COURSE DESCRIPTIONS - SEA 2021

Please choose one of the two tabs above, one for Participant Only courses and one for Train-the-Trainer courses. Make sure to scroll all the way down so you don’t miss any of the courses that we are offering, which we hope will suit your needs and time.

Participants will learn about and practice 10 research-based trauma-informed practices to boost student resilience. Participants will gain a deeper understanding of how adversity can impact children’s developing brains, bodies and behaviors. They will also explore universal primary prevention strategies that promote healing after various traumatic events.

The remote delivery format does not cover all AFT “Student Trauma” course content. Rather, this special edition offering is designed to be immediately applicable with attention to the global coronavirus pandemic, as well as renewed commitments to racial justice. Further, trainers are prepared to model best practices for remote learning and working conditions. Unlike the in-person content, the remote course is not modular; trainers and participants are expected to complete all five sessions in order. 

Target Audience: Mainstream educators with some to no experience with trauma-informed practices, as well as seasoned practitioners looking for a refresher on the specific science of healing after crisis events. This course is not designed to deepen the skill sets of specialized instructional support providers whose work includes secondary and tertiary prevention. This is not a train-the-trainer course. 

Dates: Monday/Wednesday/Friday, July 19-30

Times: 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. EDT

Certificate hours: 20

Trainers: Jim Arey, Kimberly Welch

Assignments/Homework:

• Pre-assignment
• Homework via eLearning for each session
• Optional Capstone review at course close

The pandemic and subsequent school closings and reopenings demonstrated the power, necessity, and presence of paraprofessionals and school support staff. In their roles, support staff are responsible for overseeing behavior and safety needs of large number of students beyond traditional classroom settings—cafeterias; school buses; offices; playgrounds; school corridors; and now, in virtual and physical spaces at the same time. What does this look like? What new or additional tools are needed to be successful in these roles?      

The MBSC-SS course will teach school-related personnel and paraprofessionals how to manage large groups of students, as well as challenging and disruptive students, in different settings—including virtual and hybrid spaces.

• Establish shared understanding of how and when to define, record and collect data on negative student behavior in multiple learning environments.
• Develop strategies to support prevention and intervention strategies for students with negative behaviors.
• Focus on behavior management skills for students in alternative and/or nontraditional settings.

Dates: July 26-30

Times: 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. EDT, half-hour lunch, two 15-minute breaks

Certificate hours: 30

Trainers: Fatima Whitaker, Claudia Morales

Assignments/Homework:

• Pre-reading
• Daily homework

A “new normal” is a state that one settles into after an experience that leaves conditions different from what preceded. Join SSS as we provide guidance and strategies to embrace the “new normal,” and prepare for the “new future,” in a way that enables the whole teacher and child to thrive. Explore from educator well-being to creative lesson designs for online and in-person instruction.

Pre-requisites: Online DEPD course must be completed by July 30; attend opening and roundtable on Friday, July 16, from 6 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. EDT

Dates: July 19, 21, 23, 26, 28, 30 

Times: 8 a.m. – noon (Eastern time) or 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. (Pacific time)

Please choose one of the two tabs above, one for Participant Only courses and one for Train-the-Trainer courses. Make sure to scroll all the way down so you don’t miss any of the courses that we are offering, which we hope will suit your needs and time.

This online course is a one-time prerequisite for those who will be AFT trainers, whether at the national or local level. Participants who have not taken this online course since 2018 will need to complete this required course. You can begin at any time (it is self-paced), but it must be completed before the end of the course you have registered for.

This course focuses on how children learn to read and the best ways to teach beginning reading from pre-K to the end of the primary grades. Because the course contains considerable information on how students develop basic decoding skills, it is also useful for teachers and support staff working with older students who are still having difficulty with decoding and fluency.

The course presents a synthesis of the research consensus for beginning reading instruction; and it provides the most effective instructional strategies—aligned to research that will help students develop phonological and phonemic awareness, knowledge of the alphabetic system, phonics/decoding skills, print awareness, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. The course content is closely aligned to the K-6 Reading Literature and the Reading Information Text strands, the K-5 Reading Foundational Skills substrand, and the Vocabulary Acquisition strand, and uses substrand of the K-6 Language Strand of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts.

Opportunities for reflection will be provided daily, and by the end of the course every participant will be expected to prepare and deliver a PD content-focused 20-minute practice presentation that reflects the educational and research criteria for Effective Presentation.  
 

Prerequisite: Online DEPD course must be completed by July 14

Dates: July 19-23

Times: 9 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. EDT, half-hour lunch, two breaks, and end at 3 p.m. with homework reading until 3:30 p.m.

Certificate hours: 36 

Trainers: Maria Bailey, Sarah Fulk, Katina Johnson

Presentations in fall 2021: September 18 (one full Saturday, six hours)

Are you looking for ways to assist your students in managing their emotions, building positive relationships with others and making responsible decisions? In this mini-course, participants will identify and share developmentally appropriate, research-based strategies that foster students’ social and emotional growth. In addition, we will examine best practices for creating and cultivating a positive beginning of the school year. This course is based on the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) framework.

Prerequisite: Online DEPD course must be completed by July 16

Dates: July 12-14 and 16 (Optional office hours July 15)

Times: 9 a.m.– noon EDT

Certificate hours: 15 

Trainers:Karen Palmerini, Debbie Wright

Assignments/Homework: two reflection options; asynchronous pre-post and homework assignments

Participants will examine research-based strategies and approaches to help English learners meet academic standards. Participants will gain a deeper understanding of how culture and language development affect instruction and learning.     

Prerequisite: Online DEPD course must be completed by July 19

Dates: July 19-23

Times: 10 a.m. – noon; 1 p.m.– 3 p.m. EDT

Certificate hours: 20 

Trainers: Areli Schermerhorn, Melissa Labossiere, Susan Lafond

Assignments/Homework: One hour of daily reading after instruction. Assignments will be posted in the SEA 2021 eLearning community for ELL 101. Each participant will be required to do a final presentation that models one of the content pieces of the training.

Foundations of Effective Teaching is a blended-model professional learning opportunity designed to inspire and support educators in becoming reflective practitioners while meeting the highest expectations of the profession.

Part 1 of this course consists of three modules: Transforming Your Teacher Identity, Creating Class Community, and Facilitating the Learning Environment. These elements combined promote a climate and culture where teacher and student identities are celebrated and affirmed; social emotional learning is intentionally planned for and integrated into the classroom ethos; and student agency is supported through thoughtful and equitable classroom management systems developed to provide the necessary structure and autonomy to help all students thrive.

Prerequisite: Online DEPD course must be completed by July 30

Date Options:

• Section A Dates: July 19-23, 26-28 and 30 (Optional office hours July 29)
• Section A Times: 9 a.m. – noon EDT
• Section A Trainers: Janet Bird, Glen Calhoun, Kimberly Skukalek, Danielle Troullier, Debbie Wright

• Section B Dates: July 26-30; August 2-4 and 6 (Optional office hours Aug. 5)
• Section B Times: 1 p.m. – 4 p.m. EDT
• Section B Trainers: Kathy Dorman, Janet Kujat, Karen Palmerini, Nadia Torney, Monico Vitela

Certificate Hours: 30

Assignments/Homework: Online Foundations course; two reflection options; asynchronous pre-post and homework assignments

This course is designed to provide participants with instructional strategies that meet the needs of all students at all grade levels. Emphasis will be placed on cognitive challenges and contextual circumstances that either support or impede learning. The implications of brain research and digital literacy will be central to the learning.

Prerequisite: Online DEPD course must be completed by July 30; attend opening on Friday, July 16, from 6 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. EDT

Dates: July 19, 21-23, 26, 28-30

Times: 8 a.m. – noon (EDT); 10 am. – 2 p.m. (PDT)

Certificate hours: 36 

MBSC provides educators and other school personnel with effective strategies for managing unwanted behavior across a variety of learning environments. Unlike any other time in public education, examining and exploring root causes of challenging and disruptive behaviors requires different skill sets: pedagogy grounded in trauma-informed and restorative practices, navigating physical and virtual environments, while straddling your own personal and professional demands and their influence across learning communities.

This course, formerly known as Managing Antisocial Behavior, is a train-the-trainer course ideally suited for past participants as well as local and national trainers who need updated material, or local affiliates who want to access content as a trainer-of-participant introduction to the course. .

Learning Objectives:

• Establish shared understanding of how to define, record and collect data on negative student behavior.
• Utilize research to establish the importance of trauma-informed practices as prevention and intervention tools.
• Facilitate understanding the role of bias, discipline disparities and race-neutral policies and their impact on diverse school communities.
• Examine the use of positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS), restorative practices, and de-escalation to foster healthy school climates.

Prerequisite: Online DEPD course must be completed by Aug. 6

Dates: Aug. 2-6

Times: 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. EDT, half-hour lunch, two 15- minute breaks

Certificate hours: 30 

Trainers: Staci Adams, Rachel Santos

Assignments/Homework:

• Pre-reading
• Daily Homework
• Practice Presentation

This train-the-trainer course is designed to help you understand the power of assessment and monitoring student growth to inform instruction. All teachers want to know where their students start, how they progress, and the results of the teaching and learning process. Diagnostic, formative and summative assessments each play a role in monitoring student learning. Throughout this course, we will talk about using a balanced assessment system in your classroom to support instructional decisions for optimal student success. 

Additionally, we will look at how assessment is important in helping students to take charge of their own learning. Finally, we will address the importance and power of culturally responsive pedagogy, curriculum and assessment to ensure students are engaged in authentic learning.  

Prerequisite: Online DEPD course must be completed by July 29

Dates: July 26-29 and Aug. 12

Times: 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. EDT, 1 hour lunch; (Aug 12 session 10 a.m. – noon EDT)

Certificate hours: 20 

Trainers: Amy Alsop, Colleen Callahan, Catherine Mannen, Deborah Tully

Assignments/Homework: Pre-work, homework and a final presentation are required.

A “new normal” is a state that one settles into after an experience that leaves conditions different from what preceded. Join SSS as we provide guidance and strategies to embrace the “new normal,” and prepare for the “new future,” in a way that enables the whole teacher and child to thrive.

Prerequisite: Online DEPD course must be completed by July 30; attend opening and roundtable on Friday, July 16, from 6 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. EDT

Dates: July 19, 21, 23, 26, 28, 30

Times: 8 a.m. – noon (Eastern time); 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. (Pacific time)

Certificate hours: 40 

Assignments/Homework:: Six hours homework; preparation for Flipgrid or recorded presentations

Course Modules

• Dimensions to a Better Life: This module will examine the dimensions that could negatively alter your life. Learn how to not only handle the effects of these dimensions but also the multiple facets of your own well-being.
• Navigating the Journey Between Stress and SEL: Failure to address your own social and emotional learning can lead to stress. Whether you are an adult, adolescent or young child, you learn from every experience both socially and academically. This module explores how to manage stress, but more importantly the social emotional aspects of life events and the lessons we can learn from them.
• Electrifying Online Teaching and Learning: It may be hard to imagine learning in a virtual space that is electrifying and engaging. But it can be done. The needs of the learner are the same and can be addressed in that space. Join AFT Strategies for Student Success trainers as they share exhilarating research-based techniques to amaze the audience and put the joy back in learning.
• The Game Factor: Explore an instructional design that works for both online and in-person instruction. Caution: We will talk about games, but this module will cover much more.
• Roundtables
  • Cultural Responsiveness; Inquiry; and Problem- and Project-Based Learning: A Pathway to Equity: Humanizing the curriculum may sound abstract, and it is. But you can humanize the curriculum by being culturally responsive. What does this mean? According to Gloria Ladson-Billings, cultural responsiveness is just good teaching. This roundtable will focus not only on the what, but also on the how as they relate specifically to research-based instructional strategies, which if extended to all students can create a pathway to equity in a way that multicultural, social justice approaches cannot achieve on their own.
  • The Mental and Emotional Health of Educators and Students: There is consensus that the COVID-19 pandemic has put a strain on the emotional health of educators and students alike. During this frank discussion, discover how to recognize the telltale sign; provide adequate support; and identify and rectify circumstances that can be altered to better support educators and students.

The Thinking Mathematics 3-5 course focuses not only on research findings about how children learn multiplication and division of whole numbers but also on the struggles students have with fraction concepts and computation. The course begins with a brief introduction to the Ten Principles of Thinking Mathematics instruction; it focuses on the mathematical practices (habits of mind students develop and use as they learn math), which are now part of nearly all rigorous mathematics standards, including the Common Core State Standards. Participants learn ways to help students understand fractions as single numbers that can be represented on the number line.

• The five-day virtual training in July will be highly interactive. Participants will receive manipulatives and other materials in the mail to use during the course to share their thinking. Breakout rooms will be used, and sharing work and strategies for each problem is at the heart of the course.
• There will be a two-day follow-up in January; at that session, participants will be able to access the remaining content of the course as well as engage in a practice facilitation of the material. This may be conducted in person or virtually. Once we are able to determine how we can get together in January, additional information on the practice facilitation will be provided.
• Between the July training days and the two-day follow-up in January, participants will submit three written reflections focused on applying the research and strategies learned in this course to the classroom setting. Facilitators will provide feedback on each.

Prerequisite: Online DEPD course must be completed by July 14. Two hours of course-specific pre-work, including readings and orientation to tech tools that we will use throughout the course.

Dates: July 19-23

Times: 9 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. EDT, 45-minute lunch, two breaks.

Certificate hours: 36 

Trainers: Audra McPhillips, Cheryl Wallin

Presentations in January 2022: dates TBD

An essential tool for organizing, member engagement, new teacher induction and mentoring.

Using a variety of interactive strategies, educators will explore how various aspects of their personal and social identities uniquely form who they are as professionals and affect their teaching and learning, Course resources will support professional growth through an examination of research-based approaches to building teacher efficacy and agency, and working collectively with all stakeholders to foster successful relationships with students, peers and families. This blended-learning module is designed to activate self-reflection, spark thought-provoking discussion, and help educators prepare to meet the demands of the profession in new ways.

Prerequisite: Online DEPD course must be completed by July 16

Dates: July 12-14 and 16 (Optional office hours July 15)

Times: 9 a.m. – noon EDT

Certificate hours: 15 

Trainers: Kathy Dorman, Janet Kujat, Kimberly Skukalek

Assignments/Homework: Online Identity course; two reflection options; asynchronous pre-post and homework assignments

Tokyo

Tokyo is the capital of Japan.