Appropriate for: General Education (grades 1-6), Title 1 Services (grades 1-6), and Special Education (grades 1-12) Phonics for Reading Details: • Intervention in grades 1 and above – depending on reading level. • Support reading success and help students advance reading skills. • Delivers direct instruction in phonics and increases fluency. • This three-level program builds on learning: o First Level focuses on short vowels, consonants, consonant blends, and digraphs. o Second Level progresses with vowel combinations, r-controlled vowel sounds, common endings, and CVCe words. o Third Level expands concepts with vowel/letter combinations, common prefixes and suffices, minor consonant sounds for c and g, and minor vowel sound combinations. Come to the training and receive all the materials you need to get a Phonics for Reading group started immediately! Registration Deadline: Nov. 6, 2009

THIS SESSION HAS BEEN COMBINED WITH THE K-1 SESSION ON OCT. 14. In this workshop, participants will look at types of problems that are useful for building on young children’s counting abilities to learn the concepts of multiplication and division as well as multi-digit addition and subtraction. This program shows teachers how to use word problems to help students move from basic counting strategies, to the use of derived facts, to fluency. Videos of children solving problems will be used and participants will talk about how to structure and manage a classroom to allow for this kind of problem solving. Registration Deadline: October 7, 2009

In this workshop, participants will look at types of problems that are useful for building on young children’s counting abilities to become fluent in addition and subtraction. This program shows teachers how to use word problems to help students move from basic counting strategies, to the use of derived facts, to fluency. Videos of children solving problems will be used and participants will talk about how to structure and manage a classroom to allow for this kind of problem solving. Registration Deadline: October 7, 2009

Formative assessment or Assessment FOR Learning brings students into partnership with their teacher to monitor their own learning in ways that enhance student confidence, motivation, and achievement. This session will detail a series of practical formative assessment principles or strategies that help students understand the attributes of quality work from the beginning of the learning, learn to compare their work to that standard so they can see the differences, and learn to close the gap between the two. Participants will see examples of how teachers have made these strategies come alive in their teaching and in the learning of their students. This workshop is for K-12 teachers of all subjects. Registration Deadline: November 11, 2009

In this environmental education workshop for teachers of grades 5-12, hands-on participation in a number of Leopold Education Project (LEP) activities will provide basic but highly useful information in Michigan natural history and conservation ethics, preparing educators to successfully and efficiently use curriculum materials with students. Each participant receives lunch, the LEP Teacher’s Guide, A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold, outdoor “Task Cards”, and many additional supplemental materials. What is LEP? The Leopold Education Project is an innovative, interdisciplinary education program based on Aldo Leopold’s classic writings in his book A Sand County Almanac. Through reading about Leopold’s recorded discoveries and participating in meaningful hands-on activities, students are provided with opportunities to increase their appreciation for the land and to expand their ecological awareness. This workshop is strongly recommended for teachers or teams interested in participation in the NE MI Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative grant. $50 Stipend Limited to 20 Registration Deadline: Oct. 18, 2009

A blog (a contraction of the term "weblog") is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog. Show students how to express themselves as well as an easy way to provide information to the masses. Registration Deadline: Nov. 5, 2009

Digital Storytelling is the practice of using computer-based tools to tell stories. As with traditional storytelling, most digital stories focus on a specific topic and contain a particular point of view. However, as the name implies, digital stories usually contain some mixture of computer-based images, text, recorded audio narration, video clips and/or music. Digital stories can vary in length, but most of the stories used in education typically last between two and ten minutes. And the topics that are used in Digital Storytelling range from personal tales to the recounting of historical events, from exploring life in one´s own community to the search for life in other corners of the universe, and literally, everything in between. A great way to provide information to your students, giving the students the power to tell the story. Registration Deadline: Dec. 10, 2009

Moodle is a Course Management System (CMS), also known as a Learning Management System (LMS) or a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). It is a free web application from the REMC that educators can use to create effective online learning sites. Moodle.org is our community site where Moodle is made and discussed. This is a great way to help your students achieve the online requirement for the MME curriculum. Registration Deadline: Nov. 26, 2009

A podcast is a series of digital media files, either audio or video, that is released episodically and downloaded through web syndication. The mode of delivery is what differentiates podcasts from other ways of accessing media files over the Internet, such as simple download or streamed webcasts: special client software applications known as podcatchers (like iTunes, Zune, Juice, and Winamp) are used to automatically identify and download new files in the series when they are released by accessing a centrally-maintained web feed that lists all files associated with the series. New files can thus be downloaded automatically by the podcatcher and stored locally on the user´s computer or other device for offline use, giving simpler access to episodic content. Get your students out there providing information for the world. Podcasting is a great medium for this process. Registration Deadline: Dec. 3, 2009

The Learn360 video streaming service for K–12 education now offers a My Learn360 homepage designed to individualize the user experience for educators. The page provides a variety of teacher-requested tools developed to help educators complete tasks quickly and strengthen communication with students and colleagues. While United Streaming was created by the Discovery Channel, and the energy that revolutionized media over twenty-five years ago, Discovery Education empowers educators to engage students and transform classrooms by providing dynamic digital resources and customized professional development plans that improve student achievement. Using video clips in the classroom is a useful way to help explain difficult to comprehend concepts and enhances student learning. Both products also provide other resources to help teach your lessons using technology as the tool. Registration Deadline: Oct. 29, 2009

Wiki is a piece of server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content using any Web browser. Wiki supports hyperlinks and has a simple text syntax for creating new pages and crosslinks between internal pages on the fly. Wiki is unusual among group communication mechanisms in that it allows the organization of contributions to be edited in addition to the content itself. Learn how to make a classroom wiki you can use with your students to collaborate on documents and show students how the future of the workplace will be. Registration Deadline: Oct. 22, 2009