Sectionals:
Choose from the following.
Room assignments will be handed out from 8:00 - 8:50 AM
Download the sectional information here.

1A) 9:00 - 10:30 and 1B) 1:00 - 2:30 Montana math Standards Revision: Share your ideas

Participants will discuss the implications the National Panel Report and other current documents have in their math classrooms. Time to share ideas, concerns, comments for this year's revision of the Montana Mathematics Standards as well as sign up to be on the Revision Team if interested. Presented by Jean Howard, OPI Math Curriculum Specialist.

2A) 9:00 - 12:00, 2B) 1:00 - 4:00, Teaching and Learning in the Digital Age (each session is limited to 30 participants)

As our nation continues to invest billions of dollars annually in developing the infrastructure in our schools, key questions remain in terms of what technologies and solutions can we expect ALL teachers to integrate to improve teaching and learning. This presentation and hands-on session (laptops available), will provide an overview of: key national technology trends, research on improving student achievement, the latest online digital content, and easy project-based learning solutions related to standards-based curriculum. Presented by Dr. Dan McCormack. Dr. McCormack has over fifteen years of public school experience as a teacher, technology administrator, and superintendent of schools. He joined Apple in 1996, and has served as an education technology consultant working with western district, state and legislative leaders related to strategies and policies for school improvement through technology integration.

3A) 9:00 - 12:00 Benefits of Strategic Instruction: Research and Samples

The ACE 6 + 1 Trait team will present research to show the benefits of strategic assessment and instruction in writing. Sample presentations and information on training will be included. The session is specifically designed for ALL ADMINISTRATORS and staff interested in improving writing scores and skills. Presented by Molly, Jon, Lorrie, Kathy, and Kay

3B) 1:00 - 2:30 and 3C) 2:30 - 4:00 Getting the Ball Rolling: Writing with IDEAS.

The primary component of the ACE 6 + 1 training team will present the Ideas rubric for primary grades, show example papers, and provide lessons using picture books to improve primary writing skills. Presented by Molly, Jon, Lorrie, Kathy, and Kay

4A) 9:00 - 12:00 and 4B) 1:00 - 4:00 Montana Science Standards and Performance Descriptor Level 1 Workshop

This workshop will provide participants with an introduction to the revised Montana Science Content Standards and Performance Descriptors. Revisions to the science content standards are significant and therefore attendance at this session is highly recommended to all teachers of science, especially middle and high school science teachers. Participants will be presented with an overview of the science standards, alignment with the state assessment for science (CRT), and introduction to inquiry-based instruction. Participants will also experience an inquiry activity, as well as discuss the inquiry continuum and the integration of Indian Education for All. The workshop is one of the professional development opportunities that the Southern Montana Alliance for Resources and Training (SMART) will be providing school districts. The workshop will be conducted by Katie Burke, OPI Science Curriculum Specialist, Dr. Ken Miller, Science Education Faculty at MSU - Billings, and Dr. John Graves, Science Education Faculty at MSU-Bozeman.

5A) 9:00 - 10:30, 5B) 10:30 - 12:00, 5C) 1:00 - 2:30, 5D) 2:30 - 4:00 Digital Photos

Come and have some fun with your digital camera. Learn how to: take better pictures, what all those symbols on your camera mean, digital camera terminology, (what the heck is a Megapixel anyhow?) how to download pictures and how to manipulate them from the computers. Special emphasis on using free software that works on any computer. Presented by Kirt Nell and John Hanson.

6A) 1 - 2:30 and 6B) 2:30 - 4:00 Art "isms" for the Middle School

Middle school art lessons on the "isms" . . . Cubism, Surrealism, Fauvism, and Romanticism. Presented by Marie Jones.

7A) 10:30 - 12:00 and 7B) 1:00 - 2:30 Everything You Wanted to Know About School Law but were Afraid to Ask.

In this session participants will get an update on the latest national and Montana school law problems and still have plenty of time to ask your own questions. Presented by Jeffrey Weldon, attorney at Law with the Felt, Martin, Frazier and Jacobs Law Firm.

8A) 9 - 10:30, 8B) 10:30 - 12:00, 8C) 1:00 - 2:30 and 8D) 2:30 - 4:00 The Roll of Humor in Native American Indian Culture.

In this workshop participants will look at stories, Indian Mythology, and Teasing Cousins in Montana Native American cultures. Presented by Mike Jetty, OPI IEA Specialist.

9A) 9:00 - 10:30, 9B) 10:30 - 12:00, 9C) 1:00 - 2:30 and 9D) 2:30 - 4:00 Crossing Cultural Bridges.

This workshop will take a look at "Indian - ness" of the Crow Culture reviewing Crow history from the 1825 Friendship Treaty to Indian rights in culture and musical affairs. Time will be allowed for question and answers. Presented by Joseph Nichols, AKA "Indian Joe," a non-Indian adopted by the Crows the past 24 years.

10A) 1:00 - 2:30 and 10B) 2:30 - 4:00 Elementary Health Enhancement (K - 6)

This session will corral your energy with creative movement experiences, action-packed dances, innovative equipment and cooperative challenges. Bring your exercise clothes for a fun learning experience. Come prepared to move! Presented by Marti Edgmond and Cathy Fisher.

11A) 9:00 - 10:30 and 11B) 10:30 - 12:00 PE 101: Best practice in Warm-Up

This session is designed to give participants dozens of quick to prepare, ready to use warm-up activities in their PE classes. As you maximize activity time, class management problems will disappear. Activities can be designed as sports specific or fitness oriented. Great for teachers that teach multiple subjects or grade levels. Presented by Cathy Fisher and Marti Edgmond.

12A) 9:00 - 12:00 Teaching the 21st Century Teenager

How do effective teachers engage today's teenagers in an area of instant information and text messaging? How might we collaborate with colleagues and members of the arts and design community to develop rich project-based learning that captivates young people? How can secondary teachers strengthen and unify curriculum in today's middle and high schools, bringing together isolated information into rich interdisciplinary learning that makes sense to today's kids? In this interactive workshop, teachers and school leaders explore ways to reach teenage learners, preparing them with the tools they will need for 21st century futures. The presenter is Deb Brzoska who draws from her experience as the founding principal of a successful grade 6 - 12 public school and from her work as a school designer for the Small Schools Project of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

13A) 9:00 - 10:30, 13B) 10:30 - 12:00, 13C) 1:00 - 2:30 and 13D) 2:30 - 4:00 Linking Web 2.0 Technologies with 21st Century Learning Skills

In this session participants will use the web to look at tools like blogs, wikis, and other online resources to allow teachers to build their classes in cyberspace, allowing students to access classroom materials anytime, from anyplace with an Internet connection. Presented by Gary Kidd, Belgrade administrator and technology coordinator.

14A) 9:00 - 10:30 and 14B) 10:30 - 12:00 Summary Success

Do you ask your students to summarize content, but you receive a retell instead? Come and find out how to get students to write quality summaries within the content in three simple steps. This strategy is applicable across the content areas. Presented by Eliza Sorte, Director of the Northwest Montana Educational Cooperative.

15A) 1:00 - 2:30 and 15B) 2:30 - 4:00 Math Mixed-Bag

Need a little pick me up in your Math instruction? Come and find out some ideas for warm-ups, games, and assessment that can be used within and beside any Math curriculum. The activities are fun and engaging for students while at the same time build mathematical fluency. Presented by Eliza Sorte, Director of the Northwest Montana Educational Cooperative.

16A) 1:00 - 2:30 and 16B) 2:30 - 4:00 An Introduction to Response to Intervention (RTI)

RTI integrates assessment and intervention within a multi-level prevention system to maximize student achievement and to reduce behavior problems. This session will focus on providing information for individuals who are interested in learning what RTI is about, how to begin implementing it in their classroom and/or school, and to look at the Montana Framework that has recently been designed. The target audience is for kindergarten - eighth grade staff that has not yet begun a full RTI implementation. Presented by Brenda Koch, Elysian Superintendent and member of the Montana RTI Framework team.

17A) 10:30 - 12:00 and 17B) 1:00 - 2:30 The Alaska Experience

After teaching for twenty-eight years in Montana, Velma Pederson followed her dream to teach in the bush Alaska. Velma and her husband, Russ, moved to a small Inupiat Eskimo village on the North Slope. Velma taught grades two and three the first year and looped with the same children for the second year, teaching grades three and four. Russ worked for the school district in maintenance. They will be sharing some of their experie3nces including the unpredictability of day-to-day life, the inconveniences, and the positives. Velma will explain how to seek employment in the Alaska Education System and procedures for certification. Presenters are Velma and Russ Pederson.

18A) 9:00 - 12:00 and 18B) 1:00 - 4:00 Montana Information Literacy / Library Media and Technology Content and Performance Standards: Share Your Ideas

This workshop will introduce participants to the newly revised Information Literacy / Library Media and Technology Content and Performance Standards. Participants will interact with the new standards and develop an awareness and understanding of how the standards relate to the previou8s standards and how the revised standards were developed. Presented by Colet Bartow and Michael Hall, OPI Specialists.

19A) 10:30 - 12:00 and 19B) 1:00 - 2:30 Benefits and application of attending the National ASCD conference and how to apply attend in 2009

ACE sponsors a 50% registration, room and travel expense scholarship for members to attend the National ASCD (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) conference. A panel of 2008 attendees will share their experience of attending the New Orleans conference and explain how to apply for the 2009 Orlando conference. Presented by Michael Herdina, Jean Smith, Kay Faust, Aubrey Miller, Gregg Watson, and Susan Dreyer

20A) 9:00 - 10:30, 20B) 1:00 - 2:30, Domestic and Dating Violence

Domestic and dating violence are major issues facing women, men, teens and children in the United States. Three to ten million children are exposed to domestic violence in their homes every year. This session will provide teachers and administrators with basic facts about teen dating and domestic violence, bullying, and their impacts (health, social, psychological, developmental) on young people. It will introduce promising prevention strategies being tested throughout the United States that teachers can use in their classrooms, including tested curriculum, as well as complementary strategies that students themselves can initiate and lead. There will be a focus on primary prevention, or stopping the violence before it starts, by helping students to discuss and analyze gender stereotypes, violence and images of men and women in the media, and learn to define and identify healthy relationships. Presented by Dr. Allison Smith-Estelle, Executive Director and Lea Hegge, Education Coordinator from the Carbon County Domestic and Sexual Violence Services.

20C) 10:30 - 12:00 and 20D) 2:30 - 4:00 Bullying and Sexual Harassment

Bullying among youth has received a great deal of public attention in recent years. Almost 30% of youth in the United States (or over 5.7 million) are estimated to be involved in bullying either a bully, a target of bullying, or both. This session will provide teachers and administrators with basic facts about bullying, and sexual harassment and their impacts (health, social, psychological, developmental) on young people. It will introduce promising prevention strategies being tested throughout the United States that teachers can use in their classrooms, including tested curriculum, as well as complementary strategies that students themselves can initiate and lead. There will be a focus on primary prevention, or stopping the violence before it starts, by helping students to understand and practice respect, form lasting friendships, and create safe, welcoming school environments for all students. Presented by Dr. Allison Smith-Estelle, Executive Director and Lea Hegge, Education Coordinator from the Carbon County Domestic and Sexual Violence Services.

21A) 9:00 - 10:30, 21B) 10:30 - 12:00, 21C) 1:00 - 2:30, and 21D) 2:30 - 4:00 SOS: Signs of Suicide

SOS incorporates two prominent suicide prevention strategies into a single program, combining a curriculum that aims to raise awareness of suicide and its related issues with a brief screening for depression and other risk factors associated with suicidal behavior. The basic goal of the program is to teach how to respond to the signs of suicide as an emergency, much as one would react to signs of a heart attack. Participants will review the signs and symptoms of suicide and depression in themselves and others and to follow the specific action steps needed to respond to those signs. Presented by Karl Rosston, Suicide Prevention Coordinator for the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, Addictive and Mental Disorders Division.

22A) 9:00 - 10:30 and 22C) 1:00 - 2:30 ~~ Introduction to NWEA’s MAP (Measures of Academic Progress)

Montana educators are asking how they can better inform instruction for individual students, how to monitor growth in student achievement and for help in knowing which students are likely to do well on MontCas.~
The Northwest Evaluation Association, an Oregon based non-profit organization, works with over 3200 school districts across the country and internationally.~ Their computerized adaptive and highly formative assessment MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) is designed to find each child's true instructional level and translate the scores to an instructional continuum, a national norm reference and proficiency predictors.~
Patrick Dugan from NWEA will be here to describe the system and discuss how schools are using it to answer the most pressing questions about students.~ Come join us for a discussion of an assessment system that helps provide data we can use.~

22B) 10:30 - 12:00 and 22D) 2:30 - 4:00 NWEA MAP Q and A

If you are a current NWEA partner using the MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) assessments, you may have questions without answers.
  •How do I help teachers access and use relevant reports?
  •Where do I find Lexile scores in the reports?
  •How do I better communicate MAP scores to parents?
  •How do the new MAP for Primary Grades assessments work?
  •I'm new to my district and I need help learning my role
Patrick Dugan from NWEA will be on hand to try to answer your questions and discuss some of the most frequently asked.
Presented by Patrick Dugan

23A) 9:00 - 10:30 and 23B) 10:30 - 12:00 Montana Association of Agriculture Educators Roundtable

MAAE president and Joliet Agriculture Education Instructor Chad Massar will lead a round table discussion on current Ag teacher issues including National Program Quality Standards, Carl D. Perkins Applications and Curriculum. This is a great chance for your input and questions as well as help to get the year going.