professional development

Did you know that Elkhart Community Schools has an entire professional development team that is looking to get out into buildings to help you feel successful in the classroom every day? We now have a ✨NEW✨ training request form that you can use to request help in your building or with your PLC team.

We are excited to invite you to participate in Elkhart’s first Summer DOT Conference taking place on June 1 & 2, 2022. With a focus on Tier 1 Instruction, the Summer DOT Conference will feature Elkhart’s best resource, our own teachers, teaching other teachers. We believe you are the heart and soul of our district, and have amazing ideas and strategies to share. Our hope is that every teacher walks away with one thing they plan to take with them into the 2022-2023 school year.  Interested in sharing your best one thing you do with students to make sure they’re...

This week, we’re going to change up the PD and PLC process slightly from weeks past. Kat and I have noticed a shift in the questions we’re getting and in the needs of staff across the district. To respond, we’re going to try an experiment with PD on Tuesday and the way we run PLC discussions on Thursday. All sessions are posted, and you can take a look now. Unified Professional Development Each PD session this week is geared toward general instruction and will include experts in ELL instruction, special education, high ability, and technology. The topics cover all grade...

Each week, Kat and Brian are working to provide a number of choices for PD, PLC discussions, and other support options each week. Our goal is to make sure you have the support you need when you need it. In this post, we’ll break down all three options at your disposal. Tuesday: All the PD Every Tuesday, you can attend any number of PD options available online. These are designed to teach a skill or tool to help you teach and communicate more effectively with students and parents. Brian and Kat split the load and offer sessions on the hour...

Okay, so it’s not quite a bracket but you have to admit the title is catchy. This spring our PD website is overflowing with options for Elkhart teachers! The Ambassadors have been working on several options to carry on the energy from the secondary institute on February 6th and to prepare for our next eLearning Day on April 1st, which will be the first eLearning day for the elementaries. (Seriously, it’s on April 1st, this is not an early joke.) We’re going to try a few new methods for offering PD that makes it easier on you to attend and...

It’s been a while since we’ve sent an update of upcoming professional development available. Here’s a list of the currently scheduled workshops for November and December 2019. You can sign up for all PD options on the PD website. November Date/Time Title Location Weds 11/20 @ 2:50 – 3:20 ECS Staff Site Overview Online Fri 11/22 @ 9:00 – 10:30 SIOP Module 3 Make Up PLC at the Admin Building Tues 11/26 @ 12:00 – 4:00 CPI Refresher Course PLC at the Admin Building December Date/Time Title Location Tues, 12/10, 7:30 – 3:00 CPI Full Training PLC at the Admin...

Last year, we experimented with creating online PD through Canvas so you can work on buildings skills on your own schedule. We had some success, but the major feedback was that the course was too big and felt overwhelming. This year, we’re going to build out some micro-courses which focus on single, specific skills or applications. To start, we broke out our Digital Instructor course into six micro-courses (three or four short modules each). This means you sign up for what you want to do, when you want to do it. All of the available courses are on the Elkhart...

If you’re looking for some summer PD, the website is full of offerings! From the ELA adoption workshops to Instructional Tech events, there’s something for everyone. Highlights ELA Adoption – Grades K-6 have a new ELA curriculum. A two-part workshop series runs all summer so you can get up to speed with the new materials. Elementary 1:1 Workshops – If you’re one of the buildings going rolling your iPads out in the fall, you have a two-day workshop to attend with your colleagues to get ready. Standards-Based Grading – If you’re interested in learning more about a different grading method...