CCSS Professional Development: Math Module 1

Through funding provided by Georgia’s Race to the Top initiative and in partnership with the Georgia Department of Education, new self-paced common core professional development course Mathematics teachers. The Georgia Department of Education has developed two flexible, ready-to-use courses intended to support Georgia educators in the understanding and effective implementation of the CCGPS. The courses may be used by individual educators, professional learning communities, or by districts or schools. The time required for the courses may be customized for a variety of applications by expanding the amount of time spent on the activities and in discussion. Each course contains hands-on activities, related readings and research, recommended topics for discussion, web and video resources, and self-assessments. The content of the courses was developed under a grant from the U. S. Department of Education. However, the content does not necessarily represent the policy of the U. S. Department of Education, and endorsement by the Federal Government should not be assumed.

Material Type: Teaching/Learning Strategy, Unit of Study

CCSS Professional Development: Math Module 2

Through funding provided by Georgia’s Race to the Top initiative and in partnership with the Georgia Department of Education, new self-paced common core professional development courses are available for Mathematics teachers. The Georgia Department of Education has developed two flexible, ready-to-use courses intended to support Georgia educators in the understanding and effective implementation of the CCGPS. The courses may be used by individual educators, professional learning communities, or by districts or schools. The time required for the courses may be customized for a variety of applications by expanding the amount of time spent on the activities and in discussion. Each course contains hands-on activities, related readings and research, recommended topics for discussion, web and video resources, and self-assessments. The content of the courses was developed under a grant from the U. S. Department of Education. However, the content does not necessarily represent the policy of the U. S. Department of Education, and endorsement by the Federal Government should not be assumed.

Material Type: Teaching/Learning Strategy, Unit of Study

CCSS Professional Development: Math Module 3

Through funding provided by Georgia’s Race to the Top initiative and in partnership with the Georgia Department of Education, new self-paced common core professional development courses are available for English Mathematics teachers. The Georgia Department of Education has developed two flexible, ready-to-use courses intended to support Georgia educators in the understanding and effective implementation of the CCGPS. The courses may be used by individual educators, professional learning communities, or by districts or schools. The time required for the courses may be customized for a variety of applications by expanding the amount of time spent on the activities and in discussion. Each course contains hands-on activities, related readings and research, recommended topics for discussion, web and video resources, and self-assessments. The content of the courses was developed under a grant from the U. S. Department of Education. However, the content does not necessarily represent the policy of the U. S. Department of Education, and endorsement by the Federal Government should not be assumed.

Material Type: Teaching/Learning Strategy, Unit of Study

Introductions: Getting the Year Off to a Good Start

This activity aims to help your class get the school year off to a good start. Students share their names and a high point of their summer; learn a little about their similarities and differences; and begin considering what kind of community they want to create in their classroom.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: Marieke van Woerkom

Values: A Circle to Start the New School Year

An introductory Circle invites participants to consider values that are important to them and the group.

Material Type: Lesson Plan, Teaching/Learning Strategy

Creating a Kind Classroom: A Lesson to Start the New School Year

Students think about how to create a kind, caring classroom using an interactive poem and a drawing activity.

Material Type: Lesson Plan, Teaching/Learning Strategy

Getting to Know You

These activities will help you get the year off to a good start by engaging you and your students in getting to know each other, practicing listening skills, and discussing the values that will shape your classroom community. There are separate sets of activities for grades Pre-K to 2, grades 3 to 5, and grades 6 to 12. They are adapted from exercises in our Resolving Conflict Creatively Program and our 4Rs Program (Reading, Writing, Respect & Resolution).

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan, Teaching/Learning Strategy

Author: Tom Roderick

A Getting-Acquainted Activity Using My Teacher's Secret Life

Students build classroom community as they get to know each other and their teacher better by sharing what they like to do outside school.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan

Get Ready to Go Back to School

Teachers and students come to school bringing a wide range of backgrounds, languages, abilities, and temperaments. Get things off to the best start by asking them to respect their differences and make the most of their similarities. By sharing information on their lives and dreams, students and teachers can build community in the classroom that will support literacy instruction throughout the school year.

Material Type: Lesson Plan, Teaching/Learning Strategy

Do's and Don'ts of Teaching Black History

How do you ensure students get the most out of black history and Black History Month? Here are some suggestions.

Material Type: Teaching/Learning Strategy

Cultural Competence

With ever increasing cultural diversity in our schools, how do educators establish and maintain effective relationships with those whose experiences and beliefs differ from their own? Dr. Darryle Craig, program manager for Fairfax County Public Schools College Success Program, presents her ideas and strategies for becoming "Culturally Competent.” According to Dr. Craig—cultural competency is “the ability to interact effectively with people from different cultures.” During the program, Dr. Craig defines and examines the importance of cultural competence. Using first-hand examples and questions from the studio audience, Craig advises how to use this important skill to help close the achievement gap, and promote best practices that create success among diverse learners.

Material Type: Lecture

Author: Fairfax Network

Response to Intervention, K-5

Informational resources and tools available to guide those who wish to establish or strengthen an Response to Intervention program in grades K-5.

Material Type: Reading, Teaching/Learning Strategy

Response to Intervention, Middle School

Across the country, educators are beginning to expand RTI to secondary schools. Middle, junior, and high schools are very different places from elementary schools and, in fact, different from each other. Whether or not your school is presently implementing RTI, you will want to be prepared to ask and answer key questions regarding the opportunities RTI presents in high school settings.

Material Type: Reading, Teaching/Learning Strategy

Response to Intervention, High School

Across the country, educators are beginning to expand RTI to secondary schools. Middle, junior, and high schools are very different places from elementary schools and, in fact, different from each other. Whether or not your school is presently implementing RTI, you will want to be prepared to ask and answer key questions regarding the opportunities RTI presents in high school settings.

Material Type: Reading, Teaching/Learning Strategy

Strategy Guide: Think-Pair-Share Technique

In this strategy guide, you will learn how to organize students and classroom topics to encourage a high degree of classroom participation and assist students in developing a conceptual understanding of a topic through the use of the Think-Pair-Share technique. The Think-Pair-Share strategy is designed to differentiate instruction by providing students time and structure for thinking on a given topic, enabling them to formulate individual ideas and share these ideas with a peer. This learning strategy promotes classroom participation by encouraging a high degree of pupil response, rather than using a basic recitation method in which a teacher poses a question and one student offers a response. Additionally, this strategy provides an opportunity for all students to share their thinking with at least one other student which, in turn, increases their sense of involvement in classroom learning. Think-Pair-Share can also be used as in information assessment tool; as students discuss their ideas, the teacher can circulate and listen to the conversations taking place and respond accordingly.

Material Type: Reading, Teaching/Learning Strategy

Strategy Guide: Tracking and Supporting Student Learning With Kid Watching

In this strategy guide, you’ll learn how to use kidwatching to track and support student learning. Teachers observe and take notes on students’ understanding of skills and concepts and then use the observations to determine effective strategies for future instruction. Yetta Goodman popularized the term kidwatching, the practice of “watching kids with a knowledgeable head” (9). In kidwatching, teachers observe students’ activities, noticing how they learn and what they do to explore their ideas. Teachers then examine anecdotal notes and other evidence to see how and when students engage in learning. After this review, teachers use their observations to differentiate activities to meet the needs of individual students. The strategy is based on “a seek-to-understand stance by attempting to look at life, literacy, and learning through the children’s eyes” (Mills 2). By discovering how students learn, teachers are able to choose the most effective strategies for each pupil.

Material Type: Reading, Teaching/Learning Strategy

Strategy Guide: Assessing Student Interests and Strengths

In this Strategy Guide, you'll learn about a number of specific methods that can help you to gain a fuller picture of the interests of your students as well as what your students understand, know, and can demonstrate by doing. By understanding the varying literacy strengths and habits of our students we can identify what Vygotsky calls their "zone of proximal development" where literacy opportunities are not too hard as to frustrate or too easy to bore but just challenging enough to promote student learning. With a keen eye, we can observe the interests and strengths of our students and, when possible, we can consider these to plan learning opportunities for our students. By providing choice and respectful tasks, we can provide meaningful literacy experiences.

Material Type: Reading, Teaching/Learning Strategy

Strategy Guide: Promoting Student Self-Assessment

In this Strategy Guide, you'll learn about a number of specific methods that will promote self-assessment and contribute to a richer understanding of student learning. Because of their diverse literacy needs, our students need us to differentiate the product, process and content of learning according to their learning style, interest and readiness. Yet, recognizing student growth and literacy needs requires more than one voice and more than one snapshot. Research has reminded us of the value of continued assessment and of students as partners in their own assessment. This heightened metacognition leads to increased engagement across content areas and remains a key characteristic of life-long learning. Motivation to learn increases when students are asked to critically analyze their own learning. And, if continued assessment informs instruction, students and teachers benefit from student feedback about what a student does and does not understand.

Material Type: Reading, Teaching/Learning Strategy

Strategy Guide: Making Connections

Strategic reading allows students to monitor their own thinking and make connections between texts and their own experiences. Students who make connections while reading are better able to understand the text they are reading. It is important for students to draw on their prior knowledge and experiences to connect with the text. Students are thinking when they are connecting, which makes them more engaged in the reading experience. Students gain a deeper understanding of a text when they make authentic connections. However, teachers need to know how to show students how a text connects to their lives, another text they have read, or the world around them. In this strategy guide, you will learn how to model text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections for your students so that they may begin to make personal connections to a text on their own.

Material Type: Reading, Teaching/Learning Strategy

Strategy Guide: Exit Slips

This strategy guide introduces the concept of using Exit Slips in the classroom to help students reflect on what they have learned and express what or how they are thinking about the new information. Exit Slips easily incorporate writing into the content area classroom and require students to think critically. The Exit Slip strategy is used to help students process new concepts, reflect on information learned, and express their thoughts about new information. This strategy requires students to respond to a prompt given by the teacher, and is an easy way to incorporate writing into many different content areas. Furthermore, the Exit Slip strategy is an informal assessment that will allow educators to adapt and differentiate their planning and instruction.

Material Type: Reading, Teaching/Learning Strategy