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Are They Really Reading? (K-6)

Tony Stead

This practical workshop will examine wonderful ways to assist students in making wise decisions when selecting materials for independent reading and research.

Issues to be addressed will include:

• Organising the classroom library
• Establishing borrowing routines, assisting children to select appropriate materials
• Providing whole class, small group and individual support
• Getting kids excited about reading
• Going beyond just reading books
• Independent reading and content studies
• Getting kids to read widely
• The importance of nonfiction in children's reading
• Monitoring students' selections
• Responding to literature
• Getting beyond the book report
• Management strategies

Behaviour Management: A Whole-School Approach (K-12)

Bill Rogers

During this seminar Bill will discuss:

• Positive discipline and the importance of consistency across school behaviour management policy and practice
• Particular skills in the language of discipline - verbal and non-verbal
• Techniques for managing rudeness, violence, bullying and aggression
• Methods to use with students with 'behaviour disorders'
• The 4Rs - rights, rules, responsibilities and routines
• Behaviour agreements - 'contracts'
• Playground management
• How to set up a behaviour management plan and express it in a policy

Presented in a unique entertaining style by someone who is clearly able to stand in a teacher's shoes.

Behaviour Management for School Leaders (K-12)

Christine Richmond

Participants will leave this professional learning experience with a unique organisational framework based upon a synthesis of contemporary behaviour management research and practice in Australian schools. This framework can then be used to refine their current approaches as well as enhance their techniques for:

• Helping colleagues to reflect on, and continually improve, their preferred behaviour management styles
• Reducing the time and energy expended on behaviour management issues for a net increase in learning time
• Working with chronically disengaged and disruptive students
• Managing those inevitable crises in ways that minimise collateral damage, and
• Engaging caregivers in problem-solving processes

Counteracting Disengagement in the Classroom (K-12)

Loretta Giorcelli

In this seminar, Loretta will explore the many dimensions of disengagement and how it impacts on learning and behaviour.

She will focus on:

• The 30% of young people who become disengaged at some point in their schooling and require extra support
• The 10% of learners who, due to a history of disengagement and low attendance, require more intensive support as they are frequently dealing with a complexity of intrinsic and extrinsic issues

The seminar will examine:

• A range of interventions drawing from the research of Sizer and other practitioners
• Practical strategies being employed by school systems to address disengagement in older learners
The practical part of the seminar will cover:
• Current research into the role teachers play in including and engaging learners
• Strategies and insights drawn form research being conducted in 3 schools in the Hume region in Victoria
• Re-engagement tools

Teach More, Manage Less (K-12)

Christine Richmond

This seminar is for teachers who aspire to update and refine their behaviour management practices. Participants will be provided with conceptual and practical tools to minimise the time and energy they spend managing students behaviour. Small differences to their practice will maximise teaching time and thereby have the potential for large positive outcomes in student learning.

The models developed by Dr Richmond evolved from school-based research in behaviour management and are unique to the field. They fit in with current BM approaches. Particularly useful for its elegant simplicity and generic application, this work will provide participants with techniques for:

• Minimising managing time and maximising learning time
• Managing provocative and challenging student behaviour
• Gaining (or regaining) assertive learning leadership in the classroom
• Defusing student power plays
• Recovering rapidly from stressful situations
• Designing a minimalist management plan
• Reflecting on current practices

Tough Times - Resilient Learners (K-12)

Loretta Giorcelli

In this seminar, Loretta will share current knowledge about vulnerabilities and wellbeing in learners, as well as the critical role of resilience in the development of mature, confident learners. She will cover a range of topical issues including:

• Stressors in the lives of young Australians
• Understanding the role personal resilience and wellbeing play in the life of a learner
• Countering vulnerabilities in learners
• Exploring the factors that create a resilient mindset in vulnerable learners (such as learners with learning and self-regulation difficulties)
• How tools such as assets/risks registers can add to the personal knowledge learners need in order to thrive

She will draw on the most current research on the development of self-esteem and resilience including the importance of the Curriculum of the Home.
The seminar will provide:

• A framework for dealing effectively with vulnerable learners
• Practical strategies for increasing resilience in learners across the K-12 spectrum

The last part of the seminar will focus on issues of everyday resilience for teachers dealing with vulnerable learners and will provide take-home tips on building resilience for busy teachers in tough times!

Developing a 'Toolkit' of Quality Teaching Strategies (K-6)

Kath Murdoch

The development of a repertoire of strategies is central to the primary teacher's 'toolkit'. In this workshop, we will examine a wide range of engaging teaching and learning strategies - with an emphasis on how those strategies can be used to help students gain deeper understandings about the world around them. Students in the primary years need to be actively building their own 'toolkit' of procedures they can apply to a range of learning circumstances as they engage with a variety of questions, challenges, texts and contexts. Our focus will be on the 'nuts and bolts' of the teaching process when using these strategies and will include many examples from real classrooms. Importantly, the strategies will be transferable across both age groups and 'topics' or learning contexts.

Strategies modelled will focus on:

• Enhancing thinking skills
• Collaborating with others
• Asking quality questions
• Synthesising and demonstrating understanding
• Communicating and sharing learning with others

Teachers will leave with some great new ideas to try as well as a better understanding of what constitutes a quality teaching strategy.

Integrating Interactive Whiteboards (K-6)

Kristy Goodwin

Interactive whiteboards (IWBs) enable a more effective and motivating teaching and learning process. With appropriate integration, learning becomes more interactive and allows abstract or difficult concepts to be represented in dynamic and appealing modes.

This seminar will introduce effective and practical uses of the IWB in the classroom and explore its use across various KLAs and stages.

Kristy will cover:

• Set-up and basic functions of the IWB
• Trouble-shooting common technical issues
• Using the gallery and formatting features (e.g. formatting background)
• Interactive functions (rub & reveal, drag & drop, click & reveal, Lesson Activity Toolkit)
• Adding links (links to sound, video, hyperlinks)
• Accessing other interactive resources (Learning Objects, online games)
• Locating and downloading pre-made templates
• Accessing teacher resources (podcasts for help, online training, video tutorials)
• Practical ideas for the classroom ('How do I?' sheets, Computer Tutors)

Seminar participants will receive a CD with a series of prepared activities that can be immediately implemented in the classroom. A comprehensive list of websites to locate further resources, interactive activities and lesson templates will also be provided.

Advanced Use of Interactive Whiteboards (K-6)

Kristy Goodwin

If you have been using an interactive whiteboard (IWB) and have mastered the 'basics', then this is the seminar for you! Learn how you can extend your skills to make better use of your IWB, allowing its potential to be realised in your classroom.

Participants will further develop their IWB skills to create more engaging, interactive and professional-looking Notebook pages. Delegates will learn how to:

• Create Interactive Notebook pages that include animations and other special effects
• Create professional-looking pages
• Create interactive quizzes and activities using advanced layering techniques (e.g. turn on the light)
• Add audio and video files
• Use the SMART Recorder tool
• Add Flash files to a Notebook page

Participants should bring at least one laptop with internet access per two participants (ideally one each) and a USB to save any work completed and take away examples of lessons. A DVD of activities and Notebook pages will be provided.

This course will address the following Professional Teaching Standards: 1.1.4 - 1.3.4, 4.1.5 - 4.3.5

Integrating Interactive Whiteboards in Literacy (K-6)

Kristy Goodwin

How can I use my interactive whiteboard (IWB) in literacy lessons?

Kristy demonstrates the effective use of IWBs to improve your literacy teaching and engage students in the learning process. This seminar will provide participants with a range of simple, classroom-based ideas including:

• IWBs and Modelled and Shared Reading (e.g. interactive, online stories, comprehension activities, interactive techniques using IWB tools)
• IWBs and Guided Reading (e.g. close passages, spelling activities, readers' theatre videos)
• IWBs and Modelled Writing (introducing text type structures on the IWB, interactive techniques to elicit student attention during modelled writing)
• IWBs and Spelling, Phonics and Grammar - a wealth of interactive games and activities will be shared with participants (e.g. using the Lesson Activity toolkit to develop interactive activities, accessing and viewing spelling lists, online spelling, phonics and grammar activities)
• IWBs and Talking and Listening - a series of IWB pages will be shared to show how the IWB can be used to structure 'news' sessions and provide a meaningful opportunity to view their speaking skills (e.g. use of video, voice recording).

Participants should bring at least one laptop with internet access for every two teachers and a USB to save any work completed and to take away examples of lessons. A DVD with copies of Notebook files and detailed notes will be provided.

Integrating Technology in Numeracy (K-6)

Kristy Goodwin

Can technology be used to enhance mathematics learning outcomes for students in primary school? YES!

New technologies provide innovative and rich opportunities for students to develop their mathematical ideas and understandings. Digital technologies engage learners and allow them to develop mathematics ideas in meaningful and explicit ways. This practical and hands-on workshop will provide participants with a host of resources and classroom-ready ideas on simple ways in which they can use commonly available and free technologies to enhance the teaching and learning of mathematics in primary classrooms.

Participants will engage in a series of hands-on activities to discover simple ways in which they can integrate digital technologies into the curriculum:

• Web-based resources - Interactive games and activities, Virtual Manipulatives, blogging and wikis in mathematics, web-based mathematics resources for teachers
• Digital Learning Objects
• Software - Open-ended software, drill-and-practice multimedia
• Digital Tools - iPods, digital cameras (still and video cameras)
• Evaluation/Reflection

Participants should bring a laptop with internet access and a USB to save any work completed and to take away examples of lessons.

This course will address the following Professional Teaching Standards: 1.2.3, 1.2.4, 4.2.5