Inquiry to Improve Practice

Looking for professional development that will maximize accessibility in your classes while simultaneously accelerating student learning? Consider implementing an individualized reflection process within your teaching! In this workshop, we'll explore the powerful strategies inquiry on practice offers so that teachers can refine their instruction and students can accelerate their learning. This professional development offers the most individualized approach to professional development so that each teacher is supported for his/her students.

Data Inquiry to Accelerate Learning

Participants will collaborate with peers and mentors to analyze data, set goals, plan lessons, execute, and reflect on lesson implementation to improve student learning through remediation and/or acceleration so that they develop a habit of critical reflection of one’s work. The series of sessions will include direct instruction, modeling from consultant, small-group work with participants, guided practice, question / answer period, and opportunity for independent application of newly learned ideas to support teacher inquiry initiatives.

Social Emotional Stories to Craft a Community ofLearning

How can we best motivate students to engage in class? Social, emotional literature and supportive critical reflection create positive and productive classroom climates that help students tap into their intrinsic motivations to overcome setbacks and to succeed. Such strategies can also alleviate barriers to learning for students who are at-risk. In this mini-workshop, we’ll review some of the texts and resources to build a classroom community that maximizes every students’ ability to learn and succeed, and increases trust between you and your students.

Instructional Match for All Students

Adapting critical elements from the Instructional Consultation model to create a process suitable for your district, teachers, and students, this workshop supports classroom teachers in applying best practices in instructional delivery and assessment. The idea is to create student success within the general education classroom by improving instructional support practices. The goal is to enhance, improve, and increase student and staff performance with the belief that all students can learn. 

Using Project-Based Learning to Increase Student Engagement & Inclusion 

Advocates of Project-Based-Learning, PBL, student-generated research projects that can take almost any form, except a traditional written essay, argue that it enables students to demonstrate knowledge in unique, individualized ways, encouraging more active engagement with content. PBL also expands academic inclusion by offering students an unlimited number of ways to successfully complete research and demonstrate learning. This workshop gives an overview of PBL assignments contextualized in the scholarship on teaching and learning on student engagement. I will facilitate brainstorming sessions for how you can incorporate PBL assignments into your planning.

Using Un-Grading to Empower Authentic Student Learning 

What is “un-grading?” It's a big umbrella term that applies to a range of ways that we as educators might think outside the box when it comes to assessing student learning. This workshop will first offer a short overview of recent research that suggests a negative impact of traditional grading practices on learning. We'll then explore some practical strategies for implementing “un-grading” in our classes.

Gradually Releasing Learning to Students

The Gradual Release Model of Instruction is a highly effective instructional tool, most often used in literacy classrooms. However, most recently, it has been found to be just as effective when teachers use data to make instructional decisions for small group instruction and meaningful independent work across all disciplines.

Maximize Every Instructional Minute

As our content demands increase with standards and testing, how do we juggle it all within the same time frame or worse, a shorter instructional block? Participants will identify ways to prioritize using their data and their student needs to maximize instruction so that students learn using a gradual release model of instruction.

Writing Across the Curriculum

In today’s classrooms, students often need to demonstrate their learning through writing and creating. Throughout this workshop participants will identify the standards that require students to write or create to capture their understanding, in a way that allows for aligned writing instruction. Writing instruction will be planned so that instruction can be easily implemented upon returning to the classroom.

Interactive Direct Comprehension Instruction

It’s a challenging issue for every instructor: how do we support students learning so that they are cognitively engaged while reading, writing, and viewing. While there is no easy solution or one-size-fits-all strategy, there are foundational strategies that can be integrated across subject areas and mediums so that we can release the responsibility for deep, critical, analytical thinking to our students.