 ICT knows districts that are looking to outfit 21st Century classrooms, understand it is not just about the tools, but about transforming instructional practice in the classroom. ICT provides a complete solution focused on increasing student achievement in interactive classrooms.
We know not every school district is ready to make that leap, but for those that see the future of interactive teaching and learning, we are the perfect partner.
Step inside and you will find information directly related to our professional development and bundled solutions that can help you get your IWB initiative off to a great start for the new school year.
The IdealPD Leadership Team
Our highly energized team has worked on multi-million dollar educational grants, school district learning initiatives and professional development projects focused on teaching and learning with digital tools. Our extensive research about teaching learning and our experiences working closely with leadership teams, teachers and students in the classroom has developed into a collective expertise for making the most of digital tools in curriculum. Whether it is integrating laptop, tablet or handheld computers, interactive whiteboards and panels or personal response systems, we can help you translate their use into effective instructional strategies. Our IdealPD is an effective professional development solution for your specific learning needs.
Our IdealPD leadership team knows about technology, but most importantly they know about how technology can positively impact teaching and learning. As professional development specialists we know the best way to package training to empower learners of all ages.
Kellie Doubek utilizes her experience as a teacher in diverse classrooms to assist Pre-K through 12th grade teachers and students in using digital tools effectively to enhance learning. With a reading background, professional development experience and work as a reading specialist, Kellie is passionate about sharing the connection between technology and its impact on literacy. Kellie knows her best practice research and continually supports classroom teachers as they focus on change. Recently Kellie is presented a session at the International Reading Association National Convention. In addition to being an adjunct professor, she works with individual school districts to utilize technology to improve student literacy skills.
Meg Ormiston loved being a classroom teacher, but now she is always on the move empowering educators through her powerful presentations focused on changing teaching and learning through the power of digital tools. Meg is an author of two books, school board member, adjunct professor, blogger, consultant, keynote speaker, and a successful grant development specialist. Her current research is focused on how curriculum can be delivered through the use of visual images, simulations, interactive digital tools, and multimedia coupled with real time assessment to check for comprehension. Meg is high energy, truly motivational, but also very practical sharing thousands of resources with educators across the globe.
Christine Tomasino works with educators to blend digital tools with effective learning research creating classroom solutions that are practical and target increases in student learning. Her vast experience as a teacher, administrator, technology specialist and teaching and learning consultant provide practical ideas for active learning, differentiating instruction, classroom assessment, reading across content areas, writing to learn, technology planning and more. Whether working with administrators and teachers in project management or professional development, Christine energizes educators to design meaningful activities for today's learners and shares her ideas.
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Ideal PD: Solutions for Interactive Tools in Learning
ICT understands what a major challenge it is for schools to provide continued professional development for their teachers. In addition to our on-site classes our online professional development classes will support your timeline and your schedule thanks to the availability of on-line video. Our video-based training will be available this fall for reasonable fees and will show you stellar teaching practices in action using the latest interactive technologies.
Our solutions for professional development have been designed based on the needs of educators. Training is organized in three IdealPD Solutions that target the uniqueness of each school or district.
The Operational and Features Solution is organized in two levels. The Getting Started Package focuses on the operational and functionality of the interactive classroom tools. Up and Running with Advanced Features extends beyond basic tool use to the more advanced features of the hardware and software, optimizing the classroom learning experience. Each level has two pacing options for maximizing your training investment.
To help schools or districts make the most of interactive tools in the curriculum, the Connections Solution blends interactive classroom tools to learning initiatives and school improvement goals. Session topics align with researched-based instructional strategies that target student achievement gains. Schools may choose from the suggested training sessions or create a customized solution to meet unique learning needs.
Leadership is critical to a successful building or district initiative. Our Leadership Solution provides consulting services, administrative training for supporting 21st Century classroom tools, and intensive training and materials for teams of educators who will lead future training and support for using interactive tools in learning.
Book your full day workshop by July 31st, 2006 and receive the Ideal Classroom Solution that's just right for you. Our IdealPD bundle provides for a full day of operational and functional instruction for up to 20 participants, plus a 78" Bluetooth SchoolBoad and SchoolPad or 32 PRS-RF personal response systems for student assessment to jumpstart your IWB and Professional Development initiatives. Includes all necessary wall mount brackets, interactive pens, Bluetooth wireless dongle, USB connector and/or transceiver and carrying case. Installation and shipping included. Travel extra where applicable.
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Operational and Features Solutions
Whiteboards and Panels
Getting Started Package - Half Day
This session provides practical ways educators can immediately start using interactive tools in the classroom. Through demonstration, hands-on practice and discussion participants investigate hardware and software tools for basic annotation, editing, presentation and file management to engage students and encourage participation in learning activities across content areas.
Getting Started Plus Package - Full Day
This session provides practical ways educators can immediately start using interactive tools in the classroom. The focus of this extended session is to control the pacing of the demonstration, hands-on practice and discussion to allow participants to become comfortable using interactive devices and software tools for basic annotation, editing, presentation and file management to engage students and encourage participation in learning activities across content areas.
Up and Running with Advanced Features Package - Half Day
This session builds on the working knowledge educators have with interactive classroom tools. Through demonstration, hands-on practice and discussion participants utilize advanced features and learn more practical ways to make instruction and student learning interactive and collaborative across content areas and grade levels.
Up and Running with Advanced Features Plus Package - Full Day
This session builds on the working knowledge educators have with interactive classroom tools. The focus of this extended session is to control the pacing of the demonstration, hands-on practice and discussion to help participants become comfortable using advanced features and more practical ways to make instruction and student learning interactive and collaborative across content areas and grade levels.
Personal Response Systems
Getting Started Package - Full Day
Personal response systems, often referred to as clickers, provide strategic ways to gather student assessment data to encourage classroom discussion, gauge student comprehension, instantly grade and record student results and focus more time on teaching and learning. In this session with demonstration, hands-on practice, and discussion participants will focuses on basic hardware and software configurations to set up a class, create lessons, conduct assessments, and analyze results.
Up and Running with Advanced Features Package - Full Day
This session builds on the Getting Started Packages and helps educators make the most of personal response systems for tracking student results by investigating advanced features for setting up classes, creating lessons, conducting assessments and analyzing results. In this demonstration, hands-on practice and discussion participants continue to develop expertise in utilizing personal response systems to provide continuous feedback in the learning process.
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Connections Solutions
Workshop Package
These half or full day sessions are designed to compliment the Operational and Features Solution and provide educators with rich examples and practical hands-on activities they can replicate in the classroom. Focusing on connecting interactive tools to curriculum and research-based instructional strategies that improve teaching and learning, educators will maximize the investment of interactive classroom tools for student learning.
Conference Package
IdealPD offers energizing keynotes, spotlight and breakout sessions focused on the use of interactive tools in the classroom for conferences or learning institutes. These sessions are full of ideas to motivate and excite your educators or jump start your building and district learning initiatives.
Science Applications for the Interactive Classroom.
Utilize interactive tools in the science classroom to build background knowledge, provide visuals, simulations and demonstrations, and locate and analyze data. Increase student understanding of vocabulary, as well as text by using text handling strategies. Open your classroom to digital tools and make the world your science lab!
Social Science Applications for the Interactive Classroom.
Foster thoughtful discussion of the ten thematic strands in Social Studies according to the National Council for the Social Studies. Increase student understanding of vocabulary and help them comprehend your text using strategies proven to build comprehension skills. Bring your content to life by bringing powerful primary source documents into the classroom. Save those documents in your custom gallery and use your interactive tools to annotate right over the documents.
Interactive Math in a 21st Century Classroom.
Instead of writing all over the chalkboard as fast as you can, capture your powerful lessons, step by step, and post them to your web site to help students that need a little extra help. Powerful interactive tools now make this possible. You can create your own custom bank of resources to help learners of all abilities. Pull up virtual manipulatives and annotate your lesson right on top of the example. Engage students in mathematics in amazing new ways.
Language Arts Applications for the Interactive Classroom.
Interactive tools can are an invaluable resource for building reading, writing, listening and speaking skills in your language arts classrooms. Make literature genres come alive, incorporate activities to improve reading comprehension and build vocabulary, and utilize effective strategies throughout the writing process.
Fine Arts Applications for the Interactive Classroom.
Whether you're critiquing form, pitch, color, or movement, interactive tools will make your students see fine arts with a new eye! Build a toolbox of activities aligned to the National Standards for Arts Education. Use these tools and online resources to make fine arts relevant to all learners and connect your content to other disciplines.
Interactive Tools for Guiding Health, Sports and Fitness.
Interactive tools can make health, sports, coaching, and fitness meaningful for all learners. Gain strategies and create activities to build understanding of your curriculum while connecting health, sports, and fitness to your learners' lives. Pull up a diagram of a sports field and review the plays from the game, engage the students on the action and look for the results on the field. Pull in the video clip and annotate right over the action!
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Reading in the Content Areas Teachers Can Use.
This session isn't about "adding" to your already packed curriculum, it's about using effective strategies that have been proven to increase achievement. These active learning strategies, coupled with interactive tools will not only build literacy skills, it will also increase your student's comprehension of your content area!
Building Writing Skills with Interactive Tools.
When you write about, you understand it! Use your interactive tools throughout the writing process! From brainstorming and accessing information to organizing information and editing, model effective strategies and implement research-based activities to build a classroom of writers!
Supporting Balanced Literacy with Interactive Tools.
Utilize interactive tools to build reading and writing skills! Investigate research-based strategies for increasing literacy achievement while integrating technology. Engage all your learners in your shared reading and writing lessons. Encourage collaboration and monitor student comprehension. Use your interactive tools to build a classroom of strategic readers and writers!
Data Driven Decision Making in the Today's Classrooms.
Personal response systems (PRS or clickers) are interactive tools that give immediate data to drive instruction! Use these tools to measure student background knowledge and provide feedback during lessons to monitor understanding as well as an evaluation tool to measure student learning. Gain strategies for using all of your interactive tools to increase discussion and student interaction.
Moving from a Teacher Centered to a Student Centered Classroom with Interactive Tools.
Getting the most of interactive tools means they are in the hands of students, as well as the classroom teacher. Learn how to create a student centered classroom where learners discuss ideas, interact with content, and share their learning. Active student involvement boosts comprehension of content and increases achievement of all learners. Get the most for your investment and create student centered classrooms!
Meeting Student Needs with Differentiated Instruction.
Today's classrooms are more diverse than ever! When paired with research-based strategies, interactive tools can meet the needs of all learners. Use the power of multi-media and interactive presentations to increase discussion and engage students. Utilize assessment tools for immediate feedback to monitor student understanding. All students benefit from this learning environment!
Supporting Students with Learning Disabilities.
Interactive tools can be the key to building understanding for students with learning disabilities. Utilize hands-on lessons to provide visuals, demonstrations and simulations while implementing strategies that will encourage discussion and interaction these students need to increase understanding.
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Reaching the Reluctant Learner with Interactive Tools.
There's no arguing that a motivated learner is a successful learner. Pose a question on the screen and get immediate feedback from all students instead of the one of two waving their hands. Create engaging lessons that grab your students and connect them with content. Investigate strategies to make your content authentic and relevant to even the most reluctant learner.
Adapting Instruction for Today's Visual Learners.
Today's learners are exposed to more visuals than any other generation before them! These millennial learners need the power of pictures, photos, diagrams, charts, and sound to build their understanding. Use your interactive tools to make the most of visuals and gain strategies to effectively incorporate multimedia into your classroom. Learn how to access resources, as well as have students create their own visuals to process information and construct understanding.
Supporting English Language Learners in Today's Classrooms.
Utilize interactive tools to make your content comprehensible to all English Language Learners. These interactive learning tools will promote language and literacy development across the curriculum. Learn how to focus achievement of standards by all students utilizing these digital tools.
A Framework for Designing Learning Activities using Interactive Tools.
What is the best way to implement interactive tools in the classroom? This session will give you a replicable framework for planning lessons. Planning effective lessons using research-based strategies becomes second nature, making the most of your interactive tools and bringing best practice into the classroom.
Getting Kids to Talk About Learning.
There is an enormous amount of research that supports the use of discussion and collaboration to increase comprehension. But how do we encourage students to engage in meaningful dialogue about content? This session will provide you with strategies and activities utilizing interactive tools to stimulate discussion and foster conversation focused on your curriculum.
A Day in the Life in an Interactive Classroom.
You know you can utilize your interactive tools to create powerful presentations, encourage discussion among students, and immediately access information about student learning. Using interactive tools shouldn't be an isolated or weekly event. These tools can be an integral part of your day to day teaching. Learn how to use the power of interactive tools, throughout your day in each curriculum area.
Capturing and Sharing Your Powerful Lessons.
Your interactive tools are invaluable for creating powerful lessons! Get the how-to's for making the most of your interactive lessons, as well as ideas for having students create presentations to demonstrate their learning. Don't contain these products in your classroom, share your great lesson or student created examples. Publish your lesson on your webpage so parents and students can review them at home, this is the session to help get you started.
Interactive Strategies in the 21st Century Classroom.
Use your interactive tools to give your students the skills they will need to survive in a digital world! Access online resources to encourage critical thinking and problem solving in your classroom, digitally file those ready for the next lesson. Encourage discussion and collaboration through the use of real world data and primary source resources to make your content authentic for your learners. You need a 21st Century classroom to prepare 21st Century learners!
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Leadership Solutions
Consulting Services
Are you looking to purchase some interactive classroom digital tools? Do you have some interactive classroom digital tools in your school or district but wonder if they are being utilized to their fullest learning potential? Are you wondering how you can leverage the use of all your interactive learning tools toward specific school improvement goals? Are you in need of customized professional development for your interactive digital tools? Our consulting team of former classroom teachers, curriculum specialists and technologists, provides solutions for your questions. With our many years working with schools using different types of interactive digital tools our expertise will help your technology team plan for the very best initiative. Some tools we have recently worked with include: handheld computers, interactive white boards, interactive panels, personal response systems, tablet computers, and comprehensive 1:1 laptop initiatives. Contact IdealPD to discuss how we can help you make the most of your technology and learning decisions.
Administrative Trends
Ideal PD offers customized solutions for supporting administrators in creating and sustaining technology and learning visions with a variety of digital tools. Bring your administrative team together for one of these high interest sessions.
Step Away From the Chalkboard!
Enough with the chalk dust everywhere. Instead, engage students in lessons using powerful digital tools. Before the lesson quickly collect data to assess prior knowledge. No need to grade the pre test; collect the data using the individual interactive personal response system. Immediately use the data to customize the lessons to the needs of the students, focusing on a deeper understanding of the lesson. Engage the students using multimedia tools and interactive whiteboard operated from the wireless tablet across the room. This is not science fiction this is the 21st Century Classroom designed to reach learners of all abilities. Come explore the possibilities.
Advantages of Interactive Tools: What Solution is for You?
Wondering how your interactive tools will best support student learning? This session highlights features of interactive whiteboards and panels and personal response systems, demonstrating how they can be used to support various school improvement initiatives and what professional development solution will best support your initiative. Discussion time will be provided to evaluate the tools and investigate options for a curricular focus to put together a solution that will work for you!
Collaborative Tools for Conducting Effective Meetings.
If interactive tools can increase understanding and discussion in the classroom, imagine what they can do to facilitate an effective meeting! Use visuals, record ideas, and encourage dialogue among participants to make your time together both collaborative and productive. Creating products using interactive tools allows you to do so much more than capture minutes. It allows you to share the process of decision making and problem solving from the onset of an idea to the final product.
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