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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. -
This course focuses on the development and implementation of quality learning environments for children. -
How the Science of Reading Informs Teaching (5 credits) EDCT 5791Understanding the science of reading is more important than ever. This course draws on cutting-edge research in machine learning, linguistics, and early childhood development. The past two decades have brought giant leaps in our understanding of how the brain works. In this course, you will learn how children’s brains develop as they become readers and discover ways you can take concrete steps to promote this critical developmental passage.
Using a research-based framework of “brain words”—dictionaries in the brain where students store and automatically access sounds, spellings, and meanings—the course offers a wealth of information that will transform thinking and practice:- Reading and neurological circuitry, including evidence that spelling is at the core of the reading brain
- Tools to recognize what works, what doesn’t, and why
- Practical classroom activities for daily teaching and student assessment
- Insights about what brain research tells us about whole language and phonics-first movements
- Deepened understanding of dyslexia through the enhanced lens of brain science
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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. -
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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***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. -
By drawing on the latest research in neuroscience and child development, this course discusses how the young child’s brain not only craves play but also thrives on it. Through rich sensory experiences and playful exploration, children forge new neural pathways, laying a solid foundation for future learning and growth. The course contains tons of fly-on-the-wall films that illustrate the points and over 50 activities to utilize. Click Here to Buy The Brain That Loves to Play direct from the publisher Click Here to preview the course syllabus. -
The current emphasis on the body of research known as the "Science of Reading" has renewed the reading wars and raised challenging questions for balanced literacy teachers about the best way to teach reading. Instead of fueling the debate, this course organizes essential educational theory and effective instructional practices under a complete, layered intervention model. The course focuses on scientifically sound shifts reading teachers can make to strengthen their approach to early reading instruction. Click Here to Buy The Comprehensive Intervention Model direct from the publisher Click Here to Buy Shifting the Balance direct from the publisher Click Here to preview the course syllabus. -
This course assists administrators and teachers to implement differentiated instruction throughout their school. -
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 -
Built on a rigorous research base and to emphasize student diversity, equity, and inclusion, The New Classroom Instruction That Works provides a streamlined focus on the 14 instructional strategies proven to promote deep, meaningful, and lasting learning:- Cognitive interest cues
- Student goal setting and monitoring
- Vocabulary instruction
- Strategy instruction and modeling
- Visualizations and concrete examples
- High-level questions and student explanations
- Guided initial application with formative feedback
- Peer-assisted consolidation of learning
- Retrieval practice
- Spaced and mixed independent practice
- Targeted support
- Cognitive writing
- Guided investigations
- Structured problem solving
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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.
