In this session, we will discuss how to create built-in intervention time that works specifically at the high school level. Participants will unpack the complexities of meeting both the academic & SEL needs of all learners by using data driven interventions and enrichments. Participants will leave with actionable strategies for their school centered around the use of the PLC process to drive data-driven targeted interventions. We will share how we have learned to meet the needs of not only struggling students but also high achieving students through enrichment activities that are meaningful to them and teachers within the building!
True differentiation allows students to move through learning at their own pace. Managing a classroom full of kids that all have different needs can seem overwhelming! In this session you will hear how the general idea of "The Modern Classroom Project" was applied to a middle school science class to achieve true differentiation and self-paced learning. These strategies can be applied to any content, any grade, but the focus of this session will be how it was implemented in middle school.
Director of ROE Services, Regional Office of Education #8
With over two decades immersed in education, spanning the teaching of 3rd through 8th graders, Sarah Meador has gathered a breadth of knowledge and experience. Her focus on science education, engagement strategies, and technology integration has led her to achieve the honor of becoming... Read More →
Monday December 9, 2024 9:30am - 10:30am CST
Monarch
Knowing vocabulary words is imperative to reading comprehension as a student will only comprehend to their level of vocabulary knowledge, especially for English Language Learners. However, the knowledge of what vocabulary words mean is only part of the process. Learning about parts of words (prefix, suffix, and root words), and how they come together to make up the English language can help readers understand words while reading. Attend this session to learn more about evidence based vocabulary strategies that will help all learners, including multilingual/English learners contextualize, rather than memorize vocabulary. Strategies will cover Pre-Kindergarten through High School.
Network Capacity Coach, IL MTSS Network/Northern Illinois University
Kari Harris is a Network Capacity Coach located in the northern region of Illinois. She has educational experience as a classroom teacher, a reading specialist, a literacy coach, and an instructional coach. Kari earned a Bachelor of Science from Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo... Read More →
Monday December 9, 2024 9:30am - 10:30am CST
Hinsdale
Reading comprehension skills can be difficult to develop for many students. In this session we will explore a different approach of developing reading comprehension skills by using Cartoons and hands on STEM Activities.
Education is a people business. Our hope as leaders is to create an environment and structure where deep, meaningful conversations happen consistently and teacher growth is the norm and not the anomaly.
This session uses personality archetypes to help leaders better understand themselves and how to communicate to others. Once we understand that we can continually adapt our communication styles to meet the diverse needs of those we serve, we crack the coaching code and can become a better leader for those we serve.
Instructional coaching offers a powerful approach to not only enhance teaching practices but also to profoundly impact student engagement. In this session, participants will explore the foundational principles of instructional coaching and its direct correlation to student engagement. We will unpack strategies for leveraging coaching techniques to create learning environments where every student feels seen, heard, and motivated to excel.
Instructional Coach, Kane County Regional Office of Education
Hello!My name is Elsa Glover and I'm an instructional coach for Kane County Regional Office of Education. I earned my Bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois in English and History. Then I earned my Master's in Arts and Teaching at Aurora University.My teaching career started... Read More →
Administrators will learn how to collaborate with teacher teams to address student learning problems. The session includes an overview of a research-based learning cycle that explicitly addresses the root cause of student learning problems while providing structures to administrators and teacher teams for collaboration. Learning cycles is a systemic approach to teacher teams collaborating to improve student learning by using data to identify a specific responsive strategy to improve student learning. This includes analysis of trend and learning gap data. Implementing a learning cycle promotes distributed leadership throughout the teacher team, addresses comprehensive data analysis and review, identifies needed resources, professional learning, and setting SMART goals to measure the effect of the selected responsive strategy.
This session will focus on leveraging professional learning structures within the school day to improve quality instruction, increase rigor and challenge, and raise student achievement. There are two easy to implement systems any school can use, which will help support student learning and improve instruction: learning walks and a cohort PLC model. During this session, I will share how we utilized learning walks, including preparing our staff, partnering staff members, determining a focus, and collecting and sharing data. The other professional learning structure to support teachers and students is a cohort framework. I will share how our teachers successfully utilized an action learning cycle within a cohort focused on a professional learning topic. Staff members met on a regular basis, collaborated, and shared successes and next steps. I will share our successes and do-overs with topic selection, accountability, and how the cohorts moved forward on their professional learning journey, even with some being resistant. These two frameworks, learning walks and cohorts, allowed us to create and maintain consistent, in house professional learning that moved instruction and student learning forward over the course of two years.
Maps can be used in any subject area to provide a unique look at the world - to visualize data, observe patterns and relationships, and seek new insights based on analysis. This session will introduce you to two free, GIS mapping platforms that only require Internet connectivity.
MapMaker, a National Geographic and Esri, Inc. collaboration, allows teachers and students to explore and design maps, using basic GIS tools. Students can add map symbols and layers of curated data to show information. Swipe and filtering tools make it easy to compare and analyze data.
GeoInquiries™ are free, ready-to-use, GIS-based mapping activities, based on inquiry methods. An amazing array of introductory GIS map activities, created by Esri’s Education Team, connect to curriculum for various subjects at multiple grade levels. You can present an activity with one computer or as a hands-on activity for students. They gently introduce the teacher and the students to the interactive world of digital maps and help you see traditional content in new ways.
See how a map can enhance a topic you are teaching and engage your students in GIS mapping and inquiry.
Level Up Your Teaching with a Student-Centered Approach! This session dives into competency-based instruction (CBI) and data-driven decision making, a powerful combination for maximizing student achievement. What You'll Learn: The Core of CBI: Discover how CBI focuses on mastering specific skills and knowledge, ensuring students progress at their own pace. Data as Your Guide: Explore how to leverage student data from assessments and activities to identify learning gaps and tailor instruction accordingly. Actionable Strategies: Leave with practical techniques to implement CBI in your classroom, including effective assessment methods and data analysis tools. Benefits for You and Your Students: Personalized Learning: Meet the needs of all learners by differentiating instruction based on individual strengths and weaknesses. Increased Engagement: Foster a mastery-oriented environment where students take ownership of their learning journey. Data-Driven Decisions: Make informed choices about instruction based on concrete evidence of student progress. Join us and unlock the potential of a dynamic and personalized learning experience!
This is Mollie's second year as an instructional coach for Sycamore High School. She previously taught English for seven years in two different school districts, most recently Sycamore High School.
In this session we will discuss the development and framework of a K-8 STEM program in a the diverse, low income, rural school. Our STEM program explores coding/robotics, 3D design, and basic physics.
Are you eager to ignite a dynamic fusion of learning in your classroom? Dive into our session and discover the art of weaving together diverse content standards through the dynamic framework of the 5Es lesson design. Explore invaluable resources to seamlessly blend various subjects, empowering your students with engaging and interconnected learning experiences. Walk away equipped with the expertise and tools to cultivate impactful educational journeys in your classroom. Join us and unlock the potential of cross-curricular exploration!
What do you do when student(s) are not responding to an intervention? This session will provide evidence-based strategies to improve intervention outcomes for these students. You will learn how to systematically make changes to an intervention’s strength, dosage, alignment and generalizability to improve learning outcomes. Join us to learn more and take helpful new ideas and tools back to your classroom to strengthen intervention for all your students!
Network Capacity Coach, IL MTSS Network/Northern Illinois University
Kari Harris is a Network Capacity Coach located in the northern region of Illinois. She has educational experience as a classroom teacher, a reading specialist, a literacy coach, and an instructional coach. Kari earned a Bachelor of Science from Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo... Read More →
Monday December 9, 2024 10:45am - 11:45am CST
Hinsdale
Are you looking for strategies that facilitate lively, thoughtful classroom discussions? Are you hoping to spur more balanced dialogue that encourages all students to participate? Are you looking for strategies to help your students navigate challenging conversations in your classroom? Come hear about and try out a variety of different strategies that encourage and model ways to encourage student participation in any classroom discussion. This session will be interactive, focusing on tools and strategies that encourage a balanced, lively classroom discussion whatever the topic or content area. Both small and large group discussion techniques will be discussed and modeled.
In this session, discover how to enhance student learning with AI – at any age. Kelli will share specific teaching ideas and workflows that allow even the little students to learn how to learn with AI … even in the landscape of ever evolving tech.
Are you tired of feeling like you're herding cats in the classroom? Do you find yourself assessing student engagement by counting the number of yawns per minute? In this session we’ll dive head first into a carefully curated list of instructional strategies that you can take home with you today! I’ll cover assessment, writing, discussion, SEL, grading, and AI strategies just to name a few! All strategies can be adjusted to fit your needs.
Want students to be college and career ready in the 21st century? Start by designing student experiences based on the science of how people actually learn. Thanks to recent research from multiple fields, we now know how to radically increase student learning. In this interactive session, learn about the four major principles that can transform teaching practice, using concrete examples. Then, ground what we explore in the reality of your schools. Throughout the session, generate ideas for curriculum, instruction, and assessment that will lead to significantly greater success for your students.
All students deserve a great education. To make that happen, I work with educational leaders to enhance district and school transformation efforts. I specialize in helping educators focus on the changes to leadership, instruction, professional learning networks, and climate and culture... Read More →
Adolescent readers struggle with comprehension when they aren't able to lift the words off the page, but what happens when they are fluent, but they still don't understand what they read? Explicit vocabulary instruction is an essential strand in the Reading Rope. This session aims to share ways to support vocabulary acquisition while supporting comprehension. Participants will walk away with ready-to-use strategies to increase vocabulary, and even build some background knowledge in the process!
We’ve all heard about the Science of Reading, but what about the Science of Learning? This session unveils a roadmap empowering educators to optimize student learning. Journey through cutting-edge research illuminating the intricacies of how the brain learns. Dive deep into transformative learning strategies with proven impact and uncover their practical application in the classroom. Assess your current strategies to ensure you're maximizing efficacy and student outcomes. Join us to revolutionize your teaching approach and unlock the full potential of your students.
Differentiation is a method of approaching teaching and learning that takes into account how students learn and their level of preparedness before the lesson. In this session, participants will learn how to plan for differentiation by making adjustments to the content, process, product, and learning environment based on students' readiness, interests, and learning profile. Additionally, resources for implementing differentiation will be provided.
By offering students creative ways to showcase and share their knowledge, we not only help them understand the content better but also teach them how to use design thinking in navigating their learning path. This thinking and creating approach can be adjusted and applied to different subjects.
Join Camille, a seasoned art teacher with 18 years of experience, as she introduces techniques to enhance your current curriculum by introducing imaginative avenues for students to display their learning. Discover numerous chances to inspire your students to explore their studies more deeply, boosting their confidence and giving them tools for real-world situations. We will explore contemporary artists who serve as examples for demonstrating learning, such as those who have transformed weather data into sculptures and musical compositions.
You will also create your own samples to prepare yourself for offering these opportunities to your students. For instance, you can use Adobe Express AI text-to-image for ELA students to visually represent character descriptions. With certifications in Google Level 1, Adobe Creative Educator Level 1 & 2, and as an Adobe Creative Educator Innovator, Camille will showcase basic techniques using Google and Adobe Express to improve student outcomes. Our primary focus will be on utilizing free computer-based tools, so please bring a device of your choice.
Anxious Students - Jonathan Haidt, the author of The Anxious Generation, has spurred conversations on the possible root causes of increased anxiety and depression levels in children and adolescents. This session will provide all members of the educational staff an opportunity to share observations, insight, and strategies to address the increasing numbers of students with high-anxiety and depression in the educational setting. We will share and discuss information presented by Jonathan Haidt. What impact has high-speed internet, smartphones, and social media had on the mental health of children? Is this the root cause of the increase in anxiety and depression in children, especially females? What structural changes can be instituted? What changes can we make in the classroom?
In the ever-evolving landscape of professional learning, educators are constantly seeking innovative and engaging opportunities to enhance their practice. Enter the INSPIRE subscription box—a dynamic and immersive approach to professional development that offers educators curated resources, tools, and activities delivered right to their doorstep. In this session, participants will explore the transformative potential of subscription boxes as a viable and accessible avenue for continuous learning and growth.
Professional Learning Coordinator, Kane County Regional Office of Education
My name is Jordan Eggleson, and I am the professional learning coordinator at the Kane County Regional Office of Education. I earned my Bachelor’s of Elementary Education degree from the University of Illinois-Chicago with a middle school math endorsement. I earned a Master’s... Read More →
Tuesday December 10, 2024 9:30am - 10:30am CST
Pinehurst
This session aims to educate general education teachers about the use of learning modifications in the general education classroom. With the rise of blended settings and co-teaching, many teachers are expected to support diverse learners in the general education setting. We will introduce the difference between accommodations and modifications, explore the nine different types of modifications, and then apply our learning while making modifications to a lesson or unit we already use in our classrooms.
Welcome aboard, educators! Prepare for an exhilarating journey in our session, "Co-Teaching Take-Off: Soaring High Together," designed to elevate your instruction to new heights. Fasten your seatbelts as we embark on a quest that will transform your co-teaching dynamics.
In this session, you'll explore five co-teaching models like One Teach, One Observe; Station Teaching; Parallel Teaching; Alternative Teaching; and Team Teaching. You'll navigate these models through interactive in-flight simulations, gaining practical understanding through experiences.
Building strong co-teacher relationships is a crucial part of our flight plan. Through team-building exercises, you'll foster open communication and mutual respect with your co-teachers. Reflective discussions will help you identify your strengths and areas for growth, ensuring a smooth and collaborative flight path while avoiding turbulence.
By the end of this high-flying session, you'll be ready to co-pilot your classroom with confidence and collaboration. "Co-Teaching Take-Off: Soaring High Together" is not just a session, it's an adventure designed to propel your instruction to new altitudes. Join us on this journey and prepare to soar!
Innovative, passionate educator committed to empowering students with diverse needs. Pursuing a Master's in Curriculum & Instruction: Trauma & Resilience.
Tuesday December 10, 2024 10:45am - 11:45am CST
Cardinal
Ready to highlight successful strategies and celebrate best practices within your school setting? We’ll show you how to provide opportunities for colleagues to showcase their craft and learn from one another. See how we embrace five-star instruction and foster shared leadership through peer visits, share fairs, and more! It’s time to let your staff take the stage and shine!
90% of the English language is derived from Latin roots and each individual word part is used in an average of 20 words! If you teach a handful of word parts a week, students will have access to over a 1,000 words by the end of the year! This interactive workshop will have participants rethink the way they teach words in any content. Using the ARCS method, participants will be deconstructing complex words and determining meaning from context clues and word parts. Participants will have the opportunity to design similar activities with words from their own curriculum that they can use in their classroom.
Co-teaching is a collaborative special education service delivery model designed to enhance learning outcomes for all students. In this approach, the general education teacher and special education teacher partner together to provide instruction in a shared classroom with a diverse student population. This session offers valuable insight for educators seeking to understand the principles, purpose, and key components of effective co-teaching practices.
Is the professional development in your building helping teacher grow? Or is it holding them back? In this session we will share feedback from teacher leaders all over Illinois regarding thier feelings about the current state of PD in their schools- and what they wish thier administration would recognize about thier professional development needs. We will walk through specific recommendations from teachers about how to make professional development meaningful and how to incorportate teacher voice into the development process.
Associate Professor and Teacher Leader Program Cha, Natoinal Louis University
Biography: I began mycareer in education as a high school English and Theatre teacher. I went on to serve as Dean of Students, Department Chair, and Associate Principal in districts in Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin. I have also served as a school board member in Antioch... Read More →
Tuesday December 10, 2024 10:45am - 11:45am CST
Pinehurst
In this session we will describe the effect that Lesson Study cycles have had on our middle school math classroom. Looking at our school-wide learning goals as articulated in our research theme, we designed and studied units and lessons intended to:
Teach scholars to make sense of problems and persevere in solving them by teaching math through problem-solving.
Teach scholars to construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others through note-taking, board work, and students’ discourse. Promote student discourse through the implementation of engagement strategies. Come and learn how to use Lesson Study as a professional learning structure to explore professional teaching and learning problems with a group of fellow educators. In this session, we will share how we have used continuous cycles of lesson design, peer observation and data collection, and post-lesson conversations to deepen our understanding of teaching, while cultivating a school culture that supports inquisitive teachers working together on teaching and learning solutions in our school. We’ll share what we have done, what we have learned, and where we’re going next with Lesson Study to drive continual improvement. While our lesson content and research themes have been centered around mathematics instruction through problem-solving, the Lesson Study process can be applied to any content area or grade level; Lesson Study can be the catalyst for improved learning for students in any classroom where teachers want to be better teachers!
The phrase specially designed instruction is not new, but is being used more and more in discussions about educating our students with disabilities. IDEA states that students eligible for special education services must receive specially designed instruction to meet the unique needs of a child with a disability. This session supports educators in developing essential knowledge and skills to ensure student success through SDI. Teachers will understand how to select and implement evidence-based interventions with fidelity to align with students' needs to provide the greatest educational benefit. Teachers will be able to refine their practices and discover ways to close the achievement gap for students with specific learning disabilities!
I began my career in special education in 1996 and during my twenty-eight years in the field, I have held positions as a special education teacher, elementary school principal, an alternative education school principal and most recently, a special education administrator. During my... Read More →
Tuesday December 10, 2024 12:00pm - 1:00pm CST
Doral
School improvement planning does not need to be complicated to yield results in student achievement. Join us to learn about a simple, yet effective way to structure focused improvement planning efforts. While our plan focuses on writing across the content areas, the process can be applicable to any area of focus.
Just as kernels of popcorn from a bag do not all pop at the same time, our students all grasp and master concepts at different rates. Learn how we drastically improved student reading levels with our school-wide guided reading program and then adapted it to focus on improving our students' basic math skills, all while boosting students' confidence and excitement. Participants will walk away with methods and strategies for implementing these two programs and the reasons behind why we do what we do. This hands-on session will give educators a glimpse of the working pieces of our guided reading and math block programs.
This interactive breakout session is designed for educators who aim to empower their students through the development of a Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum (GVC) that promotes self-directed learning. Participants will delve into the core principles of a GVC and learn how to construct a curriculum framework that is both rigorous and flexible enough to adapt to diverse learning styles and needs. The workshop will provide practical tools and strategies for creating curricular units that encourage students to take initiative, make decisions, and drive their own learning processes. Through collaborative activities and expert-led discussions, attendees will leave with actionable insights on how to craft educational experiences that foster independence, critical thinking, and a lifelong love of learning. Join us to transform your educational approach and inspire your students to become proactive learners!
Stephen Oertle is the Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction at Roxana Community Unit School District #1 in Southern Illinois, the founder and director of CourseMason LLC, and an independent consultant specializing in the development of curriculum, assessments, instructional... Read More →
Tuesday December 10, 2024 2:30pm - 3:30pm CST
Ballroom E
In early 2022, as schools were coming out of two years of interrupted instruction, Clinton Junior High School received a “targeted” designation from the state. Limited infrastructure was in place in terms of a building leadership team whose purpose was to focus on academic achievement. Join the building principal and a teacher member of the school’s instructional support team as they share their experiences of addressing the achievement gap and fostering a mindset of continuous school improvement. Learn about the process of analyzing Math and ELA data and building staff capacity for strategic improvements in designation Year 1, as well as plans for moving forward in Year 2.
