Students who can read effectively and efficiently have a door-opening skill: an ability to decode, understand and successfully interact with information in a host of subject areas, and an opportunity to be a successful learner. Because the focus of this course is to learn and apply specific coaching strategies in the teaching of reading, the course will not address every aspect of reading instruction, nor is it intended as a course on a particular methodology of reading instruction. However, when you are referencing a particular methodology of reading instruction, you will be asked to tie it to your state standards for the grade you are teaching.  Effective coaching strategies are paired with intentional best practice in reading in an effort to grow both kinds of skills. The methods of coaching intentional best practice in reading will help every teacher to be more effective and intentional in the teaching of reading and will provide a methodology to support any and all specific reading programs.

Course Objectives:

• Understand the elements of a positive coaching relationship


• Establish operating principles and plan for an effective coaching experience


• Understand best practice in each of the seven components of successful reading: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, writing about the reading, and reading in content area skills


• Understand how enduring understanding, student engagement, student outcomes, and teacher behaviors that cause learning to happen are foundational to every subject and to the coaching interaction


• Design and use essential questions in reading instruction and in coaching


• Use the Foundational Four in lesson planning and design


• Understand four components of reading instruction to plan for in every class, especially content area instruction: reading with and to students, vocabulary/decoding, comprehension, and writing about the reading


• Differentiate instruction based upon enduring understanding, while varying difficulty and complexity of content that is read


• Choose effective methods for data collection and analysis


• Observe effective coaching methods and practices


• Identify effective communication structures and those that detract from a positive coaching experience


• Construct effective reading lessons based upon research-based practice in reading


• Observe one another and conduct coaching conferences and feedback analysis


• Distinguish between effective and ineffective lessons/instructional episode/practices


• Learn how to assess text fit and to differentiate instruction using appropriate resources and identified, common standards


• Differentiate comprehension questions, understanding that for some students literal questions are more difficult than inferential


• Understand the different reading demands of specific subject areas and design lessons to assist reading in content areas, with special emphasis upon reading rate


• Design a building-wide coaching and collaboration process for increasing student reading achievement


• Observe and conduct an effective data-driven coaching conference

Methods of Instruction:

A variety of strategies are employed in this course:

• Content presented for participants to read online—the formal instruction


• Video clips of lessons, coaching, feedback sessions


• Specific and varied learning activities to practice skills and strategies


• Analyses of lessons by video and script


• Specific practice with data collection and feedback processes


• Online forum for participants to post answers to questions, lesson analysis, responses to feedback sessions and receive specific feedback against identified standards


• Application settings to be completed in workplace settings and summarized in forum for specific feedback


• Activities, quizzes, and feedback with each course module so skills are practiced at high enough levels of understanding so that they can be applied throughout the course

Participant Learning Outcomes:

Upon completing this course the participant will be able to:

• establish operating principles and plan for an effective coaching experience;


• analyze effective and ineffective communication structures;


• conduct an effective data-driven coaching conference.


• choose and use effective methods for data collection and analysis;

• design and use essential questions in reading instruction and in coaching;


• demonstrate the four components of reading instruction to plan for in every class, especially content area instruction: reading with and to students.


• use best practices in phonemic awareness;


• demonstrate how enduring understanding, student engagement, student outcomes, and teacher behaviors that cause learning to happen are foundational to every subject and to the coaching interaction;


• differentiate instruction based upon enduring understanding, while varying difficulty and complexity of content that is read;


• choose and use  effective methods for data collection and analysis;


• construct effective reading lessons based upon research-based practices in reading;


• distinguish between effective and ineffective lessons/instructional episode/practices


• use best practices in fluency;


• use best practices in phonemic awareness;


• use best practices in vocabulary use best practices in comprehension;


• use best practices in writing about the reading use best practices in reading in the content areas;


• implement the different reading demands of specific subject areas and design lessons to assist students’ abilities to read in content areas, with special emphasis upon reading rate; correspondingly brainstorm a building-wide coaching and collaboration process for increasing student reading achievement.

Texts, Readings, Instructional Resources:

Totally online- no additional textbooks required.

Student Expectations:

• Rehearse the skills and report on the results (submit to instructor).


• Complete written self-reflection exercises (submit to instructor).


• Complete all quizzes.


• Collaborate with peers using the on-line forum.


• Assignments submitted to the on-line instructor (self- reflections, results of skills practicing, creating a plan, evaluating techniques).  The course moderator/mentor will interact with the participant to ensure the participants mastery of the knowledge and skills taught in the course.  The moderator’s assessment assures the participant’s new level of expertise will enable the participant to understand and implement the new skills and strategies immediately into their personal working situation.  The combination of the all the interactive components of the courses and the one-on-one interactions with the moderator/ mentor will determine the participant’s mastery.


• Complete all aspects of the online course.

The topic of digital citizenship has presented a number of challenges across all sectors of society, but in particular it has created challenges for educators who are expected to equip learners across all grades to be responsible, caring, and contributing members – or citizens – of a world that now consists of the digital and non-digital worlds. To be prepared with recommended college and career readiness skills, students need to understand the short and long-term impacts their digital choices can have on their “real world.”

In a very real sense our students have dual-citizenship in both virtual and real-time worlds and must learn skills that simply weren’t required of learners until very recently. Educators, faced with a multi-dimensional challenge of creating a safe learning environment, preventing and intervening when bullying occurs in any form, and creating a culture for learning, are looking for ways to integrate best-practices into their classroom routines and keep the focus on learning.

In response to that need, this course provides a range of best-practice strategies for developing an integrated, inquiry-based approach to develop a classroom culture for learning and citizenship skills. The importance of supporting all students to develop emotional self-regulation and executive function skills in conjunction with citizenship skills are linked together. Overlapping efforts to create safe and supportive learning environments such as Safe and Supportive Schools, Stopbullying.gov, and New York State’s Dignity for All Students Act (DASA) are also incorporated. In addition, approaches and practices that experts do not recommend to stop bullying are identified.

Course participants will learn strategies to engage any student effectively so that 21st century learners develop critical thinking skills on such topics as: name calling online, posts that can be open to interpretation, the consequences of posting pictures, what digital aggression is and how to respond, and the importance of knowing about each learner’s digital footprint for both the short and long-term.

As districts experience both the downside (e.g. cyber-bullying) and upside of technology in school settings, it is imperative that educators find ways to implement multiple standards at the same time (e.g., curricular content, technology, and professional practice standards). Resources offered do not leave educators feeling like they’ve added “one more thing” to their instructional plate. Rather, educators are provided practical resources that increase options to connect with students in meaningful ways and strengthen the Teacher-Student relationship.

Throughout the course educators will also have opportunities to reflect on their own knowledge and skill in supporting students to acquire skills and demonstrate evidence of growth. Video segments embedded throughout the course scaffold educator reflection process, provide modeled lessons to scaffold instructional planning, and lessons that can be used with classrooms as part of anticipatory sets if the course participant chooses to do so. Additional tools for lesson planning, scaffolding student thinking, facilitating group discussions, role playing and student self-evaluation are also provided.

Course Objectives: Participants will

• Provide educators with a way to make meaningful transitions as educators in a profession inundated by change.


• Summarize the current need for an integrated approach to teaching digital citizenship that aligns with the needs of 21st century learners


• Understand the definition of key terminology such as bullying, discriminatory harassment, and cyber-bullying.


• Review current research on the role of emotions in learning and how teaching self-regulation skills can have a positive impact on classroom learning culture as well as on digital citizenship skills of individual students.


• Understand the rationale for educators engaging in bullying intervention and prevention efforts at the classroom level.


• Recognize the importance of strengthening the Teacher-Student relationship and the value this can have in building a positive classroom learning culture as well as empowering students to take action when experiencing aggression under any circumstances.


• Demonstrate skills in designing instruction that lead to a safe and supportive learning environment through an inquiry-based approach to citizenship skill instruction.


• Demonstrate evidence of understanding the role of educators when supporting students contending with the online behavior of others.


• Support implementation of instruction with reference to legal foundations pertaining to creating safe schools and protecting children from online victimization from bullying.


• Foster an increase in real-time positive learning environment by methods of prevention and instruction on empathy and compassionate actions.


• Develop routines for incorporating the 4 C’s essential for teaching digital citizenship (creativity, communication, collaboration and critical thinking) that could be integrated into all other content areas for 21st century learners.


• Articulate to students a rationale for not attempting to control other peoples’ actions and foster positive strategies that each student could realistically take in online and real-world social situations.


• Provide structured group discussions to support student understanding and demonstration of compassion toward peers.


• Develop critical thinking skills through social cause and effect scenarios so that students consider how their actions affect others and may also impact themselves


• Strategies to support students to make the connection between “virtual” (i.e., online) and “real” (i.e., off-line) identities which forms their dual citizenship.


• Strategies for supporting student ownership over learning and self-regulation while simultaneously addressing cyber-bullying engaged in by others.

Student Learning Outcomes: 

Upon completing this course the participant will be able to:

• distinguish between key terms as: online aggression, bullying, cyber-bullying and discriminatory harassment.


• expound on reasons why understanding these difference matters in general society and within a public school setting


• distinguish responses to situations where bullying, cyberbullying and discriminatory harassment may be involved based on direct observation


• outline the legal and professional mandate for responding to any situation where bullying might be involved


• locate policy and procedures that govern professional expectations per the course participant's context


• identify miss directions in bullying prevention identified by experts


• identify directions in bullying intervention recommended by experts


• recognize how advances in understanding brain and physiology of stress inform our approach to both prevention and intervening when bullying occurs


• locate and review resources useful for deepening understanding of the role of emotion during learning


• consider how 21st century learners may be negatively impacted by adverse childhood experiences (ACEs).


• identify the extent of technological change and implications for education.


• identify the skills and attributes expected of 21st century learners


• recognize the shifts to be made as an educator of 21st century learners


• engage in self-assessment process for 21st century skills


• demonstrate understanding of course concepts through design of a professional transition plan


• view instructional design through the lens of 21st century skills for today and beyond


• identify the difference between delivering and designing instruction


• implement a performance-based task that could support assessment of students in the areas of communication, collaboration, creativity and critical thinking skills


• identify how 21st Century learners want to experience citizenship and discover their own character traits


• outline what kinds of strategies for students to understand the dimensions of their “dual citizenship” through emphasis on experience


• connect classroom instructional choices to external mandates (such as Dignity of All Students Act – DASA)


• recognize a method for teaching students that we cannot control the actions of others and how this connects to our efforts to prevent and stop bullying


• to review resources designed to prevent and stop bullying.


• identify the importance of teaching students a method for understanding the mean, hurtful impact that name calling has on others whether in person or online.


• review resources aligned with best-practice recommendations


• self-assess current approach to teaching cyber-safety in comparison with materials provided.


• identify the importance of teaching students a method for understanding the mean, hurtful impact that name calling has on others whether in person or online.


• review resources aligned with best-practice recommendations


• self-assess current approach to teaching cyber-safety in comparison with materials provided.


• understand the importance of teaching students a method for understanding the mean, hurtful impact that racial posts can have on others whether in person or online.


• review resources aligned with best-practice recommendations on preventing cyber-bullying


• self-assess current approach to teaching cyber-safety in comparison with materials provided.


• identify the importance of teaching students a method for understanding the mean, hurtful impact that racial posts can have on others whether in person or online.


• review resources aligned with best-practice recommendations on preventing cyber-bullying


• self-assess current approach to teaching cyber-safety in comparison with materials provided.


• review resources aligned with best-practice recommendations on preventing cyber-bullying


• self-assess current approach to teaching cyber-safety in comparison with materials provided.


• outline rationale for students why “digital footprint” can impact them in their pursuit of 21st century opportunities


• summarize enduring knowledge about how to design learning conditions today that will positively impact students’ choices within the 21st century context


• surface action steps to be taken which align with course content, best practices, instructional and legal frameworks in place already.

Student Expectations:

Students will be required to:

• Rehearse the skills and report on the results (submit to instructor).


• Complete written self-reflection exercises (submit to instructor).


• Complete all quizzes.


• Collaborate with peers using the on-line forum.


• Assignments submitted to the on-line instructor (self- reflections, results of skills practicing, creating a plan, evaluating techniques).  The course moderator/mentor will interact with the participant to ensure the participants mastery of the knowledge and skills taught in the course.  The moderator’s assessment assures the participant’s new level of expertise will enable the participant to understand and implement the new skills and strategies immediately into their personal working situation.  The combination of the all the interactive components of the courses and the one-on-one interactions with the moderator/ mentor will determine the participant’s mastery.


• Complete all aspects of the online course.

Texts, Reading, Instructional Resources:

Totally online- no additional textbooks required.

Participant assignments:

Quizzes (14)

Reflective Journal Exercises (20)

Activity (20)

On-Line Forum Assignments (9)

This course covers the theoretical underpinnings of choice theory as well as suggested strategies for teaching choice theory to students, integrating choice theory in the learning environment, and illustrating choice theory in lesson plans across subject areas. This course focuses on conveying strategies to help teachers develop choice theory connections with and among the students in their classrooms. It is intended to present the basic concepts of choice theory and how it is applied in the classroom at any grade level. Participants will have the opportunity to learn choice theory by reflecting on its relevance in their own lives and applying it in their classrooms. This course builds a framework for understanding students’ motivations from a new perspective and an opportunity to practice choice theory by creating learning experiences for students that help them to keep school, teachers, and school work in their quality worlds for a lifetime of learning. This course will require participants to engage in self-reflection, critical thinking and personal practice of the ideas being taught. Just reading about choice theory is not enough to internalize its ideas and begin operating from them intrinsically. Personal experiences with choices theory involving critical thinking and personal practice will help participants understand the relevance and benefits of applying choice theory in their lives, in their relationships with students, and in their professional practice. Choice theory in education provides an intrinsic model of teaching and learning that is focused on increasing students’ self-understanding and their ability to evaluate their choices and schoolwork for quality and effectiveness. Austrian neurologist and renowned Holocaust survivor, Viktor Frankl affirmed, “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our responses lie our growth and our freedom.” This course will invite participants to find and explore that space of choice and freedom. As such, this course may challenge the way participants were taught to learn and teach, but all of the ideas presented in this course can be implemented in any classroom at any school if the people in those systems choose to do so.

Course Objectives: Participants will

• Learn that choice theory is an intrinsic model of psychology and learning that is based on the premise that we can make effective choices that lead to happiness


• Understand the detriment of external control practices in relationships and schools


• Learn the 5 basic needs of choice theory and appreciate that students’ behaviors reflect their attempts to satisfy one or more of these basic needs


• Appreciate that everyone has a quality world that contains pictures of what is most important to them and that degrees of happiness correspond with the ability to have quality world experiences


• Understand that all behavior is total behavior comprised of actions, thoughts, feelings, and physiology


• Learn that all total behavior is chosen and that self-understanding increases the likelihood of making more effective choices that contribute to happiness


• Discover that each individual has a unique creative system that is a reservoir of possibility and ingenuity


• Understand that the threat of failure has detrimental outcomes for students and that there are considerable benefits to creating a success-based learning environment


• Create classroom meetings plans that explore choice theory topics using the define, personalize, and challenge method of teaching


• Understand the meaning of quality in schools and how quality is reflected by leader teachers who expect competent schoolwork and encourage quality


• Learn how to use classroom meetings, choice theory language, connecting relationship habits, and solution-focused strategies to teach choice theory to students


• Know the value of providing students with meaningful, relevant educational experiences and how to embed choice theory in lesson plans

Student Expectations:

This online course is reflective and interactive. Participants will engage in a variety of critical thinking activities to learn, practice, and apply the skills outlined in the course. These will include journal exercises and forum exercises requiring short answers that are reviewed by a moderator. Each lesson is divided into multiples sections with an associated quiz. There is a midterm exam as well as a comprehensive final exam. Participants may reference course content and notes during quizzes and exams. Participation in all of these areas is necessary for students to successfully complete the course with a passing grade.

Collaboration and communication are essential to meeting the goal of all students learning well. Coaching is a proven and practical vehicle for staff members, mentors and administrative evaluators to use in guiding each teacher to intentional best practice that will ensure student learning.

This course details the process of collaboration and communication that promotes quality outcomes in terms of student learning. By establishing a mutual purpose, mutual respect, individual commitment and using a variety of effective coaching communication skills, staff members can maximize the expertise, skill, and talent of coaching partners…. They learn from each other. The online format allows for reflection, practice, observation and analysis and application of skills to current settings. Emphasis is upon intentional best practice, celebration of success, planning for increased effectiveness in subsequent observational episodes and relationship maintenance. While the emphasis of the course is on establishing an effective coaching team, individuals also report that the process of taking the course enhances their instructional, assessment and classroom management skills.

Course Objectives:

• Understand the role of coaching in intentional best practice


• Understand the different purposes and uses of coaching


• Observe and analyze coaching episodes


• Self-analyze their own prior knowledge about coaching experiences


• Identify specific and guiding questions they want to answer with respect to coaching


• Distinguish between what makes an effective and an ineffective coach


• Explain the importance of trust and identify behaviors that will enhance trust in a coaching relationship


• Establish clear expectations for coaching partnerships


• Understand the importance of active listening and essential questions in coaching experiences


• Separate competence from performance of a single teaching episode


• Explain what is meant by confidentiality in the coaching experience


• Understand the varied roles that are played by coaches


• Understand that student learning is the bottom line in effective instruction


• Separate style from lesson content


• Understand the different purpose of peer coaching, mentoring and evaluation


• Explain how coaching can add meaning and purpose to teacher evaluation


• Understand the role of enduring knowledge in effective instructional planning


• Distinguish between a learning and a activity


• Design/select essential questions to guide the planning process


• Practice lesson planning and essential questioning with a partner


• Practice using a variety of methods for data collection


• Practice a variety of observation strategies through video analysis and scripted lessons


• Practice with lesson planning and observation with colleagues


• Understand the role of self-reflection in the coaching process


• Analyze a variety of possible essential questions to spur reflective practice


• Evaluate a coaching conference against specific standards of performance


• Understand and practice using Principles of Constructive Feedback


• Identify language that builds bridges and language that builds walls in conferencing


• Conduct a coaching conference


• Plan time to engage in coaching experiences through Coaching Action Plan

Student Expectations:

This online course is experiential and interactive. Participants will need to do the exercises, complete the online assignments, and post responses that are indicated to the forum for feedback. In addition, participants will be expected to apply certain skills-building exercises in their own setting and report the results of that to the forum. Participation is necessary for passing the course.

This course provides teachers and administrators with persuasive and effective strategies for conferencing with parents, including uncooperative or difficult parents. This 7-step interview using the 7-Cs of communication will move parents toward becoming committed participants in the goal of solving their child’s academic and behavioral challenges. Teachers and administrators will learn how the Safety, Order and Rights value set provides a firm and logical foundation for setting goals and finding solutions.

Course Objectives:

• 
  

  To investigate a technique designed to improve teacher/parent interaction.

  
  


• 
  

  To perform the skill and develop mastery of the technique.

  
  


• 
  

  To adopt the value set of Safety, Order, and Rights, and utilize it as a fundamental tool for teacher/parent interaction.

  
  

Student Expectations:

Students will be required to:

• Rehearse the skills and report on the results.


• Complete written self-reflection exercises.


• Collaborate with peers using the on-line forum.

This course focuses on effective content-based instructional strategies for English language learners (ELL). Learn how to balance the dual focus on language and subject matter, and also learn a helpful framework for designing content-based classes and lessons. Examine different criteria for choosing and developing the content to teach, as well as factors influencing the choice, development, and adaptation of materials. Learn several useful activity types and how to integrate listening, speaking, reading, and writing in content-based instruction with students at different proficiency levels. Explore and learn how to implement technological resources available for developing content-based curricula, and understand how assessment is affected by the use of content-based instruction.

Course Objectives: Participants will

• Apply the “Six-T’s Approach” to developing their own content-based lessons. Originally proposed by Stoller and Grabe (1997), the Six T’s provides a useful framework for designing content-based courses.


• Integrate the four skills and language components in content-based instruction and develop a content-based unit that includes prototypical activities in order to create an integrated-skills focus.


• Work with students at various proficiency levels, using techniques related to using content-based instruction with (literate) beginners, false beginners, intermediate, and advanced language learners.


• Incorporate numerous technological resources that can be used in content-based instruction. These include Internet resources, such as websites that give information about language learning and teaching, as well as those that provide subject matter information.


• Assess issues in content-based instruction and assess learners’ language skills and content knowledge with the main purposes of language testing and criteria used to evaluate language measures. They should also be able to explain the role alternative and authentic assessment play in language testing and content-based instruction.

Student Expectations:

This online course is experiential and interactive. Participants will engage in a variety of activities to learn, practice, and apply the skills outlined in the course. This will include reflective journal exercises, short answers that are reviewed by a moderator, quizzes, and observation and analysis of lessons. A final exam is also a part of the course. Participation in all of these areas is necessary for students to successfully complete the course with a passing grade.

This is course is designed to teach how to create classroom and behavior management plans that create orderly classrooms where students can and want to do the hard work that is required to succeed. The Safety, Order and Rights® value set is used as the framework for clarifying and communicating the classroom expectations, and is compatible with other value sets that simply and easily communicate the rationale for expectations and procedures. This course discusses what motivates students to ensure what is communicated to them is relevant and meaningful. In addition to designing a classroom management plan that will work in their classroom, participants will learn two verbal techniques that help keep behaviors optimal and in line with the expectations in the classroom. The techniques are constructed to teach students about making choices, consequences and likely outcomes that result from their choices.

Student Learning Outcomes:

Upon completion of this course participants will be able to:

Understand the importance and rationale of Danielson’s Framework for Teaching Domains aligned with this course

• Evaluate theories on student motivation


• Implement the Safety, Order, and Rights Value Set®


• Have confidence that they are upholding safety, order, and rights for everyone in their school which will allow for the best student outcomes


• Understand the application of choice theory as it applies in their classroom environment  


• Implement and use  the four-step verbal skill for giving directives to students


• Create and implement a classroom management plan, using the tools and strategies provided in this course

Texts, Readings, Instructional Resources:

Totally online- no additional textbooks required.

Course Requirements:

Students will be required to:

• Rehearse the skills and report on the results (submit to instructor).


• Complete written self-reflection exercises (submit to instructor).


• Complete all quizzes.


• Collaborate with peers using the on-line forum.


• Assignments submitted to the on-line instructor (self- reflections, results of skills practicing, creating a plan, evaluating techniques).  The course moderator/mentor will interact with the participant to ensure the participants mastery of the knowledge and skills taught in the course.  The moderator’s assessment assures the participant’s new level of expertise will enable the participant to understand and implement the new skills and strategies immediately into their personal working situation.  The combination of the all the interactive components of the courses and the one-on-one interactions with the moderator/ mentor will determine the participant’s mastery.


• Complete all aspects of the online course.

Participant assignments:

Quizzes (2)

Reflective Journal Exercises (10)

Activity (24)

On-Line Forum Assignments (16)

Mastery Verification

Mastery Verification Rationale: This online course is experiential and interactive.  Throughout the courses there are assessments that check the participants understanding of knowledge and skills that are taught in each lesson.  Participants will engage in a variety of activities to learn, practice, and apply the skills outlined in this course.  This will include reflective journal (self- reflection journal) exercises, short answers that are reviewed by a moderator/ course mentor, quizzes, observation and analysis of lessons that include feedback and analysis from the participant’s moderator/ mentor. The quizzes, tests, and interactive assignments provide mentoring opportunities. The mentoring opportunities will enable the participant and the course moderator/ mentor to evaluate the participant’s key understandings and then improve the participants enduring knowledge to ensure their mastery of the knowledge and skills taught in the course.  The Final Exam will be a comprehensive exam that assesses all the course content. Their course moderator/mentor will interact with the participant to ensure the participants mastery of the knowledge and skills taught in the course.  The moderator’s assessment assures the participant’s new level of expertise will enable the participant to understand and implement the new skills and strategies immediately into their personal working situation.  The combination of the all the interactive components of the courses and the one-on-one interactions with the moderator/ mentor will determine the participant’s mastery and their passing grade.

Students are required to meet a mastery equivalent to a B grade to be allowed to apply for academic credit.

While it is widely recognized that teachers are tasked with creating the learning conditions for students, some student-specific variables represent situations well beyond the teacher’s and the student’s control. These student-specific variables can include a number of traumatic events experienced by the child, including: tragic accidents, sudden death of parent(s), natural disasters), physical/emotional/sexual abuse, drug abuse and addiction in the household, and incarceration of a parent and/or significant adult. Educators need to understand the ways the ways in which the needs of children who experience trauma and/or sustained periods of stress can differ significantly from their peers. For teachers not completely aware of the ways that adverse childhood experiences (or ACE’s) can impact students, the challenges for both students and teachers alike can be magnified. Taken in combination with the myriad of other ways that students differ, it is important that teachers have a plan for how they will understand the needs of learners with complex needs and respond compassionately so that all students remain connected to their schooling experience.

Creating Compassionate Schools will provide teachers an overview of the rationale for embracing pedagogical strategies rooted in compassion. The course has been developed to introduce educators to the principles and practices of an approach that takes aim at “getting it right” for both students and their teachers. Creating Compassionate Schools will provide an introductory look at the scientific research-base emerging from a number of disciplines (e.g., social services, education research, neurobiology, public health approaches) in support of compassionate schooling. With compassion as a lens through which professionals can view their work, a number of topics such as professional learning communities, action research and job satisfaction will be explored. Implications of the approach will be discussed as well as barriers to implementation.

Attention will also be devoted to considering the shifting educational landscape as legislative efforts to increase the prominence of social and emotional learning (SEL) standards across K-12 settings are occurring. The defining characteristics of Compassionate Schools will be considered along with characteristics of other movements such as Positive Behavior and Instructional Supports (PBIS), Differentiated Instruction (DI) and Whole Child Education. Exemplars of states operating in alignment with compassionate schooling principles will included.

Teachers responding to the needs of a diverse learning population that include such variables often feel unprepared and isolated. Attempts to connect with colleagues and others within their educational context can yield limited results. Creating Compassionate Schools will also include resources for reflecting on the level of complexity present in classrooms today. Research-based information and strategies will provide course participants with:

1. a pedagogical framework which recognizes a definition of student diversity that includes students impacted by adverse childhood experiences,


2. strategies for professionals attempting to meet the immediate needs of learners impacted by adverse childhood experiences (ACE’s),


3. tools which teachers may use immediately within a compassionate approach, and


4. strategies and tools for engaging colleagues to respond similarly so that a culture of care is the long-term result in educational settings where children with complex needs are served.

Designed with a K-12 professional audience in mind, Creating Compassionate Schools offers insight into challenges faced by professionals across the educational spectrum in identifying, addressing, and collaborating around the complex needs of students.

Course Objectives:

• Distinguish between “empathy” and “compassion” within the school setting


• Understand the role compassionate schooling plays within the broad context of school reform


• Consider legislative efforts reflecting increased awareness of need for social emotional learning standards (SEL) nationwide


• Understand the concerns some professionals may have regarding creating compassionate schools


• Locate information on rationale for compassionate schools that supports a balanced reform approach


• Understand the philosophical framework that supports the compassionate schooling approach


• Locate and access best practice government resources relevant to social emotional learning and concepts associated with compassionate schooling


• Utilize a self-reflection tool to determine the current level of implementation of social emotional learning for the course participant’s context.


• Learn a working definition of a “compassionate school”


• Understand how different movements (e.g., Differentiation Instruction, PBIS, SEL) fit with a compassionate schooling approach


• Identify characteristics of positive behavior intervention supports (PBIS) that may already exist in teaching context


• Understand and assess for level of evidence of social and emotional learning (SEL) within current teaching context


• Review one state’s model for supporting school districts to implement compassionate schools.


• Identify barriers to creating compassionate schools


• Understand the significance of the concept of a “standard of care” within educational settings


• Articulate the ways in which creating a compassionate school demonstrates a professional “standard of care”


• Understand the basis for a shift from reliance on educational labels toward understanding learner complexity


• Consider how professional responses to student needs can alleviate or increase student needs


• Identify one state-level attempt to implement social emotional learning (SEL) standards


• Understand and apply terminology of “compassion satisfaction” and “compassion fatigue” to their own work context


• Apply a specific reflection strategy that demonstrates understanding of the challenges associated with serving students with complex needs


• Understand the significance of students feeling connected to their school experience.


• Recognize the degree to which adverse childhood experiences create disconnects for learners as they experience school


• Review importance of complying with mandatory reporting requirements


• Understand the ways in which students who have experienced adverse childhood experiences are in “triple jeopardy”


• Discern the difference between behavioral forms and behavioral functions


• Validate the need for professions to listen for a student’s “voice” through their behaviors


• Understand how an increased awareness of the impact of maltreatment reinforces the need for brain-compatible learning approaches


• Understand the educational significance of the current scientific research on the impacts of adverse childhood experiences (ACE’s)


• Understand how ACE’s can potentially increase complexities for students, parents, and professionals, and communities


• Develop awareness of a tool for assessing individual and collective (eg, classroom, school) levels of student maltreatment and ACE’s.


• Conduct a survey of colleagues on the concept of ACE’s and report observations demonstrating understanding of concepts


• Demonstrate ability to reflect on your own level of ACE’s and how this may influence your interactions with students


• Distinguish characteristics of “good stress” and “bad stress” and how these impact capacity to learn


• Locate resources that could be useful in identifying characteristics of students experiencing childhood traumatic stress


• Learn basic components of effective engagement with students who are currently experiencing varying levels of stress


• Demonstrate understanding of course concepts by completing a functional based assessment on a particular student


• Interpret information about the negative impacts of early adversity and “toxic stress levels” and apply this information to current teaching context


• Articulate different types of trauma and how they might impact educational routines


• Implement a “compassionate schooling action plan” at the individual, classroom, or school level and provide evidence of impact.


• Demonstrate understanding of core compassionate school concepts through submission of personal teaching philosophy statement reflecting course concepts

Student Expectations:

This online course is experiential and interactive. Participants will need to do the exercises, complete the online assignments, and post responses that are indicated to the forum for feedback. In addition, participants will be expected to apply certain skills-building exercises in their own setting and report the results of that to the forum. Participation is necessary for passing the course.

This course explores a number of issues involved in helping learners to develop their listening comprehension of English as a second or foreign language. Participants will explore and understand factors that affect the success or failure of listening comprehension, examine an adaptable lesson template that can be used to develop the listening comprehension of students, and look at specific listening activities targeted at novice-level, intermediate-level, and advanced-level students. The course will also highlight effective assessment methods, including computerized testing of listening ability.

Course Objectives: Participants will

• Create pre-listening, while-listening, and after-listening (or post-listening) activities to build comprehension of spoken English, to help their students go through the steps that first language and second language listeners go through when they try to comprehend incoming information.


• Use the five language-teaching approaches (grammar-translation; direct method; audio-lingual, communicative language teaching, and task-based approach) and identify how the teaching of listening is (or is not) incorporated into these approaches.


• Create bottom-up, top-down, and interactive listening goals, and translate them into classroom activities and lessons appropriate for beginning, intermediate and advanced level learners. Participants will be able to use intensive, responsive, and selective kinds of listening activities for the word level, sentence level, and for mini-talks and conversations.


• Create discrete-response tests of phonemic discrimination, paraphrase recognition, and response evaluation, with a cognitive understanding of the critical issues in testing and the purpose of the listening test to define the kind of test that will be created and used.

Student Expectations:

This online course is experiential and interactive. Participants will engage in a variety of activities to learn, practice, and apply the skills outlined in the course. This will include reflective journal exercises, short answers that are reviewed by a moderator, quizzes, and observation and analysis of lessons. A final exam is also a part of the course. Participation in all of these areas is necessary for students to successfully complete the course with a passing grade.

Student populations in schools today are very diverse. Students differ in their readiness to learn, the ways in which they prefer to learn, and the areas of interest that motivate their learning. Differentiated instruction is based on the belief that classrooms where students are active learners, active inquirers, and active problem solvers are more effective than those where students passively receive a “one-size-fits-all” curriculum.

This course introduces teachers to instructional strategies and methodologies that will enable them to create powerful learning experiences to meet the wide range of different student needs in their classrooms.

School improvement plans in virtually every school, regardless of grade level configuration, underscore the importance of helping all students achieve academic success and meet educational standards. It is clear from the research that the intentional use of differentiated instruction strategies is highly effective in meeting diverse learner needs and positively impacting student achievement.

This course focuses on best practices in differentiation and provides teachers with the knowledge and skills they need to implement these methods in their own classrooms. Through learning activities, and the practice and application of skills, participants gain new levels of expertise which will enable them to create instructional experiences in an engaging classroom atmosphere to help all of their students reach their full potential.

Course Objectives:

• Understand the principles of differentiated instruction


• Learn the components of learning style and their applications in the classroom


• Understand how enduring understanding, student engagement, student outcomes, and teacher behaviors that cause learning to happen are critical elements of differentiated instruction


• Practice designing multiple paths to reach a specific learning objective


• Create lessons that differentiate content, process, and product


• Learn how to differentiate instruction to meet diverse student learning styles, readiness levels, and interests


• Understand how brain-compatible learning corresponds with differentiated instruction methodologies


• Design learning activities that increase student engagement by enhancing semantic, episodic, procedural, automatic, and emotional memories


• Plan lessons that differentiate instruction across four continuums


• Practice using tiered instruction and anchor activities with flexible groups


• Design and use essential questions and effective questioning strategies


• Understand how scaffolding and coaching can assist struggling learners


• Explore practical ideas for increasing active student participation and using graphic organizers in a whole-class setting


• Understand how to use assessment as an integral part of instruction in a differentiated classroom


• Design performance tasks to use as assessment tools


• Plan and teach lessons based upon enduring understanding that differentiate content, process, and product to meet individual student needs

This course explores the legal history and politics surrounding language assessment and the different test structures and methods used to assess English language learners. Participants will examine how standardized tests are used to measure language proficiency and academic achievement. With that framework in place, participants will explore how to specifically assess listening, speaking, reading, and writing, both individually and in an integrated fashion. Participants will also examine test taking issues and strategies and will look at how technology can be used in assessment. Special needs students will also be addressed.

Course Objectives: Participants will

• Understand technical concepts about testing: accountability and standardized achievement tests; normed and criterion-referenced tests; validity and reliability; language proficiency; and authentic/performance-based assessment evaluation.


• Distinguish among traditional vs other test formats, and will have cognitive knowledge of the key strengths and weaknesses of traditional formats, and key test-taking strategies for ELLs.


• Identify common characteristics of informal assessments, use a model for organizing classroom assessment, and be familiar with some common types of informal/classroom assessment.


• Understand the process of creating and evaluating portfolios to assess English Language Learners, and apply rubrics to reading, writing, listening, and speaking tasks.


• Understand the concept of integration of language skills, and be able to describe common methods of assessing reading, writing, listening and speaking, and a variety of ways of eliciting speech for assessment.

Student Expectations:

This online course is experiential and interactive. Participants will engage in a variety of activities to learn, practice, and apply the skills outlined in the course. This will include workbook exercises, short answers that are reviewed by a moderator, quizzes, observation and analysis of lessons, coaching interactions with a coaching partner that include feedback and analysis of both the lesson and the coaching episode. A final exam is also a part of the course. Participation in all of these areas is necessary for students to successfully complete the course with a passing grade.

This course focuses on effective strategies for English language reading instruction. Learn practical techniques and methods for teaching reading in any ELL environment. Explore key issues related to the successful teaching of reading, such as the role of reading within an ELL curriculum and detailed classroom teaching techniques. Topics include, engagement, motivation, modeling, intensive and extensive reading, vocabulary challenges, comprehension skills, reading rate, reading strategies lesson planning, selecting materials and assessment. This course provides many practical approaches and strategies to improve teaching and learning in the ELL reading environment.

Course Objectives: Participants will

• Assess students’ level of motivation, and use strategies for motivating, engaging, and inspiring students in the reading classroom, and discover how students’ first-language (L1) reading skills impact their second language (L2) proficiency, especially in regard to reading.


• Integrate intensive and extensive reading in their curriculum, working with students to develop their reading rate and become more confident, fluent, and engaged readers.


• Integrate vocabulary teaching into reading curriculum using very valuable high-frequency word lists.


• Design a strong curriculum using the components of effective lesson planning, including how to integrate other language skills along with reading, come up with teaching objectives, sequence your activities, and measure your effectiveness.


• Assess students’ learning through formative and summative testing, and support the students as they prepare for standardized tests like the TOEFL and IELTS.

Student Expectations:

This online course is experiential and interactive. Participants will engage in a variety of activities to learn, practice, and apply the skills outlined in the course. This will include workbook exercises, short answers that are reviewed by a moderator, quizzes, observation and analysis of lessons, coaching interactions with a coaching partner that include feedback and analysis of both the lesson and the coaching episode. A final exam is also a part of the course. Participation in all of these areas is necessary for students to successfully complete the course with a passing grade.

Please note, this course is a 45-hour/3-credit course and is an expanded version of Conducting the Parent Conference, which is a 15-hour/1-credit course.

There is widespread recognition that increasing parent engagement with schools (in general) and in their child’s education (in particular) is an essential component of any quality educational process.  Whether a community is a large urban district setting or small rural district, a common point of emphasis is that educators be prepared to engage parents effectively regardless of the topic.

While it seems to be very common sense, creating the conditions for effective engagement of parents and community is also more challenging to implement than we want to admit. There are a number of reasons for this, but regardless of those reasons it doesn’t change the fact that we cannot set parent and community engagement aside for “more important things.” In almost every area of education, effective parent engagement increases the likelihood of success for the community, for families, for educators – and most importantly –for students.

This course exists for the sole purpose of providing a way to help by providing educators professional learning opportunities to build their own expertise in effective engagement of parents to remove barriers to learning. Doing this will open up a number of avenues to partner with parents in more meaningful ways. It is doubtful that pre-service training has fully prepared educators for all the wide range of challenges they will face.

Focusing on collaborating, cooperating, communicating and conferencing with parents to promote student success. The teacher as leader and the teacher as manager will learn effective communication and organizational skills for working with parents to solve academic and behavioral challenges to ensure positive student outcomes. Based on the underlying principals inherent in the Value Set of Safety, Order and Rights® and effective teaching strategies, participants will learn to create an effective plan for interacting with parents utilizing proven communication skills. The plan leads to a logical discussion about the problems the child is having in school and moves parents from a defensive position to a position where they become committed participants in the solution.

Participants will learn ways to organize observations and thoughts about a student and confidently and professionally present a well-documented and thoughtful discussion of this sensitive topic. Participants will also learn effective strategies for overcoming resistance from parents and how to gather relevant facts and present them in ways that communicate with authority and impartiality, gaining parental support.

Student Learning Outcome 

Upon completing this course the participant will be able to:

• know that all their communications with parents and community are important and vital to the    process of removing barriers to learning for individual students.


• recognize that while research supports effective parent engagement it is not safe to assume that all educators and administrators have received professional development on this topic.


• implement the Safety, Order and Rights value set and identify ho these form a lens through which all parent and community interactions can be viewed.


• identify the Seven C’s of effective communication and how educators can utilize this to their advantage when interacting with parents on any topic.


• locate and learn about federal and state laws as well as district policies that may drive technical aspects of our communication with parents.


• implement and use effectively a 4-part communication plan (i.e., C.A.R.D.) that will guide in communication with parents regardless of topic or context.


• identify the nature of a “crucial conversation” and in particular how educators can honor the interest and emotion of parents while keeping the focus on the best interests of their child(ren).


• know it is a positive development when parents share “concerns” and how to view such interactions as an invitation to partner around what is best for each learner


• develop methods for turning conversations into opportunities to frame engagement around what may, or may not, create a barrier to student learning.


• formulate a conferencing plan to be used as a basis for conducting all parental conferences;


• adopt confidently the 7 C’s of communication and incorporate them into the 7-step conferencing plan,


• design and accurately keep student discipline and parental contact logs; and


• design student contracts to be honored by the student, parents, and administrators.


• recognize the variety of areas we can expect parents to pose questions


• access and understand the value of directing parents to research topics independently.


• formulate and use confidently a 7-step conferencing plan to be used as a basis for conducting all parental conferences;


• demonstrate appropriately its use as a fundamental tool for educators in all parental interactions;


• use appropriately student contracts to be honored by the student, parents, and administrators.


• formulate a conferencing plan to be used as a basis for conducting all parental conferences;


• adopt confidently the 7 C’s of communication and incorporate them into the 7-step conferencing plan;


• design and accurately keep student discipline and parental contact logs; and


• design student contracts to be honored by the student, parents, and administrators.


• formulate and use confidently a 7-step conferencing plan to be used as a basis for conducting all parental conferences;


• demonstrate appropriately its use as a fundamental tool for educators in all parental interactions;


• use appropriately student contracts to be honored by the student, parents, and administrators.


• employ confidently techniques designed to overcome parental resistance


• create and use confidently a worksheet for the 7-step conferencing plan to be used as a basis for conducting all parental conferences;


• demonstrate appropriately its use as a fundamental tool for educators in all parental interactions.

Student Expectations:

Students will be required to:

• Rehearse the skills and report on the results (submit to instructor).


• Complete written self-reflection exercises (submit to instructor).


• Complete all quizzes.


• Collaborate with peers using the on-line forum.


• Assignments submitted to the on-line instructor (self- reflections, results of skills practicing, creating a plan, evaluating techniques).  The course moderator/mentor will interact with the participant to ensure the participants mastery of the knowledge and skills taught in the course.  The moderator’s assessment assures the participant’s new level of expertise will enable the participant to understand and implement the new skills and strategies immediately into their personal working situation.  The combination of the all the interactive components of the courses and the one-on-one interactions with the moderator/ mentor will determine the participant’s mastery.


• Complete all aspects of the online course.

Texts, Reading, Instructional Resources:

Totally online- no additional textbooks required.

Participant assignments:

Quizzes (4)

Reflective Journal Exercises (13)

Activity (7)

On-Line Forum Assignments (11)

Videos (23)

As the school population of English Language Learners continues increasing rapidly across the United States, classroom teachers from K-12 are confronted with the great challenge of helping them acquire skills in English in addition to teaching them in the content areas. Many teachers do not have the training or knowledge to confront the task, and schools may not have the resources to assist them. This course provides them with the background necessary for meeting the needs of students from different countries and cultures including encouraging intercultural exchanges, information about assessment and the language learning process, cultural awareness, and a wide range of techniques and suggestions for offering a high quality learning experience for ELLs.

The course presents and analyzes the foundations of bilingual education for teachers to be able to understand and incorporate the most relevant aspects in their classrooms. As teachers gain expertise in the theory and methods of second language learning in general, they will learn to recognize the real level of ELLs, both in Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills (BICS) and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP). In addition, becoming familiar with the way English is taught around the world and ways to access their students’ schemas, educators will gain insights into how their ELLs have been exposed to the language previously and how they are accustomed to learning.

One of the main points in the course is that good instructional practices for ELLs will benefit all learners. Recommendations for an eclectic approach include assigning buddies, cooperative learning, reading strategies, and incorporating the arts to create a learning environment that will motivate all students to reach their full potential as human beings as well as academically.

Course Objectives: Participants will

• understand the needs of ELLs to work with them accordingly


• become more familiar with the situation of immigrants in the United States


• become more culturally aware to create a multicultural classroom environment


• learn how to sensitize English Only students to be able to help their ELL peers


• understand how immigration affects education


• understand the principles of bilingual education to apply them in the classroom


• understand the process of language acquisition


• learn techniques and methods for teaching a second language


• assess ELL students in terms of BICS and CALP and first language literacy


• learn how to individualize instruction for ELLs


• integrate lessons with creative arts in the regular curriculum


• prepare lessons keeping in mind the schema and particular needs of ELLs


• be able to accommodate lessons for ELLs with different forms of scaffolding


• encourage ELLs to read extensively in English


• learn about the specific problems ELLs face in reading in English and helping them overcome them


• learn different techniques to incorporate in content area lessons


• learn how to involve the family and the community in the multicultural learning environment

Student Expectations:

This online course is experiential and interactive. Participants will engage in a variety of activities to learn, practice, and apply the skills outlined in the course. This will include workbook exercises, short answers that are reviewed by a moderator, quizzes, the development of written lessons using differentiated strategies, classroom implementation of these strategies, and analysis of both the lesson and the students’ response to the lesson. A final exam is also a part of the course. Participation in all of these areas is necessary for students to successfully complete the course with a passing grade.

This course will provide a foundation in the principles of special needs advocacy, with an emphasis on practical application of the fundamental legal requirements that drive special needs education.  Many educators who work with special needs students are skilled at implementing classroom strategies and adapting curriculum to help those who are struggling. Teachers and other professionals are often familiar with an IEP or 504 Plan, but may be relying on the school administration to interpret the why and how of educational plan development for special needs students.  The purpose of this course is to give educators and others working with special needs students an understanding of why special needs identification and planning works the way it does, and how to maximize effectiveness by writing S.M.A.R.T. goals and choosing appropriate accommodations and modifications.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 set the stage for identifying and programming for students with educational disabilities.  Course participants will learn about the IEP process and about 504 Plans, and using their knowledge of the rights and entitlements granted by the aforementioned special education laws will become better advocates for the needs of their students.

Educators will benefit from this course by developing a deeper understanding of how to navigate the special needs process and utilize best practices to develop specific and measurable outcomes for their students

Course Objectives: Participants will

• Understand the basic concepts and key terms in The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.


• Recognize signs and classroom behaviors indicating that a student may have an educational disability.


• Identify general educational interventions and analyze data from these interventions to determine when a student should be referred for evaluation.


• Identify the essential questions in the special needs eligibility process.


• Utilize legal criteria to distinguish between eligibility for a 504 Plan and IEP.


• Identify the parts of the IEP.


• Effectively write specific and measurable goals based on a student’s present levels of performance.


• Utilize their knowledge of a student’s strengths and needs, as well as appropriate accommodations, to develop an effective 504 Plan.


• Prepare for various types of school meetings, including how to work effectively with school staff and parents in support of the needs of their students.


• Utilize data gathering techniques in order to accurately and objectively report progress towards a student’s IEP goals.


• Determine when a Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) may be appropriate and how to implement a Behavioral Intervention Plan (BIP) using Positive Behavioral Intervention Strategies (PBIS).


• Become familiar with educational options beyond neighborhood public school offerings and understand when discussion of these options might be appropriate.


• Develop and use a working knowledge of dispute options, including state complaints, administrative review, mediation, and due process.

Texts, Readings, Instructional Resources:

Totally online- no additional textbooks required.

Course Requirements:

Students will be required to:

• Rehearse the skills and report on the results (submit to instructor).


• Complete written self-reflection exercises (submit to instructor).


• Complete all quizzes.


• Collaborate with peers using the on-line forum.


• Assignments submitted to the on-line instructor (self- reflections, results of skills practicing, creating a plan, evaluating techniques).  The course moderator/mentor will interact with the participant to ensure the participants mastery of the knowledge and skills taught in the course.  The moderator’s assessment assures the participant’s new level of expertise will enable the participant to understand and implement the new skills and strategies immediately into their personal working situation.  The combination of the all the interactive components of the courses and the one-on-one interactions with the moderator/ mentor will determine the participant’s mastery.


• Complete all aspects of the online course.

Participant assignments:

Quizzes (11)

Reflective Journal Exercises (16)

Activity (22)

On-Line Forum Assignments (19)

Teachers and administrators learn a four-step verbal skill that will help them take responsible control of K-12 students. This online course teaches them to end power struggles and gain cooperation from resistive students. This fast and effective, choice-based approach to behavior management is being used successfully by thousands of educators. Teachers learn to develop meaningful classroom management plans for maintaining a safe and orderly classroom that maximizes learning time.

Course Objectives:

• To examine the four-step verbal skill for giving directives to students.


• To perform the skill and develop mastery of the techniques.


• To adopt the value set of Safety, Order, and Rights.


• To formulate plans for using the technique in the classroom.

Student Expectations:

Students will be required to:

• Rehearse the skills and report on the results.


• Complete written self-reflection exercises.


• Collaborate with peers using the on-line forum.

An in-depth exploration of teaching systematic approaches for solving math word problems and developing written communication skills to describe solution processes. Teachers will learn a wide range of strategies to develop students’ skills in the math problem-solving tasks of:

• comprehending the problem and identifying relevant data


• analyzing the problem’s internal structure to determine what type of problem it is


• selecting a viable solution process and carrying it out


• explaining the solution process both orally and in writing

Course Objectives:

• explore a wide range of instructional strategies for math problem solving and math communication


• learn to create exciting math lessons that are challenging and achievable for all your students


• find a focus on strategies that can be applied across all grade levels in mathematics


• learn practical ideas and instructional strategies that they can immediately use with their students


• look at teaching strategies that can help students accomplish the four main tasks of problem solving:
  
  
  
  • understanding the problem and what it is asking
  
  
  • analyzing the problem to determine its structure
  
  
  • choosing a solution process and carrying it out correctly
  
  
  • explaining that process, both orally and in writing
  
  
  
  

Student Expectations:

This course explores technologies that support language development as well as academic achievement for K-12 English language learners. Emphasis is on technologies that support English language development and communication skills, such as dedicated software programs, websites, and other technology resources. In addition, participants will learn how technologies that were developed for other purposes, such as word processing, can be used in targeted ways to promote English language development. Participants will benefit from numerous resource links for improving English Language Instruction through the use of technology.

Course Objectives: Participants will

• Provide a rationale for using language learning technologies to support ELLs’ English language development and academic achievement in English. Explain the role of input, interaction, and output in learning second languages. Describe the principles of content-based instruction for language development.


• Identify the major phases in the field of language learning technology, or CALL. Identify the major CALL organizations and their resources and evluate software for functionality and content.


• Describe various technologies that support content-based instruction, including native language resources and resources that provide suitable input, interaction, and output for learning and demonstrating mastery of content, depending on the learner’s level of English proficiency.


• Describe various distance learning technologies and how they might be applied to teaching ESL, including course management systems (Blackboard, Moodle) and integrated online courseware (Elluminate)


• Identify quality indicators for distance learning programs, pedagogical principles for engaging distance learning courses and various distance learning resources


• Describe computer-mediated communication that facilitate language learning including, videoconferencing, instant messaging, bulletin boards, e-mail and social networking sites.

Student Expectations:

This online course is experiential and interactive. Participants will engage in a variety of activities to learn, practice, and apply the skills outlined in the course. This will include workbook exercises, short answers that are reviewed by a moderator, quizzes, observation and analysis of lessons, coaching interactions with a coaching partner that include feedback and analysis of both the lesson and the coaching episode. A final exam is also a part of the course. Participation in all of these areas is necessary for students to successfully complete the course with a passing grade.

Course Description:

As teachers begin teaching within the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) framework they will quickly recognize an even greater emphasis needs to be placed on student engagement. There is widespread recognition that teachers are tasked with creating favorable learning conditions for a diverse population of learners. Teaching within the CCSS framework requires teachers to create equity of outcomes as well as equity of access to learning. In order for teachers to move deeper into teaching within the CCSS it is important that they develop a solid understanding of the underlying principles of the CCSS and how maximizing student engagement is an essential part of teaching effectively within the Common Core State Standards.

To maximize engagement for all learners, teachers will learn the importance of recognizing the “achievement gap” is widened by an “engagement gap” at the individual student level. Course participants will learn that teachers and learners may view engagement through the lens of different enduring questions. When answering the enduring questions of learners, teachers will learn how to avoid various engagement traps. An important aspect of maximization will be to assess students with regard to their own orientation toward growth as learners. The negative implications of students holding a fixed view of their own potential as learners will be juxtaposed against a learning mindset that helps increase student willingness to take risks. The connection between students embracing an expandable view of their ability followed by teacher use of prescriptive teacher feedback will be made.

Throughout the course teachers will have opportunities to reflect on their own cycle of inquiry and demonstrate an impact on the achievement of students through engagement. In doing this, a number of factors will be considered including how universal design for learning principles can help address barriers within the learning conditions. The rationale for personalization through a continuous cycle of re-engagement for teachers and students will be provided. Teacher reflection strategies to guide interpretation of both overt and covert student disengagement will provide teachers an opportunity to implement what they are learning.

This course has been designed with the goal of (1) providing a framework which operationally defines engagement and promotes the value of maximizing engagement for all learners (2) provides research-based principles in which teachers can anchor their practices and (3) the characteristics of engagement-minded practices which both teachers and students will find motivating to implement that will leverage the efforts of both teacher-students. The educational literature increasingly underscores the importance of professionals understanding, anticipating and responding to the needs of students so that quality engagement is the predominant experience of students.

Course Objectives: Participants will

• Summarize the current need for personalization within a standards-based system


• Be able to define the difference between the “achievement gap” and the “engagement gap.”


• Articulate why what teachers do (“teaching”) and what students do (“learning”) are not equivalent.


• Understand the need for developing a gauge for engagement


• Recognize why maximizing engagement for all learners requires extensive interactions with learners


• Apply a number of potential pitfalls related to engagement (gaps, traps, wraps, and naps)


• Demonstrate understanding of the need to formulate an engagement hypothesis


• Review current research on the role of emotions in learning


• Develop awareness of elements of a brain-friendly learning environment


• Distinguishing between “good stress” and “bad stress” levels that impact learning


• Comprehend the role of fear for learners and strategies to help mitigate fear


• Understand the elements of and a rationale for a student engagement self-reflection tool


• Articulate the enduring questions for both teachers and learners and the pivotal nature of students’ enduring questions


• Identification of the features of a cycle of inquiry and the importance of using one to increase student engagement


• Conceptualize success in teaching as interdependent with success of learners


• Recognize the importance of connecting with students to develop strong teacher-student relationships


• List characteristics of learning environments that alter the odds against or in favor of learning


• Demonstrate understanding that a teacher’s role is multi-faceted as an advocate, buffer and catalyst within the learning environment.


• Delineate the characteristics of a fixed ability mindset and an expandable ability mindset


• Recognize how a growth-minded approach is integral to maximizing engagement for all learners regardless of academic achievement levels


• Implement a teacher reflection strategy to determine whether student orientation is toward a fixed or expandable view of ability


• Prepare a lesson or unit of instruction on the growth mindset for an entire class


• Link the key teacher behavior of providing prescriptive feedback with the need for learners to receive informative communication during their learning process


• Learn steps to providing effective prescriptive feedback.


• Recognize the research base that suggests particular kinds of praise can actually decrease engagement


• Understand the benefits of providing prescriptive feedback


• Understand the significance of encouraging student ownership of data about their own performance


• Learn several methods for providing students opportunities to reflect on their own performance data over time


• Describe the statements that may be typical of myths associated with engagement


• Reflect on any overlap between current practice and engagement myths


• Understand the role of behavior as a language for learners trying to get unmet needs through their behavior


• Recognize the covert and overt aspects of behavior and the challenges each can present for teachers maximizing engagement


• Reflect on course content and applications to current teaching context


• Create an engagement map to guide future learning interests

Student Expectations:

This online course is experiential and interactive. Participants will engage in a variety of activities to learn, practice, and apply the skills outlined in the course. This will include workbook exercises, short answers that are reviewed by a moderator, quizzes, the development of written lessons using differentiated strategies, classroom implementation of these strategies, and analysis of both the lesson and the students’ response to the lesson. A final exam is also a part of the course. Participation in all of these areas is necessary for students to successfully complete the course with a passing grade.

Are you a teacher who is looking to rekindle their passion, are you new to the profession, or are you struggling to document your own proficiency in the context of a new mandated evaluation system? If you answered yes to any part of this question, this is the course for you!

One can argue the teaching profession is changing more rapidly than at any other time in United States educational history. Teacher evaluation, coupled with new standards and new high stakes testing systems have become the norm across the country and many teachers are experiencing the disequilibrium that comes with these significant shifts.

This course details how a teacher, required to teach differently to conform to this new and complex environment can thrive as a result of understanding the fundamental policy shifts that got us here. Moreover, the teacher taking this course will take away concrete methodologies and strategies she can immediately use in any teaching assignment. Through understanding policy shifts and exploring the best practices in Response to Intervention (RtI), Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) and gaining ideas on how to best deploy the rich learning and teaching strategies through Differentiated Instruction (DI), the teacher consuming this class will gain tools to make herself a powerful, effective educator. The online format allows for reflection, practice, observation and analysis and application of skills to current settings. Emphasis is upon intentional best practice, resulting in a classroom environment where all children have the ability to maximize their learning, and where the teacher deploys skills, methods and strategies to thrive in this challenging time in our profession. Teachers new to the profession, struggling with evaluation systems and teachers, simply wanting “a shot in the arm” are sure to benefit from this course.

Course Objectives: Participants will

• Understand how to mesh the principles of Response to Intervention (RTI) and reforms to teacher evaluations so each initiative can support the other.


• Demonstrate an understanding that tracking standardized test scores is not enough to measure teacher effectiveness


• Understand the “Big Picture” of how states around the country are approaching the new teacher evaluation system.


• Work within a Professional Learning Communities (PLC) to support both RTI and the new teacher evaluation.


• Explain the reasoning behind the change trends and mandates creating our current educational atmosphere. 


• Connect the origins of the Common Core State Standards and the trend toward new teacher evaluation systems.


• Develop an introductory level understanding of value-added modeling as a component of teacher evaluation


• Understand why each child needs access to a rigorous education through understanding the implications of our global economy. 


• Understand the origin and key components of proactive and preventative practice and how those practices look at the system, teacher team and individual classroom level.


• Understand the importance of ensuring children have access to readiness opportunities prior to formal schooling and identify their community’s response to these learners.  


• Examine their current core instructional practice to ensure the critical evidence-based components are in place, and why these components lead to student success.


• Identify what student academic and behavioral indicators predict success at the elementary, middle and high school levels.


• Understand the shift in the profession from independence to interdependence


• Access and implement best practices related to collaboration


• Link the best practices of collaboration to a successful teacher evaluation


• Understand the construction of 21st century skills and why it is critically important that EACH child receive a rigorous education.  Gain and use valuable tools for differentiation, specifically gaining strategies to deeply engage with above, at and below standard students in heterogeneous classrooms. 


• Understand the basic action research cycle as it pertains to education and understand why it is essential to lead with assessment in front of instruction. 

• Develop an understanding of the action research cycle and know why assessment is the foundation for planning and adjusting instruction.

• Understand the power and the research base centering around Formative Assessment (FA). 

• Understand and develop practical strategies to ensure the key principals of FA become the integral part of their teaching routine. 


• Understand the “big picture” of how RTI, PLC’s, and DI fit together as a framework for improving student learning and meeting evaluative criteria within a framework-based evaluation system.


• Apply the skills discussed within this course to their instruction in the classroom

Student Expectations:

Students will be required to:

• Rehearse the skills and report on the results (submit to instructor).


• Complete written self-reflection exercises (submit to instructor).


• Complete all quizzes.


• Collaborate with peers using the on-line forum.


• Assignments submitted to the on-line instructor (self- reflections, results of skills practicing, creating a plan, evaluating techniques).  The course moderator/mentor will interact with the participant to ensure the participants mastery of the knowledge and skills taught in the course.  The moderator’s assessment assures the participant’s new level of expertise will enable the participant to understand and implement the new skills and strategies immediately into their personal working situation.  The combination of the all the interactive components of the courses and the one-on-one interactions with the moderator/ mentor will determine the participant’s mastery.


• Complete all aspects of the online course.

Texts, Reading, Instructional Resources:

Totally online- no additional textbooks required.

Participant assignments:

Quizzes (2)

Reflective Journal Exercises (34)

Activity (22)

On-Line Forum Assignments (8)

Videos (18)

Stop disruptive behavior with three carefully worded questions! Teachers and administrators will enjoy this effective strategy for dealing with problem behavior from K-12 students. Learn to lead the students through a process that promotes a solution they create and will accept. Create effective classroom management plans and discover how the Safety, Order and Rights value set will help clarify and define wanted and unwanted behaviors. Watch demonstrations and practice the strategies you can use in your classroom today!

Course Objectives:

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  To explore the constructive discipline techniques for stopping disruptive behavior.

  
  


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  To perform the skill and develop mastery of the techniques.

  
  


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  To adopt the value set of Safety, Order, and Rights.

  
  


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  To formulate plans for using the technique in the classroom.

  
  

Student Expectations:

Course Description:

This course will introduce you to ways an interactive whiteboard (IWB) system can support Universal Designs for Learning (UDL) frameworks and the Common Core State Standards in subjects across the curriculum. All IWB systems (regardless of brand or configuration) can be powerful instructional tools in the hands of a trained teacher to meet the needs of diverse learners. The first section of this course explores several current themes in instruction including the Common Core Standards, Universal Design for Learning, and measuring effective teaching. The next section provides a brief overview of different IWB systems before digging in deeper to build a strong foundation of IWB skills such as using the basic software tools and integrating other software and hardware. The section following shows how these skills can be integrated into multiple curricular areas including language arts, math, science, social studies, physical education, music, and art. Throughout, there are connections to common core standards in multiple grade levels and UDL differentiation suggestions. In the last section, you will apply your knowledge to create and teach a lesson of your own, using at least seven of the IWB skills you have learned in this course and identify the standard(s) it supports and at least one differentiation extension. This course includes over 40 videos of a credentialed, SMART® certified teacher demonstrating the skills and how they support instruction.

Please Note:

Although having access to any brand of digital whiteboard is not required, it will greatly enhance your learning experience. Most of the software applications referenced are available as free downloadable trials and are compatible with Windows and Mac operating systems.

Most lessons in this course demonstrate hardware and software features through the use of core and auxiliary videos. Core videos, which are embedded in the web page, have been created and professionally produced specifically for this course and feature a digital whiteboard system from SMART Technologies. Auxiliary videos, which can be accessed via web links, have been produced by others and feature different digital whiteboard systems.

Course Objectives: Participants will

• Recognize the purpose and structure of the Common Core Standards


• Know the rationale and framework to differentiate instruction to meet the needs of all students


• Discover the findings of the latest research on effecting change in teacher practices


• Identify components of an interactive whiteboard system


• Comprehend how to use specific IWB skills including basic operations, manipulating graphics and objects, and integrating peripheral products


• Practice using software used in an IWB system


• Identify how IWB skills covered in this course can be applied to language arts, math, science, social studies, physical education, and art


• Apply skills learned in this course to develop your own lesson that supports support common core standards and differentiated instruction


• Discuss challenges and successes in using interactive whiteboard systems in your classroom

Student Expectations:

This online course is experiential, interactive, and features many streaming video training modules.  Participants will complete journal exercises and online assignments.  In addition, participants will be expected to practice and use specific skills in their own setting and report the results to the online forum.  Participation is necessary for passing the course.

This course focuses on effective strategies for English language instruction. Participants will go beyond a one-size-fits-all approach to explore and implement innovative ways of teaching vocabulary and grammar, listening and speaking, reading and writing, and designing fair and accurate assessments. Learn more about ELL (English language learner) students and their needs and how to choose the most appropriate materials and activities for the classroom. Explore how teachers can choose and fine-tune the principles that exactly fit their teaching situation. Participants will rethink the traditional native vs. non-native distinction, see why teaching English is so different from teaching other subjects, and explore innovative approaches like Communicative Language Teaching and the lexical approach.

Course Objectives: Participants will

• Use a number of general language-teaching principles to guide your choice of classroom activities.


• Discover some different ways to select and teach words and phrases that are especially useful for your students, and get to know the lexical approach.


• Examine listening, speaking, and reading skills while exploring what you can do to help learners communicate more effectively in English and improve their comprehension and reading speed.


• Select appropriate tasks and topics to help your students compose texts more effectively with a better sense of why writing is the most challenging ability for language learners.


• Be a more effective and reflective teacher, as well as see the importance of continuing your professional growth now and throughout your career.

Student Expectations:

This online course is experiential and interactive. Participants will engage in a variety of activities to learn, practice, and apply the skills outlined in the course. This will include workbook exercises, short answers that are reviewed by a moderator, quizzes, observation and analysis of lessons, coaching interactions with a coaching partner that include feedback and analysis of both the lesson and the coaching episode. A final exam is also a part of the course. Participation in all of these areas is necessary for students to successfully complete the course with a passing grade.

This course provides teachers with the tools they need for effective teaching strategies in today’s classroom, including classroom environment, setup, differentiated instruction techniques, classroom management, alternative assessments and modifications for diverse learners. Videos model different teaching techniques giving participants an opportunity to “visit” and observe other teachers in action.

Course Objectives:

• To introduce course participants to American education, from its history and the governmental policies that has guided it, down to the actual workings within today’s classroom.


• To identify the leaders affecting public education, including those considered innovators.


• To discuss the development of a child, including the theories of Piaget, Vygotsky, Erikson and Kohlberg. To identify and address individual differences in learning and diversity in the classroom.


• To discuss the scientific approach to learning, including the behavioral, cognitive and constructivist theories.


• To identify the factors that influence motivation.


• To identify methods to create an environment that promotes better learning.


• To discuss traditional versus alternative methods of assessment.

This course will introduce you to the transformative possibilities that integrated whiteboard systems can have on your instruction. An integrated whiteboard system is comprised of many separate components from many companies, but when integrated into a whole system, it becomes a powerful instructional tool in the hands of a trained teacher. The first section of this course will provide a brief overview of different digital whiteboard systems and current research of their effectiveness in the classroom. The next section will build a strong foundation of skills necessary to successfully control the hardware and software used. These skills include basic operations, manipulating graphics and objects, overlay tools, and integrating peripheral products. The last section will show you how to integrate these skills into general lesson activities which you will then apply to create a lesson of your own. This course features 29 videos comprising over three hours of core video-based training, allowing you to see a credentialed teacher/ certified trainer actually using an integrated whiteboard system. The skills and their integration into general activities covered in this course are designed to be transferable to any hardware or software platform.

Please Note:

Although having access to any brand of digital whiteboard is not required, it will greatly enhance your learning experience. Most of the software applications referenced are available as free downloadable trials and are compatible with Windows and Mac operating systems.



Most lessons in this course demonstrate hardware and software features through the use of core and auxiliary online streaming videos. Core videos, which are embedded in the web page, have been created and professionally produced specifically for this course and feature a digital whiteboard system from SMART Technologies. Auxiliary videos, which can be accessed via web links, have been produced by others and feature different digital whiteboard systems.

Student Expectations:

This online course is experiential, interactive, and features many video training modules. Participants will complete journal exercises and online assignments. In addition, participants will be expected to practice and use specific skills in their own setting and report the results to the online forum. Participation is necessary for passing the course.

 

This course will introduce you to the transformative possibilities that interactive whiteboard systems can have on your language arts curriculum. An interactive whiteboard system is comprised of many separate components from many companies, but when integrated into a whole system, it becomes a powerful instructional tool in the hands of a trained teacher. The first section of this course will provide a brief overview of different digital whiteboard systems and current research of their effectiveness in the classroom. The next section will build a strong foundation of skills necessary to successfully control the hardware and software used. These skills include basic operations, manipulating graphics and objects, overlay tools, and integrating peripheral products. The last section will show you how to integrate these skills into several language arts lessons which then you will apply this knowledge to create a lesson of your own. This course features over 45 videos comprising over five hours of core video-based training, allowing you to see a credentialed teacher/ certified trainer actually using an interactive whiteboard system. The skills and their integration into language arts instruction covered in this course are designed to be transferable to any hardware or software platform.

Please Note:

Although having access to any brand of digital whiteboard is not required, it will greatly enhance your learning experience. Most of the software applications referenced are available as free downloadable trials and are compatible with Windows and Mac operating systems.

Most lessons in this course demonstrate hardware and software features through the use of core and auxiliary videos. Core videos, which are embedded in the web page, have been created and professionally produced specifically for this course and feature a digital whiteboard system from SMART Technologies. Auxiliary videos, which can be accessed via web links, have been produced by others and feature different digital whiteboard systems.

Student Expectations:

This online course is experiential, interactive, and features many streaming video training modules. Participants will complete journal exercises and online assignments. In addition, participants will be expected to practice and use specific skills in their own setting and report the results to the online forum. Participation is necessary for passing the course.