Independent Study Courses For Education Professionals


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Courses

NEW! Peace in Our Lives, School, and World (To Register)

Explore what it means to create a peaceful classroom and how to incorporate activities that promote peace, all with the goal of creating a safe social and emotional learning environment.

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KIDS & SOCIAL MEDIA: CONCERNS & BEST USES (To Register)

Learn about the positives and negative of social media, how it affects our students, how to keep our students, safe, and how to advise parents and students on social media usage.

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STUDENTS LEARN BETTER WITH FLIPPED LESSONS (To Register)

Think of a lesson that you currently teach – perhaps it’s fractions, structuring complex sentences, Spanish, healthy eating, anything….. Imagine having students learn the basics of the lesson at home – with video or animation that they can re-watch as many times as necessary until they grasp the concepts. Then classroom time can be spent expanding the lesson and digging deeper into the concept, or helping students in the specific areas where they need help to master the lesson, or complete what was once called “homework.” This is how flipping works – either a lesson or an entire curriculum – and is taking the K-12 world by storm.

Flipping offers numerous benefits for students and teachers – it allows students to learn at their own pace, helps solve the issues of incomplete homework and absent students, helps teachers work with students alone/pairs/groups to meet the many differing needs of our students, allows the classroom time to be used for exploring concepts deeper and more fully.

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GENERATION Z: UNDERSTANDING & TEACHING THE KIDS IN OUR CLASSROOMS (To Register)

Who is this new generation in our classrooms? Generation Z is comprised of those students born 1995 or thereabouts – they’ve never known a world without the Internet or cellphones. They are enmeshed with social media and have been criticized for having little to no social skills. Yet they are the future and have a lot of positive attributes to offer, but first, we need to teach them in our classrooms in a manner that will lead to their success.

In this course you will learn about Generation Z, how to best meet their unique learning needs, how to engage them in the classroom, as well as learn from them – about what they think, where they’re going, how they’ll change the world. This course is applicable to all content areas and all school personnel, K-12.

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STEM LESSONS FOR GRADES K-8 TEACHERS (To Register)

In this course, you will learn how to incorporate STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) into your lessons, and why the integration of STEM is important to students and their future careers. Your students will become engaged in learning the many occupations available that incorporate STEM components, and how that translates into greater opportunities for professional growth and future learning. You will find yourself engaged in learning how to create great STEM lessons for your classroom through the use of rich resources, creative activities and the use of templates that will enhance students learning and confidence. Participants will view the popular movie The Martian, which is a rich resource for STEM activities. All reading is online. This course fulfills OSPI requirements for Washington State teachers needing STEM hours, and is appropriate for teachers K-8.

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HELPING STUDENTS OVERCOME ANXIETY IN THE CLASSROOM (To Register)

Student anxiety is rising at alarming rates, starting in kindergarten with anxiety levels continuing to rise as our students progress through their elementary, middle, and high school years. What can teachers and school personnel do to help these students? In this course, you will learn how to recognize students with excessive anxiety, learn the difference between occasional anxiety v. a chronic anxiety disorder, learn how to talk with parents about your concerns, and most importantly, learn tools and strategies to help students manage their anxieties and succeed in school.

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READ FOR PLEASURE & INSPIRATION: Fire Up Your Life & Work (To Register)

How often as professionals do we get to simply read for pleasure and inspiration in ways that enrich our lives and our work? In this course for all teachers K-12, you may select from a wide range of reading lists, such as Goodreads, NY Times Best Sellers, Bill Gates Reading List—and many more, to choose the book(s) that suit your personal and professional needs.

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THE WELL-BALANCED TEACHER: Stay Sane In & Out of the Classroom (To Register)

Feel stressed? Feel as if there is not enough time in the day? Feel as if you always put yourself last? In this course, you will learn how to balance your life so that you can feel more positive about yourself and teaching, feel better both physically and mentally, determine your non-negotiables, what to “let go” of, and how to have a mindset of self-efficacy.

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READING STRATEGIES FOR ALL CONTENT AREAS (To Register)

You don’t have to become a reading teacher to give your students a few reading strategies which will boost their confidence and ability to engage the material. The text has an extensive list of easy-to-use strategies which many teachers already employ. You will be amazed how easy it is to provide a few tips your students can easily work with to improve their reading comprehension.

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MATHEMATICAL MINDSETS: Every Student Can Do Math (To Register)

Create a mathematics classroom atmosphere where students no longer fear math, no longer have anxiety about math, and no longer think they are simply just not good at math. You will learn how to create a math classroom where students experience mathematics though a positive growth mindset method. Teachers will learn to create mathematical tasks, assessments, and feedback that encourage student growth, understanding, and joy as their students master mathematical ideas and concepts.

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WHEN TEACHING GETS TOUGH: Smart Ways to Reclaim Your Game (To Register)

As a teacher do you ever feel overwhelmed? Burned-out? Do you feel as if you can’t get through to some students? That you lack administrative support? This course offers practical strategies teachers can use to make things better right away. The text offers specific and distinct examples and strategies for addressing a plethora of difficult situations.

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HANDS-ON MATH Math: Real World Applications (To Register)

“When are we ever gonna use this?” is a question often asked by math students. This happens because skills are so frequently taught in isolation from their application. By participating in hands-on math activities, our students learn the connection between what is taught in the classroom and the real world. This course offers something for all teachers K-12; whether they are specialized math teachers at the high school level or elementary teachers who do it all.

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TEACHING NUMERACY: Habits to Ignite Math Thinking (To Register)

This course outlines nine critical thinking habits that foster numeracy and details practical ways to incorporate these habits into your instruction. Included in each habit is an application section with multiple ideas and methods to incorporate numeracy into your classroom. (Common Core & NCTM Standards are incorporated.)

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