Continuing Professional Studies

Course Directory

Explore our short-format courses offered for CTLE hours, Continuing Education Units, or graduate-level credit.

Extend your learning and deepen your impact as an educator in one of our online or short-format continuing education courses and workshops. Designed for working educators and led by experts in the field,  these classes are strongly grounded in theory and tailored to meet the needs and interests of educators and practitioners at all levels.

See below for a complete list of courses and discover the right fit for you.

Please note: Courses are offered online and on campus. Check the current course schedule for details.

Courses are offered year-round:

  • Fall (October – December)
  • Spring (January – May)
  • Summer 2 (July – early August)

CPS Course Schedule    Register

Career Development

  • American Sign Language: Module One

    Course Number:  LANG760N

    Focus On:  Across Ages

    Category:  Career Development

    Term(s) Offered:  Summer 2, Online

    Offered for Credit: 1 or CEU or CTLE hours

    This course offers an introductory immersion approach to American Sign Language in communication with deaf persons. ASL may also be explored as an alternate means of communication with hearing children with language disorders who may be delayed in acquiring spoken English. Sessions will focus on aspects of deaf culture and the vitality and rich potential of American Sign Language communication. ASL lab practice opportunities will be built into the schedule.

    The benefits of learning ASL include:

    • Enhances cognition, creativity and abstract thinking;
    • Enhances your communication skills through the use of Gesture and signs for working with language barriers;
    • Improves your ability to communicate with the approximately 36 million, or 1 out of 10 people with hearing loss in the United States;
    • Increases awareness of hand and eye coordination, and the use of spatial relations;
    • Opens your eyes to become more aware of your peripheral vision and surroundings; and
    • Provides a new skill in communicating visually with diverse populations in different situations.
  • American Sign Language: Module Two

    Course Number:  LANG761N

    Focus On:  Across Ages

    Category:  Career Development

    Term(s) Offered:  on hiatus

    Offered for Credit: 1 or CEU or CTLE hours

    This course offers an immersion approach to American Sign Language in communication with deaf persons. The course builds on Module One and is designed to provide students with an essential fundamental knowledge of the language, its culture, and its grammatical principles. Prerequisite: LANG 760N or permission of instructor.

  • American Sign Language: Module Three

    Course Number:  LANG762N

    Focus On:  Across Ages

    Category:  Career Development

    Term(s) Offered:  On haitus

    Offered for Credit: 1 or CEU or CTLE hours

    This course is the third and most advanced module of the American Sign Language series. Sessions led by an educator who is herself deaf continue the immersion approach to American Sign Language. The course builds on the skills and abilities developed in the first two modules, further extending knowledge of the language, its culture, grammatical principles, and skill in communication. Prerequisite: LANG 762N or permission of instructor.

  • Art Studio: Discovering Self While Learning More about Drawing, Painting, and Collage

    Course Number:  ARTS500N

    Focus On:  Across Ages

    Category:  Career Development

    Term(s) Offered:  Summer 2, Online

    Offered for Credit: 2 or CEU or CTLE hours

    Join us this summer for virtual studio art time with Maria Elena Richa. This course will provide you with an opportunity to explore and discover properties of two-dimensional and three-dimensional materials, such as paint, cardboard, and textiles. During our time together, you will develop and have exposure to: language of art along with concepts of art, such as composition, line, color, and form. Scaffolded lessons will build confidence and skills each day along with a strong foundation for future art endeavors.

  • Picture Book Workshop

    Course Number:  TEWS830N

    Focus On:  Across Ages

    Category:  Career Development, Online

    Term(s) Offered:  Summer 2, Fall

    Offered for Credit: CEU or CTLE hours

    If you ever thought: I have always wanted to write (or finish!) that picture book, here is a chance to get going. This is a nuts-and-bolts workshop that focuses on making your story better. Rhythm. Pacing. Voice. Dialogue. Universal themes. Choosing just the right words. These are just some of the things we will look at with a view to giving a uniquely picture book shape as well as your own very personal touch to that story. Participants should come to class with at least the beginnings of a story. *Offered in collaboration with Bank Street’s Center for Children’s Literature.

  • Starting Your Own Tutoring Practice

    Course Number:  TEWS652N

    Focus On:  Across Ages

    Category:  Career Development

    Term(s) Offered:  Spring, Online

    Offered for Credit: CEU or CTLE hours

    Want to start a tutoring practice, but don’t know where to begin? This workshop will address how to determine what kind of tutoring makes the most sense for you and how to market yourself and your skills. Discussions will include such topics as: what to charge, tutoring at your home vs. student home vs. school, cancellation practices, becoming a DOE provider, where to get materials, policies, and professional practices.

  • The Writer’s Room: Fine-tuning Your Story in a Supportive Community

    Course Number:  TEWS810N

    Focus On:  Across Ages

    Category:  Career Development

    Term(s) Offered:  Fall, Spring, Summer 2

    Offered for Credit: CEU or CTLE hours

    We are offering this lab for a small group of committed writers who enjoy the writing process and want to come together each month to share their works in progress and receive feedback from other committed writers. This is a safe, supportive place to try out what you’ve been working on independently in a facilitated workshop. Occasional guest speakers from the publishing world will join the group to discuss different aspects of writing, such as writing from an illustrator’s perspective or to provide personal viewpoints on the writer’s experience.

  • Writing for Children: Finding Your Voice

    Course Number:  TEWS598N

    Focus On:  Across Ages

    Category:  Career Development

    Term(s) Offered:  Fall, Spring, Summer 2, Online

    Offered for Credit: CEU or CTLE hours

    So you want to write a children’s book! This workshop will give you the boost you’ve been waiting for and get you started on that picture book, novel, or young reader, once and for all. In this friendly, supportive environment, class discussions will focus on all aspects of good storytelling and good writing, including tone of voice, clear dialogue, characters who feel real, and beautiful language. The focus is on the exciting process of finding your voice and writing not just a story, but one that really means something to you. Teachers will gain a better understanding of the writing process so that they, in turn, can help their students find pleasure in crafting their stories. Everyone who takes this course will come away with new insights about the beautiful power of storytelling, and why children’s books will always count.

Childhood/Elementary School

  • Building Computational Fluency: Multiplication & Division

    Course Number:  TEED346N

    Focus On:  Grades 3 – 6

    Category:  Childhood / Elementary School

    Term(s) Offered:  Summer 2, On Campus

    Offered for Credit: 1 or CEU or CTLE hours

    When teachers understand how children make sense of multiplication and division, they are better able to create strategies that support students in developing computational fluency. Using student work samples and video clips, we will explore how children develop meaningful, efficient, and accurate computational strategies for multiplication and division. We’ll examine mathematical ideas central to multiplication and division, thereby deepening mathematical content knowledge. Additionally, we’ll analyze the role of the traditional algorithm in a standards-based elementary mathematics classroom.

  • Early Number, Addition and Subtraction

    Course Number:  TEED650N

    Focus On:  Grades K – 4

    Category:  Childhood / Elementary School

    Term(s) Offered:  Summer 2, Online

    Offered for Credit: 1 or CEU or CTLE hours

    How do children develop computational strategies to help them add and subtract? This course explores how children make sense of these operations. Through video clips and student work samples, we’ll examine effective, efficient, and accurate problem-solving strategies that children can use to master addition and subtraction. We’ll discuss the role of the standard algorithm in a standards-based mathematics classroom and consider the teacher’s role in helping children develop computational fluency. In addition, you will examine mathematical ideas central to addition and subtraction, thereby deepening our own mathematical content knowledge.

  • Fractions, Decimals, and Percent Looking at Models, Big Ideas, Strategies & Context

    Course Number:  TEED652N

    Focus On:  Grades 2 – 6

    Category:  Childhood / Elementary School

    Term(s) Offered:  Alternate Summer 2, On Campus

    Offered for Credit: 2 or CEU or CTLE hours

    This course will examine how children construct an understanding of fractions, decimals, and percents. We will look at various visual models that help make sense of these topics. We’ll examine big ideas and strategies central to fractions, decimals, and percents and look at ways to design a curriculum that elicits these models, big ideas, and strategies. Throughout the entire day’s discussions and activities, we will develop realistic context that allow students to connect fractions, decimals, and percents to the world outside of school.

  • Language Matters! Supporting Mathematical Discourse in the Classroom

    Course Number:  TEWS749N

    Focus On:  Ages 5 – 13

    Category:  Childhood / Elementary School

    Term(s) Offered:  Summer 2

    Offered for Credit: CEU or CTLE hours

    This workshop will explore the role of discourse in the mathematics classroom. How do we support the development of ideas and language in mathematics?  All students, including ELLs and those with language-based disabilities, need supported opportunities to communicate their mathematical thinking and develop mathematical language. The workshop will focus on the “why” of mathematics while exploring strategies to support and develop productive discourse for all learners in a classroom.

  • Meeting the Diverse Needs of Beginning Readers

    Course Number:  TEED565N

    Focus On:  Grades K – 3

    Category:  Childhood / Elementary School

    Term(s) Offered:  Spring, Summer 2

    Offered for Credit: 1 or CEU or CTLE hours

    In every classroom, some children take longer to master beginning reading skills.  Teachers, therefore, need to develop a variety of materials and approaches to help all children, and particularly those having difficulty learning to read. We will discuss and demonstrate strategies you can use to enhance children’s decoding and encoding skills. We will also review methods and engage in activities designed to improve reading comprehension skills. You will have the opportunity to explore how you can use these techniques in your individual school settings. some teaching experience is required.

  • Mindfulness in Education

    Course Number:  TEWS712N

    Focus On:  Ages 4 – 11 Years

    Category:  Childhood / Elementary School

    Term(s) Offered:  Spring, Summer 2

    Offered for Credit: CEU or CTLE hours

    Mindfulness is a particular way of paying attention to internal thoughts, sensations, emotions and external stimuli with kindness. Practicing Mindfulness in educational settings promotes self-regulation and metacognition, while enhancing attention and decreasing stress.  In this workshop, you will learn activities to use in your classroom to support classroom instruction, community building, and social-emotional learning. We will also explore the history of Mindfulness, current Mindfulness research, and the impact it has on our minds and bodies. For teachers, administrators, parents, caregivers, child life specialists and museum educators.

  • The Essential Orton-Gillingham

    Course Number:  SPED585N

    Focus On:  Grades 1 – 6

    Category:  Childhood / Elementary School

    Term(s) Offered:  Fall, Spring, Summer 2, Online and On Campus

    Offered for Credit: 2 or CEU or CTLE hours

    The Orton-Gillingham method of teaching decoding, spelling, and handwriting is a multisensory approach that has been used successfully with children who experience difficulty learning these skills. This course trains you in Orton-Gillingham-based techniques using the PAF Reading Program (formerly known as Preventing Academic Failure Reading Program), which is research based and well-suited for use in a variety of educational settings. You will leave with an in-depth understanding of the specifics of an Orton-Gillingham approach to teaching reading and you will learn how to incorporate this methodology into your practice. This is a fast-paced, intensive class intended for experienced educators who have familiarity with the different components of learning to read, including decoding, fluency, and comprehension. Your prior knowledge of these concepts will serve as the foundation to learn this multisensory approach to the teaching of reading. Direct all questions to cps@bankstreet.edu. Required text: Preventing Academic Failure, by Phyllis Bertin and Eileen Perlman (Monroe Associates Publishers).

  • Plant-based Learning: Gardening Projects in Classroom

    Course Number:  TEED649N

    Focus On:  Pre-k – 4th Grade

    Category:  Early Childhood

    Term(s) Offered:  Spring

    Offered for Credit: 1 or CEU or CTLE hours

    A growing body of research indicates that plant-based learning projects, such as indoor gardening and school gardens, are powerful teaching tools inside and outside the classroom. These activities provide an atmosphere that incorporates hands-on learning and strengthens academic, personal and social development while encouraging children to develop critical skills such as healthful living, stewardship, decision-making, and self-sufficiency. This course provides participants with an introduction to botany and applications for plant-based learning inside and outside the classroom, even in limited space. We will move beyond bean investigations by exploring cutting edge methods for growing plants and for learning through plant-based projects. Cross-curricular connections will be made through scientific inquiry and literacy as we explore how to use plants to understand phenomena and the world we inhabit. Participants will receive seeds, plants and materials for continued exploration at their schools.

Early Childhood

  • Art With Young Children

    Course Number:  TEED501N

    Focus On:  Ages 3 – 8 Years

    Category:  Early Childhood

    Term(s) Offered:  Spring, On Campus

    Offered for Credit: 1 or CEU or CTLE hours

    This course shows you how to provide rich art experiences for young children in a variety of settings. Participants will work with art materials and consider the contribution of art to children’s learning and development. Other topics to be discussed include: setting up art areas; selecting, presenting, and storing materials; planning a meaningful sequence of art experiences; how to make appropriate comments on children’s work; and ways to make art an integral part of the curriculum.

  • Behavior Management Strategies for the Classroom Teacher

    Course Number:  SETE508N

    Focus On:  Pre-k – 8th Grade

    Category:  Early Childhood

    Term(s) Offered:  Fall Online, Summer 2 On Campus

    Offered for Credit: 1 or CEU or CTLE hours

    Good classroom management is at the heart of effective teaching. This course is aimed at teachers in regular and special education settings who want to learn how to organize their classrooms to help students realize their maximum  potential while also keeping their classes on track. It includes a step-by-step approach for setting up and carrying out a behavior modification strategy. This course is intended for teachers with less than five years experience, but even more experienced professionals will come away with new techniques to add to their repertoire.

  • Bibliotherapy in the Early Childhood Setting

    Course Number:  SETE513N

    Focus On:  Preschool – 3rd Grade

    Category:  Early Childhood

    Term(s) Offered:  Summer 2, Online

    Offered for Credit: 1 or CEU or CTLE hours

    Bibliotherapy is the art of using children’s literature to help children understand difficult experiences, and resolve development issues that may interfere with their growth. You will learn how to choose books that address developmental and experiential difficulties. You also will explore how the use of story can help children better understand their own personal experience and learn how to make books that address children’s individual and group needs.

  • Constructing a Democratic Classroom: Focus On Routines, Rules and Transitions

    Course Number:  TEED656N

    Focus On:  Ages 3 – 9 Years

    Category:  Early Childhood

    Term(s) Offered:  Alternating Fall, Summer 2, Online

    Offered for Credit: 1 or CEU or CTLE hours

    Routines, rules, and transitions may be thought of as providing the framework for the daily life of the classroom. The way in which they are constructed and carried out strongly affects the social, moral, and academic atmosphere in the setting. What does democracy mean in relation to routines, rules, and transitions? How can children have a voice in determining them? The ultimate goal is not simply to create order but also to encourage the development of both autonomy and a caring community. Topics to be considered are views of the nature of the child, developmental appropriateness, flexibility, the meaning of resistance, and how routines and transitions relate to academic learning and the various curriculum areas, particularly social studies. Teachers will examine and analyze the structures in their own and each others’ classrooms.

  • Designing Play-based Activities for the Pre-K – First Grade Classroom

    Course Number:  TEWS666N

    Focus On:  Grades Pre-k and K

    Category:  Early Childhood

    Term(s) Offered:  Summer 2, Online

    Offered for Credit: CEU or CTLE hours

    This workshop will focus broadly on how to design and set up activities to support curriculum in an integrated classroom based upon Bank Street model, with social studies as the core curriculum. We will discuss literacy, math, science, and art activities that incorporate work with materials and play. The workshop will include ways of making these activities more inclusive to address the needs of diverse student population. The unique and specific contexts of your settings will be taken into account and discussed.

  • Early Childhood Assessment

    Course Number:  SETE517N

    Focus On:  Ages Birth – 6 Years

    Category:  Early Childhood

    Term(s) Offered:  Not currently offered

    Offered for Credit: CEU or CTLE hours

    This workshop is designed to promote fluency in your early childhood assessment skills across all domains of development. We will review standardized tests such as the DAYC (Developmental Assessment of Young Children) and the Beery VMI (Visual Motor Integration) and help you polish your clinical observation skills. This course includes an overview of sensory integration processing and developmental domain integration. You will learn how one area of development influences others, and how a delay or disorder in one domain can impact on others.

  • Language Difference Versus Disoder in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students

    Course Number:  TEWS750N

    Focus On:  Ages 4 Years – 1st Grade

    Category:  Early Childhood

    Term(s) Offered:  Not currently offered

    Offered for Credit: CEU or CTLE hours

    The goal of this workshop is to enable teachers to differentiate instruction to support the language and literacy development of ELLs/dual language learners in their classroom. Topics include: clinical clues for differentiating language difference and language disorders, instructional strategies to support ELLs/dual language learners, and literacy development for ELLs/dual language learners. Participants will also review the stages of second language acquisition, especially as it relates to culturally and linguistically diverse students in mono and dual language settings. We will also provide strategies for working effectively with diverse families and students and explore best practice in establishing and increasing cross cultural competence in educational settings.

  • Motor Play to Enhance Growth in the Classroom

    Course Number:  TEWS715N

    Focus On:  Ages 1 – 6

    Category:  Early Childhood

    Term(s) Offered:  Summer 2, Online

    Offered for Credit: CEU or CTLE hours

    This course will demystify developmental concepts, such as sensory processing, regulation, and sensory integration. You will learn how motor play can impact energy level, attention, and a child’s ability to improve organizational skills. You will complete the course with a toolbox of activities to enhance fine and gross motor development, along with strategies to keep children alert, energized, and in control in the classroom setting. Discussions will include how to collaborate with families and caretakers in using motor play to extend skill-building to the home environment, along with neuroscience research underscoring the importance of sensory motor play for brain organization and building the foundation for lifelong learning.

  • Plant-based Learning: Gardening Projects in Classroom

    Course Number:  TEED649N

    Focus On:  Pre-k – 4th Grade

    Category:  Early Childhood

    Term(s) Offered:  Spring, Summer 2, Online

    Offered for Credit: 1 or CEU or CTLE hours

    A growing body of research indicates that plant-based learning projects, such as indoor gardening and school gardens, are powerful teaching tools inside and outside the classroom. These activities provide an atmosphere that incorporates hands-on learning and strengthens academic, personal and social development while encouraging children to develop critical skills such as healthful living, stewardship, decision-making, and self-sufficiency. This course provides participants with an introduction to botany and applications for plant-based learning inside and outside the classroom, even in limited space. We will move beyond bean investigations by exploring cutting edge methods for growing plants and for learning through plant-based projects. Cross-curricular connections will be made through scientific inquiry and literacy as we explore how to use plants to understand phenomena and the world we inhabit. Participants will receive seeds, plants and materials for continued exploration at their schools.

  • Play-based Curriculum in the Early Childhood Classroom (Preschool - 1st Grade)

    Course Number:  TEWS826N

    Focus On:  Preschool- 1st Grade

    Category:  Early Childhood, Online

    Term(s) Offered:  on haitus

    Offered for Credit: CEU or CTLE hours

    Participants will explore the role of play in a content rich and developmentally appropriate classroom. We will discuss the theory and application of play as a medium for learning in young children; the assessment of behavior and content through play; and the creation of play/learning environments in a variety of educational settings. In addition, participants will learn how to communicate with families to calm their fears and clarify the educational value of play. Participants will leave with strategies and techniques to expand their current play-based curriculum or introduce play-based activities to their traditional setting.

  • Play as the Tool of Early Intervention

    Course Number:  SPED550N

    Focus On:  Ages Birth – 8 Years

    Category:  Early Childhood

    Term(s) Offered:  Summer 2, On Campus

    Offered for Credit: 1 or CEU or CTLE hours

    Young children play to express feelings, gain mastery over materials, and find meaning in complex experiences. When an emotional crisis interferes, with a yound child’s development, play becomes an essential therapeutic tool as well as a diagnostic indicator. This course will utilize current theoretical perspectives to gain insight into children’s play. You will work with these theories to develop play techniques to use in early childhood classrooms and in individual theraphy sessions.  A basic understanding of early childhood development is required.

  • Reggio-Emilia Approach:interpret Theory & Practice for Schools in Us

    Course Number:  TEED654N

    Focus On:  Ages Infant  – 5 Years

    Category:  Early Childhood

    Term(s) Offered:  Fall, Spring, Summer 2, Online and On Campus

    Offered for Credit: 1 or CEU or CTLE hours

    The early childhood program found in Reggio-Emilia, Italy, incorporates an emphasis on the learning environment, proces vs. product, developmentally appropriate practice, and the importance of the community learners. Much of this philosophy reflects the culture of the Italians and is difficult to re-create in the United States. This workshop is meant to provide an introduction to the approach and will attempt to bridge The Reggio-Emilia theory with American culture. We will view the Reggio-Emilia approach as a means to combat the push-down curriculum, competition, product over process, and the jumping/skipping of learning stages we are now experiencing in this country.

  • Sounds in Motion: Development of Auditory Perception & Early Lit Skills Thru Use of Body Movement

    Course Number:  TEWS693N

    Focus On:  Pre-k – 1st Grade

    Category:  Early Childhood

    Term(s) Offered:  Fall, Spring, Summer 2, Online and On Campus

    Offered for Credit: CEU or CTLE hours

    This workshop is designed to teach educators a unique, engaging, and effective program that helps early learners in both regular and special education classes acquire phonemic awareness, listening, early literacy, vocabulary, and articulation skills through the use of body movements. The program has been shown to be beneficial to children who are English Language Learners, and student who qualify for Title 1 schools. Attendees will learn body movements for 40 phonemes, along with techniques for teaching developmental listening and language skills.

  • Supporting Emergent Literacy in the Classroom

    Course Number:  TEED630N

    Focus On:  Pre-School

    Category:  Early Childhood

    Term(s) Offered:  Spring, Summer 2

    Offered for Credit: 1 or CEU or CTLE hours

    This course will review the progression of literacy development for monolingual and multilingual learners. We will discuss how to plan developmentally appropriate literacy instruction, aligned with PreK for All standards and Creative Curriculum, for center-based, large, and small group instruction. We will explore methods of supporting children’s emerging phonemic, phonological, and print awareness as well as opportunities to incorporate oral language as the precursor for successful literacy. We will explore activities that provide opportunities for all children to be successful, including differentiating instruction for migrant youth. We will review markers for inconsistent literacy learning and strategies for intervention. You will have an opportunity to work together to develop lessons and infuse your classroom with literacy activities that can be implemented right away.

  • Supporting Language Development in the Classroom

    Course Number:  SEWS554N

    Focus On:  Ages 2 – 6 Years

    Category:  Early Childhood

    Term(s) Offered:  Summer 2

    Offered for Credit: CEU or CTLE hours

    This workshop is based on the premise that with increased opportunities to practice language in the classroom, young children will become more efficient communicators. Participants will be provided with a variety of classroom techniques that will engage children with a wide range of language abilities and will help them to listen, learn and communicate most effectively. You will learn to analyze teacher communication styles and how to best match them to the language

    learning styles of your students. Using a timeline for development as a foundation, we will review the course of typical language acquisition and contrast it with language delay, differences and disorders. We will use multi-sensory materials to practice how to incorporate language- stimulation techniques into daily lessons so as to seize all interactions as language learning opportunities.

  • The Youngest Scientists: Hands- On Adventures

    Course Number:  TEED531N

    Focus On:  Ages 3 – 8 Years

    Category:  Early Childhood

    Term(s) Offered:  Fall

    Offered for Credit: 1 or CEU or CTLE hours

    Bring out the inner scientist in your students and yourself with this course, which includes a wide range of easy-to-do scientific experiments and activities. Using familiar, easily obtainable materials and simple hands-on exercises that illustrate scientific principles, you can learn to make science both accessible and intriguing to children of any age. Some areas covered include: using your senses and scientific tools, science in the air, approaching art and cooking as science, studying living things, and additional adventures in chemistry, physics, electricity, and magnets.

  • Block Building and Dramatic Play as an Integral Part of the Early Childhood Curriculum

    Course Number:  EDUC 606N

    Focus On:  Pre-k – 2nd Grade

    Category:  Early Childhood

    Term(s) Offered:  Summer 2, On Campus

    Offered for Credit: 1 or CEU or CTLE hours

    Unit blocks and the dramatic play that accompanies block building offer children multiple and diverse opportunities to develop and express their understanding of the social and physical world in which they live. In this course, you will learn how to integrate block-building experiences into the curriculum and organize block-building areas in the classroom. You will examine how block building supports the development of numeracy, literacy, problem-solving, and creative thinking skills, along with social and emotional growth. Field trips—and the opportunities for the first-hand research that they provide—are an essential component of a block program, and will also be included. This course will also support participants in settings with limited or no blocks in applying a broader understanding of the importance of play with open-ended materials and advocating for such experiences in their settings.

  • The Spectrum of Play and Play on the Spectrum: Through a DIR/Floortime© Lens (Ages Birth–6)

    Course Number:  SPED587N

    Focus On:  Ages Birth – 6 Years

    Category:  Early Childhood

    Term(s) Offered:  Spring, Summer 2

    Offered for Credit: 1 or CEU or CTLE hours

    The course examines the play of neurotypical and neurodiverse children and the impact of individual differences in sensory and motor processing on development and play. A core feature of the course is how to employ the Developmental-Individual Difference-Relationship Model (DIR/Floortime) to progress play with children on the Autistic Spectrum. DIR expands and promotes symbolic play, the capacity to express the full range of emotions, and to regulate anxiety and behavior using a teacher-caretaker mediated approach. This course presents the developmental spectrum of play and the manner in which play supports the formation of self-regulation, is self-realizing, addresses all areas of development simultaneously and is spontaneous and intrinsically motivated without the need for teacher directed tasks. We will examine these themes as concept and practice. Throughout the course, you will have the opportunity to discuss challenges you may encounter related to children with whom you are working. The relationship between the material being presented and the use of play for both expressing and working through trauma, will be addressed.

  • Working Effectively with your Teaching Team

    Course Number:  TEWS672N

    Focus On:  Grades Pre-k and K

    Category:  Early Childhood

    Term(s) Offered:  Summer 2

    Offered for Credit: CEU or CTLE hours

    This workshop will explore the complex dynamics of working as a team in an early childhood classroom. here you will learn techniques for building a strong, dynamic teaching team, how to be an effective mentor; how to work collaboratively; and how to delegate responsibilities. We will discuss techniques that create the successful teamwork that benefits both children and teachers.

Leadership

  • Dynamic Leadership: Inspiring & Supporting Your Teaching Faculty

    Course Number:  LEAD528N

    Focus On:  Ages 3 – 10 Years

    Category:  Leadership

    Term(s) Offered:  Summer 2, On Campus

    Offered for Credit: 1 or CEU or CTLE hours

    This course is designed for administrators, program directors and emerging leaders working in early childhood and elementary school settings. Participants will identify opportunities and challenges inherent in the leadership role and examine ways to build engaging teaching and learning communities. Discussion will emphasize concrete ways to motivate, support, inspire and cultivate teacher leaders. Topics will include: creating positive school culture, building teams using assessment instruments, exploring effective ways to use meeting and professional development time, self as leaders, and maximizing on the potential of physical space in an educational setting.

  • Leadership in the Time of Covid-19: Staying Afloat, Staying Inspired

    Course Number:  LEWS575N

    Focus On:  Across Ages

    Category:  Leadership, Online

    Term(s) Offered:  Fall

    We are all facing extraordinary challenges that impact the way we convey reassurance and transparency. Join a cohort of leaders who are interested in learning from and with one another. Topics include how to anticipate, clarify, reassure, and lead in this uncertain and ambiguous time, as well as how to build a community that is responsive to current challenges. This discussion-based three-part session will provide time to process, reflect, iterate, and advance your work as a leader.

  • Leading Through the Lens of Equity: Incorporating Diverse Literature

    Course Number:  LEWS574N

    Focus On:  Grades K-8

    Category:  Leadership, Online

    Term(s) Offered:  Fall

    Participants will build their leadership capacity to engage in critical conversations through the lens of equity with regards to the inherent challenges faced by students with disabilities, children of color, LGBTQ, English language learners, socioeconomically disadvantaged, as well as unaccompanied youth. Taking into consideration the importance of representation within all facets of education, participants will work together to examine the importance of diverse literature and its’ incorporation into traditional unit plans and curriculum maps. Participants will further examine practical ways to embed diverse literature into everyday instruction and utilize such literature to engage learners and educators in critical conversations about social justice and racism. This class is designed for school and program administrators, teachers and emerging leaders.

Online

  • Dynamic Leadership: Everyone’s a Leader - Building Capacity

    Course Number:  LEWS571N

    Focus On:  Across Ages

    Category:  Leadership

    Term(s) Offered:  Spring

    This synchronous workshop will provide a facilitated discussion on a different leadership topic each week. The focus this spring is on supporting leaders to build the capacity of each staff member. Topics will include: identifying individual strengths, building collective strengths, empowerment and advancement/moving ideas forward. The format will consist of robust and participatory conversation, so you can learn from and with each other. Over the course of this three-part weekly series, leaders will discuss shared experiences in synchronous 1.5 hour sessions and develop ways to put ideas into action specific to their needs. This workshop is designed for administrators, program directors, and emerging leaders interested in developing their own professional growth.

  • Introduction to Illustration

    Course Number:  TEWS809N

    Focus On:  Across Ages

    Category:  Career Development

    Term(s) Offered:  Spring, Online

    Offered for Credit: CEU or CTLE hours

    Sure, you need drawing skills to illustrate a children’s book, but it’s the ability to tell a story visually that makes a children’s book illustrator. In this course, you will learn some of the basic tools including pacing, page-turns, character development and secondary storytelling. We will meet online for 1-hour synchronous sessions to introduce and explore the process and key concepts around illustration for children’s literature. Asynchronous work between sessions, such as illustrating a moment of a well-known fable, will give you the opportunity to apply the concepts introduced in the synchronous sessions. The goal is to better understand the illustration process and how to develop basic strategies to set you on the road to illustrating your own projects.

  • Leadership Learning Series: Building Optimal Teams

    Course Number:  LEWS573N

    Focus On:  Across Ages

    Category:  Leadership

    Term(s) Offered:  Fall

    The focus of this 3-part weekly series is to discuss shared experiences and develop ways to put ideas into action specific to your needs. During each session, the instructor will provide an in-depth look at a specific topic, followed by a robust and participatory conversation for the cohort to learn from and with each other. This workshop is designed for administrators, program directors and emerging leaders working in early childhood and elementary school settings. Fall topics include:

    • Defining Purpose
    • Why Collaborate
    • Taking Risks
  • Writing for Children III: Publishing 101

    Course Number:  TEWS808N

    Focus On:  Across Ages

    Category:  Online

    Term(s) Offered:  Spring

    Offered for Credit: CEU or CTLE hours

    So you’ve got a manuscript you’re happy with – now what? This online class will take you through the whole process from creation to post-publication. You’ll learn the basics about queries, agents, and the editorial process as well as how to find like minded writers and promote yourself and your work. Most importantly: you’ll learn what to and what not to do!