Randy Trani
Principal of Corbett Middle School - Oregon's 1st School to Watch

Joel Sebastian
State Director of Oregon Schools to Watch

Margo Jensen
Library-Media Specialist

Doing research projects with students can seem overwhelming…both for the students and the teacher. Learn from a library media teacher a proven way to teach a process that makes researching a positive and productive experience for both.  Through the use of the “EUREKA! Research Process”,  literacy skills such as reading for information are integrated with technology and curriculum content. Students use a variety of higher level thinking skills as they access, select and use information to complete curriculum-based research projects.

Mike Wilkes

Learn how Leslie Middle School provides all 6th graders (not just those signed up for computer classes)  with the necessary technology skills to be successful throughout their middle school years. Learn about a sampling of what is covered (keyboarding, network navigation, word processing, research, etc.)  and find out how we fit this instruction into their schedules.

Mark Madland
Teacher & member of ACT, a learning community focused on civic involvement
Sara Wilkes

Spend fewer minutes of instruction and end up with better writers!  Writers workshop is a model of instruction based on the idea that students learn to write best when given sufficient time to write each day.  Teaching the six traits of writing is covered through creative mini-lessons and quick check-ins with individual students.  In this session, a writers’ workshop will be modeled using middle school students to demonstrate how it’s done.

Theresa Hinkle
Past President of the National Middle School Association

Sally Wood,
Elizabeth Warren,
Math Teachers, Estacada JHS

Participate in a model of a Family Math Night that has been extremely successful for our middle school.  Standards-based activities provide thoughtful, higher-level thinking skills while providing an atmosphere for parents to work with their students. Although parents are reluctant to get involved at Middle Schools,  Math Activity Nights are one more way to involve parents in meaningful ways. You will learn how to put on a successful Math Night from planning to implementation.

Jon Mishra,
Principal, Sunset MS, Coos Bay

Lesson Study is a model for intensive school-based professional development that is used for change and improvement. This research-based model keeps students at the “heart” of the process and helps teachers see teaching and learning as a concrete process.  Sunset Middle School has embraced this model for the past two years and implemented Lesson Study as a Professional Learning Team. Currently there are eight teachers and one administrator on the team. The eight teachers are from the four core content areas (math, science, language arts and social studies).This presentation will discuss the How To’s of the process. Areas covered will include Pre-requisites that need to be in place; Establishing Norms and Expectations; Agreeing on a Research Theme to center the lessons around;  The Lesson Study ProcessSession attendees will hear from real-life practitioners on how they implemented the Lesson Study model and its impact on their classroom practice and improvement of student learning. Steps for continued sustainability will also be discussed.This will be an action-packed presentation complete with video footage and an action plan that attendees will be able to take back to their individual school/district.

Has the education community become too busy with implementing the next hot innovation to hit 'pause' and rethink together some of our most basic (and perhaps cherished) assumptions about students schools?  Is it possible that our foundational assumptions need careful inspection before we proceed with trying to put a roof on the schoolhouse?  Should the fact that the last roof didn't survive the first good storm give us pause?  Corbett School District, home of Oregon's first School To Watch, has achieved remarkable results by consistently unorthodox-but-thoughtful means.  The result is schooling that is less expensive than the state average, lacks many of the newly 'essential' programs, and sends students on to perform at extraordinarily high levels in grades 9-12.  This is not a 'how-to' session, but an exercise in 'why-to' and 'whether-to'.

Why Try?  Innovative interventions that provide hope and
motivate youth to overcome poverty, violence and failure

Karyn Holt
Why Try

The presentation will provide the audience with tools to help youth answer the question, “Why try in life?”  Christian Moore will walk the audience through several practical methods to teach emotional intelligence and important life skills such as: anger management, problem solving, overcoming peer pressure, keeping laws and rules, building support systems, and having a vision of their future.  This workshop will emphasize a strength-based approach to helping youth overcome their challenges using “multiple intelligence” methods that emphasize the youths’ learning styles, including visual analogies (pictures), music, and hands-on activities, to teach youth in ways that they will understand and remember. 

Jan Minten, Kristin Hayward, Lori Krumm,
Teachers, Meadow Park MS, Beaverton

A shared approach to meeting the needs of special education students in an inclusive setting.  The interactive presentation focuses on eligibility definitions, accommodations and odifications (with specific strategies), understanding of learning challenges, and the varying roles of paraeducators.The desired outcome is to provide a model for how this information can be delivered in a generalized school setting.

Every teacher is a teacher of reading.  Yes, even those of us with no training or desire to teach reading must be a teacher of reading in our content areas.  An emphasis on literacy skills should not be viewed as an "add-on" to what you already do but as a means of delivering content more effectively and efficiently.  This session will briefly explore what makes reading in the content area so different and difficult.  Participants will leave with research-based, classroom-tested ideas designed to help students be successful readers in any content.

Nancy Carter, Teacher
Cheryl Boatman,
Retired Principal, Junior High, North Kitsap, WA

Recognizing that some students are not prepared for the rigors of secondary school and soon give up, many teachers and administers struggle with how to incorporate necessary skills into an already full academic day.  Utilizing humor and empathy along with all the wisdom of teaching experience, this presentation will help create a successful program designed by teachers, administration, parents and students that give all students the skills necessary to survive middle school through high school and beyond.

Collaboration vs. Conblaboration!!  This presentation will provide attendees a brief description of Professional Learning Communities (Dufour Model) in action. You will have the opportunities to see one school's PLC journey, identify roadblocks and solutions in your own buildings, and share ideas that can can be implemented as you continue to develop your Powerful Professional Learning Communities.  We will look at efficient use of time, Pyramid of Intervention/RTI, accountability, and scheduling ideas that have worked to improve student learning. 

How to have an Arts Day at  your school