Troy CCSD 30C

PD Preview

Developed for Jenna Woodland,

Director of Instruction and Professional
Development
Purpose:
Advancement Courses has aligned our professional development courses to Troy’s Teacher
Professional Development focuses for the 2019-2020 school year and IL Standards for Social
Emotional Learning.

Advancement Courses provide instruction to meet Troy School’s main goals of:

• Implement our curriculum with consistent instructional practices.

• Embed 21st century technology skills and resources in our curriculum maps.
• Optimize social and emotional learning in our classrooms and schools.
• Implement Response to Intervention with fidelity for our students.
• Support and train our staff to ensure a superior educational experience for our students.
• Use assessment data to drive instructional practices
• Cultivate relationships with our families and community to develop a safe, inviting school
community.

Course Outline
Social Emotional Learning/Building Relationships ………………………………………………… 3

Assisting Students with Disabilities………………………………………………………………….. 5

Managing and Engaging Student Behaviors ………………………………………………………. 7

Differentiation Techniques …………………………………………………………………………… 9

Data Assessment Strategies ………………………………………….…………………………….. 11

Social Emotional Learning/Building
Relationships
Benefit Mindset and Altruism
In this course, you will explore the principles and scientific research behind adopting the benefit
mindset. You’ll develop strategies for making altruism, empathy, and appreciation into genuine
habits in your classroom to help students see how their contributions can make others’ lives
better. In addition, you’ll create activities that will show students how they are part of something
bigger than themselves and instill a sense of connectedness that inspires them to share their
gifts for the good of those around them.

Resiliency: Coping with Academic and Emotional Adversity

In this course, you will learn the key skills that make up resiliency and cultivate tools for guiding
students toward a resilient mind-set. You’ll also assess your own resiliency and learn how to
partner with parents to help build your students’ ability to cope with emotional and academic
challenges. Finally, you’ll create strategies to help your school prioritize and implement
resiliency education. Using the techniques from this course, you’ll be able to teach your
students emotional and social skills that will serve them well beyond your classroom.

Helping Children Overcome Depression

In this course, you will learn to identify the causes and symptoms of childhood depression.
Although children with depression may require medical care beyond what a teacher can offer,
you will be equipped with strategies to help students overcome negative thinking styles and
harmful emotional patterns. In addition, you’ll gather tools for fostering a child’s support system
and involving parents, and you’ll develop techniques for cultivating a positive classroom culture
using the mindfulness approach.

Preventing Youth Suicide

In this course, you will gain the knowledge and skills you need to help improve the effectiveness
of your school’s suicide prevention program. You’ll gather the resources and techniques
necessary to successfully and appropriately respond to students who exhibit suicidal behaviors
and use the school’s crisis team if they are needed. In addition, you’ll learn how to evaluate, and
revise school policies and procedures related to suicide prevention to ensure that it maximizes
the school’s and community’s resources to best serve the needs of your students and families.
Helping Students Overcome Trauma
This course will investigate how to create programs to help students deal proactively with
trauma. By examining strategies to help schools become trauma sensitive and places of
empowerment and outreach, this course will help educators learn effective avenues to help
students find healing and safety. Helping students to find healing and actively confront the
devastating impact trauma can have, educators can provide the kind of support students need
to transform from trauma victims to trauma survivors.

Cultivating a Supportive Classroom Environment: Prioritizing

Safe Learning
In this course, you’ll receive the knowledge, tools, and techniques you need to cultivate a safe
and supportive classroom environment where your students can engage with and focus on
learning. You’ll reflect on your teaching methods and share best practices with fellow educators,
and you’ll learn how to help your students self-identify and self-manage their emotions, develop
social awareness, collaborate, and interact positively with others. In addition, you’ll explore
evidence-based strategies to prevent and de-escalate violence and encourage positive behavior
interventions and conflict resolution, and you’ll examine the benefits of trauma-informed
teaching strategies and practical ways to implement these strategies in your classroom.

Kindness: Can it be Taught?

In this course, you will learn the biological roots of kindness that are present in all people at
birth. Armed with this knowledge, you’ll be able to create concrete strategies for helping
students build key components of kindness: empathy, perspective-taking, honesty, and
trustworthiness. You’ll also learn about the personal and social benefits of practicing random
acts of kindness and how to teach students to perform their own random acts.

Student Mobility: Supporting New Students

In this course, you will learn how to alleviate the negative aspects of student mobility by building
bridges between students, their families, and your school. First, you will take a close look at the
causes and effects of different types of student mobility. Then you’ll develop specific welcoming
strategies for different situations to help newcomers feel comfortable in your classroom. In
addition, you’ll study the federal guidelines on the services that schools need to offer mobile
students. Finally, you’ll examine the issue of compassion fatigue and burnout among teachers,
and how you can care for yourself amid caring for this special student population.
Building Meaningful Partnerships: Connecting Schools,
Families, and Communities
In this course, you will gain concrete, actionable strategies for partnering with families and
community organizations to foster meaningful educational experiences for students. From
examples of successful partnerships to practical applications, you will learn how to seek out,
connect with, and facilitate effective partnerships with the broader community. In addition, you’ll
learn how to engage the parents of special needs children and English language learners in
their children’s education.

Safe Spaces and Affirming Faces: Supporting LGBTQ Youth

in Schools
This course introduces teachers to the history of LGBTQ movements and key terminology,
describes how bias and discrimination impact the LGBTQ community; and reviews strategies for
enhancing LGBTQ-inclusivity in schools. Additionally, teachers will gain insight into using online
communities as safe spaces for promoting equality and visibility of LGBTQ youth in their
schools and neighborhoods. Throughout the course, teachers are invited to connect inclusive
approaches to their school- and classroom-based practices, so they can create safe, nurturing
spaces that facilitate learning among LGBTQ students and their allies (peers who may not
identify as LGBTQ, but support those who do and advocate for their rights).

Assisting Students with Disabilities

The General Educator’s Guide to Special Education
In this course, you will learn about the 13 major types of disabilities, the laws governing special
education, the individualized education program (IEP) process, and best practices for working
with students and their families. You will develop actionable strategies to support the
assessment, instruction, academic success, and social and emotional development of students
with IEPs.

High Incidence Disabilities

In this course, you will review the disabilities that are present with the highest frequency within
the population of students who receive special education services. These include autism
spectrum disorders, communication disorders, intellectual disabilities, specific learning
disabilities, and emotional or behavior disorders. In addition to examining the common
characteristics of students with these disabilities, you will develop differentiated instructional
strategies and explore resources that will support the learning of all students in your classroom.
Strategies for Supporting Teenagers with ADD/ADHD
In this course, you will gain the information you need to identify students who have these
disorders and to prevent and manage potential behavioral problems associated with them.
You’ll develop specific prevention and intervention strategies for a host of symptoms that
interfere with success, including how to modify your teaching style, classroom environment,
scheduling, and assignments to help ADD/ADHD students.

Strategies for Supporting Children with ADHD

In this course, you will learn to identify the characteristics of ADHD and the impact on children.
You’ll develop specific intervention and support strategies to help these students cope with
stress, manage their emotions, and navigate academic and social challenges. Although
teaching children with ADD/ADHD poses unique challenges, you’ll learn to cultivate a healthy
mindset for working with these students without getting overwhelmed.

Teaching Students with High Functioning Autism

In this course, you will separate myth from fact by learning all the signs, symptoms, and
implications of having students with high-functioning ASD in your classroom. You will learn
techniques for addressing the academic, social, emotional, and behavioral needs of these
students and also create plans for partnering with their parents to help them grow. Finally, you
will develop strategies for successfully integrating a student with high-functioning ASD into your
classroom and working with other students to create a respectful, inclusive environment.

Teaching Students with Low Functioning Autism

In this course, you will be provided with an overview of the strengths, needs, and challenges of
students with low-functioning autism, with emphasis on understanding the reasons for a
student’s behavior. You will use this knowledge to build communication skills, behavior
management interventions, and academic strategies for the student with the end goal of helping
the students transition between educational levels into post-high school plans.

Understanding Dyslexia
In this course, you will learn to identify dyslexia’s impact on your students’ oral language,
reading, and writing, and you’ll develop specific strategies for how to support students in these
areas. You’ll also learn how to hone the positive contributions of students with dyslexia, which
are often overlooked or misunderstood. After taking this course, you will be able to help meet
the unique needs of students who have dyslexia and teach them how to channel their strengths
for a positive, dynamic learning experience.
Using Technology to Support Students with Special Needs
In this course, you’ll learn all about the wide variety of technological resources available to teach
subjects such as reading, writing, math, science, and social studies. You’ll develop strategies for
incorporating assistive technologies to help all students access curriculum, and further, how to
use technology to differentiate instruction and motivate students with disabilities. Using the
techniques from this course, you’ll be equipped to select and implement technology into your
curriculum for a wide variety of subjects in order to meet the needs of all students in your
classroom.

Teaching Special Education: Focusing on Abilities

This course is designed to help the special educator both acknowledge the challenges and
embody a mindset that emphasizes the fulfillment and rewards of teaching students with special
needs. After this course, the teacher will be better able to appreciate their own strengths, as well
as feel better equipped to complete the meaningful and essential work they do.

Strategies for Addressing Student Anxiety

In this course, teachers will become equipped to understand and recognize anxiety dysfunction
and then develop classroom strategies to support students who suffer from it. With the
strategies and interventions teachers learn in this course, they will be able to create a classroom
environment where students can successfully cope with stressors and instead focus on
learning.

Managing and Engaging Student Behaviors

Motivating the Unmotivated Students (Research and
Practice)
In this course, you will explore the major theories of motivation, your role in encouraging and
promoting student motivation, and strategies you can implement to develop students’ mind-set
toward learning. You’ll examine learning approaches, the concepts of growth mind-set and grit,
and the importance of encouraging academic risk. In addition, you’ll learn how to set up your
classroom physically, socially, emotionally, and intellectually so the environment itself is
motivating to your students.

Staying Present: Mindfulness for Better Teaching and

Learning
In this course, you will develop a set of robust strategies for implementing mindfulness
techniques in the classroom. In just minutes a day, you and your students can participate in
exercises that help you center your body, mind, and spirit, and manage stressful moments. This
course gives you the tools you need to create an energized, interconnected, and kind classroom
culture where every member is engaged, motivated, and passionate about learning.

Creating Highly Engaging Lesson Plan

In this course, you will examine how to develop and execute highly engaging lesson plans
regardless of what grade or subject you teach. You’ll learn how to identify the signs of student
engagement and analyze highly engaging lessons so you can replicate effective strategies in
your own instruction. In addition, you’ll create differentiated activities and assessments tailored
to diverse learning styles and achievement levels so you can keep all students engaged based
on their unique interests and abilities.

Applying the Habits of Mind in the Classroom and Beyond

In this course, you will explore personal mindset and the role that mindset plays in developing
your beliefs about how you learn as well as how your students learn. Habits of Mind consist of
16 behaviors that people can learn to utilize to make them more effective learners. Using the
intentional strategies from this course, you will be able to select and create activities that
support Habits of Mind and create an environment that encourages their use. In addition, you
will be able to assess students’ abilities to use Habits of Mind to ensure that they are
internalizing thinking processes that they can use for the rest of their lives.

Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports for Successful

Classrooms
In this course, you will create a personalized three-tier system of interventions that you can start
implementing in your classroom immediately. You will learn how to build positive relationships
with even the most challenging students and create a more collaborative environment in your
classroom. You can use the strategies you develop to establish and maintain a classroom
culture that promotes meaningful engagement and motivates students to succeed.

Stretching Bodies and Minds: Using Yoga to Enhance

Student Focus and Motivation
In this course, you’ll learn when to incorporate yoga activities into the school day and how your
students can gain the benefits of yoga with little instructional time. Even if you lack prior yoga
experience, you’ll gain the tools you need to explain yoga to your students and make yoga
activities easy for them. You’ll acquire strategies to effectively implement a wide variety of yoga
exercises and poses in your classroom, including those that settle students at the beginning of
class, refocus students when their attention wavers, calm and center students before
assignments and tests, and build their confidence and self-regulation.
Classroom Management Strategies for Student Centered
Instruction
In this course, you will learn how to work with your students to set up a classroom that supports
exploration, motivates students, and authentically engages them in meaningful learning
experiences. You will develop techniques for building positive teacher–student relationships and
dealing with difficult students to prevent power struggles.

Effective Classroom Management for 21st Century

In this course, you’ll find answers to these questions and more. You’ll explore 21st-century
research-based approaches to classroom management. Using these strategies, you’ll be able to
create a classroom that enhances students’ emotional intelligence and academic achievement,
boosts their confidence, and equips them with skills that will help them succeed in your class
and beyond. You will build routines and expectations that empower students to choose positive
behaviors and take ownership of their actions, thus cutting down on interruptions and power
struggles while you are teaching.

Differentiation Techniques
Differentiated Instruction
In this course, you will master the skills necessary to effectively differentiate instruction for
optimal achievement by all students. You will learn how to identify individual students’ needs
and learning styles and create activities and tiered lessons that will meet those needs. You will
cultivate different strategies for grouping students, arranging your classroom, and using
cognitive approaches that help students take ownership of their learning.

Role of Technology in the Inclusive Classroom

In this course, you will discover how to use technology to engage your students and help meet
their special needs, thereby improving behavior and attention span and increasing the likelihood
of academic success. Using Universal Design for Learning principles, you’ll learn how to plan
instruction that will motivate a wide variety of learners, and how to stay organized and efficient
while managing a scaffolded, individualized curriculum. In addition, you’ll explore digital tools
(including assistive technology) that you can use to present core content so all students can
access the curriculum according to their specific needs.
Designing Blended Learning for Student Engagement and
Achievement
In this course, you will learn how to integrate blended learning into your classroom to increase
student engagement and achievement, differentiate instruction, and connect students to
meaningful, community-driven learning experiences. You’ll develop strategies for modifying
current lesson plans to incorporate online tools such as learning management systems,
screencasts, wikis, social media, and more. But integrating technology for technology’s sake
isn’t the goal of blended learning; you’ll also take a close look at how to create an instructional
map that will guide you in how to select the best tools and techniques to meet your learning
objectives and support your students’ unique needs.

Using Anchor Charts: Teaching Tools to Maximize

Instruction and Differentiation
In this course, you will explore best practices for creating anchor charts and their many benefits
in academics and classroom management. You’ll review the different types of charts and how
you can use them, including how to create charts that are interactive (i.e., that students can fill
out and change throughout the year). In addition, you’ll learn how to design charts for a variety
of purposes, such as personal goal setting, making abstract concepts more concrete, creating
expectations for group behaviors or projects, and much more.

Instructional Strategies for Diverse Student Populations

In this course, you will learn how to build cultural competence and awareness in both yourself
and your students. You’ll discover strategies for building community and differentiating
instruction to create a learning environment in which all students can reach their potential. For
example, you’ll have the opportunity to examine the demographics of your own state and school
district, and to cultivate techniques for getting to know different cultures’ norms and
expectations. Using the techniques from this course, you will be able to create a rich, culturally
sensitive environment where all students can grow and learn from each other.

Game-Based Strategies for Language Instruction

In this course, you will investigate the effectiveness of gamification and game-based learning
compared to traditional language instruction. You’ll review a variety of examples of games and
how each of them helps to deepen students’ engagement and understanding. In addition, you’ll
learn how to incorporate gamed-based strategies into language instruction and how to scaffold
and differentiate activities to meet the needs of all learners. Finally, you’ll create a set of games
that you can immediately implement in language lessons with your students.
Supporting Students with Learning Disabilities in the
Inclusive Classroom
In this course, you will cultivate resources designed to maximize learning for students who have
learning disabilities. You’ll review current research and laws, processes for assessing and
identifying learning disabilities, information on how to access services, and tips for
communicating with families of students with learning disabilities. In addition, you’ll develop
concrete strategies for creating flexible assignments that allow for choice and meet a variety of
needs, and for creating a positive classroom culture that encourages students’ academic
success and desire to learn.

Reaching and Teaching Gifted Students in the Regular

Classroom
In this course, you will learn how to identify gifted students and their individual needs (including
those who have added challenges, such as ADHD or learning English as a second language).
You’ll also cultivate techniques for keeping them interested in school, including helping them
combat perfectionism and grouping gifted students together to challenge one another. Finally,
you’ll participate in practical exercises to modify your activities and differentiate your instruction
to motivate and energize your gifted students.

Guide to Differentiating Instruction for Gifted and Talented

Students
In this course, you will learn how to identify gifted learners and understand their unique needs in
the classroom. You will also create a differentiated learning plan, from brainstorming all the way
through to delivery. First, you will consider everything from academic standards, goal setting,
and pre-assessment to the instructional plan, assignment creation, and summative assessment.
Your plan will account for your students’ unique learning preferences, interests, and readiness
levels, and include flexible grouping practices, tiered assignments, and student choice of
content, process, and product. Finally, you will learn how to manage a differentiated classroom
and foster student responsibility and independence.

Co-Teaching Strategies
In this course, you will learn strategies and best practices for how to build a successful
instructional team that can effectively meet the diverse needs of today’s classrooms. You’ll
examine six different co-teaching models and how to best apply them in your context, and you’ll
also gather tools for effective classroom management, lesson planning, and differentiation in a
co-teaching classroom. In addition, you’ll learn how to define the various co-teaching roles and
responsibilities; plan for and execute instruction to optimize learning in a Universal Design for
Learning (UDL) framework; and establish and maintain a positive rapport with your co-teaching
partners and students for a powerful and engaging learning experience.

Data Assessment Strategies

ePortfolio Tools for the Classroom
In this course, you will construct an e-portfolio strategy for your classroom and incorporate best
practices to enhance the learning experience for your students. You’ll survey research
supporting the positive impact of this type of project and select the e-portfolio tools that will work
best for your students’ diverse needs and your specific educational context. In addition, you’ll
learn how to structure your assessment plans to better integrate a portfolio project so you can
more easily compile students’ learning artifacts.

Better Teaching and Learning with Formative Assessment

In this course, you will learn how to use formative assessments to quickly and effectively gauge
student learning. If you find that students are struggling, you’ll be able to analyze and apply the
data from formative assessments to modify your instruction immediately. In addition, you will
develop techniques for effective questioning and feedback to help students’ course-correct long
before a final test, project, or writing assignment. By the end of this course, you will be armed
with numerous strategies for ensuring that all of your students are truly mastering the material
for each step of your instruction.

Bell Ringers and Exit Slips: Creating Powerful Beginning and

Endings
In this course, you will develop concrete, actionable strategies for choosing bell-ringers and exit
slips based on curricular objectives. You’ll learn how to differentiate bell-ringer and exit slip
activities for diverse learners (e.g., English language learners, students with special needs) and
formatively assess student work so you can modify instruction going forward. In addition, you’ll
review examples of bell-ringers and exit slips for different subject areas so you can engage
students in creative and critical thinking and incorporate these activities into daily instruction.

Sports and Games: Instructional Models in PE

In this course, you’ll develop strategies for identifying competency-based, goal-oriented games
that are appropriate for K–12 physical education, as well as tools for evaluating students as they
develop a lifelong interest in fitness. You’ll learn best practices for creating effective PE
instruction, and how to modify your teaching to interest and encourage students who are
English language learners, come from different cultural backgrounds, have special needs, or
exhibit exceptional athletic talent. In addition, you’ll explore instructional and assessment
approaches such as direct instruction, the Sport Education Model, and Teaching Games for
Understanding.

Crafting Student Assessment in the Arts

In this course, you will evaluate the importance of authentic formative and summative
assessment strategies for your arts classroom. You’ll examine assessment in the context of the
National Core Arts Standards and explore several different techniques for evaluating students’
performance according to your learning objectives. In addition, you’ll learn how to use effective
formative assessment and feedback to drive instruction and facilitate student progress.

The 4 C’s of Project Based Learning

In this course, you will take an in-depth look at Gold Standard PBL practices and how they
compare to the projects you currently use in your classroom. You’ll practice creating PBL
questions and units that address the Four Cs and review a number of ideas and examples of
projects and rubrics you might be able to use in your classroom. In addition, you’ll consider the
challenges you might face when instituting PBL and create plans for addressing those
challenges. Using the strategies from this course, you will be able to implement a Four Cs-
focused PBL unit in your classroom to set your students up for college and career success.

Using Data to Drive Continuous Improvement in Education

In this course, you will learn how a continuous improvement mind-set leads to multifaceted
success in the modern learning community. You will also examine the continuous improvement
process and see how it connects to having a shared vision among students, families, and
colleagues. You will determine how to collect and analyze quality data to inform the continuous
improvement process and explore best practices for addressing the needs you identify based on
the data. With the knowledge you gain in this course, you will be able to develop a school
improvement initiative that fosters collaboration, responsibility, innovation, best teaching
practices, and success for all stakeholders.