have mastered certain or all decoding skills, they may need explicit instruction and ample practice to develop fluency. This workshop focuses on how to determine when a student needs, and is ready for, fluency instruction. Presenter: Michael Hunter

Effective Behavior Management by Paras, for Paras
Paras are critical partners in helping to set the stage for a school climate that is conducive to learning. In this session, two experienced paraprofessionals will teach you proactive strategies for behavior management. You will be provided with effective techniques to use when responding to disruptive behavior. You will explore the difference between behavior management and discipline. Participants will have a chance to practice several surface management strategies that will help them build positive relationships with their students. Presenters: Ruth Musicante, Elizabeth Povtak

Parent Teacher Conferences
Join this interactive workshop where participants reflect on effective, research-based parent/teacher conferencing and communication strategies. Plan to discuss key factors such as effective use of time, selection/communication of essential student information, establishment/maintenance of a positive climate with families, ways to deal with potentially difficult conferences, and enhancement of parent involvement/support during and following conferences. Plan to share, reflect and create a personal action plan based on the workshop strategies. Presenter: Rosemary Garr

Ethics, Education and Aesthetic Realism
What is the purpose of education? Can we teach so our students meet standards, pass statewide exams and take ethics seriously? The Aesthetic Realism Teaching Method says, yes! For more than 30 years, teachers using this method in some of the toughest, most economically hard-hit areas of New York City have enabled students to learn successfully, meet rigorous academic standards and become kinder, more just individuals. Using diverse subjects, the presenters will demonstrate this kind, greatly effective teaching method and how ethics is gracefully and inextricably related in each lesson.
Presenters: Rosemary Plumstead, Christopher Balchin

Definitely NOT “My Way or the Highway”!
This session explores teaching strategies to help motivate students. Focus will be on biology and ICP concepts, but can easily pertain to any content area. Expect multimedia ideas, giveaways, and strategies to help motivate students to work more diligently on improving their writing, work habits, and HSA scores. Presenter: Shelley Miller, NBCT

Cool Tools for Schools: MPT’s Thinkport
Take an in-depth look at the many exciting ways Thinkport.org, Maryland’s K-12 super website, can be used for integrating technology into classroom instruction. Explore Thinkport’s rich collection of free multimedia content including original online field trips, video clips, high quality lessons, and much more. Discover Thinkport’s innovative suite of tools to see how your students can create timelines, design patterns, annotate text and build their very own museum exhibit. Presenter: Debbie Vickers, MPT Director of Educational Services

STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering and
Math in the Middle School
Join us for a fun, exciting, hands-on approach to middle school STEM education. Participants work in teams, led by science and math teachers in their second year of team teaching in the sixth grade STEM academy in St. Mary's County. Teams complete a quick and easy engineering challenge during the session, taking away ideas for implementing the engineering design process and ways to connect to both the science and math MD VSC. Presenters: Nathan Swick, Tamarah Dishman

Creating a Brain-Friendly Classroom
This workshop will assist teachers in creating a brain-friendly classroom by learning important brain facts and how to teach smart, teach to the different learning styles and provide students with a safe environment in their classrooms. Teachers will leave with a collection of strategies to use immediately in their classrooms.
Presenter: Beth Thorsen

Mentors as Leaders
Learn mentor skills that incorporate data collection methods, simulate real-life mentoring in a complex situation, and examine the tenets of diversity to support new teachers as they proceed to close the achievement gap. Presenters: Joan Mory, NBCT, Gail Epps

School Community Supporting Students with Autism
The purpose of the presentation is to provide information about autism as well as some of the tools and strategies that may result in more positive interactions for all members of a school community. Learners with autism may have some additional challenges in the school environment, but with the support of the school community—the teachers, administrators, aides, office staff, bus drivers, nurses, custodians, peers and parents—students with autism can make great strides and become valued members of a student body.
This presentation is intended to be a support for the general education and administrative school staff who interact with students with autism in various capacities. Presenters: Dr. Peter Faustino, Lisa Goring

It’s Not Just Good Teaching:
Cultural Competence for Educators
Would you like to expand your effectiveness with culturally diverse students? Are you ready to increase your ability to help new educators build their skills in this area? The content and activities of this interactive session will promote cultural self-awareness, identify culturally relevant practices, and explore culturally appropriate curriculum. Participants will come away with a deeper appreciation and practical strategies for creating classroom and school environments that value the diverse cultures of their students and promote academic achievement. Presenter: Dr. Denise Alston

How Do Struggling Readers Feel?
Participate in three activities that help teachers understand how struggling readers might feel, and learn why it is never the case that struggling readers “don’t want to learn”. The activities focus on breaking habits, fluency, and decoding. Leave the workshop with detailed directions on how to use the activities with teachers, and a renewed vigor to effectively teach every student, including those who may appear reluctant to learn. Presenter: Michael Hunter

Power Partners: Building a Winning Team – Teacher and Paraprofessional
What does it take to build a great relationship? It takes Power Partners! Power Partners is a highly interactive workshop filled with ideas that will help you build a stronger, more effective relationship with the educator(s) in your classroom. Learn how to:

• Strengthen collaboration

• Increase communication skills

• Avoid pitfalls

• Collaborate with other paras in your building

• Support instructional programs in your classroom

Presenters: Linda Bowlsbey, Sarah Mester

Conflict Resolution Skills for
the Secondary Classroom
Teachers occasionally face sudden and dramatic conflict situations in the classroom that disrupt their planned instruction and established routine. Learn three conflict resolutions skills—Fogging, Active/ Focus Listening and I-Messages—to respond to classroom situations that challenge even the most effective teachers. Presenter: Cheryl Bobbitt

Putting the Movement Back into
Civil Rights Teaching
The story of one of the most important social movements in this country, the Civil Rights Movement, has been reduced to Martin Luther King Jr. “having a dream” and Rosa Parks single-handedly desegregating buses. Instead of being inspired to take action and learning from history, students of all levels are fed a trivial pursuit list of names and dates. In this interactive workshop, participants will learn about the civic implications of the traditional narrative and about the dynamic people’s history of the movement. Presenter: Dr. Jenice L. View

Creative Strategies to Reach Urban Youth
The achievement gap continues to be a troublesome issue. Educators have used the Process Education Model® (PEM) to make impressive gains in reaching more students of all races who exhibit learning and behavioral differences in the classroom. PEM is a dynamic way to identify student strengths and needs, and help classroom teachers individualize instruction and manage behavior. Presenters: Dr. Carmen White, Lennie Smith

Using Wikispace in the Classroom
Use Wikispace technology to facilitate online student discussions in your classroom! Inspire students to become global learners, able to participate democratically in an ever-changing post 9/11 technology proficient, geopolitical scene! This session provides ideas for implementing Wikispace webpage technology into classroom for student discussion, evaluations, and extensions pertaining to any content area. The sample use of such technology exemplifies teaching a parallel curriculum unit with inquiry- and concept-based discussions about Afghanistan and Khalid Hosseini’s The Kite Runner. Presenters: Brianna Creed, Ann Bailey

Biodiversity and Instructional Diversity
Biodiversity studies open up a new world for making connections between classroom concepts and field applications for both students and teachers. Connections between multiple content areas make this an ideal platform for interdisciplinary instruction and strengthening skills related to STEM. During the workshop participants will learn about and participate in:

• The basics of biodiversity study

• Taking concepts into the field

• Using MD Sea Grant online resources as an aid to instruction

• Instructional diversity

Presenter: Jackie Takacs

Putting the Arts Back into Middle School Teaching
Don’t miss this thrilling, interactive opportunity to experience how one group of middle school teachers is reaching their students by integrating the arts with other content areas!  Follow the group’s journey to make learning more engaging as they share exemplary lessons and student products that demonstrate the power of integrating the arts (visual arts, drama, dance/movement, and music) into content area (math, science, social studies, and language arts) curriculum. Although the session will focus on lessons for middle school students, the materials and experiences can be easily adapted to elementary and high school classes. Presenter: TBD

8:30 - 10:30 a.m.

Professional Development that Works
If the terms “staff development” and “in-service” make you cringe, discover how one school made a change. You'll learn what the research says about quality professional development and what recommendations the state has made in response, plus how to overcome resistance and implement a successful, quality program of professional development in your school. Learn why and how one county is moving to tie professional development to teacher evaluations.
Presenters: Deborah Carter, NBCT; Darren Hornbeck, Joanne Freimuth

Closing the Gap – Team Decision-Making
for the Special Education Teacher
This workshop focuses on team decision-making and collaboration in special education in Language Arts. Expect new strategies for involving the whole school team, including special educators, speech/language pathologists, classroom teachers, instructional assistants, administrators and intervention teachers. Data collection and decision-making procedures and instructional strategies will also be shared. Presenter: Cassandra Day-Kells

Overview of Islam
Educators in the public school systems now include the Islamic culture as part of their social studies, world history or humanities curriculum. However, many teachers are not equipped to teach this subject area due to insufficient or incorrect information found in outdated textbooks. The session will be informative, interactive, and hands-on. Each participant will receive a folder with general information on the Islamic Culture along with ideas for the classroom. Participants will leave the session with a new understanding of Islam and know where to look for authentic resources and information on Islam and Muslims. Presenter: Farhana Shah

DIBELS in Daily Elementary School Instruction:
A Make and Take Session
At Catonsville Elementary School in Baltimore County, Maryland, we have been using Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) for five years. For primary inclusion resource specialists, one of the responsibilities is to integrate early literacy tools into the state mandated curriculum. This workshop will present the findings and encouraging results for both general education students as well as the students who have been identified with learning issues. Presenter: Dr. Deborah S. Cohen

Optimizing the Paraprofessional
This workshop will examine the emerging role, responsibilities, and contributions of the paraeducator given changing demands and present practical strategies for optimizing the paraeducator. Strategies for optimizing individualized paraeducator skill set attributes and creating a culture of respect will be discussed. Presenter: Sally Murek

Coping with Difficult People
There are seven recognized categories of “difficult personalities.” How does a person survive dealing with one, let alone seven? Participants will be made aware of the various categories and offered some practical and realistic techniques to help them cope with and survive interacting with these “problem” individuals on a day-to-day basis. A sense of humor and some give-and-take are pre-requisites for this workshop designed to benefit all members. Presenter: Veronica Henderson, M.S.

Classroom Bias: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
This workshop addresses gender issues, the evolution of multiculturalism, bias in the classroom, and the unfinished equity agenda. Bring research to life by analyzing and identifying examples of bias across race, class, ethnicity and gender. You'll also review the continuing cost of bias, including the current gender gap in standardized test scores, self-esteem measures, academic enrollment patterns, career choices and pay differences. Presenter: Phyllis Lerner

Handling Common Behavioral Problems
The workshop is based on the manual, “SOS Help for Parents.” Learn the best methods for handling more than 46 different behavior problems in children ages 2-12. Presenter: Carmen Johnston

My Voice, Your Voice, Our Voices on Voice Thread
Web 2.0 Tool, Voice Thread, allows teachers to combine subject content and what students love most—communicating on the web—to update and enhance class participation. Teachers create a secure web page thread, give students access, monitor student comments, release student comments to be shared, and the rest is magic. Students can communicate with each other outside the classroom and school! Presenter: Laura Jeanette Brown

Rhyming to Respect
This musical, informative, dazzling and innovative workshop will examine the cultural history of youth with an emphasis on at-risk males. The audience will discover communication and instructional strategies, cultural understanding, and self-development techniques. This innovative training seminar is designed to motivate students and staff to sprinkle dignity and character into the classroom climate. Music, rhythm, rhymes, chants, and group interaction are incorporated throughout the entire session. Participants will leave with a full course of ideas they can implement immediately. Presenter: William “Flip” Clay

Legal Issues
[description not yet submitted] 
Presenter: Damon Felton

Working with the Most Challenging SPED Students
[description not yet submitted] 
Presenter: Erskine Moss

Fluency: It’s More than Reading Fast
This workshop provides participants with hands-on practical strategies to understand, assess and instruct students in reading fluency and the impact it has on reading comprehension and student achievement. Also on the agenda: Research-based strategies to assist students in developing reading fluency. Presenter: Cassandra Day-Kells

Celebrate the Diversity of Humanity
Become more aware of diversity issues and how they affect you and your students by providing students with opportunities for awareness, tolerance, understanding and growth. This lecture and interactive workshop focuses on various components of diversity (age, gender, race, religion, social status, disability, and orientation), and provides activities to promote personal and group progress. Presenter: Terry Kelly

Get Up and Learn Grammar
This session will walk middle and high school teachers through an interactive, kinesthetic approach to motivating students to get up and learn English grammar. We will include scaffolding, differentiated lessons that actively engage students in what they typically perceive as a mundane topic, and demonstrate games using a computer, LCD projector, whiteboard, and magnetic/vinyl parts of speech cards and markers. The audience will be on their feet and engaged in fun competitions with their colleagues while experiencing the value of an innovative approach to teaching grammar and its application to writing. Teachers and special educators will walk away with a plethora of applicable lessons and activities. Presenter: Angela Malicki