With the adoption of the new Common Core Standards, a greater emphasis is being placed on nonfiction and vocabulary instruction. This course will explore the philosophy behind vocabulary instruction as well effective practices. Participants will research dozens of strategies for building vocabulary aligned to meet various learning styles. In addition, this course will explore vocabulary resources including multimedia, interactive websites, educational vocabulary learning games and much more! Participants will have the opportunity to research and evaluate effective vocabulary lessons as well as create dynamic lessons for immediate classroom use. A must for all educators K-12! ON-LINE (3 credits/45 hours) in-service credit only

Overview: Teachers of other subjects sometimes wonder why certain students remain in ENL programs when they “speak English.” However, passing the NYSESLAT involves more than just spoken English proficiency. The test assesses listening, reading, and writing skills, demanding a nuanced understanding of English in various contexts, including cultural nuances. Many students find meeting these criteria challenging, and the pressure of standardized testing often limits their ability to showcase their language skills fully. Beyond the NYSESLAT, ELL students often face reading and writing challenges stemming from their early education. They initially learned these skills in their native language or in systems different from those in the United States. This transition to a new language and educational structure creates gaps in their foundational literacy. Adapting to a new writing system, grammar, and vocabulary delays their English literacy development, even if their spoken English is proficient. These hurdles persist throughout their academic journey, affecting assessments like the NYSESLAT. Objective: This course will address how the literacy gap and lack of foundations ELLs face from a young age make it difficult for ELLs to catch up to perform on grade level throughout the rest of their school career, and essentially, pass the NYSELAT. We will explore different strategies to try and meet their literacy needs and support them to reach proficiency on the state exam.

  Instructor: Gayle Meinkes-Lumia – gaylelumia@yahoo.com (3 Credits/45 Hours) – In-Service Credit Course Description: In order for true learning to occur, safety must be at the forefront. Ensuring an environment that is emotionally manageable for our learners requires a deep investigation of the ways in which students operate on many levels. This course will provide the opportunities for participants to instruct their students on the ways in which to understand and manage their emotions in order to be successful in every class. Participants will learn the seven strategies in which to manage emotions for their learners, including: identifying and reducing triggers, tuning into physical symptoms, relay your own personal story, engage in positive self-talk, make appropriate choices, look for positive emotions, seek out help whenever possible. In the end, our learners will be able to soar to new heights. **A must for K-12 educators in all disciplines!!

Enhancing one’s students to be motivated and think critically about the world around them is tantamount to the Common Core standards of learning in all subject areas. The study of the philosophy behind learning captivates students and infuses morality and integrity into their worlds. In this course, teachers will be exposed to a plethora of ideas that enable them to critically analyze, judge, delineate, and closely comprehend content area ideas and genre in order to create pertinent lessons for their students. Teachers will walk away with a multitude of interdisciplinary lessons for their classrooms. Materials include: picture books, non-fiction articles, creative techniques that enhance any classroom and empower everyone. • A must for K-12 educators!!!! ONLINE (3 credits/45 hours) in-service credit only

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.

  Course Description: Global competence is the skills, values, and behaviors that prepare young people to thrive in a more diverse, interconnected world. Embracing a mind-set that translates personal global competence into professional classroom practice is crucial for teachers today. This course will enable participants to engage learners globally via transformative lessons that are relevant to every aspect of the world today – politics, science, culture, cross-cultural communication. Teachers will become familiar with the characteristics of globally competent students, be able to transcend that knowledge into their classrooms via language instruction, best practices of the world, and sensitivity to a wide gamut of issues on a global scale. A must for K-12 educators!!!! (3 credits/45 hours) – In-Service Credit

Course Description: This course will work with educators to help engage your students in learning.  When students tune out, teachers need to be armed with the tools to keep their classes engaged and ready to learn.  This course will share techniques and a plethora of strategies to keep your students ready to focus and learn.  A must for all educators of all levels grades K-12.

Course Description: This course will focus on how to engage parents and students as your partners in learning. Educators will work to learn the skills that will empower your students to achieve and become successful. This course is a must for all instructors of all levels K-12.

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

*New Course Children have an overwhelming need to be and to feel accepted not only by their peers but also, by their teachers. When students feel they are seen, understood, and respected, they typically are more motivated to work harder and take more academic risks in order to achieve. While you may already be aware of this fact, you may often ask yourself how you can build better relationships with each of your students – especially with growing class sizes! This course investigates the different ways in which you can both implicitly and explicitly communicate the care you have for your students through planning meaningful assignments for various personality types, creating support systems, changing up classroom procedures, and providing thoughtful feedback on assignments. These resources and assignments are meant to encourage you to reflect on your current units and classroom procedures to discover new perspectives and help you improve upon what you already practice (and do well!) each day. Suggested for all educators K-12! Course Objectives: 1. Participants will research how improved teacher-student rapport improves student achievement 2. Participants will consider current classroom procedures and teaching units in order to find ways to improve upon teacher-student communication 3. Participants will learn how to improve rapport with challenging students 4. Participants will learn how to communicate care for students both implicitly and explicitly 5. Participants will learn how to improve written and verbal feedback to enhance teacher-student rapport 6. Participants will gain resources to help improve teacher-student rapport ON-LINE (3 credits/45 hours) In-serice 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 How do we as educators deal with students that cheat? It’s a difficult problem to solve. In today’s world of cell phones, Chat GBT and classroom laptops, unfortunately access to cheating is right at our students fingertips. Students have also gotten pretty good at it! As teachers, we have to realize that although we don’t want cheating to happen, it is still going to happen and will still go on around us. In this course educators will explore methods on how to recognize and deal with students that cheat, and what punishments should be given for academic dishonestly. This course is a must for educators grades K-12.

*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.

Aside from teaching, there are many responsibilities that are inherently part of what we do each day. Often, these tasks and obligations can be overwhelming and time-consuming. It has been proven that organization is one way to reduce stress, which is the primary focus of this course. Teachers enrolled will explore various simple ways of using Microsoft Excel for record-keeping. Even if you’re not a proficient computer whiz, Excel makes it easy to customize and maintain spreadsheets. The assignments are designed to help you simplify, minimize, maintain, and track data. Additionally, Annual Professional Performance Reviews (APPRs) now include an evaluative section on maintaining accurate records. Teachers enrolled in this course will learn new ways of improving this particular rating. 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: Creating a positive school environment begins with developing and implementing stellar character education, beginning with lessons on morality, responsibility, respect, peer to peer interactions. This course will enable teachers to glean the ways in which to infuse the ideas of moral understanding, psychological literature, and scientific methodology into their everyday encounters with students. Modeling and community outreach suggestions will intertwine with the course material to create a superb character education program for our students. *A must for K-12 educators*

  Course Description: This course will examine the role that homework plays in our school culture.  Homework is extremely important to all students in one aspect or another.  How do we assign effective and appropriate homework?  Ensure students complete it so that coursework can continue in class.  Educators will explore what different research and educators’ tell us about homework and its impact on the overall learning process.  This course is a must for all educators levels K-12. (updated course to include Post-Covid thinking and concepts)

Course Description: Participants in the course will learn how to implement all facets of effective verbal and nonverbal communication techniques to help your students create an environment of trust and responsibility. Educators will learn how to encourage, redirect, engage, and challenge students in successful discussions that will enhance student learning. Educators will be able to apply these strategies to all grade levels and content areas. Participants will gain a clear understanding of where to begin with discussions in your classroom, and see where it will lead you. This course is designed to enable educators K-12 to understand the relationship that discussion plays in our Next Generation Standards and effectively help your students meet them. Great for all educators K-12!

In this course, teachers will learn how to implement the flipped learning model in their classrooms. Teachers will learn how to create a learner-centered classroom by moving instruction to the home. Teachers are provided with tips and strategies on how to find and create engaging instructional videos and develop interactive, collaborative, and hands-on classroom activities. This course provides information on how to flip each of the four main content areas, plan/organize technology into lessons, and assessment strategies. Suitable for ALL educators K-12 ON-LINE (3 credits/45 hours) in-service only

  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!!!!

Our classrooms are overloaded with curriculum on a regular basis, and sometimes it can be difficult to focus on developing the students as a whole. Many children are missing the vital social skills and coping mechanisms that are essential for success in their academic future and their life. This course will help you incorporate Growth Mindset and Social/Emotional Learning into their classroom in a feasible way. Recommended for ALL instructors. Participants completing this course will: Learn the philosophies behind Social and Emotional Learning Create a plan of how to integrate Social and Emotional Learning in the classroom Learn how to engage students in an interactive way while developing social and emotional regulation skills ON-LINE (3 credits/45 hours) In-Service Credit only