Professional development opportunities
Parent Teacher Home Visit Initiative
The National Education Association and Parent Teacher Home Visits Institute will be a part of the NEA’s partnership with Parent Teacher Home Visits, the Centers for Social Justice and Great Public Schools. The institute’s coaches will support participants to successfully launch a home visit practice by providing ongoing support to local union, community and school district partners. PTHV has recently adapted its model to include virtual home visits that build strong family-school partnerships during the current climate of remote learning. The institute will incorporate this new element into the curriculum. The application deadline is Feb. 5, and the institute will begin in March. Local unions can fill out applications at https://form.jotform.com/203558915605157.
AFT Share My Lesson Virtual Conference
AFT’s Share My Lesson has dozens of new professional development webinars—available now, for free—to help educators navigate this new learning landscape. The site is also hosting a virtual conference March 23-25. The conference will feature more than 30 webinars, and conversations on health and safety, learning recovery, social recovery, summer learning plans and school reopenings. For more information, go to www.sharemylesson.com/vc2021/savethedate. Educators can also be entered to win a virtual learning care package when they sign up to receive information about the conference registration.
Google Classroom, Seesaw webinar
The National Education Association has released a webinar for educators on facilitating quality practice with Google Classroom and Seesaw. Participants will learn best practices for online learning, including instructor presence, learning objectives, real world applications, clear expectations, engaging students, prompt feedback and netiquette. To access the webinar, go to www.nea.org/professional-excellence/professional-learning/resources/tq-distance-learning-webinar-2-facilitating.
Free Holocaust studies seminar
“Honoring Resilience: Learning from The Holocaust and the Dakota Exile” will be held July 11-17 at Saint Cloud State University. Sponsored by The Olga Lengyel Institute for Holocaust Studies and Human Rights, with additional support provided by Mount Zion Temple, Jewish Community Relations Council and the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Education at SCSU, the seminar is free of charge to participants. Attendees will explore lessons and activities for teaching about the Holocaust and Minnesota’s Dakota exile through personal testimonies and place-based experiences, including day trips to Mount Zion Temple and Dakota sites such as Oheyawahi. Participants will receive copies of relevant texts, other resources and 65 continuing education units. Attendees will also be eligible to apply for classroom mini-grants of up to $1,000 following completion of the seminar.
This is a semi-residential seminar experience, from Sunday evening through Saturday morning. Most meals and transportation to sites will be provided. Low-cost dorm housing will be available for those traveling from further distances. For further information, email merrymeltz@gmail.com. To apply, go to www.toli.us/satellite-program/st-paul.
Science standards, earth science cohorts
The Minnesota Science Teachers Association has information on the changing science standards, and with a group of educators, is working on professional development to help educators prepare for new content outlined in the new standards. The group is currently developing a weeklong workshop for sixth-grade teachers in the summer and continuing the next three summers. There is also a high school professional development cohort being developed that will begin in the summer of 2022. The educators working on these sessions are currently looking for input from educators on interest for these sessions. Go to www.mnsta.org/cgi/page.cgi/ES-TEP.html to learn more and complete the survey.
