Kentucky Teacher

Kentucky State University’s School of Education has been awarded a grant from the Collaborative Center for Literacy Development (CCLD) to offer high-quality professional development opportunities that focus on the literacy development of students in grades 6-12. More specifically, the grant activities will provide information, resources and instructional strategies related to the teaching and assessment of literacy (Common Core Standards for English/language arts) when working with diverse students.

Grant participants will be expected to:

• complete four to five online course modules
• attend two online webinars
• attend a two-week summer academy (hybrid model consisting online and face-to-face training) in July 2012
• complete an individual literacy project with a diverse student in his/her classroom
• participate in a “fair share” with other CCLD grant participants across the state Read the full story

Global Exploration for Educators Organization (GEEO) is a non-profit organization that runs summer professional development travel programs designed for teachers.

GEEO is offering 13 different travel programs for the summer of 2012: India/Nepal; Vietnam; Thailand/Laos/Cambodia; China; Russia/Mongolia/China; Turkey (eight days); Turkey (15 days); South Africa/Mozambique/Zimbabwe/Botswana; Morocco; Peru; Ecuador; and The Galapagos Islands and Costa Rica.

Space is limited.

Educators have the option to earn graduate school credit and professional development credit while seeing the world. The trips are eight to 24 days in length and are designed and discounted to be interesting and affordable for teachers. GEEO provides teachers educational materials and the structure to help them bring their experiences into the classroom. The trips are open to all nationalities of K-12 and university educators and administrators, as well as retired educators. Educators also are permitted to bring along a non-educator guest.

Detailed information about each trip, including itineraries, costs, travel dates and more can be found at www.geeo.org or by calling toll free (877) 600-0105.

Registration is now open for the Tennessee Arts Commission’s Create2012: Creativity in Education Institute, July 15-18, in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

Create2012 will focus on aligning classroom instruction with 21st-century learning skills, which encompass creativity, imagination, problem-solving and critical thinking to support literacy in all subjects.

Sessions will be offered for K-12 classroom teachers, arts specialists, teaching artists, special education and resource teachers, principals and superintendents.

By learning how to integrate the arts into all content areas, teachers will be trained to design, deliver and assess core content in a way that engages students as active participants in their own learning.

Principals and school administrators will understand the importance of creativity to learning and utilize the arts as a way of establishing and/or enhancing professional learning communities among faculty.

There will be more than 100 sessions offered on topics such as the Common Core and the Arts, Using Art in the Special Education Classroom, Brain-Compatible Learning Through Storytelling and much more.

To register, go to https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/?eventid=1049902.

More information is available on the Create website at http://www.tn.gov/arts/create2012_guide.htmll.

Elkhorn Crossing School (Scott County) will host a free professional development Game Design Jam July 9-11 presented by the Learning Games Network, a non-profit spin-off of the MIT Education Arcade that seeks to bridge the gap between research and practice in game-based education.

The Game Design Jam will introduce teachers to new instructional resources and work with them to develop coaching strategies that can be used to guide students through research and creative game design processes.

The deadline to apply is April 30.

For more information or to get an application, e-mail gdtk@learninggamesnetwork.org or contact Keith Barnes at (502) 869-8047.

The Kentucky Reading Project (KRP) is a professional development program that focuses on Senate Bill 1 mandates; Kentucky Core Academic Standards; college and career readiness preparation; and formative assessments.

KRP is a yearlong graduate-level course centered on research-based reading instruction. It is taught by literacy faculty at each of the eight state universities. Teachers in grades K-5 may participate in KRP and will receive a stipend and graduate credit upon completion of the course in May 2013.

The National Center for Family Literacy provides one day of training at each site. This initiative is directed by the Collaborative Center for Literacy Development. More than 2,900 educators have been trained through this program in 13 years.

For more information about KRP and the application for the 2012-13 cadre, go to http://www.kentuckyliteracy.org/elementary/krp/forms or contact Cary Pappas, at (859) 257-6118.

StageLab is offering a professional development session for teachers this Monday, Jan. 16 that will focus on the elements of drama and how they connect to the new English/language arts standards. 

The session, which is open drama teachers of all experience levels, will be in Louisville from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The cost is $100. Six hours of professional development credit are available.

The session will be centered on the literary elements and ways in which these can be studied in context with the Kentucky Core Academic Standards. Performance elements also will be addressed in terms of the speaking and reading criteria.  Additionally,  the session will address technical elements and connections to social studies and the Common Core State Standards. 

For more information, call (502) 741-8392 or email stagelab@insightbb.com

In a special video edition of Commissioner’s Comments, Education Commissioner Terry Holliday welcomes Kentucky educators back to school after winter break, and offers a preview of  “what’s hot and what’s coming in 2012.” Among the topics highlighted are the Unbridled Learning: College/Career Readiness for All assessment and accountability system; student growth; Kentucky Core Academic Standards; new professional development resources; and the upcoming legislative session.

(Note: Video plays in IE9 and Firefox. It also will play in Chrome using the following plug-in:  http://www.interoperabilitybridges.com/wmp-extension-for-chrome).

K-12 physical and health education teachers can register for a professional development program being offered Feb. 10 at Lake Cumberland State Park.

The program is entitled “Unbridled Learning: Implementing the Physical Education Curriculum Analysis Tool (PECAT) and Health Education Assessment Project (HEAP) to Improve Comprehensive Physical Education and Health Education Programs.”  

Featured presenters include Dr. Aaron Beighle, an associate professor in the University of Kentucky’s Department of Kinesiology and Health Promotion, and Jamie Sparks, Coordinated School Health project director with the Kentucky Department of Education.

Registration closes on Jan. 19, 2012, but space is limited to 75 participants. If capacity is reached, priority will be given to one participant per school.

To register, click here.

For more information, contact Todd Davis.

The U.S. Department of Education announced last week that Kentucky will receive a Race to the Top grant of $17 million to advance targeted K-12 reforms aimed at improving student achievement.

Kentucky and six other states — Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Louisiana, New Jersey and Pennsylvania — will each receive a share of the $200 million in Race to the Top Round 3 (RTT3) fund.

“While the grant amount is significantly less than the original $175 million request, we are very excited about being able to gain funds to implement Senate Bill 1 initiatives and expand AdvanceKentucky sites,” said Kentucky Education Commissioner Terry Holliday. “Within the budget of $17 million, we will use state and district allocations to implement professional development and resources for Senate Bill 1.”

Senate Bill 1, passed in the 2009 session of the General Assembly, calls for a new assessment and accountability system for the state’s public schools, along with more rigorous academic standards, intensive teacher and administrator training, and strengthened collaboration among higher education, teacher/administrator certification and P-12 education sectors. Read the full story

Increasing Physical Activity in Schools: Professional Development for Elementary Teachers is a free, media-rich, self-paced professional development module offering elementary teachers and administrators tools for increasing levels of physical activity throughout the school culture.

Higher levels of physical activity support learning, on-task behavior and the development of life-long wellness.

Several of the video clips in the module were adapted from the KET documentary, More Than Child’s Play.