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Supporting the Inclusive Classroom –  making it easy with tools you have and tools you will want to have.

Does your classroom have struggling readers and writers?  Are you reading aloud assignments to students? Do struggling students shy away from reading support options due to feeling different when using them?  Come to this workshop to learn of easy ways to engage struggling readers and writers in the inclusive classroom, while using everyday applications like Microsoft Word, Internet Explorer and Adobe Reader with a little help from Texthelp’s Read&Write GOLD. Using a combination of software you have and software you will want to have, you will learn how to help struggling students improve reading comprehension and writing outcomes, while raising independence and self esteem.  ‘vendor presentation’ Recommended for: Teachers of struggling students in grades 3 and beyond.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

The Center for Applied Special Technology, CAST, coined the term Universal Design for Learning.  The CAST website states, "Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework for designing curricula that enable all individuals to gain knowledge, skills, and enthusiasm for learning. UDL provides rich supports for learning and reduces barriers to the curriculum while maintaining high achievement standards for all." This workshop will help you incorporate UDL principles in your classroom and show you wonderful free tools and resources that you can use. Make learning accessible for every student.  Recommended for: K-12 educators

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Using What You Have: Features in Windows & Word that Support Struggling Readers and Writers

Even on a tight budget, school districts can use technology to help their students with disabilities succeed in the regular classroom.  This hands-on session will explore specific features in Microsoft Windows and Word that enable teachers to differentiate instruction to meet students’ varying needs in reading, writing, studying and testing.  Recommended for:  Regular and special education teachers, child study team members, parents

Infuse your Curriculum with Technology

Come with a colleague to enhance your curriculum!  Participants will be guided through the process of selecting technology-based activities that will enrich curricular units.  The sessions will be customized to meet the needs of each participant.  Recommended for: Interested teachers

Learning Styles - Activities to Reach All Learners

What is your learning style?  Come have some fun investigating how you learn in order to better understand your students' strengths and weaknesses.  We will then explore some activities that are aligned to these learning styles and develop lessons specific to your students' needs.  Recommended for:  Interested teachers

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Audio Software & Podcasting for Music Teachers

Recording practice and performance tracks is just the beginning .. explore the possibilities for you and your students with free audio recording software and web-hosting. Learn to edit and mix favorites from your own library, as well as create new, custom recordings. Leave with new ideas for yourself and engaging projects for your students.  Recommended for: K-12 music teachers

Incorporating Technology into Physical Education             

Looking to spice up your PE program?  Why not add some technology to it.  In this workshop learn from a master technology-using physical education teacher how to enhance your current PE program through the use of programs including:  Microsoft Word, Excel, Power Point, Movie Maker, and podcasts. Recommended for:  Physical Education teachers

Make your Research Reports Painless with Noodlebib!

Are you tired of your students losing their notecards and bibliography cards?  Is it difficult for them to keep their research organized?  Then you NEED to use Noodlebib in your classroom!  Noodlebib helps students create bibliography cards in the correct formatting and creates Works Cited/Consulted pages easily.  It allows the users to create Notecards and organizes them into clusters by keywords and by source.  Come spend a few hours to learn how to use this exciting tool in your classroom! Recommended for: 6th - 12th grade teachers.

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SMART board Across the Curriculum : A First Course
Make the most of your SMARTboard and watch class participation and engagement soar. First you will master SMARTboard 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 SMARTboard. We will provide a list of websites that are particularly SMARTboard “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        

The famous Jinx Puzzle, Measuring the Earth, Shooting Globs and other classroom adventures

Attend this session and take in some amazing stories and activities about how the Internet along with some dynamic software such as Geometer's Sketchpad, spreadsheets, and other Microworlds has made a significant difference in helping students gain a deeper understanding of powerful mathematical ideas. Visit http://web.mac.com/ihor12/math for a sneak preview.  Recommended for: Math teachers & coaches of grades 6-10

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Creating Professional Math Worksheets and Tests using Microsoft Word
Creating professional looking math worksheets and tests can be a challenge.  Discover how easily it can be done using Microsoft Word’s built in tools that will allow you to create those “workbook-like” materials.  Learn how to use the “drawing tools”, set up shortcuts to symbols such as, @, D, ^, p, ±, ³, and to use the “equation editor” to  indicate lines, segments and rays, and show fractions, division or square roots. Spend the day with us and leave with the ability to use Microsoft Word as more than just a basic word processor.  Basic knowledge of Microsoft Word is suggested.  Bring a disk or flash drive to save the professional files you create.  Recommended for: Math teachers with a basic knowledge of Microsoft Word

Make and Take 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 take back a disk of completed projects.
Recommended for: Participants who have completed Introduction to Word, or who can create and edit using Word.

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Introduction to Microsoft Excel
Ready for the next step beyond calculators? This full-day workshop will cover the skills needed to create basic spreadsheets using Microsoft Excel. Learn to create, save and open spreadsheets; enter and edit data in a spreadsheet; build formulas and create charts. This course fulfills the “Introduction to Spreadsheet and Graphing” requirement for NJDOE’s Beginner Technology Proficiency Level Certificate. 
Recommended for: Anyone interested in creating spreadsheets.  Experience using a mouse is needed.

PowerPoint + Music + Video = WOW

Stretch your digital camera and PowerPoint to the max and wow parents at Back-to-School night and End-of-Year presentations and thrill students with Mini-yearbooks complete with photos, video clips, photo montages and music. You won't have to purchase expensive photo editing programs.  Your digital camera and PowerPoint can do it all.  Day one is for beginners who know how to use basic PowerPoint and will include going beyond making a simple slide show to automatically timing your show as well as adding a musical selection. Continue or join for Day two when we will learn how to layer photos for a more dramatic effect and add movie clips. There will be digital cameras to use or bring your own (don’t forget any cords you need to transfer your photos into the computer).  Bring your digital photos, too, and turn them into an unbelievable presentation.  Recommended for: those who are already comfortable with basic PowerPoint

Using Powerpoint to Play Jeopardy

If you like to play Jeopardy so that your students can review for a test or exam, bring the content that you want your students to know. You will learn how to make a template for Jeopardy. Once saved, you can use it to create games for different concepts.  Recommended for: All teachers

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Making the Most of Your PowerPoint 

Want to add pizzazz to your PowerPoint?  Be daring and toss aside the program’s tired templates. This workshop will give you techniques and ideas to make your presentations more appealing and more professional.  Explore how to make your visuals more dynamic with basic slide design—all you need to have is the basic knowledge of how to create a slide. Recommended for Participants with a basic understanding of PowerPoint

Using Microsoft Movie Maker as a Presentation Tool
If your district has Microsoft Windows XP operating system then you have Movie Maker at your fingertips.  Come in and learn a new way of presenting information to your class, district and/or community.  Utilizing still pictures, video, sound recordings, and original artwork, you will create a 21st century presentation that will change the way you use your computer.  Recommended for: Participant familiar with the digital process and basic computer skills.

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ePALS                         

Looking for ways to use email as a way for integrating reading, writing and technology? Come learn how to use ePALS as a “living textbook.” Your students can participate in an information exchange with other students around the world.  EPALS provides a “walled garden” where students and teachers can communicate with others all over the world in a protected environment. Registered users only see other participants’ names. No email addresses are exchanged so communication outside ePALS is not possible. Come explore the ePALS showcase collaboration projects and then joining one or create your own.  Recommended for: Anyone interested in worldwide information exchanges

TeacherWeb: Point and Click to Create Your Own WebPage
 Does your district provide you with access to TeacherWeb? If yes, sign-up for this workshop immediately and leave the session with your very own website ready to be used by any one with Internet access. Lost permission slips? Missing handouts? TeacherWeb to the rescue. Post them on TeacherWeb and parents and students can download them 24/7. You can also post classroom announcements, curriculum materials, links to favorite websites, and classroom photos. Bring your materials and leave with a website! (If your district has not purchased TeacherWeb you can create a TeaherWeb for free and maintain it for a small yearly fee.)  Recommended for: Anyone who wants to use TeacherWeb.

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Bells and  Whistles for Your SMART board 

You are in for a treat with the SMART recorder. As you lecture record your voice and every pen stroke and action on your Smart board to create tutorials, provide lessons for absent students, or establish an archive of teaching activities. Learn how to use Senteos, SMART's interactive clickers, to provide instant classroom assessment data to inform your instruction. Try out the AirLiner, SMART's remote graphic tablet.  You will have time to create a lesson using these exciting tools.  Recommended for: Advances SMART board users.  This course is not for beginners.

Financial Literacy and Math: Personal Finance
Show your students the real-world value of knowing math; how to manage their personal finances to get the most for their money. This workshop will provide you with activities involving banking and compound interest, comparison shopping, use of coupons, credit cards, check books and much more. All activities are correlated to middle school math content. You will leave this workshop with lessons your students will profit from for the rest of their lives. You may learn some things yourself. Now that's a good return on your investment.  Recommended for: Middle school math and HS basic skills teachers

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“Yes, I can ... learn to use a computer"   

Everyone around you is sending email, surfing the web, downloading pictures but your 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

Intermediate Microsoft Excel
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.
Recommended for: Experienced users of Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Access:  An Introduction
This workshop will introduce you to Microsoft Access database software.  Learn to create and maintain tables to track a variety of classroom, district, state and testing information.  We will focus on the principles of sound database planning, design and implementation.  Working with a small sample of raw information throughout we will complete and populate a basic database file as well as create a simple report. Recommended for: Participants with basic computer skills.

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Introduction to Microsoft PowerPoint.

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. This course fulfills the “Introduction to Multimedia” requirement for NJDOE’s Beginner Technology Proficiency Level Certificate. To help with the creation of your own PowerPoint presentation you might want to bring a textbook or other curriculum materials.  Recommended for: Anyone who wants to create dynamic presentations. Some computer experience is required.

Introduction to Macromedia Dreamweaver

Get started with Dreamweaver by exploring the palettes and preferences. We'll set up a Web site by creating and organizing files, building and managing site structure, and checking links. We'll examine Dreamweaver properties, horizontal rules, lists, background and text colors. Learn to insert and position your images and setup both internal and external hyperlinks.  Recommended for: Users with a working knowledge of HTML, the Internet, Web Design techniques and word processing software

What’s a wiki?

What is all this talk about wikis?  What are they?  Do they have a role in education?  Wikis are websites where people can collaborate, establish virtual communities, and participate in the creation of knowledge. The most famous wiki is Wikipedia.  Meet the needs of the digital natives in your class by creating a free wiki.  We will visit several free Wiki sites and everyone will have the opportunity to create their ownWiki.  The PBwiki site, as in peanut butter says, “A PBwiki is an easy-to-use web page that multiple people can edit.  It’s as easy to make as a peanut butter sandwich.” Join us and you are sure to agree.  Be brave.  Establish a wiki.  Cross the threshold of a new era of Internet use. 
Recommended for:  Educators who want to find out about and/or create their own Internet collaborative classroom

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