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Meet the Social Workers  Turning Passion into Purpose 2

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Check out the Career Genogram in person & Zoom!!

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Check out the Career Genogram in person & Zoom!!

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Need Interviewing Skills?? Check out this workshop presented by the Future Teachers Club!

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Need Interviewing Skills?? Check out this workshop presented by the Future Teachers Club!

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The ‘Difficult, Beautiful’ Work of Teaching

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The ‘Difficult, Beautiful’ Work of Teaching

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The ‘Difficult, Beautiful’ Work of Teaching

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From sunup to sundown, America’s teachers grapple with countless decisions, interruptions, joys, and frustrations.

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A Student-Driven Approach to Experiential Learning

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A Student-Driven Approach to Experiential Learning

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A Student-Driven Approach to Experiential Learning

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Which country has the best education in the world? 

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Which country has the best education in the world? 

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Which country has the best education in the world? - The Global Story podcast, BBC World Service

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Improve Handwriting in a Tech-Driven World While Boosting Engagement and Creativity

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Improve Handwriting in a Tech-Driven World While Boosting Engagement and Creativity

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Improve Handwriting in a Tech-Driven World While Boosting Engagement and Creativity | New edWebinar

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Email from edWeb.net Learn how to integrate a free program into your existing schedules to provide students with a lifelong creative skill. View as Webpage Free edWebinar & CE Certificate Improve

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Here is the Eventbrite signup for an awesome 2-day conference via Zoom called Teach for LA.

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Inclusive, Thriving Learning for Students with Special Education Needs

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Inclusive, Thriving Learning for Students with Special Education Needs

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In classrooms all across the U.S., there are students like Alex, who is articulate and bright but has a severe form of dyslexia. In the traditional classroom, Alex is constantly humiliated by being asked to read aloud or failing time-sensitive quizzes, leading him to believe he is "stupid" and causing him to shut down. The compelling part: He excels when using speech-to-text software or discussing concepts verbally, which the traditional paper-and-pencil model ignores.

There are also students like Maya, a student with Autism Spectrum Disorder who is included in a general education history class. She is a history expert, but when the teacher changes the schedule unexpectedly or assigns a group project, she has a meltdown due to the shift in routine and social demands. The teacher, though well-meaning, lacks the specialized training to de-escalate or offer a quick, appropriate accommodation.

Over 7.5 million students-approximately 15 percent of all public school enrollment-received special education and related services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in the 2022-23 school year. This number has steadily increased over the last decade, placing an ever-growing strain on traditional, one-size-fits-all classroom models (U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2024).

Enter into the picture next gen learning (NGL). This shift in educational practice and structure aims to prepare all students for success. It is a broad concept encompassing models that move beyond tradition, one-size-fits-all schooling. NGL is known for its student-centered, mastery focused, and technology enhanced approach to education. Alongside this, there is a mutually reinforcing strategy that connects the "what" of modern education reform with the "how and why" of equitable design. This is known as designing at the margins. This is the idea that designing for the most complex needs first results in a more robust and inclusive system for all learners.

Keeping this in mind, let's look at how next gen learning strategies, by focusing on personalization and flexibility, offer significant potential to create truly inclusive, thriving learning environments for students with special education needs, despite inherent challenges.

The Core Challenges for Special Education in Traditional Schooling

The challenge for traditional, fixed-pace, and uniform curriculum models is that they are fundamentally designed for the "average" student in a predictable learning environment. This rigidity makes it nearly impossible to accommodate the sometimes intense and varied needs of students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) or those in contained classroom settings.

Let's look at some ways that traditional classroom settings can harm students with exceptional needs:

Failure to Support Individualized Pace and Mastery

Fixed Pacing: The curriculum moves to the next unit on the calendar regardless of student learning, causing students with IEPs who need more time to fall further behind and students who need acceleration to become disengaged. Since IEPs mandate mastery or competency-based learning, instruction must continue until each student demonstrates proficiency in their individualized goals. This means that students with IEPs often struggle to thrive in fixed pacing environments, where the pace of instruction does not adapt to their unique learning needs.

Uniform Assessment: Standardized, high-stakes, end-of-unit tests are the primary measure to gauge success in a classroom. These tests often focus solely on content recall and a single right answer. When it comes to students with exceptional needs, the IEPs mandate accommodations and modifications for assessment (e.g., small-group testing, read-alouds, simplified language, reduced answer choices) which the standard test format often cannot provide without invalidating the score.

Credit Accrual: Credits for graduation are often given based on "seat time" (number of hours spent in class), penalizing students who may need to take longer to master content or require a different structure to receive services.When we look at successful self-contained classroom models, these often require additional time to integrate therapy, life skills, or functional academics, which the fixed hourly schedule and seat-time requirement prohibit.

Inability to Provide Multiple Means of Engagement and Expression

Teacher Led Lectures: The primary mode of instruction is the teacher lecturing and the student completing a worksheet or passively taking notes, heavily relying on auditory and visual processing. IEPs often require specialized instruction based on Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles. This involves presenting information in multiple ways (such as visually, through movement, or by listening), allowing students to express their understanding in different forms (like speaking, creating videos, or drawing), and using strategies that keep students engaged.

Standard Textbooks: Most curriculum relies on grade-level textbooks with dense text, complex vocabulary, and few differentiated supports. Many students, particularly those in contained settings, require materials at multiple reading levels, the use of assistive technology, or simplified graphic organizers that a standard textbook package does not inherently provide.

Lack of Context: The curriculum is often academic and abstract, disconnected from real-world application. For students focused on transition, functional skills, or vocational goals, the curriculum must be highly relevant and contextualized, requiring extensive modification of content that is often too time-consuming for a teacher working within a uniform model.

The good news is that there is a solution to these challenges. To deliver on the next gen promise, educators must proactively design learning environments that provide multiple means for students to access content, remain motivated, and demonstrate their mastery, moving away from inflexible, standardized approaches. Universal Design for Learning allows for multiple means of representation, multiple means of action and expression, and multiple means of engagement.

How Next Gen Learning Strategies Promote Accessibility and Inclusion

Next generation learning (NGL) builds on the ideas of inclusive education by focusing on making learning accessible and welcoming for every student. Instead of adding accommodations after lessons are made, NGL designs incorporate flexible lessons from the start. NGL uses different teaching methods centered on students to remove obstacles, value all kinds of learners, and provide fair ways for everyone to succeed.

Competency-Based Learning

This approach allows students to progress at their own pace, which is essential for addressing learning gaps and different processing speeds. As Robert Barnett writes in Meeting Every Learner's Needs, "When we teach one lesson to all of our students every day, we are intentionally failing to meet the needs of those who are ahead or behind." A mastery focus ensures that students fully acquire skills before moving forward. Those who need more time can take it without penalty, while students who grasp concepts quickly can advance, so pacing never becomes a barrier. Competency-based learning provides clear competencies and rubrics, offering precise targets-especially helpful for students who struggle with unclear expectations or abstract grading. These clear goals give students control over when and how they show what they've learned.

Project-Based Learning

Project-based learning (PBL) is a flexible teaching method where students engage with meaningful, real-world tasks. A core strength of PBL lies in its support for accessibility and inclusion because it offers varied ways for students to demonstrate mastery. Instead of relying solely on traditional tests, students can choose how to show what they've learned-like making a video, giving a presentation, or writing a report-allowing students to leverage their individual strengths and preferred modes of expression. Because projects connect to authentic situations, students find the work more engaging and maintain higher motivation. This flexibility ensures that learning is accessible to a wider range of learners, promoting an inclusive learning environment.

Inquiry-Based Learning

Inquiry-based learning (IBL) focuses on students asking their own questions and exploring answers. This approach boosts engagement and helps build deeper understanding. IBL supports inclusion by encouraging student independence and using different ways to present information. It lets students choose what to investigate, giving them ownership of their learning. Students gather information from many sources like texts, interviews, and experiments, which exposes them to diverse ways of learning.

Tech-Enabled Learning

Technology is what makes the flexibility of next generation learning possible. Digital tools like text-to-speech, speech-to-text, and adjustable fonts-often required by IEPs-help students access learning in ways that work best for them. Learning management systems make it easier to tailor content and provide support that fits each student's needs. These tools also give teachers real-time data to offer targeted help or challenges, ensuring every student stays engaged. Technology allows students to show their learning in different ways, such as through videos or digital art, supporting Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles. Additionally, assistive technology provides communication tools for students who are non-verbal or have difficulties expressing themselves.

Community and Industry-Supported Learning

Connecting the classroom to external partners (mentors, internships, real-world sites) makes learning relevant and accessible by providing authentic contexts and opportunities for career exploration and transition services that are required by law for older students with IEPs.These partnerships provide compelling, real-world challenges that increase engagement and motivation for students who may not thrive in purely academic settings. This type of learning also offers opportunities for students to practice/demonstrate skills in an authentic environment providing an alternative to traditional assessment thus building essential life and career skills.

Strategies for Implementing Next Gen Learning in Special Education Settings

To successfully implement next generation learning in special education, we must go beyond just meeting requirements. Instead, NGL strategies should be used as a clear guide to actively design strong, inclusive learning experiences.

Intentional Universal Design Learning Integration

It's not enough to have the NGL strategy; the lesson must be designed from the start with UDL principles in mind. This can include:

Proactive "Pre-Teaching" in Multiple Formats: Before a unit starts, identify key vocabulary and concepts that may be barriers. This may require using varied media such as videos with captions, graphic organizers, text-to-speech options, and use of manipulatives.

Choice Boards: Allow students to demonstrate mastery through oral presentations, digital creation, writing analysis using assistive technology, a physical model, or another option.

Relevance and Autonomy: Explicitly connect lesson content to students' Individualized Education Program (IEP) goals and personal interests. Offer structured choices in learning activities (e.g., choice of research topic, peer-to-peer or individual work) to foster a sense of ownership.

Deep Collaboration: Effective NGL requires consistent, shared planning time between general education and special education teachers to translate UDL principles into practice and ensure IEP goals are embedded into the general curriculum. This may look like co-planning, IEP goal integration, and station teaching models.

Data-Driven Differentiation

This strategy allows teachers to focus on individual growth and mastery over pace. Data is key to ensuring differentiation is timely and relevant.

Continuous Progress Monitoring: Implement frequent, low-stakes formative assessments (digital quick checks, exit tickets) that capture data on specific skills, not just final scores. This aligns with the IEP review process.

Targeted Intervention: Use the assessment data to group and regroup students flexibly. Differentiation in an NGL setting means providing a different means to reach the firm goal, rather than lowering the goal itself.

Student Data Notebooks: Empower students to track their own progress toward academic and behavioral goals. This shift to self-monitoring is a powerful metacognitive strategy that builds self-awareness, especially for students with learning differences.

Focus on Soft Skills and Self-Regulation

The ultimate goal of school is to develop "expert learners"-students who are resourceful, knowledgeable, and strategic. This requires explicit instruction in non-academic skills.

Executive Function Instruction: Teach organizational and planning skills explicitly using UDL's Action & Expression guidelines. Strategies include: providing planning templates and checklists for every project, using timers and visual schedules, and modeling how to break down large tasks.

Self-Regulation Strategies: Build in frequent opportunities for students to reflect on their learning process. Use prompts like: "What was the most challenging part of this task?" and "What support did you choose to use today?" This helps students identify effective coping and learning strategies, strengthening the affective network (UDL Engagement).

Goal Setting: Work with students to set short-term, measurable goals tied to their IEP, teaching them how to monitor and adjust their own effort and strategy based on performance feedback.

Challenges and Opportunities

Implementing next generation learning (NGL) models in special education settings offers a pathway to inclusion, but it is not without hurdles. The following section outlines both the challenges that require systemic solutions and the unique opportunities that emerge when NGL principles are correctly applied.

Challenges

Teacher Training: The transition to an NGL environment demands significant pedagogical change and requires new skills. Ensuring general and special education teachers are trained in the relevant technology and pedagogical shift can prove a burden for some districts.

Resource Equity: NGL is heavily reliant on flexible digital tools and low student-to-teacher ratios to be effective. Ensuring access to necessary technology, software, and class-size ratios, especially in under-resourced schools, can prove to be detrimental to these schools' budgets.

Measuring Progress: One of the most significant implementation challenges lies in measuring progress. NGL's strength is its flexible assessment, allowing students to demonstrate competency through varied means (portfolios, presentations, projects). However, while this may match requirements for IEP accommodations, this can clash with the standardized, compliance-driven IEP goal-reporting and state accountability measures that often rely on traditional metrics.

Opportunities

Meaningful Integration: NGL naturally facilitates integration by shifting the focus from fixing the student to fixing the environment. Because NGL lessons are designed with UDL flexibility for everyone, special education students can move out of isolated, contained classrooms to learn in general education environments with meaningful, embedded supports-not just accommodations. This integration allows all students to benefit from the same flexible instruction and promotes a classroom culture that values diverse thinking.

Beyond Compliance: Perhaps the greatest opportunity of the next gen promise is the chance to move beyond compliance. NGL shifts the educational purpose for students with disabilities from merely achieving minimal benchmarks to actively cultivating excellence. By offering multiple means of engagement and expression, NGL enables students to demonstrate talents and strengths that might be masked by traditional assessments, empowering them to become purposeful, motivated, and strategic expert learners-the true goal of inclusive education.

When next generation learning is planned from the start to include everyone, it becomes the essential way to create a truly inclusive education system. By using Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles-offering different ways to engage, learn, and show what students know-NGL removes barriers that often isolate special education students. This changes education from just providing accommodations to building a learning environment that works for all students.

I issue a direct challenge to educators, administrators, and policy-makers: Your priority must be the substantial investment and training in NGL models. Specifically, you must view every NGL adoption-from competency-based learning to new technologies-through the critical lens of special education accessibility. This means funding deep co-planning for general and special education teachers, ensuring resource equity for all schools, and evolving accountability metrics to value flexible, mastery-based demonstrations of learning. The success of our most complex learners is the true measure of our system's quality.

The next gen promise is not just about a better curriculum; it is about human potential. When we embrace NGL and UDL, we stop asking students to change to fit the system, and instead, we build a system that flexes to fit their genius. The transformative potential lies in giving every single learner-regardless of their starting point-the tools and the agency to master their learning and truly thrive in a future they design.

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Inclusive, Thriving Learning for Students with Special Education Needs

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Next gen learning can shift the educational purpose for students with disabilities from merely achieving benchmarks to actively cultivating excellence.

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edWeb Webinar: Support Student Well-Being Through Focused Learning and Meaningful Human Connection

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edWeb Webinar: Support Student Well-Being Through Focused Learning and Meaningful Human Connection

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Support Student Well-Being Through Focused Learning and Meaningful Human Connection - edWeb

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Explore how school leaders can intentionally design learning environments that support student focus, well-being, and connection while addressing the realities of modern technology use.

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edWeb Webinar: Implementing Successful PBL + STEM Initiatives

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edWeb Webinar: Implementing Successful PBL + STEM Initiatives

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EdWeb Webinar: Implementing Successful PBL + STEM Initiatives

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Rita Pierson - Every kid needs a champion

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Rita Pierson - Every kid needs a champion

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Every kid needs a champion | Rita Pierson | TED

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CECE Early Childhood Videos at Eastern CT State U.

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Falcon's Nest Feb 26 Newsletter

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Continuing Education to host free citizenship legal clinics

The Continuing Education Division is hosting free citizenship legal clinics on Sunday, September 28, and Saturday, October 25, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Student Center. Those who want to apply for U.S. citizenship will receive low-cost legal assistance from accredited immigration representatives. Register now to attend the clinic. Parking is free in Lot 10.

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Navigating Scholarship Opportunities Spring 2025(Teacher TRAC & Transfers)

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Navigating Scholarship Opportunities Spring 2025(Teacher TRAC & Transfers)

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Check out the scholarships available through Teacher TRAC and other popular transfer schools.

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Teacher Trac Scholarship Opportunities Workshop

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(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

Consider the humble lump of pink Play-Doh.

To a parent, it's a quick toddler playtime activity. But ask an early childhood educator about Play-Doh, and it's a science experiment, an opportunity for sensory exploration, a fine motor skills activity, and an introduction to color mixing, all rolled into one squishy blob.

"We could do so much with two jars of Play-Doh and an hour," said Kaitlin Fullerton, who has been a preschool teacher and director for 14 years. "An educator of older children would look at that very differently."

When California launched its historic expansion of public education in 2020 with the addition of a new grade level - TK, short for transitional kindergarten - a key component was missing: teacher training to understand how the 4-year-old brain learns. The existing credential programs prepared teachers for math and literacy instruction in the wide expanse of kindergarten through 8th grade and all but excluded the state's newest and youngest students.

"Four- to 5-year-olds are very different from 12- to 13-year-olds," said Deborah Stipek, an education professor at Stanford University. "The development of TK brought home that we weren't really preparing teachers to teach little kids," though much is at stake when it comes to a child's earliest years in school.

Beginning next year, the state will require elementary school teachers in TK classrooms to have the equivalent of 24 units of early childhood education or development credits, about eight classes. And in a major effort aimed at improving the consistency of early childhood education, the state is also introducing a new credential for teachers who want to specialize in transitional kindergarten through third grade.

For parents who are considering TK, the enhanced training means their child's first experiences in public school will probably be steeped in joyful, play-based lessons designed to help the state's youngest learners develop social skills and a love of learning, and lay the early foundations for literacy and math in environments that look little like a traditional classroom.

For veteran child-care providers, who are among the lowest-paid workers in the economy, the new credential stands to increase their earning potential as full-fledged teachers. In California, 98% of child-care workers are women, and more than half are people of color.

"I get at least 10 emails a day from people in the community asking when is this coming?" said Valerie Helgren-Lempesis, a CSU East Bay education professor who is setting up the school's new program. "This credential is going to equalize the field for women of color and immigrant women who have a [bachelor's] degree and are already working in early childhood."

(Loren Elliott / For The Times)

For Fullerton the credential will also recognize her deep understanding of young children - and the magical learning potential of Play-Doh.

"I think sometimes in child care, the teachers get overlooked," she said. "By bringing [preschool] in and making it a part of the school system, it brings a new level of respect."
What do 4-year-olds need to know?
In 2016, when the state's TK program was last evaluated, researchers found that teachers spent 59% of their classroom time on "didactic instruction," which means imparting information and instructions to students rather than encouraging independent thinking and play.

Not the best way to teach squirmy 4-year-olds, experts said.

This academic focus in TK and kindergarten, Stipek said, is partly a consequence of the way teachers are being educated. "They're prepared to teach disciplines like math and literacy. But 4-year-olds learn through play and developing social-emotional skills."

Instead of being taught their letters and numbers from a teacher standing at the front of the class, young children in a well-run classroom should be playing games and exploring materials to learn in joyful and imaginative ways, according to a recent report on preschool curriculum by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.

But this takes careful planning and know-how, Stipek said.

Take a math lesson on simple addition for the 4-year-old brain.

"You might have a small group of kids with a bunch of little colored bears. Then you tell a story and say, 'OK, you have eight bears, and the bears are going for a walk in the forest and two more join them. How many bears do you have?'" Stipek said. "Now that's a little different from doing a worksheet."

Ideally, a math lesson would also be integrated into a larger classroom theme, said San Jose State child and adolescent development professor Maria Fusaro. A teacher might pick a theme such as trees. Students might then learn the names of various trees from picture books (literacy), observe them in nature (science), count and compare different leaves (math, science) and then draw pictures of them (art).

"We want schools to be joyful places for children," she said. And not just in TK - Fusaro said she hopes the new credential will help push play-based learning up to third grade as well.

Up close with California's future teachers

In September, a group of 20 eager students sat down for a class on child development at San Jose State University, the first college to launch a credential for preschool through third grade. Most are women of color, and almost all have had previous experience teaching at preschool or child-care centers.

For those who already have a bachelor's degree, earning this credential is the key to doubling their earnings in public schools.

Professor Danielle Mead sat at the front of the room, wearing a collared dress patterned with little strawberries. Behind her, a slide read "Social and Emotional Development" - a major focus of this credential, and of most preschool programs.

Young children have not yet learned to control their reaction when something happens, she explained. When another child takes a toy out of their hands, for instance, it can trigger a meltdown.

"A lot of times when kids start to have those big feelings, it's really hard to make the effort to stop. It requires a lot of practice and a lot of support," she said. The class focuses on mindfulness practices geared to little ones, which a growing body of research suggests can improve young children's learning, in addition to their social and emotional skills.

Take deep breathing. How do you explain this technique to a child?

"Call it bubble breathing," Mead said, putting on a podcast in which Sesame Street muppet Abby Cadabby teaches children how to use bubble breaths to calm themselves. "All you have to do is imagine there's a giant bubble in your belly," the character said. "Put your hands on your belly like you're holding the bubble."

The students take turns describing the mindfulness activities they've used with children in the past - smelling flowers, morning yoga sessions for tots.

Are you a SoCal mom?

The program at San Jose State is a collaboration among the departments of child and adolescent development, teacher education, and special education. The new credential is supposed to focus on holistic development - in which children learn how to manage their emotions, build healthy relationships and show empathy, in addition to learning academics - setting it apart from previous credentialing programs.

"I can teach anybody the ABCs. But, you know, we've all met plenty of adults who don't know how to share," Fullerton said.

"A great concern in the early childhood community was that TK would bring a more academic focus to preschool than is appropriate for these learners," said Mary Vixie Sandy, executive director of California's Commission on Teacher Credentialing. "This credential enables us to blend developmental and play-based learning with the academic expectations of schooling in ways that benefit children and don't force them into learning experiences that are not appropriate for them."

Sandy said she hopes the new credential will one day be offered at all 80 institutions in California that currently offer teacher credential programs.
New respect for preschool teachers
An estimated 12,000 to 15,000 additional teachers are needed to staff TK classrooms, the Learning Policy Institute said in 2022, though many of those slots are likely to have been filled already. The new credential represents an opportunity to bolster that pipeline with longtime preschool teachers like Fullerton, as well as college students who know they want to teach young children.

Fullerton's 'aha!' moment came last year, when her twin 4-year-olds watched Disney's "A Bug's Life" in their TK class, and the school administration described it as "a science lesson."

"If I were teaching about bugs, I would have brought in plastic bugs for the children to explore, or taken magnifying glasses outside," she said.

The class was taught by a former first-grade teacher with a traditional kindergarten through 8th grade credential.

"I've been doing it for so long, and I was feeling frustrated as a parent not seeing what I wanted for my kids," said Fullerton, who is enrolled in the San Jose State program.

Teaching TK would be life-changing financially for her, she said. Even with more than a decade in the field, Fullerton was earning $30 an hour as the director of a preschool in Morgan Hill - just $10 more than when she started as a teacher. But with a credential, she could earn $68,000 to $100,000 a year plus generous benefits.

But it's also about respect, said Fullerton, who still looked shocked as she recalled how her son's elementary school teacher once referred to her as a "glorified babysitter."

That was the moment where it was like, 'Oh, this work is not respected by a lot of people,'" she said. But, she said, "I think most parents look up to their children's elementary school teachers. You're trusting them, literally, to teach your child the foundational skills."
High stakes for early education
Most states already have an early childhood credential, and the idea had been under discussion in California for years before it was included as a recommendation in Gov. Gavin Newsom's 2020 Master Plan for Early Learning and Care.

(Loren Elliott / For The Times)

"I've been a higher education teacher-educator for close to 30 years in California, and we've been waiting for this credential for that long," said Shireen Pavri, assistant vice chancellor of educator and leadership programs at the CSU chancellor's office. It's the first time the state has added a new credential since 2010.

The stakes couldn't be higher. Third grade is a crucial year for reading and literacy, yet in 2023, just 43% of California's third-graders met or exceeded the standards in English language and arts; 45% met or exceeded the standard in math. The numbers are even grimmer for low-income students and students of color: Only 23% of low-income children, 27% of Black children and 32% of Hispanic children were reading at grade level.

The first few years of elementary school, Pavri said, present a real opportunity to equalize learning for young children. "Some kids are able to read and write full sentences when they start kindergarten, and then there are kids who have never been exposed to a picture book," she said.

But only if the teaching strategies are effective. Young children should be "getting their hands dirty and using art and play and sand and other kinds of engaging, active ways to stimulate young kids to learn," Pavri said. "We will have failed if we still see our youngest learners sitting at their desks, on their own in rows and completing worksheets."

So far, the state has approved seven PK-3 credentialing programs, including San Jose's and another at Fresno State and Dominguez Hillsthat will launch in the spring. Pavri said 14 more CSU campuses are in the process of developing PK-3 credentialing programs.
This article is part of The Times' early childhood education initiative, focusing on the learning and development of California children from birth to age 5. For more information about the initiative and its philanthropic funders, go to latimes.com/earlyed.

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Bugs and 'bubble breaths': How new teacher training peers into the mind of a 4-year-old

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A new teaching credential is centering social and emotional development and playful learning in transitional kindergarten as it prepares the next wave of teachers.

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Read to Succeed Professional Development

Please contact Elandriel Lewis with any questions.

For information on upcoming webinars, click here.

View Read to Succeed's 2022 training summary here.

View Read to Succeed's Family Webinar Series here.

Read to Succeed Professional Development is designed to increase equity of access to high-quality professional development for early childhood professionals and caregivers. We offer two types of trainings: weekly webinars and individual sessions.

The 2024 Nashville Early Childhood Education Conference "Ignite! Purpose and Intention" will take place from July 23 - 26, 2024. All sessions fall under the umbrella of the United Way of Greater Nashville for TN DHS credit. Documentation of attendance and participation should be entered by your TNPAL verified director in their TrainTN Director Portal. Check out the virtual sessions below.

7/24/24: Snap, Clap, Wiggle, and Giggle | Presenter: Mary Jo Huff

Light a fire in a child's imagination with a little snap, clap, wiggle, and giggle. Get children actively engaged. The shared ideas will help children develop imagination, oral communication skills, auditory discrimination, listening and pre-reading skills, creativity, visual discrimination, critical thinking, and sequencing skills. Attendees and children will develop a love of books, reading and eventually writing stories. When a story comes to "THE END," it should be the beginning of an expanded conversation: a continuation of the storytelling experience. The workshop will be EDUCATIONAL BRAIN FOOD for everyone.
United Way of Greater Nashville is a Pre-Approved Institution with TrainTN. Documentation of attendance and participation should be entered by your TNPAL-verified director in their TrainTN Director Portal.
About the Presenter: Mary Jo Huff has been in ECE for over 30 years as a teacher and director of a center with 115 children. Today she visits centers and promotes staff development for literacy. Mary Jo keynotes early childhood conferences at local, state, and national conferences. Mary Jo conducts staff development for childcare providers, Head Start, PreK, and K teachers. She has an innovative and original approach to integrating music, movement, stories, and puppets in the classroom. Mary Jo has stories and music in the Frog Street curriculums. She has written nine resource books, 5 CDs, and an award-winning DVD. This type of learning is supported by research, making it fun and exciting. This "brain-based teaching" promotes accelerated learning and longer retention in a child's world. She can be contacted at maryjohuff@storytellin.com.

7/24/24: Bringing HOPE and Resiliency: Building up Parents through the building blocks of HOPE | Presenters: Ashley Jasinski and Stacey Broyles

To understand the importance of experience in child development, including those ACEs associated with toxic stress, and shifting the focus to positive experiences allows children to form strong relationships and meaningful connections, cultivate positive self-image and self-worth, experience a sense of belonging, and build skills to cope with stress in healthy ways. Same is true for the parents! In this training explore how you can be 'player of change' by building resiliency and creating hope, Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences (HOPE), with the families at your school to ultimately not only build up parents but build rapport and create resiliency for the entire family.
United Way of Greater Nashville is a Pre-Approved Institution with TrainTN. Documentation of attendance and participation should be entered by your TNPAL-verified director in their TrainTN Director Portal. About the Presenters:

Ashley Jasinski is the Technical Assistance Coordinator for the TDMHSAS' Regional Intervention Program (RIP), a positive parenting program. Ashley received her B.S. in Psychology with a minor in Childhood Development and Learning. Then went on to complete her Master's in Clinical Mental Health Counseling with a dual specialization in both Child Populations and Childhood Abuse and Trauma. Ashley has over 20 years of experience and multiple certifications as a trainer (such as ACEs, HOPE, CARE Model, and Pyramid Model) which she uses to empower families and educate community members.

Stacey Broyles is the Technical Assistance Coordinator with the Regional Intervention Program. Stacey received a bachelor's degree and worked in broadcasting before taking on the rewarding and challenging role of motherhood. In 2009 Stacey was introduced to RIP as she was struggling to manage behaviors of her young son. Upon completion of the program, Stacey became a parent Case Manager and later moved in to Program Coordinator and now TA. Trough her work at RIP she is able to provide peer support to other parents struggling with similar behavior challenges that she had experienced.

7/24/24: Fostering Healthy Development through Early Relational Health | Presenters: Hannah Duiven and Mariah Horton

The future prosperity of Tennessee depends on its ability to foster the health and wellbeing of the next generation. Early Relational Health describes the ability to cultivate and sustain safe, stable, and nurturing relationships during the early childhood years, which contribute to Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs). Tennessee is one of few states who have started to collect data on Positive Childhood Experiences; data from our state reveal the important effect of PCEs to promote health and wellbeing across the lifespan. This presentation will review the science of Early Relational Health and the importance of PCEs. We will highlight Tennessee's most recent data on ACEs and PCEs, and suggest strategies for cross-sector collaboration to promote Early Relational Health.
United Way of Greater Nashville is a Pre-Approved Institution with TrainTN. Documentation of attendance and participation should be entered by your TNPAL-verified director in their TrainTN Director Portal. About the Presenters:

Hannah Duiven is a passionate advocate for understanding how our childhood experiences shape our opportunity for health across the lifespan. As the Special Projects Manager for the Office of Strategic Initiatives with the Tennessee Department of Health, Hannah coordinates high-priority initiatives to improve health and wellbeing for Tennesseans. Primarily, Hannah serves on projects that address Positive and Adverse Childhood Experiences, Trauma-Informed Care, and the Social Drivers of Health.

Mariah Horton has a passion for advancing health equity and educating about Positive Childhood Experiences. She works as the Public Health Executive Fellow at the Office of Strategic Initiatives, creating resources to aid County Health Councils across the state in their Community Health Assessment and Improvement Plan process. Mariah received her master's in public health from the UT Knoxville and her bachelor's from George Washington University. The Office of Strategic Initiatives serves to bridge TDH resources with local knowledge, priorities, and leadership. We achieve this in 3 ways:

We lead the Department of Health's strategic planning process

We provide support to Tennessee's County Health Councils

We foster collaborations to put strategic initiatives into action.

7/24/24: Navigating Excellence - A Comparative Guide to Child Care Accreditation | Presenter: Storm Webb

Ready to get started with accreditation but overwhelmed with all the different accrediting bodies to choose from? Join this session for an in-depth comparative analysis of national accreditation processes and standards. Review and discuss the similarities and differences to discover which accrediting organization best suits your program! The presentation will be full of resources and handouts to help your evaluation.
United Way of Greater Nashville is a Pre-Approved Institution with TrainTN. Documentation of attendance and participation should be entered by your TNPAL-verified director in their TrainTN Director Portal.
About the Presenters: Storm Webb is the third generation in a family of early childhood educators. As the granddaughter of a successful small business owner, whose early care and education programs have been in operation for 50 years, Storm is pleased to bring her understanding of child care ownership and operations to the field of national accreditation, credentialing and advocacy. Storm has been with NECPA since 2013 and was instrumental in acquiring the NCCA as a subsidiary in 2019. Storm holds a Bachelor's Degree in Sociology, with a concentration in Family Studies. As the Executive Director of NECPA and NCCA, Storm works directly with leadership on strategic planning, resource and project management, and team development to support both organizations' growth objectives and non-profit missions.

7/24/24: Culturally Responsive Family Engagement Practices in Early Childhood | Presenter: Dr. Ebonyse Mead and Dr. Jen Neitzel

Family engagement in early childhood programs is paramount to the educational success of young children, especially children of diverse cultural, linguistic, and lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Despite good intentions, many early childhood programs continue to struggle to successfully engage culturally, linguistically, and socioeconomically diverse families. Many programs attempt to engage diverse families with traditional methods of parental involvement such as parent-teacher conferences or back to school nights. Research shows that traditional methods of parental involvement are often school centered and fail to take into consideration the beliefs, goals, interests, and life circumstances of diverse families. Early childhood programs serve varying types of families across different ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds, for this reason, programs must be intentional about effectively engaging culturally, linguistically, and socioeconomically diverse families. By including the culture and considering the socioeconomic backgrounds of families when developing family engagement activities and events, families are more likely to engage because they feel welcomed, respected, and valued. Because families are uniquely diverse, both culturally and linguistically, and have varying needs, preferences, and lifestyles, early childhood programs must engage diverse families through intentional and strategic efforts.
United Way of Greater Nashville is a Pre-Approved Institution with TrainTN. Documentation of attendance and participation should be entered by your TNPAL-verified director in their TrainTN Director Portal. About the Presenters:

Ebonyse Mead is the President of the Educational Equity Institute. For 19 years, Ebonyse has worked in communities to improve the health and educational outcomes for children of diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. Ebonyse frequently provides consultation training on racial equity in educational settings with a particular focus on examining structural barriers to educational equity, implicit racial bias, and culturally responsive instruction. Dr. Mead earned a Doctor of Education in Early Childhood and a Masters in Human Services from Concordia University Chicago. Dr. Mead completed a Masters in Family Studies from Texas Woman's University and recently completed a graduate certificate in Anti-racist Urban Education from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Ebonyse is the co-author of Building Equitable Learning Programs: A Social Justice Approach and the Handbook of Racial Equity in Early Childhood. Ebonyse is deeply committed to creating brave spaces to talk about structural racism and promote equitable and just programs in early childhood. She can be contacted at emead76@gmail.com.

Jen Neitzel is the Executive Director of the Educational Equity Institute, which is focused on eliminating the educational and opportunity gaps within communities through systems level change. Prior to this work, Jen was a Research Scientist and Technical Assistance Provider at FPG Child Development Institute at UNC-Chapel Hill for 15 years. During her time at FPG, her work focused on implicit bias; disparities in suspensions and expulsions; trauma; and culturally responsive anti-bias practices. Jen presents frequently at state and national conferences and is widely published in peer-reviewed journals. She also is the author of the book Achieving Equity and Justice in Education through the Work of Systems Change. Jen also is the co-editor and author of the Handbook of Racial Equity in Early Childhood Education. Jen is deeply committed to eradicating the disparities in early childhood through a systems level approach that acknowledges the root causes of the inequities that exist outside of early learning programs, which include food injustice; lack of safe, affordable housing, historical trauma, and lack of access to healthcare (including prenatal). She can be contacted at jen.neitzel@outlook.com.

These weekly early childhood webinars occur live on Tuesdays at noon CST via Zoom. All sessions are eligible for Tennessee Department of Human Services credit certificate. Certificates are provided after viewing the webinar and completing a reflection form via the unique Google Form link for each webinar.

Recordings of these webinars are moving to a new platform for a better user experience. Currently some are located here and some are on the new platform. The new site is still free to use but will require you to register. View our calendar of upcoming webinars.

10/1/24: Cultivating Trauma-Informed Classrooms | Presenter: Dr. Claire Winchester

Almost half of children in the United States have experienced a singular or on-going traumatic event. Supporting these children is becoming more and more a fact of life for early educators. This session will define what trauma is, how children respond to trauma, and what teachers can do to foster a trauma-informed approach to learning and behavior in their classroom.

1-hour of TN DHS credit is available upon completion of the reflection form/quiz. United Way of Greater Nashville is a Pre-Approved Institution with TrainTN. Your TNPAL-verified director should enter documentation of attendance and participation in their TrainTN Director Portal.

About the Presenter: Claire is an early childhood behavior coach, consultant, and researcher who works with families, schools, and organizations around the world. Her specialty is translating research into practical, everyday behavior solutions for the adults who spend the most time with young children - parents and teachers. She has over 15 years of experience working with children and families in all kinds of contexts, from babysitting to research to diagnostic assessments, and is passionate about using the breadth and depth of her experience to better the lives of children and their caregivers around the world!

About Growth Early Childhood Behavior Consulting: Growth Consulting specializes in early childhood behavior coaching for families, teachers, and organizations. Our primary objective is to optimize childhood experiences by optimizing adults' capacity. Researchers have shown that to have the most meaningful impact for children, you maximize the capacity of the adults that spend every day with them. That's where we come in. Bridging the research-to-practice gap, one child at a time.

9/24/24: Nashville PBS Media Literacy Workshop for 4th-12th Grades | Presenter: David Chak

This FREE 1.5-hour interactive workshop is designed for educators working with students in the 4th through 12th grade.

Educators will be given the skills they need to understand and teach the fundamentals of media literacy through fun, creative, gamified activities.

Join us and step into the role of media moguls to create compelling headlines to win their audience over....all while learning important critical thinking skills. Participants will be able to evaluate and interpret evidence in order to craft compelling news stories all while understanding the impact of word choices on audience perception and narrative.

This session does not offer TN DHS credit for TrainTN/TN PALS

About the Presenter: David Chak is the Co-Founder of Arus Academy and a Fulbright scholar hosted by Vanderbilt University. He sits on the Asian Network of News & Information Educator Advisory Council, is a grant recipient of multiple media information literacy programs in Malaysia, and a former classroom teacher.

About Nashville PBS: Nashville PBS is available free and over-the-air to nearly 2.4 million people throughout the Middle Tennessee and Southern Kentucky viewing area. WNPT is also available to anyone in the world through its array of NPT digital services, including wnpt.org, YouTube channels and the PBS app. Nashville PBS provides, through the power of traditional television and interactive digital communications, quality educational, cultural and civic experiences that address issues and concerns of the people of the Nashville region, and which thereby help improve the lives of those we serve.

8/27/24: Capture Children's Interest with a Book! | Presenter: Rashonda Ray

Join Rashonda Ray of Vanderbilt's Child and Family Center (The Acorn School) as she presents, "Capture Children's Interest with a Book!"

This webinar will introduce the concept of emergent curriculum and how to incorporate books to continue the interest, introduce new knowledge, and expand the "play".

This webinar will help support you to:

THINK about how you can set up a provocation with a book to continue a child's interest.

FEEL confident that you can choose a book or multiple books to create lesson plans.

PROVIDE a learning experience that will be enjoyable for children.

1-hour of TN DHS credit is available upon completion of the reflection form/quiz. United Way of Greater Nashville is a Pre-Approved Institution with TrainTN. Your TNPAL-verified director should enter documentation of attendance and participation in their TrainTN Director Portal.

About the Presenter: Hey, ya'll, I'm Rashonda!! I'm currently the Assistant Site Director at Vanderbilt Child and Family Center (Acorn School). I have 15-plus years working in an early childhood setting. My favorite age group is Pre-K (I run away from diapers). My background education consists of a Master's Degree in Education with an Emphasis on Character Education. In my spare time I enjoy reading, being a Group Fitness Instructor, and still learning the ins and outs of Nashville.

4/24/24: Sensory Activities: Using Hands-On Activities to Teach Academics | Presenter: Koleyna Kohler

Students of all abilities learn best when they are working with hands-on activities. In this session, we will learn how to use sand trays in phonics instruction, manipulatives for math instruction and other techniques to use every day with students with disabilities.

1-hour of TN DHS credit is available upon completion of the reflection form/quiz. United Way of Greater Nashville is a Pre-Approved Institution with TrainTN. Documentation of attendance and participation should be entered by your TNPAL-verified director in their TrainTN Director Portal.

About the Presenter: Koleyna Kohler is the Executive Director of FUNctional EDventures where she works to disrupt society's idea of inclusion by providing wrap-around support for the student, families and teachers. Koleyna is credentialed as an Education Specialist in Mild/Moderate and Moderate/Severe grades K-12 in California and Tennessee and is extensively trained in Crisis Prevention (CPI), Brainspring Phonics, STEP Assessment, and Trauma-Informed Teaching.

3/26/24: Emergency Response Toolkit: Putting Prepare into Practice - Part 2 | Presenter: Katie Woodard

Emergency Response Toolkit: Responding for Results is a three-part series. This training will be part two of three, digging deeper into AIMHiTN's Emergency Response Toolkit. This training will focus on the second pillar, Respond, of the toolkit. The training will highlight responding in a supportive and developmentally appropriate way when working with infants, children, and families in the mental health space. Professionals will discuss pragmatic tools on identifying how to best support themselves, as well as best support the caregivers and the children in their home, during an emergency or disaster. Additionally, professionals will have the opportunity to collaborate and practice this act of responding, as we aim to support the children and families in our community.

Please reference the Emergency Response Toolkit link below for a free download of the toolkit.
https://www.aimhitn.org/emergency-preparedness

1-hour of TN DHS credit is available upon completion of the reflection form/quiz. United Way of Greater Nashville is a Pre-Approved Institution with TrainTN. Documentation of attendance and participation should be entered by your TNPAL-verified director in their TrainTN Director Portal.

About the Presenter: Katie Woodard graduated from Tennessee Tech University in 2012 with a Bachelor's degree in Child Development and Family Relations and joined the AIMHiTN team in January 2023. Before joining AIMHiTN, Katie worked in various social service settings, promoting health in the community and ensuring that quality child care was available in the Upper Cumberland region.

In 2023, she took on the role of Emergency Preparedness Specialist at AIMHiTN. Her interest in emergency response was sparked in March of 2020 when a tornado hit her community in middle Tennessee, particularly Cookeville. This event emphasized the crucial need to prepare children, educators, and families for emergencies, not just physically but also from a social and emotional standpoint.

Outside of her professional life, Katie's a devoted Christian, wife, and mother. In her free time, she loves creating treasured memories with family, reading a captivating book, and experimenting with new recipes in the kitchen.

2/20/24: Emergency Response Toolkit: Putting Prepare into Practice, part 1 | Presenter: Katie Woodard

Emergency Response Toolkit: Putting Prepare into Practice, a three-part series. This training will be part one of three, digging deeper into AIMHiTN's Emergency Response Toolkit. This part will focus on the first pillar, Preparation, of the toolkit. The training will highlight enhancing professional understanding of how emergencies can impact infant and early childhood mental health. Professionals will practice what an early relational approach to emergency preparedness may look like and will utilize the toolkit to prepare professionals (early childhood educators) and families for emergencies and/or Natural Disasters, as we aim to support the children and families in our community.

Please reference the Emergency Response Toolkit link below for a free download of the toolkit.
https://www.aimhitn.org/emergency-preparedness

1-hour of TN DHS credit is available upon completion of the reflection form/quiz. United Way of Greater Nashville is a Pre-Approved Institution with TrainTN. Documentation of attendance and participation should be entered by your TNPAL-verified director in their TrainTN Director Portal.

About the Presenter: Katie Woodard graduated from Tennessee Tech University in 2012 with a Bachelor's degree in Child Development and Family Relations and joined the AIMHiTN team in January 2023. Before joining AIMHiTN, Katie worked in various social service settings, promoting health in the community and ensuring that quality child care was available in the Upper Cumberland region.

In 2023, she took on the role of Emergency Preparedness Specialist at AIMHiTN. Her interest in emergency response was sparked in March of 2020 when a tornado hit her community in middle Tennessee, particularly Cookeville. This event emphasized the crucial need to prepare children, educators, and families for emergencies, not just physically but also from a social and emotional standpoint.

Outside of her professional life, Katie's a devoted Christian, wife, and mother. In her free time, she loves creating treasured memories with family, reading a captivating book, and experimenting with new recipes in the kitchen.

2/27/24: Reflective Practice 101 | Presenter: Katherine Bell

Reflective Practice 101 includes an overview of reflective practice, an introduction to the research behind it, and an idea of what to expect when engaging in reflective supervision consultation. This training will also provide action steps of how to start your own reflective journey.

1-hour of TN DHS credit is available upon completion of the reflection form/quiz. United Way of Greater Nashville is a Pre-Approved Institution with TrainTN. Documentation of attendance and participation should be entered by your TNPAL-verified director in their TrainTN Director Portal.

About the Presenter: Hello there! I'm Katherine Bell, the Director of Consultation and Practice here at AIMHiTN. I began my journey at AIMHiTN in July 2023. I believe early experiences matter for a lifetime. This belief drives my passion for supporting little ones and their caregivers in Tennessee.

My career has spanned multiple sectors, but I've found my happy place in the world of systems development with focus on infant and early childhood mental health. Prior to joining AIMHiTN, I served as the TN Voices Early Childhood Program Director where I focused on program development and expansion of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation supports in TN.

I am a three-time graduate of Trevecca Nazarene University. I've obtained a master's degree in Marriage and Family Therapy as well as Organizational Leadership. My undergraduate studies focused on psychology and elementary education.

Outside of work, I love to soak up simple joys. I cherish moments with my husband, toddler, and our two doodles. You are likely to find me spending time with loved ones, sipping on iced coffee, or baking something yummy.

Click here to view previous webinars in the archives.

Virtual Individual Sessions

These customizable sessions are designed to meet partner needs. Individual trainings can be scheduled by contacting:
Elandriel Lewis
Senior Manager, Early Learning and Training
elandriel.lewis@unitedwaygn.org

Read to Succeed's Professional Development program covers a wide range of topics, including:

Social-Emotional Learning and Trauma-Informed Practices, including Skills for the Classroom
and the Workplace

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Instructional Coaching

Outdoor Learning, Play and Emergent Curriculum

Developmentally Appropriate Academic Best Practices

Curriculum and Assessment Specific Training (Frog Street Curriculum, Conscious Discipline
Curriculum and Teaching Strategies GOLD Assessment)

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Read to Succeed Professional Development - United Way of Greater Nashville

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Read to Succeed Professional Development Please contact Elandriel Lewis with any questions. For information on upcoming webinars, click here . View Read to Succeed's 2022 training summary here. View Read to Succeed's Family Webinar Series here. Read to Succeed Professional Development is designed to increase equity of access to high-quality professional development for early childhood professionals and caregivers.

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Explore Teaching Channel

You will have to create an account, but it is free.

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Click on the link you'd like to visit & learn more about the resources we offer!

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Ted Talk Ed Podcasts

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129 episodes

What should future schools look like? How do brains learn? Some of the world's greatest educators, researchers, and community leaders share their stories and visions onstage at the TED conference, TEDx events and partner events around the world. You can also download these and many other videos free on TED.com, with an interactive English transcript and subtitles in up to 80 languages. TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading.

What should future schools look like? How do brains learn? Some of the world's greatest educators, researchers, and community leaders share their stories and visions onstage at the TED conference, TEDx events and partner events around the world. You can also download these and many other videos free on TED.com, with an interactive English transcript and subtitles in up to 80 languages. TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading.

JUN 17, 2022

video

The mission to safeguard Black history in the US | Julieanna L. Richardson

The mission to safeguard Black history in the US | Julieanna L. Richardson

Black history in the US is rich, profound -- and at risk of being lost forever, if not for the monumental efforts of Julieanna L. Richardson. As the founder of The HistoryMakers -- the largest national archive of African American video-oral history -- Richardson shares some of the unknown and incredible legacies of Black America, highlighting the importance of documenting and preserving the past for future generations.

MAY 25, 2022

video

What Wikipedia teaches us about balancing truth and beliefs | Katherine Maher

What Wikipedia teaches us about balancing truth and beliefs | Katherine Maher

Even with public trust at an all-time low, Wikipedia continues to maintain people's confidence. How do they do it? Former CEO of Wikimedia Foundation Katherine Maher delves into the transparent, adaptable and community-building ways the online encyclopedia brings free and reliable information to the public -- while also accounting for bias and difference of opinion. "The seeds of our disagreement can actually become the roots of our common purpose," she says.

MAY 10, 2022

video

My long walk across India for women's freedom | Srishti Bakshi

My long walk across India for women's freedom | Srishti Bakshi

There are 600 million women in India -- yet they are rarely seen outdoors after sunset because of safety concerns like harassment and catcalls. On a mission to create safer public spaces, women's rights advocate Srishti Bakshi talks about how she embarked on a 2,300-mile walk across the length of India (a distance equivalent to traveling from New York City to Los Angeles), conducting driving workshops to empower women's mobility across the country. "The more women see other women in public spaces, the more safe, independent and empowered each of us will be," Bakshi says.

APR 14, 2022

video

Ukraine's fight to keep educating its children | Zoya Lytvyn

Ukraine's fight to keep educating its children | Zoya Lytvyn

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has destroyed so much -- including hundreds of schools, where the country's children were forging their futures -- but it has not stopped Ukrainians from pursuing knowledge and curiosity. In a deeply moving talk, education leader Zoya Lytvyn shares her first-hand experience evacuating Kyiv and takes us inside the ongoing effort to continue educating children amid war and destruction. "As long as our children keep learning and our teachers keep teaching -- even while they are starving in shelters under bombardment, even in refugee camps -- we are undefeated," she says.

MAR 9, 2022

video

The creativity and community behind fanfiction | Cecilia Aragon

The creativity and community behind fanfiction | Cecilia Aragon

The wildly diverse, thoughtful and hilarious world of fanfiction -- where writers reimagine favorite stories like "Harry Potter," "Pokémon," "My Little Pony" and more -- is ever-growing and becoming a vital social and learning tool. Author, professor and fanfiction writer Cecilia Aragon has observed how this incredible outlet for creativity encourages and empowers young people to embrace their imagination. Detailing her research into the vast online fanfiction community, Aragon shares its potential to foster a sense of belonging, strengthen writing skills and shape the future of literature.

DEC 10, 2021

video

Education is a fundamental right for every child | Makhtoum Abdalla

Education is a fundamental right for every child | Makhtoum Abdalla

For children growing up in refugee camps, education is a powerful tool of liberation. In this inspiring talk, Makhtoum Abdalla, displaced as a child in Sudan and now living with his family in the Otash camp in Darfur, shares his biggest dream: to ensure all children are educated and taught the skills needed to become "captains of their destiny."

Customer Reviews

TED talks education

I decided to go with the style of TED talks for a few reasons. The first being it's very familiar and easy to use. Second, in most podcasts you don't see the people talking, you usually just listen to them while on TED talks you get to see the people talking and see and feel the emotions and expressions during their talks. There are a few things that I found to be very memorable. Such as when one of the speakers said to raise our kids to give them the tools to solve the problems we want to solve. Meaning the problems we see in our society we raise our kids to fight those problems. The speaker goes on to talk about how parents who don't want to talk about hard things to talk about often make the kid figure out those things on their own which can be very dangerous especially if the kid is using the wrong things to learn from. Another speaker came out and talked about how she used to love dirtbikes but they were illegal to own at her age in her town so she got really big into science and in class she blew her eyebrows off, glued someone to a chair, and even made stink bombs in class. And the teacher just chopped her up for being the “ bad kid” when they were overlooking the talents she had. AT the same time the only thing I didn't like is a lot of the speaker's rambling off and telling stories that have nothing to do with the overall point they're getting at. Overall I would give this podcast a 4 stars out of 5 because it brought up some very good stories that a lot of people can relate to and also talked about things everyone and society can work on to improve.

Not bad at all

At first I was reluctant to listening to this since I thought it would be just like the rest. But now this has taught me things. I like a lot of them, but some I don’t

Podcast Review

While doing research on adolescent behavior I started looking into various podcasts on education. The one thing that caught my attention in “TED Talks Education,” was the episode [Why students should have mental health days.] I then started to take a deeper dive and found many episodes pertaining to mental health and motivation which are both of great interest to me. While I have found many inspiring TED Talk episodes in the past, I couldn’t help but notice that some of the episodes in this podcast were either irrelevant to education or had a speaker who bragged about making a change without saying how. However, don’t let my opinion on those few episodes keep you from enjoying the many that are both inspiring and follow the education theme of the podcast. My two personal favorites were [Creative ways to get kids to thrive in school] and the one I mentioned earlier about student mental health. Both had a focus on mental health and how schools could work to improve it by allowing days off for it and working with students with behavioral challenges rather than disregarding them. They also had an emphasis on teaching students how to identify what their feelings are, how to manage them, and how to advocate for themselves. Another episode I found inspiring was [How teachers can help students navigate trauma.] From this episode I received what I believe is the most important lesson I will ever learn as a student teacher: don’t assume you already know the ending to your students story. I find this to be an incredibly inspiring message about not stereotyping our students which is the reason why I rate this podcast five stars, and will continue to use it personally, as well as suggest it to others in the field.

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LIKERIGHTNOW FILMS leverages the power of documentary film to promote greater inclusion of children and adults with disabilities through documentary films, public awareness, and worldwide outreach.

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LikeRightNow Films leverages the power of documentary film to promote greater acceptance and inclusion of children and adults with disabilities in schools and communities through internationally distributed documentary films, curriculum, training, public awareness, and worldwide outreach.

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Here is the link to all archived TMN Equity Hours Workshops!

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September 13, 2023

Author, Speaker, Visual Arts Educator
Smith College

View profile

Sponsored by ChildCare Education Institute

Exploring found materials and making meaningful experiences from them: what could be more intriguing for young children and their teachers? Cathy Weisman Topal, author, artist, art educator, and co-author with Lella Gandini of Beautiful Stuff! Learning with Found Materials, and Beautiful Stuff from Nature, will share stories of how teacher's observations of their group of children interacting with nature became extraordinary studies as the teachers followed their children's interests and documented their observations and discoveries.

Using examples and handouts from her visual arts curriculum, Explorations in Art - Kindergarten, Cathy will also show ways in which a teacher can move between exploratory, playful experiences with basic studio art tools and materials - crayons, markers, paint, paintbrush, scissors, clay - to explore a theme such as insects, sky, the alphabet, and more. Moving between media then becomes an easy way to build skills and knowledge, deepen experiences, and express understandings.

In this rich webinar you will learn how to implement investigative, exploratory approaches to artists tools, materials, and processes. You will learn to emphasize explorations and discovery in a no-mistakes environment where children try out their own unique and diverse ways of working and creating. When young artists explain their work, share their intentions, or point out interesting qualities they observe in a classmate's work, they acquire and use descriptive language, engage their analytical thinking skills, increase their vocabularies, and come to know one another in authentic, respectful ways.

In this webinar you will:

be inspired to pay more attention to your students, carry a notebook to write down direct quotes, and photograph your children at key moments of discovery and
interaction.

try out new strategies for preparing spaces and materials for exploration.

gain confidence in introducing explorations of crayons, scissors, clay, markers....

feel confident exploring a theme - such as insects - by moving between art
materials and processes.

encourage your children to discuss their work and intentions in order to build classroom community and foster respect for one another's unique ideas and ways of working.

feel prepared to use an investigative, exploratory approach to encountering artist's
tools, materials, and ways of working.

All sessions are 1.5 hours long and include a brief announcement from our sponsor. 2:oo PM - 3:30 PM Eastern Time. To ensure you receive confirmation and reminder emails, add [email protected] to your contacts list. If you do not receive your email confirmation, check your Spam or Junk mail folders in your email system.
New information about how to obtain Certificates and CEUs
Beginning April 19, 2023 at the end of every webinar, you will be provided with a link to take a short quiz to earn your certificate + CEUs for the webinar. The certificate will include.2 CEUs. The cost is $3, which is paid online to our certificate partner, Bertelsen Education when you take the quiz and download the certificate + CEUs. Learn more here: Certificates + CEUs - New Process

Can't participate in our webinars at the appointed time? Never fear! All webinars are recorded. To view the recording, simply register now and you will receive an email with a link to the recording when it is ready to be viewed. You can obtain a certificate + CEUs by watching the recording to the end and following the directions announced and displayed on the screen. The cost is $3, which is paid online to our certificate partner, Bertelsen Education when you take the short quiz and download the certificate + CEUs. Read more about certificates for recording viewers here: Certificates + CEUs for Recording Viewers

We start all webinars 30 minutes in advance of the start time. Arrive early to make sure you get in.

See the schedule of upcoming webinars.
Register now

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Exploring Beautiful Stuff: Loose Parts, Nature, and Art in Your ECE Classroom, by Cathy Weisman Topal - Early Childhood Webinars

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Sponsored by ChildCare Education Institute Exploring found materials and making meaningful experiences from them: what could be more intriguing for young children and their teachers? Cathy Weisman Topal, author, artist, art educator, and co-author with Lella Gandini of Beautiful Stuff! Learning with Found Materials, and Beautiful Stuff from Nature, will share stories of how teacher's [...]

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Attention: Early Educators, Care Providers, and Families

Join us for a Free Virtual Forum!

Thursday, October 5, 2023

6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Pacific Time

The 2023 Early Math Symposium Registration is now open!

Register to get your free ticket at https://registration.socio.events/e/fallforum2023

The Early Math Fall Forum Registration is now open. The forum will focus on math and science, the importance of play, equity, math mindset, and activities to try with children.

Keynote presenter, Dr. Megan Franke, will speak on Leveraging Students’ Mathematical Thinking to Support Participation and Enhance Opportunities for Equity.

Breakout Sessions and Presenters:

·                  Creating Early Math Environments

·                  Wendy Hernandez – Office of the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools

·                  Exploring Spatial Relationships

·                  Donna Johnson and Lisa Ferguson – Erikson Institute

·                  Tinkering and Early Math

·                   Luigi Anzivino and Claudia Caro – The Exploratorium

·                  Inclusive Practices in Early Math

·                  Kevin Schaefer and Heather Snipes – El Dorado County Office of Education

·                  Loose Parts with Infants & Toddlers

·                   Tracy Johnson – Program for Infant Toddler Care (PITC)

·                  Math in Daily Routines

·                  Rebeca Itzkowich and Veronica Castro – Erikson Institute

·                  The Math Framework

·                   Ellen Barger – Santa Barbara County Office of Education

·                  Mathematical Mindsets

·                   Madhu Kapoor and Jenine Schmidt – WestEd

Attendance certificates will be available for those attending the event.

Generously sponsored by The California Early Math Initiative

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Child Development Permit Matrix

The Child Development Training Consortium is accepting permit applications for the 2022-2023 program year and is paying for the All Permit Levels and types.

We strongly encourage students to apply for their Child Development Permit to become eligible for positions in state or federally- funded programs. Because Cerritos College belongs to the Child Development Training Consortium, your application fee is paid for and CDTC will reimburse you $49.00 towards the cost of fingerprinting.

All the forms are available on the Child Development Training Consortium's website. Click on Child Development Permit Stipend Program. All the applications are listed on the right hand navigation and you can choose the appropriate one. As a first-time applicant, you will need to type out and print the applications, do the LiveScan fingerprinting service and order official transcripts. Please follow the directions very carefully! If you do the online application, there will still be some documents you will need to print.
View the Child Development Permit Matrix
Power Point from the CDTC on how to fill out the applications

Part 2: A short video on how to fill out the applications.

Campus Police is back to doing Live Scan Service. We highly recommend you use Campus Police or check with any faculty member for recommendations.

We are excited to announce that CDTC will accept electronic and/or paper transcripts necessary to complete the child development permit application. We understand that many permit applicants are having difficulty obtaining paper transcripts, due to the ongoing impact of COVID 19 precautions at community college campuses.

CDTC Electronic Transcript Policies are as follows:

A. Transcripts emailed to the applicant will not be accepted. Do not forward emails, the transcripts must come directly from the authorized transcript agency.

B. CDTC is not responsible for any costs associated with errors in ordering electronic transcripts, including sending transcripts to the wrong agency or transcripts without grades/degrees.

Do NOT send etranscripts to the Commission (CTC) if you apply for the CDTC permit stipend.

Do not order transcripts before your courses are complete and grades are posted.

C. CDTC cannot help with billing, ordering or corrections to etranscripts. You must contact your college or the transcript agency for assistance with an order.

D. CDTC will accept etranscripts effective February 2021, however, when 2020-2021 permit stipend funding is no longer available due to first come first served policy, the etranscript along with the application will be returned. The applicant is responsible to review policies from the year in which they apply.

There is a new form for etranscript submission included in the child development permit application packet. You may access the application at childdevelopment.org. If you have any questions, please send them to CDTC-Permit@yosemite.edu.

We highly recommend that students register with the California ECE Workforce Registry. In fact, some instructors offer extra credit for it; isn't that nice! The registry is another area that you can show yourself to be a professional in the field of child development; find training opportunities to improve your professionalism.
Power Point for the Permit Matrix Workshop
Here is the presentation with the links.

Download PowerPoint viewer

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We strongly encourage students to apply for their Child Development Permit to become eligible for positions in state or federally- funded programs. Because Cerritos College belongs to the Child Development Training Consortium, your application fee is paid for and CDTC will reimburse you $49.00 towards the cost of fingerprinting.

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CDTC accepts applications for all levels. If you have difficulty accessing any material when completing the Child Development Permit Stipend application because of a disability, please contact us via email at:

CDTC-Permits@yosemite.edu and we will further assist you in this application process. Please include "reasonable accommodation" in the subject line.

Participation is optional. Funding for permit stipends is first come, first served.
Child Development Permit Info Flyer in English Child Development Permit Info Flyer in Spanish

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Child Development Training Consortium (CDTC) provides services, training, technical assistance, and resources to students and professionals working with and for children.

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Employment Opportunities

Downey Unified School District is hiring an Early Learning Instructor. Closes November 4th. Core classes required.

Norwalk La Mirada is hiring a Paraeducator for Ramona Head Start

Long Beach City College is hiring a child care assistant, for the 2-3 year old room, afternoons only.

Zion Lutheran Preschool, a Christian-based preschool is hiring an afternoon teacher.

Little Owl, a Reggio Inspired School in Long Beach is hiring Substitute Educators, Support Educators and Preschool Educators. Applications are reviewed on an on-going basis.

Orange County Day Care is hiring a Teacher Assistant. Qualifications: Child Development background, Infant/Toddler units or planning to enroll, TB clearance and background check. Part time position Monday-Friday. Salary $18-25. If interested contact (562) 502-7191

Mexican American Opportunity Fo undation is hiring and hosting a job fair!! Teachers, Teacher Assistants, Custodians and Home Visitors. Apply by sending your resume to jobs@maof.org or fax to (323) 890-9632. For more information, contact Human Resources at (323) 890-9600 http://www.maof.org/beta/job-postings/

Hacienda La Puente Unified School District is hiring for Child Development Technician. We currently have 29 vacancies: Twelve 10 month/20 hours per week positions, ten 10 month/25 hours per week positions, five 10 month/30 hours per week positions, and two 10 month/32.5 hours per week positions.

Para los Ninos is hiring Associate Teachers for after-school. Other job opportunities can be found on their website.

Los Alamitos Unified School District is hiring a Child Development Program Technician. and Extended Day Care Center Assistants

OC Kids Childcare in Cypress has several immediate openings!

South Whittier School District has several openings for SDC, RSP, Instructional Aides

Los Angeles Unified School District is hiring Teacher Assistants

City of Paramount is hiring STAR Program Leaders; includes a hiring bonus!!

Part-time teachers needed in elementary childcare program and preschool. The details are as follows:

A minimum of 12 ECE units required (including Child Development and Child, Family Community)

Either already Live scanned fingerprinted and CPR/First Aid certified or willing to obtain

We are open 7 am to 6:30pm so shifts will vary between those hours

If interested, please send your resume and transcripts to Concordia Lutheran Preschool, Elizabeth Medina, Director at msmedina26@yahoo.com

EduCare Foundation has several openings.

JOBS: Woodcraft Rangers Non-Profit Afterschool Program - Full- & Part-Time Positions with a variety of educational and experience requirements.

Piazza Premier Preschool Staffing Agency is Hiring: 6+ ECE units required - Infant Toddler units preferred. Full/Part-time opportunities. Up to $22.00 /hour Hourly rate depends on how much education and experience you have in the ECE field. Piazza can offer you: benefits, bonus programs, competitive pay, flexibility, training, a supportive administrative team. APPLY NOW

Anaheim Elementary School District is hiring Substitute Instructional Assistants Special Education (Bilingual Spanish Preferred) and Instructional Assistant - Special Education 3hr (Bilingual Spanish Preferred)

Paramount Unified School District is hiring Instructional Assistants: ECE Substitutes. Only 6 units required. A great way to get your foot in the door!

Toddler Teacher Position Open at Children's Village Preschool, a Developmental Private Center in Orange

Bellflower Unified School District is hiring Instructional Assistants>Child Care

For more information, visit these company career pages:
St. Anne's Family Services | https://stannes.org/jobs/ (See subheading "Early Learning Center")
Plaza De La Raza | https://www.plazadelarazacds.org/careers
Para Los Niños | https://www.paralosninos.org/joinourteam/
Pacific Asian Consortium in Employment | https://pacela.org/about/work-at-pace/ (filter for ECE)
Foundation for ECE | http://www.foundationheadstart.org/employment-opportunities/
Pomona School District | https://proudtobe.pusd.org/apps/pages/JobsPUSD
El Monte School District | https://www.edjoin.org/emcsd

Baldwin Park USD has several positions available: Early Childhood Education Teacher; Instructional Aide Bilingual ECE; ECE Teacher Tri Cities Head Start; Substitute ECE Teachers; Substitute Child Care Providers;

YMCA OF GREATER LONG BEACH: LOS CERRITOS YMCA is hiring two positions: Before and After Program Teachers and Youth Vehicle Driver.

Fullerton Free Christian Preschool has several openings! Director, Toddler Lead Teacher, Lead Teacher for 2 Year old class, and Preschool Teacher Aid.

Crystal Stairs is hiring several positions for Head Start

Options for Learning is hiring several positions.

Bethany Manor Development and Learning Center in Norwalk is hiring a position for M/W/F from 9 - noon. Applicants need 6 units in Child Development and a desire to work with young children who have developmental delays. Call the director, Renee Koska at 562-868-1517

Playhouse School in Torrance is looking to hire subs immediately. Applicants need to have a minimum of 12 ECE units and 1 year experience. Please contact the director, Gina Paley at gina@playhouseschool.com or call (310) 371-1231.

Children of Our Savior Preschool is seeking a highly experienced teacher. Experience with faith based curriculum, a positive attitude, good sense of humor and a strong work ethic, all would make you a good fit for this position.

Child 360 is hiring Substitute Positions.

Long Beach Unified School District is hiring several positions within Head Start and EduCare: Head Start Instructional Aide Bilingual Spanish; Head Start Instructional Aide; Instructional Aide Educare Bilingual Spanish; Instructional Aide Eudcare.

Looking for a job in Head Start? Contact: Adam Gonzales, Recruiter

agonzales@childrensinstitute.org , www.childrensinstitute.org
Office (213) 807-1998 ext. 2216, fax (213) 260-8575
Children's Institute, Inc., Safe Children * Strong Families * Healthy Communities

Options is having an Open Recruitment! Check the website for all job postings.

Buena Park School District Job Postings
Careers at Easter Seals: Behavior Interventionist All job openings with the City of La Habra Los Angeles County Office of Education
View all job opportunities for Los Angeles Urban League.
Early Childhood Education area of Los Angeles Unified School District. View all job opportunities for Orange County Head Start, Inc.
View employment opportunities through High Scope.

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Downey Unified School District is hiring an Early Learning Instructor. Closes November 4th. Core classes required. Norwalk La Mirada is hiring a Paraeducator for Ramona Head Start Long Beach City College is hiring a child care assistant, for the 2-3 year old room, afternoons only.

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The Long Beach City College Child Development Centers have opened a recruitment to hire a Child Care Assistant at our Pacific Coast Campus location

Child Care Assistants support early childhood education classrooms while gaining hands-on experience working directly with children and families. All team members also have access to on-site mentoring opportunities, along with paid professional development.

The position can be applied for through this Friday, 2/10, and the requirements are as follows:

12 core units including Child/Human Growth and Development and Child/Family/Community or Child and Family Relations; and an additional 6 units of Programs/Curriculum.

Have effective communication with families, colleagues and adult students

Are committed to creating an environment where all children, students and families experience a sense of belonging and experience affirmation of their identities and cultural ways of being

Are driven and passionate about making a difference in the lives of other humans

Are team players

Are creative and innovative

If this describes you or someone you know, we encourage you/them to apply for the opportunity to join the innovative and talented Long Beach City College team.

Go Vikings!

https://www.schooljobs.com/careers/lbcc/jobs/3808742/child-care-assistant?keywords=child%20care%20assistant&pagetype=jobOpportunitiesJobs

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Looking for help with interview skills or your  resume?

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Looking for help with interview skills or your  resume?

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Cerritos College Career Services - Calendar of Events

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The California Inclusion and Behavior Consultation (CIBC) Network is a resource and technical assistance project of the Center for Prevention & Early Intervention at WestEd and the California Department of Education Early Education & Support Division.

The goal of the CIBC Network is to support early care and education (ECE) programs and providers to respond effectively to all children, with a focus on those young children with disabilities, challenging behaviors, and other special needs.

Technical assistance may take the form of individual site consultation, provision of resources, formulation of training plans, referral, and other methods based on the unique needs of the program and providers.

Inclusion and Behavior Consultants help providers develop the skills and tools needed to be successful as they support the development and early learning of all children. Consultants confer with providers, observe environments, facilitate development of action plans, and support site implementation of those plans.

The CIBC relationship-based consultant model emphasizes strengthening relationships among ECE providers, parents, children, and representatives of community systems and resources. Reflective practice is integrated into the onsite consultation model.

The CIBC Network supports California's evidence-based social-emotional foundations and inclusive practices for infants, toddlers, and preschool-age children.

The California Inclusion and Behavior Consultation Network website has more information or call 877.524.2422.

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California Inclusion and Behavior Consultation (CIBC) Network

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The California Inclusion and Behavior Consultation (CIBC) Network is a resource and technical assistance project of the Center for Prevention & Early Intervention at WestEd and the California Department of Education Early Education & Support Division.

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We use cookies to analyse how visitors use our website and to help us provide the best possible experience for users.

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Free resources integrating satellite information into lessons,

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Satellite Educators Association, The Satellite Educators Association exists to facilitate educators and students in satellite education and the understanding of the use of satellites and other space vehicles, our solar system and our own planet Earth. Satellites in education, a powerful tool for the science educator. Using the NASA supported M.Y.

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NEW ARTICLE: Suspected, Surveilled, Singled-Out, and Sentenced: An Assumption of Criminality for Black Males in Early Learning. Published in Journal of Negro Education. 

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NEW ARTICLE: Suspected, Surveilled, Singled-Out, and Sentenced: An Assumption of Criminality for Black Males in Early Learning. Published in Journal of Negro Education. 

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Great free trainings!

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Engaging Families from the Start | ECLKC

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A strong relationship between families and Head Start staff is essential to promoting healthy child development and positive learning outcomes. Strong relationships are rooted in trust and comfort, which you can build by being genuine, sincere, curious about them and their goals, and supporting them as they work toward those goals.

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Post 2: Tool Kit Latinx Health Snap Shot

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Post 2: Tool Kit Latinx Health Snap Shot

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2021 Latinx Factsheet Social Media Toolkit

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Skip to main content

Teacher TRAC Calendar of Events

January 2022

February 2022

March 2022

April 2022

May 2022 / June 2022

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Post 1: Latinx Health Snap Shot: A Child is a Child

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Post 1: Latinx Health Snap Shot: A Child is a Child

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Latinx children and youth are a large and diverse population of Californians who navigate multiple intersecting identities, cultures and languages. Like many marginalized children, Latinx children face disproportionate structural barriers as they navigate through life, whether it’s accessing health coverage and services, experiencing mental health challenges, having enough healthy food to eat or living in communities with the highest rates of environmental pollution. Of California’s nearly 9 million children and youth under 18, approximately 4.6 million identify as Latinx. In honor of Latinx Heritage Month this year, we’re releasing our latest #AChildisaChild fact sheet in partnership with the Latino Coalition for a Healthy California on Latinx Children’s Health.

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As our nation and state's child population continues to grow increasingly diverse, we must activate efforts and implement strategies that address the immediate and long term health and wellbeing of all children, regardless of background. Specifically, we must acknowledge the health inequities that continue to persist in the lives of marginalized children in California and in the rest of the nation.

To provide a snapshot of the health needs of our children, The Children's Partnership developed a series of fact sheets as part of its "A Child is a Child" campaign. This campaign unites a strong and diverse coalition of individuals and organizations to fight for the right of every child. Across issue areas, our shared resources, experiences and perspectives will help ensure a healthy and bright future for all children.

The fact sheet series will discuss factors that contribute to disparate health outcomes, such as food insecurity, poverty-stricken households, childhood trauma, along with many other systemic inequities that persist in the lives of marginalized children.

This research lays the foundation for a collective equity agenda to transform current programs and policies that ensure all children, no matter their background, have the resources and opportunities they need to reach their full potential and lead healthy lives.

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A Child is a Child: A Snapshot of Children's Health in California - The Children's Partnership

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As our nation and state's child population continues to grow increasingly diverse, we must activate efforts and implement strategies that address the immediate and long term health and wellbeing of all children, regardless of background. Specifically, we must acknowledge the health inequities that continue to persist in the lives of marginalized children in California and in the rest of the nation.

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The California Department of Education (CDE) is committed to interrupting and counteracting inequities, racism, and bias and also closing opportunity gaps to ensure all children start school ready to succeed and all schools are ready to support every child's success. To help achieve this goal, CDE seeks to elevate the role of high-quality, inclusive and multilingual preschool, strong early intervention services, and P-3 alignment in ensuring the future of California's children.

The CDE is committed to using equity, inclusion, and quality standards that support effective learning experiences as guiding principles for data-driven decision-making about key P-3 strategies to meaningfully impact systems, programs, schools, and policies across the state. Specifically, the CDE's P-3 Alignment effort is designed to bring together stakeholders across systems to identify, develop, and implement policy and practice solutions focused on ensuring developmentally-informed, rigorous, and joyful learning experiences are available to all children across the preschool and early elementary years. The resources on this page reflect areas of focus to achieve these goals.

June 3, 2021 - Building Back Better: Using P-3 Strategies that Support the Whole Child (Video; 1:30:19)

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Preschool through Third Grade (P-3) Alignment

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The California Department of Education (CDE) is committed to interrupting and counteracting inequities, racism, and bias and also closing opportunity gaps to ensure all children start school ready to succeed and all schools are ready to support every child's success.

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Seeds of Partnership is a project funded by the California Department of Education (CDE), Special Education Division (SED) and is under the auspices of the Sacramento County Office of Education. We assist the CDE, SED in providing technical assistance as part of the Statewide System of Support withi…

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https://www.learnersedge.com/trauma-informed-classroom-1?hsCtaTracking=631d9a88-e210-4802-a471-eb03f2f1bf8a%7Cefbec9ea-9c60-4db1-8f2d-2fe3114f039a

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Building a Strong, Resilient, Classroom Community!

The number of children affected by trauma is significant. But being exposed to trauma does not have to create a destiny for these students. Learn techniques and strategies that we can employ to work with our students affected by trauma and the importance of self-care for teachers to be our best for our classrooms.
Creating a Trauma Informed Classroom
Below is a recording of the presentation along with the slides. We hope these will help you in creating a Trauma Informed Classroom!

Questions and Answers from the Webinar:

We received an abundance of amazing questions during the webinar. We wanted to make sure we addressed all the applicable questions and shared them with you.
Q: What if you have a student who has been through the same trauma or a very similar trauma as you have been through?
A: I can only speak as a classroom teacher to this question, but the most important thing is to set boundaries and limits that feel safe and sustainable to you. Some teachers openly share their own stories of trauma and work to mentor students and support them beyond the work they do with students in the classroom. Other teachers feel vulnerable sharing their own stories, and may instead encourage and support students through some of the class-wide strategies. These teachers show empathy and care without sharing their own experiences. All of this is okay! As I talked about in my webinar, as a new teacher I just wasn't emotionally prepared to provide the support that some of my students needed, and so I had to find outside support to create balance.

Whether you choose to share your experiences or not, I would never hesitate to remind your student(s) about all of the support available to them in your school, including social workers or counselors. Sometimes, students just need help finding the right support and you can be the one to lead them there.

I would also encourage you to reach out to mentors or administrators in your school building if you feel a student is really struggling. In this way, even if you are that student's special connection at school, there are others surrounding you that can step in and continue to provide support. This can relieve some of the weight of responsibility we often feel to our students. Lastly, you may find that your administrators prefer that you share your understanding of a student with them, in order to provide that student with the appropriate safety net.
Q: Secondary trauma feels very real to me. Can you describe this a bit more? Do you have any resources you can suggest?
A: www.traumaawareschools.orgis a great place to start if you want to learn more about secondary trauma. The National Child Traumatic Stress Network, also has some great resources. There you'll learn about the physical, emotional, and interpersonal impact of secondary trauma. Low energy, feeling detached, withdrawn, or overwhelmed by your work, low job-morale, feelings of hopelessness--these are all symptoms of secondary trauma.
The importance of self-care is one addition to the field of student trauma that I find really encouraging--recognizing that teachers need the same support and nurturing that students do. This isn't always easy, but teachers and administrators need to take steps to create space for self-care in school.
Q: How can we make discipline policies work for students impacted by trauma?
A: This is such an important question, especially as schools revisit the effectiveness of zero-tolerance policies. I think what we've learned, and what most teachers would agree with, is the one-size-fits-all policy isn't working. If it was, we wouldn't have students that continue to get suspended over and over again.
What hasn't changed is the realization that an intervention needs to happen: when a student gets in a fight or has an outburst in class, we can't ignore that issue, but just removal from the setting isn't necessarily going to solve this issue for that student. Now we see schools looking at in-school supports like meetings with counselors or advocates as part of their discipline plan. Restorative justice, which asks both the aggressor and the victim in a situation to work towards healing is also a new change. We just need to be willing to think more creatively about how to help students end or control misbehavior, not just punish it.
Q: I know how important it is to build relationships with students, but as a high school teacher I sometimes feel overwhelmed by my class sizes. Where should I start when I work with 100-200 students each day? Q: I'm an administrator. How can I support trauma-sensitive teaching in my school?

A: In Kristin Souers and Pete Hall's book, Fostering Resilient Learners, she encourages teachers to redefine relationship and remember that it is possible to be "safe enough" and "available enough" for every student. Of course we can't be everything to every student, but being consistent and supportive in the classroom, and creating a safe space for learning is something we can do every day. Even handshakes, high fives, or other friendly actions can make a difference in calming students' stress responses and help them feel safe.

When I was teaching high school, I found that teachers' reputations as being supportive and fair spread and grew from year to year. So after a few years of building these routines with students, you may reap the benefit of having students enter your classroom at the beginning of the year believing you are there for them. So always think of relationship-building as something you can do across years, even if those students aren't in your classroom anymore.
Q: How do I personally help students who are dealing with trauma at home? I'm a new teacher and I don't always feel qualified to talk with students about their personal lives.?

A: That's a great question. I encourage you to incorporate strategies to support students as part of your school's professional development. You could even start with this webinar or any of the resources we'll include here as part of this presentation. Knowing about the ACEs study, and the impact of stress can be a game-changer as teachers think about their students' behaviors in the classroom.I'd also encourage you to really look at secondary trauma and think about how you can support teacher self-care. You can help set the expectation that personal health and well-being matters. Make sure your new teachers know it's okay to use their sick leave when they are sick and encourage teachers whenever you hear about activities they're doing on their own to manage stress. In my first interview, my principal even asked me about how I manage stress, and he let me know that he wanted me to continue to work on those skills. I've also heard of principals that have brought in practitioners to lead classes on mindful breathing and stretching. Taking care of your students means taking care of your teachers, too.

A: Thank you this is such an important question. If you are a classroom teacher, it means you are probably not a trained mental health provider, and finding a level of support that fits your comfort-level is important.Never hesitate to refer your students to your school counselors or social workers and encourage your students to do the same. When a student reached out to me, I would listen first--that's the most important--and then I would work with them to find the support they needed. It's also important to remember that teachers are mandatory reporters for things like abuse and neglect. So, if your administration hasn't shared with you the laws surrounding reporting, make sure you get that information right away.I would encourage you to reach out to mentors or administrators in the building to help guide you. Chances are, they have worked with the same or similar students and can share ideas with you.
Lastly, don't be afraid to set boundaries that feel right for you. Some teachers want to share their own stories of trauma, others don't. Some teachers encourage students to write about personal experiences, including trauma, while other teachers prefer to keep writing assignments focused on academic topics. All of this is okay. If you can focus on the things we've talked about here--safety, consistency, flexibility, engagement, and self-care-- you are doing your best.

Looking for More?
Blog Post: Trauma-Informed Teaching Blog Post: Mindfulness in the Classroom
If this topic has sparked an interest in you, or you simply want and need to learn more about the importance of creating a Trauma Informed Classroom, let us suggest a few resources and courses that may be of interest:

Course 898: Mindful Leadership in Schools: For school leaders and teacher-leaders wishing to incorporate mindfulness into their lives, this course provides a clear and engaging pathway. Participants will discover how mindfulness can help manage the demands of leadership, improve communication, and support a healthy lifestyle. Beginning with brain research and the impact of stress on the body, learn how to build a self-care practice that serves as a model for colleagues and staff. Explore foundational strategies such as mindful listening and speaking, focused breathing, awareness journaling, and the mindful classroom. Personal stories, practical strategies, and case studies demonstrate the power of mindful leadership to live more focused and balanced lives. There is no time like the present to start living more mindfully! 3 graduate credits

Course 5007: Trauma-Sensitive Teaching: For students who have experienced trauma at home, including divorce, loss, illness, or abuse, success in school can feel out of reach. In this course, you will learn how to help your students overcome adverse experiences as you develop trauma-sensitive strategies for your classroom. Explore the foundations of trauma-informed teaching, including an emphasis on relationship-building, student choice, safety, and resiliency. 3 graduate credits

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The number of children affected by trauma is significant. But being exposed to trauma does not have to create a destiny for these students. Learn techniques and strategies that we can employ to work with our students affected by trauma and the importance of self-care for teachers to be our best for our classrooms. Creating a Trauma Informed Classroom Below is a recording of the presentation along with the slides.

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Understanding the Mental Health of our Youngest Students

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Understanding the Mental Health of our Youngest Students

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https://www.learnersedge.com/childrens-mental-health?hsCtaTracking=1eeaded6-478c-4db0-a6da-f151253957a8%7Ccd36500a-46ae-4fb8-be1f-7156f4bebbfb

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Early Childhood and Child Mental Health

Project Director for The Minnesota Association for Children's Mental Health (MACMH) Deborah Cavitt joins us to share her knowledge and expertise concerning the impact of children's mental health on schools. Mental health is important at all ages, but learning the nuances involved with the mental health of our youngest students helps us ensure they are on a trajectory of wellness. In this one hour, on demand, webinar, we will cover diagnoses, trauma, bullying, our hopes for the future, and much more.

A special thanks to Deb Cavitt of Minnesota Association for Children's Mental Health ( MACHMA.ORG) for sharing her time, expertise and insight. Make sure to visit their website for amazing resources!
References & Resources

Looking for More?

If this topic has sparked an interest in you, here is a Learners Edge courses that may be of interest:

Course 5007: Trauma-Sensitive Teaching: Helping Students Overcome Adverse Experiences
For students who have experienced trauma at home, including divorce, loss, illness, or abuse, success in school can feel out of reach. In this course, you will learn how to help your students overcome adverse experiences as you develop trauma-sensitive strategies for your classroom. Beginning with brain research, discover the impact trauma has on students' emotional and academic development. Explore the foundations of trauma-informed teaching, including an emphasis on relationship-building, student choice, safety, and resiliency. This course will also present a thought-provoking look at the importance of self-care for educators working with students impacted by trauma and provide teachers with the tools they need to build their own wellness plan. By changing the way we view and react to children's academic and social problems, we can help all of our students build the strength they need to find success.

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Mental health is important at all ages, but learning the nuances involved with the mental health of our youngest students helps us ensure they are on a trajectory of wellness. In this one hour, on demand, webinar, we will cover diagnoses, trauma, bullying, our hopes for the future, and much more.

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https://www.learnersedge.com/makerspace-ua-0?hsCtaTracking=84959819-693c-42ab-a53d-6f35e806b7a3%7C716456d7-e0af-4f2d-91d5-56974d30eaa8

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One Maker Shares His Story!

Sir Isaac Newton said, "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Get tips, tricks, ideas and inspiration from Chad - a real life maker! Hosted by Nancy Lindfors, Learners Edge Manager of Evaluation and Degree Programs, we'll discuss how to get started creating a Makerspace, who to add to your team, and how to make your space sustainable.

Watch the webinar and learn more about how to start making at your school!
Making a Mark with Makerspaces: One Maker Shares His Success Story
Below are the presentation slides and additional items from the webinar. We hope these will help you in creating or continuing your Makerspace journey!

Questions and Answers from the Webinar:

We received an abundance of amazing questions during the webinar. We wanted to make sure we addressed all the applicable questions and shared them with you.
Q: Your Makerspace is shared between many teachers. Do you share materials and who keeps it stocked?
A: Yes, our Makerspace cart is portable and most of the materials are reusable. However, we have a rotating weekly schedule of teachers that check the cart and if any items need restocking, we work with a designated person to order replacement materials. Also, it's a great learning lesson for the students to put the materials back where they found them.
Q: How did you incorporate student input into the design of the Makerspace cart?
A: Teachers presented ideas discovered through research and learnings from other schools. We created a survey for the students and purchased additional materials based on student interest.
Q: Grant funding can be daunting, can you share some tips from the grants you applied for and received or didn't receive?
A: Donors Choose ( https://www.donorschoose.org/) is a great place to start. Local education foundations can also be a great resource. One of the best lessons I learned was to work very hard at tying grant requests, as closely as possible, to the grant funding organization - this will certainly improve your success rate.
Q: Can you provide some ideas for designing your Makerspace?
A: Mobile carts work great if there is no permanent location available. There is a trend to converting part of library space into a Makerspace. Also, it can be fun to have a permanent fixture in the Makerspace along with rotating features. For example, perhaps you always have Legos, but you could rotate in and out other supplies.

When you are considering your Makerspace, always consider safety. Also, consider the availability of wi-fi, outlets, shelving, whiteboards, SMART boards depending on what you are including in your Makerspace.
Q: Is all your making free-choice or do you ever give a class a maker/engineering challenge?
A: Our Maker Movement was a bit of a gradual shift to greater student choice. In the beginning of the school year, I gave them a goal. As we progressed, we created goals together. Finally, towards the end of the year, students create their own goals. Always make sure to make clear to the students the why - "why are we doing this!" This gradual shift allowed for students to build competence and confidence.
Q: How are you teaching coding?
A: We use Osmo Kits and Osmo Apps ( https://www.playosmo.com). We also use Sphero Balls ( http://www.sphero.com/)
Q: Share with us the greatest resource you use for staying current in the Makerspace movement?
A: Twitter - #makered #makerspace #makerspaces

Looking for More?

If this topic has sparked an interest in you, or you simply want to learn more about the Maker Movement, STEM, Inquiry Based Science, let us suggest a few resources and courses that may be of interest:

Course 5080: Making the Shift to STEM Education: Are you looking for ways to create a more relevant and student-centered classroom? Are you looking for ways to better prepare students to fill the growing number of STEM careers? Then shift your thinking and get ready to embrace K-12 STEM education! In this course you will learn why STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) matters and will develop a plan to get started. All education professionals, including teachers, school leaders, and curriculum directors--will learn how to be STEM change agents. You'll learn from those who have moved through the shift at the classroom, school and district level. 3 graduate credits
Blog Post: Making a Mark with Makerspaces

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Making a Mark with Makerspaces: One Maker Shares His Success Story

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Sir Isaac Newton said, "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Get tips, tricks, ideas and inspiration from Chad - a real life maker! Hosted by Nancy Lindfors, Learners Edge Manager of Evaluation and Degree Programs, we'll discuss how to get started creating a Makerspace, who to add to your team, and how to make your space sustainable.

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Future Teacher Week Zoom & Registration Links Questions? Please contact futureteachers@cuesta.edu Keynote: Dr. Irene Sanchez Monday, April 25th; 4:30- 5:30 PM Zoom Link: https://cuesta-edu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0ld-yhrD8uG9VzvDPUblOykTpBa01mjEx_ ...

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https://www.learnersedge.com/amplifying-student-voice?hsCtaTracking=8a7a27bc-72b0-444b-b596-175bcdb2b2cf%7C7f33707c-7280-401f-a9f1-9bd906737617

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Strategies to Boost Student Voice Using Technology

When you think about your classroom or school, do you find disengaged, unmotivated students? Do you envision a more connected, inquisitive and energized culture of learning? Watch this quick-hitting webinar and learn how to use tools like Padlet, Twitter, Adobe Spark, Flipgrid, and Screencastify. These tools will help you amplify your student's voice and engage and motivate your classroom of students!
Student Voice!

Below are the presentation slides. We hope these will help you in your endeavor to amplify student voice in your classroom!

References & Resources

Looking for More?

If this topic has sparked an interest in you, let us suggest a few Learners Edge courses that may be of interest:

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Amplifying Student Voice in Your Classroom - Webinars | Learners Edge

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When you think about your classroom or school, do you find disengaged, unmotivated students? Do you envision a more connected, inquisitive and energized culture of learning? Watch this quick-hitting webinar and learn how to use tools like Padlet, Twitter, Adobe Spark, Flipgrid, and Screencastify.

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https://www.learnersedge.com/webinars/independent-reading-in-the-classroom?hsCtaTracking=fa26de5f-1343-40c3-8c5b-cc6b8addd1fe%7Cd23f5ea1-b855-4602-a9f4-eb4055a6a60b

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This hour long webinar will explore reading motivation, inspiring a love of reading and how to find time for independent reading in your classroom. This webinar will provide you with an abundance of independent reading resources that will enhance the reading culture in your classroom!

Ready to get started? Fill out the form to receive access to this webinar!

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Supporting Independent Reading in Your Classroom - Webinars | Learners Edge

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Independent Reading is a skill proven to enhance writing, speaking, vocabulary, and memory. Yet, it is often difficult to encourage reluctant readers or find time in our school schedule to make time for this critical practice. Reflect on your own IR and learn strategies to incorporate effective IR.

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https://www.learnersedge.com/poverty-and-education-at-risk-webinar?hsCtaTracking=67c2ce84-f89e-4523-b6e9-5a6eb6ffdd46%7C3f4c7461-1f86-4344-a7d4-f237d1a40e8b

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Strategies to Help Student Succeed!
Children in Need - Poverty & Education (recorded December 2017)

Below are the presentation slides. We hope these will help you in your efforts to explore Poverty and Education!

Looking for More?
If this topic has sparked an interest in you, or you simply want to learn more, let us suggest a few resources and courses that may be of interest:
Course 5007: Trauma Sensitive Teaching: Helping Students Overcome Adverse Experiences (3 credits)
For students who have experienced trauma** at home, including divorce, loss, illness, or abuse, success in school can feel out of reach. In this course, you will learn how to help your students overcome adverse experiences as you develop trauma-sensitive strategies for your classroom. Beginning with brain research, discover the impact trauma has on students' emotional and academic development. Explore the foundations of trauma-informed teaching, including an emphasis on relationship-building, student choice, safety, and resiliency.

Course 5032: Empathy & Understanding: The New Tools for Students with Challenging Behaviors (3 Credits)
Ease your fear and frustration when faced with students who are difficult to reach and teach. In this course, featuring Dr. Greene's book Lost at School, you will find the steps you need for connecting with challenging students. Break free from old mindsets and terminology like "at-risk students," and empower yourself with the Collaborative and Proactive Solutions (CPS) model that teaches strategies for building and nurturing teacher-student relationships. Learn how to use the Assessment of Lagging Skills and Unresolved Problems (ALSUP) inventory to identify the issues in need of attention. Join us on this journey of empathy, problem solving and relationship building!

Course 5041: Five Fabulous Skills for Your Students' Lifelong Success (3 credits)
This inspiring course focuses on building five success skills in students beyond academics to increase the likelihood of positive outcomes in school and adult life. Learn strategies for teaching students empathy. Gain skills to introduce and teach self-control to your students. Help students grasp the difference between honesty and integrity and plan activities to focus on integrity in the classroom. Embrace diversity in the classroom through the review of resources and planning of activities for your students. Determine the importance of teaching grit and develop ideas to increase the skill in you learners.

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Children in Need - Poverty & Education (recorded December 2017) Below are the presentation slides. We hope these will help you in your efforts to explore Poverty and Education! Looking for More?

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https://www.learnersedge.com/decoding-special-education?hsCtaTracking=69588491-4486-4e76-85ad-e5df6e88cf80%7C83d76265-40c2-45fe-b110-83e0ce977b13

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Then, Now and Our Hopes For The Future!

Grab your popcorn and join us for this 30 minute on-demand webinar "We Are Special: A Conversation About Special Education: Then, Now and Our Hopes For The Future," as we talk with two special educators-currently part of the Learners Edge Curriculum & Instruction team. They will share their real-life experiences and heartfelt stories, as well as some special education basics: accommodations, modifications, assistive technology, strengths-based learning, and working with the parents of your students with special needs. You'll be intrigued by how far we've traveled on the special education journey, as well as our hopes and dreams for the future.
We Are Special: A Conversation About Special Education: Then, Now and Our Hopes For The Future (recorded November 2017)

Below are the presentation slides. We hope these will help you in your efforts to increase your knowledge of Special Education!

Looking for More?
If this topic has sparked an interest in you, or you simply want to learn more, let us suggest a few of our most popular special education courses resources that may be of interest:

Course 753: Succeeding with the Struggling Student - A Teacher Favorite!

(3 credits) This course will explore a myriad of ways to help any student become a successful learner-without remediating, watering down content or repeating it endlessly, or lowering expectations. Many students who struggle to learn simply haven't been taught strategies that are compatible with the way they think and learn. In this course, you will learn how to teach students appropriate techniques and strategies to help them succeed in the classroom.

Course 776: Across the Spectrum: Teaching Students with Autism - A Teacher Favorite!
(3 credits) This course has been designed specifically to help you work with students diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the mainstream classroom. You will explore the following components associated with ASD: anxiety, sensory processing, engagement, classroom communication, parent/teacher communication and collaboration, and associated behaviors. You will learn about a myriad of strategies designed to help your students with autism to experience success in the mainstream classroom.
Blog Posts focused on Special Populations of Students

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Grab your popcorn and join us for this 30 minute on-demand webinar "We Are Special: A Conversation About Special Education: Then, Now and Our Hopes For The Future," as we talk with two special educators-currently part of the Learners Edge Curriculum & Instruction team.

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Partnering with Parents that Challenge You!

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Partnering with Parents that Challenge You!

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https://www.learnersedge.com/parent-teacher-partnerships?hsCtaTracking=36c66f9e-2543-4e10-a1bb-27f33eb30b24%7Cd2027ebb-6fd7-45e0-8f4f-e0e0f9200199

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Who knew? Parents can be one of a teacher's greatest challenges!

This webinar will provide you with suggestions and strategies on working with the parents of your students. Keeping the student at the center of teacher/parent discussions is one of the best ways to keep perspective on challenging situations and move through potential conflict constructively. Keely Swartzer, Learners Edge's Director of Professional Development will highlight the following areas:

Perspective

Relationship Building

Communicating Tough Stuff

Conflict Resolution

Successful Meetings

Partnering with Parents that Challenge You (recorded August 2017)

Below are the presentation slides. We hope these will help you in your efforts to work with all parents!

Looking for More?
If this topic has sparked an interest in you, or you simply want to learn more about successful ways to partner with parents, let us suggest a few resources and courses that may be of interest:

Book: Whitaker, T., Fiore, D. J., & Whitaker, T. (2016). Dealing with difficult parents. New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

Course 859: Parent Trap: Achieving Success with Difficult Parents & Difficult Situations (3 credits)
This course will explore strategies to help you establish positive, constructive relationships with parents of your students. It will also help you work with the most challenging parents in the most challenging situations. Some of the many skills you will learn include: learning how to avoid the "trigger" words which serve only to make bad situations worse, learning how to use the "right" words to develop more positive relationships, and dealing with parents who accuse you of not being "fair."

Core Meeting Templates: (Word Document) (PDF)
Downloadable White Paper: Parent Partnerships 101
Blog Post: Dealing with Difficult Parents
Blog Post: 10 Strategies for Dealing with Difficult Parents
Blog Post: How to Make a Parent Phone Call

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Partnering with Parents That Challenge You

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This webinar will provide you with suggestions and strategies on working with the parents of your students. Keeping the student at the center of teacher/parent discussions is one of the best ways to keep perspective on challenging situations and move through potential conflict constructively.

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https://www.learnersedge.com/collaborative-learning-presentation?hsCtaTracking=f267ab20-5129-4797-98a3-cc8935a22e2c%7C21ecfeb3-ca6e-4245-a555-0f62a4e62dd2

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Jigsaws, PBL, Lit Circles - oh my!

This webinar on collaborative learning is perfect for teachers who are ready to dive into teaching essential 21st Century Skills! Tune in for the next 30 minutes and come away with new ideas of how to effectively facilitate your next venture into Collaborative Learning!
Work Together, Learn Together! Collaborative Learning in the Classroom.

Below are the presentation slides. We hope these will help you in exploring options for Collaborative Learning!

Looking for More?

If this topic has sparked an interest in you, or you simply want to learn more about Collaborative Learning strategies, let us suggest a few resources and courses that may be of interest:

Course 5856: Project Based Learning: Create, Collaborate and Innovate (3 credits)
Learn the details and processes that will empower you to create Project Based Learning (PBL) experiences in your classroom. This course will introduce you to frameworks and techniques that allow your students to facilitate a learning project based on their passions, all while building cooperative learning and 21st Century skills. You'll look at a variety of instructional strategies and technology tools to support PBL in your classroom, and you'll learn to assess your students' progress in their experiences. Plus, you will explore some great project-based learning ideas! Join hundreds of other educators who know that PBL is key to critical thought and innovative learning!

Course 5833: One Stop Shop: Online Docs, Spreadsheets, Slides and Forms for your Classroom
(3 credits)
This course will prepare you to take your classroom to the next level using a host of Google™ tools. You'll learn how to create and share Google™ documents and spreadsheets online, access your documents from anywhere on any computer, import your existing documents, and organize your classroom work into folders. You'll also be guided through publishing your documents, and you'll learn how to collaborate online with your students and colleagues in real time. You'll also learn how to use Google™ Slides/Presentation, along with Forms and Sites. This course will truly demonstrate the power of Google™ Apps to enhance your teaching, and make your life a bit easier!
Blog Post: Collaborative Learning Strategies Blog Post: How to Engage Students with a Writer's Workshop Blog Post: How to Increase Student Engagement in Your Classroom

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Work Together, Learn Together! Collaborative Learning in the Classroom

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This webinar on collaborative learning is perfect for teachers who are ready to dive into teaching essential 21st Century Skills! Tune in for the next 30 minutes and come away with new ideas of how to effectively facilitate your next venture into Collaborative Learning! Work Together, Learn Together!

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https://www.learnersedge.com/teens?hsCtaTracking=c65f0fe8-ca3e-4aad-8ddc-60f885d6e19b%7Cc418d282-86a1-449b-bbc5-9876d4689625

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The Teen Scene: Understanding What Teens are Thinking and Doing...and Why

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This webinar on the adolescent brain will be perfect for teachers or counselors working with teens. Listen and be inspired by our conversation with Dr. Walsh.

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Recordings for the Spring 22 TEACH for LA Virtual Workshop Series. Subscribe to TEACH Los Angeles on YouTube!

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Community Partnerships for Teacher Pipeline

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Supporting the Mathematical Brilliance of Young People with Megan Franke

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Supporting the Mathematical Brilliance of Young People with Megan Franke

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1 hr

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EM 2021: Supporting the Mathematical Brilliance of Young People with Megan Franke

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Article for discussion

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Erikson Institute Early Math Collaborative

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At the 2014 Innovations Celebration, Innovations instructor Rebeca Itzkowich and associate instructor Jill Sapoznick led a seminar entitled "Navigating Language in the Math Classroom," in which they explored language-related issues that can arise during math time. Some of the ideas in this presentation came from Supporting English Language Learners in Math Class (2009, Math Solutions) by Rusty Bresser, Kathy Melanese and Christine Sphar, a great resource about this topic.

English Language Learners can struggle with math, but with some planning, teachers can guide them to adopt the language they need to master math along with the rest of their class. Here are just a few tips that were discussed.

1. Create a "math dictionary"

As they come across more and more math terms, it might be helpful for older students to keep a dedicated math notebook with definitions for all of their new vocabulary. Besides being a good source of reference, writing down these words and defining them in their own voice helps reinforce their meaning.

Language is a tool. We need to make those tools available to kids so their thinking can become deeper.

2. Teach using gesture

Especially with younger children, using gesture while teaching can be extremely helpful. While informally polling the participants in the seminar, it was found that many used the same gestures when explaining math concepts, such as making a circle-motion with their hands to express "all-together." A child who does not understand a particular word might recognize an intuitive gesture.

Students, too, will gesture when the words aren't coming. "It's the teacher's job to provide them with the language that their gestures are expressing," as Itzkowich put it. This child is clearly thinking hard to solve a shape puzzle, but his vocabulary isn't to the point that he can communicate his ideas; an adult, however, is there to fill in the blanks for him.

3. Give students opportunities to speak to each other

Once it's clear students have grasped the foundations of a math concept, it's important to let them use the words themselves. Speaking with other students, either in small groups or by having them turn-and-talk during whole class discussions, is a great place to start. Students might feel more comfortable trying out new vocabulary without the pressure of speaking in front of a larger audience.

Itzkowich and Sapoznick emphasized that it will eventually become easier for students to use, rather than avoid, more advanced math vocabulary. Instead of talking around what they mean, students will gradually begin to speak to one another with more clarity by using words that precisely articulate the math concept they are trying to explain.

4. Ask for whole-class, rather than individual responses

Rather than calling on individual students for answers, prompt your class for choral responses. Giving an incorrect response in this manner is less likely to make students feel isolated and embarrassed, since most of the time other students will hear the whole group response without noticing what their immediate neighbor says.

This interactive math activity utilizes this concept in a creative way. Designed to help English Language Learners practice vocabulary describing spatial relationships, the class vocalizes various positional prepositions to describe their classmates' actions as they navigate an obstacle course.

5. Provide a structure

A simple but effective way to introduce a new math concept is to model it, provide a name for it, and have your students repeat that name. For more complicated ideas, creating sentence frames can be a helpful way to get the ball rolling. Comparing how many items two people have, for instance, can be communicated with the sentence frame:

I have ___. You have ___. ___ is greater than ___. I/You have more.

Give students this starting point, and then let them try it out for themselves.

6. Avoid confusion with non-math terms

"Mary bought eight oranges. Then she bought three apples. How many pieces of fruit did she buy?"

From the perspective of some English Language Learners, this is a very confusing problem. One potential source of confusion is the irregular past-tense of buy. A student who understands all of the math in the problem still might answer incorrectly, because they're looking for information about what Mary "buyed."

Be careful with noun choice in word problems as well. While food words are often safe to use, the association between oranges, apples, and fruits might not be immediately obvious to some.

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6 Tips When Discussing Math with the English Language Learner

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At the 2014 Innovations Celebration, Innovations instructor Rebeca Itzkowich and associate instructor Jill Sapoznick led a seminar entitled "Navigating Language in the Math Classroom," in which they explored language-related issues that can arise during math time.

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40 minute video: Co-Conspiring for Black Boy Joy

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40 minute video: Co-Conspiring for Black Boy Joy

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Co-Conspiring for Black Joy

This video is a companion to the Exchange article "The Beautiful Resistance: Black Humanity and Black Boy Joy" by Mike Browne and Amir Asim Gilmore.

Don't miss the new Exchange Reflections Video Edition that is based around this article and video. "Black Boy Joy: Centering BIPOC Children" encourages discussion on how all educators can embrace and affirm BIPOC children.

Exchange Reflections are designed to help a team of people meet in-person or live online to think deeply together about a topic using an article or video from Exchange magazine as a guide.

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Co-Conspiring for Black Joy | ChildCareExchange.com

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Co-Conspiring for Black Joy This video is a companion to the Exchange article "The Beautiful Resistance: Black Humanity and Black Boy Joy" by Mike Browne and Amir Asim Gilmore. Don't miss the new Exchange Reflections Video Edition that is based around this article and video.

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This is an interesting article to you all that connects current events to disability rights and appropriate accommodations. It also covers a bit of history in regard to ADA and the Olmstead. This could be a good resource to share with mentors/students for discussion.

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When Naomi Osaka exited the French Open this week, the tennis champion wasn't just shielding herself; she was defending her rights as a disabled person.

She may not have put it that way. But Osaka is a perfect example of how one can be both able-bodied and disabled.

Under the Americans With Disabilities Act, emotional and psychiatric impairments such as depression and anxiety are disabilities. If you're treated unfairly in a public place or employment situation because of these impairments, you have a valid discrimination suit. Of course, the French Open is not within the ADA's jurisdiction. But if it were, the French Open, along with the Women's Tennis Assn. and the International Tennis Federation, could be liable for failing to make a reasonable accommodation for Osaka's emotional needs.

Osaka announced last week that she would not participate in the French Open's news conferences due to a "disregard for athletes' mental health." She then won her first round of the tournament and skipped the post-match press conference. She was fined $15,000 by Grand Slam tournament administrators. They also threatened her with expulsion from future matches if she continued to ignore media obligations.After her subsequent withdrawal from the French Open and announcement that she has suffered from depression, officials walked back their previous statement and gave vague offers of support and sympathy.

But what Osaka deserves isn't pity or even kindness. She needs a modification to make these events accessible for her, such as being allowed to compete without participating in post-match press conferences. As someone who is physically disabled, I know firsthand that when such a change is not granted it sends a chilling message to all members of the disability community.

According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 264 million people globally have depression. In the U.S., roughly 26% of Americans 18 and over have diagnosable mental disorders, reports Johns Hopkins Medical Center. Accommodating Osaka's depression and anxiety would not be a special privilege but a reasonable accommodation for an all too ordinary condition that more people should recognize.

Press conferences are required of most professional athletes by the leagues to which they belong. The players are considered representatives of their sports, and more media attention to a specific league or team helps draw bigger audiences and sell more merchandise. But effectively forcing Osaka to drop out doesn't do the tennis world's bottom line any good either.

To be sure, the ADA is a complicated document and it might be difficult for other governing bodies to adopt their own versions. Still, the landmark law, which was enacted in 1990, broadly defines disability as any " physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities." It applies to anyone who appears to be or is thought of as disabled. Specific diagnoses are irrelevant: It's about an inability to accomplish tasks in traditional ways, as well as any stigmas related to being physically or mentally different.

Its applicability to mental illnesses was established by the Supreme Court in 1999 in the case of Olmstead vs. L.C. That case involved two Georgia women who each had diagnoses of different mental health conditions and intellectual disabilities. They sued the state of Georgia to permit them to receive their periodic treatments in their home communities rather than having to live in state-run institutions to be treated. The case was heard by the Supreme Court, which ruled in their favor in 1999, establishing for legal purposes that mental illnesses are ADA-protected forms of disabilities.

The Olmstead decision was about institutionalization, not tennis. But since then, there have been many other cases in which employees have gone to court to get their employers to make necessary modifications for their mental health needs.

The ADA challenges both employers and employees to think about accommodations - ideally, they work together to come up with fair solutions. Disabled employees (or job candidates) must be clear about what they need to be able to perform the essential duties. They should put in specific requests, such as fatigue breaks, or telecommuting when possible or, as with Osaka, the right to wear headphones to "dull my social anxiety, " as she said on social media.

For employers, the challenge is to specify the necessary requirements of the job. For example, if an administrative assistant can manage a calendar and input data as required, does it matter if they lack the dexterity to serve coffee?

If Gilles Moretton, the president of the French Federation of Tennis, is sincere about being "committed to all athletes' well-being and to continually improving every aspect of players' experience in our Tournament, including with the Media," the least he and the other leaders of the sports world could do is reconsider the essential tasks required of players. Is it truly necessary that Osaka participate in press conferences?

Naomi Osaka and others like her should be accommodated not because they are " spoiled brats " with unreasonable needs but because they are human - and humans have disabilities.
Ben Mattlin is a writer in Los Angeles who covers disability issues and is the author of two books, including "In Sickness and in Health."

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Op-Ed: Naomi Osaka's withdrawal from the French Open was a stand for disability rights

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When Naomi Osaka exited the French Open this week, the tennis champion wasn't just shielding herself; she was defending her rights as a disabled person. She may not have put it that way. But Osaka is a perfect example of how one can be both able-bodied and disabled.

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COVID and Social Skills: What to Do If You're Feeling Awkward as COVID Winds Down (parade.com)

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Parade: Entertainment, Recipes, Health, Life, Holidays

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For the past year, you've probably been living in your own little bubble, with in-person interactions limited to your kids, spouse, or other household members. Work meetings and Friday afternoon happy hours have moved to virtual platforms, and you haven't done much face-to-face socializing.

But now that more people are getting COVID-19 vaccinations and you're likely planning your social re-emergence, you may feel a little awkward and worry that your social skills are a little rusty-and if that's the case, trust us when we say it's normal. SNL even had a recent skit on post-COVID dating that's oh-so-relatable.

And, you're definitely not alone, says , a clinical psychologist and clinical assistant professor at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine. She says her patients are reporting more social Dr. Dawn Potter, PsyD anxiety lately and that their social skills are out of whack.

"What has happened is that COVID has changed the way we socialize really significantly," she says. Social distancing and lockdowns led to the development of new social skills, such as video call etiquette and staying six feet away from others while grocery shopping.

"People are having to learn all of these new things that they haven't done before, so they feel that their social skills are rusty, but actually they're trying to learn new skills," Potter adds.

With vaccination rates increasing, the (CDC) says fully vaccinated people can hang out in person with others who are fully vaccinated without masks or social distancing and visit unvaccinated people who are at low risk for contracting Centers for Disease Control and Prevention coronavirus.

As you re-enter your social circles, it's understandable to feel nervous and a bit anxious. We asked mental health experts to share some tips for getting your social skills back on track.

Why have our social skills been impacted?

The uncertainty surrounding the pandemic and lockdown measures has heightened social anxiety, research shows . People are working from home, not socializing in person, and likely not even chitchatting with others throughout the day.

"It's kind of an if-you-don't-use-it-you-lose-it kind of thing," Potter says. "They're not engaging in as much small talk. Maybe they're ordering their groceries [online], so they're not having that conversation that they would always have every week with the cashier at the grocery store, or they're not chatting with their neighbors anymore. And so, they're just out of practice."
Related: What Is Coronaphobia? Here's Everything You Need to Know
The new social norms inspired by COVID-19 are also increasing anxiety and uncertainty around social interactions, says Dr. Rebecca Cowan, PhD, core faculty at the Walden University School of Counseling.

For example, masks are essential for stopping the spread of the virus, but they also hinder you from picking up on facial cues, and when most communication is nonverbal, this negatively impacts communication.

"Removing these nonverbal cues complicates our social interactions," Cowan adds. "Some may find this to be so uncomfortable that they may completely withdraw from social situations."

Knowing how to greet other people post-pandemic may also heighten anxiety and uncertainty, Potter says.

"People may feel a lot of social discomfort or uncertainty when they're starting to see people in person again," she adds. "Do we shake hands? Do we bump elbows? How close do I stand when I'm talking to them? They have all these questions, and so that creates a sense of not having the same social skills as before."

What are some signs your social skills are rusty?

Feeling uncomfortable or awkward in public these days is understandable. Some signs your social skills are a little rusty include:
Related: You're Fully Vaccinated-Now, Do You Still Need to Wear a Mask?

Feeling anxiety or uncertainty about situations you wouldn't normally think about

Missing social cues from others

Experiences lots of awkward silences

Feeling emotionally exhausted from socializing

Looking for reasons to avoid social events

Taking less initiative in social settings than you normally would

"People who are more extroverted may actually still be able to thrive in this situation," Potter says. "People who more have an introvert temperament might have trouble connecting in these settings."

How to get your social skills back on track

Interacting with the outside world probably feels scary right now, especially when technology has ruled most of our communication for the past year, Cowan says. During a video call, it's easy to turn off your microphone or camera when you don't want to be seen or heard. But there's no off button to click on when in-person socializing get uncomfortable.
Related: What Is an Anxiety Attack and How Do You Stop One?
Especially anxious about this? Start slow, she adds, by setting small goals and embracing the most comfortable social settings first.

"When they are ready, they can gradually expose themselves to situations that might be more anxiety-provoking," Cowan explains. This lets you practice social skills while learning to manage your anxiety.

Some other ways to overcome awkward post-pandemic social interactions, according to Potter, include:

Brainstorm beforehand. Think through who you'll be interacting with and what details do you know about them, such as what activities their kids are involved in.

Reignite the small talk. What kinds of things did you use to talk about in that setting with those people? Bring up those subjects when you reconnect.

Look for support. Talk to others about your feelings of nervousness or anxiety-they're probably feeling it, too.

What to do when your social anxiety gets to be too much

Worried about your social skills? Keep in mind that most people are feeling awkward, too, and people tend to be more conscious of their own behavior than others are of them, Potter advises.

"Most people are wrapped up in their own world and thinking about what they're doing and what they're going to say next than scrutinizing another person's every move," she says. "If a person is feeling nervous, they should remember that they are probably noticing much more than anybody else that they're blushing or sweating or stammering."
Next, read more about social anxiety and how to overcome it.
Practicing self-care can help you deal with mild social anxiety and build confidence to feel more comfortable socializing. That could include paying attention to diet, exercising regularly, getting plenty of sleep, and doing nice things for yourself.

"Do something extra special to be just like, 'Yeah, I'm important, I'm great, I'm capable,'" Potter says. "That helps people feel more confident, and then when they go into a social situation, they're less nervous."

Nervousness is normal. But, when your nervousness or anxiety over being in a social setting interferes with your ability to enjoy it-or the feelings are persistent-it may be time to talk to a mental health professional, she emphasizes.

Sources

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If Your Social Skills Feel Rusty as We Near the End of the Pandemic, You're Not Alone-Here's How to Get Them Back on Track

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For the past year, you've probably been living in your own little bubble, with in-person interactions limited to your kids, spouse, or other household members. Work meetings and Friday afternoon happy hours have moved to virtual platforms, and you haven't done much face-to-face socializing.

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Teaching strategies, classroom management, education reform, educational technology — if it has something to do with teaching, we’re talking about it.

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Revolution School: When "Reimagining School" Actually Happens

59:35
Guest(s): Henry Fairfax, Mike Pardee, Jane Shore

Instead of trying to create their dream school within the system, this group of brave, forward-thinking educators just built it from scratch.

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59:35 Guest(s): Henry Fairfax, Mike Pardee, Jane Shore Instead of trying to create their dream school within the system, this group of brave, forward-thinking educators just built it from scratch.

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(We watched the video together and discussed the importance of having a Growth Mindset vs a Fixed Mindset)

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video presentation regarding how to promote diversity and create inclusive classrooms

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Child well-being, Diversity, Early childhood, Global News

As communities around the world become increasingly diverse, it is important that schools create an environment that values the various backgrounds, perspectives, and beliefs of children, families, and staff. Fostering a school environment that embraces diversity and inclusion is an ongoing practice that requires careful consideration of all aspects of an education setting-from the school policies to the curriculum and everything in between. Creating an inclusive space for all children to reach their full potential is also fundamental to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals in Education. Schools must recognize the specific needs of the children and communities they serve, and consider several strategies when building a more inclusive environment.

Joining us to discuss this important topic is Dr. Fawzia Reza, Diversity and Inclusion Coordinator at the American College of Education (Indianapolis, USA). In the interview linked below, Dr. Reza (brief professional bio posted below the video) provides valuable insight on a variety of topics related to building a more inclusive school and embracing diversity in staff, children, and families.

Some of the questions Dr. Reza addresses in the interview include:

How can educators encourage children to embrace their own identities and abilities as well as the similarities and differences alike in their classmates?

What are five things every educator should be doing in interactions with children and families to support diversity and inclusion?

What elements do school leaders need to focus on to practice inclusive leadership and reflect the ideals of inclusion throughout the school environment?

Moments of reflection in the video allow viewers to imagine how the ideas Dr. Reza shares can impact their own learning environment. We encourage viewers to pause the video when the questions appear and consider each of them.

Throughout this summer, CE International will share more Expert Insight videos on relevant topics in education and child development. Each video is designed to highlight diverse professional perspectives to increase awareness of unique approaches to important topics.
Professional Bio of Dr. Fawzia Reza:
Dr. Fawzia Reza, Diversity and Inclusion Coordinator at the American College of Education, dedicates her work and research to issues surrounding diversity, inclusion, and social justice. In her role as Diversity and Inclusion Coordinator, she is tasked with developing initiatives that promote greater cultural competence within faculty and staff. She has published several articles on these topics and a 2015 book titled The Effects of the September 11 Terrorist Attack on Pakistani-American Parental Involvement in U.S. Schools. In 2019, Dr. Reza published a children's book Mary and Her New Friends, which addresses themes related to South Asian culture and helps young children develop empathy for those with special needs. To learn more about Dr. Fawzia Reza and her work, please visit her website at https://www.fawziareza.org/

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An Expert's Insight: Dr. Fawzia Reza on Diversity and Inclusion in Early Education

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Child well-being, Diversity, Early childhood, Global News As communities around the world become increasingly diverse, it is important that schools create an environment that values the various backgrounds, perspectives, and beliefs of children, families, and staff.

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Excellent short video on time management

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Excellent short video on time management

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Stephen Covey   Put First Things First Big Rocks   Coach Doh Motivation

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https://www.learnersedge.com/press-play-lg?hsCtaTracking=47754611-4ccd-4610-b1ee-7e775595883e%7Cb0c2813f-15f7-46fd-b62f-f8987f88134e

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Read to Succeed Professional Development is designed to increase equity of access to high-quality professional development for early childhood professionals and caregivers

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read to succeed professional development

Please contact Elandriel Lewis with any questions.

For information on upcoming webinars, click here.

View Read to Succeed's 2021 training summary here.

View Read to Succeed's Family Webinar Series here.

Read to Succeed Professional Development is designed to increase equity of access to high-quality professional development for early childhood professionals and caregivers. We offer two types of trainings: weekly webinars and individual sessions.

These weekly early childhood webinars occur live on Tuesdays at noon CST via Zoom. All sessions are eligible for Tennessee Department of Human Services credit certificate. Certificates are provided after viewing the webinar and completing a reflection form via the unique Google Form link for each webinar.

Recordings of these webinars are moving to a new platform for a better user experience. Currently some are located here and some are on the new platform. The new site is still free to use but will require you to register. View our calendar of upcoming webinars.

10/4/2022: Activating Stories Through Drama | Presenter: Jacqueline Komos

Join Elandriel Lewis as she presents, "Leading with Emotional Intelligence, part 5: Free Will and Choices."

In this series, participants learn easy, accessible ways to engage students using drama skills and exercises. Topics build on ideas presented in the previous webinar but can be taken alone. Exercises presented in this series to be used with students align with Tennessee state standards for theatre, MNPS standards for SEL and additional content areas based on the specific workshop (ex: Activating Stories' activities align with ELA standards).

In this session, participants will explore how drama exercises bring books to life and how to, as facilitators, support their students' use of theater skills to create characters, explore settings and investigate the themes of a story through active play. This session is part of a four-part series. View missed sessions in our archive at unitedwaynashville.org/rts-training. One hour of TN DHS credit is available upon completion of a reflection form/quiz.

About the Presenter: Jacqueline Komos (Jackie) serves as Nashville Children's Theatre's education and engagement manager where she collaborates with Middle Tennessee's community organizations and schools to connect children and families with transformative theatrical experiences and as a teaching artist working in the classroom (virtual and in-person) with youth ages three to 18. Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Jackie has performed and taught at multiple theatres in Ohio and Tennessee. Her favorite memories, outside of Nashville Children's Theatre, include her years performing with the Ohio Light Opera and touring with Columbus Children's Theatre playing her favorite fairy tale characters. Working at Nashville Children's Theatre is Jackie's dream job-she couldn't be more grateful for the opportunity to utilize the performing arts to help youth achieve their full potential and discover all the possibilities life has to offer. Jackie enjoys combining her passions for social justice and the arts together-whether it be providing artistic opportunities for those with little access to the performing arts or devising theatre that inspires dialogue, empathy and action about the important issues of today.

About Nashville Children's Theater:
Mission: Believing the culturally curious child is the future, Nashville Children's Theatre nurtures the next generation of global citizens by providing transformational theatrical experiences which reflect our evolving community, instill profound empathy, and foster personal discovery.

Vision: Nashville Children's Theatre aims to be recognized as an accessible and inclusive haven empowering all young people in Middle Tennessee through cultural literacy and creative exploration.

9/27/2022: Leading with Emotional Intelligence, part 5: Free Will and Choices | Presenter: Elandriel Lewis

Join Elandriel Lewis as she presents, "Leading with Emotional Intelligence, part 5: Free Will and Choices."

Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize and manage your emotions while recognizing and navigating the emotions of others. This series will provide a deep dive into the emotional intelligence skills needed to support a healthy and productive organizational culture.

Session five explores how choices increase compliance, enhance decision-making and focus attention. Choices are best supported by the understanding that power comes from choice, not force. This session will provide information and strategies to support choices and free will in your organization.

This session is appropriate for everyone and is part five of an eight-part series. View missed sessions in our archive at unitedwaynashville.org/rts-training. One hour of TN DHS credit is available upon completion of a reflection form/quiz.

About the Presenter: Elandriel Lewis is the senior manager of early learning and training at United Way of Greater Nashville where she works with community early childhood teachers and leaders to ensure lifelong educational and personal success for children and families. Elandriel believes that every child deserves safe, stable, nurturing relationships and time outdoors to support academic and social-emotional growth.

9/20/2022: An Introduction to Creative Drama | Presenter: Jacqueline Komos

Join Jackie Komos of Nashville Children's Theatre as she presents, "An Introduction to Creative Drama."

In this session, participants learn easy, accessible ways to engage students using drama skills and exercises. Topics build on ideas presented in the previous webinar but can be taken alone. Exercises presented in this series align with Tennessee state standards for Theatre, MNPS standards for SEL and additional content areas based on the specific workshop (ex: Activating Stories' activities align with ELA standards).

Participants will learn tools to engage students in a series of exercises that explore the three actor tools and embark on a journey of the imagination through a selected topic or theme.

1 hour of TN DHS credit is available after completing a reflection form/quiz.

About the Presenter: Jacqueline Komos (Jackie) serves as Nashville Children's Theatre's education and engagement manager where she collaborates with Middle Tennessee's community organizations and schools to connect children and families with transformative theatrical experiences and as a teaching artist working in the classroom (virtual and in-person) with youth ages three to 18. Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Jackie has performed and taught at multiple theatres in Ohio and Tennessee. Her favorite memories, outside of Nashville Children's Theatre, include her years performing with the Ohio Light Opera and touring with Columbus Children's Theatre playing her favorite fairy tale characters. Working at Nashville Children's Theatre is Jackie's dream job-she couldn't be more grateful for the opportunity to utilize the performing arts to help youth achieve their full potential and discover all the possibilities life has to offer. Jackie enjoys combining her passions for social justice and the arts together-whether it be providing artistic opportunities for those with little access to the performing arts or devising theatre that inspires dialogue, empathy and action about the important issues of today.

About Nashville Children's Theater:
Mission: Believing the culturally curious child is the future, Nashville Children's Theatre nurtures the next generation of global citizens by providing transformational theatrical experiences which reflect our evolving community, instill profound empathy, and foster personal discovery.

Vision: Nashville Children's Theatre aims to be recognized as an accessible and inclusive haven empowering all young people in Middle Tennessee through cultural literacy and creative exploration.

9/6/2022: The Hidden Faces of Homelessness: Children and Youth in Our Community | Presenter: Catherine Knowles

Join Catherine Knowles of MNPS as she presents, "The Hidden Faces of Homelessness: Children and Youth in Our Community." Each year more than 1.5 million school-age children are identified as experiencing homelessness in school districts throughout our country. The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act defines homelessness in broad terms as anyone who lacks a fixed, regular and adequate night-time residence. Students experiencing homelessness have federally guaranteed rights that offer them immediate enrollment in school along with the right to school stability, transportation, resources and other supports. This session is designed for teachers, school staff and others who desire to understand the challenges and barriers families may encounter in the school setting and who are interested in supporting their students and families in obtaining their educational goals.

One hour of TN DHS credit is available upon completion of a reflection form/quiz.

About the Presenter: Catherine Knowles has served as the homeless education program coordinator of Metro Nashville Public Schools in Nashville, Tenn., for 25 years. During that time, the H.E.R.O. program for families in transition has grown from serving 200 students a year to more than 3,200. Catherine is recognized as a leader and advocate in citywide, statewide and nationally. Catherine was recognized in 2019 as the Homeless Liaison of the Year by the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth. She serves on three statewide councils under appointments from the governor as a service provider representing the concerns of families who are experiencing homelessness. She is a member of the Metropolitan Nashville Homelessness Planning Council and vice president of Unicycle, a local nonprofit that provides gently used school clothing to MNPS students. As a native Nashvillian, Catherine is deeply committed to improving resources and services to those in the community who have been displaced by the city's growth.

8/30/2022: Developing Parental Resilience | Presenter: Alyssa Dituro

Why does parental resilience matter to us? What role do we play in helping our parents gain protective factors? Join us as we explore tangible ways to support our families and their growth in our care and beyond.

One hour of TN DHS credit is available upon completion of a reflection form/quiz.

About the Presenter: A dynamic and passionate education management professional with more than15 years of experience, Alyssa Dituro loves early childhood education. She is a TACEE, NAEYC, AIMHiTN and an Infant Mental Health endorsement. She is the executive director of McNeilly Center for Children in East Nashville.

8/23/2022: Leading with Emotional Intelligence 4: Unity and Encouragement | Presenter: Elandriel Lewis

Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize and manage your emotions while recognizing and navigating the emotions of others. This series will provide a deep dive into the emotional intelligence skills needed to support a healthy and productive organizational culture. Session four explores how encouragement helps to create a sense of belonging and a desire to be of service to others. It is powered by the idea that we are all in this together (unity). This session will provide information and strategies to support attention and assertiveness in your organization. This session is appropriate for everyone and is part four of an eight-part series. View missed sessions in our archive at unitedwaynashville.org/rts-training.

One hour of TN DHS credit is available upon completion of a reflection form/quiz.

About the Presenter: Elandriel Lewis is the manager of early learning and training at United Way of Greater Nashville where she works with community early childhood teachers and leaders to ensure lifelong educational and personal success for children and families. Elandriel believes that every child deserves safe, stable, nurturing relationships and time outdoors to support academic and social-emotional growth.

8/17/2022: An Introduction to the Pyramid Model of Behavior Management | Presenter: Gracie Stubbs

Join Gracie Stubbs of TN Voices as she presents, "An Introduction to the Pyramid model of behavior management."

The Pyramid Model is a framework for supporting children's social emotional development and promoting positive behavior. In this 60-minute webinar, you will receive an overview of the Pyramid Model framework, alongside recognizing the connection between social emotional development and challenging behavior. We will briefly explore the levels of the Pyramid Model which include nurturing and responsive relationships, high-quality supportive environments, targeted social emotional supports and intensive intervention.

This session is appropriate for teachers, instructional coaches, leadership and caregivers of children birth to age eight.

One hour of TN DHS credit is available upon completion of a reflection form/quiz.

About the Presenter: Gracie Stubbs is the program coordinator of the Early Childhood Program with TN Voices. Gracie has a Bachelor of Science in psychology and is pursuing a Master of Arts in special education: applied behavior analysis. Gracie is a native Middle Tennessean and lives in Lebanon, Tenn., with her husband and her aussiedoodle puppy Harley. Gracie is passionate about supporting educators, providers and families about the importance of social-emotional development, the prevention of school suspension and expulsion and the Pyramid Model.

About TN Voices: TN Voices is a statewide mental health nonprofit committed to building hope for all generations. With more than 10 programs aimed at supporting various ages and needs, we are continuously furthering our mission to be the collaborative leader guiding mental health transformation. To learn more about TN Voices, visit tnvoices.org.

Click here to view previous webinars in the archives.

Our 2022 VidCon: "Building Strength through Resilience" features eleven free high-quality professional development webinars from July 25 - July 28. Each session is eligible for Tennessee Department of Human Services credit certificate. Certificates are provided after viewing the webinar and completing a reflection form via the unique Google Form link for each webinar.

7/25/2022 - PRE-CONFERENCE SESSION A: A FIGHTING CHANCE - SUPPORTING YOUNG CHILDREN EXPERIENCING DISRUPTIVE CHANGE

Dr. Jane Humphries and Kari Rains share practical solutions and approaches to build resilience in children during difficult times.

Children today are living and learning to function in many societal circumstances, some more complicated than others. Early childhood providers can either reel from this changing landscape of society and ignore the impacts on young children and their families or continue to seek out information, resources and activities that support their classrooms. This presentation lends practical solutions and approaches to give children a fighting chance not only in the classroom or program environment, but also in daily life. It is our belief and experience that early childhood professionals can largely impact the trajectory of children's lives.

Three hours of TN DHS credit is available upon completion of a reflection form/quiz.

About the Presenters: Dr. Jane Humphries experience in the early care and education field has included being a childcare director of an NAEYC accredited program that experienced and was resilient after a major man-made disaster, child and parenting specialist, college instructor, researcher, and program administrator of several government funded initiatives in Oklahoma. She has also been an author of several articles featured in Exchange® and her latest book co-authored with Kari Rains titled, A Fighting Chance: Supporting Young Children Experiencing Disruptive Change, due to be published by Redleaf Press® in May 2017. Besides founding her own company, Creative Educational Strategies & Services LLC which is dedicated to quality professional development and products for young children, Dr. Humphries is the developer of products that were designed to help children who need sensory stimulation to calm themselves. She currently serves as an adjunct instructor in the Human Environmental Sciences Department at the University of Central Oklahoma and has taught for 15 years as an adjunct in the Early Childhood Administration graduate program at National Louis University. Personally, her two-year-old son was one of the children playing out on the playground years ago just 6 blocks away when the Federal Murrah building in Oklahoma City was bombed. Years of experience and observing his resiliency throughout his life has allowed her to see first-hand the importance of engagement from a parent perspective and managing further disruptive change events in his life. She has earned undergraduate degrees in Family and Child Development, a master's degree in Early Childhood Education, and a doctoral degree in Occupational and Adult Education from Oklahoma State University.

Kari Rains, a Child Development Specialist, has over a decade of clinical work in the early intervention program provided in the state of Oklahoma. In this work, Kari worked to find practical solutions for families and early childhood teachers and directors who have few resources within the rural areas of Oklahoma. This includes providing practical solutions to those living and working with children struggling with social and emotional regulation issues. Kari is also a mother of a child that was diagnosed ADHD/Sensory Processing/Tourette's which has allowed her to see first-hand the realities of being a parent whose child has difficulty with change and as an early childhood professional. She has served as an adjunct instructor, published two books and numerous research articles in the field of child development to include articles in Exchange®. Co-author with Dr. Humphries on their book titled, A Fighting Chance: Supporting Young Children Experiencing Disruptive Change and published by Redleaf Press® in May 2017, this will be a must have resource. Teaming with Dr. Jane in 2013, it is their mission to assist those who work with children and adults who struggle with social/emotional regulation issues. Kari earned her undergraduate degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders and her master's degree in Child Development, both from Oklahoma State University.

7/25/2022 - PRE-CONFERENCE SESSION B: BUILDING CHILDREN'S RESILIENCE THROUGH LITERATURE

Get ready to invigorate your classroom and school through innovative Anti-bias Literacy Practices. Hear from Allen Rosales on how the Anti-bias Literacy Approach has transformed how teachers engage children with high quality instructional read alouds. You will be introduced to the Anti-bias Literacy Framework and tools that will support your planning and implementation of meaningful storybook and representational drawing experiences.

Three hours of TN DHS credit is available upon completion of a reflection form/quiz.

About the Presenter: Allen Rosales has a master's degree in Early Childhood Education and has worked in the field for over 28 years. During that time, he has held the role of teacher, education manager, coach, professor, national presenter, author, and now Senior Program Advisor for the Carole Robertson Center for Learning.

7/26/2022 - SESSION 1: PUSHING PAST CONFLICT WITH ADULTS

In this workshop, Dr. Angela teaches how to use the Push Past It! framework to deal with conflicts with adults. The workshop explores negativity bias and meaning making to discover the needs of others. The workshop uses a strength-based lens and skilled dialogue to resolve conflicts. Be ready to dance and push past conflicts with humor and music.

1.5 hours of TN DHS credit is available upon completion of a reflection form/quiz.

About the Presenter: Dr. Angela Searcy holds a B.A. with teacher certification though the state of Illinois, a M.S. degree in early childhood development from Erikson Institute, with a specialization in Infant Studies and a Doctorate in Education with a specialization in Response to Intervention and Assessment. Her research centers around brain-based learning assessed by the CLASS assessment and its' correlation to aggressive behaviors in preschool classrooms. Angela is currently a candidate in Erikson Institute's Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Certificate program.

She is the owner and founder of Simple Solutions Educational Services, a professional development company. An educator since 1990 Angela has experience at all levels of education including infants, toddlers, preschool, 6th grade, 8th grade and 9th grades. A credentialed developmental therapist through the state of Illinois and former neuro-developmental specialist, Angela has specialized training in neuroscience. Angela is currently a mental health/ educational consultant, an adjunct faculty member and seminar leader at Erikson Institute, and the author of Push Past It! A Positive Approach to Challenging Classroom Behaviors with Gryphon House Publishing. Her Book Elevating Equity is due for release next year.

7/26/2022 - SESSION 2: INTEGRATED INSTRUCTION: PRE-LITERACY, SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL LEARNING, AND MATHEMATICS

Dr. Maria Trejo's presentation provides examples of how to develop and deliver integrated lessons to reduce teacher burden, address multiple developmental foundations, increase children vocabulary in context, and engage parental or care-giver support.

1 hour of TN DHS credit is available upon completion of a reflection form/quiz.

About the Presenter: Dr. Maria Trejo has a long career as teacher, administrator, and advocate for children and communities. She has worked with early childhood and preschool educators and programs for the last 20 years. She is a national and international consultant and coach in the areas of literacy, mathematics, and program implementation Pre-K to university. Her unique expertise has been working with struggling readers, under performing students, and communities. Maria had a long career with the California State Department of Education implementing educational policies, supporting program initiatives, and securing resources. She was a principal contributor to the development of Early Childhood Curriculum Frameworks for the state of California.

7/26/2022 - SESSION 3: HOW RESILIENCE GROWS OUR YOUNG LEARNERS

Lindsey Frank presents "Butterflies to "Blooms": How Resilience Grows Our Young Learners." Explore together how resilience becomes the foundational skill within our young learners. When we partner resilience with learning, our butterflies (students) can fly! During this session, you will learn resilience-building strategies and fun activities for both you and your learners, and how resilience can lead to deeper learning.

1.5 hours of TN DHS credit is available upon completion of a reflection form/quiz.

About the Presenter: Lindsey J. Frank, M.Ed., is dedicated to connecting with children, their families, and education professionals around the world through wellness. She has taught and supported students ranging from early learning through junior high across diverse learning environments. Her passion is connecting teaching practices, wellness, and social and emotional learning (SEL) within education. She is an educator, SEL specialist, Learning Behavior Specialist, well-being coach, mindfulness and meditation teacher, and certified yoga instructor for adults and children. Lindsey is the author of Big Change, Better You, Beautiful World and is published in Educating Mindfully: Stories of School Transformation Through Mindfulness.

Website: TheButterflyWithin.Me

7/27/2022 - SESSION 4: leadership resilience: ThRIVING THROUGH STRESS AND UNCERTAINTY

In this inspirational and engaging training, participants explore what it means to be resilient and how leadership affects the resilience of any business. Leah Mangrum and Amy Wilcox discuss principles of resilience and provide strategies for working this "resilience muscle" that can be implemented immediately.

1.5 hours of TN DHS credit is available upon completion of a reflection form/quiz.

About the Presenters: Leah Mangrum is a Small Business Support Specialist with TN Child Care Resource & Referral where she supports new and existing directors in the Mid-Cumberland region. She found her passion for leadership development during her former experience as a director of a licensed childcare agency in Nashville, though she has held a variety of roles in the early childhood profession over the past two decades. Leah has contributed to the profession in recent years by serving on the Executive Board of NAAEYC, participating in a middle TN director support group as well as a "Teacher Pipeline, Partnerships & Policy Work Group " in association with TN Blueprint for Early Childhood Success. Leah currently serves on TACEE governing board.

Amy Wilcox has served in the Early Childhood field for over 20 years working with children, families and teachers as an Educator and ECE Director. Currently serving as an Early Childhood Quality Coach for Mid-Cumberland CCR&R. She works with DHS licensed programs in Williamson County by providing resources, training and coaching. Amy is very involved in the Nashville Area Association for the Education of Young Children NAAEYC currently serving on the Board as Past President. She volunteers and serves on the board of the Friends of the Brentwood Library and volunteers with Adopt a Golden Nashville. She received her B.A. from Vanderbilt University.

7/27/2022 - SESSION 5: SUPPORTING RESILIENCE THROUGH THE OUTDOORS

Building resilience skills in young children requires intentionality in process as well as in the environment in which it is taught. A large body of research shows that the outdoor space is an exceptional tool that can provide support for building resilience in children and adults. This session provides concrete techniques for integrating social-emotional learning and time outdoors to optimize outcomes for all.

1.5 hours of TN DHS credit is available upon completion of a reflection form/quiz.

About the Presenters: Jessica Yuill is the Early Childhood Health Outdoors (ECHO) Senior Outreach Coordinator for the National Wildlife Federation. Jessica guides ECHO's professional development work and supports outreach to partners and communities that support young children. She has previously worked as an early childhood educator, an early literacy home visitor, and as a family engagement liaison. Jessica believes that all children and families deserve access to nature, and she is passionate about supporting communities in creating opportunities for all children.

Elandriel Lewis is the Senior Manager of Early Learning and Training for the United Way of Greater Nashville where she works with community early childhood teachers and leaders to ensure lifelong educational and personal success for children and families. Elandriel believes that every child deserves safe, stable, nurturing relationships and time outdoors to support academic and social-emotional growth.

7/27/2022 - SESSION 6: NAVIGATING BIG FEELINGS USING BOOKS AND A CONFIDANT

Using the strong tradition of puppetry with the Nashville Public Library, we demystify that puppets can only be used by professionals, or people who are comfortable with acting, and explain how children automatically connect and feel comfort from a puppet friend or even a stuffed animal. We explain how combining this cozy confidant with books chosen not only to help kids understand their feelings but also how to deal with them, giving adults much needed tools to navigate big emotions.

1.5 hours of TN DHS credit is available upon completion of a reflection form/quiz.

About the Presenters: Susan Frizsell's years of teaching experience with preschool, elementary and middle school art inspired her to create fun and engaging lessons to keep students' attention while teaching state standards. Now, she's passing along what she's learned to teachers as curriculum coordinator and training specialist for Nashville Public Library's Bringing Books to Life.

Marie Preptit serves as the program coordinator for Nashville Public Library's Bringing Books to Life. She possesses a Bachelor of Arts in psychology and Spanish from Belmont University. Marie coordinates day-to-day programming, partner relations, data collection and outcome reporting. She also conducts story times, teacher training and workshops for parents, all while supervising part-time outreach assistants. She brings to the program experience as a preschool teacher as well as a preschool administrator.

7/28/2022 - SESSION 7: THE ROLE OF HISTORICAL TRAUMA: SHIFTING FROM BUILDING RESILIENCE TO PROMOTING HEALTH

This session focuses on the role of historical trauma on the mental health of children and families. Much of the current trauma-informed movement is concentrated on building individual resilience, while ignoring the role of historical trauma and the systemic structures that prevent healing. During this session, the presenters talk about historical and racial trauma, including institutional barriers that continue to traumatize children and families on a daily basis. Participants learn how to promote healing within their programs and organizations.

3 hours of TN DHS credit is available upon completion of a reflection form/quiz.

About the Presenters: Dr. Ebonyse Mead is the Birth to Kindergarten Clinical Instructor at Georgia Southern University and president of the Educational Equity Institute. For 18 years, Ebonyse has worked in communities to improve health and educational outcomes for children of diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. Since 2016, Ebonyse has provided statewide training on diversity, inclusion and equity with a particular focus on examining structural barriers to educational equity, implicit racial bias, and culturally responsive instruction to the early childhood workforce in North Carolina.

Dr. Jen Neitzel is the Executive Director of the Educational Equity Institute, which is focused on eliminating the educational and opportunity gaps within communities through systems level change. Prior to this work, Jen was a Research Scientist and Technical Assistance Provider at FPG Child Development Institute at UNC-Chapel Hill for 15 years. During her time at FPG, her work focused on implicit bias; disparities in suspensions and expulsions; trauma; and culturally responsive anti-bias practices. Jen presents frequently at state and national conferences and is widely published in peer-reviewed journals. She also is the author of the book Achieving Equity and Justice in Education through the Work of Systems Change.

7/28/2022 - SESSION 8: realizing resilience through community: parent peer support and the regional intervention program (RIP)

The TDMHSAS Regional intervention Program (RIP) is a parent-implemented, professionally supported program for young children and their families who are experiencing challenging behaviors. RIP has been serving families with young children since 1969. This unique, internationally recognized program guides parents in learning the skills to work directly with their own children while they receive training and support from experienced RIP families. Peer support and valuing lived experience has been central to the RIP model since its inception. In this session, explore the data that demonstrates why these parent-peer connections are so vital to parent resilience and how RIP makes it happen every day. In this session, attendees will: learn about the history and model of the Regional Intervention Program (RIP); understand the philosophy behind program's central commitment to Parent Implementation, which is woven throughout both day-to-day programming and overall operations; discuss how both Parent Implementation and shared community and leads to resilience for parents. Particularly when working to address challenging behaviors; walk away with strategies for engaging parents to build family resilience and support Early Childhood Education Environment & Family partnerships.

1.5 hours of TN DHS credit is available upon completion of a reflection form/quiz.

About the Presenters: Jasmine Davis is a Parent Case Manager for the Regional Intervention Program (RIP). In this role, Jasmine works closely with families who are experiencing challenging behaviors, teaching strategies and techniques to manage their child's challenging behavior. Prior to this role, she graduated the RIP program with her son. Jasmine loves supporting and empowering families.

Jaime Herndon is the Program Coordinator for the Regional Intervention Program (RIP) with the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. RIP is a parent-implemented, professionally-supported program for families of young children who are experiencing challenging behavior. Jaime is a Certified Family Support Specialist in the State of Tennessee, where she serves RIP families with the unique perspective of having completed the program her with her own family. Her personal experience with the program sparked a desire to join RIP's mission of empowering parents as teachers and advocates for their children.

Ashley Jasinski is the Technical Assistance and Expansion Coordinator for the Tennessee Department of Mental Health & Substance Abuse Services' Regional Intervention Program (RIP). RIP is a positive parenting program for families with children under the age of 6 with behavioral concerns. Ashley received a Bachelor's degree in Psychology and minor in Early Childhood Development and Learning; and Master's in Clinical Mental Health Counseling with a dual specialization in both Early Child Populations and also Childhood Abuse and Trauma. With her over 20 years of experience working with behaviors and the early childhood populations through her role as a counselor, preschool teacher, ABA line therapist, Early Childhood Programming Coordinator, and RIP Program Coordinator at the Columbia RIP site; she has a passion for helping families with young children. Additionally, Ashley is a certified trainer in PACEs, CARE Model and Pyramid Model which she uses to empower families and educate community members through training on PACEs, Positive Behavior Management tips and techniques, and Social Emotional Learning. Besides her passion for early childhood populations and empowering families, she enjoys spending time with her husband and three children.

Melissa Binkley, MS, is the Program Director for the Regional Intervention Program (RIP) with the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. In this role, Melissa provides support and oversight to an internationally recognized, parent-implemented, professionally-supported program for young children and their families who are experiencing challenging behaviors. She has worked for over 15 years in child-serving agencies to support Promotion, Prevention, and Intervention efforts around fostering cognitive and social emotional development in young children. She most enjoys working alongside children and their caregivers as they make plans & solve problems. She lives in Nashville with her husband and toddler.

7/28/2022 - SESSION 9: fostering personal resilience AS A LEADER

We pour into others, but are you pouring into yourself? This session explores practical and applicable ways to build your resilience as a leader to better support your team.

1 hour of TN DHS credit is available upon completion of a reflection form/quiz.

About the Presenter: A dynamic and passionate Education Management Professional with more than 15 years of experience, Alyssa Dituro loves early childhood education. She is a TACEE, NAEYC, and AIMHiTN member and has an Infant Mental Health endorsement. She is the executive director of McNeilly Center for Children in East Nashville.

Virtual Individual Sessions

These customizable sessions are designed to meet partner needs. Individual trainings can be scheduled by contacting:
Elandriel Lewis
Senior Manager, Early Learning and Training
elandriel.lewis@unitedwaygn.org

Read to Succeed's Professional Development program covers a wide range of topics, including:

Social-Emotional Learning and Trauma-Informed Practices, including Skills for the Classroom
and the Workplace

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Instructional Coaching

Outdoor Learning, Play and Emergent Curriculum

Developmentally Appropriate Academic Best Practices

Curriculum and Assessment Specific Training (Frog Street Curriculum, Conscious Discipline
Curriculum and Teaching Strategies GOLD Assessment)

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Read to Succeed Professional Development - United Way of Greater Nashville

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read to succeed professional development Please contact Elandriel Lewis with any questions. For information on upcoming webinars, click here . View Read to Succeed's 2021 training summary here. View Read to Succeed's Family Webinar Series here. Read to Succeed Professional Development is designed to increase equity of access to high-quality professional development for early childhood professionals and caregivers.

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https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MHat9TUPbcbXTRTALENSmoc0KMm1Fe_N/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=102051402625235657096&rtpof=true&sd=true

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Teaching Children How to Cope with Their Big Emotions

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Strategies to Help Students with ADHD Succeed in Your Classroom

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Strategies to Help Students with ADHD Succeed in Your Classroom

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https://www.learnersedge.com/success-for-students-with-adhd-webinar-lg?hsCtaTracking=73c82fe5-940f-40a1-b956-c7f0a26b43c6%7C6fcf3aed-43a0-409d-a728-1f0fc166a93a

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Learners Edge Webinar - October 2016
Inspiring Ideas: Help Students with ADHD Succeed in Your K-8 Classroom.
Learners Edge Curriculum and Instruction Specialist and former Special Education Teacher, Jill Rockwell, shares easy to implement strategies for effectively teaching students with ADHD. Jill will share stories of techniques used with students - and the student's successes and challenges. Leave this webinar with tools and practical methods to apply immediately in your K-8 classroom, and equip students with skills to help them reach their goals. Watch the webinar now!

Questions and Answers from the Webinar:

We received an abundance of amazing questions during the webinar. We wanted to make sure we addressed all the applicable questions and shared them with you. And remember, there are often great resources right within your own schools - school counselors and your special education professionals can often provide fantastic insight.

Q: What do you suggest when a student misuses their fidget tool? For example, poking his pencil into it, or using it as a "puck" pencil is the stick or sharing with other students?

A: Practice appropriate ways to use the fidgets and set parameters. I clearly state 2 simple expectations when using fidgets:

I don't want to see the fidgets (I encourage students to use them under their desks).

You can drop the fidget only once. After that I will need to put it away as it's distracting to other students.

Q: What if bullying is happening in group work?
A: Bullying should be taken very seriously and most districts have bullying policies that should be referred to. Measures I would take in the classroom include: protect the student who is being bulled-and I do that by pairing students within groups so each student has a buddy. Next, I find a way to mix up, or change the groups-so a new dynamic is created and I speak with the student(s) who are bullying. Additionally, I reinforce our classroom rule of embracing differences in our classroom, and I remind them how to report bullying behaviors.
Q: It is also important to remember the remaining students in the classroom...How do you keep the student with ADHD from impacting THEIR learning before strategies can be provided?
A: Most of the strategies I discussed in the webinar can be used for all students. That being said, I find it is important to establish rules and expectations in the beginning of the school year. When doing so, I include the whole class and I post them on the wall. That way, I can refer to them, and remind students of our mutually agreed upon rules.

If a student continues to struggle with following expectations, I would find out what the student really needs-perhaps more movement, less stimulation, more academic support (some students act out to avoid work that is too difficult), more social/emotional support, etc. The student might not be able to articulate his/her needs, so it might take some trial and error work. I would also ask parents for input on what they're seeing at home and see if they can offer any suggestions they have found beneficial.
Q: Do you think that screen time can affect students with ADHD more than others?
A: That's a great question. One of the reoccurring themes with ADHD is students' inability to focus. I have found that when students are asked to be sedentary for long periods of time (as is the case with technology) they have a more difficult time focusing. Making sure students get movement, exercise, eat nutritional foods, and drink water all play roles in their ability to focus. This is true for all students, not just those with ADHD.
Q: How can we help students with ADHD learn to make and keep friends?
A: Social skills can be challenging for students with ADHD. As mentioned in the webinar, hosting a weekly lunch bunch with carefully selected peers was so beneficial for everyone-especially those struggling with developing/maintaining friendships. I also asked our school psychologist for assistance with organizing social skills groups where students could learn and practice problem-solving skills, friendship skills, calming strategies, etc. Additionally, involving students in extracurricular activities-especially where movement is rewarded (dance, running, biking, games) can help students learn how to be a part of a team and can be a good way to nurture friendships.
Q: How do we convince parents to have their child tested for ADHD?
A: Creating relationships with parents before school starts is always beneficial. Reaching out to families with an email, a phone call, or a postcard is a good way to encourage communication and sets the stage for later conversations.

It's best to use a collaborative/team approach when speaking with parents. It is helpful to first ask parents if they have any concerns. Then provide specific examples of behaviors you have seen that might indicate ADHD. Provide data-for example: Jill did not complete her math work 4 out of 5 days this week because she was wandering around the room during work time. She needed 5 or more prompts to return to her work within a 10-minute timeframe.
Q: What should I do about students who blurt out?
A: Blurting is an example of what the doctor in the video said about students with ADHD having race car minds with bicycle brakes-we need to help them slow down sometimes. Give explicit 1:1 instruction on how to control blurt-outs. Perhaps provide a visual with these 3 steps: take a deep breath, repeat the question inside your head, then raise your hand. You could also consider having your whole class use mini dry erase boards for active class participation to help control the blurting.

One of our webinar attendees, also provided this suggestion: A teacher in our school uses a sticky note pad for kids to have a "blurt pad"...they cannot call out but write down their blurt and she collects as she is teaching and reads. Great idea - thanks for sharing!
Q. How do you handle lost planners?
A. This is common! I offered incentives for being prepared for class (points, stickers, etc.). For one student, I had him use his iPod as an electronic planner when he could not keep track of his paper planner.

Q. How do you handle lost behavior charts?

A. Again, I would offer incentives (points, stickers, etc.). If it's a recurring problem, I would consider using a weekly/bi-weekly/monthly contract instead.
Q. How do you keep students from wandering around the classroom when they should be in their seats?
A. Allow movement breaks. Perhaps have them run an errand for you (deliver a fake note to the office, etc.), provide a stand-up desk or exercise ball during worktime, provide a visual reminder to stay seated.
Q. Are there any known causes of ADHD?
A. Genetics is the most common contributor of ADHD (like Julia from our video).
Q. How can I use technology to help my students with ADHD?
A. Check out www.gonoodle.com for engaging videos to get your students moving or to help calm them down. There are several apps to support students with focus and attention-I liked using the timer apps during independent work time. You could also consider having students use electronic organizers in lieu of paper planners for those who are more motivated by technology.

Strategies that you use in working with students with ADHD in the classroom:

In the webinar, we asked participants some of the ways they help students with ADHD in their classroom. Here are some of their great responses!

Looking for More?

If this topic has sparked an interest in you, or you simply want and need to learn more about working with students with ADHD, let us suggest a few courses that may be of interest:

Course 5027: ADHD: Focusing, Learning, Teaching - 3 graduate credits
Course 5855: Neurodiversity: A New Approach for Students with Special Needs- 3 graduate credits
Coures 753: Succeeding with the Struggling Student - 3 graduate credits

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Students with ADHD - Webinar-October 2016

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Inspiring Ideas: Help Students with ADHD Succeed in Your K-8 Classroom. Learners Edge Curriculum and Instruction Specialist and former Special Education Teacher, Jill Rockwell, shares easy to implement strategies for effectively teaching students with ADHD. Jill will share stories of techniques used with students - and the student's successes and challenges.

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You’ve Got Early Childhood All Wrong | Haneefah Shuaibe-Peters | TEDxUnionCity

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Resources For Students Who Need Help Now

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Resources For Students Who Need Help Now

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Cerritos Cares is a service for Cerritos College students because your experience matters! Connecting students to address any and all of their needs.

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Integrating the Arts into Your Classroom 

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Integrating the Arts into Your Classroom 

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https://www.learnersedge.com/steam-education-arts?hsCtaTracking=9998c23e-bd75-4c01-948b-bcec7b5cf468%7C5886217d-101f-440b-b455-10baf2d8ff71

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Learners Edge Webinar - November 2016
The "A" in STEAM - Adding in the Arts - Ideas for Any Teacher
Why do the Arts matter to you? How can you incorporate the Arts into your traditional lesson plans? Listen to the conversation and leave with some hints of how you can add the "A" into your STEM Education and infuse more art into any content you teach. This webinar conversation will inspire ideas for why you should and how you could jump in to grab some arts-energy for yourself and all your students!

Below is the webinar recording , the handouts presented during the webinar, and the presentation slides. We hope you will take what you learned and try it out in your own classroom!

Questions and Answers from the Webinar:

We received an abundance of amazing questions during the webinar. We wanted to make sure we addressed all the applicable questions and shared them with you.

Q: I've heard about "teaching artists." How do teachers connect with them?

A: Here are suggestions to start:

Google Search for "teaching artists in (your community)"

Ask teachers and school district colleagues about successful art residencies

Google arts organizations or agencies in your community. Resources are widely offered online.

Ask your school PTO or PTA about accessing art residency resources. These programs are commonly provided through fundraising budgets.

Q: Brain research really supports movement - what is a good resource for arts-integration regarding dance and movement? I'm a P.E. teacher.
A: Education Closet has excellent online lesson plans for all the arts, including dance.
Also, explore, ArtsEdge - Kennedy Center also has online lesson plans for all the arts and grade levels.
Q: I teach math and science - what are some good resources for me to use?
A: The textbook by Sousa and Pilecki, From STEM to STEAM: Building Brain Compatible Strategies to Integrate the Arts is a great book. In fact, any textbook about STEAM Education will have arts-integration resources for math, science, engineering, and technology. Here are two other great resources:

NEA website has some great lesson plans and resources for all subjects with arts-integration.

Palm Beach County, Florida - has a district website for arts-integrated lessons - by subject.

Q: What if your principal doesn't approve of spending instructional time on the arts?
A: Administrators are often required to cut P.E., Art, Music specialist classes due to the assessment emphasis on math and science. Principals will be most-often be thrilled with any individual teacher or team arts-integration plan to cover those needs. There is so much research pointing to successful achievement gains for students who are consistently engaging in the arts. Check out some of the resources we've provided within the webinar and have some data points ready to share.

Explain your arts-integration plan as an engagement instructional goal.

Highlight teaching collaborations, including specialists, special education, ESL, etc.

Q: How can we justify teaching and learning time on the arts when we are working with at-risk students who need more time to meet goals?

A: Arts-integration research is most clear demonstrating the increased achievement gains for at-risk student populations, especially at the secondary level.

The arts support reading development, which is at the core of achievement gaps. There is research to support this.

Engagement is considered a key factor in lower achievement for at-risk students. The arts impact achievement by increasing student and teacher engagement through creativity and collaboration.

Q: How do the arts support special education students specifically with IEP restrictions?
A: Arts-integration is a philosophy that blends beautifully with UDL. UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR LEARNING is a scientifically valid framework for guiding educational practice that:

Provides flexibility in the ways information is presented, in the ways students respond or demonstrate knowledge and skills, and in the ways students are engaged.

Reduces barriers in instruction, provides appropriate accommodations, supports, and challenges, and maintains high achievement expectations for all students, including students with disabilities and students who are limited English proficient.

Special education students who are mainstreamed will flourish in a UDL classroom because choice is a huge component for action and expression of learning which accommodates all learning styles, multiple intelligences, and engagement.

Students with any specific need - physical, emotional, learning disability - can engage in any content learning, because choice is offered and encouraged for all levels of practice and assessment.

Arts-integration is enhanced by collaboration - students with their peers - and teachers (regular classroom and special education) planning for instruction.

Q: What are some easy ways teachers can infuse the arts right away in their classrooms - without a huge commitment to curriculum and assessment planning time?
A: Easy is a different feeling and measurement for each teacher, but here are some simple ideas for arts-integration:

Start with transition times - elementary teachers can add in dance, movement, songs, poetry into these in-between timeframes and you can invite students to contribute content-related creations that enhance current learning topics.

Day class starters can include arts engagement - doodling to demonstrate new content learning; free-writing using a content-creative prompt; digital apps to create a collage of new learning/topic - save and build for a week; partner podcasts - ongoing interviews about new learning - save and create for a week.

Why do the Arts matter?

In the webinar, we asked attendees Why do the Arts Matter to you? Here are some of their great responses!

The arts are part of everything. All objects, merchandise, architecture, your iphone started as a drawing. All students will be the future designers of these items plus medical and environmental devices which will help help all of mankind.

Every child learns in a different way
The arts gives students something to focus on and enhance the learning styles

Looking for More?

If this topic has sparked an interest in you, or you simply want and need to learn more about integrating the Arts into your curriculum, let us suggest a few courses that may be of interest:

Course 5853: A Moving Body, A Thinking Brain - 3 graduate credits
Coures 5795: STEAM Education: Integrating the Arts into your Classroom - 3 graduate credits

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The "A" in STEAM - Adding in the Arts - Ideas for Any Teacher Why do the Arts matter to you? How can you incorporate the Arts into your traditional lesson plans? Listen to the conversation and leave with some hints of how you can add the "A" into your STEM Education and infuse more art into any content you teach.

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Great free module trainings for best practice.

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We’re all socially awkward now - The Washington Post

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(Tara Jacoby for The Washington Post)

"I'm looking for a kumquat. Do you know what that looks like?"

Kay Kingsman flagged down a fellow shopper in the grocery store with that question - and no, he couldn't identify a kumquat. But she kept on talking. "How's your day?" she recalls asking. "Having a fun grocery trip?"

Kingsman, a 27-year-old manufacturing engineer in Portland, Ore., dragged the conversation on so long that this stranger in the citrus aisle interjected with an answer to a question she hadn't pondered: "I'm married."

That's when Kingsman realized she didn't know how to have a casual conversation with a stranger anymore. She hadn't been flirting, at least not intentionally. She'd been earnestly seeking those little orange oblongs for a cake she was baking, and once she opened her mouth, she was so excited to be talking to someone that she couldn't stop.

Verbal diarrhea is just one symptom of late-stage pandemic social awkwardness. Others include asking yourself:How far away did I used to stand when talking to someone? Should I stand farther now? How long is a conversation supposed to last anyway? Do my friends still like me?

As vaccinations ramp up and our social lives restart, many of us are rusty, tongue-tied, rambling or insecure - and it shows. "Social interaction is a million things knitted into one," says Marisa Franco, a psychologist who specializes in friendship. It's turning thoughts into speech, making eye contact, entering and exiting a conversation, and more. "It's like you haven't practiced a language, then you go back to the country and it starts to come back."

Rest assured fellow awkwards, your social skills will come back. And you're not the only one feeling out of sorts.

The coronavirus pandemic brought with it so many new rules: We were urged to wear masks in public, to stand at least six feet away from others, to socialize indoors only with those in a defined pod, to mute and unmute ourselves at the appropriate times on Zoom. All of that was uncomfortable at first. Shouldn't reemergence be the easy part?

Not necessarily. Our new reality isn't the same as life before covid-19; it's an in-between stage, a collective adolescence of sorts. We've changed. The world has, too. "What is awkward is that different peoplehave different rules," says Dave Nadelberg, founder of the " Mortified " podcast and stage shows that feature embarrassing childhood stories. "Everyone says they care about covid safety, but everybody has a different definition. People are appalled if you're too restrictive or permissive. As the world is opening up, that tension is a little stronger."

This stage of the pandemic resembles a middle school dance: We're eager to be with others, but don't know quite how to act. Our dance moves have aged terribly. "We've been sitting around in our sweatpants and not showering for a year. We have to now worry about bad breath and all the things that Zoom conference calls insulated us from," Nadelberg adds.

As high vaccination rates meet dangerous variants and breakthrough infections, it's hard to find the right rhythm. People's ideas about what's safe and what's risky are constantly shifting.

At the beginning of the pandemic, says Ty Tashiro, a psychologist and author of " Awkward: The Science of Why We're Socially Awkward and Why That's Awesome," discomfort over social distancing or Zoom etiquette was often outweighed by the pervasive fear and anxiety surrounding catching or spreading the novel coronavirus. "Now the awkwardness gets to stand on its own."

Loneliness is another emotion that's ballooned during the pandemic. And the lonelier you are, the likelier you are to be socially anxious, says Franco, the friendship expert. When Franco asked her Instagram followers if they felt their social skills had deteriorated during the pandemic, about 80 percent said yes. However, even if you perceive yourself as awkward, there's a good chance others haven't noticed. "We all have a bias to think other people are judging us more than they actually are," Franco says.

For Alexandra Clemente, a 29-year-old consultant in San Francisco, her awkwardness manifests as fear of overstaying her welcome. She used to understand the cadence of a party, but the pandemic has thrown off her sense of timing. "I don't want to be rude," Clemente says. "I'm trying to be aware of what people's boundaries are." Her friends have promised to help her read the room, saying: "We'll tell you when to leave, don't worry."

In our new reality, maybe we'll care less about being perceived as rude and more about just being real. Derek Brown, owner of the Columbia Room barin Washington, finds small talk to be difficult these days. "Politeness feels awkward," Brown says, "not just because of the time you spent without people, but the enormity of what people have gone through" in the past year.

Returning to the office has made some workers recognize the perks of Zoom. Jennifer Sonne, a 33-year-old environmental consultant in Anchorage, started a new job during the pandemic, so when she started coming into the office in the fall, she had trouble recognizing her co-workers in masks. "On Zoom, you see names," she says. "In the office, I almost wish we could put some name tags on foreheads."

She can't quite remember how to gracefully exit an in-person conversation. And then there's body language, something office workers toiling at home haven't had to think much about in the past year. "On video conferences or phone calls, you don't have to worry about your hands or anything more than chest up," Sonne says. During an impromptu conversation with a colleague in the office, Sonne caught herself wondering what to do with her hands: "Do I put my hands on this chair? On the desk? Do I fiddle with my clothes? Where do humans put their hands? What is body language anymore?"

Jordan Hall found that even going to the mall to buy a shirt at Uniqlo felt strange. "I feel like an ant. I feel small," the 28-year-old videographer in Los Angeles recalls thinking while trying to maneuver between hundreds of shoppers at Glendale Galleria. "I'm my own main character in my house and now I'm in this flood of people." He chose the escalator over being in an elevator with strangers and constantly worried about where everyone else had been.

Shielding yourself against awkwardness starts even before you leave the house. Ilana Dunn, co-host of the " Seeing Other People " podcast, now tries on about seven outfits before she picks a pair of pants. After a year of athleisure,"the act of getting yourself together, putting makeup on, putting an outfit on, has become so difficult," Dunn says. "It's been tough to figure out what to present myself as."

Before the pandemic, Dunn, a 26-year-old in New York, was "the most social person ever." Now she'll have to excuse herself from an outdoor hangout to take a walk because it's just too much. "I've suddenly become that quiet, awkward person off to the corner not really engaging with people. Part of me is still questioning: 'I don't know if these people are safe to be around. I don't even know what to talk about.' " If you talk about doing lots of things, it sounds like you're bragging or that you've been reckless, Dunn says. "And if you talk about doing nothing, it's like: 'Why not? ... You can finally do things again.' "

For those with reduced social stamina, Franco suggests going slowly and being intentional about whom you reconnect with. "Maybe there are select few [people] you want to talk to," Franco says. "Be strategic about what getting out there means to you."

And the next time you're feeling awkward, Tashiro advises leaning into it. "The best thing to do is to say: 'It's a little weird getting back out into public and socializing again, isn't it?' "

Because we're all searching for some kind of normalcy. Or kumquats.

We're doing shots! Vaccinated or not, America wants to party.

The pandemic is showing us which friendships are worth keeping

She was hired as a bridesmaid 125 times. Finally, she had her own wedding

Tell us about the hardest parts of life after social distancing

The Washington Post would like to hear from you about the challenges and annoyances of resuming normal life after months of social distancing. Are you finding out that you now dislike something that you liked before? Are you seeing your co-workers or relatives and realizing all over again how much they irritate you? Or perhaps remembering how much you loved not having to make small talk with friends of friends at big gatherings? What are your weirdest, most uncomfortable or just plain worst moments?

We respect your privacy and will not publish your name or response without contacting you first.Read our full submission guidelines here.
Tell the Post Read our full submission guidelines here

Updated February 12, 2021

Your Life at Home

The Post's best advice for living during the pandemic.

Health & Wellness: What to know before your vaccine appointment | Creative coping tips | What to do about Zoom fatigue
Newsletter: Sign up for Eat Voraciously - one quick, adaptable and creative recipe in your inbox every Monday through Thursday.
Parenting: Guidance for vaccinated parents and unvaccinated kids | Preparing kids for "the return" | Pandemic decision fatigue

Food: Dinner in Minutes | Use the library as a valuable (and free) resource for cookbooks, kitchen tools and more

Arts & Entertainment: Ten TV shows with jaw-dropping twists | Give this folk rock duo 27 minutes. They'll give you a musically heartbreaking world.

Home & Garden: Setting up a home workout space | How to help plants thrive in spring | Solutions for stains and scratches

Travel: Vaccines and summer travel - what families need to know | Take an overnight trip with your two-wheeled vehicle
Today's Headlines The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning.

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It's not just you. We're all socially awkward now.

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"I'm looking for a kumquat. Do you know what that looks like?" Kay Kingsman flagged down a fellow shopper in the grocery store with that question - and no, he couldn't identify a kumquat. But she kept on talking. "How's your day?" she recalls asking. "Having a fun grocery trip?"

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Riverside County Google Camp Resources Page

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Riverside County Google Camp Resources Page

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We have provided hundreds of videos that can help assist you become more confident with the latest applications, suites, and more. We encourage you to check out our breakout sessions tab and discover something that interest you.

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Information & Resources Welcome to the Riverside County Google Camp Resources Page We have provided hundreds of videos that can help assist you become more confident with the latest applications, suites, and more. We encourage you to check out our breakout sessions tab and discover something that

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About me

It's a pleasure to welcome you to my blog! My name is Blanche Brown and I am a career consultant and coach. I have been in the HR field for over 8 years and have experience as an HR Director. Before HR direction I worked in Retail in Operations and Sales. I am familiar with B&B and B&C segments. I know how major business processes work in practice.

In addition, I help in forming a job search strategy from the question of "I do not know what I want to do?" to the choice of company. I model future interviews, analyze and recommend the right search channels. Assist in setting up a LinkedIn and other social media profile, which greatly speeds up the job search.

When choosing a profession, start from your own desires. Don't listen to others, but look for your own motivation.

Finding your strengths, do not forget to add to them and personal qualities: character, temperament, psychological type (extrovert or introvert), etc.

The word "must" refers to the demand for the profession. It is hard to say whether your profession will be popular in the labor market after you graduate from college or university.

1. Recognize yourself as a person who knows how to make decisions
2. Set yourself up to win
3. Choose a profession first, and then a college.
Seek out the best textbooks.
5. Look for support
6. Gather information
7. Take advantage of professional development opportunities

Parimatch - the best betting site , just choose your best and win

If your task seems too difficult or time-consuming, our academic writing service is here to support you.

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Skip to Content It's a pleasure to welcome you to my blog! My name is Blanche Brown and I am a career consultant and coach. I have been in the HR field for over 8 years and have experience as an HR Director. Before HR direction I worked in Retail in Operations and Sales.