Jessica attributes much of her success in the classroom to her childhood experiences in having her family home serve as a foster home for many of Pasco County’s children. When she was completing her degree in elementary education at Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida, she also continued her work with foster children by doing student internships at HOPE Youth Ranch in Hudson, Florida. Her passion for helping students grow through challenges earned her the Most Outstanding Education Graduate award upon graduating in 2004. She is still continuing her passion for learning by completing her masters in Educational Leadership at Florida Southern College.
Last year, Jessica was selected as the 2016 Polk County Teacher of the Year and was then selected in July as the 2017 Florida Teacher of the Year, representing 74 school districts and more than 175,000 teachers. This year, Jessica is on sabbatical from teaching and serves as the Christa McAuliffe Ambassador for Education. In this role, Jessica tours the state delivering motivational speeches and workshops focused on empowering teachers to create the most impactful learning experience possible for their students.
Jessica has taught for seven years in Polk County, beginning in first grade and now teaching third grade. In addition to her role as Polk County and Florida Teacher of the Year, Jessica is working with Polk County to pilot the Extending Excellence Peer Mentor Program in which teachers throughout Polk County exude vulnerability through consistent classroom observations and peer feedback to enhance instruction. Jessica’s hope is to see every classroom in Florida provide a welcoming environment for all students, where differences are celebrated, lessons are infused with rigor, and mistakes are welcomed as an opportunity to grow.
Follow her blog, Solving for Why.
Lorraine D. Cross has been a professional educator and trainer for over 40 years. She is currently an educational consultant for the Florida Department of Education, districts, schools, colleges and universities. For most her career, Ms. Cross taught music and drama using an integrated arts approach to students kindergarten through eighth grade at the A.D. Henderson University School on the campus of Florida Atlantic University. In addition, she taught several educational method courses and served as the Effective Teaching Practices Coordinator for the Department of Teaching and Learning. In 2003, she became the Director of Program and School Initiatives in the Office for Academic and Student Services in the College of Education. In this role, she served as chair of the Secondary Teacher Education Coordinating Committee working closely with the College of Science and College of Arts and Letters to strengthen secondary education programs at the university.
Ms. Cross retired from her full-time position in 2012, but presently serves as a university supervisor for the College of Education at Florida Atlantic University. Ms. Cross has collaborated on several effective teaching practices books, which have been used by elementary, secondary and alternative education programs. She co-authored, “Demonstrating the New Florida Educator Accomplished Practices:A Practical Guide for Becoming an Effective Educator” which is being used throughout Florida to assist both novice and experienced educators enhance their teaching practices. Providing educators with the necessary knowledge and skills to ensure positive impact in the classroom is her passion and lifelong endeavor.
Conference Check-in & Breakfast9:00AM - 9:25AM |
Welcome & Morning Keynote9:30AM - 10:25AM |
SESSION 110:30AM - 11:20AM |
SESSION 211:30AM - 12:20PM |
Lunch & Afternoon Keynote12:30PM - 1:20PM |
SESSION 31:30PM - 2:20PM |
SESSION 42:30PM - 3:20PM |
Raffle, Certificates & Digital Survey3:30PM - 4:00PM |
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Using Tech To Make Learning Visible HS1 Cara Pavek, FAU Courtney Barney, FAU Lynn Good, FAU In this session, participants will learn how to use apps and websites that increase learning visibility, track data, record student learning, and document reflection in a classroom. Presenters will share their process for developing formative and summative assessments. After spending a year focusing on Science, Henderson's first grade team will share successes and struggles as they created tests, developed rubrics, analyzed data, and more all utilizing technology including Seesaw and Socrative. |
Coding: It's Elementary HS1 Jennifer O'Sullivan, FAU Coding and computational thinking are becoming increasingly important skills for modern students. Learn how to use web-based resources and programable devices to teach your K-5 students to code.
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Transforming Your Classroom Through Meaningful Technology Integration HS1 Jennifer O'Sullivan, FAU Cara Pavek, FAU Suzette Milu, FAU Discover ways to use green screen technology, augmented reality, digital portfolios, web-based assessment tools, and more to transform your science classroom.
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Using a Butterfly Garden as an Interactive Classroom for Pre-K to College Students for Inquiry-Based Learning HS1 Tricia Meredith, FAU Lydia Bartrum, FAU The Karen Slattery Center established a butterfly garden that serves as an interactive classroom for pre-K to college students for inquiry-based learning.
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All That and a Bag of 'Tricks': Tips and Tools for Reaching ALL Learners HS2 Melanie Larsen, Palm Pointe Tara Hearl, Palm Pointe Today’s classroom is filled with various learning styles, learning needs, and learning speeds. This interactive session aims to provide participants with easy-to-implement strategies for empowering all students to engage in, and track their individual learning. Featuring topics such as differentiated instruction vs. differentiated products, student choice and autonomous learning, and methods for purposeful processing. Participants are sure to leave with something new for their bag of tricks!
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Tracking Student Progress HS2 Ann Hartman, Palm Pointe Rebecca Benton, Palm Pointe During this session, paricipants will be creating success criteria based on scales, learning goals, and targets. Teachers will align success criteria to the depth of the standard and learn how to determine that students are providing evidence that assures they are meeting the demands of the standard. BYOD
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10+ Techs for Teachers HS2 Melanie Larsen, Palm Pointe Rebecca Benton, Palm Pointe Marian Davis, Palm Pointe The 21st century learner is tuned in and connected to technology almost before they can even walk! In a world where, “there is an app for that,” is not just a catchphrase but a way of life, educators can harness the power of technology to engage and assess students, enhance instruction, and simplify their teaching practices. This session will feature a rapid-fire overview of the best free sites, apps, and innovations geared toward educators, such as Symbaloo, Quizziz, and Bunce! BYOD |
Let's Bounce: Flexible Seating in the Classroom HS2 Tara Hearl, Palm Pointe What impact does flexible seating have on student engagement and focus in whole group math instruction? I will take you through the rationale for providing students with choice of seating, and how it can impact their performance in the classroom.
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Opening New Doors - Empowering Families to Connect with their Student Writers HS3 Macy Geiger, U.F. In this session, a 4th and 5th grade writing teacher will share her journey to find a better way to communicate with families, provide support, and share resources that they could use with their child writers. Participants will discover new strategies to use in building writing connections with students’ families, and how to include them in the writing process.
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Going Beyond Paper: Transforming Students Interactions with Document Based Questions HS3 Ana Simzer, FAU Chayane Oliveira, FAU This session will explore how to transform paper and pencil lessons into collaborative environments, where students share, reflect, and develop arguments using text-based evidence and online technology. Students go beyond “answering” document based questions and move into facilitating inquiry based investigations of primary and secondary sources. Session includes hands-on training with online resources, Google Apps, and extensions to annotate and interact with academic documents.
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Using Google Classroom to Deepen Student Knowledge and Create a Collaborative Learning Environment HS3 Lauren Robinson, FAU Christina Brinkman, FAU Suzanne Sutton, FAU This presentation will explore the various uses of Google Classroom at the elementary school level. Google Classroom provides a learning platform for teachers and students to interact, collaborate, and connect digitally with onr another. Learn how students use Google Classroom to record and represent knowledge, reflect on their learning, and collaborate with peers while teachers provide in-depth feedback to students.
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Technology Infusion: Using G-Suite for Collaboration HS3 Davis Brock, Howard Technology Solutions Join us for this interactive session on how to incorporate G-Suite tools into everyday instruction. Participants should bring their own device (BYOD) to be active participants in this session and to hear practical ideas and key strategies for creating learning environments and instruction that engage, energize and empower learners. Door prizes will be given out — including a Drone!
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Navigating IEPs in Inclusive Classrooms HS4 Dianna Gamelin, FAU Maria Laing, FAU Lyndsay Tolerton, FAU As of fall 2013, 95 percent of 6- to 21-year-old students with disabilities were served in regular schools in regular education classrooms. (National Center for Education Statistics). In this session, participants will learn to navigate an IEP, provide suggestions, discuss accommodations, and strategies for classroom teachers to help make students successful. The presenters will be utilizing technology to make this an interactive session for all participants. BYOD
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Friday Song Day! Approaching Poetry with Song Lyrics HS4 Stephanie Anderson, FAU You can hear the grunts and groans now...we are going to start our poetry unit! This is the usual response as students seem very apprehensive when it comes to poetry. Allowing students to suggest songs to annotate in class motivates them to apply such standards as identifying figurative language and connotation in prose to something more relevant. When you announce it is "Friday Song Day"...you will be pleased by the excitement that seems sometimes impossible to elicit from our pre-teens! |
100% Engagement Using Nearpod in ELA HS4 Stephanie Anderson, FAU Reaching that target number of 100% engagement seems impossible in most Middle School Language Arts classrooms. In this session, paricipants will discover how Nearpod allows the teacher to fully engage all students and hold them accountable for their thinking and active learning in class. You will be able to monitor learning in real time and record responses for further data discussions. If you have reluctant writers, this is a great way to slowly ease them into sharing a complete essay with their peers.
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Creating Immersion and Research Experiences to Excite Student Curiosity HS4 Molly Adam, FAU In order to keep young minds curious about the world around them, we must excite students at their core. This session will cover a myriad of immersion and research experiences that you can initiate at your school; Florida ecosystem camps, simulation labs, nature centers, research institutes, museums visits, and more! The session will also cover anecdotal student feedback on the impact of these experiences
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Technology tools for Recording & Representing Knowledge & Reflecting on Learning HS5 Caterina Siciliano, FAU Tzeitel Rosado, FAU Are you wondering how to engage students in Recording & Representing Knowledge and Reflecting on Learning? This presentation will focus on tools, both technological and traditional, that students can use to organize and reflect on their learning as they make language connections.
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Learning to THINK…THINKING to Learn! HS5 Kelli Wilder, FAU Krista Marin, FAU James Dean, vendor Are your students THINKING to the level and rigor that the Florida Standards require? In this interactive, hands-on session, teachers will learn how one school is using a system of 8 visual models, or Thinking Maps, across grade levels and content areas, to create a common visual language for ALL students to meet and exceed the standards. Lots of student samples will be shared.
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Using Rubrics and Self-Assessment to Motivate Student Performance on Free Response Writings HS5 Clint Kovach, U.F. In this session, participants will improve student writing responses through the use of a standards-based rubric for self-assessment, as students are aware of the instructor's expectations and the assessment objectives. By turning the writing assessment over to the student, and providing a rubric to guide their evaluation, the motivation to achieve is enhanced in most students.
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Mastery Based Learning in Math HS5 Agnes Timar, FAU In this presentation, participants will discover the benefits of mastery based learning and how to implement it in your classroom. This technique closes student learning gaps by designing multiple pathways for them to demonstrate proficiency and earn good grades. The presentation will use Excel, Socrative, Kahoot, Desmos, Nearpod, GoFormative, and paper to introduce MBL. The ideas presented can be used for any subject at any grade level.
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Creating Your Own Digital Assessments MS1 Josie Mittleman, vendor In this hands-on session, participants will use technology to create original digital assessments, send the assessment to their students, and learn how to aggregate the data to drive future instruction. Every participant will leave this seminar with an assessment ready to be used in their classroom with students the next day. BYOD |
MS1 Cynthia Zeller, vendor
Daniel Mendonca, vendor
Durability and Education, Testing - Cacheing, Cloud Storage, and Utilizing in a 1-to-1 environment.
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High-Tech/Low-Tech Tweeting: Using Twitter in Elementary Classrooms MS1 Laura Kupres, vendor Jenna Mercury, vendor Elementary school presents opportunities to foster 21st century literacy. In this session, presenters will show you how to use Twitter to expand vocabulary and build word consciousness. Twitter, and Twitter-inspired interactive bulletin boards, are perfect for introducing how social media can be used to communicate, gather information, present information, and create how future technologies will be developed. The ideas presented can be used in any content area, as “Twitteracy” is doable in K-5 classes. |
Getting Started Guide to Systematic Vocabulary Instruction MS1 Maria Lowenstein, vendor Marsha Ganz, vendor We know we need to teach vocabulary, but we don’t always know how. The goal of this session is to outline a systematic vocabulary plan that is practical for classroom teachers. The session includes tips on selecting words to teach, activities and strategies for introducing words, deepening word knowledge, and classroom management ideas for independent practice.
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MS2 Lorraine Cross, FAU This workshop will focus on how to utilize research-based active learning strategies. Participants will explore strategic teaching utilizing group work to promote positive interaction, critical thinking, effective communication, and problem-solving. Beyond merely assigning “group work” techniques for defining roles, developing tasks, and creating rigorous learning objectives are presented. The knowledge and skills acquired during this workshop can be implemented in many grade levels and academic disciplines. |
Empowering Students Through a Growth Mindset MS2 Jessica Solano, Polk County Public Schools Learn how to make a greater impact on your students' success by simply changing the way you think.
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EverFi– Free Online Resources for Your Classroom! MS2 Emily Moloney, vendor Are you looking to integrate more technology into your classroom? EverFi provides FREE online resources to support students with critical s life skills. Teachers may use the virtual programs ons as a supplemental, interactive experience to help fill the gaps in our education system. Receive FREE access to the programs of your choice, teaching students critical skills through interactive, student centered, standards aligned resources that you and your students will love! BYOD
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Lights, Camera, Action… It’s Time for Interaction! MS2 Carmela Gauthier, Palm Pointe Lindsay Hudson, Palm Pointe Jessica Gutierrez, Palm Pointe Do interactive notebooks assist students in their organization, and are students able to use their organization to effectively study? This session aims to answer just that! Based on an action research project conducted by a third grade team, this session will describe how using hands-on interactive notebooks combined with cooperative learning structures can impact the learning environment. Presenters will detail their process for implementing ISNs, and provide tips based on their experience.
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Using Students' Interests to Inspire Instruction MS4 Megan Crombie, F.S.U.S This presentation shares systematic tools for learning about students’ interests and using that information to create curriculum that is meaningful to them. When students care about what they are learning, behavior problems decrease and positive interactions with each other and the content increases. Classroom community is strengthened and test scores rise when students’ diverse interests and strengths are at the core of inspiring curriculum. |
Build Rich and Flexible Word Knowledge MS4 Marsha Ganz, Vendor Maria Lowenstein, Vendor Synonyms, shades of meaning, connotations-what’s the difference! Learn hands-on activities (perfect for word work centers) that develop an understanding of the nuances of vocabulary. Easy and meaningful activities that support parts of speech, word choice, and vocabulary development will be shared, too! |
DukeTIP MS4 Kimberly Thomas-Cain, vendor Each year Duke TIP Talent Searches help educators and families identify how advanced their students’ abilities truly are. With its many educational programs and resources, come learn how Duke TIP complements your efforts by providing opportunities and resources to high-ability students, their parents, and G/T educators. From talent searches to additional learning opportunities to the support of G/T youth, session participants will leave with knowledge of how Duke TIP is “Opportunity. For Life.” |
Transforming the Classroom with Nearpod MS4 David Butler , vendor Nearpod is a teaching tool that will transform your instruction! Teachers can easily create interactive and engaging lessons from their own content packed with: opportunities for students to respond, the collaboration of ideas, formative assessments, and opportunities for students to share learning and teachers to engage in the feedback cycle. David from Nearpod will be on hand to show some of the exciting features of this interactive platform. |
