Buffalo State Master Teacher
Cohort Meeting, April 29, 2017
Sweet Home High School
Agenda
8:00
Morning Meetings
 Conference Planning Task Force, Main Office Conference Room
o Registration to date: Finger Lakes (15), Southern tier (6) Western (10)
o Preconference workshops & welcome dinner
o Work groups & agendas
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9:00-9:30
Review of proposals (TED- Kyle & Adam, Posters – Shelley B, Mel & Theresa
Sessions – Charlie & Denea)
Monthly to do lists (May, June, July)
Workgroups & tasks (list started below, but not complete)
 Aug 11 evening dinner & social – rsvp, description
 Registration
 Session management (room assignments  program)
 Program
 Housing
Diverse Learners PLT
Coffee, snacks and social, High School Library
Bell work:
 Read BYO STEM options
 Please REGISTER! (iPads available for you)
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RSVP for Summer conference
STEM@STATE – teacher registration with approximate number of students
attending.
June 9 RSVP
June 3 Climate Summit Guests
9:30-9:50
Announcements
9:50-10:20
Introducing 1 to 1 technology in Sweet Home HS.
John Elliott, Sarah English, Nilam Yagielski
10:30-11:10 BYO STEM Session 1
11:20-12:00 BYO STEM Session 2
12:10-12:30 Computer Science for All in Western New York
12:30
Post meetings
 Mentoring PLT
 Middle level science
BYO STEM Options
Starpoint's STEM Program, Kelly Schurr, Kristina Tomei & Melissa Hugar Room 707
This presentation will focus on the STEM Program that was developed at Starpoint. The process of creating the
program will be discussed including the proposal stages, curriculum development, instruction, assessments, future
plans (STEM: Geometry), and a reflection on lessons learned. An overview of the content from each of the
existing courses (Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Earth Science) will be provided including key concepts, design
challenges, and examples of student solutions.
Schoology Chat! Sarah English
Room 712
Come talk to other MT's interested or presently using Schoology in their classrooms. The focus of this session will
be discussing ways to productively use Schoology with your students and some of the apps that integrate with this
Learning Management System software.
Does “One Size Fit All” in assessment? Kurt Minervino
Room 702
Students with diverse ability levels and backgrounds are expected to perform similarly on high-stakes
assessments. These same assessments can limit access to post-secondary institutions, grants, scholarships, and
promotion at work or school. This discussion will focus on standardized, high-stakes testing and embedded
fairness and bias in test items. Special focus will be given to the NYS Regents exam for the Living Environment
from June 2015. Participants will have the opportunity to share concerns related to testing fairness and bias. The
psychometric behavior of dichotomously scored test items from the June 2015 Living Environment exam will be
examined and discussed.
NOAA Great Lakes Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) Program: Our
Living Watershed Tony Schabloski
Room 608
Come learn about the Our Living Watershed project. In this project a rural student population (Cattaraugus-Little
Valley School) and an urban student population (Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts ) are preparing
to conduct parallel studies focused on their own respective watershed environments and they also have
opportunities to constructively engage with one another and to share comparative data and observations during the
project life span. Participating students from each school will be conducting field studies of their rural and urban
watershed environments: gathering quantitative and qualitative data, and reflecting on what appears to be the same
and what is observably different within the parallel ecosystems. From these two concurrent investigations, they
will generate action plans and remedial activities appropriate to each.
Content for Teachers: Instructors Academy Dave Henry and special guests
(Session 1 only)
Room 604
This summer, Dave Henry will be leading an academy where master teachers will be invited to study and practice
the art of teaching teachers content. In this way we are developing a particular strand of STEM Teacher Leaders.
Particularly, we will be observing and participating in the instruction of P-8 teachers in science and math content
minicourses. Come learn more about the lessons learned from past minicourses about the best practices in
working with teachers who are learning science and math content in a constructivist environment.
AIMS: Assessing Instruction in Mathematics and Science (using the TRU framework
dimensions) Dave Wilson
(Session 2 only)
Room 604
This session will provide a forum to share your thoughts on three of the dimensions of the Teaching for Robust
Understanding framework proposed by Alan Shoenfeld (2014). The Cognitive Demand, Agency & Ownership &
Identity, and Equitable Access dimensions of the TRU Framework emphasize engaging students in the content in
ways that allow for productive struggle – students grappling with difficult concepts and challenging problems that
allow for opportunities to develop their own understandings of important ideas and practices. Productive Struggle
allows students to be creators of meaningful and important ideas. Are these aspects of teaching and learning that
you consider fundamental to your lessons and classroom environment? Let’s share our thoughts on the centrality
of these dimensions to an environment conducive to developing “Robust Understanding."
April 29 Announcements
Miscellaneous
Welding Minicourse May 22 & 24, Williamsville South
STEM @ STATE Update & Guest registration
Climate Summit Guest sign up
Annual Appeal letters
Congratulations & celebrations
Sarah English – Named the WNY Outstanding High School Science Teacher by the Western New
York Section of the American Chemical Society
Paul Caban Penn Dixie article for The Earth Scientist – finally complete after 6 revisions!
Congratulations to the Climate Summit PLT
Cassie & Amy G-D for their future ConnecTED talks!
Upcoming Cohort Meetings & Events
 June 9 PLT Posters & Celebration. Josephine will be here to congratulate those Master Teacher
who have completed 4 year.
 Next year cohort meetings
o Please let us know if you have a location idea for us
o Please let us know if you have good ideas for speakers or guests
Our Summer Conference, Aug 12
 Pre & Post Conference Workshops are all set! There will also be a Friday welcome dinner at
Buffalo State. Please plan on attending if you can to welcome our guests.
 There are only 7 proposals submitted (state wide) for the summer conferences. Reminder that the
deadline May 5. (Reminder that all you need is a title and a very brief description. Should take
no more than 15 minutes.) Here is the link to the submission form.
 Our hope is that we will have at least 100 WNY Master Teachers participating!
PLTs
 PLT posters are coming along! Please let us know if your PLT is doing something other than a
poster. All PLTs will be reflect on the year’s work and put together a representative display for the
June 9 cohort meeting.
Summer Calendar
 June 3
Climate Summit
 June 9
MT cohort meeting and celebration, PLT posters
 June 10 MT Interviews
 June 17 Making Mathematics Engaging Conference
 July 10-13 Math landscapes and p-8 science minicourses AND math/science Instructor Academy.
 July 24-27 Writing Retreat
 Aug 8
Master Teacher Conference at SUNY Purchase (Westchester)
 Aug 14-16 Accelerating Physics
 Aug 15-16 Better Conversations with Jim Knight
 Aug 18 Master Teacher Conference at Albany
Pre-Conference Workshops
Penn Dixie: Bring Technology to Teaching in the Field, Dr. Don Duggan-Haas
Penn Dixie Fossil Park and Nature Reserve, Friday August 11, 12:00-3:00
This two-part workshop provides an introduction to creating Virtual Fieldwork Experiences (VFEs) and offers more
general strategies and resources for teaching in the field. Fieldwork is an essential part of scientific work in the
Earth and environmental sciences, but is challenging to manage in the K-12 setting and is often not included in
teacher preparation programs. Constantly improving technologies offer ways to bring the field into the classroom,
and offer simpler and simpler ways to engage teachers and students in the creation and sharing of VFEs. The
workshop will begin with an hour-long video-conference introduction to both VFEs and some technologies for
creating them followed by three hours of work in the field (at the Penn Dixie Fossil Park and Nature Reserve). By
the close of the workshop, participants will have familiarity with a set of questions that can be used to drive
productive inquiry of any landscape, how to capture and share 360 degree panoramas, using 3D printing to make
models of actual landscapes, and more.
Modeling a Breakout Session! Adam Bellow (Conference Keynote Speaker)
Each session will be capped at 20 participants. There will be three identical sessions.
Session I: 1:00-2:00; Session II: 2:15-3:15; Session III: 3:30-4:30
Adam Bellow is a passionate educator who is out to change the world. Adam has been a teacher, technology
trainer, tech director, and has created some popular social tools for educators and students. He is one of today’s
leading speakers on educational technology and infusing technology to aid school reformation. He is the founder of
education resources eduTecher and eduClipper, and has recently been appointed CEO of Breakout Edu.
Moog Inc. Visit
Friday August 11, 2017, 12:00-4:00
This workshop will be capped at 20 participants and registration will close July 26th.
We will be offering a visit to the Space and Defense Group at Moog Inc. in East Aurora, NY as one of our preconference workshops. This visit will begin approximately at noon with a lunch and overview of Moog, followed by
a tour of the Space and Defense Group's facilities, and conclude with a QA session around 4 pm. To access more
information about the two sectors, click on the following links: Space and Defense.
The 2017 Great American Eclipse -- Be Prepared!
Friday August 11, 2017, 1:00-4:00
Whitworth Ferguson Planetarium, Buckham Hall D-wing
Dr. Kevin Williams, SUNY Buffalo State
This workshop will prepare teachers for making their own observations during the solar eclipse on August 21. Dr.
Williams will give an extensive description of the mechanics of eclipses using the planetarium and hands-on
activities. Teachers will learn safe viewing techniques and examples of models to help explain eclipse geometry.
The 2024 Total Solar Eclipse will also be discussed.
Outdoor Science and Foldscopes, Tifft Nature Preserve (Tifft.org)
Friday August 11, 2017, 12:00-4:00
This workshop will combine an introduction to Foldscopes and a workshop in place-based outdoor
learning. Foldscope is a low-cost paper microscope for education purposes. Activities will include: an introduce to
Foldscope construction, practice using prepared slides, making your own slides, capturing images using cell
phones, making video and projection. Teachers are encouraged to bring samples to look at and a smart phone
with a camera. This workshop will model instructional techniques and pedagogy for teaching science in outdoor
settings. From the fundamentals, such as organizing lessons, to the specific nuances, the many facets of
successful learning in nature will be covered. Participants will explore, create, and analyze their discoveries in a
natural setting within Buffalo city limits.
Post-Conference Workshops
The History and Geology of the Niagara Gorge
Sunday, August 13
9:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Starting location: 101 N. Water St, Lewiston, NY (maps will be provided)
Dr. Kevin Williams, SUNY Buffalo State
Dr. Williams will lead a guided tour with analysis of the geological features of the Falls and the Gorge. Teachers
will learn about the geologic history that led to the formation of the falls as we know them today. Field trip stops
along the Gorge represent the southward migration of Niagara Falls over the last 12,000 years and include
ArtPark, Devil's Hole State Park, Whirlpool State Park, and Niagara Falls State Park. A visit to the Niagara Power
Authority Visitor Center will tie the power of the Niagara River to electricity generation. Teachers will have free
time after the end of the trip to explore Niagara Falls State Park. Mild hiking required. Carpooling highly
recommended.