Come to this workshop and capitalize on the power of hands on learning. Add to your school-based and community based work experiences for your students by incorporating creative, accessible, and fun projects which meet the OCS. Help create authentic experiences by providing your students with an outlet to show off their skills and take ownership of their education by creating quality entrepreneurial programs.

Mrs. Maria Mason-Freeman has taught students in the Occupational Course of Study for six years. She has her Masters degree and is also a NBCT.   If you have questions, contact April Spencer at aspencer@wresa.org or 828.418.0011, ext. 20.

Registration Fee: $50     Registration Deadline: February 9, 2009      

Registration Fee: $65     Registration Deadline: February 12, 2009     

Using Ruby Payne’s Framework for Understanding Poverty, this workshop will cover the basics about the culture of poverty.  We will discuss hidden rules and behaviors that impact our classrooms.  This workshop will be the foundation for Day 2 (Children of Poverty:  Now What?) as we delve deeper into how best to help these students.  Each participant will receive a copy of Framework for Understanding Poverty.  Presenter will be April Spencer , Secondary Education Coordinator and Ruby Payne Certified Trainer.  Class limited to 25 participants.  A certificate of credit will be issued.  If you have questions, contact April Spencer at aspencer@wresa.org or 828.418.0011, ext. 20. 

Registration Fee: $60     Registration Deadline: February 16, 2009     

“Partners for Mathematics Learning” is a mathematics-science partnership project funded by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. The purpose of the project is to support the teaching and learning of important ideas in mathematics in kindergarten through eighth grade. One component of the project is to assist Local Education Agencies (LEAs) across North Carolina in introducing the revised 2008 Mathematics Curriculum Standards for K-5 in a consistent, focused manner and in preparing to adopt new mathematics textbooks. Carol Bennett, WRESA Elementary Education Coordinator, is available to share the information and strategies with other participating Partner districts or others interested in learning more about the project on a per need basis. In addition to receiving the Partners for Mathematics Learning handouts, participants will create hands-on materials to use with the teaching objectives. The six sessions include: Measurement; Number and Operations; Algebra; Data Analysis and Probability; Geometry; and Problem Solving. Credit: 5 contact hours for each session. If you have questions or are interested in scheduling any of the sessions, contact Carol Bennett, 418-0011 ext. 17, or by email: cbennett@wresa.org.

Registration Fee: $50 per session        

Lex-IS Services, in collaboration with WRESA and the Asheville law firm of Roberts & Stevens, is offering a two-day Regional Law Clinic on March 4-5, 2009,  at the Asheville-Buncombe Tech,  Enka Campus.  The Clinic involves four stand-alone 1/2-day sessions designed to update school administrators and school board members on recent legal developments, challenges, and effective practices.  Sign-up for any or all these sessions, which include topics on effective employee supervision and discharge, cyberlaw practices and  policies, special education, and other "hot topics" taught by experienced school attorneys David Hostetler, Chris Campbell, and Dean Shatley.  

Discounted and early registration fees are available.   More information and registration is available at https://www.123signup.com/event?id=zzxsk or via the Lex-IS "programs" web page at www.Lex-IS.com.

Credit will be granted to the school board members that attend by the NCSBA.

Registration Fee: Visit https://www.123signup.com/event?id=zzxsk     Registration Deadline: Month 2, 2009      

Karen Haag works with the UNC Charlotte Writing Project site where she co-directs the Teacher Research Institutes. She has been a literacy coach, teacher, and researcher in North Carolina since 1974. Karen, co-author of Thinking Out Loud on Paper: The Student Daybook as a Tool for Fostering Learning (Heinemann 2008), shares writing ideas for coaxing children to be reflective learners, creative thinkers, and empowered writers prepared to solve problems, even tests. 

In this workshop, Karen will teach you how to beef up your content-area writing program. You will learn short, reflective writing exercises that give students practice in collecting, brainstorming, reflecting, and remembering. You will learn how to set up thinking journals (daybooks) to sustain content-area writing all year. All you will need is composition books and just a few minutes each day to show students how to store information in long-term memory. Karen will show videos of students explaining how they learn. 

Registration Fee: $70     Registration Deadline: February 20, 2009      

Participants must attend all three sessions plus complete the equivalent of one-day out of class work assignment to receive credit.  The presenters will be Bob Byrd , School Improvement Specialist, and Karen Sumner , Teacher On Loan. Class limited to 25 participants. 

Registration Fee: $50     Registration Deadline: March 2, 2009       

Registration Fee: $65     Registration Deadline: March 2, 2009      

Do you feel as if there are some students you just can’t reach? Need some help? Students who are in unmotivated states are not ready to learn. The good news is that you can manage these states. Find out what is going on in the brains of unmotivated students and learn strategies to help those students become engaged, focused and successful. This workshop is designed for any 3rd -12th grade teachers.

Ms. Carlann Scherping is a NBCT who has completed over 80 hours of workshops with Eric Jensen on brain compatible teaching and learning.  She has presented locally, regionally, state-wide and nationally. Currently she is teaching 6^th grade social studies in Polk County .   If you have questions, contact April Spencer at 828.418.0011, ext. 20 or aspencer@wresa.org.

Registration Fee: $45     Registration Deadline: March 16, 2009       

This session uses the CATCH curriculum guide to explore ways to teach about aquatic environments through fish biology, outdoor ethics, water safety and fishing skills.  Techniques and activities are geared for children ages 8 to 15. 

Registration Fee: $0     Registration Deadline: March 16, 2009      

We are pleased to inform you that middle and high school social studies/English teachers in your county are invited to attend a multi-county teacher workshop on Learning and Teaching about the Holocaust. This workshop will be held at Western Region Education Service Alliance (WRESA) at 1459 Sand Hill Road in Enka on the  AB Tech Enka Campus. This workshop is of particular interest to social studies teachers teaching American history or world history and sixth-grade teachers teaching about Eastern Europe . It is also of interest to language arts teachers teaching the Diary of Anne Frank in the middle grades or Elie Wiesel's novel about the Holocaust, Night or other literature of the Holocaust at the high-school level. All workshop participants will also receive copies of the resource guide The Holocaust: A North Carolina Teachers' Resource, published by the N.C. State Department of Public Instruction in cooperation with the North Carolina Holocaust Council. This workshop has become a valuable component of diversity education, focusing on the dynamics of prejudice, peer pressure, and prejudice reduction as it relates to this key historical event in World War II.

Featured speakers at this one-day conference will be Gizella Abramson, a survivor of the Maidanek death camp in Poland or Zohara Boyd, a hidden child and Peter Petschauer, son of a Nazi SS officer. Holocaust scholar Dr. Karl Schleunes, chair of the History Department at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and author of The Twisted Road to Auschwitz and Legislating the Holocaust: The Nuremberg Laws is the other featured presenter. The workshop will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. , March 25, 2009.  Substitute pay will be provided for public school teachers attending the workshop. 

Registration Fee: $0     Registration Deadline: March 20, 2009       

Information:  Arts teachers will both share and create integrated lessons in their specific content and grade levels after a morning overview of arts integration provided by DPI.  Participants will have an opportunity to learn background about and share strategies in arts integration, and to network with regional arts teachers.

If you have questions, contact Karen Sumner (ksumner@wresa.org or 828.418.0011, ext. 26.)

Registration Fee: $35     Registration Deadline: March 16, 2009      

Do you need new ideas in planning for daily classroom literacy instruction that works to prepare your diverse group of students to be both life-long readers and successful test takers?  This highly interactive session will provide multiple strategies and practical ideas that you can learn about today and use in your classroom tomorrow. Participants will leave with multiple instructional tools that can positively impact quality instruction and student achievement. The instructor for this session is Kathy Bumgardner. With more than 30 years of educational experience in the classroom (K-8), in a school, in districts, and in conducting national and state wide training in both READING and WRITING, Kathy strives to offer best practices. Her workshop content is based on Scientific Reading Research and current personal experience (real world research). She will share successful strategies and ideas for the day to day classroom teacher to use to make it happen.

Registration Fee: $50     Registration Deadline: March 20, 2009       

Understanding the characteristics of and issues that surround and impact our students living in poverty is the first step in being able to make a difference in their lives.  This Day Two workshop in Ruby Payne’s “Framework for Understanding Poverty” is the next step in working with our students who live in low socio-economic environments.  We will first look at the discipline module and strategies for solving some of these issues.  We will focus on the cognitive strategies that are undeveloped or underdeveloped in this population and will look at specific before, during, and after learning strategies that will help them be more successful at all grade levels.  Each participant will receive a copy of Understanding Learning and Learning Structures Workbook.  Presenter will be April Spencer , Secondary Education Consultant and Ruby Payne Certified Trainer.  If you have questions, contact April Spencer at aspencer@wresa.org or 828.418.0011, ext. 20.

Registration Fee: $50     Registration Deadline: March 23, 2009      

This one-day session focuses on teachers who have taught  0 – 20 years and want assistance with critical retirement information and decision making early in their career.  This session will review the actuarial implications and repercussions of early-mid career decisions, laws, policies and processes, benefit options and investment plans.  The training will be conducted by a panel of skilled presenters including Robert Ayers, WRESA staff Retirement Consultant and Dan Farmer, regional 401-K specialist. The session will be facilitated by Bob Byrd , School Improvement Specialist, and April Spencer , Secondary Education Consultant.  Session limited to 25 participants.   If you have questions, contact Bob Byrd , ext. 23, bbyrd@wresa.org or April Spencer , ext. 20, aspencer@wresa.org

Registration Fee: $35     Registration Deadline: March 23, 2009       

This hands-on workshop will help participants learn to make quality videos by learning the basics, including camera technique and editing. Video making can be utilized cheaply in the classroom to help in obtaining National Board Certification, Graduation Projects, and many other meaningful classroom activities. It is not as difficult as you might think. This workshop will be appropriate for media coordinators, as well as any K-12 teacher. We will be using iMovie and Windows Movie Maker.

Jason Rhodes is currently teaching English and Broadcast Journalism at West High School in Henderson County . He frequently incorporates making videos into his classes.   If you have questions, contact April Spencer at aspencer@wresa.org or 828.418.0011, ext. 20.

Registration Fee: $50     Registration Deadline: March 25, 2009      

Certified thinking maps trainers Karen Sumner , Western Region Teacher On Loan, and Laura Mayer, Buncombe County high school literacy coach, will provide background, strategies, and practice in using thinking maps and other graphic organizers to increase student learning and enhance assessment.

Registration Fee: $35     Registration Deadline: April 13, 2009       

Once again, the NC Wildlife Resource Commission and WRESA are teaming up to bring you another workshop in the Project Wild series.  This time we bring you Aquatic Project WILD!!   This    workshop    is   similar   to   the   basic   WILD   workshop,   but focuses on aquatic life.  This training is open to all educators, but may be of particular interest to math, science, and environmental education teachers.  

The  workshop will  be  facilitated by NC Wildlife Regional Education Specialist, Tanya Poole.  Topics cover basic information on aquatic life and introduce participants to the Aquatic Project Wild K-12 Educator Guide, which includes hands-on activities that focus on aquatic wildlife and natural resources.  

A certificate of completion for 10 contact  hours  will be issued after the participant completes the entire training session including an out-of-class assignment.  Participants will receive an Aquatic Project WILD Educator Guide and  supplemental   materials.  If weather permits, there will be a trip to a local stream, so please dress accordingly. If you have waders, bring them along. If you have questions, contact Bob Byrd at 828.418.0011, ext. 23, bbyrd@wresa.org or Tina Joyner , ext. 19, tjoyner@wresa.org .   Class limited to 25 participants. 

Registration Fee: $0     Registration Deadline: April 13, 2009       

Mentors will gain knowledge and training in the new teacher evaluation standards and instrument.  Mentors will develop sample indicators for the standards and methods to support beginning teachers during the transition to the new instrument.

Registration Fee: $35     Registration Deadline: April 13, 2009      

Participants must attend all three sessions plus complete the equivalent of one-day out of class work assignment to receive credit.  The presenters will be Bob Byrd , School Improvement Specialist, and Karen Sumner , Teacher On Loan. Class limited to 25 participants. 

Registration Fee: $50     Registration Deadline: April 27, 2009      

Ag in the Classroom is an educational program designed to provide teachers with quality materials to teach students, through North Carolina competency-based lessons, about the sources of their food and fiber, and the importance of agriculture to the economy. Ag in the Classroom, sponsored by the North Carolina Farm Bureau, is dedicated to fostering a better understanding of the importance of agriculture in North Carolina . Carol Bennett, WRESA Elementary Education Coordinator and NC Farm Bureau Ag in the Classroom Ambassador will lead this session. 

With the current focus in North Carolina on reading and writing across the content areas, this workshop is a source for teachers to receive high quality instruction to better prepare their students. The basic focus of the workshop will be to demonstrate ways teachers can build inexpensive, hands-on, integrated lessons highlighting reading, writing, math, science, social studies, health, etc. Agriculture will be the connecting theme. Books that accurately portray the agricultural industry in North Carolina and the United States will be used to provide innovative strategies for teaching required reading and science concepts. The training will provide teachers with curriculum and teaching materials designed to integrate and supplement the existing classroom curricula. All lessons and activities are designed to support student competencies as prescribed by the North Carolina Standard Course of Study.

Registration Fee: $35     Registration Deadline: April 20, 2009       

"How would you like having free technology brought to your classroom when you requested it?  How would you like having your students engaged and excited about their science and math lessons?  How would you like free resources and labs to use in your classroom?  All this can be yours and more with a day of training courtesy of The Science House of NC State University. Come join us, April 30th 8:30-3:00.  We will use laptop computers, LabPros, LabQuests and various probes to explore science and math concepts.  After the day's training session, you will be certified to partner with The Science House.  This means a class set of the equipment can be brought to your school for a week at a time for your students to use! 

If you have questions contact April Spencer 828 418 0011 ext 20 or aspencer@wresa.org

TPRS is changing the way many teachers go about teaching a foreign language today. Through TPRS teachers are finding they can teach the language holistically without having to teach grammar rules. Grammatical accuracy is taught but not in the traditional way through verb conjugations. Language is learned by understanding messages in the target language. That means language is picked up through comprehensible input. Input is listening and reading that is understood by the learner. They ensure the class is totally comprehensible. Also it must be repetitive and interesting. They teach the class an interesting story that is invented as the teacher asks students repetitive questions. ELL teachers are also discovering the impact of TPRS as well. Come to this one day workshop with Blaine Ray himself and you will learn tricks on making your class interesting as well as how to teach accuracy to your students.

TPR Storytelling® was created by Blaine Ray in the 1990's With TPRS you can use your existing text. There is no need to spend money investing in new materials. You can learn the steps and use TPRS right away. We do need at least 25 participants, or we will not be able to provide this. Sign up soon!  Contact April Spencer at aspencer@wresa.org or 828.418.0011, ext. 20 for more information.

Registration Fee: $100     Registration Deadline: April 20, 2009