August 18-20, 2020 -a Free PD Experience for Blended Learning

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

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This school year is dependent more than ever upon our ability to blend face to face (hopefully) and online learning. Whether you have blended, hybrid, or 100% digital instruction, join me for this free online PD conference. I’ll be the closing keynote and discuss “7 Ways to Redefine Reading Instruction with Technology in a Blended Learning Environment.” The full schedule is here. Registration is free and you can register here. Each day will focus on a different topic: reading, writing, and STEM.

Tuesday, August 18, 2020 – Writing

The first day will focus on writing.

Tech Tools and Writing. You’ll learn strategies to help students use technology to support their writing goals with Christopher Bugaj. Just remember that if students are working from home or at a distance, the over the shoulder approach won’t help as much as the “in your browser” approach of some technology tools that can support and help them.

Meaningful Feedback and Digital Tools. Remember that proper feedback is vital to help students improve their writing and often giving that feedback in written form causes students who struggle with writing (and often reading) to struggle even more. Amy Mayer covers these two topics.

Dynamic Reading Experiences. Kasey Bell will cover this as one of the five characteristics of the Dynamic Learning Framework.

Data and Writing Transformation. Joni Degner and Mark Schwartz will show how to use data to improve writing.

Helping Struggling Writers. Stacey Banks and Marc Callahan will give us essential skills we need to help our students at a distance.

Blended Learning. Holly Clark shares the digital tools that will make a difference in our writing practices.

Edtech Differentiation in the Writing Classroom. Shaelynn Farnsworth will help us understand how edtech tools and the learning analytics they provide will help us reach our students (and differentiate.) She’ll have practical, real-world examples for us.

Wednesday, August 19 – STEM

Transitioning to remote and blended learning with STEM. This session will focus on moving math instruction to the digital learning environment with Jason Carroll, Marilu Deal and Dan Lyons.

Math manipulatives and graphing. Taking the tools of the trade online with Louis Shanafelt and Megan Mongelli.

Math, Google, and Projects. One of my fave go-to Googlers (along with Kasey on Day 1), my friend Eric Curts talks about how to use Google tools to teach math online.

STEM Workflows and Digital Math. Louis Shanafelt and Efren Rodriguez help us understand what math looks like in the digital space and how to go “Full STEM Ahead!”

Differentiating Math Instruction. Erica Mark uses the SAMR Model to help us understand how we can move math to best practices for digital learning.

The Four F’s of Blended Learning with my friend Tinashe Blanchet will help us dig into ENGAGING instruction and a framework that helps us do that online and blended.

Engaging Instruction in Math and Science. Louis Shanafelt and Joni Degner will help busy teachers engage students in math and science at a distance.

Equity in the Math Classroom. Jose Vilson will help us understand how all children can learn and advocate for themselves with frameworks, tools, and resources that help – particularly when kids are NOT in the classroom.

Thursday, August 20 – Reading

Early Years –  Reading and Writing. Kindergarten teachers everywhere will find this a must-attend session with Christine Pinto, Jessica Twomey who will help our youngest learn to read as they connect with their teachers digitally.

UDL and Reading Online. Jason Carroll will tackle helping us understand how to use UDL as we help every child become a successful reader.

Learning Loss and the Impact of the COVID-19 on Student Achievement. As teachers grapple with learning loss, this session will discuss some tools to measure the loss and measure student progress over this school year as we work to help students achieve and succeed with Martin McKay.

Focusing on students as readers not numbers (don’t dwell on ‘learning loss’) Jim Monti and Jason Carroll talk about having progress from WHERE WE ARE.

Tools and Strategies. Kimberly Nix will share electronic literacy tools, how they function and how students can use them for support.

Struggling Readers in a Blended Learning Environment. Michele Haiken will give us more tools in our digital literacy toolbox and give us ways to support all readers in our classrooms.

Closing the Gap. Diana Petschauer will share a wide variety of tools to help us close the gaps in reading with our students.

Then, I’ll cover 7 Ways to Redefine Reading Instruction with Technology in a Blended Learning Environment.

Distance learning and blended learning can be frustrating if a teacher only substitutes technology for what they are doing in the classroom. The online and blended classroom should redefine how we teach. Learn seven (7) principles to help you redefine how you teach reading (and every other topic) now and in the future. These timeless principles of teaching are especially important as we help our students learn how to personalize their learning, use multiple modalities and build relationships with their teachers and each other.

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