Classroom Management
 | Course Description:
This course is designed to assist educators in getting their students to become engaged and motivated. We will discuss how to get your classroom interested and involved in the learning process. Students who may have become bored or tired of the same day by day learning styles can become engaged again with the right strategies. A variety of practical and simple strategies will be shared. A multitude of materials will be discussed and distributed on how to motivate and engage your students again. Educators will learn to implement creative techniques to get your students to motivate themselves both physically and mentally and get involved once again. Educational articles and research in this area will also be studied. This is a must for all teachers of all disciplines K-12.
ON-LINE (3 credits/45 hours) in-service credit only
Instructor: Kim Kittredge kkittredgeliips@gmail.com
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 | The ability to engage our learners is a technique all educators must possess. Formulating ideas and strategies to springboard discussions are tantamount for students today. Recognizing the need to enhance the learning environment will lead students towards success. In this course, participants will explore a myriad of strategies to assist them in the questioning process. Text dependent questions will be at the forefront as well as strategies from Fountas & Pinnell, differentiation techniques, student centered lessons, technological ideas, web components, and so much more. Teachers will completely enhance their students’ thinking. A must for all educators in the K-12 Classroom!!!
ON-LINE (3 credits/45 hours) in service credit only | |
| Schools experience a wide variety of crises that have the potential to harm the mental and physical health, learning environment, and safety of students and educators. A school crisis is any traumatic event that seriously disrupts coping and problem-solving abilities of students and school staff. It is typically sudden, unexpected, dramatic and forceful and may even threaten survival. A crisis can cause a drastic and tragic change to the environment. This change is generally overwhelming and uncontrollable as well as unwanted and frightening. It may create a sense of helplessness, hopelessness, and vulnerability combined with a loss of safety.
This course will provide resources, tools, recommendations, and evidence-based practices for incorporating best practices in school mental health into school crisis plans. Different types of crisis will be discussed and strategies will be developed for teachers of all grade levels and subject areas.
ON-LINE (3 credits/45 hours) In-service credit only | |
| Learning is a lot like bike riding. Once you have the knack, you never really forget the skill. Nor do you forget the thrill of learning a new ability or understanding a complex idea. You are a lifelong learner and you love it.
Why have so many students never discovered this thrill? Why are they coasting when they could be racing along in the educational Tour de France with their peers? What can teachers do to engage the disengaged student?
This course will help teachers keep students highly engaged throughout an entire lesson and encourage students to contribute their ideas and insights as a way of enhancing their own and other students’ learning.
Learning Outcomes
At the completion of this course students will be able to:
1. Expect students to help define topics and determine how they can be studied
2. Link content to students’ prior knowledge and experience.
3. Ensure that students are mentally engaged in all activities and assignments
4. Allow students to initiate and adapt learning activities and projects.
5. Form instructional groups that work to achieve learning goals.
6. Choose suitable instructional materials for lessons and encourage students to select resources that will help them learn
7. Teach highly coherent, well-planned, and well-paced lessons that include time for student reflection
ON-LINE (3 credits/45 hours) In-service credit only | |
 | Instructor: Gayle Meinkes-Lumia – gaylelumia@yahoo.com
In-Service Course – 3 Credits – 45 Hours
Course Description: Facilitating the means for students to become leaders and succeed significantly in any classroom must be the role of all teachers. Acknowledging student strengths, providing ownership, encouraging their potentialities, all falls within the confines of the course. Participants will learn to create a vision for their students, empower them through effective coaching and feedback, and guide them with training, tools, and time. A wealth of strategies will be rendered and the means for implementing them full addressed.
*A must for K-12 educators* | |
 | *New Course* Fall 2024
Instructor: Kim Kittredge Kkittredgeliips@gmail.com
3 credits/45 hrs in service
Finding the right balanced in your classroom can be difficult at times. As an educator we try to be positive with our students. We aim to balance our teaching material, our time management, our organization, differentiation, grading, structure and all while trying keeping a positive attitude. Maintaining balance is an art form for educators. In this course teachers will explore several of the strategies for balancing your teaching every day in order to create a positive classroom. This course is a must for educators grades K-12. | |
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Gayle Meinkes-Lumia – (gaylelumia@yahoo.com)
Tackling controversial topics and embracing cultural differences can be challenging for teachers and students alike. This course will provide teachers with ways in which to apply cultural understanding to their pedagogy as well as empower students with courageous discussions about tough topics as poverty, racism, LGBTQ+ issues, violence, bullying, etc. A myriad of ideas and activities will be utilized including evidence-based writing assignments, civic learning activities, project-based learning, as well as essential communication tactics. All disciplines are welcome! A must for all K-12 Teachers!!!! | |
 | *New Course* Fall 2024
Instructor: Gayle Meinkes-Lumia – gaylelumia@yahoo.com
In-Service Class – 3 Credits – 45 Hours
Course Description: Since the onset of the pandemic, so many students and families have become disconnected from school and absenteeism has skyrocketed. Re-engaging our students is essential for their success. Teachers have tremendous power to influence student attendance. In this course teachers will learn about the importance of using supportive rather than punitive language surrounding absenteeism, building meaningful relationships with families to support student attendance, engaging learners utilizing curiosity and wonder, and working strategically to bridge the gap between home and school.
*A must for K-12 Educators* | |
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Initiating an on-line instructional platform can be difficult for teachers and students alike. Assisting our students with achieving their maximum potential, discovering the wonder of learning, and immersing themselves in creative activities will be at the forefront of the course. Strategies for reluctant learners will be focused on as well as lesson creations that are relevant to students’ cultures. A variety of ideas for multiple subject matters will be taught, including award winning books, mathematical strategies, and historical games. Teachers will emerge with lessons that show how to value quality over quantity and teach effectively.. All grade levels and subjects welcome.
ON-LINE (3 credits/45 hours) in-service credit only | |
 | Giving Students More Authority – Facilitating Meaningful Classroom Discussions in the K-12 Classroom PDLI 9130 (45 HOURS/3 GRADUATE CREDITS) Instructor: Gayle Meinkes-Lumia – gaylelumia@yahoo.comCourse Description: Providing students with high quality discussions that promote learning and engagement is tantamount to teaching. High quality discussions include content-specific ideas that spark students to express different points of view, reflect on their own opinions, varying perspectives, and engage in democratic dialogues. Education that develops deep reasoning, critical thinking, and conceptual and practical tools for inculcating knowledge is tantamount for students today. Teaching in this modality empowers our learners and enables them to recognize that proactive engagement is the key to their success. In this course, participants will be instructed on the pedagogical principles that promote student learning and democratic engagement. They will learn the ways in which students themselves facilitate learning and streamline their own thinking. Teachers will be instructed on ways in which to act as mediators and not sages, including the ins and outs of effective questioning. Rich discussion tactics will be integrated as fishbowl techniques, Socratic Seminars, Jigsaws, formative assessments, graphic organizers, gallery walks – all of which engage the learner and provide for optimum efficacy. Goals and Objectives: Upon completion of the course, participants will be better prepared to: • Understand the impact of effective classroom discussions
• Comprehend the respective ways in which teachers can transform their classrooms via classroom dialogues
• Generate meaningful strategies that challenge students
• Develop deep learning outcomes for their classrooms
• Integrate a myriad of learning activities that challenge their learners
• Engage their learners with 21st century tools of instruction | |
 | Giving Students Voice: Teaching them to Debate, Discuss and Argue with Authority and Power *New Course* Dates: Spring 2025 – March 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 12, 13, 18, 19.In our society today student need to be taught how to use their voice more than ever. This course will provide educators with ways to add more discussion and debating in the classroom. Teachers will also work on creating better opportunities for students to converse and discuss. Students will also be exposed to written arguments, as well as evaluating the debate skills of others. Students will eventually learn how to teach debate, discussion, and argumentative skills. Educators will emerge from this course with a plethora of skills on all aspects of voice, debate and discussion in their classrooms. Once students feel the power of their voice, they will realize the authority it gives them. This course is a must for educators K-12. Instructor: Kim Kittredge kkittredgeliips@gmail.com 3 Credits In Service Course (45 Hours) | |
 | How often do we have unruly children in our classrooms who defy the rules, resist authority, and cause a general disruption? While it is easy to dismiss these students, perhaps there is a way to get through to them. That process begins by understanding them. Who/What are they going home to? What is going on in their lives outside of their academic responsibilities? Teachers enrolled in this course will explore practical methods of breaking down walls and communicating with those tough students as a means of facilitating a more comfortable, productive classroom.
ON-LINE (3 credits/45 hours) in-service credit only | |
| *New Course Instructor: Gayle Meinkes-Lumia- gaylelumia@yahoo.com Summer 2025 Dates – July 14th-July 18th Course Credits- 3 Credits/45 Hours Course Description: The hallmark of high achieving students is the power of grit. Possessing this ability to persevere despite any adversity is something that needs to be instructed to our learners. Participants will learn how to recharge their students through commitment, long-term goal reaching, cultivation of ideas, passion for the disciplines they study, and inner dedication to themselves. A myriad of strategies will be discussed to unlock the mindset of their students, including small passages from historical freedom fighters, analysis of the grit characteristics, and remedies for facing challenges and obstacles. *A Must for K-12 Educators* | |
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Course Description:
This course will explore the difference between having your students learn independently and having them learn in groups. Educators will discuss which way is more effective; or is a combination of both? Teachers will discuss strategies for effective cooperative learning, student centered learning and Reciprocal learning, as well as individual task learning such as reading comprehension, silent reading or vocabulary analysis. A series of Pair/Share lessons will be discussed as well as student-centered lessons. Educators will share lessons to facilitate in their own classrooms. A plethora of activities will be discussed for teachers to bring back and utilize. This course is a must for teacher of grades K-12.
*Also offered as an online course
ON-LINE (3 credits/45 hours) in-service credit only
Instructor: Kim Kittredge kkittredgeliips@gmail.com
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| Course Description:
Educators will learn through this course effective teaching methods, Next Generation teaching strategies, and much more. Teachers will examine best practices for instruction to hone your skills on highly effective teaching. Participants will see how to transform your students into becoming more college and career ready individuals. Teachers will study methods on how to create high performing classrooms. In this course educators will “learn from doing” in the same manner to be expected of your own students. This course shows educators how to create innovative but easy to implement, project-based learning units that work. This course is a must for teachers of grades K-12.
*Also offered as an online class.
ON-LINE (3 credits/45 hours) in-service credit only
Instructor: Kim Kittredge kkittredgeliips@gmail.com
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This course will focus on how to handle the disruptive student in your classroom from day one. Educators will discuss proper skills, techniques and strategies to work with students that act out and disrupt the classroom environment. Educators will share personal experience and strategies they use. Disruptive students are not just looking to misbehave, but may just need some extra attention. Teachers will discuss how giving these students some extra attention may lead to succeed and a calm classroom. This course is a must for all educators levels K-12.
Instructor: Kim Kittredge
kkittredgelips@gmail.com
3 credits in service (45 hours)
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| Course Description:
Do your students feel or become disconnected? Do they often lose the purpose of your lessons due to distractions? Have they zoned out? With all the time and effort you put into your lessons, it often seems that there are so many days we look out at our students’ faces only to see that they are somewhere else. The connection has been lost. This course offers ideas on how to reconnect your disconnected students and bring them back again. Educators will learn a variety of exciting strategies that will “connect” your students to your classroom lessons. These strategies will not only activate engagement, but improve student learning all together. This course is for educators levels K-12 of all subjects.
ON-LINE (3 credits/45 hours) in-service credit only
Instructor: Kim Kittredge kkittredgeliips@gmail.com
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 | 3 Credits – In service Course (45 Hours)
Instructor: Kim Kittredge kkittredgeliips@gmail.com
Course Description: Icebreakers, Do-Now and Wrap Ups are the heart of a great lesson. As educators, we strive to bring the lesson in with a bang, get the kids thinking and focusing, and then, if successful, wrap it all up. Participants in this course will explore strategies and techniques for fabulous brain games and icebreakers that can be used for any subject and grade level. Educators will work on building do nows with purpose and power to get lessons going. Teachers will also learn the art of wrapping up any lesson with such strategies as creative closures, exit tickets, summaries and reflections. As teachers we are always trying to find the best way to get our students in and out of lessons with ease, and this course will be a toolbox of activities to guide you along the way. This course is a must for all educators of all grade levels and subjects K-12. | |
| Forty (or so) minutes go by quite quickly. By the time we get our students seated, take attendance, check homework, explain the objective, and start the lesson, our allotment of time has dwindled considerably. Also considering how often our students are taken out of our classes because of field trips, visits to the nurse, or other various reasons, the clock often seems to be on fast forward. Essentially, we want to get the most out of our class periods. Teachers enrolled in this course will explore the possibilities, variations, and applications of the infamous “Do Now” as a means of engaging students immediately and getting the most out our (and their) time.
ON-LINE (3 credits/45 hours) In-Service Credit only | |
| Academic Competitions can help motivate students to follow their passions and achieve success. Local, national, and international competitions related to English-Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies provide effective opportunities for student recognition. Participants in this course will learn about different competitions, contests, and programs that celebrate academic accomplishments. Connections will be made to the standards and curriculum. This course is suitable for all educators, K-12.
ON-LINE (3 credits/45 hours) In-service credit only | |
| Kim Kittredge Kkittredgeliips@gmail.com How can teachers increase rigor and productivity in the classroom? This course is designed to arm educators with a multitude of skills to increase rigor and make your students become the motivated individuals you wish them to be. Participants in the course will be given a multitude of materials and strategies to help their students become more productive. Through hands-on activities, group work, SEL learning, computer-based games and technology and differentiated instruction to name a few, your students will thrive. Students who didn't think they had it in them will break the barriers and understand that rigor is not “hard” it’s just a tiny bit uncomfortable; but the benefits are powerful! This course is a must for all educators of all grades K-12. | |
 | Instructor: Gayle Meinkes-Lumia – gaylelumia@yahoo.com
In-Service Course – 3 Credits – 45 Hours
Course Description: Hands-on, experimental learning is the wave of the future for educators, coaches, directors, and administrators alike. Developing driving questions for students enables them to utilize critical thinking skills and enhance their learning tremendously. The course will center around summative and formative assessments for learning, showcase lessons for discussion, PBL techniques, inquiry-based analysis and many more innovative concepts. Participants will be able to guide their learners perfectly. All disciplines and grade levels welcome.
*A must for K-12 educators* | |
| Taken from www.responsiveclassroom.org, “Interactive Modeling is a straightforward, quickly paced process that’s effective for teaching children any academic or social skill, routine, or procedure that you want them to do in a specific way (whether for safety, efficiency, or other reasons). One of the essential practices of the Responsive Classroom approach to teaching elementary school children, Interactive Modeling can be used by any adult anywhere in school at any time of year.” Teachers will learn the steps for Interactive Modeling, strategies for success, ideas for where to use in your lessons and routines. Applicable for teachers K-12.
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| *New Course Instructor: Gayle Meinkes-Lumia- gaylelumia@yahoo.com Summer 2025 Dates – July 28th-August 1st Course Credits- 3 Credits/45 Hours Course Description: Instructing all students to lead others, become independent thinkers, and take ownership in their learning is key to their success. This course will provide participants with the practices it takes to train their students to be at the top of their game including being proactive in their learning, finding their inner voice, and creating opportunities for themselves. Many tools will be provided that enable them to engage their students and direct them towards creating alternatives and goals in their lives, ones that cause them to be highly effective in all they do. *A Must for all K-12 Educators* | |
 | Course Description – Revitalizing our classrooms is the ticket to students’ success. Having the skills necessary to invigorate our learners and capture their learning styles is tantamount. In this course, teachers will have the opportunity to glean a depth of understanding regarding the nature of the adolescent and the ways in which their learning is impacted by many factors. Teachers will be instructed on a plethora of learning styles and models that gear instruction to individuals perfectly. A must for all K-12 educators!!!! (3 credits/45 hours) – In-Service Credit | |
| School violence can be prevented. Research shows that prevention efforts – by teachers, administrators, parents, community members, and even students – can reduce violence and improve the overall school environment. No one factor in isolation causes school violence, so stopping school violence involves using multiple prevention strategies that address the many individual, relationship, community, and societal factors that influence the likelihood of violence. Prevention efforts should ultimately reduce risk factors and promote protective factors at these multiple levels of influence.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
At the conclusion of the class students will be able to:
● Create school wide prevention and intervention strategies.
● Develop emergency response planning.
● Develop school policies and understanding legal considerations.
● Create a positive school climate and culture.
● Implement ongoing staff development.
● Ensuring quality facilities and technology.
● Foster school/law enforcement partnerships.
● Institute links with mental health/social services.
● Foster family and community involvement.
ON-LINE (3 Credits – 45 Hours) In-service Credit only | |
 | Instructor: Gayle Meinkes-Lumia - gaylelumia@yahoo.com
In-service Course - 3 Credits / 45 Hours
Course Description: Educating today's students in a tactile, active fashion improves a wealth of critical and analytical thinking skills. Kinesthetic learners retain information more effectively, become active rather than passive participants in learning, and are able to acquire a wealth of information more expeditiously than their peers. This course will train teachers to find ways to assist students in their work ethic and their problem-solving techniques. Topics being addressed include hands-on simulations, animations, role-playing exercises, micro-learning lessons. A multitude of benefits arise when kinesthetic learning is at the forefront!
*A must for K-12 educators!!!! | |
| Instructor: Gayle Meinkes-Lumia – gaylelumia@yahoo.com
In-Service Course – 3 Credits – 45 Hours
Course Description: Life Lessons are learned in a plethora of ways. Students glean motivation and desire success when inspirational ideas are presented to them. This course will focus on a wealth of disciplines and a variety of insightful topics that encapsulate creativity and enable students to reach for the stars. Lessons from a variety of different modalities will be covered, including English, Social Studies, Math, and Science, as well as innovative techniques, all of which strengthen students' skills and nurture their inner beings.
*A must for K-12 educators* | |
| 3 Credits – In service Course (45 Hours)
Instructor: Kim Kittredge kkittredgeliips@gmail.com
Course Description: As educators we want all our students to be curious, questionable and seek adventure through learning. This course will lead educators to take a different teaching route with their students. Critical thinking and thought-provoking techniques will be shared. Hands-on, and experiential learning, critical thing techniques and more will be explored. Since this type of “learning through exploration” is the wave of the future, educators, coaches, directors, and administrators will all benefit from the techniques shared in this course. Teachers will learn to utilize driving questions for students that will help them enhance their learning tremendously. The course will also center around deep discussion, PBL techniques, inquiry-based analysis and many more innovative concepts. This course is a must for all subjects and grade levels K-12. | |
 | Instructor: Gayle Meinkes-Lumia – gaylelumia@yahoo.com
In-Service Course – 3 Credits – 45 Hours
Course Description: A happy classroom is teeming with positive relationships and a sense of belonging. All students are treated equally, all input is taken into account, and students feel safe and respected. Creating this positive classroom culture provides students with the ability to flourish and connect to the material at large. This course will provide educators with the tools necessary to develop an enthusiastic mindset and to subsequently create lessons to match. Topics to be covered include positive reinforcement, effective classroom environment strategies, literature readings from the Dalai Lama and "The Good Life", as well as philosophical readings on scientific keys to happiness.
*A must for K-12 educators* |