Setting New Teachers Up for Success

Length: 3 Days

Audience: Beginning Teachers (0-3 years of experience), Transition to Teaching Candidates, and Educators with Alternative Licensures

Description: Are you new to teaching? Are you searching for ways to make your classroom run smoothly? Do you want to ensure things are in place so you don’t lose valuable instruction time?  

This 3-day workshop is designed to support new teachers so that they start off well-prepared to have a successful year in the classroom. Teachers who have been teaching for 3 years or less will find great value in coming together to learn, prepare, and plan so that they have a roadmap to start the school year off. They will learn how to build relationships with students, set boundaries, and develop routines that include modeling and practice to save valuable instructional time.

• Day 1 – Led by Tiffany Creager: 

  The goal of this professional learning series is to support new teachers in developing positive relationships with students. Positive teacher-student relationships have been shown to improve academic achievement, improve student well-being, increase student motivation, and decrease undesirable student behaviors. The day will be broken into two parts: 

  • Creating Connections and Building Trust: Tier 1New teachers will learn the importance of creating connections and building trust with their students. They will learn why designating time and effort to relationship building is highly beneficial and they learn strategies to begin this work during the first week of school. This initial segment will focus on connecting with all students by uncovering and understanding their core values and motivations, strengthening communication skills, and building classroom communities.
  • Relational-Based Discipline: During this learning segment, we will then explore discipline through a relational lens. New teachers will learn how to build on the work they do in their classrooms to create both preventative and responsive systems that are relationship-based, brain-aligned, and structured to address rupture and repair in a way that supports long-term behavioral shifts.

• Day 2- Procedures, Routines, and Transitions- Led by April Connelley: 

  This day is all about creating a classroom from the first day of school that leads to maximizing learning time. New teachers will join us for an active day of learning and collaboration. We will spend our time focused on deciding your desired state and determining action steps to make it happen. During learning, we will explore examples, identify needed routines for your classroom, and think about how to make it all happen. We will bring all of this together in a 20-day plan for the beginning of the school year.

   Participants will…

  •   Decide the desired state for your classroom.
  •   Determine action steps to start the school year.
  •   Understand how classroom set-up influences instruction.
  •   Explore some example routines and procedures.
  • · Begin planning for the first 20 days of the next school year.

• Day 3 – Support Meeting- Led by Tiffany Creager and April Connelley:   

  On this day, we will all come together to share successes and challenges the new teachers have experienced when implementing the strategies introduced in the first two days of learning. We will celebrate successes, share actual examples, and work through a problem-solving model to help teachers find further success. New teachers will develop a plan for revisiting routines and procedures at key times throughout the year to maximize success. They will also discuss ways to simplify some of their routines and procedures for efficiency. We will then dig into more intensive strategies classroom teachers can implement with harder-to-reach students. Participants will be introduced to a variety of evidence-based strategies and will create a plan for a small group of students that best fits the unique needs of the teacher and identified students.

Curriculum Mapping Train the Trainer

Length: Package – Multiple Learning Days

Audience: Site-level leadership will select a school team of instructional leaders to attend; School teams will consist of various instructional leaders such as principals, assistant principals, lead teachers, and instructional coaches. The selected team will become the on-site trainers.

Description: Are you looking for a way to increase alignment between the written and taught curriculum? increase teacher clarity about what is to be explicitly taught and assessed? and strengthen teacher collaboration systems?

If you answered yes, then the Curriculum Mapping Train the Trainer experience is for you. This ongoing professional learning will empower a small group of instructional leaders from your building to join a cadre consisting of a few other school teams. During this multi-day series, school teams will learn the curriculum mapping process and plan how to roll out curriculum mapping at the building level for each grade level course. Some of the learning opportunities will include professional learning focused on experiencing curriculum mapping and understanding the process, support meetings focused on leading curriculum mapping work on-site, and virtual support as needs arise. 

A personalized proposal with the goals, structure, and number of days will be outlined following a planning meeting.

Strengthening Student Outcomes Through Instructional Coaching

Length: Package – Multiple Learning Days

Audience: Instructional Coaches

Description: Are you looking for an opportunity to connect with other instructional coaches? Are you the only instructional coach in your building? district? 

Join this professional learning community that will focus on continuous improvement by building capacity and strengthening instructional coaching practices. Regular learning opportunities both in-person and virtual will include thinking about the role of the instructional coach, instructional coaching best practices, and balancing the work day/week/year. Time will be given to share and discuss resources.

A personalized proposal with the goals, structure, and number of days will be outlined following a planning meeting.

Closing the Reading Gap: Strategies for Helping Readers in Grades 3-8

Length: 1 Day of Professional Learning

Audience: General Education Teachers, Instructional Coaches, Leadership, Interventionists, and Special Education Teachers

Description: Do you have students in the upper grade who have yet to crack the code and become proficient readers? Are you stuck and not sure how to best help readers close the gap while teaching your subject matter?

Educators often grapple with the best ways to support students who have not yet met grade-level expectations in reading. Join us as we target readers in grades 3-8 by thinking first about how someone learns to read, and then shifting our focus to FOUR critical action steps to take to start closing the gap. You will have time to reflect on current practices and programs, collaborate with colleagues, and determine your personal action steps

Cross-Curricular Connections in the Elementary Classroom

Audience: Elementary Classroom Teachers

When students make authentic connections to their learning, their engagement increases. Improved student engagement is the best classroom management strategy and what will set your learners up for success in all content areas. Develop driving questions to lead instruction and student learning while establishing the foundation for cross-curricular connections that help students solve complex real world problems.

Computer Science in the Elementary Classroom

Audience: Elementary Classroom Teachers

Are you looking for ways to best equip students with the necessary computer skills to succeed in the modern world? Do you struggle to find effective ways to incorporate computer skills into your lesson plans given the limited amount of time available?

The K-6 Indiana Academic Standards for Computer Science provide teachers with a comprehensive framework for teaching foundational skills across a variety of content areas, but it’s a lot to absorb.  

Integrating STEAM into the Elementary Classroom

Audience: Elementary Classroom Teachers

Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics are here to stay in the world of education and the future workforce of our students. Explore the interconnectedness of each component and understand the importance for all learners to be given opportunities in STEAM. The elementary classroom is where the foundation for STEAM learning is built and that is why we need to focus on STEAM teaching practices and not just the separate content areas. All elementary teachers should be STEAM teachers and you are going to learn why while having a lot of fun!

Math Discourse in the Elementary Classroom

Audience: Elementary Classroom Teachers

Building the foundation of deep mathematical understanding will help students be successful as they continue to grow and learn in mathematics. Encourage students to construct their own mathematical understanding through meaningful discourse. Learn strategies to meet a variety of learner needs, develop higher order thinking skills, and use feedback to guide instruction.

Knowing What to Teach for the 2023 – 2024 School Year – ILEARN Assessment and Planning for the 2024 – 2025 School Year ILEARN Assessment

Length: 1 Day

Audience: (Grades 3 – 8)  Administrators, Teachers, Testing Coordinators

Description: Are you confused about what will be assessed on the 2023 – 24 ILEARN Assessment? Are you not sure how the ILEARN Assessment will be changing in 2024-25? Do you spend day after day working hard on math skills with your students only to have them struggle to show progress? Do you want to help improve your math ILEARN Assessment scores?

Join us to learn how the ILEARN will be changing in 2024-25 and how to find exactly what those changes are going to be. Know what to be teaching and how to use your classroom instruction to maximize students’ achievement on the math portion of the ILEARN Assessment for 2023-24. We will look at and discuss the types of questions used on the ILEARN as well as the best mathematical practices you can use to increase student performance for those questions. Additionally, you will receive valuable resources, activities, and ideas for increasing student performance that will be modeled for you.

The Current PSAT & SAT Assessment vs. the New Digital PSAT & SAT Assessment

Length: 1 Day

Audience: (Grades 9 – 12)  Administrators, Teachers, Instructional Aides

Description: Do you know when the changes to the New Digital PSAT & SAT Assessments will take place? Do you know the differences between the current PSAT & SAT Assessments and the New Digital PSAT & SAT Assessments? Do you need to raise your PSAT and SAT scores for school accountability? Are your non-college bound students completely unmotivated to take the PSAT and SAT? Does your school think that the PSAT and SAT are issues for the English and math departments only?

Join us to learn about the changes coming in 2024 to the PSAT and SAT Assessments. Learn how getting all teachers in all subjects working together can help your students perform their best on the PSAT and SAT. You will be provided with resources detailing how the PSAT and SAT scores are earned. Find out how scores can be used by everyone, including students NOT going to a 4-year college, which can help motivate the unmotivated students to score their best! 

You will receive copy-ready information, materials, and resources that you can disseminate to parents to help their children better understand and prepare for the PSAT and SAT. We will delve into the types of questions used on the PSAT and SAT as well as the best practices teachers of all subjects can use to increase student performance. Additionally, you will receive valuable classroom resources, activities, and ideas for helping students achieve their best scores.

High School Math Course Sequencing and Changes for Student Success

Length: 1 Day

Audience: (Grades 9 – 12) District Administrators, Site Administrators, Curriculum Directors, Math Coaches, Administrators, Teachers, Instructional Aides

Description: Do you struggle with which high school math course sequence, Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2 or Algebra 1, Algebra 2, Geometry, is best for your students?  Is your screening process for placement in a student’s initial math course helping your students succeed? Do you need a way to help more students successfully complete Algebra 2? Do you have students struggling to complete their Core 40 math requirements by passing Algebra 2? Do you want more students taking higher level math classes beyond Algebra 2?

Join Bill Reed as he lays out ways to increase student success in Algebra 2 by integrating simple steps like ordering math courses and including more Algebra skills in Geometry. Learn how to create a strategic screening process for student placement in their initial high school math class. We will also model how effective teachers use a variety of question types to assess and gather evidence of student thinking and learn how this will improve your teaching effectiveness. How to utilize current IDOE math course offerings to help your students complete the required Core 40 math courses and fulfill their greatest potential will be presented. The difference between AP and Dual Credit math courses and the benefits and important factors to know about each option will be discussed.

Asking the Good Questions for a Thinking Classroom

Length: 1 Day

Audience: (Grades 6 – 12) Administrators, Teachers, Instructional Aides

Description: Are you struggling to ask good higher order thinking questions to elevate your instruction? Do you ask more Memory/Recall questions than Higher Order Thinking questions in your instruction, on quizzes, or tests? Are you struggling to formulate good Higher Order Thinking questions to get your students to think and understand?

Join us to learn how to easily convert Memory/Recall questions into Higher Order Thinking (H.O.T.) questions. You will be provided with resources detailing how to easily formulate H.O.T. questions. Using Higher Order Thinking questions to get students to think, understand, and relate what you are teaching to past and future skills will be modeled. You will be shown how H.O.T. questions can be used in conjunction with shorter student assignments to accomplish more with less and support better and deeper understanding. You will receive valuable resources, activities, and ideas for increasing student performance using good higher order thinking questions.

April Connelley: English Language Arts

April is a life-long learner and educator with 24 years of experience in elementary and special education. She offers expertise in literacy, including the Science of Reading, instructional coaching, professional learning, and curriculum development.

Prior to joining INcompassing Education, April fulfilled the role of Literacy Specialist working with multiple school districts across the country, as well as an Early Reading Virtual Coach, and Early Reading Training Facilitator. As a District Instructional Coach and E/LA Curriculum Coordinator April focused on bringing written and taught curriculum together. April spent 15 years working directly with students as a Reading Interventionist and Special Education teacher. She is an avid reader and advocates for students to develop life-long reading habits by finding their personal reading identity.

April has a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Saint Francis; a Master’s Degree from Concordia University Mequon WI; and completed an endorsement program in Educational Leadership.

Bill Reed: Secondary Math & STEM

Bill is a licensed Secondary Math Teacher who was a classroom teacher for 30+ years between Indiana and California. He has taught every math class from 7th Grade Math to Calculus at the Community College level. Bill was a former President of ICTM, helped facilitate the Indiana State Math Contest and awards ceremony, and oversaw the ICTM Annual Meeting and Conference for many years. He was a Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science State Finalist in both California and Indiana. Bill received a Fulbright Memorial Fund Scholarship to study the education system in Japan and a second Fulbright Scholarship to study the education system in Brazil. Most recently he worked with the U.S. Embassy in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan to give S.T.E.M Professional Development to Central Asian Teachers. 

Bill earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics and Computer Science at Butler University along with his teaching certification. He worked on his graduate studies in Secondary Mathematics Education at both California State University and Ball State University.  After teaching, he was the Secondary Math Specialist at the Indiana Department of Education, a Regional Director for the GEAR UP Grant at Purdue University, and currently the Secondary Math and S.T.E.M. Specialist for INcompassing Education.

Mandy Morris: Elementary Math & STEAM

Mandy is a licensed Elementary Teacher who has served in a variety of P12 and Higher Education roles. Mandy began her career in P12 education as a classroom teacher. She found her passion in STEM education through leadership opportunities focused on preparing students for successful lives after graduation. She served as a STEM instructional coach and district coordinator where she supported teachers and students on their path to discovering authentic and meaningful learning. She currently serves as the Education Technology Specialist at Franklin College where she trains and supports faculty and staff on integrated instructional technology and instructs the Interdisciplinary Unit Planning and STEAM course for preservice teachers.

Mandy earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Elementary Education at Franklin College along with her teaching certificate in 2009. She continued her graduate studies in 2020 at the American College of Education where she earned her Master of Education in STEM Leadership.