“Work smarter, not harder!” AI tools give us the power to do just that. The possibilities are endless! Explore the opportunities for using AI-driven tools to design rubrics, protocols, instructional activities, and more! Also, generate higher-order questions while engaging with your class and write your talking points for lessons and videos. Learn the nuances of using AI as your instructional design assistant and your power partner in the classroom to meet individual student needs through greater personalized learning.

Syllabus:

1. Understanding different aspects of AI and how it can look in your classroom
2. Leveraging AI as a thought partner in instructional design to support your diverse student population
3. Exploring AI tools and resources to support building executive function and SEL skills
4. Leveraging AI to design activities, leveled facilitation questions, and more

Access to MyQPortal is included for all participants while enrolled in the VLC.

Explore the power of the 6 Ps of PBL. Design a PBL  task, a rubric to drive instruction, a scaffold of rich and diverse learning activities to implement with your students, and a plan for facilitating the learning.

Syllabus:

1. Understanding how “Raising Academic Rigor,” “Engaging Students in Learning,” and “Building Student Responsibility for Learning” go hand-in-hand
2. Exploring the 6 Ps of PBL: place, problem, project, profession, phenomena, and pursuit-based learning
3. Developing authentic, open-ended, problem-based tasks that create a felt need to learn
4. Designing analytic rubrics to offer clearly articulated expectations, a roadmap for all learners,  and challenges for gifted learners
5. Designing a scaffold for learning to develop differentiated learning and practice activities
6. Developing one or more other structures to support the unit, e.g.:
   1. Formative Assessments to drive instructional planning
   2. Facilitation Questions to probe students’ thinking at higher cognitive levels
   3. Facilitation Grid to manage your ongoing student facilitation

Participants in this course will use Dr. Nancy Sulla’s book Students Taking Charge as a resource. The assigned book must be purchased in advance. Access to MyQPortal is included for all participants while enrolled in the VLC.

As more schools honor brain research by offering students longer class periods and fewer courses per day, teachers must rethink how they use time for teaching and learning. This five-week course will explore two models for teaching in a block schedule, providing educators with strategies to maximize student engagement and deepen learning. Participants will design units and lessons tailored for extended periods, whether envisioning a fluid, student-driven approach or a structured beginning-middle-end format. Through hands-on planning and practical applications, this course will position educators to enhance learning and make the most of block scheduling.

Syllabus

1. Explore the neuroscience research for the “why” behind teaching in the block and how you can benefit from this research in the classroom
2. Explore two models for teaching in the block to identify your comfort level
3. Explore structures for maximizing learning in a block situation 
4. Develop lesson plans for teaching in the block

Participants in this course will use Students Taking Charge in Grades 6-12 by Dr. Nancy Sulla as a resource. The assigned book must be purchased in advance. Access to MyQPortal is included for all participants while enrolled in the VLC.

Social and emotional learning (SEL) plays a major role in one’s success in life and career. Being in touch with emotions, controlling them, setting and achieving goals, engaging with others in socially appropriate ways, demonstrating empathy toward others, establishing positive relationships, and taking responsibility in life are critical skills that are not necessarily included in your current curriculum. In this course, participants will develop strategies to promote self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship, and responsible decision-making skills in a student-driven learning environment.

Syllabus:

1. Developing an understanding of the core competencies of SEL as defined by CASEL
2. Developing an understanding of the interplay among PBL, structures, and teacher facilitation in any learning environment
3. Exploring how each of the core competencies of SEL is addressed through the goals of engagement, empowerment, and efficacy in a student-driven classroom
4. Developing a set of structures for building SEL in any learning environment
5. Developing a repertoire of teacher facilitation strategies for building SEL in any learning environment
6. Developing learning activities that promote SEL in any learning environment

Participants in this course will use Dr. Nancy Sulla’s book Reinventing the Classroom Experience as a resource. The assigned book must be purchased in advance. Access to MyQPortal is included for all participants while enrolled in the VLC.

Grounded in IDE Corp.’s 7 Essential Elements for ELL Support, this course equips educators with practical scaffolding strategies to enhance English Language Learners’ (ELLs) comprehension and engagement. Participants will explore structured supports while providing students with independent learning resources through differentiated instruction to create inclusive learning environments that foster academic success and language development.

Syllabus:

1. Explore IDE Corp.’s 7 Essential Elements for ELL Support, understand language proficiency levels, and examine the role of scaffolding in content and language development.
2. Design instructional activities and resources to support ELLs.
3. Design discussion prompts to foster academic conversations and structured writing activities while embedding language supports into lessons.
4. Explore differentiated strategies to promote independent learning and engagement.
5. Adapt scaffolding strategies based on assessments, and develop a scaffolded lesson plan for immediate classroom use.