Come and learn about high-quality inclusive education in a unique professional development experience in 4 separate workshops.
Inclusion From a Distance: Supporting All Students in Virtual Classrooms
As schools closed in response to the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States, many teachers, advocates, and families became concerned that inclusion would no longer be a priority for school districts. As weeks became months, many of these same teachers, advocates, and families got creative and de
Come and learn about high-quality inclusive education in a unique professional development experience in 4 separate workshops.
Inclusion From a Distance: Supporting All Students in Virtual Classrooms
As schools closed in response to the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States, many teachers, advocates, and families became concerned that inclusion would no longer be a priority for school districts. As weeks became months, many of these same teachers, advocates, and families got creative and designed structures and strategies to keep kids with and without disabilities connected to one another and to make sure that inclusive learning continued in virtual lessons and beyond.
This presentation is pulled from a new book on the topic and highlights some of those structures and strategies. It is also a call to action and a reminder to keep focused on the goal of inclusion as we all social distance and plan both virtual and hybrid lessons alone and with collaborative partners. Featured ideas include "leaning into" peer support, creating clubs, "going big" to adapt instruction, and letting families lead.
The Iron is HOT: Using UDL in the Virtual Classroom
As the old saying goes, "Strike when the iron is hot." If there has ever been a time to learn about the practices of Universal Design for Learning, THIS is that time. This session is an introduction to the entire UDL model (all principles and guidelines). It will help you understand the language of the model and provide you and your team with a shared language for planning.
Practices featured in this workshop can be used in the classroom for face-to-face instruction, in a hybrid situation, or in virtual spaces. The session centers on big ideas related to teaching and learning (e.g., self-determination, relevance, connection/relationships) and is framed around modes of representation, expression, and engagement. The presentation contains video clips, classroom stories, examples, and illustrations. It will provide both points of reflection and practical strategies. Most importantly, it features ideas to help all teachers better respond to the diversity that exists in their classrooms (face-to-face or virtual) every single day.
When “Plan A” Isn’t Working: 5 Ways to Include & Support Students with Complex Needs
So much is new and different in a school year focused on social distancing, tech-driving learning, and virtual teaching. These challenges are daunting for many educators, but they may seem nearly impossible to navigate for those who teach students with complex support needs (e.g., multiple disabilities, significant intellectual disabilities, autism). In this new webinar, Dr. Kluth will address the needs of these students and address the struggles teachers and families are facing in the age of e-learning. She will provide five recommendations for making the most out of the virtual classroom. The session includes recommendations for working with families, ideas for collaborating with paraprofessionals, and suggestions for connecting learning objectives to activities completed at home.
Joyful Learning in Challenging Times
We are teaching in challenging times. Therefore, both students (and their educators) need joy, novelty, and connection more than ever before. This session will provide ideas for adding brain breaks and movement, mindfulness strategies, humor, and games to your K-12 lessons. Participants will learn the rationale for focusing on active and responsive learning during distance education and will be invited to try several of the techniques with fellow participants. BYORC [Bring your own rubber chicken.]
Satisfactory Completion for Live and Virtual Courses: Credit for attending a course is based on your signature on the sign in sheet as well as sign out sheet. All virtual courses will be held via Zoom. Once registered, an email will be sent a week before the session with the link and instructions on how to join the Zoom Meeting/ Webinar. If attending a virtual course, attendance is based on your virtual signature in and out of the session. You will be asked to type your full name into the chat feature on Zoom when you enter the meeting and again type your full name before you leave the meeting. Failure to provide a virtual signature in and out may result in partial or no credit. Live Zoom Webinars will track your attendance automatically. Participants are expected to attend the entire session to earn credit. Partial attendance may result in partial or no PD credit.
All participants must complete an electronic evaluation of the class within two weeks of the session or final session to be sent a certificate. Individual courses may specify additional requirements for satisfactory completion, please check the course description for additional requirements.
Cost Information: Workshop fee waived for NSSED employees, Member District employees, and parents of students in our member districts. For individual participants who do not meet the above criteria, this course participation fee is $75.00 per session.
Cancellations: There is no cancellation fee, though we ask for advanced notice to open the spot for another person. NSSED reserves the right to cancel any workshop due to low enrollment.
Refunds: NSSED does not charge prior to the start of the course. If an individual attends the first day of a learning series but is unable to attend the remaining sessions, the school district that employs the participant is able to designate an alternate person. It is up the individual no longer attending the program to give their replacement the information learned in the first session.
Member Districts include: Northbrook 27, Northbrook 28, Sunset Ridge 29, Glenview/Northbrook 30, West Northfield 31, Glenview 34, Glencoe 35, Winnetka 36, Kenilworth 38, Lake Bluff 65, Lake Forest 67, Bannockburn 106, Deerfield 109, North Shore 112, Township HS 113, Lake Forest 115, New Trier 203, Glenbrook 225.
Have a question? Check out the Professional Learning FAQs or contact professionallearning@nssed.org.