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Region VIII Education Service Center
Professional Development
Thinking Maps
Professional Development is provided for teachers in all subject areas, at all grade levels on visual tools that can be used in the classroom with no cost. Thinking Maps are eight visual-verbal learning tools, each based on a fundamental thinking process and used together as a set of tools for showing relationships.
Thinking Maps give all students and teachers a common language for meaningful learning. The consistency and flexibility of each of the Thinking Maps is student centered and promotes cooperative learning, concept development, reflective thinking, creativity, clarity of communication, and continuous cognitive development.
Thinking Maps are a product of the Innovative Learning Group.
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Book Studies for Job-Embedded Professional Development
Through book studies, teachers are encouraged to recognize the importance of job-embedded professional development to enhance learning. These studies focus on books designed to improve instruction and student achievement.
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Blending Regular and Special Education Instructional Techniques
This session allows regular education teachers and special education teachers to develop a stronger expertise for understanding how to teach every child in their classrooms. The skills, strategies, and techniques demonstrated will support all students in mastering content at a higher level.
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Brain-Compatible Learning
In this session, teachers will become acquainted with strategies and activities for a multidiciplinary approach to classroom instruction appropriate for use in each of the core content areas. The presenter will familiarize teachers with ways to cultivate students' academic capacity by providing challenging and novel activities as well as opportunities for frequent feedback, thus establishing an enriched learning environment.
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District Assistance Team Training (DAT)
District personnel who work with schools in School Improvement must participate in professional development on the following DAT modules in order to be certified:
| For more information contact: |
| Trent Heard |
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School Improvement Coordinator
trent.heard@la.gov
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318-323-6721 Fax
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Accountability/Louisiana Needs Assessment (LANA)Module
Louisiana’s School and District Accountability System is intended to drive fundamental change in classroom teaching by helping schools and communities focus on improved student achievement. The system is designed to encourage and support the school improvement process. Participants will receive a general overview of the Accountability System, followed by professional development on the first part of the School Improvement process, the needs assessment. Working from student assessment results, districts and schools will use the LANA to collect and analyze pertinent data for use in the school improvement planning process.
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School Improvement Planning Module
Participants are led through the process of writing a School Improvement Plan as outlined in the Louisiana Department of Education’s "Tools for Success” and "School Improvement Plan Template.” Emphasis is placed on planning as a process and quality implementation/evaluation for success. Participation in the Louisiana Needs Assessment Module (LANA) is a prerequisite for attending the School Improvement Planning Module. The Accountability/Louisiana Needs Assessment module is a prerequisite to attending this professional development offering.
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Degree of Implementation Guide (DIG)
The writing of the School Improvement Plan is just the beginning step in impacting student achievement in a given school. The second step is the quality implementation of the plan. The DIG is a process designed to systematically collect and analyze evidence to measure the level and quality of implementation of pre-determined indicators for each strategy in the School Improvement Plan. The Accountability/LANA and SIP modules are prerequisites to attending this professional development offering.
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Graphing Calculator Workshop
This workshop will provide hands-on training for teachers in the use of graphing calculators to teach mathematical concepts at the junior high and high school levels. Activities can be incorporated into daily classroom practice in which students can practice creative and cricital problem-solving.
| For more information contact: |
| Kim Shackelford |
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School Improvement Coordinator
kim.shackelford@la.gov
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318-323-6721 Fax
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Math in the Content Area
This professional development opportunity, customized for specific needs of individual schools, is designed to provide classroom teachers with instructional strategies for improving math across all content areas.
| For more information contact: |
| Kim Shackelford |
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School Improvement Coordinator
kim.shackelford@la.gov
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318-323-6721 Fax
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Instructional Strategies for Improved Student Learning
The strategies learned in this workshop are intended to help guide classroom practice in order to maximize student achievement.
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Learning Styles
This staff development activity allows for a more in-depth understanding of the importance of teaching to a student's individual learning style. Activities are woven throughout the training which support students' mastery of content.
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Positive Discipline
The process of Positive Discipline involves teaching students to monitor and adjust their own behavior in a teaching-learning atmosphere in which all persons are treated with dignity and respect. Positive Discipline methods empower teachers with the skills to prepare students for successful living. Positive Discipline significantly reduces discipline problems by teaching self-discipline, responsibility, cooperation, and problem-solving skills.
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Reading in the Content Areas
The State Literacy Plan requires that teachers in Louisiana schools focus on reading skills. In order to help teachers meet this need, RESC staff will provide a variety of instructional strategies for improving reading comprehension in all content areas. The workshop can be designed to meet the specific needs of individual schools or groups, including length of training, group size, and grade levels addressed.
| For more information contact: |
| Pamela Schooler |
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School Improvement Coordinator
pamela.schooler@la.gov
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318-323-6721 Fax
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Strategic Instruction Model (SIM)
The goal of this professional development opportunity is to provide teachers with differentiated learning strategies, teaching routines, and cooperative thinking strategies to improve the performance of students and teachers.
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School Improvement Team Training
This training is a two-day activity for School Improvement Teams. Participants will obtain a stronger understanding of the criteria needed for writing acceptable School Improvement Plans. (For Title I School Improvement, Consolidated Application, Application for Grants)
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Data-Driven Leadership for School Improvement
This seven-session seminar is for principals and their central office counterparts who want to become competent and confident instructional leaders. At each of the three-hour, monthly sessions, participants will learn practical methods of checking implementation of School Improvement strategies. A commitment to attendance at all sessions is required.
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Support and Enrichment for Paraprofessionals
This program will enhance paraprofessionals' knowledge and skills for meeting certification requirements. It will also provide for improved classroom assistance. Participants will be actively engaged in activities targeting small group instruction, classroom management, and other paraprofessional responsibilities. Legal issues for paraprofessionals in the workplace will be discussed. Paraprofessionals will participate in review and practice of content required to pass the Para-Pro Test or other required state tests for certification.
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Principles of Learning and Teaching Workshop
This workshop will provide support for teachers pursuing state teacher certification.
| For more information contact: |
| Diane Jenkins |
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Certification Counselor
diane.jenkins@la.gov
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318-362-5253
318-323-6721 Fax
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