Education Commons^™

Academic Vocabulary Strategies, Ginger Black, Lashay Conley, Shamona Fernanders, Katrissa Fisher

Instructional Modules for Professional learning Responding to Opportunities and Valuing Educators (IMPROVE)

This module will provide K-12 educators, in various content areas, with research-based academic vocabulary strategies that can be used to inform their instructional practices. The module explains the term academic vocabulary in depth and addresses the importance of students being able to read, interpret, and analyze vocabulary in context. After viewing several research-based strategies, the module will provide educators with tools to plan for and assess the implementation of the vocabulary strategies.

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Mentoring Relationships, Tori Hill, Lori Nanney, Kimberly Perry, Amanda Edwards Whatley

Instructional Modules for Professional learning Responding to Opportunities and Valuing Educators (IMPROVE)

The purpose of this module is to establish a framework for successful mentoring practices in order to enhance the teaching and learning process. The module addresses the importance of the Four Pillars as a framework for building successful mentor/mentee relationships. The framework pillars are identified as pedagogical competencies,relationship building, reflection, and administrative support. Each pillar is defined with research provided to support the importance of each as a foundational element of successful mentor/mentee relationships. Additionally the module provides reflection activities and additional resources for consideration and site-level implementation.

The learning module is intended for use by …

Active Learning Online, Natalie Bishop, Emily Robertson

Instructional Modules for Professional learning Responding to Opportunities and Valuing Educators (IMPROVE)

This module is designed to support instructors in engaging students by incorporating active learning strategies in the online learning environment.

Instructors will be presented with a series of online activities ranging from beginner to advanced in their implementation. Aligned with course content, each learning activity provides students an opportunity to apply higher order thinking and 21st century skills.

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Teachers As Leaders: ​Action Research In The Classroom, Teresa Lester, Stephanie Mccabe

Instructional Modules for Professional learning Responding to Opportunities and Valuing Educators (IMPROVE)

The purpose of this module is to explore means in which teacher leaders can utilize the process of action research to improve outcomes for students. Participants who utilize this module will learn the "habits of mind" --assessing performance, analyzing problems they encounter in the classroom, prescribing an intervention, monitoring performance, learning from experience (Sagor, 2000) --to continue the work of professional educators. Additionally, the use of action research as professional development assures teacher leaders and school administrations that their teachers will use new knowledge for the pursuit of effective strategies for student learning.

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Differentiated Instruction, Kelly Campbell, Tina Whitten, Karen Hester

Instructional Modules for Professional learning Responding to Opportunities and Valuing Educators (IMPROVE)

The purpose of this professional development module is to strengthen the understanding of differentiated instruction and strategies for implementation. After completing this professional development, teachers will be empowered to use research based differentiated instructional strategies to differentiate for all students in the classroom.

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What If I Can't Plc?, Lindsay Lee, Audrey Moore, Angela Szakasits, Cynthia Wortham

Instructional Modules for Professional learning Responding to Opportunities and Valuing Educators (IMPROVE)

The purpose of this learning module is to provide information for teachers and administrators to learn ways to overcome barriers to participate in PLCs. The goal of this learning module is to provide teachers and administrators with resources to employ facilitation skills, create trust among colleagues, develop collective wisdom, build ownership, and take action to support student learning.

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Don't Forget Your Parachute: Using The Ubd Framework To Guide Unit Planning, Angela Hines, Nicole Ludwa

Instructional Modules for Professional learning Responding to Opportunities and Valuing Educators (IMPROVE)

The audience for this module includes educators at all levels of all subject matters. This module is designed for educators interested in increasing student understanding and in creating more effective curricula and assessment through unit planning, beginning with the end in mind. Thinking about what to teach and how to teach it is a matter of habit, thinking about the learning outcomes leads to appropriate teaching and is how backwards planning works. Lessons should be created by the results sought, not the activities with which a teacher is most comfortable. Many times teachers are focused on the inputs rather than …