Single Session Workshops

3D Printing: Steps to Successfully Enhance Your Class

Facilitators: MƒA Master Teachers Joseph Buro, Everton Henriques, and Sandra Rossi

THURSDAY, APR 27

MƒA  COMPUTER SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

3D printers are great if you know how to use them, but they often become dust collectors because of everyday obstacles. Join us so that your students and your lesson can be the focus of your attention, not the pile of melted plastic that was supposed to be a model. This workshop will help you seamlessly integrate 3D printing into your teaching practice. First, we’ll discuss logistical issues, including common pitfalls when purchasing supplies and maintaining printing equipment. Then, we’ll explore modeling and slicing software choices for various contexts and suggest ways to incorporate 3D printing as an instructional tool. This introductory-level workshop is best for teachers new to 3D printing.

Joseph Buro is an MƒA Master Teacher and computer science teacher at Staten Island Technical High School in Staten Island.

Everton Henriques is an MƒA Master Teacher and science teacher at Staten Island Technical High School in Staten Island.

Sandra Rossi is an MƒA Master Teacher and mathematics teacher at Bayside High School in Queens.

5 Steps to Enacting Rough Draft Math

Facilitator: Amanda Jansen, Ph.D.

THURSDAY, MAR 30

MƒA

 MATHEMATICS

Would you like to lower students’ anxiety and create safer spaces for intellectual risk-taking in your mathematics classes? In this workshop, we will explore five steps for incorporating the rough draft and revision process into mathematics lessons: (1) building and sustaining academic safety, (2) selecting and enacting revisable tasks, (3) planning for explicit revision, (4) implementing revision-specific instructional routines, and (5) adjusting assessment practices. Through rough draft mathematics, students learn that even “correct work” is revisable, and teachers gain greater access to student thinking and can better honor their strengths in the revision process. This session is open to mathematics teachers of any grade level.

Dr. Amanda Jansen is a Professor in the mathematics education program in the School of Education at the University of Delaware.

She also holds a joint appointment in her university’s Department of Mathematical Sciences. Before becoming a teacher educator, she was a middle school mathematics teacher in Arizona and earned her Ph.D. in educational psychology from Michigan State University. Her book, Rough Draft Math: Revising to Learn, was published by Stenhouse.

The ABCs of Student TAs

Facilitators: MƒA Master Teachers Stefanie Ismail and Taryn Martinez

TUESDAY, MAY 16 ONLINE  INQUIRY, PRACTICE, AND LEADERSHIP

Ensuring all learners receive enough targeted support is difficult, especially with large class sizes. But without that support, student misconceptions persist, work quality suffers, and relationship-building becomes more challenging. By training students to be classroom teaching assistants (TAs), we provide them with opportunities to demonstrate mastery, develop leadership skills, and build positive associations with STEM. This leaves us, as teachers, the time to focus on students who need the most intervention. In this workshop, we will discuss why TAing opportunities matter (especially for our most at-risk students), how to effectively train TAs, and how to successfully leverage them in the classroom. We will provide teachers with examples of both short and long-term TA-led activities, including materials specifically used in Living Environment classes. This session is appropriate for any teacher but is geared toward science teachers. Those who enroll should think of a lesson or activity in need of enhanced student leadership.

Stefanie Ismail is an MƒA Master Teacher and science teacher at The Heritage School in Manhattan.

Taryn Martinez is an MƒA Master Teacher and science teacher at Hunters Point Community Middle School in Queens.

Academic Mindfulness: Supporting Executive Function Skills in Students p Facilitator: Rhys McGovern

WEDNESDAY, MAR 8

Online

INQUIRY, PRACTICE, AND LEADERSHIP

Even when it is clear our students are trying, strong academic performance is not always the result. Perhaps a student performs well in class but never turns in homework, or maybe your last period class is zoning out… again. Even though there’s no quick fix, you can address some underlying factors to help prevent these challenges! Executive functioning skills allow us to conceptualize, plan, and follow through on all our daily tasks. In this workshop, we will explore different types of executive functioning skills, identify what it looks like when the demands of a school environment exceed a student’s skill set, and discuss how educators can foster executive functioning skills in their students. Teachers will leave with an understanding of executive function variability, skill-building strategies to incorporate into their classroom, and greater ability to positively impact students’ academic experience.

Rhys McGovern is a hard-of-hearing, multilingual speech-language pathologist and teacher who grew up in New England. He currently lives in Amsterdam in the Netherlands, and works with clients on both sides of the Atlantic. He holds a Master of Science in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Emerson College, Massachusetts State SLP and Teaching licensure, and the ASHA Certificate of Clinical Competence. Rhys has been working with children, teens, and young adults for over 15 years, and founded his private practice New Leaf Language in 2018.