The SCCTM Fall Conference:  October 12-13, 2006

News from the Program Chair:  Susan Hall

Plans for the 2006 Fall Conference are well under way.  We will be celebrating the thirtieth year of our organization—quite an accomplishment!  We’ve grown from small meetings held on Saturdays in public school buildings to over 2,000 members statewide, with approximately 1,700 in attendance in our last conference in Greenville.  The challenge this year is for us to continue our progress . . . to stretch our talents and abilities in order to provide an even better conference this fall.  Here is a sneak preview the 2006 conference features which you will see in Myrtle Beach:

            *Technology:  Four “Smart” rooms are planned, one for each grade band: early childhood, elementary, middle, and secondary.  Teachers who regularly use these interactive white boards will be sharing their expertise and tech-savvy instructional strategies for their grade levels.  The emphasis for these sessions will be on going beyond basic user skills to implementing truly interactive lessons with students.

            *Navigating with Navigator:  Texas Instruments is equipping a session room, and we are staffing it with teachers who are ready to help the rest of us learn how to make the best use of this outstanding technological tool.

            *Gallery style workshops:  In order to increase the variety and scope of sessions available for participants at the conference, we will be utilizing some of our exhibit hall space to provide additional sessions.  We are looking for teachers to present sessions in the “make-and-take style” that would appeal to a diverse audience.  Session topics could vary from foldables and little books to origami and line designs and tessellations.  The sessions would feature a short presentation on how to create the featured item and suggested ways of using it in the classroom.  Afterwards, teachers would have the time to actually make the featured item—with assistance, as needed, from the presenter(s).  Attendance and participation would be more open and flexible than a regular session. (Stay for 15 minutes or the entire hour!)  We hope to offer a variety of topics for these gallery sessions.... with topics repeated at various times throughout the conference.  If you are comfortable with teaching in a more “open classroom” environment and would like to present a gallery session, please complete the regular speaker proposal form and note “GALLERY SESSION PROPOSAL” at the top of the form.  Presentations by a team of teachers would be ideal for the gallery.  If you have questions about gallery sessions, or an idea of a presentation which you would like to suggest, please email me at susan2003a@msn.com.   

            *Teacher Displays:  Another new feature of this year’s conference will be the opportunity for “display” presentations by teachers.  The focus of these displays will be project work or units of study by students—work that may not lend itself to being presented in a regular session.  The displays would be in a special section of the exhibit hall area so that other conference participants could study them and gain ideas for their own classes.  We are asking that teachers presenting the displays provide contact information and be willing to share their project directions and/or handouts electronically, if needed.  If you are interested in presenting a display of your students’ work, please complete and return the special proposal form on the following page.  If you have questions, please email them to me.  (Special note:  I am also looking for a committee of teachers who can help with the set up and management of the teacher displays.  Email me if you are interested in helping!)

            I hope you will consider sharing your talents and expertise to help make the 2006 conference in Myrtle Beach the best ever.  Thank you!