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Featured Services
Macbook Training for Teachers
Many schools are providing their teachers with Macbooks. Whether you are a teacher getting a Macbook for the first time or a savvy Macbook user, there are many advantages Macbooks have over PCs.
Project Based Learning Training
The Buck Institute for Education (BIE) has become the premier authority on effective Project Based Learning. Rigorous projects help students learn key academic content and practice 21st Century Skills (such as collaboration, communication & critical thinking). Connect with Al and he can explain more about PBL and how to connect with BIE to set up training, or you can go to www.bie.org to learn more about PBL and set up a training on their website.
Team Building Workshops
Creation of a positive culture in a faculty is as important to the success of a school as the creation of a positive culture in the classroom. Utilizing many protocols (including ones from the National School Reform Faculty) this workshop will help educators understand how to create the proper culture, how to choose and build the most effective teams, and how to ensure that their faculty is as high-performing as possible.
IPads in the Classroom Training
Give a teacher an iPad and you have an adult who is probably well behind his or her students in the use of that tool. However, teach a teacher how to most effectively use the iPad in her classroom AND provide time and guidance to bring those teachers to a comfort level with the iPad and appropriate apps and you will have an educator who smoothly infuses one of the most effective educational tools available today
Inquiry Based Science Workshop
The most effective way to prepare students for any kind of assessment is effective and engaging teaching. Join a 28 year science classroom veteran whose students' results were always in the top ten in the state in the science assessment. Help insure that your hands-on experiences are not activities in search of a purpose, but rather well planned and implemented activities that meet the learning needs of your students.
From Textbook to Digital Classrooms
The digital classroom is something that many districts and teachers want to achieve. This workshop explores many alternatives to hard copy textbooks as well as ways to eliminate paper from the classroom. Also explored are the benefits of the flipped (or blended) classroom. Moving to the digital classroom is a journey and whether you are ready to go all out or are just starting on the journey- this workshop will benefit you.
Using the Internet Ethically
No matter how many websites districts block, there are more every day that are inappropriate. The best approach is to help our students become wise and ethical users of the internet. This workshop explores how to determine the reliability of a website, how a site owner can increase SEO, identifying the real owner of a website, and tracking changes made in a website, even if it has been deleted.
Using Social Media in the Classroom
Podcasts, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and the many other social media can be excellent teaching and learning tools. We know that most of our students are using at least one of the social media and are very engaged. Why not use these tools to our advantage as educators. In this era of constantly blocking websites and social media, it should be our responsibility as educators to help students see the value in these media to further their learning and to help them learn to make wise decisions about the use and sharing of them.
Open Space Technology
Open Space is a technique to get to the heart of the real issues in your school or district. With Open Space, a culture is created in which the participants feel safe to share whatever's on their minds and to discuss the important issues with a focus on resolution. Al has run Open Space with as few as a dozen participants and as many as 250. The simplicity of Open Space belies its effectiveness. Things change when Open Space is used effectively. And, when Open Space is utilized- be prepared to be surprised.
Google Drive and Google Apps in the Classroom K-12
With the 2013 changes in Google Docs, Google Drive and its associated applications can definitely make the lives of teachers (and administrators) easier and more efficient. This training will take participants through the important aspects of all things Google but, more importantly, will get their hands on each of the tools so that they take the experience back to school with them to improve their practice. Students and teachers will be more engaged and can take a huge leap towards a paperless classroom.
National Board Candidate Support
While there is no magic that will help a teacher achieve National Board Certification, there are techniques and checks that can help a teacher spotlight her teaching in the ways that will maximize her potential for achieving NBC. Candidates will work with one of the three dual certified National Board Teachers and who also led candidate support groups and served on the staff of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.
Bringing the Real World into the Math Classroom
With the various standards (Common Core State Standards, Indiana College and Career Readiness Standards, etc.) placing an emphasis on real world problems, many math teachers are looking for ways to make those real world connections. Whether you teach early elementary math, high school math subjects, or anything in between, you can learn valuable techniques for making the real world come alive in your math classroom.