~~Course Description

As a special educator, general educator, school counselor or administrator, your role is to ensure that the needs of your students (or clients) are met. Working with students who are not performing to their potential can be tricky. An understanding of student strengths and needs, along with the knowledge of the special education process, are key to ensuring that you are providing those students with what they need in order to be successful. The purpose of this course is to better prepare you with the necessary skills to identify students with a disability as well as implement child-specific interventions and accommodations to support those not performing to their potential. But what do you do to ensure a student’s needs are met? How do you ensure that you are successfully advocating for your students? How do you utilize your school or community’s resources to best meet diverse learners? Students with disabilities? Gifted students? No matter what your role is in the school system or outside of the school system it’s important that you understand why special needs identification and planning works the way that it does.

This course will provide you with a strong foundation in the principles of special needs advocacy, with an emphasis on practical application of the fundamental legal requirements that drive special needs education. You will learn about the IEP process and about 504 Plans and use your knowledge of the rights and entitlements granted by the aforementioned special education laws to create effective plans for student success. Through learning the differences between IDEA and Section 504, you will be better equipped at determining which plan is best for a particular student. Once a plan has been created, you will learn tips and be given tools to implement that plan and monitor the plan’s effectiveness and the child’s progress. This course will also focus on exploring how to maximize effectiveness by writing S.M.A.R.T. goals and choosing appropriate accommodations and adaptations. By the end of this course, you will be able to feel confident in their ability to successfully advocate for struggling students and understand the process necessary to ensure their needs are met.

Objectives

• Utilize what they have learned to become pedagogical and specialized experts in identifying struggling students and advocating for their needs through continuous professional development

• Interpret and apply the legal requirements of IDEA, ESSA & Section 504 to adequately create plans that support student success

• Apply the idea of best teaching practices to their classrooms to better support struggling students reach their potential

• Understand process of identifying a student with an educational disability

• Create a data tool and use it to track educational/behavioral data to be used to create a plan for success

• Create educational/behavioral intervention plans for struggling students

• Explore the process in which schools use to identify students with disabilities

• Explore and understand the parts of the IEP and 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.

• 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).

• Research, review, and analyze educational options beyond neighborhood public school offerings and understand when discussion of these options might be appropriate.

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

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.

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.

Course Description

This is course is designed to walk participants through the steps of creating a classroom culture plan that establishes an orderly yet exciting classroom where students can and want to do the hard work that is required to learn and succeed. The foundation of this course is uncovering what motivates students in order to ensure that what is communicated to them is relevant, meaningful, and engaging. Strategies are also shared for developing positive and trusting peer-to-peer, teacher-to-student, and parent-teacher relationships.

In addition to designing a classroom culture plan that emphasizes motivation and engagement, 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. Throughout this course, participants will learn strategies for teaching students how to monitor and regulate their own behavior.

This course also recognizes the importance of clear expectations and procedures to effective classroom management. The Safety, Order and Rights value set is presented as one 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. Participants will learn how to effectively teach procedures to students, and establish rules in a manner that invests students in upholding them.

Course Objectives: By the end of the course, participants will:

• Understand the importance of classroom management and the relationship between engaging work, student behavior, and learning outcomes.


• Explore theories of motivation and behavior management, and apply these theories to the creation of a classroom culture plan.


• Explain how to begin implementing PBIS and give examples of both preventative and responsive positive discipline techniques.


• Explain how to effectively redirect students and implement logical consequences using firm yet respectful teacher language.


• Describe the most effective way to develop, introduce, and/or reinforce classroom rules and procedures.

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.

Course Description

Creating Compassionate Classrooms provides you with an understanding of how adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and other barriers to learning can be overcome by the adoption of compassionate methodologies in the classroom and across the learning community.

There are a research-based and scientific rationale for compassionate schooling. Evidence from disciplines including social services, education, neurobiology and public health demonstrate the effectiveness of the compassionate approach. In this course, you will find tools, strategies and resources to create a compassionate classroom and to collaborate with your colleagues to create a school-wide culture of care.

Course Objectives: By the end of the course, participants will:

• Describe the impact and signs of adverse childhood experiences on learning.


• Identify alternatives to traditional methods of discipline.


• Summarize the scientific rationale for integrating compassion in school culture.


• Apply compassionate pedagogy to adjust instruction and all aspects of the school experience.


• Monitor the effectiveness of the compassionate approach to adjust as needed.


• Choose external resources to help overcome barriers to implementing compassion in order to meet the needs of complex students.

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.

~~Course Description

Mindfulness, or paying attention to the present moment without judgment, has been shown to support students meet the academic demands and pressures of an increasingly changing and challenging world. 21st century students must balance a wide array of responsibilities and make sense of vast amounts of easily accessible information most adults have never had to contend with. Understanding the diverse needs of students requires educators to employ a variety of intentional strategies to support student academic and social-emotional needs. This course will support teachers in understanding and employing mindful strategies that help them be more responsive to their students’ social-emotional and instructional needs as well as help students develop 21st Century Skills. The course prepares educators to weave simple and effective mindfulness activities into their classroom on a daily basis.

 

The course begins by describing some of the emotional and academic demands students face and the impact it has on their nervous system and executive brain functions. The course then defines mindfulness, details the ways mindfulness practices can support students’ varied needs, and reviews guidelines for sharing mindfulness activities with students. Learners also explore the ways mindfulness supports Culturally Responsive Pedagogy and differentiation. Additionally, the course offers guided audio and video recorded practices and other resources to help teachers experience and facilitate mindfulness activities.

Learners will also explore ways to weave mindfulness practices into class routines to support planning and preparing, classroom instruction, classroom climate, and meeting professional demands as described in the Danielson Framework for Teaching.

Objectives

In this course, learners will:

• Identify and appraise pressures modern students face and analyze some developmental changes children experience.

• Appraise the role mindfulness practices and social emotional learning play in helping students thrive and find balance in the 21st Century in and out of the classroom.

• Appraise the ways mindfulness can support a healthy classroom climate and support communication.

• Investigate and consider ways mindfulness can support student engagement.

• Analyze and appraise guidelines to sharing mindfulness activities with students.

• Design and develop strategies and an action plan to implement mindfulness-based practices that support engagement and learning readiness, instructional effectiveness, a positive classroom climate, and meaningful classroom relationships.

• Analyze different implementation approaches to including mindfulness in classroom and in school.

• Communicate to stakeholders the role mindfulness can play in education, the classroom, and for students and teachers.

Course Description

The 21st century classroom is becoming increasingly diverse. Our students represent diverse cultures and socioeconomic classes. They speak different languages at home and have varying immigration statuses. There is diversity of gender, gender expression and sexual orientation.

Many students have special needs and represent various special populations. The research is clear that a one-size-fits-all approach to learning is not effective.

This course is guided by the essential question “How can we create powerful learning experiences to meet the wide range of student needs in the 21st century classroom?” and presents differentiation as a solution for answering this essential question and meeting the needs of a diverse student base.

This course will provide educators with the tools to necessary to implement differentiation effectively in their classrooms. It provides tips and resources that educators can start utilizing immediately along with two authentic tasks and a final project that ask participants to think deeply about the subject matter and apply it to their students in meaningful ways.

Course Objectives: By the end of the course, participants will:

At the end of this course, the learner will be able to:

• Effectively differentiate instruction to meet the needs of all students.


• Create a learning environment where students thrive.


• Create authentic performance assessments, both formative and summative, that have clear goals and accurately reflect student learning

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.

Course Description

There is widespread recognition that increasing family engagement within schools and in their child’s education benefits student achievement enormously, in addition to improving teacher morale and school-home communications. This course is designed to teach participants how to engage families in meaningful ways regardless of circumstance or parent population, and is founded on the mindset that all parents ultimately want to partner with teachers in supporting their child’s education and overall success.

The course covers such topics as building strong relationships, establishing trust, employing effective communication systems, and planning and executing conferences effectively.

Additionally, the course covers more sensitive topics such as engaging parents whose child has experienced trauma, is involved in bullying or harassment, has a disability, or is an English language learner. Participants will learn how to have difficult or “crucial” conversations in order to appropriately address scenarios in which emotions are strong, opinions vary, and stakes are high. The Safety, Order and Rights® value set is presented as one framework for clarifying classroom expectations and school goals, and is generally a framework that everyone can buy into -- including parents.

This course will also walk participants through the steps of creating a plan for cultivating meaningful family engagement in their own practice. Participants will be prompted to compile best practices and key ideas throughout the course, which will culminate in the writing of an action plan for implementing these important components.

Course Objectives: By the end of the course, participants will:

• Contrast parent involvement and family engagement, and recognize the positive effect that family engagement has on student outcomes.


• Explain how to build trusting and productive parent-teacher relationships using effective communication techniques and culturally responsive pedagogy.


• Summarize the 7-Step Conferencing Plan and other structures for effective parent-teacher conferencing.

Course Description

How can you motivate your students? What are best practices for teaching students with special needs? How will current policy debates affect what happens in your classroom? What are the best ways to integrate new technology? There are so many complicated issues teachers face that, sometimes, being a teacher can feel like trying to juggle--while playing the piano.

This course develops strategies for excellent teaching through an in-depth study of educational psychology, individual differences, classroom management, materials selection, student assessment, and educational policy debates.

Course Objectives: By the end of the course, participants will:

• Comprehend how children grow and learn and apply this knowledge.


• Appreciate individual differences among students and know how to create an environment where all children excel.


• Study principles of motivation and their application.


• Learn techniques for creating a classroom environment that is most conducive to learning.


• Understand best practices for choosing instructional materials, including technology integration.


• Learn how to teach students the skills that will be necessary for their success in the 21st century.


• Explore the principles of authentic assessment and their application.


• Understand current policy issues in American education and their implications.

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:

Course Description

There are multiple opportunities for teachers to grow professionally and improve their professional teaching practice. This course supports that effort by empowering teachers to incorporate a peer coaching model into their regular instructional practice. Throughout this course, participants will learn how peer coaching can improve student learning by offering teachers a methodical way to collaborate and make instructional decisions based on outside observation, data, and reflection. This course supports teachers in building relationships with their colleagues in order to have effective communication and productive conferencing, as both a coach and coaching partner.

First, teachers will learn the definition, purpose and role of a peer coach. Learners will also acquire several methods for observing classrooms and collecting data to plan better lessons and assessments, as well as addressing other classroom issues such as student behavior and individual teacher practices. Participants will learn how to effectively utilize planning tools, such as the Peer Coaching Action Plan, the Collaborative Lesson Planning Form, and the Coaching

Conference form throughout the course. Peer coaching involves collaboration among all colleagues. Learners will develop two-way communication and planning techniques that allow teachers to help each other, as opposed to one teacher taking responsibility for another teacher’s professional growth. This format of coaching provides all teachers the opportunity to learn and grow.

Learners in this course will also gain effective methods of data analysis and observation to drive achievable goals and meaningful outcomes. Through reflection of the peer coaching process, teachers can affect student achievement as both a coacher and a coach.

Course Objectives: By the end of the course, participants will:

• Analyze collected data and create a plan to improve teacher practice.


• Create a peer coaching plan for a fictional scenario.


• Offer feedback on a lesson plan for a fictional colleague using appropriate communication and best practices.


• Create a peer coaching action plan for a fictional colleague.


• Offer feedback on a lesson plan for a fictional colleague using appropriate communication and best practices.

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.

Course Description

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 teachers with the background necessary to meet 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.

This course will give you the tools you need to better serve the English Language Learners who enter your classroom. We will explore the historical, social, and political background of non-native English speakers in the U.S. and work on improving our cultural awareness and sensitivity. We will then learn about second language acquisition and the best ways to provide feedback to learners, followed by an exploration of the language skills learners need to be successful. We will move on to examining how teachers can implement accommodations for ELLs in the content areas and finally, discussing how to monitor language development, build community, and seek support for yourself and your students. By the end of the course, you should have the tools you need to confidently welcome new language learners into your classroom and provide them with the support they need to succeed.

Course Objectives: By the end of the course, participants will:

• Accurately describe the various reasons ELLs enter the U.S. education system and the diverse challenges they face.


• List techniques teachers can use to get to know students, regardless of language level.


• Identify participant’s own existing prejudices about cultural groups.


• Recognize ways to create a more inclusive and multicultural classroom environment.


• Identify milestones of second language acquisition in ELLs.


• Consider feedback types and when to provide them


• Differentiate between productive and receptive skills.


• Prioritize feedback for high-impact over low-impact errors.


• Provide the additional supports necessary for content area instruction


• Develop a new way of looking at material through the eyes of the ELL.


• Use UDL standards to construct assignments that benefits all students.


• Consider resources for connecting with other professionals for professional support.

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)

Course Description

When students don’t feel safe in school, they don’t thrive academically, socially, and emotionally. According to a 2015 survey from the National Center for Educational Statistics, more than one out of every five students (20.8%) has reported being bullied. Bullying takes many forms and impacts not only the student being bullied, but the entire school community. Participants of this course will be equipped with the knowledge and tools to build safe school communities that identify bullying behaviors quickly (and even before they happen), empower students to move from bystander to advocate, and use character development and social-emotional learning to build stronger school communities.

Techniques for effective interventions as well as best practices from both a teacher and school-wide perspective will be provided to enable participants to address (cyber) bullying concerns within their respective schools and communities. Participants will leave the course with a framework for implementing classroom meetings to foster a positive classroom climate, integrating social-emotional learning/character education, and speaking with key stakeholders (parents, other teachers, and administrators) to prevent (cyber)bullying in and out of the classroom.

Course Objectives: By the end of the course, participants will:

• Conclude that building and maintaining safe communities for children facilitates their learning and fosters positive personal growth and development


• Develop a fundamental understanding of bullying behavior and the roles that stakeholders play


• Differentiate between types of bullying behavior including aggression, discriminatory harassment, and cyberbullying


• Evaluate how differing forms of bullying warrant various intervention and prevention approaches


• Assess the need for bullying prevention interventions within his/her own classrooms, schools, and districts


• Propose effective teacher-based strategies for bullying intervention/prevention both within and outside the classroom: character education, social-emotional learning, and classroom management strategies


• Conclude how social-emotional learning and character education is a foundation for fostering citizenship in students and promoting safe and supportive learning environments


• Establish communities of practice within a school that act as collaborative measures in facilitating and maintaining positive school culture and climate

Course Description

Project Based Learning (PBL) is a teaching method that, when implemented successfully, can prepare our students for a world we can’t yet imagine. With PBL, we can teach our students the 21st century skills they’ll need for the jobs of the future. PBL focuses teaching and learning around engaging, real-world contexts and problems. Tying content to real-world issues makes the rationale for learning transparent to students, and sets them up to draw connections between what they’re doing in school to what they’ll need to do in life and career later on.

The goal of this course is to show participants that PBL is possible with any group of students, in any setting, under any conditions, and to teach participants how to plan and implement PBL with their unique group of students. After dispelling some common myths about PBL and building a case for PBL and 21st century learning, the course walks participants through each step of the PBL planning process, from brainstorming an authentic project idea to planning a culminating product that showcases what students know. It will also cover how to ground a project in standards, how to differentiate for different learners, how to assess students throughout a PBL project, and how to build a culture of inquiry that makes the work of PBL possible. The course wraps up by showing participants how to convince various stakeholders of the many benefits that PBL can provide to every student, and suggests strategies for implementing PBL at a school- or district-wide level.

This course’s final project asks participants to write their own PBL project plan to bring back to their own setting. Participants will be prompted to complete certain steps of the planning process throughout the course, which will culminate in the writing of a project plan for implementing their project idea.

Course Objectives: by the end of the course, participants will:

• Justify the importance of PBL and 21st century skills, particularly in relation to issues of equity and the future of jobs.


• Modify PBL to work for any student, in any setting, and over any period of time, and give examples of how to start small with PBL and cultivate a culture of inquiry.


• Generate ideas for authentic projects, public products, and driving questions that are grounded in both standards and 21st century skills.


• Plan backwards from standards and learning goals to design authentic assessments and student-driven inquiry.


• Determine whether your own PBL project meets the standard of “Gold Standard PBL” by judging it against the Eight Essential Elements of PBL.

Course Description

This course will teach learners effective strategies for both preventing and responding to disruptive behavior from K-12 students. Module 1 focuses on strategies that aim to prevent disruptive behavior from occurring at all. These strategies include establishing clear rules and procedures, and using positive reinforcement to emphasize behavioral expectations.

Module 2 focuses on strategies for responding to disruptive behavior if and when it does occur.

These strategies include a five-step verbal technique designed to stop disruptive behavior in its tracks, as well as a range of other strategies for handling low-level disruptions. The course will also cover how to select and deliver effective consequences that encourage students to reflect on the disruptive behavior, and make better choices about their behavior in the future.

The final project of this course asks learners to create an action plan mapping out how to handle a common scenario of disruptive student behavior that they are currently experiencing or have frequently experienced in the past (and anticipate experiencing again).

Course Objectives: By the end of the course, participants will:

• Explain why clear classroom rules and procedures can help prevent disruptive behavior, and how to develop and reinforce each in order to maximize their effectiveness.


• Compare and contrast the benefits and drawbacks of positive discipline and punitive discipline, and justify which is most effective in managing disruptive behavior.


• Describe effective strategies for responding to disruptive behavior, including how to select appropriate consequences that encourage students to make better choices about their behavior in the future.


• Determine the goal of disruptive behavior, and give examples of how to differentiate your approach given the goal of the behavior along with any additional circumstances, such as the student having a disability, experiencing trauma, being an English language learner, etc.

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.

 

Course Description

Math anxiety is a pervasive problem faced by STEM students and teachers, both nationally and globally. Math anxiety undermines student performance and interest in math, discourages students from pursuing math-related careers, and reduces teaching self-efficacy among STEM teachers. Recent research in educational psychology has revealed important insights into the causes of math anxiety as well as simple strategies that can mitigate its effects. This course presents the current state of research on math anxiety along with evidence-based psychological strategies that can be implemented immediately to reduce the negative impact of math anxiety on students.

The first half of the course introduces the topic of math anxiety and examines its causes and consequences. The second half of the course provides easy-to-implement strategies for combating math anxiety. The course provides downloadable templates for some of the strategies. Participants will ultimately complete a final project in which they develop a multi-faceted plan, with measurable objectives, for reducing the effects of math anxiety using the ideas and strategies learned throughout the course.

In addition to designing a classroom culture in which students feel safe to take risks, participants will be provided simple, easy-to-implement evidence-based techniques for reducing the impact of math anxiety on students. The techniques are designed to teach students how to think differently about anxiety and the meaning of success and failure.

Course Objectives: by the end of the course, participants will:

• Understand the meaning and causes of math anxiety including how it is different from simply being “bad at math”.


• Recognize the various ways that math anxiety can show up in the classroom, frequently under the guise of other attitudes and behaviors.


• Appreciate the far-reaching consequences of math anxiety in an increasingly technological society.


• Reflect on your own experience with learning math and how it might impact your attitude toward math and math education


• Learn simple psychological strategies that can be implemented immediately to help reduce the negative impact of math anxiety on students.


• Gain access to downloadable resources that will make it easier to put the newly learned strategies into practice.