ESC Plans for 2010-2011 Professional Development

As educators, we are constantly challenged to be learners.  We learn from our experiences, we learn from our students, we learn from our colleagues, and we learn from experts in the field.  Our Professional Development commitment at the Greene ESC is to provide, support, and promote those learning opportunities.  During the 2009-2010 school year, we sponsored more than 40 professional development offerings which were attended by approximately 1400 participants representing over 85 school districts/organizations.

Currently, we are busy planning and scheduling our professional development offerings for the 2010-2011 school year.  Some of the options we are considering   include:

1) A series of workshops on Autism including Understanding & Supporting Students with Autism, Strategies in Practice: Classroom Supports that Work, and Introduction to Structured Teaching & Applied Behavioral Analysis,

2) A series for Paraprofessionals, including Basics and Best Practices, Paraprofessionals as Job Coaches, Disability Categories & Strategies to support Instruction, and Behavior Functions & Interventions

3) A Mental Health series to include Understanding and Preventing Youth Suicide, Safety & Violence Prevention Training, Substance Abuse Information & Prevention, and Cultural Competency

4) A Technology series to include Using I-Photo & I-Tunes, Using Flip Video & I-Movie, Integrating Wiki-spaces in the Instruction Process

In addition to these plans, Brenda Noble, Director of Preschool Programs, will continue her workshops for preschool teachers, and our Gifted Coordinators, Barb McDermott and Laura Dailey will offer a workshop on Supporting Instruction for Accelerated Students.

We are always seeking feedback for Professional Development that will meet the needs of area educators, so if you have a suggestion or professional development need, contact Donna Shoup, our Professional Development Coordinator at dshoup@greeneesc.org.  We welcome your input as we strive to make 2010-2011 a great year for professional development at Greene ESC!