Our country's diversity and demographics have changed what our classrooms look like. We all encounter students that have limited English, and we need to differentiate instruction to meet their needs. In order to achieve academic success, this population needs to make linguistic gains in order to begin to master course content. Participants will work with evidence-based practices and instructional intervention strategies to improve language skills for this population.

This course will deeply analyze and develop strategies for improving classroom management. All strategies are evidence- based and will help teachers improve their management of physical space, instruction, routine development, correcting behavior and issuing consequences. Teachers will develop proactive strategies that will improve student learning outcomes and behavioral outcomes. This course is appropriate for all K-12 teachers and assistants.

Research shows that up to 25 percent of all students in a school have experienced some form of trauma. This percentage rises to 80 percent when we talk about special education students. This trauma results in difficulties regulating behaviors and likely leads to cognitive and executive function difficulties. Many students are unable to regulate internal behaviors and as a result display withdrawal, shutting down and zoning out. Educators will examine the impact of trauma on cognitive and emotional growth, the learning challenges that result from trauma, and trauma-informed classroom strategies.

There are between 15 and 20 million American children living in poverty today. Poverty impacts performance in class, as well as the ability to prepare for learning at home. For educators to overcome the devastating impact poverty has on learning, they must first understand the relationship between academic achievement and socioeconomic status. Educators will gain strategies and tools to assist and meet the needs of impoverished youth.

The use of social media allows us to extend outside of the classroom. Twenty-first century learners need to be media-literate, that means knowing the power the internet holds and creating your digital legacy. "This is the You Tube generation and the reality is that many of our students are unconcerned about the dangers of sharing personal information online," writes Bull Goble. The heaviest users of online tools are our youngest students. We will learn everything we need to know about TikTok and do a fun experiment as well! We have the job of embracing this type of learning and embedding social media into classroom lessons. By exploring Podcasting, Skype, Snap Chat, Twitter, You Tube, Instagram and Facebook, we will find numerous ways that these technologies are being used successfully in 21st Century classrooms.

In this online course, we will examine our teaching practice and determine how what we teach translates into student success in the classroom. We will look at embracing peer collaboration when planning and implementing high performance learning teams. Transformational teaching focuses on having students ask questions and solve real-world problems. We will explore ways students analyze, synthesize, create, empathize, interpret, use background knowledge and defend alternative perspectives. We will look at lesson plans and how we can implement various strategies including organizing learning groups, guiding, facilitating and challenging learners. It is imperative that our teaching has a clear purpose, a memorable beginning and end, a logical sequence, relevant content, nimble transitions and a contagious passion. Combined, these characteristics will create an environment conducive to learning.

This online course is designed to help educators guide their students through the rules and potential implications of social media and technology. We will delineate appropriate ways to use technology and share strategies in the classroom. We will examine the 9 Keys to Use of Social Media and Technology (Proactive Knowledge) and how to teach these strategies to students. We will create posters, share lesson plans and explore various scenarios and how to respond to each one. We will be accessing two different tool kits using the Common Sense Media website that will help shape our lessons and will share free resources for our schools and districts. We will customize this information and create a comprehensive classroom plan.

This course is a resource for teachers and other professionals that provide instruction both in whole class and small group setting for students with ADHD/ADD. Exploration of current research and best practices will be shared as well as researched based intervention techniques for both academic and behavioral challenges. We will look closely at the website ADDitude and use the resources on this site to create a teacher guide: outlining strategies to lead students to success. Differentiation, Multiple Intelligences, and the setting of long- and short-term goals will be a focus for the lesson planning ideas. The teacher/parent connection will be established as a support system for the student. Strategies such as cooperative learning, organizational skills, and graphic organizers will be shared and applied to various grade levels. We will look at classes and ideas that have worked through case studies and teacher testimony. All will be shared and evaluated at the end of the course.

Every teacher across the country deals with some form of a problem behavior in the classroom. This course will present strategies for preventing these behaviors and responding to them. Participants will develop the capacity to provide a caring, energetic and safe classroom atmosphere where all students are encouraged and engaged. Participants will also examine methods for adapting instruction to prevent behaviors before they occur.

The workplace and higher education settings that we are preparing our students for is much different than what we as their teachers encountered coming out of high school 10, 20, or 30 years ago. The evolution of technology, collaboration and communication methods has rewritten what it means to be college- and career-ready in this century. Teachers in this course will look at methods and strategies for increasing the number of 21st Century workplace and college skills in their classrooms. Areas of exploration will include Project-Based Learning (PBL), the Flipped Classroom, Blended Learning and Digital Collaboration and Sharing. This course is appropriate for all K-12 educators.

This course will explore the theory behind all of the hardware and technology tools that we use in our classrooms. How and why are we using them and how are they being used as a resource while not taking over the lesson objectives? Educational technology involves applying ideas from various sources to create the best learning environments possible for students. "Educational technologists ask questions such as how a classroom might change or adapt when a computer is integrated into the curriculum. This integration means that the curriculum and setting may also need to change to meet the opportunities that the technology may offer." We will examine several different stages of technology adoption, and review traditional roles that technology has served in the classroom. We will examine what a classroom might be like when attention is given to educational technology. This is where we will look closely at classrooms that are successfully using technology as a part of their curriculum. We will try to present ways in which educational technology may be useful to teachers given current classroom conditions as well as how it might influence the course that many schools may chart in the future. We will also find tips, strategies, tools, and other resources to help new teachers successfully integrate technology to facilitate educational objectives in the classroom. We will come away with a deeper understanding of how and why we use tools like Dreambox, Quizlet and Kahoot.