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Professional Development

 

District and School Assistance Centers (DSACs) Professional Development

In the late fall of 2009, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE) opened six regionally based District and School Assistance Centers (DSACs) to help identified districts and their schools strategically access and use professional development and targeted assistance to improve instruction and raise achievement for all students. The DSACs initial goals are to fulfill the Department's responsibilities outlined in the ESE Framework for Accountability and Assistance by giving first priority for assistance to districts in Corrective Action or districts with schools in Corrective Action or Restructuring.

Please see the attached flyer for more information on follow-up courses offered by the DSAC.  To learn more about DSACs please visit http://www.doe.mass.edu/sda/regional/.


 
 
Organization for Curriculum Development  EDUC 665-01 (72661)
UMASS School of Ed.
Dr. Rebecca Woodland
 
Through an extraordinary partnership with UMASS School of Education,
Dr. Rebecca Woodland (partner, parent, colleague, and friend to our school community) is offering our teachers the opportunity to participate in this graduate-level course (please see last year’s syllabus, following). Teachers in our districts may register for credit, audit the course, or, with Professor Woodland’s permission, sit in on the class (see below for registration details). If 6 or more ARPS teachers sign up for the course (either as an audit, for credit, or by agreement/commitment to complete all course activities and attend every class), Professor Woodland will teach the course on our campus! If less than 6 sign up, it will be delivered at UMASS, which isn't too far for anyone anyway (the beauty of close proximity!)
 
To take the course for credit/auditing:
  1. go to umass.edu/gradschool, at the top click on "prospective student" and complete/submit the "non-degree application form
  2. once you have receive a password and login from UMass OIT (Office of Information Technology), login to SPIRE on the homepage at umass.edu and register for "Org for Curr Devel (Seminar)" EDUC 665 - 01 (72661), which meets Tuesdays from 4:00PM-6:30PM
 
To take the course not for credit and not through the UMass system:
  1. contact Professor Woodland and provide verbal commitment to full attendance and participation (rebecca.woodland@educ.umass.edu or 545-1751)
 
Questions about registration: Linda Guthrie (545-6984 or lguthrie@educ.umass.edu) and/or
Sally Dumont (545-0236, sdumont@educ.umass.edu). 
 
Questions about the course: contact Rebecca Woodland at rebecca.woodland@educ.umass.edu or
545-1751
 

 
Teaching and Learning Mathematics in the Elementary School (Seminar)
Dr. Farshid Hajir and Polly Wagner, co-facilitators
Dates: TBD
 
Look for information forthcoming about this exciting opportunity to think, talk, and do mathematics together, using Investigations as the focus of our work. For elementary teachers and others who want to increase their comfort level around mathematical thinking and concepts, and critical reasoning, this seminar will support teachers in creating appropriate scaffolding for student exploration in math.

 


 

The MTA has released the 2010-2011 Catalog of MTA Professional Development Offerings. Highlights of this year's offerings include:

  1. New Teacher Webinars: This 14-topic series addresses a wide range of topics identified by beginning teachers.  They are described on pages 8-11 of the catalog.  New teachers can also visit the New Members  page for tips and information. 
  2. Regulatory Briefings:  As always, these are available at no cost to the district if your local president requests them.  Please not that the online Understanding District and School Accountability is only open to local presidents or designees.  Descriptions of these courses are on page 27 of the catalog.
  3. Preparing for MTEL Communications and Literacy Test:  This is an all-day workshop held in MTA regional offices for those members having difficulty passing MTEL; description is on page 24 of the catalog.
  4. Strategies for Instructing English Language Learners: This online course is described on page 16 of the catalog.
For more information about any program please contact Beverly Eisenman at 1-800-392-6175 or beisenman@massteacher.org.
 

Western Massachusetts Writing Project’s Best Practices in the Teaching of Writing Fall Conference
 
The Western Massachusetts Writing Project’s Best Practices in the Teaching of Writing Fall Conference is an annual conference for teachers of all grade levels, elementary through college. This year’s conference will be held on October 2, 2010.  The conference theme is “Issues of Language and Power: Teacher and Student Viewpoints.”  Amherst Middle School teacher Wilma Ortiz-Marrero, the 2011 Massachusetts Teacher of the Year, is this year's keynote speaker.  The day will also feature concurrent sessions led by area teachers who have recently completed an intensive Summer Institute for teacher-leaders.  

If you are not familiar with the Western Massachusetts Writing Project, they are an established K-13 professional development provider licensed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  A local site of the federally funded National Writing Project, the WMWP is affiliated with the UMass Amherst Department of English and College of Humanities and Fine Arts.  If you would like more information about the Writing Project, feel free to contact Anne Herrington, Professor of English  and Site Director at anneh@english.umass.edu  or visit the WMWP website at www.umass.edu/wmwp.

 
Please see the attached flyer for more details.
  
Tufts Online Courses for K-8 Teachers
 
 Are you interested in strengthening your knowledge of physical science, and at the same time deepening your expertise in teaching science? The Tufts University Department of Education is offering a new series of online graduate-level courses designed by TERC and Tufts especially for in-service K-8 teachers. The courses are a blend of online and face-to-face sessions and are offered for graduate credit. 
 
The first course, ED 211 Some of What Matters About Matter, will be offered in Fall 2010 (and enrollment is still open!).  The second course, ED 212 The Case of Heat and Temperature, will be offered in Spring 2011, and the third course, ED 213 Earths Energy Balance, will be offered in Summer 2011. For descriptions of the courses, visit the Department's website:  http://ase.tufts.edu/education/programs/coursesOffered.asp.
 
If you have questions please contact Course Instructor Kristen Wendell at kristen.bethke@tufts.edu. To enroll in any of these courses, please contact the Office of Graduate Studies at (617) 627-3395. For more information on registration and tuition, please visit: http://gradstudy.tufts.edu/admissions/programs/gcap/about.htm.

 Free George Washington Workshops

Two free daylong workshops are being offered in Massachusetts on George Washington.  The workshops will be held on Tuesday, September 28 at the Massachusetts Historical Society in Boston and on Friday, October 1 at the Springfield Museums in Springfield.

These workshops are sponsored by the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati, and George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens in conjunction with the Massachusetts Historical Society, The Springfield Museums and the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Please see the attached flyers for the Boston workhop, Springfield workshop  and the registration form for more details.

  

 Please check back often. This page will be updated as new opportunities become available.

 

 
AttachmentSize
George Washington Workshop - Springfield Program Schedule.pdf158.96 KB
George Washington Workhsop - Boston Program Schedule.pdf130.69 KB
George Washington Workshops - Registration Form.doc25.5 KB
Pioneer Valley DSAC Courses - Fall 2010 Follow-up Class Informa.pdf34.19 KB
OAT I - Course Description ›
Last updated October 09, 2010