Courses
Our professional development courses and modules address the most pressing needs of teachers and SISP through a continuous process of growth and improvement of practice. Through AFT’s Professional Learning Program, we seek to empower individual educators and groups of educators to make complex decisions; to identify and solve problems; and to connect theory, practice and student outcomes.
Note: All prospective trainers are required to take the course, Delivering Effective Development, prior to taking any AFT professional learning courses. This course will assist you in your role as a facilitator of learning and coordinator of a local professional development program.
Classroom Management/Behavior
Foundations of Effective Teaching: Cultivating a Student-Centered Classroom
This newly revised course re-envisions the learning environment as a place where teacher and student identities are celebrated and affirmed; social emotional learning is intentionally planned for; and student agency is supported through equitable, responsive structures to help all students thrive.
Managing Behavior in School Communities
This course provides educators and other school personnel with effective strategies for managing unwanted behavior across a variety of learning environments. MBSC will provide teachers and support staff with the information, tools and skills they may need to prevent or eliminate challenging or anti-social behaviors and/or to manage much of this behavior when it occurs.
Managing Student Behavior for Support Staff
This course is designed for paraprofessionals and school-related personnel who have contact with and/or are responsible for overseeing the behavior and safety of large numbers of students outside the classroom setting, whether that setting is the cafeteria, school bus, office, playground or school corridors.
Community/Family Involvement
Community Schools 101: The Nuts and Bolts
This course provides an overview of the community schools strategy, including basic elements, core principles, research, community school results (academic and nonacademic), family and community engagement components, site and system-level implementation, the collaborative leadership framework needed for successful implementation, and examples of successful community school initiatives.
School, Family and Community: Partnerships That Support Student Learning
The primary function of this course is to help school staff understand how they can assist parents to better support their children as learners. Topics explored include (1) using effective communication strategies to develop learning partnerships with families; (2) designing more productive homework assignments to involve families; (3) explaining classroom work and grading systems to parents; (4) developing schoolwide parent involvement plans; and (5) examining the role of school absenteeism on student learning.
Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment
Content Area Writing Instruction in the 6-12 Classroom
The ability to express thoughts, ideas and understanding through writing is a life skill and a critical component of writing within content area standards. In all content areas, students are expected to learn to produce clear and coherent writing appropriate to purpose, task and audience. The writing standards address the expectations of content area writing as students progress through the secondary grades. The research on effective writing instruction stresses the importance of the recursive nature of writing and the interdependence of writing to learn and learning to write.
Informing Instruction: Linking the Assessment Process to Teaching and Learning
Now, more than ever, it’s important to understand how the various types of assessments can be used for different purposes. Most of our classrooms have students performing on many levels in different subjects. This reality makes it critical to understand how and how not to measure your students' growth—what assessments to use and how to analyze your data so that it informs instruction in a timely way for all of your students.
Instructional Strategies That Work for All Disciplines
This course provides a cognitive research-based approach to lesson planning and design. To develop a comprehensive instructional plan, participants consider the concepts of standards, curriculum and a course map as they generate unit and lesson plans that promote independent learning for students. In this course, instructional strategies are taught in the context of purpose and appropriateness for supporting student learning.
Making Data and Classroom Assessments Work for You
In this course, participants will acquire the knowledge and tools they need to collect and use data, to understand the role of classroom assessments to improve schools, to inform instruction, and to advance learning individually and collaboratively.
Meeting Writing Expectations K-5
The ability to express thoughts, ideas and understanding through writing is a life skill and a critical component of all writing standards. Students are expected to learn to produce clear and coherent writing appropriate to purpose, task, audience and content. The writing standards stress collaboration and support from teachers and students, and the research stresses the importance of writing frequently, utilizing the writing process and writing to learn as well as learning to write.
Instructional Supports for All Learners
Considerations for Students with Disabilities in Inclusive Settings
This module provides a historic perspective on the identification of high-incidence disabilities, the use of evidence-based strategies focused on students’ strengths and removing barriers to rigorous curriculum through the Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Participants will use the case-study method to develop appropriate accommodations and modifications to support student access to grade-level academic content.
Creating a Supportive Learning Environment Through Social Emotional Learning
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.
Differentiating Instruction
This session is designed both to raise awareness of research that supports differentiation and to teach the basic components of differentiation. Three frameworks will be considered: Tomlinson’s, Conklin’s and Sternberg’s. The goal of the session is to help teachers reflect on strengths of their current instructional practices and explore opportunities for further growth in teaching academically diverse students.
Strategies for Student Success
This high-quality, research-based professional learning program consists of three hourlong modules that create a manageable way to connect with educators. The SSS modules address teaching and learning in a way that benefits both new and veteran teachers. The content in the modules can be tailored to benefit individuals, groups and the whole school.
Student Trauma
This course offers school-based union members an opportunity to become trainers in trauma-informed practices with “Student Trauma.” Facilitators use case studies, discussion, guided practice, diverse media, embedded practice, reflection activities and more to deeply engage participants.
Universal Design for Learning: Everyone Learns Differently
This interactive mini-course will lead you to use cognitive neuroscience as a foundation for designing instruction to best meet the needs of your diverse learners. Upon completion, you will feel confident, prepared and excited to begin your school year equipped to construct meaningful learning experiences for all!
Math
Thinking Mathematics 6-8: Journey to Algebra
This course is designed to allow teachers to reflect on and connect the college and career-ready standards to research on how students learn mathematics. The Ten Principles of Thinking Math and the Standards for Mathematical Practice are linked and attention paid to how concepts and skills develop.
Reading
Science
Special Needs
Accessible Literacy Framework
This course is designed specifically for educators and school staff who are responsible for providing and/or adapting materials for students with disabilities who have complex communication needs, use assistive technology to access curriculum, or require adaptive materials to participate in a learning environment.