Preschool, Kindergarten, and First Grade Teachers: PowerPoint, the Internet and More.

Would you like to learn how to make PowerPoint lessons to enhance your teaching? Would you like to use websites designed for your classroom curriculum? Are you interested in viewing software that will address just the needs of your young students? Then this is the workshop for you. We will begin by making PowerPoint presentations designed to use immediately with your students. Next, we will look at the wonderful Internet resources for PreK to 1st grade including free worksheets and motivating classroom activities. We’ll conclude with a review of “must have” software.”. In one day you’ll make important additions to your Technology Toolbox.
Recommended for: Pre K to first grade teachers who are Beginning or Intermediate PowerPoint users.

Centers from Heaven...and Thinkfinity

Are you stuck trying to develop centers for your classroom? Do you have at least one computer enter? Then this is the class for you. Using the FREE (yes, FREE) site, Thinkfinity.org, you will leave this workshop with more interactive sites, lesson plans and ideas than you ever have at any workshop. This is a must for the first year teacher to the very seasoned teacher.
Recommended for: K- 5 teachers.

Think Green with Thinkfinity: Inquiry based Lessons and Resources

Use Thinkfinity’s 55,000+ FREE resources to create a comprehensive environmental program that teaches earth friendly behaviors including sustainable practices for how to live, work, and play. Understand the value of environmental stewardship through the use of practical activities such as recycling, composting and reducing waste, inside and outside of the classroom. Be inspired by Thinkfinity resources that will create environmental partnerships involving students, teachers, administrators, and parents that align with existing curriculum and state mandated standards.
Recommended for: All teachers grade K-8

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Holidays and Thinkfinity

This workshop will give you lessons for every holiday that you celebrate with your students. Included with this workshop will be the first weeks of school, first 100 days,  and testing tips. You will walk away with lesson plans, web interactives, worksheets, and a variety of other resources. Have this information available for your use as the holidays approach and enhance your curriculum. 
Recommended for: Teachers of grades k-8, special education.

Thinkfinity and You: Perfect Together

Are you looking for some new innovative interactive teaching materials to obtain for FREE? Would you like to have 55,000 lesson plans available for you any time? Do you need to find the national, state, or curriculum standards for your lesson plans? If you have said yes to any of the above questions this half day workshop is for you. Thinkfinity is a FREE educational resource for everyone. Bring your lesson plans and your curriculum and walk out of this workshop with weeks and weeks worth of activities (paper and interactive), resources, and further information to enhance every aspect of your classroom. You will be WOWed!
Recommended for: Teachers of grades K-8, special education. 

SMART Board Across the Curriculum: A First Course

Make the most of your SMART board and watch class participation and engagement soar. First you will master SMART board basics. Then you will learn how to plan and prepare your SMART lessons on any computer using SMART notebook software. Come and take back interactive enhanced lessons to use with your SMART board. We will provide a list of websites that are particularly SMART board “friendly.” No more fumbling for transparencies, hyperlinks, diagrams, or files. Your lesson will flow seamlessly and learning will increase as students participate as active learners. Please bring your curriculum materials. Note: Smart board software is free to Smart board users and can be purchased for use on other boards.
Recommended for: Anyone interested in using a SMART board

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Intermediate SMART Board Users: Creating Interactive Lessons

You’ve been using your SMART board for a while and you and your students really like it. Now thanks to the latest upgrades in the SMART notebook software there is more for you to learn. And thanks to the growing community of SMART board users you will access terrific Internet sources for ready-made Smart notebook lessons. Use the downloaded lessons as is or modify. During this workshop you will learn to use action buttons, insert video clips, and create your own interactive manipulatives for the content area and grade that you teach. After learning advanced skills and examining Internet resources in the morning the afternoon will be a SMART notebook lesson studio, providing time for you to prepare a dynamite lesson that will inspire your students your colleagues, and you. If you like bring SMART notebook files you’ve created and raise the lesson to new levels.
Recommended for: Participants who took SMART board for Beginners or SMART board Across the Curriculum or who can create SMART notebook lessons and use a SMART board. This class is not for beginners.

Integrating Multimedia into your SMART Board lessons

In this session we will define multimedia, discuss and demonstrate the different SMART Board tools and techniques that can be utilized to deliver a rich multimedia lesson.  Some of the topics that will be covered include: introduction and demonstration of the SMART Recorder tool, SMART Video Player and Page Recorder, inserting FLASH Video into SMART Notebook software, attaching sounds to objects in Notebook and different methods to reveal text on page. Participants should be familiar with SMART Notebook software prior to attending the session. No technical experience required.
Recommended for: Intermediate and Experienced users

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Scaffolding the Research Process: A must take class

Research projects give students an opportunity to integrate and develop an entire range of academic skills, but writing a research paper is an enormously complex cognitive task, requiring the disparate skills of information-seeking, reading comprehension, note-taking, analysis, problem-solving, time management, and expository and persuasive writing. Students who lack proficiency and confidence in these areas may struggle with the project and produce poor results, or may be tempted to plagiarize rather than suffer the frustration of having to learn too much all at once. Some of our students find it difficult to use even one source intelligently and ethically, so teachers and librarians must collaborate to build students’ skill levels throughout the year and throughout the four-year high school cycle to enable them to write a multi-source, inquiry-based, thesis-driven paper.This two-day workshop covers all aspects of scaffolding the research paper process.

Day 1 focuses on Information Seeking: search theory, online databases, advanced web searching, interlibrary loan, and the structure of information seeking.

Day 2 is devoted to Pedagogy, including information literacy standards, scaffolding the research process throughout the year, teaching ethical scholarship, and designing assignments to integrate students’ research skills
Recommended For: Middle and high school teachers, media specialists and people going/returning to college or graduate school.

Audio for the Classroom – Music, Podcasting and More

Powerful FREE software and web-hosting can bring you and your students some powerful new tools. From meeting the needs of auditory learners, to student-produced projects and classroom radio, we’ll look at how you can use audio and podcasts simply and effectively to create excitement about your subject in and out of school. Using free software and web-hosting, you will leave knowing how to load all of the software and gear, and produce/post your own podcasts and audio projects.
Recommended for: K-12 teachers, all subjects

Garage Band for Non-Musicians

Any teacher who has access to a Macintosh computer can get rolling with GarageBand, no talent or musical training required. Participants will learn to harness the power of GarageBand’s built-in music creation, recording and podcasting features in one fun-filled session. Integrate music, record lessons, make new songs and podcasts, or create exciting, motivating student projects. Pump up your classroom in person or on the web! Participants are encouraged to bring CD’s of favorite music to use during the session. SESSION TO BE HELD AT EBHS D-11 MUSIC LAB.
Recommended for: All teachers

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Incorporating Publisher in the K-8 Curriculum

So you think Publisher is only for making cards. Spend some time exploring the program and you will see that you can use this exceptional resource for making newspapers, pamphlets, newsletters, brochures, flyers, postcards and more. Learn how to use hundreds of templates that will boost your students’ knowledge and abilities. You will leave this workshop with a variety of ways to incorporate these tools into your daily curriculum.
Recommended for: Classroom teacher, secretaries, school newspaper staff.

Yes, I Can ... Learn to Use a Computer

Everyone around you is sending email, surfing the web, downloading pictures but you haven’t embraced technology yet. Here is your chance. Come to this nonthreatening and unintimidating workshop and learn computer basics in a friendly, low stress environment. Learn how to turn a computer on and off, type a letter, create an email account if you don’t have one, and find things on the Internet. Use a computer mouse to ‘point’ and ‘click’ your way into the digital age.
Recommended for: Real beginners

Organizing Your Computer Files

You know you saved that file … somewhere. How can you find it? This workshop will teach you how to organize your computer desktop and hard drive to make locating files quick and easy. You will learn how to make electronic folders, remove unwanted files, use the Search feature to find missing documents, and even change the look of your desktop.
Recommended for: Anyone who wants a less chaotic electronic filing system

Word Processing II : Microsoft Word and Google Docs

Move beyond the basics of Microsoft Word. In this workshop you will learn how to import pictures and other objects, create and customize tables, generate personalized letters to replace form letters, and create and use templates. Learn more about sharing, collaborating, and storing using Google Docs.
Recommended for: Users comfortable working in Microsoft Word.

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Labels and More with Microsoft Word

If you have Microsoft Word you have all you need to create labels, pencil flags, signs, certificates, and letters all personalized with your students’ or parents’ names. You’ll add photos or graphics to add flair to your creations. Bring a class list to use when we learn ‘mail merge’ and a USB drive to take back your completed projects.
Recommended for: Participants who have completed Introduction to Word processing I, or who can create and edit using Word.

Spreadsheets II: Microsoft Excel and Google Docs

Take Excel to the next level. First, get some tips to increase your efficiency: keyboard shortcuts, handy functions, and pitfalls to avoid. Then, learn to use the database analysis functions of Excel such as sorting and filtering. Finally, learn to create and use macros to automate those repetitive tasks. Learn how to collect data using Google Forms.
Recommended for: Experienced users of Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Access for Absolute Beginners

Microsoft Access is a wonderful database tool but you just never got around to learning it or found it too confusing and frustrating. You are not alone and that is why we are offering this workshop that will start from the very beginning and establish a strong foundation of basic skills so that you will be ready for more complex tasks. Learn how to create a database, how to use the database to answer questions, and how to create reports - just the basics. See how Microsoft Access can help you get the most out of all that data that you have been collecting. No advanced topics will be covered.
Recommended for: Anyone interested in learning Microsoft

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Presentations I: Microsoft PowerPoint and Google Docs

This full-day workshop will enable participants to create multimedia presentations to support all aspects of teaching and learning. Participants will explore features in PowerPoint, which bring slides to life. You will learn how to animate your slides and how to add interesting transitions between slides. To help with the creation of your own PowerPoint presentation you might want to bring a textbook or other curriculum materials. Test drive the PowerPoint like presentation part of Google Docs. Share your presentations via the internet with students, parents, and colleagues.
Recommended for: Anyone who wants to create dynamic presentations. Some computer experience is required.

PowerPoint — Tips and Tricks with Music

Stretch your PowerPoint presentations to the max with music …learn how to add music to enhance your presentations … learn how to time musical selections so that you can add more than one musical selection to a longer presentation or loop the same musical selection throughout your presentation … Fun and easy!
Recommended for: Those comfortable with basic PowerPoint & interested in adding Pizzazz to their presentations

PowerPoint — Tips and Tricks with Video Clips

Create PowerPoint presentations that wow audiences with video clips you make with your digital camera … learn how to add, activate and time your own digital video clips … feel free to bring your own camera (don’t forget the wires needed to transfer into the computer) or use one of ours … Fun and easy!
Recommended for: Those comfortable with basic PowerPoint & interested in adding pizzazz to their presentations.

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Create More with Photoshop

Tapping the powerful potential of Adobe Photoshop, we will explore and apply some advanced techniques and tools. We will explore color in sophisticated ways that will make Andy Warhol jealous. Come learn hand colorization and apply special effects such as shadows, glows, and lighting angles to typography and photographs. This workshop is highly experiential; you will be working and having fun throughout the session.
Recommended for: Participants that have taken Time Travel with Photoshop or Advanced Photoshop users

Scratch: Create Interactive Media

Treat yourself and your students (ages 8 and up) to a new, free way to create your own interactive stories, music, and art using Scratch, invented at MIT. Student creations can be shared via the Internet ( check out scratch.mit.edu). See why November Learning says, "The Scratch website has become the YouTube of interactive media." While your students are programming and sharing with Scratch, they will "learn to think creatively, plan systemically, and work collaboratively, while also learning important computational ideas.”
Recommended for: Teachers of grades 2 and above, technology education, and G & T

Building Schoolwide Literacy with FREE Web 2.0 Tools

Looking for ways to use Web 2.0 tools for elementary literacy skills safely and effectively? Concerned that Web 2.0 tools may be too “difficult” or unsafe for elementary students and teachers? TeacherFirst shares a model where students focus on one new tool per year in grades K-5 or K-8 to build literacy skills from basic phonics to the subtleties of writing. Find inspiration in specific, grade-by-grade project ideas, and enjoy TeachersFirst’s unusual pragmatic details to leverage the power of Web 2.0 for literacy learning in your school. Why not explore this model as you plan professional development for yourself and your colleagues? Here is the link- http://www.teachersfirst.com/schoo;widelit/index.cfm
Recommended for: Elementary general and special education teachers

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Google Docs and more: Connect, Create and Collaborate

Take advantage of Google's powerful, free, collaborative tools in your classroom and beyond. Learn how to make the most of what Google has to offer and have your students working with 21st century skills every day. Become a 21st century educator
Recommended for: All Teachers

Free Wikis for Everyone

You can launch a totally free, password-protected, no advertising WikiSpace for your class today! An educational WikiSpace can replace or supplement your existing TeacherWeb, Blog, or Podcast site, or become a new forum for school collaboration. You can post documents, homework, hand-outs, pictures, audio & video all in one place, for free. Your students will be able to create and post or respond to material, depending on the level of access you provide them.
Recommended for: Educators who want to find out about and/or create their own Internet collaborative classroom