Mindfulness

Instructor: Gayle Meinkes-Lumia –gaylelumia@yahoo.com Many students can become overwhelmed and shut down before trying to work through a challenge. Difficulties can arise for students who have issues applying the skills necessary to be successful - academically, behaviorally and social-emotionally. When students are unable to engage in strategic learning, they risk believing that assignments and social situations are too challenging to attempt or to overcome. Students’ performance and self-concept are managed through mindful mindsets. Having students understand the benefits of managing their stress and identifying the ways in which they improve their academic, behavioral and social-emotional skills is crucial. In this class, teachers will learn how to gain the positive attention from their students when they are feeling defeated. They will analyze how perception relates to learning, learn to manage the different perceptions of students, discover strategies to explicitly teach mindfulness, and uncover the avenues that unlock students’ frustrations. A must for K-12 teachers!!  

*New Course Spring 2025 Instructor: Kim Kittredge Kkittredgeliips@gmail.com 3 credits/45 hrs in service With mindset coming to the forefront over the past few years, we as teachers need to understand mindfulness more than ever before. This course will explore mindfulness, social emotional learning and all the aspects of mastering mindset in your classroom. Educators will discuss such strategies as fixed vs growth mindset, communication strategies, and mindset tools for a calmer classroom. Once your students feel Mindset in the classroom they will feel balanced, de-stressed and ready to learn. This course is a must for educators grades K-12.

Credits: (3 credits/45 hours) in-service credit only

Instructor: Dr. Christopher Korolczuk

Email: DrK.liips@gmail.com

Course Description: Parental involvement in a child's education is a paramount catalyst that can ignite a lifelong love for learning and unlock limitless potential. When parents actively engage in their child's educational journey, they create an environment that fosters academic success, emotional well-being, and personal growth. Studies have shown that students with involved parents are 55% more likely to have higher grades and 42% more likely to graduate from college, compared to their peers with less parental involvement. This staggering statistic illuminates the profound impact parents can have on shaping their child's educational trajectory, ultimately paving the way for a brighter and more fulfilling future. So, how do we get more parents and families involved???

NEW! This self-paced course uses an online learning platform called Canvas. All videos, reading materials, and assignments can be found in one online location. Also, you can simply type your assignments into the website and hit the “submit.” button. This new feature makes the course easier to navigate and more user-friendly than other courses.

(3 credits/45 hours) In service credit only Instructor: Joanie Deignan     jdeignanliips@gmail.com Summary: A positive learning environment can impact a child to succeed at many levels. Students learn better when they view the learning environment as positive and supportive. A positive environment is one in which students feel like they belong, can trust others, and feel encouraged to tackle challenges, take risks, and ask questions. This course discusses different ways to be positive and your personal experiences demonstrating positivity to students or colleagues. This course is geared towards K-12 educators and special area teachers as well.

  Course Description – The virtual lives of students during and post-pandemic has been extremely stressful. Balancing health, family, friends, schooling, and sanity has been anything but ideal. Excessive time in front of the screen has left many students devoid of inter-personal skills and has led to anxiety and depression. Life lessons and socialization skills need to be retaught and at the forefront of learning. This course will examine the implications that virtual instruction has had on students and will investigate the ways in which emotions, empathy, and well-being intertwine with the real lives of students. Teachers will learn how they can assist students in venturing back into the classroom and relearning the skills that were missed during the past year. A myriad of topics will be covered as well as lessons and social-emotional strategies. A must for K-12 educators!!!!! (3 credits/45 hours) – In-Service Credit

Course Description: This course will discuss how self-esteem can plague so many of our students, and how we, as educators, can help.  We can not only identify the problem, but also address it.  Educators will discuss the causes of low self-esteem especially after the pandemic and address the specific risk factors.  Teachers will share techniques to build the self-esteem of the students that need it the most.  This course is a must for all educators K-12.

 

In the world we find ourselves in today, mindfulness and meditative practices are almost a necessity for our students. This course is designed to help teachers by encouraging them to develop a healthy mindset in their students.  Educators will learn strategies for encouraging active mindset and mediation practices in class.  Strategies will be shared to help your students become calmer in the sometimes crazy and stressful day to day of school.  Participants will learn effective and strategic ways to relax students and help them become more mindful.  This course is a must for teachers of grades K-12 of all levels.

Course Description: This course will focus on how we as teachers can perfect our roles as coordinators of the Social Emotional Learning journey.  In our classrooms, SEL and SEL learning is one of the most important sets of skills we can share.  These unique emotional learning helps, bring all learners together.  Students will feel emotionally satisfied through the learning journey, and teachers will feel they have perfected the skill.  All will walk way with a deeper understanding. Educators will take away a plethora of great strategies and techniques.  This course is a must for all teachers of all disciplines grades K-12.

Instructor: Gayle Meinkes-Lumia – gaylelumia@yahoo.com In-Service Course – 3 Credits – 45 Hours Course Description: Evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of cooperative learning in one’s classroom leads to effective classroom instruction. Raising student self-confidence and awareness, motivating them to learn, and implementing a myriad of strategies for cooperation is the key to success. Participants in the course will conduct their own cooperative learning assignments and engage their students in self-directed projects and lifelong routines. *A must for K-12 educators*

Students need to be able to understand themselves and their learning needs and in turn advocate for themselves in the classroom. Teaching students these skills of independence will impact the rest of their educational careers. Great for all Educators K-12. ON-LINE (3credits/45hours) In-service credit only

This course will describe the sources and con-sequences of stress. Stress is a common problem that will affect almost all of your students at some point in their lives. This course will help you to learn when to identify when a person is under stress, what causes stress, and different ways of coping with stress. Instructional strategies will be taught that can help students self-regulate such as reducing extraneous noise, managing transitions, and understanding mindsets, to name a few ON-LINE (3 credits/45 hours) In-service credit only

*New Course Spring 2025

Instructor:  Kim Kittredge kkittredgeliips@gmail.com

3 Credits In Service Course (45 Hours)

Course Description:

How do student feel when they are labeled or stereotyped?  What is the impact it has on the youth of today?  This course will explore the different labels and stereotypes students are given and live with daily.  Educators will examine the role that labels play on students.  We will discuss whether or not labeling hurts or helps a student get by.  Educators will examine the effect labeling or stereotyping plays on all children with all needs and all backgrounds.  This course is a must for educators K-12.

*New Course Spring 2025

Instructor:  Kim Kittredge kkittredgeliips@gmail.com

3 Credits In Service Course (45 Hours)

Course Description:

The power of positive thinking can help us as teachers and can help our students get through the day. This positivity is a strategy that will help us all our lives.  This course is designed to dig deep into the impact that positive thoughts can have on our lives.  Both students and teachers will explore how to harness the potential of a positive and optimistic mindset.  Educators will explore how to help your students obtain a positive psychological viewpoint and refrain from negative thoughts.  Strategies will be shared on resilience, gratitude, transformation and compassion.  Educators will end up with a plethora of tools on overall positive thinking and living and how to emotionally transform your classroom.  This course is a must for educators K-12.

If you’ve ever coached or taught in a weight room, you’ve seen it: the student frozen with self-doubt, the athlete comparing themselves to peers, the energy shift when someone enters frustrated or disconnected. These aren’t just “off days” — they’re social-emotional moments in a physical space. Module 1: The Real Work – Building SEL Awareness in the Weight Room reframes what it means to coach and teach in school-based training environments by addressing the mental and emotional barriers that often go unnoticed but hold back performance, motivation, and confidence. This module positions Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) not as an afterthought, but as the first rep every student must take. You’ll learn how to teach and coach the whole student — not just the movement — using CASEL’s five core competencies as your foundation. Whether you're a physical education teacher, strength coach, or college student preparing for fieldwork, you’ll leave this course with a scalable, classroom-ready approach to emotional intelligence, behavior management, and mindset training in the weight room. Students will not only define SEL — they will feel it, track it, and apply it. Through group norms, mindset contracts, daily check-ins, and reflective journaling, your students and athletes will learn to train with more intention, respond to emotional challenges, and grow their confidence one session at a time. This is how we build safe, resilient, and motivated training cultures. The iron doesn’t care about your mood, but your ability to manage that mood is what determines your performance — and your growth.

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