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NJPSA/FEA
2010 FallConference

Educating Today’s Students for Tomorrow’s Success
October 20-21, 2010

Don’t forget to register for NJPSA’s Fall Conference, October 20 and 21. We’re planning exciting and informative workshops on topics ranging from celebrating music via poetry through the administrator’s role in intervention, and much more in between. This year’s keynotes will be delivered by James Stronge and Salome Thomas-El.

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This year's exciting lineup of workshops includes:

Keynote Presenters

James Stronge
October 20 James Stronge
James H. Stronge is the Heritage Professor in the Educational Policy, Planning, and Leadership Area at the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia. Dr. Stronge’s research interests include policy and practice related to teacher quality, and teacher and administrator evaluation. He has worked with numerous school districts and other educational organizations to design and implement evaluation systems for teachers, administrators, and support personnel. Dr. Stronge’s work on effective teachers focuses on how to identify effective teachers and how to enhance teacher effectiveness. He has presented his research at conferences such as American Educational Research Association and Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, conducted workshops for national and state organizations, and worked with local school districts.
James Stronge has been a teacher, counselor, and district-level administrator. He holds a doctorate in educational administration and planning from the University of Alabama.

Salome Thomas-El
October 21 Salome Thomas-El
Thomas-EL is a graduate of East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania. He is currently a doctoral candidate and has studied in Cambridge and London, England. He has received the Marcus A. Foster Award as the outstanding School District Administrator in Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania’s distinguished Martin Luther King Award. Philadelphia Magazine honored him as the 2006 “Best Philadelphian,” and he frequently appears on C-SPAN, CNN and NPR Radio.
World-renowned educator, motivator and author of "I Choose to Stay," Salome Thomas-EL is a member of “Core Team Oz,” a group featured on The Doctor Oz Show seeking to motivate America to live better from the inside out. Thomas-EL takes more than 20 years of experience motivating children and adults to embrace education and hard work as stepping stones to success to challenge America’s families to live their best lives now.
To see him in action on the Dr. Oz show, watch the video below.

Keynote Addresses:

Qualities of Effective School Leaders: How School Leaders Impact Student Achievement
James Stronge — Wednesday, October 20, 9:00 am
The Immortality of Influence
Salome Thomas-El — Thursday, October 21, 12:30 pm

Workshops

Wednesday, October 20

Session I: 10:15 am - 11:30 am

Learning to Listen in Lesson Study: A Case Study of Elementary Social Studies
Brad Siegel, Katheryn Rosander, and Jessica McClellan
Lesson study is a form of professional development that holds promise for fostering ongoing, classroom-based, and collaborative work between educators to design, reflect upon, and revise pedagogy. Cyclical in nature, the process of curricular and instructional transformation never ceases for educators participating in lesson study. The structure and process of lesson study also parallels practitioner research models that are inquiry-based. These factors make lesson study a powerful professional experience for educators, and it aligns closely with the state’s new vision and model for professional development.
This session is designed for administrators and teachers who are interested in utilizing lesson study as a form of professional development in their districts. The case study represented herein involved a one-year exploration of student listening, participation, and small group classroom discussion in an elementary social studies lesson. The presenters will be comprised of core participants, including an administrator, elementary coach, and elementary teacher. Using source evidence, such as video excerpts from classrooms and discourse from teacher interviews, as well as lesson study protocol materials, the presenters will show how teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge of social studies and knowledge gained as a result of teachers’ interpersonal relationships changed substantively by participating in lesson study.
Plan, Believe, and Achieve – Instruction and Understanding: Making Meetings Meaningful
Loretta Radulic
Effective meetings promote change, encourage active participation, and foster a collaborative learning climate. All too often, administrators are caught in the web of dealing with management issues and disseminating information. As such, they miss the opportunity to engage the faculty in creative collaboration that will inspire, invigorate, and promote continued learning. In the workshop, the participants will
  • Learn how to use the demographics of their staff to inform their meeting design.
  • Understand several methods for building rapport.
  • “Lesson plan” their way through a year of professional development meetings.
  • Participate in play, storytelling, and fun to promote an understanding of how to grow change.
  • Learn how to avoid meeting pitfalls.
The workshop will be both informative and interactive.
See It, Be It, Write It: Using the Performing Arts to Improve Writing and Test Scores
Hope Blecher-Sass and Maryellen Moffitt
See It, Be It, Write It, presents an easy, fun and inexpensive writing process aimed at closing the achievement gap while helping to raise NJASK scores The presenters incorporate core curriculum content standards, teaching strategies and instructional approaches that will help students develop the skills and strategies necessary to meet or exceed benchmark levels of mastery when asked to perform writing-on-demand. Participants will learn to “bring writing prompts to life” and to put fun, stress free instruction back into their classrooms. This engaging workshop involves teachers in the literacy skills and strategies used throughout the content areas and throughout the school day.
Specific content is included for teachers working with English Language Learners, gifted and talented students, special needs pupils, and the general education population. The See It, Be It, Write It approach is perfect for individualized, small group and whole group instructional settings. Teachers can get started the very next day utilizing the techniques and strategies that are part of this workshop. If you work with elementary and middle level students, you don’t want to miss this minds-on, hands-on workshop.
Transforming Schools and Classrooms through Formative Assessment
Nancy Richmond
In recent years, there has been an explosion of information regarding the power of and need for formative assessment. The data are compelling. According to Dylan Wiliam (2007/2008) “The conclusion was clear: When implemented well, formative assessment can effectively double the speed of student learning.” This session, an excerpt from the highly successful SMARTmove© Assessment Institutes, will help principals and supervisors:
  • Understand how formative assessment, summative assessment, benchmark assessment, common assessments, and classroom assessment can transform instruction
  • Support teachers in implementing instruction al strategies associated with formative assessment
    • Making learning targets clear to students
    • Asking questions that promote critical thinking
    • Giving descriptive feedback to students
    • Involving students in self-assessment and goal-setting
    • Involving students in taking responsibility for their own learning
  • Use Professional Learning Communities to promote teachers’ understanding of assessment
  • Use SMARTmove© tools to give teachers feedback on the implementation of formative assessment strategies
Three-Year Teacher Induction Program — Supporting Your Non-Tenured Teachers
Robin Bazzel and Steven Crispin
We extended our First Year Academy to include a second- and third-year program. Superintendent Steve Crispin and Supervisor of Curriculum, Robin Bazzel co-teach lessons. We use Schooling By Design by Grant Wiggins I J. McTighe to guide us.
  • Year One: Effective Teachher Traits and District Business
  • Year 2 / Student Learning Principles – Engagement
  • Year 3 / Continue with Learning Principles
    • Questioning (Bloom)
    • Assessments
What Matters Most: Teacher Quality and Student Achievement
James Stronge
Do teachers make a difference in how much and how well students learn? For anyone who has ever had an outstanding teaching, you know, emphatically, that the answer is yes. What we’ve known intuitively all along, we now know empirically: there is a direct, measurable link between teacher effectiveness and student success. This workshop component focuses on the power of an effective teacher in enhancing student achievement.

Session 2: 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm

The School Leader’s Role in Building Teacher Effectiveness Through the PLC Model
Ronni Reed and William Osman
This session will explore essential responsibilities that school leaders must assume in order to create an environment where effective collaborative professional learning opportunities result in successful student learning.
The participants will engage in discussion and interactive activities in order to learn about nurturing teacher leaders, identifying and providing organizational support, how to set clear expectations and define results, how to create time in the schedule, how to provide training and development, give feedback on team actions /results, encourage “out of the box” thinking, and how to handle resistance.
Developing a School Culture Focused on Literacy
Barbara Sargent
Retelling is a reading strategy that teachers can use to measure students’ comprehension of text and to build students’ comprehension and retention of material. Participants in this session will learn specific strategies for teaching elementary and middle school students to retell in a clear and informative manner. Templates and actual student samples will be shared with their audience. Participants will also learn how to assess student retellings so that this data may be used as part of a student’s assessment portfolio or shared with parents during conferences.
Working with Struggling Students: Creating a Culture and Systems for Differentiation
April Gonzalez and Susan Coyle
In this session, experienced educators will share one high school’s challenge to meet the needs of struggling students and the lessons learned that can benefit all educators. Presenters will provide an overview of the differentiated systems that evolved and the resulting culture of differentiated thinking. Participants will:
  • Identify challenges faced in working with struggling students
  • Learn how to focus on and use available data to inform the need for differentiated practices to remove barriers to learning
  • Identify how to use available resources to recreate and create interventions
  • Identify professional development needs and creative delivery options
  • Foster new ways of collaboration among faculty to meet students’ needs
  • Understand that a willingness to adapt is inherent in a culture that embraces differentiation
Data Analysis… Now More Than Ever
Jay Dugan
Student achievement is our top priority. Global competition and the leveling of the playing field brought about by the technology revolution has made student achievement more important than ever. To prepare students for the 21st century workforce, we need to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each student and make our curricular decisions based upon this data. This workshop walks teachers and administrators through the process of accomplishing that task.
Building Teacher/Parent Relationships and Communications
Thomas Greco
When creative leaders discover a black hole in their system, the proactive ones look to respond. When that black hole centers on teacher/parent relationships, creative leaders cannot afford anything less than immediate action. Taking the creative lead to building relationships with parents, following the ‘action follows insight’ model is a revolutionary way of looking at teacher identity in the 21st century. It places a new looking glass on something that most educators see as basic. It is not basic at all. It is, rather, strategic; and part of the instructional process and the Best Practice model.
Parents need to be treated by their school system, as they are treated by other professional services organizations: as a client! Yes, a collaborative client, part of the teacher/parent team, providing home support to classroom instruction. But most teachers have never had sufficient training to establish this kind of relationship. Some teachers seek to minimize parent contact, and as a result, their communications are all parent-initiated, and frequently negative. Today’s teacher needs to initiate communication with parents and keep them well informed, proactively providing and receiving information to improve classroom performance.
“Big Bang Theory” — Maximizing Student Achievement with a Limited Technology Budget
Joe Langowski, Assistant Superintendent; Steve Cappello, Technology Director; Robert Thompson III
Participants will learn how Maple Shade Schools are raising student achievement using a variety of affordable technology options. The session will include:
  • How to increase engagement by integrating EBoards into an Understanding by Design Unit
  • How N-Computing can bring affordable Internet/computer access into a lab or classroom
  • Use of Education City to extend the school day, provide targeted assistance, support parents and raise student achievement
Thu., Oct. 21 Session 1: 10:15 am - 11:30 am
Implementing Response to Intervention: The Administrator’s Role
Edythe Austermuhl
Recent research has demonstrated that a school/district RTI program (Response to Intervention) is an effective tool/instructional model for improved student achievement. However, designing and implementing an RTI program can be overwhelming, at worst, and confusing, at best. This presentation will emphasize the role of school administrators in all facets of program design and implementation. Participants will explore how to design an RTI plan based on current district programs and changing student needs, while being fiscally responsible. Topics will include creating a vision, providing administrative support, designing a creative/flexible schedule, utilizing existing staff members, reviewing instructional material, and providing staff training in order to design a unique program to address student academic growth.
Blueprints for Student Success
Sharon McCarthy
At all levels, school personnel are called upon to work with students whose presenting difficulties don’t have easy solutions. The Blueprints for Student Success approach offers participants several ways to improve the results they are seeking for their students – positive and long lasting behavioral change. Your attendance at this workshop is mandatory if your goal is to acquire the skills and knowledge necessary to be able to strengthen a child’s capacity to function successfully and with resiliency.
Specifically, participants will learn:
  • One way to meet children in their “model of the world”
  • Three academic strategies to reduce impulsivity
  • Two models for the acquisition of cognitive structures
An Alternative to Traditional Observations for Tenured Teachers
Christopher Huss and Sondra R. Markman
The Warren Township School district has implemented an alternative observation program open to tenured staff only. The alternatives, designed after meeting with our County Superintendent of Schools, achieve two key objectives of teacher evaluation: quality assurance and professional development. Through this optional form of teacher evaluation, Warren administrators recognize the complexity and importance of teaching, encourage teachers’ professional development, support school and district goals, and show respect for tenured teachers.
Workshop attendees will learn about the following three categories of alternative observation options: action research projects, portfolios (paper or electronic) and other staff –generated projects that meet the approval of the district’s Curriculum Council. Presenters will share the steps needed to get started, insights gained, and lessons learned.
In a climate where many non-educators are eager to base teacher evaluation solely on standardized test scores, it is the responsibility of leaders in the field of education to provide meaningful and relevant alternatives to this phenomenon. This project has had promising results in fostering a high standard of teaching and learning throughout the district. The presenters hope to guide others who are interested in making a meaningful change to the observation process in their own district.
A Place for Us: Supporting Sexual Minority Youth in Schools
Adam W. Hackel and Bill Robbins
The goal of this workshop is to provide administrators a basic understanding of the needs of, and potential support for sexual minority youth, and share resources to best meet the needs of the school, the teachers, and students. This workshop will discuss the relevant issues faced by sexual minority youth in New Jersey schools today and discuss strategies, plans, laws, and activities administrators can use to make their schools better for all students.
Writing Across the Curriculum and Write to Learn Strategies
Karen Wood
Writing Across the Curriculum is an important technique utilized to incorporate writing strategies in all subjects – not just language arts. This workshop will provide strategies for all teachers as well as an easy turnkey workshop for Principal’s to prepare for their staffs. Incorporating writing into all subjects allows a wonderful cross curricular opportunity while strengthening students writing. In addition, Writing Across the Curriculum takes the fear out of writing that many of our students face. Through simple strategies that can be employed in every curricular area, students’ writing skills are reinforced, thus improving their overall writing performance and comprehension on state assessments.
Upon leaving this workshop, participants will be able to provide the following:
  • simple strategies to incorporate writing into any classroom
  • how to move into the higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy for deeper understanding
  • the use of graphic organizers, manipulatives, charts, and graphs for student assessment in both writing and the content area
Session 2: 1:30 pm - 2:45 pm
English Language Learners
Barbara Tedesco and Elizabeth Franks
The presenters will discuss research-based levels of intervention for ELLs and effective strategies to be used at each level when working with struggling students who are also in the process of learning English as a second (or third) language. Audience members will participate in role-plays, engage in suggested strategies, view video clips and analyze student work. A framework for interventions will be shared with all participants.
Thinkfinity.org: Bring the Power of Learning to Your Fingertips
Maria Narcisco
Energize your professional development. Tap into an incredible FREE tool for learning and empowerment that features over 55,000 FREE classroom ready resources for educators to integrate into their everyday instruction. Find comprehensive standards based on lesson plans for every core content subject and grade level. View FREE resources such as printable maps, worksheets, online interactive activities and projects. Customize your learning environment by differentiating your instruction with podcasts for auditory learners, interactive activities for tactile learners, or video clips for visual learners. Accessible anywhere there is an Internet connection. Also excellent for parents, students and after school programs that aspire to support learning.
Recent Developments in School Law
NJPSA Legal Staff
This workshop will address the most recent developments in school law and their importance to administrators, teachers and students. Participants will obtain current information in the areas where the law affects educational practices and policies. Important administrative and ethical questions will be discussed. Participants will also learn about the many professional development opportunities available through LEGAL ONE, a partnership of FEA, Rutgers University and the Monmouth-Ocean Educational Services Commission. This includes training that satisfies state requirements, advanced courses for school leaders and teacher training opportunities.
Building a Collaborative School Environment to Enhance Effective Instruction
Robin L. Moore
The presentation will include the following:
  • Components of a successful school
  • Using your school’s Artifacts to build successful student-centered programs
  • Building teacher effectiveness through collaboration and teacher leadership
  • Happy teachers = happy, successful students
  • Survey results from faculty and staff
Empowering the Learners in an Inclusion Classroom and Giving Them a Choice
Julie Norflus-Good
How can administrators ensure that teachers are effectively differentiating instruction? Participants will learn simple steps to share with their staff on how to meet the needs of all and how to differentiate instruction by using choice boards.
Powerful Planning: Putting It Together
Richard Zweier
This workshop will provide teachers and administrators with a four-part lesson design model that demonstrates how and where to incorporate “brain-compatible” strategies (as advocated by Jensen, Sousa, Willingham, et. Al) and key learning principles (as advocated by McTighe and Wiggins). During this interactive workshop participants will learn as easy-to-use four-part model (Prepare-Present-Process-Preserve) to structure learning cycles that blend the components of what the most current thinking is regarding the question: “How do people learn best?” Drawing on research and writing from the fields of education, learning theory, psychology, and cognitive neuroscience this workshop will provide teachers with a practical model for powerful lesson and unit planning to more effectively improve long-lasting student knowledge, understanding, and skills for the 21st Century.

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