NESA 2023 Educators Training Institute Sessions

The Next Generation / AERO Science Standards: From Standards to Storyline & Assessment | During our two days together we will alternate between wearing our student hats and working to understand our standards and develop storylines and assessment. Putting our student hats on will allow us to understand better the reasons for some of the conceptual and pedagogical shifts put forward in this new vision for science education and also to experience three dimensional learning. While we will not leave with fully developed storylines or assessments, we should be able to get phenomena and scenarios in place that will serve us well as we engage with our students in our classrooms. This workshop will aim to attend to those relatively new to these standards and as well those who have been working for a few years to bring these ideas to their young learners.

The Next Generation / AERO Science Standards: From Standards to Storyline & Assessment | The goal of formative assessment is to improve teaching and learning. It is a powerful tool that when used correctly enhances student achievement, improves instruction, and builds teacher and student agency. In this session, we will examine formative assessment as a process and way of thinking about teaching and learning that not only moves learning forward but also builds teacher and student agency.

Become a More Skilled Writing Teacher: Nurturing Engaged, Self- Directed Composers of Writing | Engagement is intricately linked with learning in any area but especially in writing. Fortunately, as educators we control key practices that influence engagement. During our time together we will explore how key concepts and practices, such as vision, choice of genre, conferring, and oral rehearsal, positively impact engagement for all students.

Putting the C3 Social Studies Framework into Action for Secondary Students: Facilitating Meaningful Learning Through an Inquiry Approach | Since its release, the C3 Framework for Social Studies has charged educators with teaching Social Studies differently. C3 promises a vision of social studies where students get to learn social studies by engaging in the practices and ways of thinking central to the discipline. The paradigm shift is both exciting and fundamental; impacting how we teach, plan, assess, and view our role as teachers. In this workshop, participants will have the opportunity to learn about and experience the instructional shifts and conceptual models inherent in the C3 Framework through authentic examples of student and teacher work. Participants can expect to leave with a deeper understanding of the framework, examples of application, and their own inquiry planning around units, questions, lessons, and assessments.

Toward Inspirational, Lifelong Arts Learning: Concept-Driven, Inquiry-Based Curriculum for Visual & Performing Arts Classrooms | What arts understandings do students take with them long after they leave our classrooms? How can arts curricula be designed to promote increased transfer? As skills-based disciplines, students' arts learning often consists of practicing as many skills as possible in the available class time; but mastery of skills may or may not lead to transfer. This workshop will focus on using skills as the foundation for conceptual learning and will scaffold a process for curriculum design in the arts that empowers teachers to intentionally plan for and teach toward students' lifelong understanding of and engagement in the arts.

Engaging Learners and Building Proficiency in Every Lesson | When given a curriculum of units to teach, how does a teacher start to plan effective daily lessons? Learn why and how to design each learning episode within a class period, actively engaging learners in all modes of communication with meaningful and motivating tasks. Unpack the NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements to identify specific language functions as the key for developing learners’ proficiency. Work toward the course proficiency target by carefully designing each lesson, creating a learning progression of lessons where learners develop the language functions to show achievement of the unit goals.

The Workshop Model for Grades 6-12: Bringing the OECD Compass to Life Daily | In our workshop we'll explore how to develop student agency by ensuring students can read and write with a clear purpose, take responsibility for their learning with guidance from a mentor (the teacher and others), and develop the skills they need to make a difference in the world. The workshop model promotes students as readers, writers, and thinkers as they engage in meaningful and relevant work. Choice, community, time, and response are central to the workshop model. In our workshop, we'll examine how the daily structure of a class and design of work that matters supports the OECD Compass Framework.

Putting the C3 Social Studies Framework into Action for Elementary Students: Facilitating Meaningful Learning Through an Inquiry Approach | This interactive workshop will look at the C3 framework and consider how we can use the disciplinary tools and concepts to create units of work that are conceptually focussed and driven. It will examine the role of inquiry and how we can embed inquiry practices into our units of learning to ensure students are active participants, where they have choice and voice in their leanring, developing depth of understanding and transfer and apply their learning in authentic ways. Participants in this workshop will be actively involved, have opportunities to collaborate with others and consider how this connects to their own context.

Next Generation Assessments: Assessing 7 Critical Competencies | As schools and school districts around the world begin to shift their curricular priorities toward developing 21st-century competencies, questions abound regarding how—and even if—we should assess these competencies. This workshop will highlight seven critical competencies (critical thinking, collaborative thinking, creative thinking, communication, social competence, digital citizenship, and self-regulation) and the assessment practices and processes that make their authentic development possible. Nothing can be developed without assessment. While some assessment fundamentals are timeless, there are others that will need to be reworked or rethought to align with these 21st-century outcomes.