Professional Learning Workshops

Effectively managing a classroom of energetic students can be a challenge and is a topic many teachers desire tips and strategies for improving upon. There is a direct correlation between time management and classroom management. Attendees will gain a better understanding of the importance of ‘bell-to-bell’ class structure. This session will explore the key components of classroom management, explain the need for well-communicated routines and procedures and provide tips and strategies to maintain a well-managed classroom.

Participants in this workshop will receive an overview of differentiated instruction. Goals of DI and ways to teach will be addressed as well as a basic understanding of multiple intelligences and their impact on DI. Teachers will leave with a better understanding of DI and strategies to incorporate in their classrooms.

Learn how being under-resourced impacts learning, work habits, and decision making. Spend a day learning the “hidden rules” of poverty, middle class, and wealth; intervention strategies to use with poverty-related behaviors; and key points to remember about poverty. Those of us in education know that education is a “gift.” To ensure this “gift” is understood and valued by students from poverty, let’s develop a better understanding of the world of poverty through practical, real-world strategies to help your students succeed.

Focusing on Social Emotional Learning, or SEL, is not adding one more thing to your plate-it is your plate. SEL can serve as the foundation of all work that occurs in the classroom. This training will provide a basic understanding of how to create an environment that meets the social, emotional, and academic needs of students. Participants will learn the ABCs of a positive learning environment as well as the three signature practices of a lesson that promotes social emotional learning for all. These are all small changes to your current instruction that will make a big difference!

School personnel are required to adapt to meet student’s needs in order to optimize student achievement. But what if you are not aware of the greatest impact on student learning: trauma? In this workshop, participants become trauma-aware and learn how trauma affects brain development. This change in mindset will lead to developing an environment sensitive to trauma. A student’s negative life experiences are recognized to create an environment that combines learning with building positive relationships. A trauma-sensitive mindset, whether it be implemented in a classroom or a school district, will create a culture sensitive to student’s needs and promote empathy toward students and colleagues.

Schools today serve a socio-economically diverse population of students. Schools need superhero teachers ready to make a difference in the lives of students. Attendees will learn the key characteristics of the different socio-economic levels, as well as strategies and beliefs to impact students of all socio-economic levels. We will discuss the reality of teaching when serving under-resourced or privileged students and how to persevere through challenging times.