With Ellin Oliver Keene

Spoken interactions between teachers and students and among students are at the heart of learning. Our oral language is the model upon which students build as they learn to articulate their ideas, explore questions and explain their thinking, yet we don’t often stop to scrutinize our discourse with students.  In this seminar, we’ll explore ways in which we can make relatively minor modifications in our oral language patterns that will lead to significant changes in the sophistication of students’ discourse. We’ll investigate ways in which we can we encourage student talk that reflects their understanding of texts and concepts more accurately.

Participants will begin by discussing the Outcomes of Understanding, a set of markers that indicate whether students understand deeply. They will have an opportunity to view video of teachers who have made changes in their oral language patterns that lead to deeper understanding for students. In addition, participants will learn about an observation tool they can use with colleagues to analyze classroom discourse and will receive several tools students can use to reflect on their oral language interactions with other students.

The Seminar will be based on Ellin’s new Heinemann publication, Talk About Understanding: Rethinking Classroom Talk to Enhance Comprehension (Heinemann, 2011).

Seminar Location

Adams 12 Conference Center
1500 E. 128th Ave.
Thornton, CO 80241

Credit

• Each participant will receive a certificate of attendance to use towards CDE credit.

Cost*

Early-Bird Registration Rate:  $150 per person**
(through May 11, 2012)

General Registration Rate:  $175 per person**
(after May 11, 2012)

Lunch included

Please Note:   Receipt of registration form guarantees registration rate.  Payment must be received by May 4, 2012.

*Prices subject to change

**a 10% discount is offered for teams of 6 or more

If you are a group of 6 or more, please contact our office to register, 303-861-8661.

You’ll learn from seasoned staff developers and education experts while you participate in hands-on, interactive sessions featuring key topics relevant to your instruction. You’ll come away with an arsenal of ready-to-use, research-based strategies and best practices you can implement immediately.

In each PEBC Lab, participants will spend the morning observing the instruction and learning taking place in that classroom.  With the lab host and a PEBC staff developer, participants will spend the afternoon debriefing their observation reading professional literature, and reflecting on the implications for their own classroom practice.

In 2011-2012, PEBC lab opportunities:

Thinking Strategies Institutes 
Thinking Strategies Institutes are four-day institutes focusing on the research and instructional practices surrounding the seven cognitive behaviors of successful thinkers. Participants engage in shared learning, facilitated classroom observation, structured conversations and study groups, and ongoing reflection of current practices and desired goals.  Days 2 and 3 of the institute are PEBC Lab visitation days.

Customized Lab Visits
Arrange for your group to come to visit a PEBC lab.  Contact PEBC and let us help you customize your visit to meet your professional learning needs.

For more information please contact PEBC: 303-861-8661 or info@pebc.org .

11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Colorado Convention Center

Four Seasons Ballroom

700 14th Street

Governor Bob Wise to Keynote Luncheon

Governor Bob Wise will be the keynote speaker at this year’s PEBC Annual Business & Education Luncheon.  Governor Wise is president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia. He is author of the book Raising the Grade: How High School Reform Can Save Our Youth and Our Nation and chair of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Under Governor Wise’s leadership, the Alliance continues to build its reputation as a respected authority on high school policy by advocating for reform in America’s secondary education system and working to ensure that all students graduate from high school prepared for college, careers, and to be contributing members of society. 

We have all long known that the high school dropout rate has an enormous impact on the economic well-being of our cities.  The Alliance for Excellent Education recently published The Economic Benefits of Reducing the Dropout Rate in the Nation’s Largest Metropolitan Areas, an economic impact fact sheet for every state and the District of Columbia, which shows the true impact of our students not graduating from high school. Lowering the high school dropout rate will greatly increase the economic vitality for some of the nation’s largest metropolitan areas. The results shown in this report are part of the Alliance’s continuing work linking improved educational outcomes to economic returns.  The city-by-city findings include the growth in jobs, home ownership, levels of spending and investment, and car sales that will result from cutting the high school dropout rate in half.  Click to see the national impact of halving the dropout rate.  Click to see the impact on Denver.

At the luncheon, PEBC will present the Cal Frazier Investing in Education Award.  This award, begun six years ago, was designed to honor those members of the education and business communities who most embody a genuine and passionately held belief that the public education system is one of this democracy’s most valuable assets.  Check back here soon to see the award recipients.

For table sponsorship, contact Francie Miran at 303-861-8661 or fmiran@pebc.org

Dates: November 7-10, 2011

Deepening Understanding: Learn more about the role of comprehension instruction and literacy in the content areas

Featuring

Ellin Oliver Keene, author and independent education consultant
Cris Tovani, author and independent education consultant
Annie Patterson, PEBC Director of Education
Michelle Jones, PEBC Senior Staff Developer
and PEBC Staff Developers and Lab Hosts

Thinking Strategies Institute is offered to:

• Superintendents, District Managers, Principals, K-12 Teachers, Staff Developers, and Literacy Coordinators
• Teacher participants are encouraged to attend with their principal or building/district leader

Thinking Strategies Institute participants will:

• observe extensively in a PEBC Lab Classroom where teachers emphasize comprehension learning;
• investigate comprehension instruction in grades kindergarten through twelve;
• discuss specific strategies to enhance comprehension in one’s own reading in a variety of texts;
• understand comprehension in relation to other essential elements in a literacy program, including the rituals and routines necessary for creating a literate classroom and community;
• explore staff development and assessment strategies to promote best practices in instruction;
• debrief observations with PEBC staff developers;
• consider examples of how leadership impacts instruction in literacy.

Institute Location
Renaissance Hotel
3801 Quebec St
Denver, CO 80207

Credit

• Each participant will receive a certificate of attendance to use towards CDE credit.

Registration Fee
Early-Bird Registration Rate: $1,670 per person*
(through October 7, 2011)

General Registration Rate: $1,695 per person*
(after October 7, 2011)

Registration fee includes:

• 1 PEBC book of participant’s choosing
• two breakfasts and four lunches
• transportation to and from schools

Please Note: Receipt of registration form guarantees registration rate. Registration is limited; please confirm your status before making travel arrangements. Lodging, air travel, transportation to and from the Institute, and all other meals are the responsibility of participants. Information regarding hotel accommodations, location of the conference and methods of payment are included in the acceptance letter. Refunds must be requested one month before the institute start date.

*Prices subject to change

Do not make travel plans until you have been accepted to the Institute.

If you are a group of 6 or more, please contact our office to register, 303-861-8661.

registration form

Cognitive Coaching ^SM Seminar with Paula Miller

Expand and refine your Cognitive Coaching^SM Skills to promote more effective teaching and learning.

The Cognitive Coaching^SM Seminar is an 8-day training that is split into four sessions during the 2011-12 school year.

Days 1-2: Wednesday, November 2 – Thursday, November 3, 2011
Day 3: Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Days 4-5: Wednesday, April 11 – Thursday, April 12, 2012
Days 6-8: Monday, June 4 – Wednesday, June 6, 2012

During the 8-day training, participants will learn to:

• Focus on strategies that enhance teachers’ intellectual growth and strengthen instructional decision-making for planning, reflecting, and problem-resolving
• Build trust by developing physical and verbal rapport
• Facilitate thinking through questioning and greater precision in language
• Develop a person’s autonomy and sense of community by increasing his or her efficacy and self-awareness
• Distinguish between coaching and evaluation
• Practice coaching interactions that are congruent with a variety of styles

Seminar Schedule

Days 1-2
November 2-3, 2011
8:00 – 4:00 each day
– Planning Conversation Maps
– Fundamental Tools of Cognitive Coaching

Day 3
December 14, 2011
8:00 – 4:00
– Reflecting Conversation Map

Days 4-5
April 11-12, 2012
8:00 – 4:00 each day
– Differentiating for Style
– Creating Cognitive Shift
– Problem-Resolving Map

Days 6-8
June 4-6, 2012
8:00 – 4:00 each day
– Skills with the Problem-Resolving Map

Cost*

Early-Bird Registration Rate: $950 per person
(through September 30, 2011)

General Registration Rate: $975 per person
(after September 30, 2011)

OR

$150 per person per day**

Credit

• Each participant will receive a certificate of attendance to use towards CDE credit.

Location
Junior Achievement
1445 Market Street Ste. 200
Denver, CO  80202

Registration is limited, please confirm your status before making travel arrangements

About Cognitive Coaching ^SM
Research indicates that teaching is a complex intellectual activity and that teachers who think at higher levels produce students who are higher achieving, more cooperative, and better problem solvers.  Behind Cognitive Coaching^SM there is the belief that each of us has the resources to enable us to grow and change from within. Cognitive Coaching^SM is a set of strategies, a way of thinking and a way of working that invites self and others to shape and reshape their thinking and problem solving capacities. The coach is actually a mediator, one who figuratively stands between a person and his thinking to help him become more aware of what is going on inside his head.

About Paula Miller
During Paula’s 25 years of education experience, she was a middle and high school Language Arts teacher, a staff developer for an urban district, a regional service center consultant, and a Language Arts director. She is a licensed secondary teacher and holds principal certification. Paula is an Education Director for PEBC. She holds a BFA in English and Speech Communications from S.M.U., an M.Ed (Reading Specialist) from Murray State University , and received Principal Certification from post-graduate studies at T.C.U.

Register online

or complete the attached registration form

*Prices subject to change
** To register on a per-day basis please use the printed registration form (above) or contact PEBC directly.

Institute Dates: January 19-20, 2012

With PEBC Staff Developers: Wendy Ward Hoffer, Moker Klaus Quinlan, Rachel Rosenberg, & Angela Zehner

The PEBC Math Institute is an experiential opportunity for teachers at all levels interested in engaging and motivating learners to construct their own understanding of mathematical concepts. Participants will experience minds-on math learning first hand to springboard us into conversations about how to create similar experiences for learners. Sessions will emphasize standards-based instruction within a community of engaged thinkers.

New this year – MATH LAB EXPERIENCE- January 18th! Spend the day visiting a PEBC Math Lab Classroom.

K-12 Educators who attend this 2-day institute will:

• Experience problem solving in a constructivist context;
• Investigate how classroom discourse promotes thinking and understanding;
• Develop their skills at facilitating discourse and promoting student engagement;
• Learn how to foster student independence and how to confer with individuals about their mathematical thinking;
• See how to focus on overarching concepts to encourage students to draw forth thinking and understanding;
• Learn transferable instructional strategies to support students in their thinking and understanding.
• Understand how to support all learners by integrating comprehension strategies throughout math instruction

The Institute will be facilitated by an experienced team of PEBC staff developers and lab hosts: Wendy Ward Hoffer, Moker Klaus-Quinlan, Rachel Rosenberg, and Angela Zehner.  Wendy is a PEBC staff developer, co-facilitator of the PEBC science institute, and works with math and science teachers locally and nationally to promote student thinking.  Moker, a PEBC staff developer and clinical supervisor for the Boettcher Teachers’ Program, works with teachers across the content areas to promote teaching for understanding.  Rachel, a fifth grade teacher at Harrington Elementary and PEBC lab host, models best practices in math and literacy instruction every day.  Angela, a former middle school math teacher and PEBC lab host, now serves as assistant principal and instructional leader at Prairie Middle School.

Institute Location
Adams 12 Conference Center
1500 E. 128th Ave.
Thornton, CO 80241

Credit

• Each participant will receive a certificate of attendance to use towards CDE credit.

Cost*
Early-Bird Registration Rate:  $395 per person**
(through December 12, 2011 )

General Registration Rate:  $415 per person**
(after December 12, 2011)

Lunch included
Please note: receipt of registration guarantees rate
*prices subject to change
**a 10% discount is offered for teams of 6 or more

Seminar Schedule:
Thursday & Friday
8:30      registration
9:00      learning begins
3:45      ending reflection

PLEASE CONTACT OUR OFFICE, jbell@pebc.org (Jennifer Bell) FOR MORE INFORMATION.

Deepening Understanding: Learn more about the role of comprehension instruction and literacy in the content areas

Featuring

Ellin Oliver Keene, author and independent education consultant
Patrick Allen, author and PEBC lab host
Annie Patterson, PEBC Director of Education
Michelle Jones, PEBC Senior Staff Developer
and PEBC Staff Developers and Lab Hosts

Thinking Strategies Institute is offered to:

• Superintendents, District Managers, Principals, K-12 Teachers, Staff Developers, and Literacy Coordinators
• Teacher participants are encouraged to attend with their principal or building/district leader

Thinking Strategies Institute participants will:

• observe extensively in a PEBC lab classroom where teachers emphasize comprehension learning;
• investigate comprehension instruction in grades kindergarten through twelve;
• discuss specific strategies to enhance comprehension in one’s own reading in a variety of texts;
• understand comprehension in relation to other essential elements in a literacy program, including the rituals and routines necessary for creating a literate classroom and community;
• explore staff development and assessment strategies to promote best practices in instruction;
• debrief observations with PEBC staff developers;
• consider examples of how leadership impacts instruction in literacy.

Institute Location
Renaissance Hotel
3801 Quebec St
Denver, CO 80207

Credit

• Each participant will receive a certificate of attendance to use towards CDE credit.

Registration Fee
Early-Bird Registration Rate:  $1,670 per person*
(through December 16, 2011)

General Registration Rate:  $1,695 per person*
(after December 16, 2011)

Registration fee includes:

• 1 PEBC book of participant’s choosing
• two breakfasts and four lunches
• transportation to and from schools

Please Note:   Receipt of registration form guarantees registration rate.
Registration is limited; please confirm your status before making travel arrangements.
Lodging, air travel, transportation to and from the Institute, and all other meals are the responsibility of participants.  Information regarding hotel accommodations, location of the conference and methods of payment are included in the acceptance letter.  Refunds must be requested one month before the institute start date.

*Prices subject to change

Do not make travel plans until you have been accepted to the Institute.

INSTITUTE IS AT CAPACITY – REGISTRATION IS CLOSED.

Please contact PEBC to be placed on a wait-list. 303-861-8661

Institute Dates: April 18-20, 2012

With Jeff Cazier and Wendy Ward Hoffer

The PEBC Science Institute is an experiential opportunity for teachers at all levels who want to make best practices in science education and literacy instruction come alive in their classrooms. We will explore the need for, the theory behind, and the practical applications of inquiry-based learning in science.  During the Institute, participants will deepen their understanding of how reading comprehension strategies serve as tools to help students make meaning of scientific texts and experiences. Sessions will emphasize curriculum planning based on standards; teachers will hone their skills at creating units of study that are engaging, thought provoking, and, most importantly, culminate in true student understanding.

Science Institute participants will:

• Reflect on the essential role of thinking in science classes;
• Experience scientific inquiry and learn to integrate an inquiry-based approach more fully in their own curriculum and instruction;
• Investigate comprehension strategies that proficient readers use when they read, and examine the symbiotic relationship between literacy instruction and conceptual understanding in science;
• Participate in a community of learners engaged in science discourse and develop the skills to support similar discourse with students;
• Explore backwards planning as a strategy for establishing curricular priorities.

“Even though I have been teaching for twelve years, the PEBC Science Institute gave me new techniques to help students understand science better. I have discovered ways to make some of the activities more inquiry-based and identified how to integrate comprehension strategy instruction into reading activities. I realized that I need to spend more time making sure that my students understand what they are learning.”
- Biology and Zoology Teacher, Douglas County High School

The Institute will be co-facilitated by Jeff Cazier, Prairie Middle School science teacher and PEBC lab host and Wendy Ward Hoffer, PEBC staff developer.  Jeff earned his M.A. in Instructional Technology from the University of Colorado at Denver and has been teaching middle school science for 16 years.   He has been featured in the ASCD video Classroom Instruction that Works. Wendy, author of Science as Thinking (Heinemann, 2009) earned her M.A. in Education at Stanford University, is a National Board Certified middle school math and science teacher, and teaches Science Methods for the Boettcher Teachers’ Program which prepares urban educators.

Institute Location

Denver Museum of Nature & Science
2001 Colorado Blvd.
Denver, CO 80205

Credit

• Each participant will receive a certificate of attendance to use towards CDE credit.

Cost*
Early-Bird Registration Rate:  $625 per person**
(through March 16, 2012)

General Registration Rate:  $645 per person**
(after March 16, 2012)

Lunch included
Please note: Receipt of registration form guarantees registration rate.  Payment must be received by March 16th.
*prices subject to change
**a 10% discount is offered for teams of 6 or more

Text (included in registration fee)
Science as Thinking by Wendy Hoffer (Heinemann, 2009)

Please contact PEBC to be placed on a wait-list. 303-861-8661

Dates: April 30-May 3, 2012

Deepening Understanding: Learn more about the role of comprehension instruction and literacy in the content areas

Featuring
Ellin Oliver Keene, author and independent education consultant
Samantha Bennett, author and independent education consultant
Annie Patterson, PEBC Director of Education
Michelle Jones, PEBC Senior Staff Developer
and PEBC Staff Developers and Lab Hosts

Thinking Strategies Institute is offered to:

• Superintendents, District Managers, Principals, K-12 Teachers, Staff Developers, and Literacy Coordinators
• Teacher participants are encouraged to attend with their principal or building/district leader

Thinking Strategies Institute participants will:

• observe extensively in a PEBC Lab Classroom where teachers emphasize comprehension learning;
• investigate comprehension instruction in grades kindergarten through twelve;
• discuss specific strategies to enhance comprehension in one’s own reading in a variety of texts;
• understand comprehension in relation to other essential elements in a literacy program, including the rituals and routines necessary for creating a literate classroom and community;
• explore staff development and assessment strategies to promote best practices in instruction;
• debrief observations with PEBC staff developers;
• consider examples of how leadership impacts instruction in literacy.

Institute Location
Renaissance Hotel
3801 Quebec St
Denver, CO 80207

Credit

• Each participant will receive a certificate of attendance to use towards CDE credit.

Registration Fee
Early-Bird Registration Rate:  $1,670 per person*
(through March 30, 2012)

General Registration Rate:  $1,695 per person*
(after March 30, 2012)

Registration fee includes:

• 1 PEBC book of participant’s choosing
• two breakfasts and four lunches
• transportation to and from schools

Please Note:   Receipt of registration form guarantees registration rate.  Registration is limited; please confirm your status before making travel arrangements. Lodging, air travel, transportation to and from the Institute, and all other meals are the responsibility of participants.  Information regarding hotel accommodations, location of the conference and methods of payment are included in the acceptance letter.  Refunds must be requested one month before the institute start date.

*Prices subject to change

Do not make travel plans until your registration has been confirmed.