Schedule

Grab a front row seat for 3 days of thought provoking content, with a different focus each day on reading, writing and STEM.

Writing Sessions


Session	Necessary Considerations for Writing Christopher Bugaj Writing effectively is a necessary skill in contemporary society. Learn strategies to help students use technology to support personalized writing goals.
Session	Providing Meaningful Feedback with Google & Texthelp Amy Mayer Research tells us, and experience shows us, that much of the feedback we give students makes little difference in the learning process, yet when students aren't using feedback to improve, we are wasting our nights and weekends. With technology tools, we can simultaneously save time for teachers and greatly increase the effectiveness and transmission of feedback in the writing process for student writers. In this session, you will learn to offer feedback your students can and will use in a fraction of the time you spend marking papers and new ways to offer feedback using G Suite and other free tools.
Q&A	Panel Q&A Christopher Bugaj, Amy Mayer
Keynote	Keynote: Improving Writing and Research with G Suite Kasey Bell G Suite for Education offers a variety of features to support writing skills. In this session, we will explore using G Suite, Add-Ons, and Google Chrome extensions that allow teachers to not only give critical and timely feedback but also leverage additional features and tools to enhance peer editing and collaboration, improve research skills and cite sources.
Session	Three Ways Data Can Transform Your Writing Instruction Joni Degner and Mark Schwartz In this session, Joni and Mark will use WriQ data to help teachers: 1. Develop highly motivated and goal-directed writers, 2. Reflect on your own instruction, and 3. Form PLN's that share and amplify best practices. With practical applications for use in today's blended classrooms from two former teachers.
Session	Digital Tools for Interactive Writing Instruction Amy Mayer Teaching writing is one of the most difficult topics in the entire realm of education, and doing it without giving up every single night and weekend may be even harder. In this session, you will learn strategies you can use to have the highest impact on student writing while maintaining your sanity. From daily writing (without daily grading) to effective peer editing, you'll learn the nuts and bolts of teaching writing digitally.
Q&A	Panel Q&A Joni Degner, Mark Schwartz, Amy Mayer
Session	New Normal Support For Struggling Writers! Stacey Banks and Marc Callahan Learn how you can support struggling writers regardless of the instructional setting (in-person, hybrid, remote) with Stacey Banks (Plymouth-Canton Community Schools) and Marc Callahan (Texthelp) and explore several easy to implement strategies to help improve student writing skills.
Sesion	Tools for Powerful Blended Writing Holly Clark In this session, we will look at how to empower writing with digital tools that help students bring the writing process into the 21st Century.
Q&A	Panel Q&A Stacey Banks, Marc Callahan
Keynote	Keynote: EdTech for differentiation in the innovative writing classroom Shaelynn Farnsworth Shaelynn will examine the day-to-day challenges of writing instruction in today’s modern K-12 classrooms. Delving into ways in which educators can maximise the use of technology to help guide differentiated instruction. There will also be a focus on how edtech tools, coupled with learning analytics can empower educators to understand where a student is and how to target any necessary support. In addition, she will show how data helps educators analyze how differentiated learning strategies impact student learning. The final component of this session shines a light on real-life examples where meaningful, real-time data can empower students to become partners in their own learning.

STEM Sessions


Session	Transitioning from in-class to remote/blended learning Jason Carroll, Marilu Deal and Dan Lyons Join Texthelp’s Jason Carroll, Director of Product Management, and a panel of math educators including Marilu Deal, 7-12 Mathematics Consultant at the Ottawa Catholic School Board, and Dan Lyons, Math Teacher, Lakeview-Ft Oglethorpe High School, as they discuss strategies to help move math instruction to the digital learning environment. In this presentation, they will uncover best practice for engaging with math students remotely, as well as how they are facilitating and assessing math outside of the classroom environment. The panel will share their own personal experiences and expertise as well as exploring technologies that have been helpful at all grade levels.
Session	Making sense of math concepts - graphing, manipulatives and more! Louis Shanafelt and Megan Mongelli Today’s students learn in a variety of ways. Teachers, in turn, need to be able to provide differentiated instruction to all the different types of learners found in a classroom setting. EquatIO can help minimize anxiety in a STEM classroom by providing graphs, digital manipulatives, and ‘space’ so students can conceptualize the concept and show their understanding.
Q&A	Panel Q&A Louis Shanafelt, Megan Mongelli, Jason Carroll, Marilu Deal, Dan Lyons
Keynote	Keynote: Rebooting Your Math Classroom with Creative Google Projects Eric Curts Learn how Google tools can be used to teach and learn mathematics including Google Drawings (for symmetry, angles, polygons, area, fractions, algebra and more), Google Forms and Sheets (for collecting and analyzing data, pixel art for fractions and area), Google Docs (with emojis for variables and pictographs), Google Slides (for student explanations), and other tools and projects.
Session	Full STEM Ahead! Louis Shanafelt and Efren Rodriguez The biggest transformation brought on by school closures was pulling math from the traditional pen & paper approach into a digital space - and guess what, it works! Discover how to create digital math using EquatIO to engage your students in STEM, assign workflows and provide important feedback to build student confidence in math and mitigate the belief that they're not 'math people'.
Session	Making Math Personal: Using EquatIO for Differentiation Erica Mark Have you always thought math had to be done on paper? Have you struggled finding an easy way to take math online to support differentiation? In this session participants will learn about how to adapt their traditional math lesson to a blended learning environment that allows for student personalization and choice. Following the SAMR model, participants will learn how to use EquatIO to substitute for paper learning, augment classroom lessons, modify activities for a blended learning environment, and how to simply redefine their math teaching to support the needs of all their learners.
Q&A	Panel Q&A Louis Shanafelt, Efren Rodriguez, Erica Mark
Session	The Four F's of Blended Learning Tinashe Blanchet During this unprecedented time, teachers must think deeply about delivering instruction that is engaging, relevant and most of all, doable to their students. In this session, participants will learn a practical framework for virtual instruction.
Session	You don't have to be an instructional designer to design great math and STEM instruction Louis Shanafelt and Joni Degner During the rapid move to remote learning, many hardworking educators were stretched to their limits. Juggling compliance with schools and state requirements, and remodeling their teaching strategies and classroom activities to ensure students kept on track. You'll hear from Joni Degner and Louis Shanafelt in this interactive session, who will walk you through strategies to move you from simply complying with curriculum necessities to providing instruction that will deepen engagement and revolutionize your math and science classrooms.
Q&A	Panel Q&A Tinashe Blanchet, Joni Degner, Louis Shanafelt
Keynote	Keynote: Equity in the Math Classroom Jose Vilson In this session, we will discuss how educators can level the playing field in math to make sure that all children, regardless of their gender, race or disability can learn and advocate for themselves. Mr. Vilson will give tools, frameworks and resources for how to deliver math teaching strategies in blended learning environments that also create equitable and engaging learning experiences, especially when students are not in the classroom.

Day 3 - Thursday 20th August


Session	Early Years: Learning to Read and Write in a Blended Learning Environment Christine Pinto, Jessica Twomey Just because a reader is struggling doesn’t mean we as educators can’t give them opportunities to become an empowered learner in a blended learning environment. Let's give struggling readers the opportunity to leverage technology so they can be in control of their own learning and achieve their personalized reading goals. Enhance your digital literacy toolbox with tools and strategies to support ALL the readers in your classroom.
Session	Minimize barriers, maximize student engagement in reading Jason Carroll How do we use the recent wave of change to our advantage? Using Universal Design for Learning (UDL) we will explore how software can help overcome the barriers to student engagement and foster avid readers - both on and offline.
Q&A	Panel Q&A Jason Carroll
Keynote	Keynote: Learning Loss: The impact of COVID-19 on student achievement Martin McKay No education system in the world was built to deal with extended shutdown like those imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Teachers, administrators and parents have worked hard to keep learning alive. However, despite these efforts, learning loss is still likely, compounded further by the summer vacation. In this session, we’ll look at Fluency Tutor and WriQ to help assess that loss and then measure student progress over the school year. We’ll explore the power of learning analytics to determine areas of weakness allowing you to focus on progression and improvement, helping you to close the achievement gap.
Session	Don’t dwell on learning loss: Assess students as readers, not numbers Jim Monti and Jason Carroll It’s a pretty safe bet that most teachers will be doing some form of online teaching in the new school year. Maybe you’ll do it full-time, maybe it will be some kind of hybrid model, but one thing is for sure: This time around you won’t be dropped into it without warning. There will be learning loss, but you don’t need to dwell on it. Take a benchmark and know where your students are at from the start of the school year, then focus on progression and improving performance. Join Jim and Jason as they explore the diverse benefits of Fluency Tutor® for Google™.
Session	Strategy Safari: How to Put Tool Usage into Daily Practice Kimberly Nix Knowing you have electronic literacy tools available to help is the first step in getting support. Knowing how they function and how they can be helpful, is the next step for teachers and students. In this session, we will present specific strategies for teachers to model during instruction using our Read&Write tools. These strategies will address the parts of a successful reading lesson - vocabulary, background knowledge, reading and student independent practice assignments. Join our reading safari - we will provide all supplies needed!
Q&A	Panel Q&A Jim Monti, Jason Carroll, Kimberly Nix
Session	Supporting Struggling Readers in a Blended Learning Environment Michele Haiken Just because a reader is struggling doesn’t mean we as educators can’t give them opportunities to become an empowered learner in a blended learning environment. Let's give struggling readers the opportunity to leverage technology so they can be in control of their own learning and achieve their personalized reading goals. Enhance your digital literacy toolbox with tools and strategies to support ALL the readers in your classroom.
Session	Closing the Gap - The Best Tools & Skills for Reading Achievement Diana Petschauer Remote, Hybrid & In the Classroom, Educators & Parents can Empower Learners with tools & skills to keep up with reading curriculum, as well as improve their reading skills significantly. Close achievement gaps by providing technologies combined with their explicit programming, while supporting focus, confidence & positive growth mindset that leads to reading success! The tools shared work with various devices & platforms including Google Classroom, Seesaw, Canvas & on Chromebooks, iPads, Laptops & Android devices. Support for comprehension, Fluency, Vocabulary, Phonics and phonemic awareness.
Q&A	Panel Q&A Michele Haiken, Diana Petschauer
Keynote	Keynote: 7 Ways to Redefine Reading Instruction with Technology in a Blended Learning Environment Vicki Davis Distance learning and blended learning can be frustrating if a teacher only substitutes technology for what they are doing in the classroom. The online and blended classroom should redefine how we teach. Learn seven (7) principles to help you redefine how you teach reading (and every other topic) now and in the future. These timeless principles of teaching are especially important as we help our students learn how to personalize their learning, use multiple modalities and build relationships with their teachers and each other.