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This course delves into the psychology of bullying and the cultural climate that gives rise to such cruelty and aggression. The course takes a complex issue and synthesizes what is known into 8 simple, targeted “keys” that equip educators, professionals, and parents with practical strategies to tackle the issue of bullying head-on. -
This course will be dropped on June 30, 2024 All Learning is Social and Emotional (3 credits) EDCT 5788 Not every school has the time, resources, capacity, or conditions to implement a schoolwide SEL program. But prioritizing SEL need not take time from instruction. This course draws on the latest research and resources to offer individual teachers and teacher teams an accessible guide to incorporating SEL into everyday teaching in middle- and high- school classrooms. The course covers the following:- Building students' sense of identity and confidence in their ability to learn, overcome challenge, and influence the world around them.
- Helping students identify, describe, and regulate their emotional responses.
- Promoting the cognitive regulation skills critical to decision making and problem solving.
- Fostering students' social skills, including teamwork and sharing, and their ability to establish and repair relationships.
- Equipping students to becoming informed and involved citizens.
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This course outlines brain-based educational theories and techniques that can be used to transform classrooms and help children learn better. It presents experiential learning techniques that teachers can use to create an environment and enriched curriculum that take into account the needs of the developing child’s brain and allow both boys and girls to gain maximum learning opportunities, increase academic opportunities, and improve behavior. It provides the latest scientific research on the differences between boys’ and girls’ brains, neurological development, hormonal effects, behavior, and learning needs. Click Here to Buy Boys and Girls Learn Differently!: A Guide For Teachers and Parents Direct from the Publisher Click Here to Buy Reaching Boys, Teaching Boys: Strategies that Work and Why Direct from the Publisher Click Here to preview the Syllabus -
This course utilizes cutting-edge neuroscience research to guide teaching. -
As the pandemic recedes and the world gradually returns to “normal,” it’s more important than ever to make your classroom a place that supports mental health and improves overall wellness. In this course, you’ll discover the why and the how of using techniques to reduce stress, improve executive function, and set the stage for increased memory and attention, better self-regulation, and improved cognition and academic learning. With this practical, research-based course, you’ll incorporate age- and grade-appropriate meditation, breathing, mindfulness, and secular yoga activities into your teaching, in ways that work for in-person as well as virtual and hybrid settings. The course includes the following:- Adaptations for special populations, including those who have experienced trauma
- Recommendations for family involvement in social emotional learning
- Guidance on self-care for teachers and school staff
- Data from successfully implemented programs
- Dozens of illustrations, QR codes, and reflective questions
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This course is grounded in research, addressing the needs of trauma-affected students and their teachers. Fostering Resilient Learners will help you cultivate a trauma-sensitive learning environment for students across all content areas, grade levels, and educational settings. -
The combination of sustained hard work and resiliency, grit is the difference between those who give up and those who don’t. Grit in the Classroom assists educators in creating a learning environment that fosters grit development for all students, regardless of ability. In an era of talent development and the pursuit of excellence, learners must be equipped with the perseverance that is essential to reaching high levels of success. This course provides a rationale for cultivating grit in the classroom with the goal of propelling this topic into discussions of building passion and talent in today’s students. By explicitly teaching learners about brain plasticity and malleable intelligence (the idea that they can become functionally smarter through effort) and by modeling and teaching specific learning strategies, teachers can help students experience higher levels of success as they develop a growth mindset. Click Here to Buy Developing Growth Mindsets direct from the publisher Click Here to Buy Grit: The Passion and Power of Perseverence direct from Amazon Click Here to preview the course syllabus. -
Perhaps more now than at any other time in modern history, our students need a feeling of connectedness at school. They need to feel seen, heard, understood, and known in our classrooms. And it begins with us. As middle and high school teachers, we have the power to inspire a whole new level of engagement with the students in front of us. This course describes the positive student relationships that lies in our capacity to teach with vulnerability—to bring our authentic selves into the classroom. Failure is not only a possibility for learners during these challenging times, but a productive, concrete way of gaining ground. How can parents and educators teach kids to turn failure into progress toward success? Learn what to say and what not to say to truly help kids self-motivate and become independent, lifelong learners. Create a deeper understanding of how motivation works along with new, practical, research-driven strategies for spurring learners to thrive. Kids are bound to stumble and fall, but by capitalizing on knowledge and the latest research on motivation, we can equip them to stand up and move forward, pointing them on the route to success. Click Here to Buy Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight direct from the publisher Click Here to Buy The Power of Teaching Vulnerably direct from the publisher Click Here Here to preview the course syllabus. -
Based on the diverse experiences of LGBTQ students and their allies, this essential course brings together the major issues that schools must address to improve the educational outcomes for gender and sexual minority students—as well as all students. The course highlights how educators can make their schools more supportive of LGBTQ students’ positive development and academic success. It covers emerging practices such as creating an LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum, fostering a whole-school climate that is support of LGBTQ students; and initiating effective community outreach programs. Click Here to Buy Safe Is Not Enough: Better Schools for LGBTQ Students Direct from the Publisher Click Here to Buy LGBTQ Youth and Education: Policies and Practices (Second Edition) Direct from the Publisher Click Here to preview the Syllabus -
From the moment we enter school as children, we are made to feel as if our brains are fixed entities, capable of learning certain things and not others, influenced exclusively by genetics. This notion follows us into adulthood, where we tend to simply accept these established beliefs about our skillsets, such as we don’t have “a math brain” or we aren’t “the creative type”. These damaging—and as new science has revealed, false assumptions have influenced all of us at some time, affecting our confidence and willingness to try new things and limiting our choices, and, ultimately, our futures.
Limitless Mind explodes these myths and reveals the six keys to unlocking our boundless learning potential. Research proves that those who achieve at the highest levels do so not because of a genetic inclination toward any one skill, but because of specific keys explored in the course. Our brains are not “fixed,” but entirely capable of change, growth, adaptability, and rewiring. Want to be fluent in mathematics? Learn a foreign language? Play the guitar? Write a book? The truth is not only that anyone at any age can learn anything, but the act of learning itself fundamentally changes who we are.
Click Here to buy Limitless Mind direct from the publisher Click Here to preview the course syllabus. -
Designing educational experiences without knowledge of the brain is like designing a glove without knowledge of the hand. -
This course provides a much-needed comprehensive and blended view of both positive behavior management and self-empowerment that addresses behavior by allowing students to correct it among themselves. -
Practicing Presence through Mindfulness provides scientifically proven evidence and strategies for teachers and students to address behavior issues and improve executive functioning. Using breath, yoga, meditation exercises, and step-by-step sensation-, emotion-, and presence-based mindfulness activities to create compassionate learning environments. Educators will learn to become present in the classroom and promote compassionate self-regulation in the classroom.- Explore the theory behind mindful education, including the interrelated nature of physiology, cognition, emotions, and mindfulness for students.
- Learn how mindfulness in schools contributes to a positive mindset, alleviates the impact of toxic stress, and takes advantage of neuroplasticity.
- Understand the effects of trauma and ACEs (adverse childhood experiences) on student behavior and the ability to learn and discover trauma-informed practices that support healing.
- Acquire research-based mindfulness practices, including breathing exercises, yoga for the classroom, meditation for students, and cognitive reflection and awareness.
- Reignite the passion that first drew you to education and prioritize self-care for yourself and your students.
- Discover how to build a heart-centered learning community in classrooms and create mindful schools.
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Social Studies for a Better World (5 credits) Teaching social studies demands a deeper curriculum that questions inconsistencies of facts and opinions in various texts and images. This timely course offers opportunities for students to connect with social justice issues through inventive language exploration and the active examination of all forms of media. It encourages teachers to evaluate their core teaching beliefs and recognize the realities of their students’ lives for a richer understanding of our complex world. Young learners need to be prepared to develop solutions to entrenched and difficult issues such as systemic racism, environmental problems, political divisions and pandemics Click Here to Buy Social Studies for a Better World Direct from the Publisher Click Here to Buy Teaching Fairly in an Unfair World Direct from the Publisher Click Here to Download the Syllabus -
Based on the positive psychology of appreciative inquiry, this course builds on what is working with students to address what is not working. It provides a system of support that helps general education teachers partner with specialists and parents to learn new ways to enrich academic, social-emotional, and behavioral growth through structured conversations and a series of productive meetings of 30 minutes or less.
Using more than 25 video clips, the course walks you through the six basic steps of the appreciative inquiry problem-solving process:
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Connect with team members and stakeholders.
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Review the meeting focus/concern.
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Share a story that details when you successfully addressed the concern.
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Establish a goal using a concise "DATA" framework.
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Design an action plan.
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Commit to an action.
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***This course fulfills the Washington State OSPI Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Clock hour Continuing Education Requirement STEM Lesson Essentials provides all the tools and strategies you’ll need to design integrated, interdisciplinary STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) lessons and units that are relevant and exciting to students. The course provides clear definitions of both STEM and STEM literacy, including organizing and delivering instruction by weaving the four disciplines together in intentional ways. The engineering and technology practices can instead be blended into existing math and science lessons in ways that engage students and help them master twenty-first century skills. The course provides five guiding principles for effective STEM instruction, classroom examples of what these principles look like in action, sample activities that put all four STEM fields into practice, and lesson planning templates for STEM units. Click Here to buy the book STEM Lesson Essentials direct from the publisher. Click Here to preview the syllabus. -
This course explains why some boys struggle in school, and how educators can effectively intervene without jeopardizing the achievements of other, more successful learners of both genders. Drawing from large-scale studies, contemporary insights on social and learning-style factors, lesson plans, and anecdotes from real teachers, the course equips educators with a flexible and practical framework for addressing the needs of struggling male students. The course focuses on the following: replacing underachieving boys’ negative attitudes about learning; reconnecting boys to school, learning, and believing in being a competent learner; rebuilding learning skills that lead to success in school and in life; and reducing the need for unproductive and distracting behaviors as a means of self-protection. The author provides solutions that focus on academic success, contribute to positive school experience, enhance competence and persistence, and arranging the classroom to enhance success. Click Here to download the course syllabus. What educators are saying about Teaching Boys: Teaching Boys Who Struggle in School has given me insight into specific ways I can reach those boys who struggle in school. this book has also given me hope that i can make a difference in the life of boys who struggle, and empower them to take ownership of their learning and be successful.~~Cindy S. Teaching Boys was truly life-changing for me. I gained so much insight into the area of why boys struggle in school and I learned why this is such a critical area for me as a teacher to address. I also gained hope that there are many specific ways I can help my boys who are struggling. I don't have to just help them "survive" school. Instead, I can actually help them to "thrive" in school. I will be a better teacher because of what I learned i this book and by applying the strategies to my unique classroom and school setting.~~Nancie S. -
This course provides a critical resource for today’s students about humanity’s responsibility for the Earth. To confront the climate crisis, we need to think differently, build differently, and teach differently. This course provides classroom-friendly readings on climate change, energy, water, food, and pollution, as well as people who are working to make things better. At a time when it’s become increasingly obvious that life on Earth is at-risk, this course provides a valuable resource to help students see what’s wrong and imagine viable solutions. Rather than dwell in powerlessness, this course enables students and educators to respond proactively. Click Here to Buy A People's Curriculum for the Earth Direct from the Publisher Click Here to preview the Syllabus -
Teaching Climate Change to Adolescents Nearly one-third of the secondary science standards relate to climate science, but teachers need design and implementation support to create empowering learning experiences centered around the climate crisis. Teaching Climate Change to Adolescents is THE essential resource for middle and high school teachers to help their students understand and address the urgent issues and challenges facing life on Earth today. Classroom activities have been written and used by teachers and show students posing questions, engaging in argumentative reading, writing, and critical analysis, interpreting portrayals of climate change in literature and media, and adopting advocacy stances to promote change. The course illustrates climate change fitting into existing courses. Click Here to Buy Teaching Climate Change to Adolescents direct from the publisher. Click Here to Buy Teaching Climate Change to Grades 6-12 direct from the publisher. Click Here to preview the course syllabus. -
Teaching for Black Lives: Creating Meaningful Race Conversations in the Classroom (5 Credits) EDCT 5759 This course prepares educators to initiate and facilitate meaningful, productive dialogues about race in the classroom. It provides practical strategies to engage with students. Educators will learn the following:- How to recognize the difference between meaningful and inconsequential race conversations
- How to build conversational “safe spaces,” not merely declare them
- How to infuse race conversations with urgency and purpose
- Ho to thrive in the face of unexpected challenges
- How to administrators might equip teachers to thoughtfully engage in these conversations
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This timely course reveals the kinds of teaching that engages girls intellectually, fosters their creativity, and bolsters their confidence. Drawing on descriptions of great lessons written by nearly 2,000 students and teachers, it offers a practical, accessible guide to anyone who wants to find better ways to help young women succeed. With a specific focus on mathematics, the course provides a better understanding of gender biases related to mathematics and improve girls’ education through the following:- Environmental barriers and gender stereotypes that create gender differences in mathematics performance and prevent many girls from learning mathematics at high levels.
- How to foster a safe learning environment that encourages girls to take risks when they learn math.
- A focus on the mathematics gender achievement gap through three lenses: (1) perceptions, (2) possibilities, and (3) priorities.
- Applying the tasks, questions, and evidence (TQE) process to successfully plan and implement inclusive lessons that engage all
- Short videos of girls engaging meaningfully in mathematics learning.
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This course takes an in-depth look at how poverty hurts children, families, and communities across the United States. -
With dysregulation and neurodevelopmental diagnoses on the rise, classrooms are more diverse than ever. Despite efforts to support each student’s needs and sensitivities, educators are often left frustrated and unsupported when strategies for managing all kinds of behaviors, from anxiety to acting out, prove ineffective, short-lived, or even detrimental to the students’ and teachers’ happiness and progress. Through a reflective lens, this course equips teachers and support staff to help all students thrive by identifying and fostering each teacher’s and child’s individual differences and unique strengths. This course helps teachers - Build confidence in identifying and addressing behaviors in order to support student growth and brain development - Learn about an interdisciplinary approach that combines education, occupational therapy, and psychology to better understand and navigate brain-based regulation, relationships, and behaviors in the classroom - Use relevant research, illustrations, and strategies for reflective and experiential moments - Discover strategies to facilitate co-regulation, establish positive classroom relationships, address sensory needs, communicate with parents, and practice self-care Click Here to Buy The "Why" Behind Classroom Behaviors direct from the publisher Click Here to preview the course syllabus. -
This is a solutions-based course that shows how to organize and structure a classroom to create a safe and positive environment for student learning and achievement to take place. It offers 50 procedures that can be applied, changed, adapted, and incorporated into any classroom management plan. Each procedure is presented with a consistent format that breaks it down and tells how to teach it and what the outcome of teaching it will be. While the work and preparation behind a well-managed classroom is rarely observed, the dividends are evident in a classroom that is less stressful for all and one that hums with learning. Click Here to Buy THE Classroom Management Book and elearning course direct from the publisher Click Here to preview the course syllabus. -
“Please, try harder.” “Please, pay attention.” “Please, behave.” Most students want to do what it takes to succeed, but sometimes that’s easier said than done. Executive function skills such as self-regulation, focus, planning, and time management must be taught, and they take practice. When you work on them in class, you give students the tools they need to not only learn but also monitor themselves. Teaching executive function skills in your classroom doesn’t have to be difficult. This unique course—designed with busy teachers in mind—introduces a flexible seven-step model that incorporates Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles and the use of metacognition. Features include:- Descriptions of each skill and its impact on learning
- Examples of instructional steps to assist students as they set goals and work to achieve success.
- Strategies coded by competency and age/grade level
- Authentic snapshots and “think about” sections
- Templates for personalized goal-setting, data collection, and success plans
- Accompanying strategy cards
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Schools exist for one reason only--for students to learn and achieve. The effectiveness of the teacher is the single greatest effect on student learning and achievement. This course uses the most requested book for what works in the classroom for teacher and student success. It s an education staple for preparing effective teachers at all grade levels, pre-K through college, in all content areas. With the release of the 5th edition, it s now bigger, better, and bolder. The book walks a teacher, either novice or veteran, through structuring and organizing a classroom for success that can be applied at any time of the year. THE First Days of School includes a 54-minute DVD, You Have Changed My Life, with accomplished actor and singer William Martinez. Through story, song, and American Sign Language, he shares the transformational moment when a teacher realized his potential. His story affirms that teachers ARE the difference in the lives of their students. We are excited to partner with Wong Publishing to provide this course! Click Here to buy THE First Days of School Direct from the Publisher Click Here to preview the course syllabus -
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When school staff understand the role of the nervous system in learning, they can better help students develop the skills leading to increased resilience, adaptability, and flexibility: essential qualities for social, emotional, and academic success. This course is an invitation to teachers to improve the learning in their classrooms, one student at a time, using practical, evidence-based strategies. The course unpacks the science and shows how talents can compensate for neural processing issues and suggests small but powerful adjustments to classroom practice that can allow kids’ gifts to emerge. Click Here to Buy The Polyvagal Path to Joyful Learning direct from the publisher Click Here to Buy Teaching to Every Kid’s Potential direct from the publisher Click Here to preview the course syllabus. -
This thought-provoking course looks at the power and promise of the teenage brain from an empathetic, strength-based perspective, and describes what middle and high school educators can do to make the most of their students' potential. Thoroughly grounded in current neurological research, the course explains what we know about how the adolescent brain works and proposes eight essential instructional elements that will help students develop the ability to think, make healthy choices, regulate their emotions, handle social conflict, consolidate their identities, and learn enough about the world to move into adulthood with dignity and grace. It includes a bold redesign of educational practices and learning environments to deliberately develop teens' cognitive capacity to manage their emotions, plan, prioritize, and focus on practical strategies and real-life Click Here to buy Power of the Adolescent Brain direct from the publisher. Click Here to buy Attack of the Adolescent Brain direct from the publisher. Click Here to preview the course syllabus. -
Fully half the students in U.S. schools have experienced trauma, violence, or chronic stress. In the face of this epidemic, it falls increasingly to teachers to provide the adult support these students need to function in school. But most educators have received little training to prepare them for this role. It is time for educational institutions and those who work within them to change their approaches and responses to traumatic symptoms that manifest in students in schools and colleges. These changes can alter how and what we teach, how we train teachers, how we structure our calendars and create our schedules, how we address student behavior and disciplinary issues, and how we design our physical space. This course describes the effects of trauma on body and mind, and how to recognize them in students' behavior. It introduces the trauma-sensitive practices implemented in schools, connects the relationship between mindfulness, compassion, and resilience. Click Here to buy The Trauma Sensitive Classroom Direct from the Publisher Click Here to buy Trauma Doesn't Stop at the School Door Direct from the Publisher Click Here to preview the course syllabus -
This course untangles scientific fact from pedagogical fiction, debunking dozens of widely held beliefs about the brain that have made their way into the education literature. In ten central themes on topics ranging from brain structure to classroom environments, the course traces the origins of common neuromyths—from categorizing individuals as "right-brained" or "left-brained" to prevailing beliefs about multitasking or the effects of video games—and corrects the record with the most current state of knowledge. Combining neuroscience research, educators learn to create equitable and inclusive classrooms through the following:- Establish a school culture that champions equity and inclusion.
- Rethink the long-standing structure of least restrictive environment and the resulting service delivery.
- Leverage the strengths of all educators to provide appropriate support and challenge.
- Collaborate on the delivery of instruction and intervention.
- Honor the aspirations of each student and plan accordingly.
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This course will take you to the next level of trauma-invested practice. Educators need to build a "nest"—a positive learning environment shaped by three new Rs of education: relationship, responsibility, and regulation. In this course, you will be able to:- Explain how to create a culture of safety in which everyone feels valued, important, and capable of learning.
- Describe the four areas of need—emotional, relational, physical, and control—that drive student behaviors and show how to meet these needs with interventions framed around the new three Rs.
- Illustrate trauma-invested practices in action through real scenarios that identify students' unmet needs, examine the situation from five stakeholder perspectives, and suggest interventions to support students and their families.
- Offer opportunities to challenge your beliefs and develop deeper and different ways of thinking about your role in your students' lives.
- Examine language habits and intentionally improve classroom practice so language matches and supports goals.
