"The more children know about a subject, the easier they'll find it to read and understand a passage about that topic. It's a simple idea that's backed up by research: Studies have shown that students who score higher on tests of general knowledge are also comprehend more of what they read." (Ed Week)

This two day workshop will explore the role that background knowledge plays in reading proficiency. Beyond learning the research behind background knowledge, participants will learn strategies and approaches to augment the knowledge that students bring to the reading process.

REGISTRATION: 8-8:30 a.m. ~ SESSION: 8:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

This one-day training offers an overview of adolescent literacy instruction for students in grades 5-12 in all subject areas. It builds the background knowledge of middle and high school teachers about how students learn to read, best practices for teaching content reading and writing skills, and why some older students have difficulty.

The training covers these topics:
Reading & Writing Basics for Grades 5-12- What is adolescent literacy? What does the research say? Development of reading and writing.

Content Literacy for All Students- What is content literacy? Suggestions for teaching academic vocabulary. Suggestions for teaching comprehension strategies. Overview of content writing. What is disciplinary literacy? Motivation and engagement, Overview of Support and Interventions for Students Having Difficulty.

Causes of difficulty in older students: Dyslexia, executive functions, English as a second language. How word study, vocabulary, comprehension and writing are affected.

REGISTRATION: 8-8:30 a.m. ~ SESSION: 8:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Agenda: Introductions and Check-in; Updates; Round Table Discussion

This workshop is aimed at educators looking to integrate virtual reality (VR) into their classrooms. This session offers a clear introduction to creating immersive VR experiences that can both engage and educate students. Participants will learn to navigate CoSpaces Edu, develop engaging lesson plans, and design student projects that utilize VR technology to enhance classroom learning.

This one-day workshop, is designed to provide participants with an understanding of the roots and evolution of passive aggressive behavior and also provide strategies for dealing with that behavior. Although not blatantly acting out or aggressive, individuals who exhibit passive aggressive behavior can be among the most perplexing and frustrating type of children and adults to work with. Their mild, yet persistent, nudging at the rules has a cumulative effect and their actions wear away at people. This workshop is applicable for anyone working with children or adults who exhibit this behavior pattern..

REGISTRATION: 8-8:30 a.m. ~ SESSION: 8:30 a.m.-3:00 p.m.

This one-day workshop is designed to help the participants have a clearer picture of the physical and mental aspects that play a significant role in the development of a boy's behaviors, their willingness to follow expectations and their building of relationships. It will help participants discover how factors such as brain development, environment, relationships with family and the "genetic straight jacket" (Pollack 1998) influence the thinking and the responses of boys forming the building blocks of who they become as young men.

REGISTRATION: 8-8:30 a.m. ~ SESSION: 8:30 a.m.-3:00 p.m.

Elementary math teachers agree, the most difficult topic for their students is word problems. In this workshop, we will examine the research into why this is the case, and how certain common strategies undermine student success with word problems. We will learn about bar models, the gold standard in teaching and learning word problems, and we will solve many word problems together. Be sure and bring some of your own, and we will plan lessons for upcoming weeks.

REGISTRATION: 8-8:30 a.m. ~ SESSION: 8:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Research shows that 95% of all students can become proficient readers. Do you want to get your literacy rates up to 95%?

This workshop starts with a core belief vital to student success: Nearly all students can become proficient readers. We will then dive into the requisite skills necessary for a student to become a proficient reader including phonological awareness, letter-sound correspondences, and morphology.

Join us to bring your struggling readers to new heights.

REGISTRATION: 8:00-8:30 a.m. ~ SESSION: 8:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Elementary math teachers agree, the most difficult topic for their students is word problems. In this workshop, we will examine the research into why this is the case, and how certain common strategies undermine student success with word problems. We will learn about bar models, the gold standard in teaching and learning word problems, and we will solve many word problems together. Be sure and bring some of your own, and we will plan lessons for upcoming weeks.

REGISTRATION: 8-8:30 a.m. ~ SESSION: 8:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

The AGENDA will include: A preview of upcoming professional development, discussion regarding district issues with technology apps and needs, the upcoming rollout of the NYS Computer Science and Digital Fluency Learning Standards, and a view and discussion on emerging technology including AI for teachers/schools.

In this workshop, we will focus on the essential content for grades PK, K, and 1 through the lens of the New York State Next Generation Mathematics Learning Standards. We will prioritize the most important topics and explore effective teaching methods and strategies. We will look closely at what we teach as well as how we teach it.

REGISTRATION: 8-8:30 a.m. ~ SESSION: 8:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

The School Library System will hold a full day of professional learning activities at the Educational Services Center for librarians and library staff. Even if you cannot attend all activities, please register for the full day. CTLE credit will be assigned based on the number of hours of attendance. All school librarians and library staff are strongly encouraged to attend!

8:30-11:30am: Professional Development Activities
-Topic TBA
-Book Preview Session
- SSL Conference Takeaways
12:30 - 2:30pm: CC/Liaison Meeting
2:30 - 3:30pm: SLS Council Meeting

ZOOMLINK

In this workshop, we will focus on the essential content for grades 2 and 3 through the lens of the New York State Next Generation Mathematics Learning Standards. We will prioritize the most important topics and explore effective teaching methods and strategies. We will look closely at what we teach as well as how we teach it.

REGISTRATION: 8-8:30 a.m. ~ SESSION: 8:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Networking

Based upon the pivotal piece "Make it Stick" by Peter Brown, Henry Roediger III, and Mark McDaniel.

Everyday we work with the most complex tool and don't think twice about it: our brain. Despite everything that we do as educators surrounding around the brain, it remains one of the greatest mysteries of our species.

This workshop will help to shed light on how our memory system works to get the most from our students' thinking. Additionally, participants will learn strategies for getting curricular items into long term memory stores.

REGISTRATION: 8-8:30 a.m. ~SESSION: 8:30 a.m.-3:00 p.m

What makes for a highly effective elementary classroom? What is the secret sauce that elevates instruction from good to great?

This workshop will delve into a multifaceted approach to making learning engaging and fun for all learners. When utilizing dynamic strategies such as gradual release of responsibility, call backs, cloze techniques, and engaging response methods, participants will walk away with a toolkit that will transform their instruction and student learning outcomes.

REGISTRATION: 8-8:30 a.m. ~ SESSION: 8:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Dr. David Kilpatrick returns to the North Country! During this day of learning, we will explore the phenomenon of compensatory readers and the role of foundational skills in reader development.

REGISTRATION: 8-8:30 a.m. ~ SESSION: 8:30 a.m.-3:00 p.m.

In this must-have follow-up to his landmark best-seller Phonics From A to Z, Wiley Blevins explains why quality decodable texts are an essential early learning tool and how to distinguish the good from the bad. This resource offers practical lessons and routines for using decodable texts to build children's phonics and fluency skills, as well as tips on selecting strong decodable texts and what to do if you don't have any. Includes fun and engaging reproducible decodable mini-books.

Participants must obtain a copy of the book, Choosing and Using Decodable Texts Book Study ISBN # 1338714635.

Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning empowers educators to harness rigorous research on how students learn and unleash it in their classrooms. In this book, cognitive scientist Pooja K. Agarwal, Ph.D., and veteran K1/412 teacher Patrice M. Bain, Ed.S., decipher cognitive science research and illustrate ways to successfully apply the science of learning. This practical resource is filled with evidence-based strategies that are easily implemented in less than a minute.

Research shows these strategies raise student achievement; boost learning for diverse students, grade; levels/subject areas; and enhance students' higher order learning and transfer of knowledge beyond the classroom. Drawing on a fifteen-year scientist-teacher collaboration, more than 100 years of research on learning, and rich experiences from educators in K1/412 and higher education, the authors present highly accessible step-by-step guidance on how to transform teaching with four essential strategies: Retrieval practice, spacing, interleaving, and feedback-driven metacognition.
With Powerful Teaching, you will: Develop a deep understanding of powerful teaching strategies based on the science of learning, gain insight from real-world examples of how evidence-based strategies are being implemented in a variety of academic settings, think critically about your current teaching practices from a research-based perspective, and develop tools to share the science of learning with students and parents, ensuring success inside and outside the classroom.
Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning is an indispensable resource for educators who want to take their instruction to the next level. Equipped with scientific knowledge and evidence-based tools, turn your teaching into powerful teaching and unleash student learning in your classroom.

Participants will need to obtain a copy of Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning ISBN # 111952184X.

Through this book study, we will explore and apply strategies to improve elementary and secondary students' writing at the sentence, paragraph, and essay levels, across all content areas and in literacy support/intervention contexts. Each participant will work on a culminating lesson project that can be implemented in the new school year.

Participants will need to procure their own copy of The Writing Revolution ISBN: 1119364914 and will also need a device with which to connect to the internet to respond to posts.

The Basic Threat Evaluation and Reporting Course (B-TERC) is a one-day training that teaches participants how to help assist in preventing acts of targeted violence, such as, but not limited to, terrorism, school shootings, or mass attacks in public spaces by identifying those threats or observable behaviors that may indicate the potential for violence. Participants are equipped with the tools to identify and report threats or observable behaviors that may concern others, as well as recognize intervention strategies to move individuals off of a pathway to violence.

This training is appropriate for schools looking to establish Threat Assessment Teams, those who have established teams but want a refresher, new members of existing teams, and those just looking to learn about behavioral threat assessment and management to prevent targeted violence.

REGISTRATION: 8-8:30 a.m. ~ SESSION: 8:30 a.m.-3:00 p.m.

UFLI Foundations is an explicit and systematic program that teaches students the foundational skills necessary for proficient reading. It follows a carefully developed scope and sequence designed to ensure that students systematically acquire each skill needed and learn to apply each skill with automaticity and confidence. The program is designed to be used for core instruction in the primary grades or for intervention with struggling students in any grade.

UFLI Foundations strikes the perfect balance between structure and responsiveness to students' needs. The program features ample opportunities for students to practice, along with built-in gradual release. It provides teachers with detailed lesson plans, a PowerPoint slide deck to accompany each lesson, and downloadable materials for homework or center activities.

UFLI Foundations is an example of an educative curriculum. This means that simply using the materials and lesson structure will add to your professional knowledge and skills in key areas: The process of reading acquisition, Key linguistic elements necessary for reading, Evidence-based instructional methods that promote reading proficiency.

The first three registrants will receive a free copy of the UFLI Foundations text!

This session is for school administrators who have previously obtained their lead evaluator certificate. We will review updates to APPR, feedback cycles, evidence collection techniques, and much more!

PREREQUISITE: MUST HAVE ATTENDED INITIAL LEAD TEACHER EVALUATOR TRAINING

Participants should bring a computer/device.

Please join us in person as we welcome Sara Daniel back for a special 3-day DTST event building onto our trauma knowledge toolbelt. DTST members will use their previous knowledge surrounding trauma and district initiatives/goals to update their action plan and their fidelity tool. The 3-day session takes place in-person at SLL BOCES on July 22-24 for a combination of content building and district work sessions. All district DTST teams are welcome to attend.
*Participants in attendance will need to bring acceptable documentation for identification purposes as BOCES will be paying your stipend. Proper identification is required on the day of the workshop for payment. For example, U.S. Passport/Passport Card/Driver's license/School ID card with photograph/Voter's registration card AND Original Birth Certificate/Social Security Account Number card if you have not previously completed this process within the 23-24 school year.

This two-day professional learning workshop will augment your leadership effectiveness through promoting the traits of a successful classroom teacher, the basic characteristics of a school leader, the five central teaching strategies, teaching and reinforcing student behaviors, and tips for staff management systems.

REGISTRATION: 8-8:30 a.m. ~ SESSION: 8:30 a.m.-3:00 p.m.