Summer Offerings 2018
PBL 101 with the Buck Institute
Description:
PBL 101 Workshop: A 3-day, hands-on, project-based learning workshop provided by the Buck Institute for Education. Based upon BIE’s model of Gold Standard PBL, the workshop provides participants with skills and knowledge needed to design, assess and manage a rigorous, relevant, and standards-based project. The workshop models the project process. Facilitated by one of BIE’s expert National Faculty, the workshop is a balanced blend of direct instruction, video analysis, hands-on work, resource sharing, and peer collaboration and feedback. Participants are actively engaged in project design, with the expectation that every teacher or teaching team will generate a project plan that receives formative feedback from both participants and BIE National Faculty. All participants receive a free copy of BIE’s PBL 101 Workbook.
Date: Tues-Thursday August 14-16
Location: Nipmuc Regional High School
Audience: K-12
PBL 101 Workshop: A 3-day, hands-on, project-based learning workshop provided by the Buck Institute for Education. Based upon BIE’s model of Gold Standard PBL, the workshop provides participants with skills and knowledge needed to design, assess and manage a rigorous, relevant, and standards-based project. The workshop models the project process. Facilitated by one of BIE’s expert National Faculty, the workshop is a balanced blend of direct instruction, video analysis, hands-on work, resource sharing, and peer collaboration and feedback. Participants are actively engaged in project design, with the expectation that every teacher or teaching team will generate a project plan that receives formative feedback from both participants and BIE National Faculty. All participants receive a free copy of BIE’s PBL 101 Workbook.
Date: Tues-Thursday August 14-16
Location: Nipmuc Regional High School
Audience: K-12
Building a Gradeless Classroom
Date: Tuesday, June 26th
Time: 9:00-1:30
Location: Nipmuc Regional High School
Instructor: Chris Evans
Audience: Teachers K-12
Learning Objectives:
Description:
A gradeless classroom is such an alien concept that it requires definition despite the clarity of its description. In a gradeless classroom, there are no grades--just a cycle of learning composed of inquiry, tasks, feedback, and ongoing conversation about learning. In this workshop, I hope to develop the ground-level material for making a gradeless classroom work for me, and I welcome anyone else who would like to explore the possibility of bringing it into their classroom, too. The AM session will focus on discussion, method, and problem-solving; the PM session will focus on producing Day 1 materials for students and their families, who will no doubt find this prospect daunting (as I do right now).
Cancelled due to low enrollment
Date: Tuesday, June 26th
Time: 9:00-1:30
Location: Nipmuc Regional High School
Instructor: Chris Evans
Audience: Teachers K-12
Learning Objectives:
- Participants will be able to organize a gradeless classroom for the fall.
- Participants will be able to join a support network with others in the district who will go gradeless.
Description:
A gradeless classroom is such an alien concept that it requires definition despite the clarity of its description. In a gradeless classroom, there are no grades--just a cycle of learning composed of inquiry, tasks, feedback, and ongoing conversation about learning. In this workshop, I hope to develop the ground-level material for making a gradeless classroom work for me, and I welcome anyone else who would like to explore the possibility of bringing it into their classroom, too. The AM session will focus on discussion, method, and problem-solving; the PM session will focus on producing Day 1 materials for students and their families, who will no doubt find this prospect daunting (as I do right now).
Cancelled due to low enrollment
Higher Order Thinking Through Questioning; How to Pre Plan Questions to Engage All Learners in Critical Thinking
Date: June 27, 2018
Time: 9:00-1:30
Location: Miscoe Hill MS
Instructor: Jennifer Mannion
Audience: K-12 teachers or administrators
Description:
"I hear you saying rigor all the time. What do you mean?" Often times as educators, we use common terminology but have different understanding and skills in regard to what an instructional theory or strategy looks like in practice. This question, asked by a teacher when I was a new administrator, sparked an exploration into how to support teachers in engaging all learners in higher order thinking.
By pre planning questions to ask during a unit or lesson, we can ensure all students engage in critical thinking, regardless of learning needs. In this workshop, we will do the following:
Cancelled due to low enrollment
Date: June 27, 2018
Time: 9:00-1:30
Location: Miscoe Hill MS
Instructor: Jennifer Mannion
Audience: K-12 teachers or administrators
Description:
"I hear you saying rigor all the time. What do you mean?" Often times as educators, we use common terminology but have different understanding and skills in regard to what an instructional theory or strategy looks like in practice. This question, asked by a teacher when I was a new administrator, sparked an exploration into how to support teachers in engaging all learners in higher order thinking.
By pre planning questions to ask during a unit or lesson, we can ensure all students engage in critical thinking, regardless of learning needs. In this workshop, we will do the following:
- Revise or create curriculum to include both questions that drive content and skill development as well as questions to drive critical thinking
- Learn to differentiate between an important question and an essential question
- Learn how to develop open ended questions
- Determine where/when in a unit or lesson to use different types of questions
- Align questions with instructional strategies for highest impact on learning
- Discuss how to provide learners agency by teaching the learner to develop interest-based, higher order thinking questions
Cancelled due to low enrollment
Fresh Brews & Bots
Date: Thursday, June 28th, 2018
Time: 9:00-2:00
Location: Nipmuc HS
Audience: High School Teachers
Outcomes: Participants will walk away with: knowledge needed to program & build a simple robot and share this opportunity, with support from Dave Quinn, with their students.
Description:
You'll learn simple programming and robotics that students can use to bring content to life. In the morning, educators will learn the basics of connecting lights, motors and sensors to the Hummingbird controller over iced coffee from the Coffee Exchange in Providence. In the afternoon, we’ll discuss curricular opportunities to incorporate robotics as an assessment of and for learning while building a sample robot to show students. New to programming & robotics? Don’t worry! This type of session has been successfully run for people from 7 to 70!
Cancelled due to low enrollment
Date: Thursday, June 28th, 2018
Time: 9:00-2:00
Location: Nipmuc HS
Audience: High School Teachers
Outcomes: Participants will walk away with: knowledge needed to program & build a simple robot and share this opportunity, with support from Dave Quinn, with their students.
Description:
You'll learn simple programming and robotics that students can use to bring content to life. In the morning, educators will learn the basics of connecting lights, motors and sensors to the Hummingbird controller over iced coffee from the Coffee Exchange in Providence. In the afternoon, we’ll discuss curricular opportunities to incorporate robotics as an assessment of and for learning while building a sample robot to show students. New to programming & robotics? Don’t worry! This type of session has been successfully run for people from 7 to 70!
Cancelled due to low enrollment
CPI Training (2 day training)
Dates: Wed-Thurs, August 1-2, 2018, 9-3
Location: Miscoe Hill Middle School
Instructor: Marabeth Ishler and Doug Johnson
Audience: Open to all
Description:
Gain a basic understanding of crisis intervention methods.
On the first day of Nonviolent Crisis Intervention® training, the emphasis is on early intervention and nonphysical methods for preventing or managing disruptive behavior. You’ll learn:
Reinforce preventive techniques and learn holding skills.
The second day of training expands on crisis intervention methods to include the study and practice of holding skills. These skills are taught to be used as a last resort when an individual becomes an immediate danger to self or others. You’ll learn:
Dates: Wed-Thurs, August 1-2, 2018, 9-3
Location: Miscoe Hill Middle School
Instructor: Marabeth Ishler and Doug Johnson
Audience: Open to all
Description:
Gain a basic understanding of crisis intervention methods.
On the first day of Nonviolent Crisis Intervention® training, the emphasis is on early intervention and nonphysical methods for preventing or managing disruptive behavior. You’ll learn:
- How to identify behaviors that could lead to a crisis.
- How to most effectively respond to each behavior to prevent the situation from escalating.
- How to use verbal and nonverbal techniques to defuse hostile behavior and resolve a crisis before it can become violent.
- How to cope with your own fear and anxiety.
- How to assess risk levels and consider the issues that impact decision making.
- How to use CPI's disengagement skills to avoid injury if behavior becomes physical.
Reinforce preventive techniques and learn holding skills.
The second day of training expands on crisis intervention methods to include the study and practice of holding skills. These skills are taught to be used as a last resort when an individual becomes an immediate danger to self or others. You’ll learn:
- When it’s appropriate to physically intervene.
- How to develop team intervention strategies and techniques.
- How to assess the physical and psychological well-being of those involved in a crisis.
- A progression of holding skills to manage aggressive behavior in least restrictive, safest manner.
- How to maintain rapport with the acting-out individual.
- Key steps for debriefing after a crisis.
- How to properly document an incident.
Growth Mindset: Cultivating a Growth Mindset in Our Students and Classrooms
Date: Wednesday, August 22, 2018
Time: 11:30-1:30
Location: Nipmuc Regional High School
Instructor: Maureen Cohen
Audience: K-12 teachers and staff
Description:
When students believe that their effort and hard work can change their performance in school and that they can 'grow their brain' through resilience, grit, and developing a growth mindset powerful things will happen for them. This session will provide participants with an overview of the key aspects of growth mindset and provide activities educators can take back to their schools to help foster a growth mindset in their classroom. This is appropriate for all grade levels.
Date: Wednesday, August 22, 2018
Time: 11:30-1:30
Location: Nipmuc Regional High School
Instructor: Maureen Cohen
Audience: K-12 teachers and staff
Description:
When students believe that their effort and hard work can change their performance in school and that they can 'grow their brain' through resilience, grit, and developing a growth mindset powerful things will happen for them. This session will provide participants with an overview of the key aspects of growth mindset and provide activities educators can take back to their schools to help foster a growth mindset in their classroom. This is appropriate for all grade levels.
Create to Learn Series
In these two hour workshops, we’ll learn how to design new learning opportunities for students to creatively express their knowledge using Dr. Renee Hobbs’s new book Create to Learn. The first half of our session will be spent looking at the aspects of the creative process including generating ideas, making thoughtful decisions while creating, accessing and analyzing potential ideas for creativity, taking action through the creation and, finally, reflecting on the action.
The second half of the session will center on a type of digital media creation that you can bring to your classroom. Teachers are encouraged to bring 1-3 lessons that could be tweaked to incorporate one of the forms of new media into the existing unit or lesson plan.
Location: Nipmuc HS
Audience: Grades 3-12
Session 1: Thursday, August 9 9:00-11:00
Blogging & Websites: Creating a platform for students’ thoughts, ideas & activism
Session 2: Thursday, August 9 11:30-1:30
Digital Audio & Podcasting: Using audio to tell & share interesting stories through interview or narratives
Session 3: Tuesday, August 21 11:30-1:30
Video Production: Getting beyond the one-shot video project to different shots, angles, audio & narration to create shareable content
Session 4: Wednesday, August 22 9:00-11:00
Infographics Data Visualization: Transforming numerical data into engaging & compelling images that capture your audience’s attention
Session 5: Wednesday, August 22 11:30-1:30
Vlogs & Screen Casting: Creating higher-quality single-person or small team video on a short timeline.
In these two hour workshops, we’ll learn how to design new learning opportunities for students to creatively express their knowledge using Dr. Renee Hobbs’s new book Create to Learn. The first half of our session will be spent looking at the aspects of the creative process including generating ideas, making thoughtful decisions while creating, accessing and analyzing potential ideas for creativity, taking action through the creation and, finally, reflecting on the action.
The second half of the session will center on a type of digital media creation that you can bring to your classroom. Teachers are encouraged to bring 1-3 lessons that could be tweaked to incorporate one of the forms of new media into the existing unit or lesson plan.
Location: Nipmuc HS
Audience: Grades 3-12
Session 1: Thursday, August 9 9:00-11:00
Blogging & Websites: Creating a platform for students’ thoughts, ideas & activism
Session 2: Thursday, August 9 11:30-1:30
Digital Audio & Podcasting: Using audio to tell & share interesting stories through interview or narratives
Session 3: Tuesday, August 21 11:30-1:30
Video Production: Getting beyond the one-shot video project to different shots, angles, audio & narration to create shareable content
Session 4: Wednesday, August 22 9:00-11:00
Infographics Data Visualization: Transforming numerical data into engaging & compelling images that capture your audience’s attention
Session 5: Wednesday, August 22 11:30-1:30
Vlogs & Screen Casting: Creating higher-quality single-person or small team video on a short timeline.