Fall Conference Agenda

We're just four days away from the VaTOPSS Fall Conference.  The registration deadline has passed, but there is plenty of physical space for anyone to come, and most likely there will be enough food for additional participants if you'd like to come.

If you have a laptop or tablet device, it would be useful to have for a few of our sessions. Also, if you're not on the agenda, I've built in time for teachers to share ideas and resources with each other, so if you have an activity or two you'd like to share please bring it in.

Please let me know if you have any questions between now and Monday. (sturner@k12albemarle.org).

Here's the agenda for the day.

VaTOPSS Fall Conference Monday, November 10, 2014 Monticello High School Charlottesville,VA
10:00-11:10	Dan Willingham: “What Every Educator and Student Should Know About Human Memory”
11:10-11:30	Break
11:30- 12:00	Introductions
12:00-1:00	Lunch and Table Talk
1:00-2:00	Kevin Denson: “Using Socrative in the Classroom” Lani Hoza: “Psychology Research and Applications”
2:10-2:50	Gail Marney: “Virtual Virginia: Psychology” Teresa Muse: “Brain Awareness Activities”
2:50-3:20	Open Sharing and Other Ideas
3:20-3:40	Closing Remarks and Next Steps

2014 Fall Conference Updates

The 2014 Fall VaTOPSS Conference is less than two weeks away! If you haven't registered yet, please be sure to do so by Friday, October 31. You are welcome to register after that date, but in order to receive lunch and other materials, you must be registered by the deadline.

A final agenda will be posted next week, but the conference will officially start at 10am, and our featured speaker Dan Willingham will be our first presentation of the day. The conference will run until about 3:45 in the afternoon.

Once again, the conference is at Monticello High School in Charlottesville, VA. Click the high school name for directions. Certificates of attendance will be provided which along with a copy of the days agenda should be sufficient if you wish to receive professional development credit from your district.

Several teachers plan to share ideas and lessons with us for the day, but we will also have some time built in for informal sharing with each other, so if you have a lesson or idea that others may benefit from, bring it with you. Also, bring a laptop or other device if you have it in order to fully participate in some of our presentations.

If you have any questions, email sturner@k12albemarle.org.

2014 Fall Conference

Mark your calendars for Monday, November 10 for our second VaTOPSS conference. This conference will bring Psychology teachers from across Virginia together to share ideas and resources for teaching high school Psychology in the commonwealth. The fall conference will feature Daniel Willingham, professor of Cognitive Psychology at the University of Virginia and author of "Why Students Don't Like School" and "When Can You Trust the Experts".

Once again, the conference will be held at Monticello High School in Charlottesville, Virginia. There is no cost to attend the conference thanks to a grant from the APF, but pre-registration is required to receive conference materials and lunch.

The conference hours, agenda, and other details will be posted as available on this site and e-mailed to everyone registered for the conference.

2014 Fall Conference Registration Form

If you're unable to attend the conference, consider submitting your contact information on the "VaTOPSS Information List" form to stay updated on VaTOPSS activity.

March Conference Wrap Up

It's been almost three months since our first VaTOPSS conference so I'm a little delayed with the promised recap. In addition to finishing up the school year, I just returned from the AP Reading for AP Psychology in Kansas City last week. If you're an AP teacher I highly recommend that you apply to become a reader. It is hard work and a large commitment of time, but the benefits certainly outweigh the difficulty.

Of course, our initial conference date of March 3 was preempted due to snow. We still had about a dozen teachers and our featured presenters able to attend the rescheduled date on March 24.

After introductions in the morning, our first session was led by Dr. James Freeman. Dr. Freeman spoke about his involvement with TOPSS and the College Board. He shared some of the resources available through these organizations for both new and experienced teachers of Psychology. I knew that Dr. Freeman had played a role in strengthening instruction in high school Psychology courses, but only last week in Kansas City did I realize that "he's kind of a big deal."

In Kansas, there was a presentation by Randall Ernst in which he detailed the history of AP Psychology beginning in the early 1990's. Dr. Freeman was there from the very beginning. Sitting through the presentation I felt a bit proud that he was able to also be a part of the first VaTOPSS.

Our session after lunch started with Dr. Fred Smyth. Dr. Smyth's presentation focused on bias and implicit associations. While his presentation focused on this topic, we also had an opportunity to discuss other topics such as application of scientific method in the classroom and what expectations college professors of psychology have of students entering their classes. In addition to his work with Project Implicit, Dr. Smyth teaches the Psychology 101 course at the University of Virginia.

We finished the day with a more informal sharing of ideas and lessons that have worked in our own classrooms. Topics on perception, nervous system, mental health, and others were shared by classroom teachers. I've already incorporated one of the activities into my classroom this year.

VaTOPSS has received a second year of funding through the American Psychological Foundation. I'm hoping to schedule our second conference in late October/early November this year. Currently, Dan Willingham has agreed to present to our group. If you're not familiar with him, I suggest you check out his website. He is a cognitive psychologist who has focused much of his work on student learning in the educational environment.

I'll update soon when a date is confirmed. In the meantime, start thinking about what you'd like to share at the VaTOPSS fall conference 2014, and feel free to contact me if you have any questions or suggestions.

Here are a few other opportunities that you might be interested in coming up:

APA Pre-Convention Workshop for Teachers of Introductory Psychology : August 6 in D.C.

APA Annual Convention: August 8-10. Special rate of $95 for TOPSS members with several special sessions of TOPSS invited speakers.

NCSS National Convention November 21-23 in Boston. Thanks to the NCSS Psychology Community there are numerous Psychology related sessions to attend.

2014 Conference Feedback

If you were able to attend the 2014 Spring Conference, please take a minute to complete the evaluation found at the link below:

2014 VaTOPSS Spring Conference Evaluation

Final Details for March 24

The rescheduled VaTOPSS Conference is on for this Monday. All details from the original conference are the same except for a slightly altered agenda for the day. Those details are available in this previous post. I've copied the revised agenda below. I look forward to seeing you on Monday.

10:30-11:00	Meet and Greet Welcome Introductions	Steven Turner, Albemarle HS
11:00-12:00	Resources and Suggestions for Teaching Introductory Psychology	Dr. James Freeman, Department of Psychology-UVa
12:00-12:15	Break
12:15-1:00	Lunch	catered by Sticks Kebab Shop
1:00-2:15	Teaching about Implicit Bias: Science and Math Gender Stereotyping as Case-Study	Dr. Fred Smyth, Department of Psychology-UVa
2:15-2:30	Break
2:30-3:30	Ten-Minute Takeaways	Sam Oh- Loudon Valley Lisa Kopacz- Frank W. Cox John Montez Matthew Martin- Virtual VA Joe Haberman
3:30-3:40	Break
3:40-4:10	Table Talk Door Prizes Evaluation and Next Steps	Steven Turner

VaTOPSS Spring Conference Rescheduled for March 24

The details have been confirmed and we are going to hold the 2014 Spring Conference on Monday, March 24. Details from the original date are largely the same. The conference will be at Monticello High School in Charlottesville, VA and run from 10:30 am until around 5:00 pm.

If you were not able to register for March 3, but the new date works out for you, registration is open until Monday, March 17. Scroll through previous posts for more information on the conference, and check out the Spring conference tab above for specific conference details.

2014 Spring Conference Registration

Spring Conference Postponed

Perhaps we were a bit premature in calling this the "spring" conference. It seems that mother nature has called us on this misnomer by reminding us that spring is still over two weeks away. Because of unsafe travel and school closings due to winter weather, we must postpone our spring conference to... well, Spring.

If all goes according to plan, we will reschedule the conference for Monday, March 24. I'm hoping to keep all of the details as similar to the original conference as possible.  All registered attendees will receive an e-mail update later in the week and a new registration window will open for others who may be able to attend with the new date.

As always, check the blog for updates, and use the "subscribe by e-mail" widget in the right sidebar to receive updates whenever the blog is updated.

Thank you for your patience and I'm sorry for the inconvenience.

One Week Left

I'm looking forward to next week's conference. Again, if you've missed the preregistration and want to join, you are welcome, but you won't get the resource packet or lunch. Speaking of lunch, if you're not one for surprises, our lunch on March 3 will come from Sticks Kebab Shop in Charlottesville. On the menu we have chicken, steak, or pork skewers, sides of basamati rice, hummus and pita bread, basamati rice, house salad, and grilled veggie salad.

Conference attendees should park in spaces assigned for staff parking, not visitor parking (these spaces are limited and reserved for short-term guests), but, please do not park in any numbered space as these are reserved. Enter through the main entrance of the school and the Forum is directly in front of the entrance.

The phone number for Monticello High School is (434)244-3100 if you have any problems the morning of the conference.

The agenda for the day is as follows:

10:30-11:00	Meet and Greet Welcome Introductions	Steven Turner, Albemarle HS
11:00-12:00	Resources and Suggestions for Teaching Introductory Psychology	Dr. James Freeman, Department of Psychology-UVa
12:00-12:15	Break
12:15-1:15	Lunch	catered by Sticks Kebab Shop
1:15-2:30	Teaching about Implicit Bias: Science and Math Gender Stereotyping as Case-Study	Dr. Fred Smyth, Department of Psychology-UVa
2:30-2:45	Break
2:45-3:45	Ten-Minute Takeaways	Sam Oh- Loudon Valley Belinda Miner and Lisa Kopacz- Frank W. Cox John Montez Jennifer Evans- Fredericksbury Academy Matthew Martin- Virtual VA
3:45-4:15	Using Socrative for Formative Assessment in Psychology	Kevin Denson- First Colonial HS
4:15-4:25	Break
4:25-5:00	Table Talk Door Prizes Evaluation and Next Steps	Steven Turner

Miss the Deadline for Conference Registration?

We want to provide everyone who wants to attend the Spring VaTOPSS conference a chance, but the registration deadline was yesterday. This deadline was set in order to provide enough time to make arrangements for food and resources for attendees.

If you missed the deadline, we do have enough space in our venue to accommodate any one else who would like to come, but unfortunately we won't be able to provide lunch, handouts, or resources to those who haven't pre-registered. If you still want to come, we'll have a seat for you if you show up, but if possible, please complete the online registration form so that we know that you are coming.

Currently we have over twenty people registered from all parts of the state. We're looking forward to meeting everyone and learning together. A confirmation e-mail with final details will be sent to all attendees in the coming weeks.

Registration Deadline Extended for Spring Conference

January was an interesting month for Virginia weather. Because so many teachers have experienced snow days, delays, and weather related disruptions in their regular schedules, we've extended the conference registration deadline by one week to Monday, February 10. Click the Spring Conference tab above for details and registration information.

We currently have over twenty participants, but want to make sure that as many psych teachers in the Commonwealth as possible are able to participate in this unique professional opportunity. For those who aren't certain, you can still attend if you can't respond by the deadline, but we won't be able to provide lunch or other materials for you at the conference.

We look forward to this gathering. Everyone who has registered will receive an e-mail confirmation and details for the conference such as agenda and lunch menu in the week prior to the event.

Conference Additions and Update

The VaTOPSS Spring conference is less than two months away. If you haven't registered yet, please fill-out and submit the Conference Registration Form to reserve your spot at the conference by Monday, February 3  February 10 so that we can appropriately plan for space and food.

More information about the conference can be found in the previous post or under the "Spring Conference" tab at the top of the page.

Wiley Publishers, Cengage Learning, and Worth Publishers have provided several door prizes for the event and we will also give away one free lifetime membership to the NCSS Psychology Community.

In addition, the conference features two excellent keynote speakers, catered lunch, and the opportunity to meet and share with other High School Psychology teachers in Virginia.

UPDATE

A location for the conference has been determined. Monticello High School will be our host. We will meet in their Forum, located just through the main entrance of the building.



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