Online Seminars

For Teachers

Academic Language for English Learners: What Teachers Need to Know (WKS ELL2)

This five-hour online seminar will help general education teachers target and improve academic language for all learners across disciplines and grade levels, particularly those who are learning English. Participants will identify the differences between social and academic language, analyze the academic language demands of a text, and examine research-based strategies for targeting academic language development in all domains of language. (5 hours)

Advocating for English Language Learners Within the Scope of State and Federal Law (WKS ELL29)

In an ever-shifting political and regulatory environment, teachers have more responsibility than ever before to not only teach but advocate for ELLs and their families. This seminar will familiarize participants with laws and regulations regarding ENL education both historically and in the present day, as well as those laws and regulations that are germane to many ELLs and their families, including but not limited to issues related to immigration and civil rights. Furthermore, participants will learn of support services available to ELLs and best practices in advocacy. (5 hours)

Culturally Responsive Classrooms (WKS ELL6)

In order to meet the needs our diverse student population, educators must possess the mindset and skills needed to foster a positive learning environment for all students as it is critical to their academic success. Culturally responsive instructional practices honor and support this diversity, connecting learning to students' cultural and linguistic background while building on prior experiences. Participants will learn how to build on their current practices to create a culturally responsive classroom for their students. (5 hours)

Educating for Equity (WKS PROF233)

An equitable educational setting is not something that we create and then it is done. Rather than a single destination, equity is derived from the conscious actions we take every day. Every choice we make is a decision on how we will include our students and honor their identities in our daily practices. This seminar will assist participants to identify inequities in schools and examine ways in which educators can move beyond the comfort of what they have always done in the effort to create a more culturally affirming and culturally responsive environment that fulfills the promise of diversity, equity, and inclusion. (5 hours)

Equitable Assessment: Implications for Instruction of English Learners (WKS ELL23)

Assessment is a powerful tool for teachers as the results are a quantifiable measure of students’ knowledge of the content. As an integral part of the teaching and learning cycles, assessment is a key focus for the teachers of English learners as it influences future instructional practice. This online seminar will guide participants through understanding the critical role both formative and summative assessments play and exploring practical assessment strategies for validly measuring English learners’ knowledge in various content and grade-level classrooms. (5 hours)

Establishing an Optimal Co-teaching Classroom with English Learners in Mind (WKS ELL24)

What do teachers need to know and do prior to stepping in front of students as a co-teaching team? Participants of this online seminar will learn how to create a positive relationship by building a foundation for collaboration, welcoming the strengths and contributions each teacher brings to the partnership, and exploring ways to establish a presence where there is trust and respect. Through the co-teaching models for various classroom environments, participants will gain planning strategies to aid all students to learn at higher levels. (5 hours)

Finding Success with Long-Term ELLs (WKS ELL38)

Like any other student population, ELLs are not a monolith by any means. Instead, they are a student demographic made up of students with a dizzying array of gifts and needs. One subgroup within this demographic is Long-term English Language Learners, or LTELLs. In this seminar, you will understand the determination of an LTELL, explore research-based recommendations of effective approaches that maximize their strengths while addressing their needs, engage with promising practices for instruction that support LTELLs in classrooms, and consider suggested districtwide programmatic policies. (5 hours)

Growing Great Minds with Growth Mindset (WKS ELL35)

The perspective a person brings when doing anything in life can certainly impact their desired outcome.  As educators, we want our students to discover a passion for learning that they can carry with them long after they leave our classrooms. Fostering a growth mindset will teach our students to understand the importance of mistakes and how to use them to their best advantage as mistakes prompt us to explore alternatives in the classroom and in life. Simply changing the way we interact with ourselves and others will open an endless world of possibilities. (5 hours)

Helping English Learners Succeed with a Multi-tiered System of Support (MTSS) Framework (WKS ELL31)

In a highly political climate of compliance in schools and a growing diversity in schools, teachers are required more than ever to implement culturally sustaining evidenced-based models of support that address the needs of students who are English language learners (ELLs) and those with disabilities. In the past, teachers have waited for students to fail before referring them to the student support team in their schools. Today, MTSS offers a prevention approach rather that a "wait to fail" method as it provides appropriate and responsive instruction for multilingual learners (MLLs) with and without disabilities in schools. In this seminar, you will look at how MTSS offers a tiered system of culturally-sustaining instructional practices, data-informed problem solving and academic and linguistic progress monitoring to address the needs of all learners, specifically those of multilingual learners with disabilities. (5 hours)

Inclusive Classrooms for Newcomer ELLs (WKS ELL33)

Newcomer ELLs are recently-arrived immigrants representative of a range of languages, cultures, school experiences, literacy skills, and immigration circumstances. While they face myriad challenges to adapt and succeed in their new home and schools, they bring with them a world of culturally diverse experiences and knowledge. Guided by Eight Promising Practices, educators will learn ways to create a classroom environment that promotes diversity and inclusion, social-emotional well-being and development, models encouragement, support and resilience and engages newcomer ELLs with high-quality instruction. (5 hours)

Increasing Multilingual Learner Family Engagement (WKS ELL34)

Families are a critical component of their child’s success in school. Their responsibilities include providing a healthy environment and teaching lifelong learning habits that will enable academic success. We know that students whose families are engaged in school communities have a more successful educational experience. This seminar will focus on what culturally sensitive engagement looks like for multilingual learner (MLL) families and how to create an effective plan for your school or district. (5 hours)

Intervention and Identification: Supporting ELLs with Ability Differences (WKS ELL25)

Although all students demonstrate a wide range of strengths, needs, and social characteristics, the increasing diversity among English language learners (ELLs) presents puzzling questions for education professionals. This is especially true of ELLs who, despite receiving appropriate language-related supports and services, still do not demonstrate adequate growth or achievement in school. In these cases, we ask the question: Is this issue related to language acquisition or to disability? In this online seminar, you will explore critical issues related to interventions for ELLs who present unique learning challenges, as well as the assessment and disability identification processes which occur once intervention is proven ineffective. (5 hours)

Redesigning Teaching Through Instructional Technology (WKS PROF190)

Technology has the power to fundamentally change and even reinvent how instruction is delivered, as well as how we provide appropriate instruction for students with a wide variety of needs. However, technology, like any other tool, requires knowing how and when to use it in order to maximize its efficacy and provide opportunities for true inquiry. In this seminar, we will explore K-12 appropriate models for working with ALL students (e.g. ELLs and students with disabilities), demonstrating when and how to strategically use technology in any scenario (e.g. classroom, hybrid, distance learning, etc.), as well as standards-based best practices for fundamentally redesigning instruction using technology across the curriculum. (5 hours)

Scaffolding Strategies to Provide Equitable Access (WKS PROF268)

Scaffolding is a term that comes from psychologist Lev Vygotsky's theory of the Zone of Proximal Development. Scaffolds consist of temporary supports that amplify rather than simplify and are used to help an English language learner/Multilingual learner work just beyond the level that can be achieved independently. Today, scaffolding is an essential practice as it allows educators to identify the needs of each ELL/MLL and provide them with supports to build on prior knowledge, internalize new information, and ultimately master grade-level content and skills. (7 hours)

Strategies for SIFE Success! (WKS ELL26)

Students with Interrupted/Inconsistent Formal Education (SIFE) are English language learners who enter U.S. schools at least two years below grade level in reading and/or math in their native language due to underschooling. These learners bring with them rich cultural and life experiences but are doing double the work in learning English and academic skills simultaneously. Teachers looking for support in how to address the intense needs of this population will benefit from this course. In this seminar, participants will examine common characteristics and experiences of the SIFE population and learn how to design classroom environments and apply specific strategies that honor students’ backgrounds to foster SIFE success. (5 hours)

Supporting Ells/Mlls: A Strengths-Based Approach to Social Emotional Learning (WKS ELL39)

This seminar empowers educators of English learners/Multilingual learners (ELLs/MLLs) to support the whole child through a strengths-based, culturally responsive manner. It focuses on building resilience in historically underserved and underrepresented students by understanding the stressors that they face. Participants also learn how to engage families and create a positive and equitable classroom environment. Through seminar activities, they explore Social Emotional Learning (SEL) to cultivate skills like communication, conflict resolution, emotional management, goal setting, empathy, and responsible decision-making. They gain practical strategies and tools to create a supportive classroom culture for developing social-emotional skills in ELLs/MLLs as well as ways to incorporate SEL into the curriculum to foster academic and personal growth. (5 hours)

Transforming the Lives of Students with Trauma-Informed Schools (WKS ELL30)

Designed for K-12 educators and school-related professionals, this 5-hour online seminar addresses how trauma and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) impact students' abilities to form trusting relationships, learn new concepts and self-regulate their behaviors in and out of school. The impact of early trauma on brain development and early attachment will be explored. While the topics addressed are relevant for supporting and sustaining the needs of ALL students, time will be spent examining trauma specifically experienced by ELLs such as the impact of prior experiences, pre-flight, flight and post-flight, and how to create a safe and supportive environment that is conducive to learning. The ideas presented will provide a new lens through which to see maladaptive behaviors and provide the necessary tools and strategies to support student healing and growth, both academically and social-emotionally. (5 hours)

Translating IEP Goals into Classroom Accommodations (WKS ELL32)

Education in NY state has shifted to become progressively more inclusive for students thus requiring more collaboration between educators. Classroom teachers are faced with a wider array of abilities and proficiency levels in the classroom and are asked to differentiate curriculum to best meet the needs of all students. As the number of students with IEPs (Individualized Education Programs) in the classroom has increased, so has the expectation that classroom teachers will help students to meet IEP goals while maintaining a rigorous standards-based curriculum. This online seminar will offer accommodations that remove barriers and provide equal access to learning for all students with special needs in the general classroom setting including English language learners with IEPs. (5 hours)

These seminars can be used to meet CTLE hours and C.R. Part 154 Language Acquisition requirements.

For districts wanting to request online seminars for their educators, download our Online Seminar Request Form.