Spring PD Day 2023

Block 1 Sessions

Led by PLTW Master Teachers these course specific breakouts will include Master Teacher guidance resources and facilitated collaborative work time with choice of one of three topics to finish the year strong:

• • • Pacing guidance
    • Creating a plan to focus on a student skill (e.g. student collaboration, sketching)
    • Tailoring/customization to increase student engagement (e.g. project adjustments, showcases )

Courses offered:

Launch (grouped by grade level)   Gateway (AC, AR, CSIM, DM)                       HS CS (CSE, CSP, CY)    HS Biomed (PBS, HBS)   HS Engineering (IED, POE, CEA)

Blocks 2 & 3

In blocks 2 & 3 you will find course specific, pathway specific, and general interest session offerings.

Launch

1st Grade Modules Deep Dive

Presenter: Master Teacher Sarah Schemanske

Join this session for a hands-on walk through with the most challenging components of the Light & Sound and Light: Observing the Sun, Moon, & Stars modules and have time to collaborate with others to share best strategies

2nd Grade Modules Deep Dive

Presenter: Lindsey Ayers (Westfield)

Join this session for a hands-on walk through with the most challenging components of the Properties of Matter and The Changing Earth modules and have time to collaborate with others to share best strategies.

4th Grade New Energy Module Deep Dive

Presenter: Master Teacher Christi Davenport

Join this session to do a deep dive into the new 4^th grade module: Energy Exploration. There will be time to walk through some of the activities in the module hands-on as well as discussions around how it relates to Energy Collisions and Conversions. 

Gateway

AC: Alexa Messenger – Building a Skill in MIT App Inventor using Alexa

Presenter: Master Teacher Rocco Barletta

Learn how to build skills for your Alexa in MIT App Inventor. Multiple lessons from beginner to advanced and how it can be implemented into your App Creators curriculum. Building a Skill in MIT App Inventor using Alexa 

Gateway Pathway: The Art of Questioning Leads to a Growth Mindset

Master Teachers: Jonathan Scrivner and Stephanie Racine

Dive deeper into how to question students so that they arrive at the answer on their own as well as teaching students how to ask questions, both of themselves as they are learning, and of the ideas they are learning about. 

DM: Communicating Design Through Sketches and CAD

Presenter: Chris Beyerle

In this workshop, teachers will learn how they can support students sketching and drawing techniques to communicate their design ideas. Teachers will look at various activities to help students develop their skills in line sketching, shading, and quality. Teachers will also explore ways to help students transfer their sketched ideas to higher quality CAD models.

HS Computer Science

CS Pathway: Fun with Pi Tops; a Hands-on Approach to Python

Presenter: Master Teacher Katie Cunningham

Have you been looking for ways to make your CS courses that utilize python more hands on and interactive with your students? In this session, we will utilize Pi-Top systems and hardware to explore projects that will allow your students to practice and showcase their python skills.

CS Pathway: Refreshing our View of the CS Curriculum

Presenter: Master Teacher David Czechowski

You don’t teach PLTW, you teach students! Let’s take some time to reevaluate how we use the curriculum so we can reconnect with our students, to present them with achievable objectives, and to encourage them to solve problems with CS. We will assess our own motivations for teaching CS, reconsider the curriculum components, and plan for all students to achieve some success. 

CS Pathway: It’s All Logical! Making Logical Reasoning Fun

Presenter: Master Teacher Susan Jones

In Computer Science classes, logical reasoning is key to thinking through algorithms, conditionals, looping, and more. Incoming students sometimes need a boost to be successful. And all students can use refresher practice throughout the year! This session will review different ways to get students thinking logically with hands-on practice for teachers and takeaways you can use right away when you return to the classroom.

HS Biomedical Science

PBS: Wrapping Up PBS with Confidence – Dive Hands-on into Units 3 & 4

Presenter: Master Teacher Becky Howell

Units 3 and 4 will be previewed and discussed. Teachers will be provided with activity choices from each unit and can select the hands-on options that will benefit their classroom the most. 

Biomed Pathway: Building Community within your PLTW Biomed Classroom

Presenter: Master Teacher Danielle Weber

Collaboration is an integral part of a PLTW biomed classroom, but it is not something that always comes naturally for our students. Join this session to discuss strategies for building a collaborative classroom community including building interdependence between student groups, how to avoid learned helplessness, grouping strategies, encouraging productive struggles and effectively utilizing peer evaluations. 

HS Engineering

IED: Sharing and Creating PLTW resources – making teaching easier

Presenter: Master Teacher Austin Williams

Sticking with the idea that collaboration produces the best ideas and best products, we will walk through a collaboration effort made by over 40 PLTW IED teachers, the history of the project, lessons learned, and start a collaboration effort of our own. By the end of the session, you will have access to a library of IED resources and best practices contributed by PLTW teachers across the nation and those who have attended the session as well. 

POE: Get Hands-on with the Ping Ball Launchers in Unit 4

Presenter: Master Teacher Eric Rice

This session will focus on integrating kinematics and statistical concepts into Problem 4.2.3- Ballistic Device Design.  This session will assist with keeping students hands-on and engaged while directly building upon control system concepts developed in Unit 3.1 with Vex Robotics. As a teacher, you will work with various launchers and analysis tools in which you can use as ideas to help facilitate this unit at your school.    

CIM: SCOREBOT programming and more – end the year strong in CIM!

Presenter: Master Teacher Mike Smutok

We will do a deep dive into SCOREBOT – how to do a Cell-setup and programming of the robot. During this interactive session we will get into some of the more advanced programming with absolute vs relative coordinates and using variables. We will also touch upon peripherals to enter unit 4 strong! Be sure to bring your laptop with robocell. 

Engineering Pathway: Instructive moves to create independence in a PLTW Engineering classroom

Presenter: Master Teacher Cliff Greer

How do we hand the reins over to our students to guide their own learning while keeping them engaged and on task in an engineering classroom? Join this session to learn strategies for chunking student work and making the curriculum more accessible for students to work collaboratively in groups and independently. Master Teacher Cliff Greer will share his resources for IED and CEA as examples of breaking down PLTW engineering courses. There will be time to look through these materials to adjust them to meet the needs of your classroom or other engineering course. 

General Interest Sessions Coming Soon!