Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment

AI: Challenges and Opportunities

Middle school students are on the cutting edge of technology. As early adopters, they need to develop a solid understanding of AI’s potential opportunities as well as its limitations and ethical concerns. We’ll work with school teams to share the challenges and opportunities and provide a support framework for schools to consider when creating policy. We’ll also share some ready-made resources for use in the classroom to address common assessment concerns. To quote an IBM study: “AI won’t replace people, but people who use AI will replace people who don’t.”

Boredom Busters

Sometimes we have the perfect activity to support a lesson. And sometimes…we don’t. What do we do when our lesson plan just reads, “page 147”? Boredom Busters are low- or no-prep activities that transform our ordinary worksheets and lectures into novel, exciting, engaging learning experiences, perfect for any grade level or content area. Curious? Your students will be too. And they’ll want to come back for more tomorrow.

Career Exploration

More than asking, “What do you want to be when you grow up,” career exploration is a discovery of passions, strengths, and potential. Leveraging the ASA and AMLE Career Exploration Playbook, and a collaboration with Canva, we’ll take a look at what’s possible, share a road map for success, and explore how to optimize programming for our pioneering thinkers! There are careers out there that don’t yet exist!

Digital Literacy in the 21st Century

Join us on a transformative journey into the digital landscape with our professional development session on 21st Century Digital Literacy, designed for middle school teachers and administrators. Dive into cutting-edge strategies for cultivating critical digital skills in students, from navigating online information to fostering responsible digital citizenship. This dynamic workshop combines hands-on activities and collaborative discussions, providing participants with practical tools to integrate digital literacy seamlessly into their curriculum. Equip yourself to navigate the ever-evolving digital terrain, ensuring your students thrive as informed, empowered digital citizens in the 21st century.

Executive Functioning Skills in the Classroom

Typically moving from a one-classroom homeroom in elementary school to five-seven classrooms a day, middle schoolers need to learn the skill of transitioning from one place and set of expectations to another very rapidly. Executive functioning skills are one of the top challenges for new middle schoolers. Utilizing proven mindfulness and habit-building techniques, we’ll share skills and strategies that teachers can use to support students who are building those new middle school muscles.

Flipped Classrooms

Discover the power of the Flipped Classroom model in a dynamic professional development session tailored for middle school teachers and administrators. Uncover the art of crafting engaging pre-recorded lessons, master in-class activities that reinforce learning, and harness technology to create personalized educational experiences. This hands-on workshop fosters collaboration and equips educators with practical strategies to implement a customized Flipped Classroom approach, revolutionizing their teaching and student outcomes. Transform your classroom dynamics with this essential training, blending innovation with real-world application.

Formative Assessment

Formative assessment promotes active student engagement and self-reflection through metacognitive skills. Students and teachers work together proactively, rather than reactively, to support students’ mastery of learning targets while helping teachers make informed and timely instructional decisions. Leveraging research and providing resources, we’ll work with administrators and teachers to help differentiate instruction, identify learning gaps, and achieve learning goal.

Fostering a Positive Brain State for Learning

We may have planned a highly-engaging lesson that spans bell-to-bell with expert strategies, but if our students enter our classrooms emotionally escalated—or practically asleep—they’re not likely to learn much of anything. Leveraging educational neuroscience, we’ll equip teachers with practical steps they can take to foster a positive brain state for learning so students are ready to receive that expert instruction.

Frustration Busters

Feeling frustrated? The steady drip of forgotten pencils, classroom disruptions, and circumstances beyond our control can chip away at our resolve, creating a chasm between our love of teaching and our ability to continue happily in our chosen profession. Even more, frustrated teachers pass their stress on to students, who can experience academic losses and instability from high teacher turnover. Frustration Busters help teachers identify the source of frustrations, learn how to tackle them when they arise, and implement practical ideas that will help prevent them from occurring in the first place.

Multiple Means of Instruction: Reaching all Learners

This dynamic workshop, tailored for educators and administrators, explores the principles of UDL and practical strategies for creating inclusive classrooms. Delve into the art of designing instruction that caters to diverse learning styles, abilities, and preferences. Gain insights on leveraging technology, varied instructional methods, and flexible assessments to ensure every student, regardless of their learning profile, can thrive. Join us for an engaging session that empowers you to create an educational environment where every learner has the opportunity to succeed.

Student Motivation

Let’s face it—not every student shows up to class eager to learn. Sometimes we see far more compliance than engagement…and sometimes, we don’t even get that. When students aren’t eager to learn—or downright refuse to even start—it can feel out of our hands. But there’s hope! Learn some of the common root causes of motivation issues and practical steps you can take to start to shift the tide toward participation—and even true engagement.

Student Choice & Agency

Middle school students are discovering who they are and how they navigate the world, and that includes how they function in our classrooms. Rather than being passive recipients of information, middle school students should be at the center of their learning experiences. But when we start talking about increasing student choice and agency, we have some concerns: How do we satisfy the demands of the curriculum and the pacing guide? Are we talking about creating an individual lesson plan for every student? And what happens when a student just wants us to tell them what to do? Unpack these challenges and come away empowered with real steps you can take, within your own teaching style and comfort zone, to start engaging students today.

Supporting SEL in the Classroom

SEL isn’t a curriculum or a lesson we teach once a week. It weaves in and out of every aspect of school. Learn ways to support SEL in the classroom in authentic, practical ways without sacrificing instructional time.