May eBook Top 5 Collection OCM BOCES Instructional Support would highlight these selections from our eBook Professional Library. View Professional eBook Library.

Transforming School Culture Explains how school cultures operate and how leaders can overcome staff division to improve relationships and transform toxic cultures into healthy ones. Read more

Aligning School Districts as PLCs Breaks down the complex process of aligning the work of central office staff, building leadership, and teachers to increase student achievement. Read more

Collaborating for Success with the Common Core: A Toolkit for Professional Learning Communities at Work Describes what is required to implement the standards in core content areas and find valuable tips and strategies for creating strong collaborative practices Read more

Essentials for Principals: School Leader's Guide to Professional Learning Communities at Work Shows how to explore the critical components needed to lay the foundation of a PLC, including how to develop a structure that supports collaborative teams, effective monitoring strategies, communication effectiveness, and more. Read more

Learning by Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work Closes the knowing-doing gap and transforming schools into PLCs. It also includes seven major additions that equip educators with essential tools for confronting challenges. Read more

May 13, 2016

The 6th Annual Teacher Leadership Conference will be an evening of celebrating and learning about teacher leadership. The theme is “Teacher Leadership beyond District Boundaries,” and the workshops will all explore the ways that teacher leadership reaches across district lines to benefit the state [and beyond]. Commissioner Elia will deliver the keynote. The event will again be held at Drumlins, this time on May 31st. Information and registration is posted.

Leave it to Rick DuFour to honestly portray our current state of education. In this interview, he identifies what is working and suggests a path (that we all know about) for improvement.

This article might be ten years old, but it’s still a good read about school culture from Roland Barth.

Nominate a teacher librarian for the CNYSL's Super Librarian Award 2016. Anyone can nominate; the deadline is May 20th.

Hey! Your professional book collection now includes Solution Tree and Corwin titles in addition to all of the ASCD titles that you’ve had access to via the OCM BOCES Instructional Support e-library. Enjoy free access to books about RTI, literacy, PLC, social studies, technology, STEM, assessment, PBL, leadership, classroom management, motivation, and much more!

It looks like the racial gaps in student achievement persist in almost all districts across the country, according to this report.

If you are wondering what a Makerspace looks like, this short video can help you envision them at all levels in the education system. There are simple and elaborate examples. The goal is creative problem solving!

This collection of videos about Deeper Learning can help you get a vision for the future (and your school’s plans).

The Buck Institute for Education is teaming up with OCM BOCES to offer a four-day conference on the research-driven success of Project-Based Learning. The one-of-a-kind event embraces the Maker Movement and offers a long list of inspiring speakers and workshops aimed at bolstering your understanding and success with student-centered, inquiry-based learning. Don’t miss out on this chance to connect with fellow educators, renowned experts, and PBL trailblazers for an event guaranteed to spark creativity, collaboration, and innovation in the classroom.

The PBL Regional Network gathers on May 23rd – the final gathering of the school year. This is the opportunity to come and talk with other PBLers about successes, failures, and ideas for next year.

Details about this summer’s Middle-Level Institute have just been announced! As usual, there’s a great line-up of workshops to choose from: EdTech & Literacy, math, social studies, and RTI.

Principals can reach out to teachers for feedback, as described in this article. It might be a good way to answer the question: "have I improved?"

Registration is now open for the next round of summer social studies, July 18th – 21st, facilitated curriculum work. Examples that integrate ELA and social studies will be used, especially at the elementary level. There are two threads:  grades 9-12 and grades K-4.

This column includes good advice for helping students of lower income get (and stay in) to college.

The Literacy Leadership Network has a meeting on May 25th.

The final meeting for the year for the Social Studies Network is May 26th.

While we want our students to be empathetic, do we deliberately teach it? This article offers up some suggestions for teaching empathy (after making the case for deliberate instruction, first).

A special day for math is planned: Weaving Math Practices into Practice. The morning will include a review of the practices with small groups working in the afternoon to plan units of instruction that emphasize the practices. It all happens on May 24th!

This interactive, highly practical 28-hour Responsive Classroom Course is the new and improved entry-level training. It gives classroom and special area teachers everything needed to start using core Responsive Classroom teaching practices. This course replaces Responsive Classroom Level I (RC1). Preparing for a Responsive Classroom in 2016-2017 begins this spring with this professional learning opportunity.

Literacy in the content areas includes reading and writing. This column describes this for science, using examples from the Next Generation Science Standards.

The Teacher Centers in our area are providing the poverty simulation free of charge for teacher leaders and administrators. There are two sessions to choose from on August 11th. The object of the experience is to sensitize participants to the realities faced by low-income people and motivate them to become involved in activities which help reduce the stresses of our students and ways to support the families.

Teams of general and special education teachers and leaders will learn to develop a foundation of collaboration at the special [free] summer event: Creating a Unified System through a Mindful Culture of Collaboration. Read more and register!

SUNY Oswego is offering an intensive, accelerated TESOL Graduate Certificate Program. Qualified teacher candidates who complete this five-course and three-practicum program will be recommended to NYSED for an Additional Certificate in ESOL K-12… and it all gets done in a year on a part-time basis.

Here’s a list of dozens of quick, formative assessment ideas and prompts to check for student understanding (or misunderstanding). Or, read about it.

Technology can be a game-changer when it comes to art history. Pictures in textbooks just don’t cut it anymore.

This book in our professional eBook collection provides all sorts of protocols for facilitating PLC conversations and looking at student work. Using the protocols can help you to look at instructional practice, address problems, or engage your colleagues in discussion.