OVEC Professional Development

OVEC National Board Professional Development for Districts

OVEC is pleased to offer the services of a number of National Board teachers who have received additional training as PD Providers. These teachers are available to provide Professional Development programs for individual schools in the areas listed below.

The cost for six hours of training for an individual school is $450 ($675 for non-member districts) plus mileage payable to OVEC. Contact Carol Wright by email or phone for more information cwright@ovec.org 502-647-3533 ext. 250, or to schedule a PD day.

So What About Culture?
Grade Level: Middle or High School

School culture! What is school culture? Who determines the culture of a school? Could it be the students, the teachers, the administration or maybe ghosts from the past? The culture of a school has a direct correlation with the school’s productivity and success. You have a role to play in your school’s culture. Learn how you can make positive changes to improve your school’s culture. (3 or 6 hour sessions)

Presenter: Tony Jury, NBCT, Career and Tech Ed., Gallatin County High School

Literacy: It’s All About Reading and Writing!
Grade Level: K-1

Seminar includes P-1 reading and writing strategies that are research based developmentally appropriate practices. In this dynamic and highly interactive Professional Development, the presenter will provide fun and quick phonemic awareness and writing activities that can be used for beginning and struggling readers. Other activities include:

Entertaining music and songs that focus on multi-sensory learning
How to teach your students to do what good readers do
What to look for when choosing a Big Book for Shared Reading
Before, during, and after reading activities for shared reading
Purpose for Guided Reading and sample guided reading lessons
Interactive morning message activities
Shared Writing- predictable and interactive charts
Writing ideas that include family involvement

All strategies are easily incorporated into a 4- Block and/or Building Blocks classroom. (1 ½ - 3 hour sessions)

Presenter: Leslie Weihe, NBCT, Primary Teacher, Bullitt County

Science as Inquiry: If Bean Seeds Grow Beans, Will Bird Seed Grow Birds?
Grade Level: K-5

This interactive session will provide strategies for supporting children’s questions and curiosities through math and science experiences throughout the daily routine. Ideas will be discussed for providing a learning environment that will encourage exploration and experimentation. Practical guidelines will be given for incorporating Science as Inquiry into the Early Childhood Classroom. (3 hour session)

Presenter: Karen Edmondson, NBCT, Early Childhood Teacher, Owen County

Literacy in the Early Childhood Classroom
Grade Level: K-5

This session will provide ways to bring literacy to life in the Early Childhood Classroom. Learn ways to effectively incorporate reading, writing, speaking, and listening into the daily routine. Explore ways to create a print rich environment accessible to all learners including utilizing technology and incorporating math and science. (1 ½ or 3-hour sessions)

Presenter: Karen Edmondson, NBCT, Early Childhood Teacher, Owen County

Early Childhood Community Partnership Strategies
Grade Level: K-5

One of the most effective strategies we can use as educators is to create partnerships with parents, the community, and other educators. Learn to explore your resources and effective ways to create partnerships with those resources. Use these partnerships while integrating early literacy strategies, math and science techniques, and technology to establish an environment that will foster classroom community by building on each child’s strengths. These sessions can be provided through site visits or PD sessions and can be tailored to the requested number of hours. Areas of expertise include science, literacy, technology, and collaboration.

Presenter: Karen Edmondson, NBCT, Early Childhood Teacher, Owen County

Middle School Literacy: Can They Think?
Grade Level: Middle and High School

PD includes powerful classroom strategies that are differentiated and address multiple intelligences while promoting critical thinking skills. Students engage in independent learning while addressing all levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. These strategies can be implemented in all content areas with all levels of students. Strategies include Literature Circles, Socratic Seminar, and Vocabulary Builders. (1 ½ -3 hour sessions)

Presenter: Ronda Cox, NBCT, Middle School Language Arts Teacher, Spencer Co

Middle School Literacy: Help for the Struggling Readers!
Grade Level: Middle and High School

Powerful classroom strategies for struggling readers: Grounded in research, these strategies increase comprehension through student engagement and critical thinking. Students experience increased levels of success as they experience reading through different learning styles and intelligences: examples include books on PowerPoint, Reader’s Theatre, Concepts Sort, etc. Teachers will leave with the tools to implement these strategies immediately. (3-6 hour sessions)

Presenter: Ronda Cox, NBCT, Middle School Language Arts Teacher, Spencer Co.

Inquiry-Based Learning
Grade Level: K-5

This 6 hour PD session will be most appropriate for grades K-5 focusing on the research behind inquiry-based learning, understanding teaching/learning relationships necessary for success, basic steps of the inquiry approach, and space/time/material management. PD session will also allow time for teachers/teams/grade levels to implement training into a current or upcoming unit of study. The session will also look at Inquiry Based Learning in all content areas with a focus on thematic study. Participants will be provided with a DVD showcasing Inquiry learning as well as interviews, commentaries, and lesson plans from teachers featured on the DVD. DVD is produced by KDE. (3-6 hour sessions)

Presenter: Susie Burkhardt, NBCT, Elementary Teacher, Shelby County

Rigor and Engagement
Grade Level: K-5

(Based on Daggett’s model)
This 6 hour PD session will be most appropriate for grades K-5 focusing on defining and implementing rigorous and engaging learning experiences. Participants will learn what “rigor” is and how to make rigor palatable to students through increasing student engagement. Participants will learn how to analyze learning experiences to determine their value within the context of a unit of study. Units of study will be examined/developed during the training to incorporate all levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy—including the highest levels of thinking (rigor) combined with high levels of engagement (unpredictable outcomes). (3-6 hour sessions)

Presenter: Susie Burkhardt, NBCT, Elementary Teacher, Shelby County

Reading Workshop
Grade Level: K-5

PD Session will be most appropriate for grades 1-5 focusing on organization and implementation of a reading workshop. Elements will include:

Whole group mini-lessons focused on reading strategies: learn how to successfully teach students reading strategies within the context of a read aloud text. Learn how to scaffold student learning through one and two week strategy units.
Organizing and implementing flexible groupings: Discover how to group students to best meet their needs. Based on continuous assessment for needs groups as well as homogeneous grouping, and interest groupings.
Applying strategies in small group work times: Learn how to teach students to apply what you have taught in whole-group mini-lesson to texts on their instructional level.
Student book-talks: learn how to make home reading meaningful through taped book talks where teacher, peers and self evaluate students.
Choice reading: Learn how to find time in a busy day for student choice reading
Home reading: How to make home reading enjoyable, accountable and effective
Effectively using the reading journal as a processing tool for students: Learn how to give the copy machine a break and teach students to process their thoughts and newly learned strategies within the context of a reading journal.
Keeping parents informed: Learn how to inform parents and keep them in the learning loop. (3-6 hour sessions)

Presenter: Susie Burkhardt, NBCT, Elementary Teacher, Shelby County