Accelerating Student Growth

Online Seminars for CTLE

Academic Language for English Learners: What Teachers Need to Know (5 hours) - 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.

Advanced Assessment Strategies (10 hours) - Participants will explore strategies to diversify and provide choice among assessments (including group/team assessments) that are aligned with outcomes and State Standards.

Advanced Grouping Strategies (5 hours) - This seminar explores advanced use of materials and resources that support outcomes and engage students in meaningful learning.

Effective Instructional Outcomes (8 hours) - In this seminar, participants will create and analyze instructional outcomes that represent high expectations and rigor, build on prior learning and connect to other disciplines as well as how to differentiate the learning experiences for diverse learners.

Establishing an Optimal Co-teaching Classroom with English Learners in Mind (5 hours) - 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.

Equitable Assessment: Implications for Instruction of English Learners (5 hours) - 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.

Fundamentals of Assessment (10 hours) - This seminar examines the fundamentals of planning and designing both formative and summative assessments that are congruent with instructional outcomes. Participants will design new and improve existing assessments (aligned with outcomes and State Standards) to use with their students.

Generating Purposeful Discussions (7 hours) - This seminar explores how effective discussion techniques promote student engagement with content, create opportunities for students to reflect upon what they have learned, and encourage student consideration of new possibilities. Participants will evaluate how to support a classroom where students assume high levels of partic­ipation in classroom discussions and take responsibility for their own learning.

Helping English Learners Succeed with a Multi-tiered System of Support (MTSS) Framework (5 hours) – MTSS offers a prevention approach rather that a "wait to fail" method and provides appropriate and responsive instruction for multilingual learners 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.  

Instruction in Assessment (10 hours) - Participants will gain extensive experience with monitoring and adjusting student learning, providing feedback to students, and facilitating student self-assessment and progress monitoring. This seminar also explores uses for authentic and performance assessment as well as increased uses of formative assessment (aligned with outcomes and State Standards).

Intervention and Identification: Supporting ELLs with Ability Differences (5 hours) - 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.

Participating in Student-Led Discussion (5 hours) - Participants will explore how to teach their students to ask high-quality questions and ways to invite all stu­dents’ views to be heard. A solid foundation of student responsibility and accountability create the conditions that must be in place for meaningful discussions where all voices are heard and listened to.

Preparing to Participate: Student-Led Discussions (5 hours) - Participants will explore techniques designed to ensure that all students contribute to classroom discussions in an environment where students help to ensure that all voices are heard. This seminar explores how to ask high-quality questions that deepen student understanding, methods for promoting student learning through discussion, and ways to ensure meaningful student contributions to the discussions.

Productive Student Grouping (5 hours) - This seminar focuses on student choice in grouping, student reflection, and further explores more complex grouping methods as well as teaching students how to work productively. Participants will explore how to develop groups that meet the intended learning of lessons.

Promoting Student Engagement (8 hours) - This seminar explores activities and assignments that promote deep learning, engage all students, and encourage students to initiate or adapt activities to enhance their understanding. Participants will also examine instructional materials and resources that engage students, how to provide student choice among materials, lesson structure and pacing that allows opportunity for reflection and closure.

Questions that Facilitate Taking Action (5 hours) - This seminar increases participant knowledge of how teachers can use questioning to advance student learning. Participants will discover how to ask idea and prediction questions that encourage students to set up the actions that can be taken to apply or reinforce learning. With this advanced level of questioning, participants will also analyze how to teach students how to ask (and identify) questions and reflect on peer comments to deepen their understanding.

Questions that Gather Information (5 hours) - This seminar explores how teachers can use questioning to advance student learning. Participants will discover how to ask insight, appraisal, summary, and evaluation questions that encourage students to analyze information. They will also analyze how to teach students how to ask (and identify) questions and reflect on peer comments to deepen student understanding.

Questions that Work with Information (5 hours) - This seminar deepens participant knowledge of how to use questioning to advance student learning. Participants will discover how to ask insight, appraisal, summary, and evaluation questions that encourage students to analyze information. With this additional level of questioning, they will also analyze how to teach students how to ask (and identify) questions and reflect on peer comments to deepen their understanding.

Redesigning Teaching Through Instructional Technology (5 hours) – 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 demonstrating when and how to strategically use technology in any scenario, as well as standards-based best practices for fundamentally redesigning instruction using technology across the curriculum.

Sparking Student Engagement (5 hours) - In this seminar, participants will implement and evaluate various instructional strategies such as project-based learning and active learning to promote engagement and participation in the classroom.

Students Grouping and Supportive Resources (5 hours) - Participants will examine appropriate uses of technology, groups designed to enhance student learning, and materials and resources that are suitable to all students. This seminar emphasizes the need for student choice and input in the design process.

Translating IEP Goals into Classroom Accommodations (5 hours) - As the number of students with IEPs 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.

Types of Learning Activities (5 hours) - This seminar focuses exclusively on types of learning activities that promote deep learning aligned with the goals of the lesson and allow students to exercise some choice.

Online and Remote Courses for Graduate Credit

Reclaiming Personalized Learning (CURI 6533) - Now is the time to create classrooms, schools, and school districts that will offer students, teachers, and administrators a wide range of strategies to reclaim personalized learning. Personalized learning doesn't mean individualization of curriculum. This class will help educators restore equity and humanity to their classrooms and schools through personalization of education. The lessons will help teachers shape whole-class instruction, leverage small-group interactions, and nurture a student's inner dialogue. The class will also help teachers design curriculum with a flexible frame that helps to emphasize the state standards. Teachers will be able to design new lessons that create multiple opportunities for students to become global thinkers and prepare them for a changing world. The overarching goal will be that teachers will reclaim personalized learning for all students that they interact with. 

8 Cultural Forces to Transform Our Schools (CURI 6570) - In this course teachers will learn how to create "cultures of thinking": places where a group's collective as well as individual thinking is valued, visible, and actively promoted every day. They will learn the eight cultural forces that educators must master to transform our schools from the old standard of education to the new model requiring global thinkers, problem solvers, and independent learners. The teachers will learn the eight forces of language, time environment, opportunities, routines, modeling, interactions, and expectations. They will learn the latest research behind each cultural force, techniques to utilize the force in an educational setting, and strategies to change their classroom and school environments. They will also learn and develop the three core ideas based on the cultures: schools must be about developing students' thinking dispositions, the need to make students' thinking visible, and the crucial role of classroom culture in supporting and shaping learning. The course will also contain strategies to move toward transformation in teacher's schools and classroom. They will explore how to collaborate in a positive way with peers, how to build a vision across a school district and how to create opportunities for this transformation.

Flipped Classroom to Mastery Flip and Beyond (CURI 6538) - This course covers the flipped classroom approach as it relates to teaching the 21st century classrooms. Topics that are covered include the development of a flipped classroom, creating a flipped classroom, the benefits of flipping a classroom, how to implement a flipped classroom, the challenges of a flipped classroom, and how to create a positive learning environment in a flipped classroom. This course will help participants develop a plan for administration, parent and student buy in to a flipped model. It will also show how to assess the importance of the non-traditional approach to learning. 

Multiple Intelligences: Theory & Practice (SED 672) - This course translates the research of Howard Gardner into practical, dynamic, and motivational teaching strategies. Participants learn how Gardner derived his theory, the definitions of the eight intelligences, and how these intelligences can be developed in students at all grade levels. The course provides participants practical strategies for awakening all of the eight intelligences, techniques for developing them, and tools to structure lessons and units that incorporate all of the multiple intelligences.

Active Learning in the Contemporary Classroom (CURI 6569) - Do we need active learning in today's classroom? Active learning is a form of learning in which teaching strives to involve students in the learning process more directly than in other methods. Active learning is important in the contemporary classroom. It creates a high level of self-monitoring, checking for understanding, and the application of various strategies. In doing this it helps students distinguish and differentiate between important and unimportant information, analyze, compare and contrast and dig deeper for meaning. This course is designed to help educators determine if contemporary classrooms serve as a context for active learning. In this course, participants will explore various practical active learning strategies and will learn how to successfully implement them into the classroom. Some of these strategies will include Flipped Classroom, Collaborative Grouping, Interactive Games, Stations, Reciprocal Questioning and Flexible Seating and Space Design. These strategies involve students working together and individually. Participants will learn how to create the right design for engaging students.

In-Person and Virtual Synchronous Seminars

Assessments to Identify Gaps - Participants will discuss uses of formative assessments to identify gaps and make adjustments that provide various access points for students (1 hour)

Assessments to Inform, Pace, and Guide - Participants discuss the use of diagnostic, formative, and summative assessments to inform, plan, pace, and guide their instruction.
(1 hour)

Co-teaching: Building the Partnership - Participants of this workshop will experience and embed strategies to develop a positive co-teaching partnership, learn how to apply the co-teaching models for various classroom environments, and gain planning strategies to ensure the learning of all students at high levels. (3 hours)

Co-teaching: Strengthening the Collaboration - You’ve been co-teaching together for a while…. Now what? Co-teachers will walk away with concrete steps for intentional reflection, effective communication, and thoughtful planning. Beyond this, co-teachers will also become equipped to rise above pitfalls and challenge each other to take their teaching to higher levels, where ALL students are bound to thrive. (3 hours)

Designing Effective Instruction and Learning for English Learners - The five high-leverage principles presented in this seminar synthesize the work of leading scholars and educators and reflect basic practices that can improve teaching and learning for English learners across the content areas. Participants will examine evidence-based instructional strategies that can be incorporated into daily lesson plans and routines as well as determine effective ways to teach and assess both language and disciplinary content. (3 hours)

Designing and Differentiating Assessments - Participants will discuss providing multiple opportunities for students to showcase abilities and differentiating assessment methodologies. (1 hour)

Constructivist Teaching and Learning - This seminar will address one of the priorities of the NYS Teaching Standards. Teachers must consider how each student learns. Understanding how and what Constructivist Teaching and Learning means in the classroom. Participants will explore how students learn when they “build” the learning for themselves. (2 hours)

Crafting a Learning Community for Classroom and Virtual Discussions - Effective and powerful classroom/virtual discussions do not just occur; they require a learning community that fosters their development. The use of different types of norms, selected scaffolds, and knowledge of the stages and continuum of classroom discussion are explored. (3 hours)

Designing Assessment to Monitor Student Progress toward Instructional Goals - In this session, teachers will discuss how they assess learning experiences that they create or coordinate, tracking what students do and do not learn while evaluating the effectiveness of their instructional strategies. (1 hour)

Digital Learning Resources in K-12 Classrooms - This virtual seminar provides practical tips and tricks to help you make better use of tech tools, many of which you may already have access to. Better utilization of digital learning resources means you will work in a more effective and efficient manner saving your most precious resource—time—while also thoroughly engaging and empowering your students. (3 hours)

Effective Questioning - Educators will identify gaps in students’ interest, experience and ability that challenge student learning and then identify strategies to bridge those gaps through effective questioning. (1 hour)

Effective Questioning - 400 questions a day. That’s the average number of questions teachers ask in a day. How many of these questions challenge students to think and demonstrate meaning? In this seminar, participants will explore the different purposes of questioning, classify questions according to purpose, and better understand Bloom’s Taxonomy and Webb’s Depth of Knowledge. (3 hours)

Growth Mindset: Growing Minds to Achieve Success - Motivating students to have a growth mindset is crucial in developing active, confident learners. This seminar explores how to develop an environment that encourages a growth mindset, discusses growth vs. fixed mindset and engages participants on how to sustain mindset changes in the classroom. (3 hours)

Including English Learners: Strategies for Academic Success - With so much attention focused on helping English learners meet grade-level expectations, teachers are looking for what works. In this seminar, participants explore four research-based recommendations for engaging English learners in subject area instruction. Participants will view real life classroom examples and experience practical hands-on activities that can be applied across grade levels and content areas. (3 hours)

Instructional Supports for English Language Learners - English language learners are the fastest growing student population in schools, and they must be considered when the NYS Next Generation standards are being implemented. Geared for general education teachers, this seminar will help participants design effective content-area instruction while they explore research-based strategies, instructional guidelines and resources for helping ELLs succeed. (3 hours)

Knowledge of Content and Instructional Planning - Participants will discuss ways they make connections within/among disciplines. (1 hour)

Looking at Student Work - In this session, teachers will closely examine student work samples for patterns and trends among their assessment practice (1 hour)

SRP and K-12 Practitioners: Meet Individual Needs - Participants will discuss how to create a culture of learning, utilizing multiple methods to meet individual student needs (1 hour)

Planning for the Success of ELLs in Content Classes - This seminar provides the opportunity to examine research-based strategies and approaches that assist ELLs in meeting rigorous grade-level standards through a step-by-step breakdown of the lesson planning process that includes scaffolded language and content objectives. Participants will experience a variety of motivating and engaging instructional strategies that can be strategically applied to lesson plans. (3 hours and 6 hours)

Planning Goals and Instructional Goal Setting - Participants will discuss how to create a culture of learning, utilizing multiple methods to meet individual needs. (1 hour)

Purposeful Use of Instructional Technology - The power of instructional technology resides not in any particular application, website, or device, but in how teachers employ these tools to advance student learning. In this seminar, you will explore K-12 appropriate models demonstrating when and how to strategically plan for technology for the use of technology in any scenario, as well as standards-based best practices for using technology to fundamentally redesign instruction across the curriculum. (3 hours)

Self-Assessment for Student Learning - This seminar engages participants in discussing and exploring ways to engage students in self-assessment to be reflective of their experiences and foster a sense of student agency. (1 hour)

Teaching for Clarity to Improve Student Achievement - Teaching with clarity allows the students to see the “big picture” and the what and why of their learning, engaging students of poverty by fostering a strong academic environment and child well-being.  The seminar will identify ways to integrate clarity in teacher practices. (3 hours)

Teaching Students to Ask Questions - Students who initiate questioning in the classroom engage in higher-order thinking and advance their understanding of the content, demonstrating self-motivation.  Participants will be introduced to, and work closely with, a protocol proven to encourage active classroom involvement and the development of questioning skills in students (3 hours)

Thinking Systematically about Student Practice - Monitoring student progress is not limited to formative/summative assessments, it is also observing students work in the classroom as they process an idea or concept while working toward understanding.  These observations inform the accomplished teacher’s planning and preparation of assessments, as well as lesson structures. (1 hour)

Understanding English Language Learners - As a teacher, what can you do with students in your class who are learning English? How can you help them succeed? This seminar focuses on understanding the stages of verbal acquisition and identifying variables that influence the language acquisition process for ELLs. Strategies that have been shown to successfully engage ELLs are examined and instructional and assessment accommodations are demonstrated. (3 hours)

Understanding the Role of Formative Assessment – Participants will learn how to evaluate assessment items for depth of knowledge, classify questions to their level of rigor and write assessment questions for different levels of rigor. (3 hours)