Upcoming Professional Development Presentations:
|
Although most of my work is through district or school site programs, I am either leading or presenting at the following sessions open to the public. Please contact me if you are interested in customized workshops for your school or district.
|
CUE National Conference
|
Spotlight: Dynamic, Interactive Technique for Reading Comprehension using Google SlidesUsing Google Slides, this interactive technique allow students to dynamically reveal structures or key concepts in text, making difficult content more accessible. It can also reveal or hide definitions or abridged text, providing additional support with primary sources or for ELL students. View demo at www.bit.do/SpotlightDemo.
The slides can be created in advance by you, or assigned for students to use to demonstrate understanding. |
California Council for the Social Studies (CCSS)
|
Engaged Learning with Interactive, Dynamic Infographics and Explorations using Google SlidesInfographics are an interesting way for students to demonstrate learning and understanding. Adding dynamic elements and interactivity amplifies engagement and interest for the audience and introduces opportunities to extend the presentation material beyond the confines of a single poster. This workshop addresses pedagogy behind the creation of infographics as well teaching the necessary tools and techniques in Google Slides.
Use Timelines to Explore Historical ThinkingTimelines can be more than a passive ordering of historical events. Through hands-on investigation, we’ll tap their potential to deeply examine significance, point of view and other historical-thinking concepts. Because of the capacity of digital tools to add dynamic interactivity, we’ll explore some online timeline-creation platforms as well. Leave with sample lessons and resources. Laptops recommended but not required.
Exploring the Legacy of Injustice through Game-Based LearningThrough a ‘rigged’ Monopoly game, students grapple with the legacy of historical discrimination and economic exploitation by ‘experiencing’ the economic impact of slavery. Confronting the myth of ‘equal opportunity’, students see how family wealth and poverty persist through generations. Participants leave with lesson plans adaptable to different subjects. Extensions activities can incorporate spreadsheets and digital graphing. Adapted from Teaching Tolerance.
|
CUE Fall Conference
|
Engaged Learning with Interactive, Dynamic Infographics and Explorations using Google SlidesInfographics are an interesting way for students to demonstrate learning and understanding. Adding dynamic elements and interactivity amplifies engagement and interest for the audience and introduces opportunities to extend the presentation material beyond the confines of a single poster. This workshop addresses pedagogy behind the creation of infographics as well teaching the necessary tools and techniques in Google Slides.
|
UC Berkeley History-Social Science Project WorkshopOct. 18, 2016 |
Introduction to the H-SS Framework (Admin)Be the first to learn about the latest in K-12 history instruction!
UCBHSSP staff will provide an orientation to the newly adopted History-Social Science Framework, based on their collective experience working with teachers on integrating new approaches to learning. Participants will be introduced to:
|
Teachers 4 Social Justice ConferenceOct. 8, 2016 |
Exploring the Legacy of Injustice through Game-Based LearningThrough a ‘rigged’ Monopoly game, students grapple with the legacy of historical discrimination and economic exploitation by ‘experiencing’ the economic impact of slavery. Confronting the myth of ‘equal opportunity’, students see how family wealth and poverty persist through generations. Participants leave with lesson plans adaptable to different subjects. Extensions activities can incorporate spreadsheets and digital graphing. Adapted from Teaching Tolerance.
|
Teachers 4 Social Justice ConferenceOct. 8, 2016 |
Lies, Damn Lies & Statistics: Exploring Society through Data VisualizationsThis workshop looks at ways that the investigation and visualization of data bring powerful tools to the history and math classroom, providing unique lenses through which to view and investigate society. Visually represented in charts, graphs and infographics, data can illuminate or distort social realities. Additionally we will look at approaches and tools to create and incorporate data visualization into our classroom activities.
|
UC Berkeley History-Social Science Project
|
Technology in the Common Core ClassroomTired of feeling that classroom devices are more of a distraction than a learning tool, yet overwhelmed by the barrage of apps and add-ons that you never have time to check out? If you want to learn how to tap the power of ed-tech, join us for this week-long “Tech in the Common Core Classroom” institute.
Tech tools are cool, but the tools are only the starting point: knowing how to use them to promote deep comprehension and critical thinking skills is the real goal. Work with teachers from multiple disciplines as we explore creative and thoughtful ways to put technology to use. We’ll work with a variety of literacy and analytical Common Core strategies and see how technology can not only port them to the digital realm, but actually extend and transform them utilizing the best that technology can offer. With hours of work time incorporated into the schedule, you’ll leave with a tech-infused lesson and the confidence to implement it.
|
California Council for the Social Studies
|
Digital Tools & Historical Thinking: Timelines and ChronologiesIn this workshop, we will explore a digital timeline lesson that builds upon the key concepts of “Continuity and Change” and “Historical Significance”. The demonstrated lesson builds Common Core skills as participants examine primary source material to determine the significance of various events in a unit of study and make additions and adjustments to the time line to reflect the conclusions reached. The lesson utilizing features available in digital timelines to highlight the historical thinking concepts.
|
California History-Social Science Project
|
Using and Visualizing Data in the History Classroom
The CHSSP, a long-time leader in shaping instruction in History and the Social Sciences, celebrates it's 25th year with the theme "Teaching the Past for Tomorrow".
Finding and interpreting data is an important component of information/media literacy. Data is often presented in highly abstract numeric tables, charts, or graphs that can be difficult to understand and interpret. Used correctly, visual representations of data sets can highlight patterns and relationships, allowing the information come alive. Adding digital interactivity further enhances student engagement and supports understanding. This workshop will provide analytic tools to help your students make meaning of data, as well as skills and resources to help you locate, visualize, and incorporate data into your lessons.
|
Teachers for Social Justice Conference
|
Understanding Roots of Inequity Through Game-Based Learning
Using Game-Based Learning, this workshop helps students understand and challenge the legacy of historical discrimination and economic exploitation. Through a ‘rigged’ monopoly game, students come to appreciate some of the roots of the inequity of wealth by exploring the economic impact of the enduring legacy of slavery. Adapted from materials by Teaching Tolerance – Southern Poverty Law Center’s, participants will leave with a lesson plan that can be adapted to different historical contexts. Extensions activities can incorporate spreadsheets and digital graphing.
|
UC Berkeley History-Social Science Project
|
Planning for History Research Projects in a Digital WorldResearch papers & projects, including National History Day, are a staple in many history classrooms - and now specifically required by the Common Core Standards. Join us to learn how to use collaborative online technologies that drive student success with reading and analysis skills as well as the research and writing process. In addition to applications in traditional classroom, we will explore how NHD projects can be integrated into the curriculum.
Learn more about my collaboration with the UC Berkeley History-Social Science Project here.
|
UC Berkeley History-Social Science Project
|
Struggles for Justice: Then and NowThis institute offers the opportunity for teachers to develop lessons that provide a historical lens to contemporary issues, with an eye towards engaging students whose histories are often absent from grand narratives. We will explore historical narratives surrounding the “New Jim Crow,” immigration, and LBGT history. Teachers will design a lesson using primary sources from the Library of Congress' online collection of resources and will return during the school year to review student work. Participants who complete the 3-part cycle of inquiry will receive a stipend.
|
UC Berkeley History-Social Science Project
|
Exploring Digital Timelines to Promote Historical ThinkingI will present a workshop during the UCBHSSP May conference on Teaching Historical Thinking Across the K-12 Continuum. This exciting conference features keynote speakers Sam Wineburg, Stanford University and Bruce VanSledright, University of North Carolina at Charlotte and focuses on how we can teach the habits of the historical mind in our classrooms.
In this workshop, we will explore a digital timeline lesson that builds upon the key concepts of “Continuity and Change” and “Historical Significance”. The demonstrated lesson builds Common Core skills as participants examine primary source material to determine the significance of various events in a unit of study and make additions and adjustments to the time line to reflect the conclusions reached. The lesson utilizing features available in digital timelines to highlight the historical thinking concepts.
|
Workshop Topics:
Please contact me if you are interested in scheduling workshops for your school or district. Possible topics include:
Blended Classroom-Overview of Technology in Education: |
Are you interested in integrating technology into your classroom, but don’t know where to start?Designed to introduce teachers who are unfamiliar with or apprehensive of educational technology, this workshop provides an overview of the issues involved in integrating new technologies in the classroom and offers a viable approach to this challenge.
With learning goals as a starting point, we’ll explore how to find, select and apply digital tools in a pedagogically sound and meaningful way. We’ll leave you with a few key tools that you can start using with your students right away. |
Literacy Strategies Using Google Apps.
|
Many schools and districts are using Google Docs to centralize and unify the format and location of
student work. Google Docs enable student peer review and collaboration while providing teachers immediate, interactive access to student writing, allowing teachers to closely monitor and support student work. Some of the new Google Doc add-on apps further enhance the ability of teachers to interact with students working individually or in collaborative groupings. This workshop will focus on ways to support student writing, utilizing the literacy strategies of the UC Berkeley History-Social Science Project and others in the context of Google Docs. We’ll also leave you with some tips and methods for organizing and managing digital assignments and student work. You should have a Google account, and prior experience with Google Docs is recommended but not required. Devin Hess is a Google for Education Certified instructor. |
Google Classroom |
Google Classroom is a major step forward in making the Google suite of app easily accessible for teachers and students to use in a classroom setting. Its tight integration with Google Docs and Drive makes it ideal for teachers who want to use Google application with their students. Learn how to use the automated delivery with appropriately set permissions to manage the distribution and collection of assignments painlessly. No more messing with copying documents, finding correct folders and changing edit rights.
|
Using Primary Sources in Instruction
|
Primary sources are the staple of historical investigation. Students in a broad range of classes need to be well-versed in finding, interpreting, and using them in their studies. This workshop will employ strategies developed by the UC Berkeley History-Social Science Project to help students think critically to analyze and interpret sources, taking into account historical context, point of view, message, and relevance to the topic under consideration.
In this two-session workshop, we’ll also experiment with digital platforms for both teacher and student presentations and interaction with primary source documents across a variety of formats that can bring these rich sources to life and support the analysis process, as well as explore some key repositories on the internet where primary source materials can be found. |
Digital Literacy and Research
|
How can you leverage digital tools to support student research? Research projects, now required by the Common Core, inherently demand a broad range of academic skills which make them an ideal, multi-faceted curricular centerpiece. Join us in this 2-session workshop as we draw upon the UC Berkeley History-Social Science Project’s 12 years of work developing successful literacy strategies that can be applied across disciplines.
We will use a number of online tools (Diigo, NoodleTools, and others) to integrate these strategies to support the development of higher-order cognitive skills in students: categorization, analysis, organization, and writing tasks. Examined here in the context of the arc of student research, these tools are also well-suited for classroom use to independently build these as discrete skills. In part I, we’ll focus on web literacy skills that include finding and evaluating websites for research topics; bookmarking and annotating online resources; engaging students in content analysis directly on selected websites. Part II will use additional digital tools to support building citations, close reading and analysis of excerpted digital texts; development and organization of claims and evidence (main ideas and supporting details); incorporating primary sources and data; developing an outline; and producing a final project that synthesizes these skills (Part II). |
Representation and Analysis
|
Finding and interpreting data is an important component of information/media literacy. Data is often presented in highly abstract numeric tables, charts, or graphs that can be difficult to understand and interpret. Used correctly, visual representations of data sets can highlight patterns and relationships, allowing the information come alive. Adding digital interactivity further enhances student engagement and supports understanding.
This workshop will provide analytic tools to help your students make meaning of data, as well as skills and resources to help you locate, visualize, and incorporate data into your lessons. |
Building Historical Thinking with Digital Timelines |
In this workshop, we explore several different digital timelines, paying attention to the manner in which different tools promote (or hinder) the process of building historical thinking skills among our students. Participants will leave with a sample lesson and experience using a digital timeline tool, as well as a collection of valuable resources with which to continue the explortion of this under-utilized lens for the study and teaching of history.
|
Digital Storytelling
|
Storytelling has always been an integral part of human interaction and is an excellent format for student learning and expression. Stories can be used to share personal or fictional accounts, relay historical narratives, express understanding of a topic, or inspire people to social action.
Learn how digital tools offer students the ability to incorporate multimedia and animation to enliven the storytelling process. With a range of platforms from which to choose, there are applications suitable for any age group that can address projects from a variety of disciplines. This two-session workshop will explore the steps needed to create digital stories with your students from the project design, storyboarding and script-writing, to the selection and use of the appropriate digital storytelling tools and the distribution of the final project. |
Global Education - Authentic Audiences
|
Part of our goal as educators is to help infuse a sense of global citizenship among our students. The Common Core standards explicitly state the importance of ‘understanding and communicating effectively with people from other perspectives and cultures utilizing digital and other sources. What better way than to facilitate the direct communication between your students and others living in widely different settings.
The internet has brought communities together from across the globe. While student publications on the web can reach a wide, international audience, there are also projects designed specifically to organize, foster and encourage these cross-cultural interactions. In this workshop, we will explore opportunities ranging from international pen-pals buddies to collaborative production of news stories with peers from very different backgrounds. |
Student Collaboration - Wiki's in the classroom: |
Are you curious about collaborative learning or looking for ways to implement group work in your
classroom? Promoted by the Common Core, student collaboration is a well-documented approach that supports independence and encourages student engagement, especially among English language learners and others who may be hesitant to participate in full-class conversations. Wikis facilitate user collaboration on a single website, and allow various components of a project to be unified in a single, media-rich location. Other uses include documentation and presentation of classroom learning during a unit, communication between teacher and students, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Wikis are an excellent platform that can support and encourage student collaboration from simple assignment-level group work to long-term project-based learning. This two-part workshop will introduce the wiki; help you develop a basic template to take to your students; and offer suggestions on using your new wiki to facilitate collaborative projects. The workshop schedule gives you time to start using the wiki with your students and return to share your experiences with colleagues and improve your site. |
