Second Annual Massachusetts Instructional Forum

Supporting All Students Where They Are

Directions the Hogan Center at College of the Holy Cross http://www.holycross.edu/directions/hogan.html. 

The morning session begins at 8:10.  Please arrive by 8:00.

Lunch and Continental Breakfast provided.

Keynote Speaker

Dr. Annette Lamb, President of Lamb Learning Group and Vision to Action

Fluid Environments for Teaching, Learning & Technology

Help students shift from being passive receivers to active readers, evaluators, thinkers, and innovators. Explore the potential of emerging cross-genre, multi-platform, transmedia resources as tools for motivation, differentiation, collaboration, and connections across the curriculum. Help students construct knowledge and convey complex messages through meaningful, technology-enhanced experiences.

Session 1 (9:45-11:15)

• Divergent Convergence: Learning in a Transmedia, Multiplatform World
• Data-driven Instruction with Internal Performance Assessments
• Collaboration and Inquiry in Teaching and Learning
• Engaging Students with Democratic Practices in Your School or Classroom
• *The New Section 504 -A Practical Approach

Session 2 (11:25 -12:55)

• Differentiated Instruction: Lots of Work, Rich Rewards
• Integrating Data-driven Instruction and Problem-based Instruction
• Helping Students Find Their Voice: Web 2.0 & Humanities Course Design
• Supporting All Students through the Arts
• *Universal Design for Learning

Session 3 (2:00 - 3:30)

• Break Free from Adolescent Depression
• Improv for Educators: Tools to Enhance Leadership, Collaboration & Creativity
• Hiring and Retaining Quality Teachers
• Response to Intervention
• *Maximize Learning with Differentiation for Secondary Schools

 *Recently added. Workshops Workshops and sessions are subject to change

 View the Forum flier and handout at http://mccpse.org/.

Workshops

 Break Free From Depression Program: Information, Curriculum, and Resources

Nadja Reilly -Swensrud Depression Prevention Initiative

Bob Anthony -Adolescent Wellness

One in five teens struggle with symptoms of depression. Participants will learn about child and adolescent depression.  The latest research and clinical data will be presented regarding identification, symptoms, treatment, the impact of depression on learning.  This information will come to life for participants as they view a documentary featuring the real life stories of adolescents struggling with depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts. Participants will also partake in an experiential and interactive exercise, where they will learn about the Break Free From Depression curriculum, a school based program for students in grades 9-12. The materials and school-based training for this program are free. Further information about how schools may develop mental health programming will be discussed.

Collaboration and Inquiry in Teaching and Learning

 Euthemia Gilman -Silver Hill Horace Mann Elementary

School Districts share the common challenge to improve how students learn and how teachers teach. Our schools sit on s 3-legged school of budget, curriculum and staffing. Using the technology tools for assessment and instruction, does enable teachers to change the instructional methodology. Our aim in an inquiry educational model is to have students question themselves, their choices and the world they live in and to think creatively, make connections and live with integrity. Our focus is on knowledge as empowerment: we are solutionary students and educators.

 Data-driven Instruction with Internal Performance Assessments

Christina Brown -Center for Collaborative Education,

Marblehead Community CPS -Molly Wright, Pam Miller 

 Performance assessments are critical components of a school's internal assessment system and allow students to demonstrate mastery of standards with a level of rigor and complexity not possible with a standardized test. Schools are often challenged by how to create performance assessments of technical quality so the "hard" data can be used for the maximum improvement of teaching and learning. This workshop will present a framework for technical quality that enables schools to create and implement common performance assessments that challenge teachers and students to engage and demonstrate higher order thinking and 21st century skills.  Participants will use student work samples from MCCPS to explore what it means to make data-driven instructional decisions with performance assessments of high technical quality. Presenters from MCCPS will also share their work on their internal assessment system over the past two years to improve the school's ability to make data-driven instructional decisions.

Differentiated Instruction: Lots of Work, Rich Rewards

Martha’s Vineyard PCS -Susan DiRubio, Amy Reece, Deborah Cutrer

Learn research-based strategies for differentiation in the classroom. Participants will also learn how to plan for differentiation by exploring two exemplary applications at Martha's Vineyard Public Charter School. Facilitators will identify a variety of Instructional Technology tools and suggestions to empower participants to put them into practice as a means toward differentiation. MVPCS will share how they documented/developed/honed their differentiation practices as part of a collaborative Dissemination initiative with another public school on Martha’s Vineyard.

Divergent Convergence: Learning in a Transmedia, Multiplatform World

Annette Lamb -Lamb Learning Group
Immerse young people in a transmedia, multiplatform world of information where divergent resources like websites, books, audio, and video converge. Graphic novels are merging with digital comics. From graphic histories to science interactives, explore new ways to think about accessing information, creating projects, and preparing students for a technology-enhanced life.

Engaging Students with Democratic Practices in Your School or Classroom

Kirsten Olson -Old Sow Consulting

How democratic is your school?  How much do students participate in the running of your school or classroom, and the management of their own learning? What are some of the benefits to school performance, student engagement, and higher-level learning of democratic instructional environments and school cultures?  Beginning with a self-assessment of your own school or classroom, this interactive workshop looks at some principles of democratic school organization, describes how some schools are enacting democratic governance and instructional strategies real time, and what the benefits for you might be.  You will come away with a self-designed plan for making your classroom or school more choiceful, more engaging, and more organized to put student interests at the center of your instructional planning.

Helping Students Find Their Voice: Web 2.0 and Humanities Course Design

Antonia Rudenstine -reDesign

Our students want to create, collaborate, speak to an authentic audience, learn beyond the walls of the school. Web 2.0 Tools are the perfect vehicle for students to begin this journey. In this session, participants will explore a model Humanities Course that uses Web 2.0 tools in four ways: to enhance student collaboration, to facilitate communication, to enliven consumption and deepen understanding, and to encourage creative production. Participants will then have an opportunity to think about how they might apply Web 2.0 tools to one of their own courses.

Hiring Top Performers, Retaining Top Performers and Identifying Problem Employees

Brad Lebo -Vital Growth

This workshop will introduce a process for hiring top performers, discuss non-monetary strategies for retaining top performers and provide insight into how to identify and categorize problem employees. Participants can expect to learn: Specific mechanisms for recruiting and selecting top performers, specific guidelines on how to retain top performers and a system for categorizing problem employees along with suggestions on how to turn problem employees into contributors.

Improv for Educators:Tools to Enhance Leadership, Collaboration & Creativity

Gwen Lowenheim -The Snaps Project

Kirsten Olson -Old Sow Consulting

One recent conference participant raved that this workshop was the “[h]ighlight of the day!”  Join this encore performance to learn how to use play and theatrical improvisation to promote teamwork in your classroom. Improv will boost your and your students’ creativity. Participants will leave with playful techniques that increase capacity to collaborate, foster empathy, and develop listening and communication skills.

Supporting All Students through the Arts

Laura Davis -Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School 

This workshop is designed for non-arts teachers. Aside from being disciplines on their own, music, drama, dance and visual arts can be utilized in any subject as fantastic tools to engage students in the learning process. We will review information about how the arts allow people to think in different ways and make connections to their learning, as well as practical ideas to start using the arts right away. Participants try out simple activities that illustrate the fact that you don’t have to be an “artist” to have fun with the arts. No arts experience is necessary.

Integrating Data-driven Instruction and Problem-based Instruction

North Central CES -Linda Tarantino, Jennifer Spingla

North Central Charter Essential School faces all the challenges of teaching mathematics in an urban setting.  Since 2007 the math department has intensively monitored data regarding students' basic skills while simultaneously relying on a portfolio system to ensure that students can apply these skills to real world problems.  Programmatic changes have had a positive effect.  In addition to making AYP in 2010, NCCES saw an increase of 14 percentage points on the 10th grade Math MCAS of students scoring Proficient and Advanced.  This session will focus on two areas: data collection and the real-world portfolio projects.

Maximize Learning for ALL High School Students Using Differentiated Instruction

Elisabeth Ewick –Boston Day and Evening Academy

Drawing on experiences working with the high school population, Ms. Ewick will provide a substantive and interactive learning session that focuses on promising instructional strategies for differentiating instruction in ways that are responsive to the range of learning and developmental needs often found in an inclusive classroom. Participants will leave this workshop with over 15 strategies to implement in the classroom immediately.

A New Look at Section 504 with ADA Amendments—A Practical Approach to Implementation

David A. Kane

This session will review the basic requirements of Section 504 including the resulting changes attributable to the recent amendments to the ADA. Discussion will include protection under Section 504, eligibility requirements, evaluation, what is now considered a major life activity, accommodations and procedural safeguards. This session is a must for anyone working in schools.  

Response to Intervention (RtI):

Craig Levis -Educational Resources Consortion 

A blueprint for a systemic approach to academic excellence.  An effective Response to Intervention process provides a toolkit and project map for student success in the general education classroom. This session will help school practitioners  1) gain greater understanding of how RtI can improve teacher excellence as well as student performance 2) assess current needs as well as assets and culture for implementation of a sustainable RtI process, and 3) assess potential for or progress towards implementing a comprehensive, tiered intervention process that addresses academic and behavioral areas.  

Universal Design for Learning
Kristen Eichleay, Boston Green Academy
This session will provide an introduction to Universal Design for Learning strategies, paired with low, mid and high tech tools, to create accessible and engaging classroom environments. Return to your classroom prepared to design lessons that integrate UDL principles into classroom instruction through the use of the Student Access Map (SAM) and Classroom Strategies for Inclusion (CLASSI) forms. 

Bios

Dr. Annette Lamb (Lamb Learning Group and Vision to Action) has been a school library media specialist, computer teacher, and professor of education and library science. She is currently teaching online graduate courses for librarians and educators as a professor at Indiana University - Indianapolis.

In addition to online teaching, she writes, speaks, and conducts professional development workshops, presentations, and keynotes throughout North America and is well-known for her realistic approaches to technology integration and information inquiry. In addition to working on state and national-level grant projects, she enjoys spending time with administrators, teachers, and individual school districts, universities, and museums focusing on practical, technology-rich approaches to teaching and learning.

Annette received her Ph.D. in Educational Technology from Iowa State University. Her roots in library, media, and technology are reflected in her passion for interdisciplinary approaches, reading and writing across the curriculum, and using a variety of resources from books to the Internet.

Her latest book co-authored with Danny Callison is titled Graphic Inquiry. She's currently working on a book titled Fluid Learning Environments.

Antonia Rudenstine (reDesign) consults nationally on a range of instructional issues. As co-director of reDesign, she coaches school directors on instructional issues; trains school founders to design mission-driven schools; supports educational leaders in the creation of improvement and accountability plans; and designs professional development programs for organizational leaders and their staff. A former teacher and founder of an alternative public high school in New York City, Antonia the principal designer and instructor of MCCPSE’s school development program. 

Bob Anthony is the founder and Executive Director of Adolescent Wellness (AWI) following a twenty year business career with Touche Ross, Digital and Orchid Systems. AWI acts to simplify the prevention of mental illness and suicide by reducing the lag of ten years between research and standard practice. The AWI goal is for every child to have the insight to stay healthy and the language to help themselves or a friend communicate with an adult when help is needed. Since 2003, Mr. Anthony has directed AWI in collaboration on curricula development, training and referral projects with McLean Hospital, Children’s Hospital Boston, South Shore Hospital and the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology. 

Christina Brown is the Director of the Building Quality Performance Assessments Initiative (BQ) at the Center for Collaborative Education.  BQ develops performance assessments of high technical quality and works with twenty diverse schools in Massachusetts and Rhode Island to strengthen school’s local assessment systems and to pilot cohort-wide common performance assessments.  Christina has an Ed. M. in Literacy from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. She has worked in diverse educational environments as a teacher and school administrator with experience in charter, pilot, and district school settings from K-12.  Christina can be reached at cbrown@ccebos.org or on the BQ website: http://sites.google.com/site/bqassessments/

 David A. Kane is an attorney and nationally recognized expert with over 25 years experience in the field of education law. Mr. Kane is a founding partner of Educational Resources Consortium, LLC, (Delaware & R.I.) and started the Center for Education Law, Policy and Practices (Warren, R.I.) He also practices law with the firm of Taylor Duane Barton & Gilman, LLP, (Boston & Providence) where he serves of counsel and works in the firm’s education and labor divisions. Mr. Kane spent over 13 years working with the R.I. Department of Education coordinating the State’s systems of due process hearings, mediation, complaint investigations and regulatory compliance with federal laws. Mr. Kane is one of the authors of the R.I. State Special Education Regulations (2000 and 2007 draft) and authored the Rhode Island Physical Restraint Regulations. He has published hundreds of educational articles and technical assistance documents including his most recent publication “A Quick Reference Guide to Section 504 for Public Schools”. David is an adjunct professor in the School of Graduate Studies at both Rhode Island College and Johnson & Wales University and a frequent presenter at forums throughout the United States addressing special education, civil rights, school discipline, the ADA, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the rights of individuals with disabilities

Craig J. Levis

Craig J. Levis is a founding partner in the Education Resources Consortium, where he specializes in special education issues, Response to Intervention (RtI), coaching and mentoring of current administrators, and program development and quality and cost saving measures.

Currently finishing his Doctoral studies at Northeastern University, Craig currently holds the post of Vice President of the Association of Rhode Island Administrators of Special Education and is a working group member of the New England Secondary School Consortium. Craig also serves as Director of Special Education in the Smithfield, RI Public Schools.

Mr. Levis consults to numerous educational and social service organizations, locally and nationally, and has facilitated workshops on RtI at the state, regional, district and school levels. He is a member of the Board of Directors for the Tri-town Community Action Program and Health Center and serves on the Rhode Island State Special Education Advisory Committee.  Mr. Levis received his bachelor’s degree from McGill University, and has a Masters Degree in Special Education. 

Elisabeth Pritsoulis-Ewick has thirteen years of experience in urban education working within the Boston Public Schools system and teaching graduate-level courses at Northeastern University for teachers seeking certification as special educators.  She has a solid background in supporting teachers to design classrooms to meet the needs of diverse learners in the inclusive classroom.  Ms. Ewick directed the learning center at Fenway High School, a model which helped students with learning differences to succeed in postsecondary education.  At Boston Day and Evening Academy, Ms. Ewick works with students who have experienced disruptions in their educations for various reasons, many of them with significant gaps of time in their formal schooling. To support these non-traditional students, she collaborated with teachers to design something which combined the Carol Ann Tomlinson model of differentiation and her knowledge of special education. Ms. Ewick draws on practical and effective experience to provide professional development opportunities.

Euthemia I. Gilman is the Founder of the Silver Hill Horace Mann Charter School. Mrs.Gilman is an adjunct professor in the Education Department of Northern Essex Community College. As an Executive Board member of the Northeast Regional Readiness Center housed at Salem State University, Mrs.Gilman works with area institutes of higher learning in teacher preparation courses and professional development for educators. At a recent eInstruction Summit Conference in Austin, Texas where Mrs. Gilman was the keynote speaker, she referred to mobile Interwrite boards and student response systems as the “chalk and chalkboard” for teachers in 2011. She has a BB from Boston University in Psychology, MA  from UMASS/Lowell in Educational Administration. She interrupted her doctoral studies to create the charter school.

Gwen Lowenheim is a founder and director of The Snaps Project, an educational consulting firm specializing in leadership development among administrators, faculty, students and parents. Snaps programs and cur­ricula infuse performance, improvisation, and philosophical conversation into the learning community. Gwen is on the faculty of the East Side In­stitute, an international research and training center for new approaches to education and psychology. A former junior high school teacher, she has co-written the nationally disseminated adolescent decision-making curriculum  

Kirsten Olson, Ed.D. is co-president of the Board of Directors of the Institute for Democratic Education in America, a national not-for-profit that consults with schools about democratic governance and instructional improvement.  She is also Chief Listening Officer at Old Sow Consulting, in Brookline, MA and author of Wounded By School: Recapturing the Joy in Learning and Standing Up To Old School Culture (Teachers College Press 2009) and Schools As Colonizers (Verlag 2008).  Her recent blog post, 50 Ways To Make Your School More Democratic (http://coopcatalyst.wordpress.com/2010/12/13/50-ways-to-make-your-school-more-democratic) drew participants from all over the world and was Tweeted, Trackbacked, and reposted over two hundred times. 

 Kristen EIchleay retired in 2007 from the Boston Public Schools after 37 years of service. For 10 years she served as a general education and special education teacher, and as an Evaluation Team Leader for special education. Kristen then left the classroom to provide professional development for teachers in the principles of Universal Design for Learning and Assistive Technology (AT) specialized technology tools and software. She has Masters degrees in Elementary Education, Generic Consulting/Moderate Special Needs, and Special Education Technology. Since retiring, Kristen has been an educational consultant specializing in UDL. She is on the planning team for a new Boston in-district charter school Boston Green Academy that will open in the fall of 2011. She will be providing professional development and support in the area of UDL and technology.

Laura Davis is the Director of Teaching and Learning at the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School. Prior to working at PVPA, she was the Education Director at the Farmington Valley Arts Center in Avon, Connecticut and a consultant for arts-in-education programs such as the HOT Schools program at the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism. Laura has a Master of Education degree in arts-integrated learning from Lesley University, a Bachelor of Arts degree from Tufts University in Social Psychology, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Nadja Reilly is a licensed clinical psychologist with over 13 years of clinical experience specializing in children, adolescents, and families. Dr. Reilly completed her graduate training at the University of Miami, Florida, and her clinical internship and post-doctoral fellowship at Children's Hospital Boston. She is a staff psychologist in the Department of Psychiatry at Children's Hospital, Boston and an Instructor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.  Dr. Reilly is the Director of the Swensrud Depression Prevention Initiative, where she focuses on school and community mental health work, specifically in consultation, curriculum and program development, and presentation of workshops to school staff, students and parents.  She is the editor of Preventing Depression: A Toolkit for Schools, co-editor of the How Not to Keep a Secret peer leadership curriculum, author of the Break Free from Depression school curriculum, and executive producer of Break Free From Depression, a documentary focusing on adolescent depression. Dr. Reilly has presented in numerous local and national conferences, and continues to promote awareness of adolescent depression through her school and community programming.

North Central Charter Essential School

Linda Tarantino is a founding faculty member of North Central Charter Essential School. She currently serves as the Co-chair of the Math & Science Department, instructional coach for the math team and teaches chemistry and environmental science in the high school.  She earned a BS from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a MS from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. Tarantino has also taught mathematics and chemistry under the International Baccalaureate program.

Jennifer Spingla holds a BS from the University of Maine at Orono and is

currently working towards a MS in Middle School Education. Jennifer earned

her Initial Teachers Licensure from the New Teacher’s Collaborative at the Theodore R. Sizer Teachers Center in Devens, Ma. She spent one year teaching at the Francis W. Parker Charter Essential School before moving to North Central Charter Essential School. Jennifer teaches pre-algebra 1 and environmental science. She also serves as the Mathematics Coordinator for the middle school supplemental math program.

Marblehead Community CPS

Molly Wright is currently the 7th grade Humanities teacher and a member of the Leadership Team at the Marblehead Community Charter Public School. Molly has held several positions at MCCPS including Student Services Coordinator and 6th grade Science/Language Arts/Global Studies teacher. She has several years of experience creating and refining performance based curriculum and assessments for middle school students. Along with holding her teaching license, Molly has a principal's license in MA. She can be reached at mwright@marbleheadcharter.com.

Pam Miller is currently the 4th grade Math and Science teacher, the Professional Development Coordinator and a member of the Leadership Team at the Marblehead Community Charter Public School. Pam is also co-writer and Director of the Forming Units to Elevate Learning Program (FUEL) Grant, a DESE-funded Dissemination Project. The FUEL Team has worked with teachers at the Briscoe Middle School in Beverly and the Belmonte Middle School in Saugus. She is also a member of the team representing MCCPS working with the cohort created by the Center for Collaborative Education, "Building Quality Performance Assessments Initiative."

Martha's Vineyard PCS

Susie DiRubio is the Special Needs Administrator and a Founding Faculty member at the Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School.  She has written and coordinated three Charter School dissemination grant projects:  Differentiated Instruction, Project-Based Learning, and Ongoing Assessment of the Learner.  Susie has joined her colleagues for presentations at professional conferences throughout Massachusetts.  Over the course of her career, Susie has worked in Massachusetts and in Michigan public, private, and independent schools, always with a focus on discovering ways for all students to find success in school.  She holds a Masters degree in Education and All But Dissertation status for her doctoral studies in Professional Development.  She has been at the Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School for 15 years.

Amy Reece, MSED is a team teacher for the 5th and 6th grades at the Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School where she is responsible for teaching and integrating both Language Arts and Social Studies.  Currently a member of the MCAS Assessment Development Committee for 6th grade ELA, she pursues professional development opportunities that help her students to succeed.   Over the past ten years, Amy has presented at the Massachusetts Public Charter School Conference on a multiple intelligence based poetry unit, the personal education plan, and on a cooperative model of social thinking skills.  Amy also ran round tables on differentiated learning and mentoring during the state conference.  Amy was proud to present at a conference for the Coalition for Essential Teachers on the Personal Education Plan.  She shares her experience with new teachers as a teacher mentor and as a supervisor for student teachers from both Leslie University and Wheelock College.  Amy holds a Masters in Education from Leslie University and is currently certified in language arts, reading, elementary education, and special education.  She has been at the Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School for 13 years.

Deborah Cutrer has had a variety of teaching experiences that have called for differentiation in both mainstream and alternative classrooms. Currently Deborah is the Math Teacher for grades 7-10 at MVCS. Her 29 years of professional experience also includes upper elementary team-teaching and Middle School Science in regular public school and alternative education settings. Deborah designed and facilitated an alternative classroom program for 6th, 7th, and 8th grade at-risk popula­tion in Tucson, Arizona. In her current position Deborah collaborated with colleagues to develop an evidence-based authentic assessment tool for Middle School and High School Math, based upon the Mass Curricu­lum frameworks. She designs and runs a four-year individualized math curriculum which has consistently resulted in positive and documented achievement from her students. Deborah has been at the MVCS for nine years.