Pedagogy

Course Description: Many world language teachers struggle to maximize target language (TL) use in their class. With ACTFL's Position Statement on TL Use as a base, explore various ways to instruct novice and intermediate learners in the TL and encourage student use of the TL as well. Through visual support, comprehension checks, encouraging spontaneous language, and providing appropriate feedback, you will develop strategies for increasing TL use in your classroom and for building student (and teacher) confidence in speaking.

Course Hours: Members who complete this course receive 1.5 HOURS of Act 48 and/or a certificate that may apply for Chapter 14 hours.

Pedagogy

Course Description: Welcome to PSEA PEARL's "Differentiated Instruction for Today’s Educator"

Effectiveness as a teacher is now more than ever predicated on the teacher’s ability to meet the needs of a wide range of students. Effective teachers must know the standards and their students, and it is the standards and the needs of the students that should determine instructional decisions. Programs, materials, and resources should not guide curriculum and instruction. This course is specifically tailored to provide teachers research-based and teacher friendly approaches, materials, and resources to differentiate their instruction to meet the needs of the particular group of students and the standards being taught.  

In order to complete the course, there are 10 topics plus a conclusion module to finish in order to complete the course.  

Number of Hours: This course offers 15 hours of Act 48 or a certificate that may be shared with your employer for two Chapter 14 hours. The issuance of Chapter 14 hours is at the sole discretion of your employer. 

Pedagogy

Course Description: This course explores the purpose of author studies to get students reading and provide differentiation through leveled texts. Author Studies provide an opportunity to connect readers to a variety of texts, both fiction and non-fiction.  Author studies can be used to enhance the curriculum, explore types of writing or simply get students reading great texts!  Author studies get your students reading and writing.  It provides the teacher with an engaging tool to differentiate instruction and teach high interest text.

Course Hours: Members who complete this course receive 1 HOUR of Act 48 and/or a certificate that may apply for Chapter 14 hours. Your employer has sole discretion to determine if this course qualifies for Chapter 14 hours.

Pedagogy

Course Description: This session, captured from a live PSEA CPL webinar broadcast by NEA members and current educators Kristal Jaaskelainen & Jeffrey Austin, helps educators think about the importance and process of building and maintaining a "humanized" classroom. While educators know the enduring value of trusting relationships with students, building and maintaining a humanized classroom requires us to rethink our purposes, practices, and pedagogies to ensure our classrooms exist at the intersection of equity and care. This webinar helps educators foster imagination and purposeful action around community, hospitality, and justice.

Course Hours: Members who complete this course receive 2 HOURS of Act 48 and/or a certificate that may apply for Chapter 14 hours. Your employer has sole discretion to determine if this course qualifies for Chapter 14 hours.

Pedagogy

Extended Course Name: Wonder Women: The Importance of Strong Female Characters, Everyday Heroes, and Making Connections to Children’s Books

Course Description: Children’s books have always included spunky, feisty female characters like Ramona and Beezus Quimby, Matilda, and Harriet the Spy. But is spunky and feisty enough? The blockbuster success of the 2017 Wonder Woman movie and 2018’s Black Panther indicates there is room for much more - in movie theaters and children’s books. Female characters that overcome obstacles, solve problems, break stereotypes, and empower others have great appeal to both boys and girls. This class focuses on choosing books for our classrooms and libraries that affirm positive roles for girls and boys. Ms. Bissonette discuss the assumptions we make when we think in terms of “girl books” and “boy books”; the effect gender stereotypes have on young readers (and the publishing industry’s puzzling role in perpetuating those stereotypes); and the role children’s books have in developing empathy among young readers (which can lead to reduced bullying among other things). Partiticpants explore the evolving theory about children’s books as "mirrors, windows, and sliding doors" and how reading the right books helps students rehearse for and succeed in real life situations. Finally, children's author Aimee Bissonette talks about the reactions and responses she's gotten from girls and boys with whom she has shared her own “strong women” books

Course Hours: Members who complete this course receive 2 HOURS of Act 48 and/or a certificate that may apply for Chapter 14 hours. Your employer has sole discretion to determine if this course qualifies for Chapter 14 hours.

Pedagogy

Course Description: In this recorded conversation, two experienced teachers discuss the use of various free resources to support the elementary classroom curriculum. They review a variety of sites for finding these sources to enhance standards-based lessons in Math, Science, Social Studies, and ELA. After watching the video, participants will find and share other possible resources as well as reflect on the best use of them in the courses that they teach or plan to teach.

Course Hours: Members who complete this course receive 1 HOUR of Act 48 and/or a certificate that may apply for Chapter 14 hours.

Pedagogy

Course Description: When students are exposed to the same content in different subjects and through multiple senses, they are able to make connections across the disciplines and from home to school. In this session, participants will see examples of cross-curricular lessons that incorporate science, writing, social studies, music, and visual arts. Participants will see and hear examples from the classroom, and they will have an opportunity to immediately apply what they've learned.

Course Hours: Members who complete this course receive 2 HOURS of Act 48 and/or a certificate that may apply for Chapter 14 hours. Your employer has sole discretion to determine if this course qualifies for Chapter 14 hours.

Pedagogy

Course Description: NEA's Kristal Jaaskelainen and Jeffrey Austin lead this recorded presentation (from July 27, 2021) helping educators see beyond the traditional grading practices that often go unexamined despite their potential for harm. This webinar is designed to critically examine assumptions about grading, look at current grading practices, and imagine alternatives to the status quo. 

Course Hours: Members who complete this course receive 2 HOURS of Act 48 and/or a certificate that may apply for Chapter 14 hours. Your employer has sole discretion to determine if this course qualifies for Chapter 14 hours.

Pedagogy

Fall 2021 Professional Issues Session

Course Description: Educators throughout the Commonwealth are challenged to serve students returning to in-person instruction following various levels of remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Educators are encouraged to accelerate learning to help combat learning loss; however, issues such as social and emotional needs and staffing shortages create barriers to success. Several programs and funding initiatives are available to assist schools and educators as they support students; however, educators face time and resource limitations when working with students. This session seeks to empower educators to better determine which supports are likely to yield the most benefits to students. PaTTAN’s Gina Spicknall-Cook and Donna Halpin guide educators in this session to fully capitalize on the multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) available in most PA schools so that they can provide efficient and effective supports that meet the unique needs of their student populations.

Course Hours: Members who complete this course receive 1.5 HOURS of Act 48 and/or a certificate that may apply for Chapter 14 hours. Your employer has sole discretion to determine if this course qualifies for Chapter 14 hours.

Pedagogy

Course Description: Engage students with digital reading strategies. Differentiate and maximize your plan time with edTech like self-grading Readworks! Customize your lessons quickly with digital sorts and graphic organizers through Google Slides, Google Draw, and Padlet.

Course Hours: Members who complete this course receive 1.5 HOURS of Act 48 and/or a certificate that may apply for Chapter 14 hours. Your employer has sole discretion to determine if this course qualifies for Chapter 14 hours.

Pedagogy

Course Description: Tools like Seesaw, Flipgrid and Google Classroom can be used to serve our students with direct, targeted assignments via enrollment in multiple classes or with the use of Co-Teachers. Entire grade levels may benefit from a shared space, and special area teachers and support staff can be linked to their students more easily. Get some strategies to maintain multiple groups of students in classes or getting yourself included in pre-existing ones!

Course Hours: Members who complete this course receive 2 HOURS of Act 48 and/or a certificate that may apply for Chapter 14 hours. Your employer has sole discretion to determine if this course qualifies for Chapter 14 hours.

Pedagogy

Course Description: How can I use common Google and ed-tech tools to support collaborative math practice and discussion at a distance? In this recorded webinar from 2020, participants explore one learning cycle and deeply engage in the design thinking behind the how the ed-tech selected supports student engagement, virtual discourse and opportunities for elaboration and student evaluation.

Course Hours: Members who complete this course receive 2 HOURS of Act 48 and/or a certificate that may apply for Chapter 14 hours. Your employer has sole discretion to determine if this course qualifies for Chapter 14 hours.

Pedagogy

Course Description: Centering your K-12 science instruction around phenomena can build student engagement and understanding, even in a virtual or blended classroom environment. In this course participants explore key aspects of science instruction, share NGSS-aligned resources for the new school year, and consider strategies (like Driving Question Boards) that support science in K-12 (possibly virtual) classrooms.

Course Hours: Members who complete this course receive 2 HOURS of Act 48 and/or a certificate that may apply for Chapter 14 hours. Your employer has sole discretion to determine if this course qualifies for Chapter 14 hours.

Pedagogy

Course Description: For many students, a lack of experiential learning has an impact that negatively impacts learning.  This course explores strategies to build background knowledge so that new learning can be accelerated.

Course Hours: Members who complete this course receive 2 HOURS of Act 48 and/or a certificate that may apply for Chapter 14 hours. Your employer has sole discretion to determine if this course qualifies for Chapter 14 hours.

Pedagogy

Course Description: This session, captured from a live PSEA CPL Webinar Broadcast by NEA's Sarah Van Loo and Kelly Newton focuses on how quality practice looks, sounds and feels different virtually and focuses on tools that teachers and para-educators can use with students for quality practice in remote learning. Participants learn about best practices for online learning, including instructor presence, learning objectives, real world applications, clear expectations, engaging students, prompt feedback, and netiquette, and it incorporates elements from two primary LMS's, Seesaw and Google Classroom, specifically.

Course Hours: Members who complete this course receive 1.5 HOURS of Act 48 and/or a certificate that may apply for Chapter 14 hours. Your employer has sole discretion to determine if this course qualifies for Chapter 14 hours.

Pedagogy

Course Description: How can physical classroom routines (submitting work and getting help) be transformed for effective use in virtual spaces? This webinar discusses how to teach students necessary skills to confidently navigate virtual learning communities and also help students transition to virtual/remote learning that seems familiar to face-to-face instruction.

Course Hours:  Members who complete this course receive 2 HOURS of Act 48 and/or a certificate that may apply for Chapter 14 hours. Your employer has sole discretion to determine if this course qualifies for Chapter 14 hours.

Pedagogy

Course Description: This session by PSEA's Dr. Christopher M. Clayton helps educators think through shifting their instructional practices to more effectively align with current research and best practices for creating more engaging distance-learning experiences for students. Delivering effective remote instruction for educators and distance learning for students and families present different challenges from face-to-face instruction, and drawing on the work of experts such as Jennifer Gonzalez, AJ Juliani, Caitlyn Tucker, and many more, this session helps members learn about and explore these shifting educational paradigms of instruction and presents attendees with immediately actionable information, tips, strategies, and “take-away” tools and resources that educators can immediately use in their practice, including an introduction to the powerful DAT (Device Agnostic Technology) resource, NearPod.

Course Hours: Members who complete this course receive 2 HOURS of Act 48 and/or a certificate that may apply for Chapter 14 hours. Your employer has sole discretion to determine if this course qualifies for Chapter 14 hours.

Pedagogy

Course Description: This professional learning session, presented by NEA members and current Michigan classroom teachers Chris Thomas and Ellen Brooks, was captured from a live PSEA CPL webinar broadcast May 26, 2020 and provides tips and strategies to up your remote instruction game and allow you to reflect on your distance learning experiences. Participants learn about identifying key tech tools and tips for planning and delivering more effective remote instruction and distance learning experience for students.

Course Hours: Members who complete this course receive 2 HOURS of Act 48 and/or a certificate that may apply for Chapter 14 hours. Your employer has sole discretion to determine if this course qualifies for Chapter 14 hours.

Pedagogy

Course Description: Explore the PDE Frameworks for Observation and Practice as updated in Summer 2021 as tools for continuous improvement in this informative and interactive workshop. Educators will begin by learning about the Continuous Self-Improvement process and related tools followed by and introduction to the Frameworks. Then, educators will dive into a role-specific exploration of the frameworks with a focus on self-evaluation and then self-reflection. These processes will be focused on elements to inform pre-conferences for and to allow educators to engage in a self improvement process using the continuous improvement tools discussed in the first half of the class. Together, each element empowers educators to elevate their skills and better serve students. 

Course Hours: Members who complete this course receive 2 HOURS of Act 48 and a certificate.