Professional Development Opportunities

Curriculum, Instruction & Assessment:
Regional Sessions

The annual catalog of regional sessions available through OCM BOCES for 2016-17 is on My Learning Plan. OCM BOCES component districts register for regional sessions at no additional cost.

Collaboratives

The intention of these groups is to communicate information, provide a forum for sharing and collaboration across districts all towards building capacity and working towards continuous improvement. Audience is teachers, teacher leaders, administrators. Please join a group!

K-6 Literacy Collaborative
April 11
This Literacy Collaborative is an opportunity for K-6 teachers to come together and explore instructional practices and strategies for improving literacy outcomes for all students. Participants will be able to collaborate with and learn from each other, share ideas and best practices and plan for the application of new learning in a supportive environment. If you are a K-6 teacher looking to continuously improve literacy instruction for your students, please join us!

Are you interested in engaging your students in deeper learning of your content area through literacy-based instruction? If you answered "yes" to this question, please join the 7-12 Literacy Collaborative. Participants will have the opportunity to explore, apply, and share literacy-based instructional strategies that work in any content area.

This is an opportunity for elementary teachers in PreK - grade 5 to come together to learn, reflect, share successes, collaborate and plan for mathematics instruction within a supportive community. Participants will be able to work with others in their grade band to explore new strategies, share successful practices and refine existing lessons to meet Common Core Standards for Content and Practice. Participants will be connected via a Shoology site for continued communication throughout the school year.

This is an opportunity for middle level teachers in grades 6 - 8 to come together to learn, reflect, share successes, collaborate and plan for mathematics instruction within a supportive community. Participants will be able to work with others in their grade band to explore new strategies, share successful practices and refine existing lessons to meet Common Core Standards for Content and Practice. Participants will be connected via a Shoology site for continued communication throughout the school year.

Providers of AIS in mathematics must have a thorough knowledge of the coherence of the mathematics content standards and of the strategies that are used throughout the grade levels to build deep understanding. AIS providers must also be able to diagnose the learning gaps of students, and provide appropriate strategies needed. These sessions will provide the opportunity to work with other AIS providers to deepen our understanding and explore, apply, and share instructional strategies that work with struggling learners. Participants will also communicate throughout the school year via a Schoology site.

These facilitated sessions are for K-12 teachers and administrators who participated in the Summer 2015 and Summer 2016 Social Studies Curriculum Work to continue the process of curriculum mapping, unit design and inquiry writing. Participants will collaborate to share information, ideas and instructional practices on the teaching and learning of social studies content and skills. Participants may sign up for a single session or for multiple sessions, as desired

This is an opportunity for Instructional Coaches to come together to learn, reflect, share successes, collaborate and plan within a supportive community. We will focus on developing and refining the knowledge, skills and mindsets necessary to have successful 1:1 coaching conversations and to lead effective teams.

Leadership Groups

Literacy Leadership offers administrators and teacher leaders the tools they can use to plan for a culture of literacy. Planning for literacy with the intent to improve all students' literacy skills involves collaborative leadership and research-based literacy practices. Join Literacy Leadership to learn more about how to lead for literacy.

The desired outcome is to support each other as individuals, as well as, systems towards continuous improvement in the instruction of mathematics. For the spring meeting, the text: Mathematical Mindsets by Jo Boaler will focus our conversations and consideration of practice.

This network of Social Studies leadership will meet to serve as a conduit for information, learning and discussion about the New York State K-12 Social Studies Framework, assessments, and best practices in Social Studies classrooms. Social Studies teacher leaders and administrators will work collaboratively to expand their own knowledge and expertise, and, in turn, provide leadership to their own schools and districts.

Classroom Culture

Responsive Classroom enrollment is full for the spring session. Watch for details for the summer and fall sessions next month.

Standards and Instruction

This workshop is intended to be an opportunity for Pre-Calculus teachers to get together to share ideas about what has changed in their Pre-Calculus courses as a result of the Common Core curriculum, and what has remained the same. We will be working from the Modules supplied by New York State as a reference. Participants are encouraged to bring any textbooks or materials that are used in their course

Project Based Learning

This workshop will guide middle school and high school math teachers through a learning process in which they will gain an understanding of the key differences between Project Based Learning (PBL) and Problem Based Learning (PrBL). We will analyze different ways to link your curriculum and technology with a PrBL approach to create a rigorous and engaging learning environment for your students. Participants will also utilize workshop time to start planning their first PrBL experience for their students. This session is for middle school and high school math educators and administrators who want to learn more about Problem Based Learning.

This workshop will guide middle school and high school science teachers through a learning process in which they will gain an understanding of the key differences between Project Based Learning (PBL) and Problem Based Learning (PrBL). We will analyze different ways to link your curriculum and technology with a PrBL approach to create a rigorous and engaging learning environment for your students. Participants will also utilize workshop time to start planning their first PrBL experience for their students. This session is for middle school and high school science educators and administrators who want to learn more about Problem Based Learning.

During the summer of 2015, a new ASCD book was published called Setting the Standard for Project Based Learning (Larmer, Mergendoller, Boss, 2015). At this time the Buck Institute for Education shifted from the "PBL 8 Essentials" to the "Gold Standard Design Elements". This training is designed for teachers trained in PBL 101 prior to the shift to Gold Standard PBL. Teachers will learn about the Essential Project Design Elements for Gold Standard PBL and will have time to redesign projects they currently have to Gold Standard and inform new projects for the future.

Now that your Project-based Learning is planned, it’s time to build or adjust your instructional calendar so that activities and assessments are balanced and able to engage all learners. Come to this workshop where we will explore how to organized student-centered inquiry as we manage the “messy middle” of PBL. After a morning of learning and working together, you will have the afternoon to continue framing your PBL unit.

Making Connections is all about: creating authentic connections in the community for real world learning! Current students and teachers will share Project Based Learning experiences and community members and businesses will experience what this approach is all about. Non-profit organizations, government agencies, institutes of higher education and area businesses will have an opportunity to share what they do and how student learning may connect to their work. Teachers will have the opportunity to meet directly with community businesses and others to explore possible links to learning

PBL 101 is a foundational four-day workshop inspired by the work of the Buck Institute for Education, New Tech Network, Edutopia and Expeditionary Learning. It provides attendees with the skills and knowledge needed to design, assess and manage a rigorous, relevant, and standards-based project. The workshop is a balanced blend of direct instruction, video analysis, hands-on work time, resource sharing, and peer collaboration and feedback.

Special Event

Kagan Organization is bringing a two day workshop as part of the 2016-17 USA Tour to Syracuse. May 11-12, Brain Friendly Teaching will be happening on the OCM BOCES campus (Rodax 8). While OCM is cooperating with Kagan to offer this opportunity it is NOT offered through OCM BOCES and registration is directly with Kagan.

Surprising new brain imaging techniques give us new windows into real-time brain functioning. For the first time, we can actually view which parts of the brain are engaged as we use different instructional strategies. Through this technology and other advances in brain science, there is an emerging understanding of which teaching methods best align with how the brain best learns. Learn more about how the brain actually learns and which instructional strategies are brain-friendly and which are not. Find teaching easier and far more effective as you adopt proven brain-friendly structures!

In case you missed some blogs by our team

Randi Downs reminds us of the importance of norms and offers a resource for protocols in her blog: When Norms Mean Something…

Through Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment component districts have the opportunity to send participants to regional offerings at no additional fees. Other districts may also attend and fees apply. Regional offerings are developed based on district input and expressed interests. Additional focus areas or alternative dates may be arranged especially for a district using included days or at regular daily rates. CI&A facilitates support for instruction through coaching, regional sessions and direct in-district work.

Curriculum, Instruction & Assessment: Regional Sessions