LEARN NC, which works to provide teachers with professional development opportunities and instructional resources, is holding its 2011 Fall Interactive Conference on Nov. 7.
The conference, in which participation is free, will be held entirely online in an effort to make it easier for teachers and other educators to view the sessions. The sessions also will be archived on LEARN NC’s website for later viewing.
“We had hundreds of people participate last year,” said Emily Jack, LEARN NC’s managing editor. “Doing an online offering is a much easier way for teachers to participate given that so many travel budgets and professional development budgets have been reduced.”
The conference is designed for teachers, media specialists, technology coordinators, professional development coordinators, administrators, and others who work in curriculum and instruction. The conference will feature eight sessions, covering topics such as how to reach struggling readers, teaching about North Carolina American Indians, modeling-based science instruction, and the state’s adoption of new curriculum standards and professional teaching standards.
Jack said presenters will include members of the faculty at the School of Education, officials with the N.C. Department of Public Instruction, representatives from the Kenan Fellows program and from UNC-Chapel Hill’s American Indian Center.
“The idea is sharing both the research done by faculty at the School of Education, but also some of our major collaborative partners, with an eye toward how teachers use these materials in their classroom instruction,” Jack said.
The conference begins at 11 a.m. and goes until 5 p.m.
“The whole conference is going to be live,” Jack said. “Each presenter will talk for about 15 minutes and then we’ll have time for a Q&A. That way, teachers who are at work may send their questions. We will have a moderator in the room who will pose those questions out loud so that all participants can hear them.”
The sessions will be stored on LEARN NC’s website so that teachers unable to view the sessions live may still see them later. Sessions from the previous two years are also on the LEARN NC website.
Anyone wishing to take part in this year’s conference should register in advance.
A new blog for teachers: ‘The Well’
LEARN NC also has launched a new resource for teachers, a blog which will be used to share findings from research conducted by UNC-Chapel Hill faculty members and translated in a way that teachers may put to use in their classrooms.
Called “The Well: Carolina research for your classroom,” the blog is intended to help teachers who are looking for proven ways to bolster their instruction.
Launched in late September, “The Well” will include articles that describe findings from research conducted by School of Education faculty members and graduate students, and also other researchers at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Postings already on the blog describe effective uses of video games, how to reach struggling readers, how to use self-regulated learning and how to include social skill instruction in your teaching. New articles typically are posted on Monday mornings.
“The Well” is found on the LEARN NC website. Users of RSS feeds may subscribe to “The Well” to automatically receive new postings.