Technology – smart phones, social media, the Internet – can make our lives easier and more fulfilling.  However as with everything else, too much can be overwhelming and even unhealthy.  It is important that we – and our students - learn to disconnect and pursue activities and have experiences that are not technologically dependent. Participants explore the why and how to unplug/disconnect, spend some time experiencing unplugged time, and learn how to implement some unconnected time in the classroom as well.

Today's educators have been trained to teach opposition and defiant students by giving them rewards as they see them finally do the desired behavior. Studies show this is not working in most schools, and behaviors are escalating. The author of Conscious Discipline will give you the knowledge needed to understand why.

The Science of Reading is at the forefront of many educators' minds. Are you looking for practical ways to help your struggling readers become proficient readers? Are there simple shifts you can make in your reading instruction to effectively teach your students? This class will focus on the book, Shifting the Balance and provide opportunities to learn from current articles, podcasts, and videos. This class is guaranteed to change the way you see your students as readers. It will engage you in a powerful, informative, engaging, and classroom-relevant text and give you concrete ways to make your reading instruction more effective.

The great wisdom traditions well as our own life stories point to the virtue of adversity. The obstacles and difficulties in our lives test us and can bring forth our greatest potential, leading to self-knowledge, character, courage and great achievement. You will view two movies, several TED Talks, and read two books about overcoming adversity from an Amazon and/or Goodreads list. The material reflects on the trials and successes of each life, and explores K-12 application of these themes.

Why do some children succeed while others fail? Have you experienced burnout with certain students and are not sure where to turn? Let’s turn this around. When students believe that dedication and hard work can change their performance in school, they grow to become resilient, successful students. Mindsets in the Classroom provides educators with ideas and strategies to build and maintain a growth mindset culture. The focus is on how persistence, hard work and grit can change students’ school performance. All teachers are looking for tools that will ignite a love of learning while communicating that every student can succeed. Do you want to find out how to capture and identify that mindset? Are you ready to create successful and resilient learners? Are you interested in learning the new research on IQ and brain plasticity in order to motivate and engage all students? Then join me for this exciting and transformative course. I recommend this course to any teacher, student, administrator, parent or professional developer who is looking to up their game.

Using a basic workbook created by Larry Ferlazzo, an award-winning author, you will find strategies to engage your students more effectively. You will learn how to deal with getting students motivated and helping students see the importance of personal responsibility. You will also learn to deal with disruptive students and classes, while finding the best ways to maximize the chances that a lesson will be successful, and more. 

The book for this course introduces you to the most typical student types and how best to work with them such as: the Good Kids, the Rebels, the Perfectionists, the Invisibles and more.  With each introduction, there will be ample information on what is needed and how to work best with that student.

Investigate the many aspects of high needs people and their behaviors. Gain a greater understanding of how to interact with student and adult explosive behavior, dependent behavior, poor listener behavior and more.