Description of Activity: How do I start a SOLE?  
    Creating a SOLE is facilitating students in Self-Organized Learning Environments using an impressive and powerful app to plan, organize, implement and assess your students’ learning. 
    A Self-Organized Learning Environment, or SOLE, can exist anywhere there is a computer, internet connection, and students who are ready to learn.  Within a SOLE, students are given the freedom to learn collaboratively using hard copy resources and the Internet.   
    SOLE sessions are characterized by Project Based Learning, inquiry, discovery, sharing, spontaneity and supportive teacher intervention.  Every SOLE session activates learners’ creativity, requires critical thinking, and refines communication skills.   
    You will receive access to free tools to implement SOLE in your classroom, have time to create your own lessons, and find out how to earn Act 48 hours. 
 

Audience: K-12 educators, library media specialists, special education educators

All sessions are the same content.

Instructor(s): Peney Wright, Eric Yoder 

Description of Activity: All of central Pennsylvania is part of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed and there are five other watersheds that our state impact. Pennsylvania is committed to protecting these precious natural resources. A water shed is land area whose runoff drains into any river, stream, lake, and/or ocean. However, runoff from fields, lawns, pavement, and construction sites could carry potentially harmful materials from our watersheds to our rivers, bays and oceans. Even if you live, work, or play far from a river, your actions could have an impact on the quality of the water in many areas. Grants are available to fund MWEEs. 

A MWEE is…students exploring real world issues…in the field and in the classroom…students using evidence to draw conclusions and… take action! MWEEs use project-based methods, as well as, student voice and choice to engage learners in Local Issues Definition and Research, Outdoor Field Experiences, Synthesis and Conclusion, all leading towards Stewardship and Civic Action. These essential 4 student supporting practices are structured by active teacher support, local context, classroom integration and sustained activity. 

Environmental Education and Advocate Stakeholders urge all school districts to engage learners in at least one MWEE in elementary, one MWEE in middle school and one MWEE in high school.  MWEEs support PA’s New SE, EE & TE Academic Standards. During  
MWEE Session #1 we’ll walk you through a MWEE in action.  In Session #2 we will spend most of the day experiences Outdoor Field Experience. There will be time during the second session for preliminary planning for your own MWEE. 

Sessions Progression: Session #1 must be completed first, but any subsequent Session #2 workshop may be selected throughout the school year. They can be, but do not have to be, completed in close proximity. Both  sessions must be completed to earn Act 48 hours.
 

Audience: all PreK-12 educators, library/media specialists, STEM Specialists,  Instructional Coaches, special education educators

Location: Spark Lab & Outdoor Field Experience TBD

Teachers Only

Instructor(s): Peney Wright, Eric Yoder

Description of Activity: With strong literacy integration, Engineering is Elementary (EiE) facilitates integrated STEM learning for your students.No prior experience with Engineering, CS or STEM expected. Comprehensive, turn-key STEM engineering design processes, place-based and local “problems,” diverse realistic characters, as well as career connections are all woven into EiE’s curricula. EiE supports the New PA SE, EE & TE Academic Standards.

“EiE®, the award-winning curricula division of the Museum of Science, Boston, develops research-based, classroom-tested programs that empower children to become lifelong STEM learners and passionate problem solvers. Since 2003, we’ve designed our PreK-8 curricula to encourage all children, including those from underrepresented groups, to see themselves as engineers. Our flexible print, online and blended hands-on programs bring engineering, science and computer science together to prepare today’s students for a fast-paced, global, technology-savvy future.”

Join us for a free overview session where we will explore strong, guided and supportive online resources for teachers, digital and hardcopy storybooks, and materials/supply kits. Free sample resources provided. In-person, hybrid and remote learning options are available. EiE is worth the time to take a good, long look.

Audience: all PreK-8 educators, library/media specialists, STEM Specialists, Instructional Coaches, special education educators 
 

Please only select one date for each workshop.  You may attend one from each grade level.

Curriculum Advisory Council monthly meeting. Please check the sessions you would like to attend.

 If meetings cannot be held in person, a Zoom link will be provided.

Instructor(s): Peney E. Wright 

Description of Activity:  

Bring computational thinking and computer science alive with these delightful robots!  Using a variety of apps, our youngest learners use a remote control to move and animate Dash and Dot, learn icon-based coding with a variety of settings and even have Dash play a xylophone!  As students become proficient with these skills Dash and Dot can be coded with longer and open-ended choice of icon-based coding followed by easy to use block-based coding (think long Lego blocks that snap together with English language on them).   

Create an obstacle course for Dash and character costumes for Dot.  Join the annual Wonder League Robotics Challenge (WLRC) just for fun or compete worldwide!  This year’s challenge to be release in September 2021.  Previous challenges are available for fun, rigorous “missions.”  

Class set of Dashes and Dots available for check out from TIU 11’s Lending Library after completing this workshop. 
 

Audience: K-3 educators, library media specialists, special education educators

Please select one session.

Instructor(s): Peney Wright, Eric Yoder

Recommended Prerequisite: New PA Integrated SE, EE & TE Standards Session #1

Description of Activity: No experience with STEM required…   Join us in building a strong STEAM foundation incorporating inquiry-based teaching and learning methods with best practices to promote successful student performance expectations in the new PA’s New Integrated SE, EE & TE Academic Standards. Young children excel at active, hands-on learning and are fearless in showing what they know. Trust all your learners to be capable in expressing their learning in brilliant and innovative ways.

Work with a team to solving an early childhood appropriate (and fun!) student STEM Challenge, while staying in your comfort zone linking STEM learning to quality children’s multicultural literacy. 

Audience: all PreK-12 educators, library/media specialists, STEM Specialists, Instructional Coaches, special education educators 

Code.org CS Fundamentals: Fully supported, free computer science curriculum and activities for Elementary Teachers. Regardless of what subject you teach; computer science is foundational knowledge for all students in the 21st century. Incorporating it into your classroom will give your students a huge leg up. Besides, this is a subject the kids love learning. With the help of this Code.org, no cost, one-day workshop for elementary school teachers, you will receive support in teaching computer science even if you have no prior experience. In addition, the activities are really fun!

What’s in a workshop?

In-person instruction from an experienced computer science facilitator, including an intro to computer science, pedagogy, overview of the online curriculum, teacher dashboard, and strategies for teaching “unplugged” classroom activities. Over 10,000 teachers have participated in a workshop and the majority say it’s the best PD they’ve ever attended.

What you'll get from this workshop:

• In-person instruction from an experienced computer science facilitator.
• An intro to computer science and pedagogy.
• An overview of the online curriculum and teacher dashboard.
• A printed curriculum guide containing course lesson plans.
• Strategies for teaching "unplugged" classroom activities.
• A certificate of completion.
• Code.org swag!

Sign up now so you can start teaching these life-changing skills!  Learn more about Code.org’s K-5 program at http://code.org/k5.  Please feel free to email me for more details. pwright@tiu11.org

Safety-Care is a training program for staff working with children, adolescents, or adults who may exhibit challenging or dangerous behavior.  Participants in the course learn a wide variety of prevention skills so that they can each contribute to a physical and social environment that encourages behavior patterns that are positive and safe.  Please note that this is an initial training, and not a re-certification.   There will be a $7.00 charge for materials and processing. 1/2 hour lunch on your own. 

EI Staff Only

Code.org CS Fundamentals: Fully supported, free computer science curriculum and activities for Elementary Teachers. Regardless of what subject you teach; computer science is foundational knowledge for all students in the 21st century. Incorporating it into your classroom will give your students a huge leg up. Besides, this is a subject the kids love learning. With the help of this Code.org, no cost, one-day workshop for elementary school teachers, you will receive support in teaching computer science even if you have no prior experience. In addition, the activities are really fun!

What’s in a workshop?

In-person instruction from an experienced computer science facilitator, including an intro to computer science, pedagogy, overview of the online curriculum, teacher dashboard, and strategies for teaching “unplugged” classroom activities. Over 10,000 teachers have participated in a workshop and the majority say it’s the best PD they’ve ever attended.

What you'll get from this workshop:

• In-person instruction from an experienced computer science facilitator.
• An intro to computer science and pedagogy.
• An overview of the online curriculum and teacher dashboard.
• A printed curriculum guide containing course lesson plans.
• Strategies for teaching "unplugged" classroom activities.
• A certificate of completion.
• Code.org swag!

Sign up now so you can start teaching these life-changing skills!  Learn more about Code.org’s K-5 program at http://code.org/k5.  Please feel free to email me for more details. pwright@tiu11.org

Must attend all five sessions. Either all fall or all winter sessions to receive Act 48.

Principals and Teachers

Instructor(s): Peney Wright, Eric Yoder 

Recommended Prerequisite: New PA Integrated SE, EE & TE Standards Session #1 
 

Description of Activity:  Integrate science and engineering within your literacy block, periodically during the school year. Interactive read aloud lesson plans coupled with STEAM lesson plans shared.  Blank templates for each will also be shared with participants.  Discover how to use simple formative checklists and students’ illustrations to evaluate student performance expectations in PA’s New Integrated SE, EE & TE Academic Standards. 

Audience: all PreK-12 educators, library/media specialists, STEM Specialists, Instructional Coaches, special education educators
 

Please select only one session.

Instructor(s): Peney E. Wright, Eric Yoder

Description of Activity: Botley uses a remote control and floor cards, that fit together like a puzzle, for young students to learn computational thinking and basic coding concepts.  It can even detect lines to follow and detects objects in its path.  No computer programming experience necessary! Botley is screen-free and uses five AAA batteries. There are no apps to download. Children code Botley by sending spatial commands moving it forward, backward, left or right. Physical arrow cards are used to lay out the coding path before sending the commands to Botley and debugging, as needed. Partners can code Botley using critical thinking, problem solving and collaboration.

Botley is a lot of fun to use and comes with many engaging challenges and open-ended activities, at varying difficulty levels. Build mazes with obstacles to move around or through, push objects to a target goal, use its detachable arms to carry or push objects, can be used on additional plastic floor mats or fadeless paper for projects. Unlock secret codes for sound effects, tricks, characters and adding extra coding steps. Integrates well into other subject areas, especially with retelling and sequencing.

Class sets of Botley, the Coding Robot, are available for check out from TIU 11’s Lending Library after completing the workshop.

Audience: PreK – 2nd grade educators, library media specialists, special education educators

Instructor(s): Peney E. Wright, Eric Yoder  

Description of Activity: Full implementation of PA’s Integrated SE, EE & TE Academic Standards and revised PSSA Science Testing format will begin in school year 2023-2024. In preparation for this 3-year roll out, we are offering a series of two workshop sessions.  In session #1 we will unpack the new standards’ characteristics and format, focus on student performance expectations and take a deep dive into grade level and grade band SE, EE and TE curriculum.  Session #2 supports educators with inquiry-based methods and communicating claim-evidence-reasoning (C-E-R) techniques to meet student performance expectations; followed by district wide time for curriculum mapping. 

Strongly Recommended: Assemble a team of at least one district-level administrator, one building administrator, one K-2 teacher, one 3-5 teacher, one middle school teacher, one high school teacher, a STEM teacher, one or more special education teachers, one or more ELL teachers, an instructional coach, and/or guidance counselors. 

Sessions Progression: Session #1 must be completed first, but any subsequent Session #2 workshop may be selected throughout the school year. They can be, but do not have to be, completed in close proximity.  Act 48 will not be issued until Session #2 has been completed.

See additional PD opportunities to support the new standards: Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEEs), Engineering is Elementary (EiE) and Engineering by Design (Ebd)  
 

Location:  Workshop will be held in the Stem/Spark Lab or Virtual

Safety-Care is a training program for staff working with children, adolescents, or adults who may exhibit challenging or dangerous behavior.  Participants in the course learn a wide variety of prevention skills so that they can each contribute to a physical and social environment that encourages behavior patterns that are positive and safe.  Please note that this is an initial training, and not a re-certification.   There will be a $7.00 charge for materials and processing. 1/2 hour lunch on your own. 

Instructor(s): Peney E. Wright, M.Ed.  TIU 11 STEM/STEAM Curriculum and Instruction Specialist

Recommended Prerequisite: New PA Integrated SE, EE & TE Standards Session #1

Description of Activity: Take a deep dive into the best practices and methods included in PA’s New Integrated SES, EE & TE Academic Standards.  Explore the interconnectedness of science, engineering and math practices, crosscutting concepts, skills, disciplinary core ideas, habits of mind, dispositions and career ready skills with other content areas. All children and young adults are able to excel at active, hands-on learning for performance expectations.  Trust that all your students can express their learning in innovative ways. Plan for place-based learning with PA Connectedness. Integrate literacy for reliable research and subsequent findings.

Audience: K-12 educators, library media specialists, special education educators

Please select only one session.

Safety-Care is a training program for staff working with children, adolescents, or adults who may exhibit challenging or dangerous behavior.  Participants in the course learn a wide variety of prevention skills so that they can each contribute to a physical and social environment that encourages behavior patterns that are positive and safe.  Please note that this is a re-certification.   There will be a $7.00 charge for materials and processing. 1/2 hour lunch on your own. 

Teachers Only

Instructor(s): Peney Wright, Eric Yoder

Recommended Prerequisite: New PA Integrated SE, EE & TE Standards Session #1

Description of Activity: Join us for a deep dive into PA’s New SE, EE & TE Academic Standards with a focus on integrating the Core Concepts of Technology and Engineering and Design in Technology, Nature and Characteristics of Technology and Engineering and Engineering Education paired with a science student performance expectation from your grade level which includes creating a model.

After students investigate a science concept or solve an engineering challenge, how do they defend their explanation or argue the “correctness” of their theory?  Using Claim-Evidence-Reasoning (C-E-R) concepts and graphic organizers to support students’ explanations and ideas about what they are learning in science and engineering is a clear technique to provide student success in meeting this practice.  C-E-R can also be used as a summative assessment.

Audience: all PreK-12 educators, library/media specialists, STEM Specialists, Instructional Coaches, special education educators 

Please select only one.

afety-Care is a training program for staff working with children, adolescents, or adults who may exhibit challenging or dangerous behavior.  Participants in the course learn a wide variety of prevention skills so that they can each contribute to a physical and social environment that encourages behavior patterns that are positive and safe.  Please note that this is an initial training, and not a re-certification.   There will be a $7.00 charge for materials and processing. 1/2 hour lunch on your own. 

Instructor(s): Peney E. Wright 

Description of Activity: Bring computational thinking and computer science alive with this amazing creative and open-ended engineering and robotics kit. Students are assigned a real-world mission.  Small teams of 2-3 design a solution to build a small robot, vehicle or device from the provided Legos. A small motor is included. Next, students code their invention, test and iterate, making changes to solve the challenge. Starter challenges are included in the Educator Guide. Lego WeDo 2.0 integrates into any subject area.  Additional Legos can be added to student designs. 

Lesson plan exploration and planning time provided.  Lego WeDo 2.0 class kits are available for check out from TIU 11’s Lending Library after completing this workshop. 
 

Audience: 1st-5th grade educators, library media specialists, special education educators

Instructor(s): Peney E. Wright, Eric Yoder

Description of Activity: The micro:bit is a small microcontroller that enables students to be makers, not just consumers, creatively with computer programming. Easy to use “drag and drop, block-based” coding (think long Legos that snap together with English language), students can create animations, word scrolls, select sound effects, play music, solve engineering challenges, create “radio” simulations and games, measure light, acceleration or positions in three dimensions and much more. Plug and play is all that’s needed to get started with guided tutorials that teach learners all the features. Battery packs allow micro:bit to be portable when creating a fit bit, robot, or programming fashion. A must have for all makerspaces, STEM Labs, Computer Science classrooms, general education classrooms. Programming with the micr:bit integrates into a variety of subject areas. The kit with micro:bit, USB cable, battery pack and two batteries costs under $20.00. 

Audience: 3-8 educators, library media specialists, special education educators

Safety-Care is a training program for staff working with children, adolescents, or adults who may exhibit challenging or dangerous behavior.  Participants in the course learn a wide variety of prevention skills so that they can each contribute to a physical and social environment that encourages behavior patterns that are positive and safe.  Please note that this is  a re-certification.   There will be a $7.00 charge for materials and processing. 1/2 hour lunch on your own. 

Principals and Teachers

Instructor(s): Peney Wright, Eric Yoder  

Recommended Prerequisite: New PA Integrated SE, EE & TE Standards Session #1 

Description of Activity:   Integrate your grade level’s Integrated SE, EE & TE standards to plan rigorous engineering learning with science and math concepts and practices. Discuss ways to integrate focused and intentional math applications within constraints and maker steps.    

Formative and Summative Assessments in STEAM  
Discover how to use simple formative checklists and students’ illustrations to evaluate their advancement of STEAM learning.  Using developing illustrations and story boarding to chronicle students’ progression of learning and mastery of science and math concepts. A variety of rubrics will also be shared. 

Audience: K-12 educators, library media specialists, special education educators

Please select only one.
 

Safety-Care is a training program for staff working with children, adolescents, or adults who may exhibit challenging or dangerous behavior.  Participants in the course learn a wide variety of prevention skills so that they can each contribute to a physical and social environment that encourages behavior patterns that are positive and safe.  Please note that this is an initial training, and not a re-certification.   There will be a $7.00 charge for materials and processing. 1/2 hour lunch on your own. 

Principals and Teachers

Principals and Teachers

Safety-Care is a training program for staff working with children, adolescents, or adults who may exhibit challenging or dangerous behavior.  Participants in the course learn a wide variety of prevention skills so that they can each contribute to a physical and social environment that encourages behavior patterns that are positive and safe.  Please note that this is  a re-certification.   There will be a $7.00 charge for materials and processing. 1/2 hour lunch on your own.