K-12 Professional Development

This comprehensive mentoring training course provides information needed to become an effective mentor to a new teacher. In this course, you will learn about the profound effect that mentors have on the lives of others and what is necessary for a successful mentoring relationship; you will examine the challenges faced by new teachers, consider the importance of self-care for teachers, and explore the power of collaboration; you will also learn strategies to support your mentee with ELLs and students on IEPs and 504s. Happy mentoring!
 

Prerequisite: Five years teaching experience and a professional teaching license.   

This course is in compliance with DESE Mentoring Guidelines and provides school districts with resources for creating a successful Mentoring Program. The course is designed for educators who have a leadership role in their school district‘s mentoring program, such as district mentor coordinators, human resource personnel, head mentors, or other district administrators. Through readings, research, and discussion, the course will guide the participants through a process for evaluating their current mentoring program and develop an action plan to improve the program so that it is in compliance with DESE guidelines for mentoring programs. Focus is on laws governing Mentoring Programs, strategies and information for implementing or refining your Mentoring Program, and activities and support structures for beginning teachers.
Through readings, research, and discussion, the course will guide the participants through a process for evaluating their current mentoring program and develop an action plan to improve the program so that it is in compliance with DESE guidelines for mentoring programs.

This professional development opportunity allows stakeholders to understand the MA DESE Dyslexia Guidelines to better support students at risk for dyslexia. Essential content of the Dyslexia Guidelines is presented to you in easy to follow presentations. At the completion of the modules, course participants will be able to:
 

• Use Scarbrough's Reading Rope as a grounding construct for learning to read
• Create a working definition of dyslexia
• Explain the importance of assessment and the MTSS model
• Identify criteria for selecting screeners and progress monitoring tools
• Explain Instructional Focus Areas in the MTSS model
• Assess Dyslexia in special populations

Art: ‘Design Applications’

This Art course will provide participants with design applications for a studio class in a two-dimensional design format. Concepts will be applied in relation to the arts through in-depth readings and analysis of studio works of art.

History: ‘America’s Hidden Heroes’

History is more than dates, names and places.  It is the true stories about individuals and events that shaped the world we live in. All the elements of drama - intrigue, courage, cowardice, tragedy and victory are embedded in history. The purpose of this 15 hour self-paced course is to use biography as a teaching tool. The telling of history from the point of view of those who lived it engages the learner by providing insight into the thoughts, emotions, and actions of real people confronting life altering challenges.

Math: ‘Active Learning in a Pre-Calculus Classroom’

This self-paced online course is designed for secondary math teachers to earn 15 hours of math content professional development. The content focus is on Inquiry Based Learning, Exponential Functions and Logarithms, and Trigonometry.

Music: ‘History of Jazz’

This Music PD course will provide participants with an overview of the history, importance, and development of jazz.  Participants will trace the significant contribution of individual artists and develop listening skills through historic videos.

Science: ‘Exploring Physical and Biological Relationships to Improve Content Instruction in Population and Evolutionary Biology’

This course meets the licensure requirements as a content area course in science. Participants may adapt the content to any grade level.  In this course, participants will learn about physical and biological relationships that shape populations and contribute to evolutionary processes. In particular, simple empirical and conceptual models will be utilized to measure these relationships.

Social Emotional Learning (SEL): ‘Introduction to Mindfulness and Self Care for You and Your Students’

Research indicates that to improve student success, teachers should provide a classroom environment that supports the Social Emotional Learning needs of their students.  This course addresses SEL needs by providing teachers with short, simple mindfulness-based self care skills to personally practice and share with their students at any level in order to release stress. build focus, enhance self-regulation, and support social, emotional, and physical health.

‘Integrating MA DLCS Standards into Elementary Math Education’

This course integrates the Massachusetts new standards for technology use and skills with elementary math instruction. The new curriculum framework recognizes the necessity of students’ need for 21st century skills and the increased responsibilities that involves for teachers in all subject areas. This course focuses on mastery of standards through elementary level math instruction.

‘Digital Citizenship’

Massachusetts curriculum framework for digital literacy and computer science recognizes students’ need for 21st century skills and the increased responsibilities that involves for teachers in all subject areas. Citizenship confers rights, but also involves responsibilities, and this includes digital citizenship. This course focuses on developing good digital citizenship in students by integrating instruction within all subject areas.

 ‘Online Learning Best Practice Pedagogy for Elementary Classrooms’

This course is designed to provide participants with online learning best practice pedagogy in the areas of student engagement, student rigor, differentiated instruction, and student assessment. It is a self-paced online webinar focusing on the elementary level.

Participants must also complete a culminating learning assessment by applying the webinar learning through the creation of a lesson plan which includes at least one instructional strategy and an online tool for implementation from the webinar for each area; engagement, rigor, differentiated instruction, and assessment.

 ‘Online Learning Best Practice Pedagogy for Secondary Classrooms’

This course is designed to provide participants with online learning best practice pedagogy in the areas of student engagement, student rigor, differentiated instruction, and student assessment. It is a self-paced online webinar focusing on the secondary level. Participants must also complete a culminating learning assessment by applying the webinar learning through the creation of a lesson plan which includes at least one instructional strategy and an online tool for implementation from the webinar for each area; engagement, rigor, differentiated instruction, and assessment.

 ‘Web Development’

The web is one of the most prevalent platforms for communication in this technological age--which means it is also one of the most prevalent means for scammers to use.  As a result, students should become more than just familiar with the web.  Web development is one way students can learn the ins and outs of this communications platform, and how to protect themselves.  Computing and Society, Computing Systems, and Computational Thinking are three strands of the Massachusetts DLCS standards encompassing the technologies of the web.

With this 15 hour self-paced course, teachers will explore benefits and dangers of distributed networks (for deploying web technologies), the (mis)use and storage of personally identifiable information (PII), and the furthering societal impacts and stressors facing the web today.  Development for the world wide web can be the lens teachers use to provide focus for their students.