RIDE has compiled the following no-cost options for professional learning in RI to support the return to school for educators and administrators.
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NS faculty and staff will have an opportunity this year to do self-paced professional development. The PD is done independently and will give educators an opportunity to learn about a variety of topics that they are interested in exploring. Educators will use the task card library to learn independently through a self-paced format that helps to improve classroom practices while earning PLUs! Our Self-paced PDs are a selection of task cards/activities that require educators to create a final product and receive and act upon feedback from our coaches before completion. The average time to complete the task cards is 2 hours. The North Smithfield Virtual Task Card Library will open starting today, September 2nd - September 11th and on every statewide PD day. To access the PD, please refer to the email sent out to the district on September 2nd.
Here are the topics and descriptions of the offerings: Virtual PD Catalog Building Relationships With Students Educators will explore the importance of building relationships with students and ways to help them build these relationships. Effective Co-Teaching Educators will explore the history behind co-teaching, the six models of co-teaching and reflect upon their own professional practices to share with their co-teacher. Cognitive Development Educators will learn Piaget's four stages of cognitive development, explore cognitive flexibility and create a lesson that implements various cognitive skills to meet the needs of all students. Classroom Management Educators will identify classroom management techniques specific to Elementary/Middle/High School to increase student engagement. CRT: The Impact of Identity- Coming Soon With this task card, participants will engage in differentiated exploration of identity and intersectionality. They will then explore strategies for building relationships with students across lines of difference. CRT: Community Building-Coming Soon Participants will investigate the impact of the classroom environment on learning. They will create an action plan that integrates strategies for building a classroom community that fosters the psychological and social safety necessary for reinforcing students’ academic identities. CRT: Establishing Partnerships- Coming Soon With this task card, participants will explore ways to build authentic connections with students in order to leverage those connections to access deep learning. They will learn strategies for giving feedback in emotionally intelligent ways, and establishing high standards for students through learning partnerships and alliances. Differentiation in Instruction Educators will identify and implement differentiated instruction strategies into an upcoming lesson. Effective Behavioral Feedback Educators will explain the role of positive:corrective ratios in behavioral feedback; use behavior-specific strategies for acknowledgement & correction; and write an action plan to integrate behavior-specific acknowledgement into instruction. Engagement Strategies & Tools for a Live Virtual Class Explore strategies and tools that will support engaging students during a live virtual class. Useful for teachers and anyone else leading a virtual class. Exploring Effective Educational Applications Successful technology integration is more than just getting the tools into the classroom; Educators should explore new educational technology tools and assess whether or not the tools will enhance or distract from instruction. *Padlet, Flipgrid and Quizlet Using Google Meet Learn how to use Google Meet to connect, collaborate and interact with your students and families. Grading and Feedback in Google Classroom This task card is designed to provide educators with effective strategies to provide feedback and grade assignments in google classroom. It is designed for grades K-12. Introduction to Pear Deck This task card is designed to introduce educators to Pear Deck and its many features. Teachers will learn how to turn Google slides into interactive learning opportunities for every student, every day, in every classroom, including a virtual one. Mastering Screencastify Educators will register for a screencastify account, install it as a plug-in on their device, and record, edit and share an introductory video for students. Screencastify for Math Instruction Educators will explore the math tool, Whiteboard Fox, and integrate screencastify. Educators will use this tool to introduce new math concepts through demonstration by recording a narrated video. *Educators should complete "Mastering Screencastify" before engaging with this task card. Multilingual Learner Strategies This task card is intended for teachers who have not yet completed or who are currently enrolled in an ESL certification program. It covers language acquisition theories, strategies, lesson planning, and assessment as it relates to multilingual learners. Planning Learning Scaffolds for Differently Abled Students Educators will explore the Zone of Proximal Development and incorporate scaffolding in order to create or enhance their lesson plan to include differentiation for all students. Utilizing Google Classroom Educators will be able to create a new google classroom, change the theme, invite their students and create, upload and assign a variety of tasks for students. Teachers will submit a screenshot of their course page and assignment. Strategies for Student Interaction Educators will articulate the importance of student interaction for learning, define the characteristics of meaningful student interaction, implement scaffolds for student interaction, and integrate an activity for meaningful student interaction into an upcoming lesson plan. Scaffolds to Accelerate Learning Participants will create an analysis of needs based on their incoming students and explore instructional strategies to accelerate student learning as a means to mitigate contributing factors to student loss. Utilizing Google Forms for Formative Assessment Use this task card to create a GoogleForm for the purpose of formative assessment. This task card is designed to support educators with creating forms with questions that will allow a quiz to auto-grade. This form is intended for beginners. Virtual Learning Supports: Evaluating Virtual Tools- Coming Soon Using this task card, participants will gain knowledge about the 4 C’s of 21st Century Skills, and how to evaluate virtual tools that best align with those skills. They will examine a variety of online tools to ensure they are selecting those that best support the needs of our students. Social Emotional Learning: Trauma Informed Supports & Distance Learning - Coming Soon Educators will learn how trauma affects learning and commit to supports they will use to mitigate the effects of trauma, specifically in the context of distance learning. Social Emotional Learning: Standards & Strategies- Coming Soon Educators will learn about Rhode Island's social emotional learning (SEL) standards and commit to strategies they can use to promote student development of these standards. Virtual Learning Supports: Lesson Planning in a Virtual Space- Coming Soon Using this task card, participants will explore how to effectively plan in a virtual space. They will explore how to digitally organize, adapt traditional lesson plans, and communicate unique systems and structures for their individual classroom to support students. Virtual Learning Supports: Effective Virtual Feedback and Assessment- Coming Soon Using this task card participants will ask themselves an important question: how can your feedback support student mastery in a digital space? They will explore virtual assessment strategies, review what makes feedback effective, and practice providing feedback virtually. Last Fall Kim Scuito, Reading Specialist at NSES, facilitated a professional learning community about Culturally Responsive Teaching. The PLC/Book Study was based on Zaretta Hammond’s book: Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain. The group discussed what CRT is and isn't, the brain science to support this theory and ways that we can develop culturally responsive classrooms. Topics such as the Ready 4 Rigor Frame, a protocol for checking unconscious bias and discussions surrounding our own personal cultural frames from each level (Surface/Shallow/Deep) were shared. This PLC was insightful and powerful for all involved.
I am excited to share with you that with the help of the professional development advisory committee we have been able to bring this PLC to the entire district. All district teachers will receive a copy of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain written by Zaretta Hammond. The books have been ordered, delivered and are in teacher mailboxes in each school. The goal of this initiative is to introduce the concept of equity-minded teaching and learning: promoting a culture of validating students' identities and culture, engaging students in their academic work, and recognizing student capacity. The facilitated discussions will focus on the meaningful implementation of multiple teaching approaches. Faculty will be able to analyze their classroom data, disaggregated by race/ethnicity, and then make changes to their curriculum and teaching practices using a culturally responsive teaching and learning (CRTL) framework. This whole district professional development initiative will allow teachers to earn 4 PLUs for reading the book this summer, as well as, attain additional PLUs during our follow up facilitated discussions that will take place during district PD days. Registration is open and limited for the Achieving Excellence Together (For RI Teachers, By RI Teachers) Conference. Tickets are $30 and this includes breakfast and lunch. This is a great opportunity to collaborate with other RI educators and earn PD/PLU credits.
Dear Teachers,
Below is an opportunity that has been forwarded to me from the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington . If you are interested, the application is open until February 3rd. See details below. -Clare Dear Teachers, My department at Mount Vernon hosts 6 week-long summer PD institutes for K-12 teachers about George Washington and the world he lived in. Each week is a different theme (see attached flyer or www.mountvernon.org/summerresidentials for more details). We accept all teachers – not just history teachers – who can demonstrate that they use George Washington/the world he lived in in their curriculum. We’ve had history teachers, ELA teachers, reading specialists, art teachers, media specialists, science teachers, culinary arts teachers, etc. attend the program. Our application deadline was January 13, but we have specific funding for Rhode Island teachers and are looking for a few more applicants. We’re leaving the application open until February 3 at midnight. We are not posting the application link publicly on the website but interested teachers can find the application here: https://mountvernon-teachers.embark.com/apply/summer2020. Questions can be sent to GWTI@mountvernon.org or to me at zjakub@mountvernon.org. Education frameworks are models for instruction that help instructors align standards with lesson activities, create positive attitudes and environments, and integrate assessment into learning. Frameworks serve as conceptual maps for implementation.
The foundation of North Smithfield Public Schools framework focus on Standards, Practices and Relationships. Standards:
Practices:
Relationships:
Educator Certification Renewal Information
RIDE announced in the December 21, 2018 Field Memo that new renewal requirements will go into effect beginning January 2020. These educators will be the first who will be required to earn Professional Learning Units (PLUs) for recertification. To this end, the following information outlines the responsibilities and supports for navigating this new renewal process: LEAs’ Responsibility Noted in RIDE’s PLU guidance document, in order for educators to earn PLUs, LEAs will approve professional learning activities which meet one or more of the following categories, Subject matter/content knowledge and skills; Pedagogical knowledge or pedagogical content knowledge and skills; Curriculum implementation knowledge and skills; Enhance educator effectiveness. To encourage cohesive systems of professional learning that support educators, the regulations also require that LEAs create professional learning plans (PL Plans). These plans will identify those local professional learning opportunities offered to educators, in addition to the LEA’s PLU approval process. Educators’ Responsibility While each LEA will support professional learning opportunities at their level, every educator is required to keep track of their own PLUs, both the activities offered within and outside of the LEA. RIDE has provided a sample PLU tracker, both in Word and Excel versions, for educators to use, if one has not already been provided by the LEA (e.g. the Frontline Professional Growth platform). This tracker, at a minimum, will provide a record of educators’ approved PLU activities for recertification, including information such as the professional learning provider, dates, description, and number of PLUs earned. If, over the course of an educator’s renewal period, an individual separates from their LEA or switches to another LEA, RIDE has also provided a process for verifying PLUs earned during time worked in the former LEA. This process includes the PLU Verification Form, which will be initiated by the educator. Overall Process We encourage all educators in RI to review the YouTube video which RIDE has created to explain the process for all educators who are up for renewal in 2020. An email to all educators up for renewal in 2020 will be sent from the eCert system to notify them whether or not PLUs will be required based on the status of the individual’s work history. In addition, there is an updated Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document which addresses common questions we have received regarding these new certification regulations. For questions regarding certification, please email eqac@ride.ri.gov. For specific questions regarding professional learning, please email pl@ride.ri.gov. |
Clare Arnold, Assistant Superintendent
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