Title |
Description |
Grade
Level |
Syllabus |
Road Map |
Policies |
Registration |
A Learning Disabilities Primer |
The Learning Disabilities Primer is an introduction to the field of Learning Disabilities including definition, historical aspects, assessment, and strategies for the classroom teacher. The online course will include a discussion about the reauthorization of IDEA 2004, difference between accommodations and modifications, and current trends in special education. The focus will be on meeting the needs of students with learning disabilities; including executive functioning difficulties. The course will address current practices and focus on readings, discussions, internet sties, and assistive technology that address problems for students with learning disabilities. |
K-12 |
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Balance the Mind and Heart: Creating Resilient Schools that Address the Social, Emotional, Ethical, and Academic (SEAL) Needs of Students |
This online course will allow educators the opportunity to create resilient schools that meet the social, emotional, ethical, and academic (SEAL) needs of students. Participants will explore the research-based skills and competencies that have a positive impact on the organizational structure of their school, the delivery of instruction, and student performance. |
K-12 |
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Critical Thinking |
Critical thinking skills are an essential part of any academic program. This class focuses its questioning using Bloom's Taxonomy of Higher Learning for any classroom teacher K-12. Students of this class will learn the questioning techniques to easily integrate them into any academic program. Many times teachers are bogged down with the lowest level of questioning without touching upon the higher levels. We know as educators what we need to do. This class sharpens teachers' tools to bring their classroom to new levels of learning. |
K-12 |
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Cultural and Socio-economic Differences in the Classroom |
This course is designed to help the participant create and implement lessons that meet the needs of diverse learners in the ir classroom. This course is designed to help teachers, administrators and staff support the ir students in achieving excellence in the NYS learning standards, regardless of the ir background. |
K-12 |
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Curriculum in the Constructivist World! |
The course will address the principles, practices, issues specific to and underlying technology integration and the development and construction of the curriculum in the public school under the Constructivist View. Focus is on the practical application of the techniques of curriculum. Curriculum will be developed using a range of teaching and learning methods, media, and instructional technology along with creating appropriate criteria, rubrics, and assessments that promote successful learning. The course will also address standards-based education, curriculum validity, balance, and evaluation. In the end, the participant will walk away with a new perspective of designing curriculum and as a result improve the ir teaching techniques. |
K-12 |
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How many times have you confronted problematic behavior or a poorly constructed assignment from your students and wondered, "What were they thinking?" New science on the developing brain supports the conclusion that our students may not in fact approach that social situation or conceptualize that assignment in the same way that we adults would! Frontal lobe executive functions, particularly in the areas of inhibition and reflection, continue to develop through adolescence and provide the basis for greater self control and more mature reasoning and decision making. In this course, we will review current research on the developing brain and explore educational programs that can support further brain development. Because developmental neuroscience has been popularized by the press, we will emphasize separating brain fact from fiction in our exploration of sound educational practice. |
K-12 |
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Dimensions of Learning [DOL] is a practical framework of proven teaching methods that can be used by K-12 teachers to improve student learning and achievement. Developed by Bob Marzano, and over 90 educators, DOL takes over 30 years of best practices and theories and presents them in a way that allows teachers to improve the quality of their teaching. |
6-12 |
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The Effective Paraeducator |
This 15 hour course is designed to provide information that will increase your awareness and knowledge of the expectations and responsibilities of aides. The class will provide you information on effective communication skills, assertive discipline techniques, and effective listening skills. Participants will gain knowledge of the special education categories, identify appropriate strategies, and possible accommodations to assist special education students. |
K-12 |
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Effective Strategies for Working with Teens |
Understanding the brain development of the typical teen/adolescent is imperative in effectively approaching these learners who have or are in danger of dropping out of the traditional education system. Brain research is the basis for this approach to teens/adolescents. Building relationships with these teens is a delicate matter that must be addressed to lead to positive learner outcomes. This course will welcome you into the chaotic world of teen/adolescent behavior that drives their decision-making abilities. |
K-12 |
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Learning Styles and Beyond |
How many times have you heard that a child is lazy????? Do you agree? Do you think that children are truly lazy and are choosing to do poorly in school? If you believe in this myth then this is the course for you! This course will attempt to unveil the Myth about Laziness. This course is designed to help the participant learn about the 8 neurological constructs of the brain that effect learning in children. This course with delve deeper into understanding the minds of children. Participants will learn why children behave as they do and learn strategies to help these children reach their fullest potential by learning effective differentiating strategies that can be used hands on in the classroom. These techniques will change the way you teach and change your thinking about each student. |
K-12 |
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Model the Masters |
This professional development course expects a great deal from its participants. Teachers who work with young children occupy a huge percentage of their lifetimes and wield tremendous power and influence. A teacher charged with the education of a 21st century citizen requires great communication skills, vision, empathy, literacy, creativity, and logic. This course will not expect teachers to "reinvent the wheel" for a new millennium. Instead, it will not only allow, but will actually encourage copying master scientists to elevate teaching professionals to a higher standard which will serve all children more effectively. |
K-12 |
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Reaching All Students: Differentiating Instruction for Learners |
In this class, teachers will learn to develop and implement lessons and activities to better support the students in their classroom. Teachers will create activities and lessons that are aligned with the NY State Standards and area based on whether the learner is a visual, kinesthetic, or auditory learner. Teachers will use computer programs, the Internet, games, manipulatives, and/or other resources to enable students to comprehend and communicate curriculum objectives. |
K-12 |
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Peer Coaching |
This online course will explore the benefits that experienced educators can gain by collaborating with colleagues in a peer coaching program. New teachers are usually provided with mentors in the early stages of their profession. However, once the mentoring process ends, teachers often find themselves working alone and may have few opportunities to meet with colleagues to share ideas, discuss the challenges they face, or seek ways to improve their craft. Peer coaching is a professional development strategy that provides opportunities for educators beyond the new teacher phase to meet with one another, share in conversations about improving and refining practices, observe one another's classrooms (or other educational settings), promote collegiality, and ensure quality instruction. The relationships are based on confidentiality and trust and take place in a non-threatening, secure environment where everyone involved can learn and grow together. Working in partnership with colleagues can enhance practice, improve student learning, reduce isolation, and build a social community of support. |
K-12 |
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Research Modules |
In this course you will create a research project for your students based on the Research Module by Jamie McKenzie. Rather than finding answers, you will challenge your students to make answers to higher order thinking questions you will ask them. You will base your questions around web-sites you have previously chosen for your students to explore. |
K-12 |
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Successful Transition From Elementary to Middle
School |
Transition from elementary to middle school provides challenges to many
students. The purpose of this online course is to enable middle school level
teachers to help their students successfully and smoothly make the
transition. This course is consistent with the NYS Teacher Center Online Academy Standards. Participants will authenticate their students’ learning
in accordance to NYS learning standards. |
K-5
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Teaching With Boys and Girls in Mind |
“There are no differences in what boys and girls CAN learn but there are big differences in the best way to teach them.” Sax,Leonard(2005)
This course is designed to explore the differences on how boys and girls learn differently. Much has been learned over the past 20 years with the advanced technology of MRI. Scientists have been able to study the brain ever so closely with this new technology resulting in research as to how boys and girls’ brains differ and the implications for teaching. This course will explore those differences and assist teachers to develop strategies and design their classrooms to meet those unique differences. |
K-12
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Teaching Multiple Intelligences in a General Education Classroom |
The goal is to have teachers understand and create instructional lessons incorporating Gardner's Multiple Intelligences to accommodate different learning styles within a general education classroom. |
K-12
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Teaching Reading and Writing to Students who have Difficulty Attending, Processing and Following Directions
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This course is designed to provide information to increase awareness and knowledge of an Auditory Processing Disorder and Attention Deficit Disorder in young children learning to read and write. Participants will learn what Auditory Processing Disorder and Attention Deficit Disorder are and the various signs of these disabilities. Participants will read related articles about A.P.D. and A.D.D. /H.D. with a focus on how it affects elementary school aged children's reading and writing ability. There will be ongoing discussions, reactions and reflections about the readings with the expectation that you submit an action plan of various strategies and tools to help better teach students who struggles in these areas.
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K-12 |
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Teaching Students to Think
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This course will focus on how to teach students to foster intellectual discipline and ultimately become responsible for their own learning. Participants will be introduced to effective thinking and teaching methods from the Paul- Elder Model for Critical Thinking. |
K-12 |
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Teens blog and twitter, blackberries and iPhones are requisite technology. This technology has changed the way that teens learn and interact. Teens listen in sound bytes and can access virtually any fact simply by thinking about the ‘right’ descriptors. How can educators used to writing on a blackboard communicate information to today’s teens in a way that’s engaging from them and not overwhelming for us? Interactions on Facebook and MySpace have also replaced hanging out after school, and creating an online persona provides teens with a new means of exploring their identity. While these sites broaden teens’ social horizons, they may also thrust teens into social situations beyond their maturity level. How do we help teens navigate these technologies? In this online course, we will explore teen’s dependence on technology from a developmental perspective, focusing on how teens attend to and process information and why interacting in a virtual space is likely to be so attractive to them. We will explore ways of incorporating technology into the classroom in a reasonable and informed way, as well as how to communicate guidelines for safe and appropriate use. |
K-12 |
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This course will provide students with interactive learning strategies to use in your classroom based on Level 3 research. (In a university setting, Level 3 Research means that the research has been proposed, utilized and replicated on a large population over a long period of time successfully.) Strategies will be introduced which will transform your classroom, help to increase student achievement, and add excitement to your lessons. Each week, a different topic will be introduced and the research-based readings will support the discussion of the strategies. Participants will be encouraged to try the strategy in their classroom and participate in the discussions engendered by their own experiences. Participating in a collegial circle of peers will encourage experimentation as participants receive feedback from the instructor and their peers. Participants will receive a rich framework of strategies that will add to their own pedagogy for both novice and veteran teachers. |
K-12 |
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Understanding Prejudice, Stereotyping, and Discrimination
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The rise in hate crimes and racially charged violence in schools has led to an increased need to understand how prejudiced, stereotyped, and discriminatory viewpoints develop among young people in a school setting. Research has shown that children can develop negative attitudes towards individuals of different races and cultures, which presumably will affect behavior in the classroom. In fact, these attitudes may also be carried on into adulthood. Teachers must understand how negative intergroup attitudes and behaviors develop in children in order to help create and maintain a socially tolerant classroom. |
K-12 |
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Using Data to Drive Your Instruction
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Educators are being held accountable for the achievements of the ir students more than ever before. How can you use data from your students to improve instruction? Participants in this course will research ways o the r educators are using data to improve test scores by using new and innovating tools used in the online environment. During the course you will have the opportunity to read and examine data in order to formulate a plan for improvement. |
K-12 |
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Using Teams to Improve Students' Learning at the Middle Level |
If you've ever been asked "how can you teach middle school kids?" the n this course is for you. In this course participants will learn how to use teams to increase student learning through increased motivation, communication and consistency. Reasearch will be done to support the use of teams in schools and participants will develop a plan for the ir own team as well as the program the y will work under. Rules for behavior, parent support and student interest will also be discussed. After finishing this course, participants will be ready to present the team concept to o the rs and propose the use of teams in the ir building. |
5-8 |
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Using a Vacation Planning Unit to Integrate Across the Curriculum |
In this course teachers will learn how to use a thematic unit to integrate math, social studies, language arts and technology into a realistic project students will become actively engaged in. This course offers participants the opportunity to develop, create and implement a travel based unit into their preexisting curriculum that allows students to go beyond the classroom. The nature of this unit allows students of all levels to achieve success at their individual ability as well as drawing from a variety of learning styles. |
K-12 |
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Using Wildlife Imagery in Designing Lesson Plans That Promote Higher Order Thinking |
This course is designed to guide the participant through the exploration and utilization of the website ARKive - Images of Life on Earth. During this course you will learn to how to access ARKive's wildlife imagery and information and incorporate them into digital projects. You will travel under the sea and explore endangered marine species through Google Ocean. Together we will research and discuss critical and creative thinking and develop lesson plans and activities that promote the development of higher order thinking skills. |
K-12 |
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We’re All Playing for the Same Team: Winning Strategies for Effective, Collaborative Co-teaching in an Integrated Classroom |
Participants will explore co-teaching as one approach to meeting the diverse needs of all students in general education classrooms. We will examine common models the rationales for co-teaching in an integrated setting, along with the specific advantages of co-teaching for general educators, special educators and students. We will explore the cornerstones of productive collaboration and consider what it takes for us as individuals to be successful team members. Participants will investigate topics such as: communication and listening, conflict resolution, work-style preferences, tapping into background and experiences, creating a shared sense of purpose, goals, and responsibility. Because teamwork is complex and goes far beyond assigning people to work together, participants will explore the value of teams and appreciate their complexity by uncovering underlying assumptions about teamwork that influence performance. We will discuss and reflect on the process and value of setting ground rules, skills and methods of effective teamwork, and characteristics of effective feedback. This course is aligned with the National Staff Development Council’s (NSDC) Standards for Staff Development that improves the learning for all students, and will assist teachers in helping their students meet the NYS Learning Standards for their grade level(s) and standards areas. |
K-12 |
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