This course is designed to create a discourse community that questions hegemonic practices, contributing to a larger collective conversation. Through the study of critical ethnographies, students will examine current educational assumptions to develop critically reflective practice and transform thinking. Students will deconstruct dynamics of critical pedagogy through the lenses of diversity including race, gender, and class, developing layered analysis of principles, theorists, and views. This course was previously EDU-661205.

This course is designed to explore educational perspectives and implications of new media and new literacies. Students will investigate theories and research related to meaning-making in and around the contexts of contemporary social media. In addition, students will work collaboratively and collectively to build their knowledge in how these media are created, used, interpreted and re-used by themselves and others. They will explore how affinities for these media enable us to think differently about what it means to read, write, listen, speak, view, and participate in new literacies in educational settings. This course was previously EDU-661202.

This course is designed to examine leadership roles and leadership needs in 21st century education. Students will explore various leadership designs and styles in relationship to curricular planning, professional development, and community outreach. Students will examine learning environments to develop strategies and programs around leadership that coincide with the needs of contemporary learners.

This course will explore school and community safety from a multidisciplinary approach. Drawing on research and theoretical perspectives from the fields of Education, Psychology, Social Work, and Criminology, students will explore both current and historical approaches to the prevention of violence in schools and communities in the United States. With billions of dollars being spent annually in the U.S. to make schools and communities safe, what prevention efforts are actually effective? Students will analyze different strategies that school districts and communities across the country currently utilize to prevent bullying and harassment, physical fights, weapon carrying, gang activity, firearm violence, suicide, and hate speech/crimes. Special attention will be paid to the factors that make violence such a pervasive and persistent issue in the Unites States. Best practices and research-based model programs, from what teachers can do in their individual classrooms to broader community level preventive efforts, will be integrated throughout the course.

This course examines current policies that affect learning and instructional practices in educational environments across various settings. Problem-solving strategies are used to identify and develop best practices that respond to challenges arising from contemporary issues in society. This course also reviews changes in federal and state curriculum mandates and examines the theoretical underpinnings of current educational practices and societal dynamics. Students will research the history, current developments, and predictable future developments of a self-chosen issue while also reflecting on effective teaching and learning strategies in response to the issue. This course was previously EDU-661203.

This course will focus on psychological, sociological, linguistic, socio-cultural, and historical foundations of current literacy theory and practice. Theoretical perspectives including behavioral perspectives, semiotic and multiliteracies perspectives, cognitive perspectives, sociocultural perspectives, and critical and feminist perspectives are among those that will inform the integration of literacy and technology as viewed in new literacy studies as well as the global marketplace. Students will research sociocultural-historical perspectives on literacy in order to understand the dominant role cultural belief systems, social rules and conventions, and professional opportunities have in the interconnected process of literacy learning.

This course examines ways in which literature, as the written, digital and visual representation of human experience, enhances our ability to make meaning of the processes and products of human thought, feelings and behavior. Characteristics of various genres are explored throughout the course. Ways in which literature opens a dialogue between writer, reader and responder are analyzed. Learning activities serve to expand the understanding of written expression through a survey of literature that uses state literacy standards as a framework. Students will be able to understand the ways in which different genres influence the reading and writing experience, and they will comprehend how K-12 students make meaning from text. Evaluation will encompass online discussions, written reflections, and projects designed to augment individual learning and professional objectives. This course was previously EDU-661206.

In this course, students will explore a variety of intervention and assessment models for reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing as they apply birth - grade 12 learners. Response to Intervention (RTI) across grade levels, with particular attention to implementing RTI with English learners, will be a primary focus of the course. Case studies will be used to familiarize students with the assessment, diagnosis, and remediation process. Students will administer literacy assessments (including options such as: word study; informal reading inventory (IRI); multimodal reading assessment, and dialogic writing assessments) to K- high school students of their choice and use the information to pair students with appropriate instructional materials. State literacy standards, as well as the International Literacy Association (ILA) standards for assessment and evaluation, will be examined as they pertain to curriculum, evaluation, and assessment. Course learning outcomes reflect ILA Literacy Standard 3.

This course addresses diversity in contemporary schools and settings, the ways children and families from various cultures are affected by and affect schools, and the role of the teacher and the curriculum in creating an open and tolerant environment conducive to learning. By the end of this course, it is expected that students will have expanded their understanding of how to differentiate and how to adapt instruction or communication with diverse populations. Topics that will be addressed in this course include: cultural, ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic diversity, related behaviors, bias and attitudes, exploration of social identity, the history of education on dominated cultural groups, gender equity, gender and sexuality, and community engagement.

This course explores the nature of education in the social, economic, and political context of the United States. We will critically examine the philosophic, historic, social and legal foundations of education, as well as contemporary structures, functions and issues in American educational systems. Topics include: historical, philosophical, and social contexts within which American schools developed; historical relationships between schools and communities; diversity, equity, individuality and schooling, schooling, democracy, and citizenship; social emotional learning (SEL), school climate and safety; the profession of teaching and teacher identity; and contemporary debates and alternative visions of schooling. This course was previously EDU-661201.

This course focuses on improving student attention, engagement, and perseverance, by activating the innate SEEKING System that drives the motivated brain. Participants examine the brain science that underlies each processing network of motivation, memory, and higher-level thinking. They learn to design lessons and incorporate activators (or strategies) that support each processing level and maximize the SEEKING System of the motivated brain. This course was formerly EDU-661118

This course covers adolescent development as it relates to the 7 - 12 educational context. Topics that are covered include physical development, developmental learning theories, personal, social and emotional development, learner differences, social cognition, behaviorism, information processing, constructing and assessing understanding, and creating positive classroom learning environments. Written assignments will integrate theoretical and research-based concepts with classroom practice. This was formerly EDU-661117

This course is designed for classroom teachers in grades 7-12 as well as individuals interested in adolescent literacy. As the course progresses, students will take an in-depth look at what adolescent literacy looks like in the 21st century American classroom, including increased awareness of Common Core Standards as they apply to content area literacy instruction. The role literacy plays in how adolescents construct meaning of the world, and their place in it will forefront instruction, discussions, and assignments. Literacy is no longer the sole responsibility of the reading and English teacher. Research has shown that elevating literacy levels enhances the learning and performance of learners in all of the content areas. It is difficult for students to succeed in any content area if they cannot read instructions, interpret word problems, write up the results of a lab report, or interpret visual texts. Strategies and motivational techniques that encourage native English speakers and students who are learning English as a New Language to develop and refine their proficiency in reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing, both in school and in out of school settings, will be explored.

This course is a PLS 3rd Learning course that provides experienced and beginner educators with a comprehensive understanding of the ways in which findings from current brain research can be applied to teaching and learning. Participants will engage in brain-based learning experiences that will take place in a brain-compatible learning environment as they examine the work of a wide variety of experts. Concepts include identifying how the brain receives information and creates meaning from it, understanding the characteristics of a brain-compatible learning environment, studying brain-based instructional strategies, and learning how to create an enriched classroom environment. Throughout the course, class members will also hone their understanding of how to apply four key cognitive processes (induction, deduction, analysis, and synthesis) to their lesson planning and instructional practice in a way that enhances the benefits of brain-compatible learning and further increases student comprehension and achievement.

As teachers seek to strengthen their knowledge of mathematics and improve practice, they are surrounded by a system that does not always know or recognize proven practices. This course is intended to help those who teach mathematics in Grades 3-5 understand the mathematical content, how mathematical ideas develop, and how to implement successful teaching practices that make it more likely for students to grasp and be comfortable with mathematics. The course includes research findings on which the teaching of solid mathematics is based. It highlights teacher practices that researchers found to be associated with greater learning of mathematics and that teachers found to be relevant and vital for teaching mathematics in all grades K-12 with a focus on grades 3-5. The course aligns the Ten Principles of Thinking Mathematics, the NYS P-12 Common Core Learning Standards for Mathematics, the Standards of Mathematical Practice and the National Research Council’s Strands of Mathematical Proficiency, all vital frameworks for teaching mathematics. The research behind these principles is explained with models and explanations from within multiplicative structures and discusses the implications for teaching multiplication and division which is the essence of the work of Grades 3-5.

Developing strong and positive connections with families and communities is critical in our educational settings today. This course will explore and discuss perspectives that are critical to school-community relationships. Students will develop a collection of tools, resources, and documents that will be helpful in creating positive collaboration between schools and their communities.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, schools have a responsibility to prevent aggressive behaviors and an obligation to provide an environment that promotes children’s health and safety. However, although anti-bullying education efforts have increased exponentially over the years, recent statistics show that the prevalence of bullying is not declining. This course provides teachers, counselors, administrators and staff with cutting edge developmental and applied research to effectively address bullying in the school context.

This course models how coaching relationships enhance professional conversations and communication among educators. It builds teacher capacity and strengthens teacher effectiveness. It integrates national, state, and local standards. It is a comprehensive overview of coaching that addresses: Brain research, adult learning principles, effective communication and the micro-skills of coaching conversations. In addition, structured maps for pre-visit and post-visit meetings for teacher evaluation will be explored. Participants will be immersed in seminal and current research to deepen their understanding of Coaching. The course will address the impact Coaching can have on instructional practice and student outcomes.

This course provides students with research-based strategies for designing and implementing collaborative inquiry for students. Students will explore and experience the collaborative inquiry models of problem-based learning, hypothesis-based learning, project-based learning, Appreciative Inquiry, and performance-based learning.

This course is intended for teachers who are committed to pursuing National Board Certification. The primary focus will be centered on increasing the depth and breadth of content knowledge of the teacher within 25 certificate and developmental areas in preparation for the NBPTS Component 1 assessment center exercises. Participants will do an in depth analysis of the Five Core Propositions which is from the NBPTS document What Teachers Should Know and Be Able to Do as well as the NBPTS Standards that are being assessed within the certificate area as the foundation for their preparation. Teachers will collaborate within and across discipline areas and developmental ages to discuss and share best practices and to increase their content knowledge and build professional resources.

This course is intended for teachers who are committed to pursuing National Board Certification. The primary focus will center on a teacher’s ability to describe, analyze and evaluate learning strengths and needs for individual students; plan and implement appropriate differentiated instruction for those students; and analyze and modify instructional strategies and materials based on ongoing assessment. Teachers will collaborate within and across discipline areas and developmental ages to discuss and share best practices in differentiation and instructional strategies all in preparation for completing Component 2: Differentiation in Instruction.

This course is intended for teachers who are committed to pursuing National Board Certification. The primary focus of the course will center on a teacher’s ability to describe and analyze their instructional planning, teaching practice and learning environment. Teachers will be required to provide evidence of the standards being assessed in two video recordings. For each video, teachers will submit an in-depth commentary that includes description, analysis and reflection of their teaching practice and their pedagogical decision making and the impact on student learning. In addition, participants will engage in peer review of other participants’ videos and written commentary in preparation for completing NBPTS Component 3: Teaching Practice and Learning Environment.

This course is intended for teachers who are committed to pursuing National Board Certification. The primary focus of this course will be centered on highlighting the teacher’s abilities as an effective and reflective practitioner in developing and applying knowledge of the children they teach.

This course focuses on developing critical and creative thinkers who can operate in and competently address the issues and challenges of a global age. It focuses on the practice of critical and creative thinking through the use of thinking routines and promotes student engagement, understanding, and independence by making thinking visible. Participants examine the standards and dispositions of critical and creative thinkers, as they explore precise and emotive language, effective communication, inferential reasoning, logical fallacies, thinking from multiple perspectives, creative problem solving, and media literacy. Based in the context of global issues and challenges, the course models over 21 critical and creative thinking routines for the classroom that make thinking visible, foster collaboration and communication, and enhance engagement and understanding in a culture of thinking.

This course focuses on improving student outcomes by increasing teacher understanding of the impact of race, culture and language in the learning environment. Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) is a research-based method designed to enhance student engagement by implementing strategies to develop stronger relationships, culturally-inclusive curriculum and instruction techniques and positive learning environments. Participants examine the elements of Culturally Responsive Teaching through personal reflection and development of culturally competent strategies to effectively differentiate instruction for students from linguistically, culturally and racially diverse backgrounds. Participants deepen knowledge of their own cultural background and the impact on instruction while implementing strategies to increase connections with students and improve learning outcomes through culturally-relevant curriculum and instruction.

This course is a PLS 3rd Learning course that provides educators with specific strategies for creating a motivating learning experience for students. Participants will explore the various dimensions of motivation, beliefs in ability, and self-efficacy as they analyze learner orientations and learning preferences. Participants will evaluate their strengths as motivational leaders and assess the qualities of a motivational classroom environment. A variety of motivational classroom strategies designed to support content and enhance student motivation will be experienced as participants evaluate how educators can positively impact their students’ desire to learn and support them in becoming confident, self-directed, and successful learners.

This course focuses on developing innovation capabilities in students by exploring the discovery skills of associating, questioning, observing, networking, and experimenting. Participants learn how to create a culture of innovation and provide learning opportunities that promote perseverance, encourage curiosity, and ignite intrinsic motivation. Participants explore resources, strategies, and ideas for designing content-based lessons that incorporate discovery skills and foster the behaviors students need to be innovation-ready.

This course is a PLS 3rd Learning course that equips experienced and beginner educators with the essential knowledge and skills to implement differentiated instruction (DI) successfully in their own classrooms. As a widely respected, research-based instructional approach, DI provides teachers with effective, manageable strategies for meeting the needs of an increasingly diverse student population within the context of today’s challenging standards-based curriculum. In a highly interactive learning environment that models the DI principles and processes, class members will gain expertise in understanding and implementing a broad range of strategies associated with three essential, distinguishing components of DI: first, the teacher’s role as guide and facilitator in a classroom environment specifically designed to support self-directed student learning and teacher-student collaboration; second, the interdependent nature of flexible grouping and assessment in a DI classroom; and third, the adaptation of curriculum content, processes (activities), and products to provide students with entry points to learning that match their readiness, interests, and/or learning profiles.

This course is designed to provide participants with instructional strategies that meet the needs of all students at all grade levels. Emphasis will be placed on misconceptions of academic failure; curriculum organization; effective instructional design; curriculum evaluation and instructional strategies that enhance and improve academic performance for all students. The following concepts serve as the basis for the design of curriculum and instruction: core concepts, essential questions, background knowledge, judicious review, strategic integration, cognitive strategies, and mediated scaffolding. Additional strategies and applications introduced in this course include rubrics, graphic organizers, LINCS vocabulary strategy, class-wide peer tutoring, note-taking, paraphrasing, summarizing, reciprocal teaching, questioning, and the Socratic Seminar. The implications of brain research and the use of technology are also components of this course. Additionally, many of the practices examined correlate with the indicators on state and district-wide teacher evaluation rubrics, the New York State Teaching Standards, and the shifts in Common Core Standards implementation.

This course is designed for all K-12 educators who are or will be working with a co-teaching model. The course will investigate the pedagogical and practical facets of a co-teaching approach that provides academic instruction to a diverse community of learners (i.e. students within general education, special education, ESL, and gifted programs) so that each student may find success.

Teaching all children to read is a critical responsibility of our elementary teachers. In this course, participants will learn and share the knowledge and skills they will need to be highly effective elementary teachers of literacy. The course will integrate what we have known is good teaching of literacy in the past and will expand the teachers’ skills needed to meet the NYS P-12 Common core Learning Standards (CCLS). The inclusion of diverse students with various needs requires teachers of today to team with other professionals to plan and create an instructional environment that teaches all students to read.

This course addresses the fundamental aspects of teaching and learning that are relevant for educators in all grade levels and subject areas. It examines proven practices for many of the indicators on state and district-wide teacher evaluation rubrics. Content includes creating a positive classroom environment, increasing student engagement, maximal use of learning time, interactive guided instruction strategies, scaffolding techniques, questioning and feedback skills and using homework to extend learning. Covering core topics critical to successful classroom practice, this course is designed to give educators the knowledge and skills needed to prepare students for college and career. The course is particularly useful for the training of mentor teachers and evaluators, and provides a system of supports for the professional growth of all practitioners.

This course provides research-based active reading comprehension strategies that participants can apply to their grade level or content area. By learning how to implement these metacognitive reading strategies, participants will be able to plan lessons more effectively. Participants will also discover how to engage students, deepen their understanding of content, and prepare them for success beyond the classroom. Emphasis is on learning styles, types of text, notation systems, content-area reading, assessments, fluency, motivation, and grade-level vocabulary. Over 40 strategies, activities, and assessments throughout this course align to Common Core State Standards (CCSS).

Multi-tiered System of Supports (MTSS) is a framework for school improvement that involves tiers of increasingly intensive interventions. As students are identified by curriculum based measurement as exhibiting risk for school failure, they are instructed using interventions designed to eliminate or correct the cause of failure. Their progress is monitored using simple assessment tools. Participants will understand the MTSS process, its impact upon teaching and learning, and apply strategies and data-based decision-making in process implementation.

This course will introduce participants to the concepts of emotional intelligence and the importance of incorporating social-emotional learning in the classroom in order to create academic environments that cultivate caring, empathic and successful students. Through research-based activities, participants will develop strategies to teach to the “whole child”, learn ways to motivate and engage students and promote positive interactions amongst students in order to increase academic achievement.

Using a standards-based approach as its foundation, Student Engagement and Standards-Based Learning is a Performance Learning Systems® course that explores high-impact learning activities designed to help teachers optimize student learning. Participants will use standards as a basis for designing learning activities, assessments, and scoring guides and will prioritize learning based on curriculum. Using alignment criteria and the POINT design components, participants will evaluate, modify, expand, and design standards-based learning activities in order to maximize student learning, engagement, and achievement. A variety of learning activities aligned to standards and the QFL (Questions for Life) Process Skills are featured in this course as participants learn to address the needs of 21st Century Learners and foster progress toward deeper retention and transfer of learning.

This practical course is designed to enable K-12 educators to synthesize newly framed requirements for highly effective teaching (APPR), the 21st Century Skills, the Common Core Standards, existing research on best instructional practices, technology use and assessment into a high performing classroom that can transform their students learning and ready students for college and career success in a global, digital world. The course shows educators how to create innovative but easy to implement standards-aligned, project-based learning (PBL) units that integrate intuitive digital tools into daily differentiated instruction. Participants will learn from doing in the same manner to be expected of students in a 21st Century Classroom. Participants will exit the course having designed three increasingly complex PBL with Technology units (PBL-T) and the ability to create additional PBL-T units for a single discipline or across disciplines. The aim of each standards-aligned unit is to increase student achievement simultaneous with the development of students 21st Century skills beyond traditional gains from more conventional, factory model methods.

This course will provide students with a better understanding of the realities of data use and will empower users to identify and use data more appropriately to identify school-wide priorities, inform instruction and enhance student learning.

Digital Literacy is a broad term that encompasses "nuts and bolts of skills and ethical obligations." (Common Sense Media, 2019) In January of 2020, the New York State Board of Regents approved the first ever learning standards for Computer Science and Digital Fluency. In a collaborative process that included an intense needs assessment, the K-12 standards have been organized into 5 categories: Impacts of Computing; Computational Thinking; Networks and Systems Design; Cybersecurity; and Digital Literacy. This course will focus on digital literacy but include a brief introduction to the 4 other components of the new standards. Digital literacy includes both seamless integration of digital tools and skills across content areas as well as purposeful direct instruction on topics that include but are not limited to digital citizenship, safety, etiquette, privacy, laws and wellness. Through the exploration of these topics, participants will acquire skills, tools and knowledge to incorporate digital literacy across content areas and grade levels appropriately to enhance instruction.

This course is designed for all educators, both general and special as well as related service providers, at all grade levels. Participants will develop skills for setting up an inclusive classroom that meets the needs of all the students in their classroom. The course emphasizes many strategies and activities to make inclusive education effective and efficient. Participants will also learn the three principles of universal design for learning (UDL) and how to apply them in an inclusive classroom.

Aversive Childhood Experiences (ACE) may cause a student to have academic problems, acting out behaviors, and poor relationships with classmates and school staff. The negative effects of ACEs lead to deficits in attention, learning and retrieval, language and communication skills, and memory recall, thus affecting students' academic performance and social skills. According to the Center for Disease Control, the number of ACEs one has experienced has a direct correlation to the education level one achieves. When teachers are trauma informed, learn effective responses to student trauma, and how to help foster and instill resiliency skills necessary to thrive in the classroom, children have better learning outcomes: building foundations for better health, success, and positive interactions - in school and in life. This course will present the core concepts of ACEs, stress, trauma, restoration, self-care, and provide research-based strategies and practices to enhance resilience in the classroom environment. Class participants will be taught to avoid secondary traumatic stress or compassion fatigue by being aware of personal self-care. According to the National Child Stress Network, compassion fatigue is "the emotional duress that results when an individual hears firsthand about the trauma experienced by another."

This class will help educators restore equity and humanity to their classrooms and schools through personalization of education. The lessons will help teachers shape whole-class instruction, leverage small-group interactions, and nurture a student's inner dialogue. It will nurture the cultivation of awareness for students, using thinking routines from Project Zero and protocols of interaction with peers. The class will also help teachers design curriculum with a flexible frame that helps to emphasize the state standards. Teachers will be able to design new lessons that create multiple opportunities for students to become global thinkers and prepare them for a changing world. The overarching goal will be that teachers will reclaim personalized learning for all students that they interact with.

This course will cover a variety of digital applications that can be used to facilitate formative assessment practices in the classroom.Several different digital applications will be explored that can be used to increase student engagement in the assessment process,while also providing educators with valuable data that can be used to inform their instruction. Written assignments will integrate these digital applications with theoretical and practical considerations pertaining to best practices in classroom assessment.

Improving instruction to make it relevant, meaningful and engaging should be a goal of every 21st century educator. In this course, we will explore instructional practices, digital tools, platforms and pathways to facilitate meaningful learning experiences in the classroom and beyond. Additionally, there are a variety of contexts and resources in all districts that impact what and how we choose to implement technology in our classrooms. In this course, participants will investigate how to put pedagogy first and add digital resources second. The course will frame instruction with a digital lens that supports the SAMR (Substitute-Augment-Modify-Redefine) model, Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy and the New York State K-12 Computer Science and Digital Fluency standards with consideration given to the privacy and educational laws surrounding student use of technology.

This course covers the flipped classroom approach as it relates to teaching the 21st century classrooms. Topics that are covered include the development of a flipped classroom, creating a flipped classroom, the benefits of flipping a classroom, how to implement a flipped classroom, and how to create a positive learning environment in a flipped classroom. Written assignments will integrate theoretical and research-based concepts with classroom practice.

In an ever-changing educational landscape that has included remote learning, hybrid learning and technology-rich instruction, the responsibilities and challenges that educators face daily continue to mount and evolve. This course will facilitate investigation into strategies, tools and practices to help manage and engage students in our 21st century K-12 learning environments, while also improving school climate, culture and community partnerships.

This course covers the flipped classroom approach as it relates to teaching the 21st century classrooms. Topics that are covered include the development of a flipped classroom, creating a flipped classroom, the benefits of flipping a classroom, how to implement a flipped classroom, the challenges of a flipped classroom, and how to create a positive learning environment in a flipped classroom. It also explores the flipped mastery model and flipped learning model. Written assignments will integrate theoretical and research-based concepts with classroom practice.

This course focuses on the family systems theory models as a guide to understanding, appreciating, and supporting diverse families. It introduces the participants to contemporary issues such as working with linguistically diverse and immigrant families. It provides strategies on how to deal with families going through divorce, remarriage, or military employment; families dealing with financial difficulties, natural disasters, and violence. Participants examine families that face hunger, chronic illness, death in the family, and students with parents in prison. They will also examine the use of the latest technology as a communication tool. In this course participants will review the 9 principles of family support in schools. This course is designed to help teachers find ways to partner with parents to help build successful students. Research has clearly shown that parental involvement is a critical variable in a child’s education.

Meaningful Activities to Generate Interesting Classrooms is a 3-credit hour course that shows educators how to design compelling activities that engage students more meaningfully in their own learning while developing practical life skills, as well as critical thinking skills. Throughout the course, participants learn to apply five specific criteria (the SCORE model) that are characteristic of highly effective, brain-compatible activities. Participants use these criteria continuously to analyze the activities in which they participate, as well as those they plan, ensuring that each includes relevant learning and life skills, meets curriculum requirements, addresses organizational issues, plans to meet desired outcomes, and assesses mastery. With a focus on unlocking the creative potential of both teachers and their students, participants learn how to position effective activities—introductory, informational, practice, review, and culminating—throughout the entire learning process, and provide multiple pathways to learning that are highly engaging while promoting depth of knowledge.

Students, parents, and school staff deserve a safe learning environment. Yet headlines of violence, bullying, and drug abuse have shown the vulnerability of schools. This course explores the background and data about the severity of safety issues facing schools today and provides the strategies and tools to address them. This course will provide students with tools, activities, checklists, strategies, and tips. Some issues that will be addressed are bullying, substance abuse, internet safety, violent school issues, suicide, school avoidance, and mental health awareness.

The purpose of grading is to communicate a mastery or needed improvement of skills to students and their caregivers. But there are many flaws in the traditional grading system that often deviate from good intentions. Participants will examine the historical purpose of the grading system and how it has been used to determine a student’s academic potential, before diving into current research on equitable teaching and learning. Participants will have the opportunity to reflect on their current grading practices, questioning how equitable they are for students, and be able to improve ways of assessing students.

In this course, participants will explore the levels of student engagement and use of technology using a lens of student commitment to learning. The course will focus on a technology framework that prioritizes the science of learning practices rather than specific tools. The Triple E Framework: Enhance, Extend and Engage, facilitates purposeful technology integration that adds value to the learning goals. Understanding how students learn lends itself to choosing the best pedagogical practices around a tool to best meet the instructional needs of the lesson and unit. Pedagogy remains the central force in teaching and learning. Examining our practices around harnessing technology in our classrooms using current research and the Triple E Framework can result in transforming contemporary education.

Students learn best when collaborating, talking, and working with their peers. That’s what Edutopia blogger and educational expert Heather Wolpert-Gawron discovered when she surveyed students nationwide. Now you can hear from the students themselves and discover 10 comprehensive and fresh ideas on precisely how to capture your students’ imaginations and minds for deeper learning every day. This research-based approach provides plentiful lesson ideas, vignettes, videos, and insightful student interviews. Wolpert states she has learned students want to work together, have their teachers be more visual and to use technology, know “why” they are learning, move around in the classroom, have choices, experience their teachers as human, create using what they know, participate with new ways of learning, and learn using a variety of methods.

“Relationships matter in the classroom, in our families, and in our community organization where children and youth will interact with adults.” -Joe Brummer To build a strong and solid school culture, caring, nurturing relationships must be present. When students feel supported, they are more likely to engage fully in their learning. Using restorative practices allows for relationship building and conflict resolution. Participants will explore the foundations and skills of building a restorative classroom and establish practices to put into action with students.

Explore the profound connection between a teacher's inner state and the outcomes in the classroom. From navigating challenging classroom dynamics to fostering a positive learning environment, you will learn strategies that sustain your well-being while enhancing the educational journey of your students. With a continuous infusion of fresh ideas, invaluable tools and evidence-based practices, this course demonstrates that by prioritizing self-care, you amplify your capacity to make a lasting difference in the lives of your students and unlock the full potential to inspire and guide students effectively.

In this course, educators will delve into innovative strategies to inspire students to embrace challenges as opportunities for growth. Participants will learn how to cultivate a classroom culture where productive struggle is not only welcomed but celebrated, fostering a mindset of resilience and continuous improvement. Drawing on research-based methodologies, participants will discover how to design learning environments that normalize challenges and empower students to see themselves as capable learners and risk-takers. Through practical techniques, educators will explore how to craft clear learning intentions and success criteria that guide students through their academic journey. With a focus on authentic classroom scenarios and firsthand insights from educators implementing the 'not-yet approach,' participants will gain valuable communication skills to engage with colleagues, students, and parents/guardians effectively. Additionally, they will receive a toolkit of strategies, protocols, and reproducibles to support instruction, reflection, and the seamless integration of the 'not-yet approach' into their teaching practices.

Artificial intelligence has been permeating society for quite some time and has taken a more prominent role in our everyday lives. As we seek to prepare our students for a constantly evolving and changing world, it is critical to learn how AI works and how to leverage its transformational power to make a positive impact on teaching and learning. While AI certainly presents some challenges, this course will explore how to harness AI for good, seeing it as an asset in our profession rather than a threat. Participants in the course will investigate both the opportunities and implications of AI in education as well as the ethical considerations for its effective integration. As educators, we need to continue to re-imagine education, preparing leaders and educators to empower students to thrive in the AI-driven world of tomorrow. Educators are uniquely positioned to shape the future of learning and ensure that AI is harnessed responsibly. For our teaching and learning to be relevant to the future of our students, it is integral to stay informed and continue to develop our own knowledge and skills. In this course, participants will study research, explore tools and strategies and improve practices to utilize in planning and instruction. The course will also include investigating how to create curriculum, school guidelines and policies to create a culture of ethical use of available technological resources with respect to our New York State learning standards in content areas, Computer Science and Digital Fluency Standards, Career Development and Occupational Studies Standards and Social Emotional Learning benchmarks.

Participants will explore the extensive research base behind classroom management and work to create a classroom management plan that will provide a foundation on which to build instruction for the rest of the school year. They will investigate their curriculum and instruction to find ways to engage students in learning, which will virtually eliminate classroom management issues. Since preventive measures are not a failsafe, participants will explore some minor, escalating, and major behavior problems to better prepare students to address these situations as they arise. Participants will also explore how to address the special needs of inclusive classrooms, as well as technology in the classroom.

This course is an introduction to the theories proposed from the program called Project Zero at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. It is an introduction to the eight cultural forces that are found in educational settings. Specifically focusing on one cultural force which is making a student’s thinking visible in the classroom. Participants will learn about thinking involved in understanding and how students think. Specific focus will be on Howard Gardner’s “Multiple Intelligence Theory” and the eight intelligences. Participants will also explore how to make thinking visible in a classroom environment. This course will focus on twenty-two different thinking routines. The instructor will demonstrate each thinking routine by first teaching the philosophy of the routine and then how it can apply to all areas of the curriculum. The instructor will teach the setup of the routine and then complete examples of the routine with the participants. The participants will then be encouraged to discuss the benefits of the routine in their classrooms, which curriculum it can be used in, and how the routine creates visible thinking.

This course extends participants’ understanding of “best learning practices” from findings based on brain research and pedagogical theory. Reflections include the impact of enriched environment; the role of emotions; the relationship between brain, mind, and intellect; the connection between memory and learning; the developmental path from novice to expert; and the role of experience in learning. Educators explore how these principles guide their work with children and create brain-compatible classrooms.

This course focuses on enhancing teacher effectiveness by exploring research-based theories and best practices that correlate to the New York State Teaching Standards. As participants delve into the elements and criteria delineated in The NYSUT Teacher Practice Rubric and The Framework for Teaching Evaluation Instrument, participants gain an understanding of what is expected of a professional in the classroom and essential for performance reviews. With a spotlight on teacher practice, participants experience the specific methods, strategies, and activities that ensure “Highly Effective” performance in all professional domains.

The New York State Next Generation Learning Standards will require students to write completely and competently in every subject. This course will help assist teachers in implementing a systematic plan for teaching writing developmentally and consistently in every subject area. It will help students to examine and learn writing strategies that guide them in producing the widest possible range of writing products. Each of the strategies is designed to foster creative thinking, analysis and synthesis. All of the strategies are adaptable from levels K-adults. Participants in the course produce a wide range of written products to provide them the practice in using the strategies. This allows the participants to learn through application and internalize the understanding of each strategy. Writers have opportunities to work solo, in pairs, and in groups, fostering collaboration and cooperation.

Healthy stress is natural. Helping students learn how to appropriately deal with the daily stressors throughout their day is important so they can develop this life skill. Left unchecked, stress can reach unhealthy levels and impact all facets of children’s development. In our current modern education system, toxic stress can lead to anxiety, depression, health issues, low academic performance, decreased social interactions and other emotional concerns. These negative effects of toxic stress impact both teachers and students thus resulting in an unhappy classroom environment. In this course, participants will examine the causes of toxic classrooms and more importantly learn tools and strategies to address the stress in our schools.

Do we need active learning in today's classroom? Active learning is a form of learning in which teaching strives to involve students in the learning process more directly than in other methods. Active learning is important in the contemporary classroom. It creates a high level of self-monitoring, checking for understanding, and the application of various strategies. In doing this it helps students distinguish and differentiate between important and unimportant information, analyze, compare and contrast and dig deeper for meaning. This course is designed to help educators determine if contemporary classrooms serve as a context for active learning. In this course, participants will explore various practical active learning strategies and will learn how to successfully implement them into the classroom.

In this course, teachers will learn how to create “cultures of thinking”: places where a group’s collective as well as individual thinking is valued, visible, and actively promoted every day. They will learn the eight cultural forces that educators must master to transform our schools from the old standard of education to the new model requiring global thinkers, problem solvers, and independent learners. The teachers will learn the eight forces of language, time environment, opportunities, routines, modeling, interactions, and expectations. They will learn the latest research behind each cultural force, techniques to utilize the force in an educational setting, and strategies to change their classroom and school environments. They will also learn and develop the three core ideas based on the cultures: schools must be about developing students’ thinking dispositions, the need to make students’ thinking visible, and the crucial role of classroom culture in supporting and shaping learning. The course will also contain strategies to move toward transformation in teacher’s schools and classroom. They will explore how to collaborate in a positive way with peers, how to build a vision across a school district and how to create opportunities for this transformation.

Participants will review New York State Learning Standards and what they mean for early readers and writers; read and interpret research related to literacy instruction and emergent literacy components; explore and implement strategies to improve comprehension, vocabulary, and fluency; integrate literacy and content areas; explore activities and examples of effective instruction for each literacy component; assess the effectiveness of instruction; and, design and integrate writing instruction. Participants will review causes of reading difficulties and discuss both the role of differentiated instruction and RTI (Response to Intervention) to promote student reading success. Participants will learn how to use formative and summative assessment data to design instruction to meet student needs. Participants will investigate ways to use technology to support students’ literacy skills and teacher professional development. Participants will learn how to create a literacy block that supports individual student needs.

Developing Executive Function to Empower Learners is a three-credit hour course that focuses on the correlation between student learning and the executive function skills of the brain. Strong executive function skills enhance student learning and empower students academically, personally, and professionally. Participants learn strategies and activities that develop and strengthen executive function in the areas of organization and planning; focus and attention; working memory; inhibitory control and self-regulation; self-directedness (self-managing, self-monitoring, and self-modifying); and cognitive flexibility. Participants learn how to make thinking visible in the classroom in a way that fosters problem solving, perspective-taking, and creative cognition skills. Mind matters, and learning how to optimize the air traffic control system of the brain has a powerful impact on learning.

This course will serve as a blueprint for teachers to alter the all-too-predictable outcomes for our historically under served students. It will make the critical link between social justice and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) so that we can equip students and teachers with the will, skill and collective capacity to enact positive change. This course also gives educators an opportunity to analyze and reflect upon a variety of realistic case studies related to educational equity and social justice. The accessibility of written cases allows educators to practice the process of considering a range of contextual factors, checking their own biases, and making immediate and long-term decisions about how to create and sustain equitable learning environments for all students. The case studies involve classroom issues that are relevant to all grade levels and content areas. Using an equity framework, participants develop a lens for detecting inequity as it occurs in everyday classrooms, become adept at looking at the situation from multiple perspectives, and develop actionable plans to negotiate obstacles to equity in the classroom, the school, and in the community.

Successful Teaching for Acceptance of Responsibility is a 3-credit hour course designed to empower students to become more self-responsible. Participants learn how to proactively establish classroom structures that support responsibility and learn how to develop student-centered lessons that encourage responsible choices and effective decision-making. Participants explore the signs and symptoms of students who are low in Personal Power or Mental Models and plan appropriate interventions to develop responsibility and strong self-efficacy. In addition to modeling responsibility by using Teacher Talk, participants learn how to develop responsibility in students by implementing strategies that promote self-responsible choices, thinking, communication, actions, interactions, and character.

Why is empathy important? Empathy allows us to experience the world on a much deeper level. This course focuses on understanding our students better. All learners deserve empathy because it is crucial for any learning or growth. When students enter our classrooms, they are continuing a lifelong journey to excel. Not only should we be teaching the curriculum, but we must also encourage students to pursue excellence. Participants will develop an understanding that empathy is demonstrated both explicitly; how we respond to a student and implicitly; how we plan our curriculum, instruction, assessment, and extracurricular learning opportunities. Participants will examine the DIIE model (Diagnosis and Discovery), (Intervention), (Implementation), and (Evaluation). Participants will answer the question, how do we implement what works best? Great teaching can be designed, and when it is designed well, students learn more.

As society explores rebounding from the current Pandemic, schools have been given the unique opportunity to re-imagine education. Participants will investigate and analyze research-based instructional practices that will contribute to accelerating learning recovery, rebuilding student and teacher agency, dismantle inequities and achieve the maximum impact of teaching and learning. Topics include assessment, meaningful feedback, differentiated interventions, prioritizing curriculum, mental health, social emotional learning, trauma informed practices, student and teacher efficacy, technology as a learning tool, student grouping and other concepts to contribute to accelerating learning recovery and rebuilding agency for students and staff. The content is responsive to current educational challenges as a result of the Pandemic. However, the strategies embedded in this course will endure as we re-imagine education in the 21st century to meet the evolving needs of students and staff in today’s world.

A happier teacher has a happier class, but unfortunately, mental health issues are front and center for teachers and students who are trying to deal with issues that impact us all daily. Students are missing too much material due to time out of class for various depression-related issues. Teachers are seeking solutions to help, support and encourage the depressed and isolated students of their class. This course will provide answers and solutions (strategies) that are easy and fun to incorporate into any class, academic level, or subject. The strategies will be practiced by each participant with a reflection that will document their personal growth of happiness. In turn, teachers will be able to go back to their classrooms ready to help their students through this difficult time. This course will present the core concepts of happiness, hedonic adaptation, growth mindset, learned helplessness, social investment, and the power of sharing these ideas with others. Every session will provide numerous resources that teachers utilize within their classrooms. The objectives are tangible, measurable improvements in the level of happiness in each classroom and for every student. Taking this course is not intended to be a substitute for professional clinical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical or mental condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it.

Based on a four-corner framework for quality teaching, Middle Level Education: Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment examines how to set the climate, teach the content, facilitate the interactions and foster reflection in the middle school classroom. Using brain-based instruction as the basis for powerful learning, processes for making data-driven instructional decisions and for designing curriculum to address the standards are at the forefront of this course. In addition, comprehensive treatment is given to three critical instructional strategies: cooperative group instruction, inquiry-based learning, and higher order thinking. Woven throughout the course content are the concepts of diversity, differentiating instruction and assessment of individual learners.

Attributes: Liberal

Students have the opportunity to develop individualized studies with their mentor/advisor in Curriculum and Instruction (CURI). Registration for this class must be approved by the student’s mentor.

This concluding course in the M.Ed. allows students to apply contemporary curriculum and learning theories to an educational project that can be implemented upon course completion. Its components include objectives, subject matter, learning experiences and means of evaluation. The culminating project should be situated in a thorough consideration of the changing needs in one’s chosen setting, the current policies with impacts on those needs, and the most relevant research in one’s subject area. Prerequisites (must complete before registering): Completion of Research Design CURI-7122 with a grade of B or better. This course was previously EDU-661595

This course introduces students to quantitative, qualitative and mixed educational research methods, procedures, and best practices. This course fosters critical thinking in terms of evaluating the quality and value of different research methodologies and different kinds of research studies in education. This course discusses the importance of high quality research to best determine solutions to educational problems and issues. Topics include an overview and comparison of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods; ethics in educational research with human subjects; the development of a research question, including, an introduction to the components of an annotated bibliography and a literature review; statistical techniques; causation, validity and reliability; and testing and assessments relevant to educational settings. This course requires a grade of B or better to pass.

Students have the opportunity to develop individualized studies with their mentor/advisor in Curriculum and Instruction (CURI). Registration for this class must be approved by the student’s mentor.