Wunches

Facilitators: Amy Ballard, Lauren Foxworth, Ph.D, Barbara McCarty, Christopher Murphy, Laura Neuman, Steven Singer, Ph.D., Sevda Sadik

Amy (she/her) is an adult educator and curriculum writer. She holds a Master of Education degree with a focus on TESOL and adult literacy. Since 2013, she has worked in homes, community-based programs, and community colleges teaching High School Equivalency (HSE) exam preparation, English for speakers of other languages, writing composition, college readiness skills, and parenting skills to support child development. Amy currently designs and facilitates training and professional development opportunities for K-12 teachers, adult education programs, and higher education institutions. She is a facilitator for PHENND’s annual Trauma-Informed Teaching cohort and co-author of “Trauma-Informed Principles for Online Teaching and Learning Spaces”. Amy is passionate about offering professional development that prioritizes practical strategies based on trauma-informed principles to help educators and staff thrive in their learning environments. 

Laura (she/they) is a writer and educator with a background in dance and somatics. Laura has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in literature and creative writing at The College of New Jersey since 2016, and previously taught creative writing and composition at Temple University, Community College of Philadelphia, and Highline Community College in Des Moines, Washington. She has published three collections of poetry, and holds a Masters of Fine Arts in Writing from Bard College and a Masters in English (Creative Writing, Poetry) from Temple University. In 2018, Laura earned a first-year certificate from The Trauma Institute for a professional training in Somatic Experiencing, a technique for working with individuals and groups with trauma.

Steve Singer, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Deaf Education at The College of New Jersey, where he has worked since 2016. After completing a master’s degree in Deaf Education at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, he was a middle school teacher and then earned a doctorate from Syracuse University in Cultural Foundations of Education and Disability Studies. His scholarship that spans deaf and disability studies is published in numerous national and international journals as well as book chapters. Being deaf and disabled himself informs his work that largely focuses on identity development and lived experience.

Dr. Lauren Foxworth is a full-time professor at The College of New Jersey and serves as Co-director of the Literacy Advancement Project at TCNJ. Dr. Foxworth earned her Ph.D. in special education from The Pennsylvania State University, where she conducted intervention research to strengthen writing quality and support self-regulation skills of students with high-incidence disabilities and struggling writers. Her work has been published in several peer-reviewed journals, including TEACHING Exceptional Children, Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, Intervention School & Clinic, Behavioral Disorders, International Journal of Research in Learning Disabilities, Reading & Writing Quarterly and Exceptionality. Dr. Foxworth is a certified special education teacher (k-12), with experience teaching students with disabilities across contents in inclusive and self-contained classroom settings in the NJ public school system.

Dr. Barbara McCarty has been teaching middle school for over 27 years, entering the profession as a 7th grade LA teacher and currently working as a middle school media specialist and adjunct professor in the Educational Technology department of New Jersey City University. With a focus on encouraging teachers to become effective curators and creators of digital content, Dr. McCarty not only provides ed. tech support and PD for the staff in her school, but she also collaborates with a variety of educational professionals presenting at state, national and international conferences like AMLE, NJASL, PETE&C and ISTE. Dr. McCarty has also been a faculty member of the 2021 Association of Middle Level Education’s Institute for Middle Level Leadership and a Mentor at the Smithsonian’s 2023 Diversity in STEM Education Summit. Because of her active contributions to her students and school community, Dr. McCarty has been honored by the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of New Jersey as a New Jersey Teacher of the Year as well as by Axalta and the Philadelphia Eagles as an All-Pro teacher.

Christopher “Kit” Murphy is the Associate Provost and a Professor of Biology at The College of New Jersey. He taught his first class of general-education biology over 30 years ago as a post-doctoral associate, and since then, over 95% of his teaching has been with this population. For much of this time, he has used an issues-based approach to help students become interested in science and develop into empowered citizens capable of using reliable scientific information to make reasoned decisions. He has conducted animal behavior research and now studies student perceptions of the value of college general education. For the past eight years, he has been training New Jersey teachers in the issues approach as part of the Teachers as Scholars program at TCNJ and through the NJ Science Convention.

Sevda (they/them) is Math Learning Center Coordinator at Monmouth University and has experience teaching mathematics at both the secondary and collegiate levels. They hold a master’s degree in Integrative STEM Education from The College of New Jersey and a K-12 Supervisor Certification from Monmouth University. Sevda has developed mathematics curriculum focused on building literacy, increasing confidence, and crafting cross-curricular learning experiences.

Empowering Education with AI: An Overview of the Role of AI in Student Success and Teacher Support  Wed-Oct-16-2024

Come explore the exciting, sometimes intimidating, world of generative AI and its impact on education. In this interactive session, we’ll unpack and demystify the potential and pitfalls of this groundbreaking innovation. From exploring how AI can enrich your teaching to tackling ethical concerns like academic integrity, misinformation and bias, we’ll examine how AI can support student success and save you time and effort. By the end, you’ll walk away with a deeper understanding of AI, practical assignment modifications, and a handy list of AI tools to enhance your teaching and students’ learning. For Secondary 6-12
Facilitator: Barbara McCarty

Using AI in the Classroom to Support Student Success: Tips, Tools and Tricky Topics
Wed-Nov-20-2024

Are you ready to explore how to use AI to enhance your students’ learning? This interactive session is designed to equip educators with key knowledge and tools necessary to use AI responsibly and effectively in your classroom. From understanding the principles and best practices for using AI to practical applications of curated sites, we’ll explore how AI can be harnessed to support your classroom activities, create engaging lessons and empower students to be both informed users and critical thinkers. Get ready to experiment with a variety of AI tools firsthand, both as a teacher and a student, to seamlessly integrate or address the use of AI in your teaching practices. Leave with a toolkit of ideas and techniques that will enrich your teaching and inspire your students to become innovative and ethical users of AI. Secondary 6 -12. Facilitator: Barbara McCarty

Building Students’ Research Skills: Tech Tools & Strategies for Digital Literacy  Wed-Oct-23-2024

Although some seem to believe that today’s students can inherently find and evaluate online information simply because they’ve been using technology from such an early age, research and our time in the classroom prove otherwise. We’ve watched our secondary students struggle with conducting effective searches, evaluating sources, and organizing the material that they retrieve. This session will equip teachers with technology tools and engaging lesson ideas to support students in their growth as 21st century consumers of information. Materials will focus on refining search skills, employing lateral reading for website evaluation, and implementing effective note-taking and organization strategies. Attendees will experiment with various web-based programs supporting digital literacy, from both the student and teacher side as well as gain some classroom-tested mini lesson materials ready for immediate use. Leave with actionable ideas and resources to empower your students with the necessary skills and understanding to match the comfort and confidence that they feel with the technology.
Facilitator: Barbara McCarty

Writing Instruction for Students with Significant Writing Difficulty  Fri-Nov-15-2024

Participants will gain an understanding of the most well-researched approach for bolstering writing skills among students with disabilities and writing difficulties: Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD). Strategies and materials for implementing SRSD across narrative, informational, and persuasive genres will be shared. Assessment techniques will also be shared and practiced.
Facilitator: Lauren Foxworth

Supporting LGBTQ Students in the Classroom, Today    Thursday December 5th, 2024

Facilitator: Laura Neuman
Who Should Attend: K-12 Educators or Education Professionals
In this working lunch, we will cover best practices and practical strategies for creating an inclusive and supportive environment, focusing on the intersectional needs of our LGBTQIA students. Topics covered include building an inclusive curriculum, cultural competency, creating a culture of belonging, addressing triggers and bullying, responding to censorship and book bans, including current recommendations, legal considerations and institutional partnerships, navigating our role within the culture of an institution, and how to address educator overwhelm. We’ll address basic coregulation techniques to support students during triggers and difficult moments, and how to create an atmosphere of welcome and belonging so that all students feel safe and welcome, since when we support our most vulnerable students, everyone benefits. Expect to find tools and strategies, a variety of approaches and resources offered, examples of partner organizations and resources for lessons, and some practical guides for implementing inclusion at every level of your teaching. We’ll also have time to discuss and reflect upon how the material relates to your own teaching and school, to discuss challenges and share wins.

Streamlined Teaching: Using AI to Save Time and Energy Wed-Dec-04-2024

In this session, we’ll explore how AI can change your teaching experience by automating some of your teaching tasks and enhancing efficiency. We’ll delve into what AI can realistically achieve and what it can’t, ensuring a clear understanding of its capabilities and limitations. Leave with a curated list of AI sites tailored to educators, designed to save you valuable time and effort. From grading assistance to lesson planning tools to creation of teaching materials, these resources will empower you to streamline your workflow and focus more on what matters—engaging with your students. Come prepared to test out several AI tools and gain practical skills and newfound confidence in integrating AI effectively into your own teaching practice. For all levels
Facilitator: Barbara McCarty

Creating a Classroom Culture of Feedback and Advocacy   Thursday December 12th, 2024

Co-facilitators: Amy Ballard and Laura Neuman
Who Should Attend: All Educators Welcome, K-12 Focus
No matter the age of our learners, the foundation of shared understanding in the classroom is not just knowing the expectations, but co-creating them! We do this important work through continuous feedback from the students to the teacher. We will explore how we give feedback as educators in writing and verbally, individually and in group discussion, and how to welcome that feedback from students in the big and small moments. This workshop will also cover the importance of teaching and encouraging self-advocacy amongst the learners in order to equip them with an understanding of their power and the importance of using their voice.
Making feedback and advocacy priorities in the classroom not only helps create a stronger classroom community, but also develops important communication skills for our students as they grow into adults. Participants will leave with a variety of practical strategies and tools to actively and consciously use feedback as a tool to improve classroom dynamics and outcomes.

Mindfulness Tools for the Classroom: Beginner’s Mind, Scaffolding, Reteaching and Making a Lesson Plan   Thurs Jan 9, 2025

Co-facilitators: Amy Ballard and Laura Neuman
Who Should Attend: K-12 Educators and Education Professionals
In this “lunch and learn” workshop, we will cover mindfulness and its uses in learning, introduce a variety of tools to introduce mindfulness to the classroom, and offer strategies to support student buy-in. We will then zero-in on one particular mindfulness approach, beginner’s mind, and how this can be helpful to us specifically in our lesson planning. How can educators use “beginner’s mind” to approach the crafting of our lesson plans? In a hands-on approach, we will practice building creative and strong scaffolding with presence and curiosity. While repetition can play a crucial role in learning, it can sometimes become tiresome, so we’ll discuss creative ways to build upon repetition in our lessons, and we will also practice some mindfulness techniques so that we can bring a fresh presence to familiar material. Participants will have time to discuss, apply these concepts and tools to their own teaching, and reflect, and will leave with practical tools and strategies to support mindfulness. Participants who choose to may bring along a troublesome or tiresome lesson plan, and will leave with a practical “reboot” to infuse beginner’s mind into the plan. Designed by educators, for educators!

Teaching Critical Thinking: A Trauma-Informed Approach   Friday, January 24, 2025

Facilitator: Amy Ballard
Who Should Attend: All Educators Welcome, K-12 Focus
In order to access critical thinking, learners’ nervous systems must first be regulated. In this workshop, we’ll explore some of the brain science behind critical thinking and how stress and trauma impact brain functions and regulation. Educators will learn practical techniques for regulation and also try out some hands-on exercises that can be integrated into lesson plans. We will explore the scaffolded steps that the brain needs to access critical thinking abilities and use that as a guide to create concrete strategies into lesson plans to help all learners participate in higher-level learning and reasoning in the classroom. Considerations for neurodivergence and executive functioning will be integrated into the conversation. There will be time for participants to apply these ideas to their own students and classroom experiences.

Progress Monitoring and Data-Based Decision Making in Reading and Math K-8, Friday, January 24, 2025

Facilitator: Dr. Lauren Foxworth
This workshop will assist teachers and/or school personnel in utilizing basic skills benchmark data to determine who may benefit from progress monitoring between benchmarks. Additionally, teachers will learn to find, implement, and score progress monitoring assessments and to create graphic representations of student data. Creating graphic representations of student progress can improve collaboration and communication among teachers, other school personnel, and families and can guide decisions regarding the effectiveness of instruction, leading to increased student success. Learning Outcomes:
• Discuss methods for monitoring progress over time in reading and mathematics
• Create graphic representations of progress to enhance communication and collaboration, and to guide instruction
• Practice interpreting assessments across reading and mathematics and evaluating student response-to-intervention (RTI) • Learn to set individualized educational goals to support student success

Creating Classroom Communities that Value Disabled School Citizens  Fri-Jan-31-2025

Facilitator: Steven Singer
Citizenship is the act of participating in the society in which you live, both by following social and legal rules and by contributing toward the maintenance and revision of that society. U.S. citizens learn these processes during their school years, but disabled students’ knowledge, experiences, and contributions largely exist in the margins of the school system. This has negative implications for those students’ development and the society for which they prepare. In this workshop. participants will work through a three-step process to initiate the transformation of their classrooms into spaces where knowledge creation and citizenship are more equitable for all students. With effort and in time, these efforts may lead to large societal shifts.

We have a deaf student, so what and now what?  Fri-Feb-28-2025

Facilitator: Steven Singer
This workshop provides an overview of serving deaf students in schools where teachers and administrators may not have a great deal of experience working with this unique population of students or who wish to deepen their current understandings and practices. Foci include: a) evidence versus anecdote, b) best practices, c) variations in deaf experiences, d) collaboration with related personnel (e.g. Teachers of the Deaf or ASL interpreters), and e) fostering student relationships and identity development. Additionally, prior to the professional development, participants or program administrations submit specific questions or topics they wish to engage for which the facilitator will prepare to discuss.

Creative Writing and Reading Outside the Box  Thursday March 6th, 2025

Facilitator: Laura Neuman
Workshop is for: Middle and High School Educators
Want to offer your students more creative writing, but unsure how to fit it in with your other learning goals and curriculum? This workshop will offer varied creative writing prompts designed to engage your students’ curiosity as well as strengthen close-reading skills. We will work with experimental, contemporary, and diverse authors, and will look at model texts in a variety of forms and genres. Drawing from the work of established authors as models, we will cover individual as well as collaborative writing activities, including several that will challenge your assumptions about what it means to author a text. We will also discuss ways that prominent experimental formats, such as documentary poetry, creative nonfiction, and erasure texts, can offer unique learning opportunities when paired with your curriculum.
We will also address the various stages of the writing process, from freewriting and brainstorming to developing a draft, incorporating research, responding to feedback, revising, and “publishing” work to share with the class or community. There will be time to reflect, discuss and problem-solve around the challenges to incorporating creative activities. Exploring odd, irregular, and experimental creative writing processes and texts can be incredibly rewarding in building close reading skills as well as critical thinking. These creative prompts can be incorporated simply and effectively into the middle and high school classroom. Come ready to write, reflect, and discuss.

Reading Poems Like a Pro: Approaches that Build Community and Engage Critical Thinking  Thursday February 7th, 2025

Facilitator: Laura Neuman
Workshop is for: Middle and High School Educators
Are you intrigued by poetry but unsure how to approach it with your students? Want to incorporate more poetry into your curriculum, but not sure how to integrate it with your other goals? Not sure how to make poetry approachable or even relevant to your students? Because we all communicate almost exclusively in prose, poetry in its very nature can be confusing, frustrating, and uncomfortable to approach. For these very reasons, the process of interpreting a poem can be incredibly rewarding for young learners, as students come together as a community to put together the puzzle, try out various approaches, and think on their feet. This workshop will provide you with lots of “ways in” to reading poems: concrete approaches that can be easily tried and taught. We will also discuss the ways that reading poetry can be directly tied to other curriculum and learning goals. We will look at a wide variety of poems from various time periods and in a variety of forms, written by diverse authors, appropriate for a high-school or middle-school classroom. We will also practice writing poetry in response to model texts, and I will bring in exercises intended to sharpen our close reading skills. There will be time to discuss and reflect upon how these ideas might apply directly to your own teaching, and you will leave with approaches, activities and poems to use with your class.

Time Management for Test-Takers  Friday, March 14, 2025

Facilitator: Amy Ballard
Who Should Attend: All Educators Welcome, K-12 Focus
When tests begin, time is of the essence! Time management for tests is a skill that we can practice with our students to set them up for success. In this workshop, we’ll consider some key time-management strategies to teach students so they’re equipped to move through the content swiftly and put their hard-earned knowledge on display instead of worrying about the clock.
Participants will gain practical tools to offer students as part of the test preparations. Building from a trauma-informed lens, tools will range from nervous system regulation techniques, to evaluating test material, to accessing accommodations. Many educators today work with neurodivergent students across a variety of settings. We will offer particular tools and approaches to time management and test-taking for working with neurodivergent learners. Together, we will explore how to seamlessly integrate time management practice into lessons and practice, whether for state standardized testing or a routine test administered in the classroom.

Scientific Information Literacy Fri-Dec-13-2024

Facilitator. Christopher Murphy
We have entered an age of mis- and disinformation, and it is becoming increasingly difficult for students to identify the reliable scientific information they need. This three-hour workshop provides participants with the tools they need to help students locate, evaluate, and use
scientific information.
 The importance of science information literacy
 Reliability vs. usefulness
 Criteria of reliability
 Activities to develop science information literacy
 A strategy for self-education when encountering new issues
 Authentic assessment of information literacy

Practical Design Integration with Morphological Charts -Design Thinking and Engineering Design Process, K-12 Wed – Jan-15-2025

Integrative STEM Education is anchored in crafting cross-curricular learning experiences… so how do we do that?
See these ideas in both theory and practice! We will discuss the prominence of Design Thinking and how to engage with the Engineering Design Process across academic domains before diving in ourselves; using the Morphological Chart in a variety of contexts and adapting an assignment of your own to include its use. Bring an open mind and a project/assignment/activity that you would like to revamp!
Facilitator: Sevda Sadik