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Monday August 4
Computer Science Praxis Prep (Monday morning only and Tuesday - Thursday Full Day)
Ben Isecke
Join Ben for the five day Computer Science Praxis Prep workshop. Ben will prepare you to take the Praxis exam. The first session will be Monday morning in person, then the following three days will meet virtually with the practice review taking place on August 14, 10 am - Noon.
Cardboard Chronicles: Where Literacy and STEM Meet in the Tiny House Challenge. Integrating Literacy at Every Step of the STEM Design Journey (Monday morning)
3Dux Designs, Marci Klein, MD
What happens when imaginative storytelling meets miniature architecture? In this lively, hands-on session, educators will explore the Tiny House Challenge as a launchpad for powerful literacy-STEM integration. From fiction and nonfiction texts that spark design inspiration to persuasive writing, oral presentations, and digital storytelling tools, participants will discover how to weave literacy into every step of the engineering process.
Whether students are crafting a backstory for their home's future residents, presenting energy-efficient upgrades, or pitching their tiny home to a “client,” this project builds real-world writing, speaking, and tech skills—without losing the creative spark. Participants leave with inspiration, skills, and resources to bring cross-curricular storytelling and STEM to life in their own classrooms.
Begin Your Coding Adventure with CodeMonkey
Kelly Susinski
Come see CodeMonkey Ambassador Kelly Susinski to learn more about CodeMonkey's award-winning curriculum and how you can implement it in your classroom. She will cover how to get started with a teacher subscription as well as how to implement the curriculum during the school year. Participants will get the opportunity to explore our block-based and text-based courses (CodeMonkey Jr., Beaver Achiever, and Coding Adventure Part One) from the student perspective as well as guided courses in Digital Literacy, AI, Data Science, and Typing! She will be giving away a one-year Classroom Subscription as well as fun CodeMonkey swag!
Understanding Networks and the Internet for Elementary Educators
Ellen Fishter
This workshop will include important vocabulary, resources, and student activities related to the internet and networks. Participants will learn about how computers are used to connect to other individuals, places, information, and ideas through a network. Evaluating file size as it relates to storage options and cloud storage will also be explored. We will evaluate resources to determine their value within lessons on networks and the internet, and discuss classroom implementation and protocol.
Coding and Robotics in the Elementary Classroom
Dena Scoullos
This workshop is perfect for PreK-4 teachers looking to incorporate coding and robotics into their classroom. Even if you have never coded before, you'll find it simple to teach these concepts to your students. In this hands-on workshop, participants will work with popular educational robots like Bee-Bot, Code & Go Robot Mouse, Ozobot, and Dash. You will learn how to create activities to pair with these bots. We will also dive into unplugged coding, so you can teach the fundamentals of creating an algorithm without any devices.
Tuesday August 5
Computer Science Praxis Prep (Must Attend Full Week)
Ben Isecke
Join Ben for the five day Computer Science Praxis Prep workshop. Ben will prepare you to take the Praxis exam. The first session will be Monday morning in person, then the following three days will meet virtually with the practice review taking place on August 14, 10 am - Noon.
Using AI Teacher Tools To Increase Productivity
Angela Marzelli
In this introductory session, teachers will learn how generative AI works and practice using it to complete basic tasks including differentiating lesson materials. Teachers will have time to explore and work with the tools, and will leave the session with a set of differentiated instructional materials for a lesson that they can use in the upcoming school year.
JuiceMind K-5
Ryan Dehmoubed
Create an everlasting positive impression with gamified block coding quizzes! Learn how to integrate JuiceMind’s Kahoot-like platform for block coding into your class and watch as students compete towards achieving proficiency in Block Coding!
Early CS Adventures: Hands-On Computer Science for Young Minds NEW
Fay Dolson and Melissa Zeitz
Join us for an interactive workshop where you will explore creative, mostly screen-free ways to teach Computer Science skills to young learners. We will start by introducing ourselves and explaining how our schedules are designed to support these activities, providing context for what you will experience.
Throughout the session, you'll participate in a variety of hands-on activities that teach essential CS skills, such as loops, through different modalities. Engage in activities like making bracelets, dancing, singing songs, coding robots, doing yoga poses, and more. Activities will be designed to highlight skills while ensuring that all learners can participate through movement, music, robotics, crafts, and other engaging methods. While also learning about literature to be used in a classroom to support CS skills.
We'll also cover differentiation strategies, showing how these diverse activities can support all learning styles. The workshop will conclude with a reflection session where you'll discuss your experiences and receive specific resources that you can take back to your classroom to implement these engaging CS centers.
Maximizing a Budget for Classroom CS Tools
Ericka Blais and Melissa Zeitz
In this workshop, participants will use a hypothetical $1000 budget to select the computer science tools and resources that best meet their students’ needs and align with their educational goals. They will develop a comprehensive plan that includes a detailed list of products, the number needed, price per unit, grade levels served, and a rationale for each purchase. The workshop will emphasize cost-effective options and provide a template that participants can use in the future. This session is geared towards classroom teachers, instructional technology specialists, and admin. While we know that many teachers don’t have budgets this high, we also recognize that CS teachers struggle to know what tools to buy for their classrooms. This workshop will provide guidance on selecting the most suitable tools for any budget.
Creating a Welcoming CS Classroom Environment for All Students
Quiana Bannerman and David Ruf
This workshop explores critical elements of the classroom in order to create an environment that is welcoming to everyone. Elements include classroom population, instruction, classroom environment, and avoiding potential pitfalls. Participants will better understand their students’ sense of belonging in their class and develop plans to increase it.
This workshop is designed for all educators ready to learn more about themselves, their teaching practices, and ways to make an environment conducive for learning for all. Participants will spend time reflecting on their own practices, exploring K-12 education, analyzing their chosen curriculums for elements of student voice, choice, assessments, and positive learning outcomes.
Wednesday August 6
Computer Science Praxis Prep (Must Attend Full Week)
Ben Isecke
Join Ben for the five day Computer Science Praxis Prep workshop. Ben will prepare you to take the Praxis exam. The first session will be Monday morning in person, then the following three days will meet virtually with the practice review taking place on August 14, 10 am - Noon.
NJCTL CS Teaching Endorsements, Graduate Courses, MSTL Degrees, and Free Teaching Materials
In this session, you’ll learn about NJCTL’s free, editable classroom teaching materials for computer science as well as its online, asynchronous, self-paced graduate courses and programs for current and prospective teachers. That includes its Master of Science in Teaching and Learning Computer Science, its NJ-DOE approved Computer Science Add-On Endorsement program, and its courses to prepare for the Praxis exam. The College Board has recognized the quality of NJCTL’s free resources and graduate courses for AP Computer Science courses by naming it an Endorsed Provider for both, one of twelve organizations who have been so recognized.
Developing K-5 Students’ AI Literacy with Day of AI
Angela Marzelli
This professional learning session offers a comprehensive overview of introductory AI curriculum materials designed for K-5 classrooms. Participants will explore engaging activities and resources designed to introduce young students to core AI concepts, including machine learning, data, and algorithms, while also exploring ethical issues like bias in data sets. Participants will leave prepared to facilitate Day of AI introductory curriculum units in their classrooms.
Teach CS 101 for Classroom Teachers - How to Incorporate Computer Science into Your Existing Curriculum
Samantha Selikoff
This workshop is geared towards early career members or those in their first 5 years of teaching. Come grab materials that will help you survive your first 5 years such as resource libraries, book titles, and even a sub plan or two in case of an emergency.
Teach CS 101 for Teachers New to Teaching Computer Science in the Technology/Computer Classroom
Samantha Selikoff
This workshop is geared towards early career members or those in their first 5 years of teaching. Come grab materials that will help you survive your first 5 years such as resource libraries, book titles, and even a sub plan or two in case of an emergency.
Code & Curate: Read-Alouds, Robots, and Computational Thinking in the Media Center
Melanie S Blanton
Let the media center be a launchpad for computational thinking! In this interactive workshop, explore how to pair read-alouds of children’s literature with unplugged activities, robotics, and computing tools to bring stories—and problem-solving—to life. Uncover cross-curricular connections and strategies for supporting interdisciplinary learning across the school with colleagues. Whether you’re building a makerspace or just starting to integrate CS, you’ll leave with creative ideas to connect literacy, computer science, and your library’s unique role in fostering collaboration and enhancing student learning.
Computales
Javier Aguilar and Paige Besthoff
Take your students on a one-of-a-kind journey into computational thinking and literacy. Join Martin and his friends as they embark on a journey through Computer Land, where each chapter is filled with standards-aligned activities that develop computational thinking and enhance literacy skills.
Designed for grades K-2, CompuTales seamlessly integrates into your existing reading instruction while introducing the foundational skills that will set the stage for future exploration into coding and computer science. Because learning is better in context, literacy activities that reinforce the computational thinking topics were also woven into each chapter and topic. CompuTales can also be adapted for use with older Multilingual Learners and students of diverse abilities.
CompuTales is available for free to any parent or teacher, with unlimited student accounts. There is an optional student workbook available for purchase that reinforces the computational topics as the reader progresses through each chapter of the story.
Thursday August 7
Computer Science Praxis Prep (Must Attend Full Week)
Ben Isecke
Join Ben for the five day Computer Science Praxis Prep workshop. Ben will prepare you to take the Praxis exam. The first session will be Monday morning in person, then the following three days will meet virtually with the practice review taking place on August 14, 10 am - Noon.
Certified & Creative: Elevate Your Teaching with Canva AI
Hanan Attiyah
Join Mrs. Hanan Attiyah, Global Teacher Canvassador, for an energizing and hands-on workshop where educators will earn both the Canva Teacher Essentials Certification and the Canva AI in the Classroom Certification. This session will empower you to design visually engaging lessons, explore AI-powered tools, and walk away with classroom-ready resources that make teaching more efficient and impactful.
Amazon Future Engineer
Bryan Callow and Darren Ehrhardt
Come learn from 2023 AFE Teacher Ambassadors about the way they use Project STEM and Code.org to ensure all students have access to top-notch CS programming! The session will also cover Amazon Future Engineer products like Career Tours and highlights from the Ambassador program.
Enhancing K-5 Education with Cybersecurity
Cyber.org
Join us for a dynamic and engaging professional development session designed specifically for K-5 educators. This session from CYBER.ORG will equip you with essential knowledge and practical strategies to introduce cybersecurity concepts into your classroom.
Lesson highlights will be shared from three of our elementary courses: Cybersecurity Basics, Computational Thinking, and Coding Fundamentals. The resources shared in this PD are easily modifiable for any classroom. We encourage teachers to sign up for our no-cost curricula access prior to the professional development session at
CS Teacher Standard 2e: Use accessible instructional materials
Dr. Richard Ladner
In this session teachers will learn about the important accessibility affordances used by students with disabilities, such as screen readers, voice control, switch control, eye tracking and others. They will learn about accessible programming environments including Quorum, Blocks4All, Swift Playgrounds, Octostudio and others. They will be given examples of accessible computer science unplugged activities. They will learn about tools for learning disabilities including OneNote tools, graphical organizers and others. They will learn about recent accessibility mandates based on Title II of the ADA that may affect their teaching of all students.
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