Professional Learning Opportunities

This interactive two-day workshop is designed for educators teaching grades 3-8 and Algebra 1 who want to enhance their skills in developing, scoring, and analyzing open-ended questions. Participants will gain the tools to align open-ended questions with standards, develop effective rubrics, and incorporate the Standards of Mathematical Practice into student questioning techniques. Day 1: Participants will explore the criteria for writing open-ended questions, develop aligned rubrics, and engage in the writing process to create high-quality questions tailored to their students' needs. Day 2: After administering their questions to students, participants will analyze the responses, apply scoring rubrics, and reflect on insights gained from the process to inform their instruction. By the end of the workshop, participants will: *Understand the criteria for writing effective open-ended questions. *Develop and refine rubrics aligned with standards and Eligible Content. *Apply the scoring process to evaluate open-ended questions accurately. *Establish a systematic approach for crafting open-ended questions. *Integrate the Standards of Mathematical Practice into questioning techniques. Location: The Conference and Training Center at the IU13, 1020 New Holland Ave, Lancaster, PA 17601 Lunch on your own

The struggle is real. But productive struggle is more than a catchphrase. It is the result of six actions that teachers take so that students struggle, persevere, and succeed. In this session, participants learn about how productive struggle in mathematics is grounded in values, identity, community, planning, support, and reflection. Participants will acquire strategies to leverage before, during, and after the lesson or the struggle. Whether you're a teacher, coach, or leader, this session will equip you with actionable strategies to nurture productive struggle in your classroom or school. This workshop will be complemented with a collection of ready-to-use classroom resources. Core Outcomes Workshop participants will be able to: * articulate the value of productive struggle and how it affects student achievement in mathematics and beyond, * differentiate between productive and unproductive struggle, * identify six specific teaching actions for realizing productive struggle in mathematics classes, * plan instruction that promotes, provokes, and supports productive struggle, and * leverage and support productive struggle for better engagement, discourse, understanding, and attention.

Do your students struggle with reasoning about fractions, thinking flexibly with them, and estimating their values? Are you looking for engaging, high-quality tasks to deepen understanding and spark meaningful discussion? In this workshop, participants will explore what fraction sense is and how it develops. Through a deep dive into key fraction concepts and operations, we will examine how to build conceptual understanding rather than reliance on rote procedure and abstract symbols. This session will provide strategies for both first instruction and intervention, ensuring all students have the support they need to develop strong reasoning of fractions. Participants will gain dynamic yet practical instructional activities that promote flexibility, reasoning, and number sense with fractions. A collection of ready-to-use resources will be provided, allowing educators to make fraction sense a daily part of instruction. Core Outcomes Workshop participants will be able to: * articulate the progression of concepts and skills within fraction content across grades, * demonstrate their own deep understanding of essential fraction concepts through their use of manipulatives, drawings, and justification, * identify high-leverage instructional practices for student mastery of fraction concepts, * design instructional tasks that feature high-quality tasks and connect representations to symbols and procedures, and * assess student understanding of fraction concepts to provide meaningful feedback and make instructional decisions Please Note: In the event of inclement weather, the designated snow make-up date is March 18, 2026.

Computational fluency is much more than basic facts and algorithms. It is complex and teaching it well is challenging. To find success, we must know and leverage 10 big ideas about fluency. In this interactive workshop, we'll explore practical strategies to help students build procedural fluency in meaningful ways. Participants will engage in hands-on activities, explore research-based instructional practices, and learn how to support all learners in developing confidence with numbers. Whether you're a teacher, coach, or leader, this session will equip you with actionable strategies to enhance fluency in your classroom or school. This workshop will be complemented with a collection of ready-to-use classroom resources. Core Outcomes: * Workshop participants will be able to articulate essential ideas about fluency in elementary and/or middle school mathematics, * identify effective teaching and assessment practices for computational fluency, and * demonstrate understanding significant strategies for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of whole numbers, fractions, decimals, and integers to teach, practice, and assess fluency. Please Note: In the event of inclement weather, the designated snow make-up date is March 18, 2026.