Unconference Your Professional Development
More than ever, educators are revolutionizing professional development by turning to participant-driven learning. Teachers are realizing in greater numbers that they are less likely to benefit from driving to a specific location to gather in a classroom-like environment around a whiteboard for a day-long presentation. Teacher Essentials® provides a comprehensive learning library for teachers wanting to “unconference”.
Teacher Essentials® lessons can be used as a catalyst for discussion during professional development events, focusing the group on a specific topic area. Alternatively, teachers can select what they want to learn from the catalog and work in groups of any size, or as individuals to build instructional strategies in areas of personal interest or need. Anywhere, anytime access means the lessons will fit any schedule.
Content is divided into the following categories:
Planning and Building
23 course modules including subjects such as establishing the classroom climate, planning the physical environment, managing the classroom, planning effective lessons, the essential elements of results-focused lesson study, disaggregating data and data essentials for improving student performance, understanding teams, and much more.
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Classroom Instruction
31 course modules including subjects such as best teaching practices, cooperative learning, differentiating instruction, effective questioning strategies, motivating materials and strategies for readers, and much more.
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ELL and Exceptional Students
11 course modules dealing with teaching exceptional students, the history of educational inclusion, the Individual Education Program (IEP), language acquisition research, sheltered instruction, assessment of ELL, and much more.
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School Counseling
15 course modules that range from more encompassing topics such as making learning relevant to all students, to specific issues such as dealing with family and social problems. Character education emphasizes the need to help students become responsible and caring contributors to society. Students need to demonstrate growth in social and emotional development, as well as academic development and career readiness. These areas of focus are not separate, but are intertwined, with each affecting the other. Educators must use data to understand student needs, and provide counseling and interventions to remove barriers to learning and achievement.
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