Friday Morning Workshops - $35

Friday, November 5, 2010
7:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.

CW102
Think Different: Creativity and Problem Solving Skills In Your Classroom
Howie DiBlasi
What is critical thinking? Why teach it? How can we teach it effectively? Everything you ever wanted to know about creativity, problem solving, and critical thinking will be explored in this session. Both critical and creative thinking skills will be investigated. Develop a variety of original lessons on the creative process and learn how to structure creative problem solving lessons. Session is for all grade levels. Fifteen projects will be evaluated and explored.

CW201
Shake, Rattle, and Roll: Motivating the Middle School Student
Kim Campbell
Looking or a little "spice" to fire up your students? Want quick, easy activities to engage your students? If so, join me and learn hands-on activities and strategies to motivate your middle grades students. You will leave with tons of activities you can implement in your classroom immediately.

CW202
Understanding the Adolescent Brain
Julia Crotty
This session will address the unique characteristics of the adolescent brain. Current research findings will be shared as well as the types of experiences that are most beneficial for optimal brain development during this often tumultuous time for young adults, their parents, and the educators who serve them. Specifically, information will be shared about the adolescent brain's still-developing frontal lobes, emotional system, myelination patterns and exuberance, and the age-specific characteristics of working memory.

CW203
Closing the Achievement Gap in the Middle School Classroom
Mark Forget
This highly interactive workshop will involve the participants in proven classroom activities that scaffold all students to be able to read at grade level and to perform higher-order thinking about subject matter, leading to deeper understanding and long-term retention.

CW204 - Cancelled
Homework Strategies for Special Needs Students
Cathy Vatterott

CW205
The Flexible Schedule: A Key to Addressing Interventions and Achievement
Elliot Merenbloom
This session highlights the way a flexible middle school schedule addresses intervention and provides opportunities to raise student achievement. Topics include achievement of the school's mission, establishment of premises of RTI (response to intervention), definition of flexibility, conditions essential for flexibility, steps in building a flexible schedule, managing a flexible schedule, research on teaching in variable length time periods, the connection between flexibility and RTI, and a system to assess flexibility.