Videos

Summer can be the perfect time to offer opportunities that support and accelerate student learning. During this webinar, members of a Local Educational Agency (LEA) along with PaTTAN educational consultants will share novel practices and strategies for other LEAs to consider as a means to engage students and their families during the summer months. Learn ways to bring together creative and innovative educational activities and events for all families and students will enjoy.

This keynote session highlights Megan's 'Don't Limit Me!' video, which received nearly 400,000 hits on YouTube. As an adult with Down syndrome, Megan addresses teaching special students the 'right way' - by teaching them independence, respect, and holding them to high standards. Megan discusses her careers as a fashion model, public speaker, event planner, entrepreneur, and, now, TV celebrity. Kris Bomgaars talks about her journey as a single mother. To better understand and navigate the educational system, Kris became a special ed teacher, herself. She has been instrumental in helping Megan grow up to be independent and follow her dreams.

Participants will learn what learning is, what the basics of our cognitive architecture are (how our brains receive and process information and how it is stored as knowledge) and what helps and hinders learning. We will then discuss a number of guiding principles for effective, efficient, and enjoyable (i.e., successful) learning as well as a few principles often used in math, that have time and again been shown not to work.

Mathematics content is highly compressed in the early grades. Recent research links difficulties with mathematics proficiency to concerns with acquiring early numeracy skills. However, students who are provided a strong foundation in early numeracy have increased likelihood of later success in mathematics applications in school and work. In this presentation, evidence-based practices (EBPs) will be highlighted and demonstrated across mathematical progressions.

This session will be a conference keynote and will highlight the themes of the conference; particularly, the role of assessment in teaching and learning for improved student learning and the knowledge and skills teachers need to be effective users of evidence to keep student learning moving forward. There will be opportunities for audience discussion and questions.

Access all of the sessions at https://pattanliteracysymposium22.sched.com/ In a knowledge economy, the human right of the 21st Century is literacy. What is at stake for children who fall through the cracks in systems without a strategically designed literacy safety net in place? What do parents and other community stakeholders deserve to know about this high stakes imperative? What are the coordinated systems that lay a blue print to successfully develop skilled readers, writers, and critical thinkers? What is possible when we ensure children become literate for a lifetime, regardless of zip code or student group?

The PaPBS' Coaches Day is specifically designed to support Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) school-wide and program-wide PBIS coaches. Through participation in PAPBS Coaches' Day, PBIS coaches at all levels will enhance their skills to provide coaching supports to their respective PBIS team(s) for initial and sustained implementation, working toward fidelity. PBIS Coaches will participate in sessions customized to their role (program-wide or school-wide), developmental level(s) of students they serve (early childhood, elementary, secondary) as well as level of coaching experience (ranging from new to experienced).

Current debates about the role of phoneme awareness instruction are, unfortunately, creating confusion where there needs to be clarity. We will revisit these questions: Why is phoneme awareness challenging? How is phoneme awareness distinct from, but related to, both word recognition and spelling? How can we select appropriate activities for students whose PA is underdeveloped? What do those activities look like?

The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) is offering the following opportunities to participate in a webinar on accommodations for the PSSA and Keystone Exams. PDE strongly encourages the participation of teachers who directly administer the PSSAs or Keystone Exams and are responsible for the implementation of accommodations for all students, including students with individualized education programs and 504 Plans, and all English language learner students. Presenters from PDE will examine the PSSA and Keystone Exams Accommodations Guidelines for Paper/Pencil and Online Assessments. During this session, presenters will highlight changes and discuss appropriate use of accommodations in statewide assessments. Please note there are several significant changes regarding Unique Accommodations procedures. Test security and administration procedures will also be discussed.

This session will focus on interconnections between oral language and literacy development across the grades from kindergarten through high school. Topics will include implications for identifying typical development, difference, and disorder using standardized tools followed by curriculum- based language assessment and intervention. Classroom- and curriculum-based approaches for combining general education instruction and special education intervention, with an emphasis on communicating through writing, will be introduced.