Best Practices Conference
July 20 & 21 in Natchez, Mississippi
Natchez Convention Center | 8:30-6:00 Tuesday | 8:30-3:30 Wednesday
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Session Detail
10:45 Concurrent Sessions:
JBHM Training: Effective Use of ILeRT™ (Offered Twice)
Audience: JBHM Consultants Only
Presented by: Leroy Callahan and Dana Lyle
Overview: Join us for a hands-on interactive session that will guide participants through a process
designed to develop and enhance instructional leadership. We will identify the appropriate
ILeRT™ tool for gathering classroom data and improve instructional practices.
Download PowerPoint presentation (pdf)
Download handout 1 (pdf)
Download handout 2 (pdf)
JBHM Training: Not My Job! SPED 101 - What to Look For (Offered Twice)
Audience: JBHM Consultants Only
Presented by: Debbie Patterson and Pam Zeringue
Overview: Let’s take a bird’s eye view of ways to guarantee an essential curriculum and manage
academic learning time for students with disabilities. Leave with the tools that provide a
focus on key issues to “look for” in special education and inclusive classrooms.
Download PowerPoint presentation (pdf)
Download handout (pdf)
Where (and How) Do We Go from Here? (Offered Twice) (PCCCL)
Audience: Administrators
Presented by: Joey Henderson and Richard McNeel
Overview: Having a strategy to maximize your district's resources is key to providing the best
learning environment possible. We’ll address the impact of facility studies in determining
your district’s growth potential; planning to renovate, repair or replace existing
facilities; goal setting; financing methods; and whether your space needs are impacting
student performance.
Challenges and Rewards of Technology Integration (MALT, PPP)
Audience: Teachers
Presented by: Joan Robbins and Carol Wright
Overview: Participants will explore some of the latest gadgets and resources available for
classroom use: the Elmo, Flip video camera, digital photography, graphing calculators,
Cyber Channel, and Promethean Planet.
Download handout (pdf)
Extended Day Programs in Middle School (MALT, MSA)
Audience: Administrators
Presented by: Kimberly Lockley (St. Mary Parish) with Jim Dukes
Overview: How do you provide additional support to struggling students? Learn how one district
designed interventions through additional time on task to middle school students.
Living the Nightmare - AYP for IEPs (Offered Twice) (MSA)
Audience: Administrators
Presented by: Debra Bertucci and Pamela Zeringue
Overview: Every school district is faced with the challenge of bridging the achievement gap so
that the IEP subgroup will meet AYP requirements. This session will offer some
solutions to this all-too-familiar nightmare.
Download PowerPoint presentation (pdf)
Download handout (pdf)
Pulling the Weeds and Understanding Engagement for Leaders
Audience: Administrators
Presented by: Ginger Merritt with Richard Alwood
Overview: Do you ever ask yourself what it takes to be an instructional leader in an evolving
school building? Using ideas from Dr. Reeves’ book Leading Change in Your School,
we will explore how principals can use the Five Essential Practices to ensure long-term
transformation for school improvement.
Download PowerPoint presentation (pdf)
Achieving Equity as We Address Diverse Needs (PCCCL)
Audience: Administrators and Teachers
Presented by: Lecretia Buckley with Loretta Epps
Overview: Diversity, equality, and equity - what do these words mean? Let's examine how to
identify diverse needs as well as pedagogical practices and policies that honor diversity
and promote high expectations and learning outcomes for all students.
Download PowerPoint presentation (pdf)
Download handout (pdf)
No TEACHER Left Behind - Increase Reading Scores on State Mandated Tests (MALT, PPP)
Audience: Administrators and Teachers
Presented by: Janet Eidson with Margaret Kendrick
Overview: Every teacher must get on board and use correct testing vocabulary and common
teaching strategies to promote success on state tests. No teacher should be left behind
when the mandate is to leave no child behind! Literacy across the curriculum is key!
Download PowerPoint presentation (pdf)
Download handout 1 (pdf)
Download handout 2 (pdf)
Connect to Content Through Coaching (All)
Audience: Administrators and Teachers
Presented by: Neelie Dobbins and Pam Warrick
Overview: How can coaching teachers help make the connection to content? Gain an awareness
of the three commitments to coaching development: communication skills, self-efficacy,
and teacher performance for student achievement. Make the coaching connections to
journaling, communication, conference, and parental involvement strategies.
Download PowerPoint presentation (pdf)
Download handout (pdf)
1:15 Concurrent Sessions:
JBHM Training: Resource Guides - A Roadmap to Achievement (Offered Twice)
Audience: JBHM Consultants Only
Presented by: Sylvia Adcock and John Patrick
Overview: Join us as we share the latest version of the JBHM Resource Guides and discuss ways
to use them effectively as a roadmap for planning, teaching, and assessing to higher
levels of achievement for all students. You will receive a sample and instructions for
downloading more materials.
Download PowerPoint presentation (pdf)
Successful Schools Panel
Audience: Administrators and Teachers
Moderated by: Earl Walton with Steve Garrison, Searcy School District, Ahlf JH, AR; Fredrick Wiltz
St. Martin Parish, St. Martinville JH, LA; Joe Nelson, Pass Christian, MS; Rhett Ladner,
Hancock Co High School, MS; Haleigh Cuevas, Hancock Co Middle School, MS;
Overview: What have you always wanted to ask but never had the chance? Here is your
opportunity! Come hear why principals from successful schools in Arkansas, Louisiana,
and Mississippi believe the project worked for them and their role leading change in
their respective schools.
Where (and How) Do We Go from Here? (Offered Twice) (PCCCL)
Audience: Administrators
Presented by: Joey Henderson and Richard McNeel
Overview: Having a strategy to maximize your district's resources is key to providing the best
learning environment possible. We’ll address the impact of facility studies in determining
your district’s growth potential; planning to renovate, repair or replace existing
facilities; goal setting; financing methods; and whether your space needs are impacting
student performance.
Maximizing Academic Learning Time: An Administrative Focus (MALT)
Audience: Administrators
Presented by: Ougrett Brumfield (Wilkinson County School District, MS) with John Alderman and
Stanley Blackmon
Overview: What issues do administrators face in the school improvement process? What can
principals learn from recent research and “best practices” materials? Designed by and
for principals working to improve student achievement in the high school, this session
will include the impact of state and national standards, discuss varied approaches to
teaching and learning in high schools, show new curricula in use, and compare
effective models of professional development for teachers and principals.
Download PowerPoint presentation (pdf)
Response to Intervention: The Basics (Offered Twice) (All)
Audience: Administrators and Teachers
Presented by: Susan Deen (Covington County School District, MS) with Diana Rotenberry
Overview: Principals, do you ever wonder exactly what role you play in basic instructional
intervention? Join this discussion of the critical role of the principal in ensuring
interventions meet integrity standards. Learn the importance of a focused use of data to
develop appropriate interventions and monitor progress.
Download PowerPoint presentation (pdf)
Let's Start at the Very Beginning (GEC, PCCCL)
Audience: Administrators and Teachers
Presented by: Sylvia Lockett (St. Mary Parish Schools, LA) with Joan Gossett and Debbie Landry
Overview: Rigor and accountability aren’t just for tested grades any more. Join us as we explore
the sights, sounds, and practices of effective Pre-K through second grade classrooms
that will ensure young learners a solid foundation of skills, strategies, concepts, and
processes at developmentally appropriate levels. Bring your ideas and don’t forget to
grab a prize as your ticket out the door!
Download PowerPoint presentation (pdf)
Download handout 1 (pdf)
Download handout 2 (pdf)
AA: A Different 12-Step Procedure (GEC, MSA)
Audience: Teachers
Presented by: Renee Dilorenzo (Ocean Springs School District, MS) with Kimberly Reedy
Overview: Join us in learning the essential 12 steps in “Aligning Assessments” to state
expectations. Whether you are creating assessments for the classroom or writing
district-wide assessments, this session will increase your understanding of the essential
curriculum for your state and expand your ability to monitor student achievement more
effectively.
Download handout (pdf)
Building Academic Vocabulary for Test Success (GEC)
Audience: Administrators and Teachers
Presented by: Deborah Elmore and Judy Manning with Terrance Mixon (Mobile Public Schools, AL)
Overview: What is the importance of daily explicit instruction on academic vocabulary across the
curriculum? Participants will leave with tools and strategies for strengthening student
learning through the use of vocabulary building activities with essential vocabulary,
word walls, and power words related to state and standardized testing.
Download PowerPoint presentation (pdf)
Download handout 1 (pdf)
Download handout 2 (pdf)
IT TAKES 2: Using Paraprofessionals Effectively (MALT, GEC)
Audience: Administrators and Teachers
Presented by: Debra Bertucci and Loretta Epps
Overview: One person can do a lot, but two can do even more. Join our session to learn how to
work with paraprofessionals to assist, support, and work closely with teachers,
administrators, and other team members in providing educational benefit for students.
Download PowerPoint presentation (pdf)
Download handout (pdf)
“Write On!” How to Leverage Technology to Increase the Frequency of Student
Writing (MALT)
Audience: Administrators and Teachers
Presented by: Brad Blymier, Vantage Learning, with Tricia Bridges
Overview: With MY Access!, students are motivated to write more and attain higher scores on
statewide writing assessments. By using MYAccess! in the classroom, teachers can
provide students with the practice they need to improve their writing skills.