Professional Learning Courses
Every district, school, teacher, and student is unique, which is why we fully customize all our professional learning courses by working closely with school leaders to create learning plans that will maximize student growth. Possible topics include but are not limited to:
Mathematics
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Building number sense
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Computational fluency
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NCTM's Eight Effective Mathematics Teaching Practices
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Implement tasks that promote reasoning and problem solving
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Use and connect mathematical representations
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Facilitate meaningful mathematical discourse
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Pose purposeful questions
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Build procedural fluency from conceptual understanding
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Support productive struggle in learning mathematics
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Elicit and use evidence of student thinking
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Differentiation
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Math workshop
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Utilizing formative and summative assessment data to drive instruction
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Increasing student thinking in math
Science
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Doing Science: Engaging in the Science and Engineering Practices
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Talk Moves to Support Productive Discussions in Science
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Write in Science: Science Notebook Strategies
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CER: Claims, Evidence, and Reasoning
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Formative Assessment Strategies for Science
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Making Sense of Crosscutting Concepts
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Surfacing Misconceptions: Teaching for Conceptual Change in Science
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Engineering in the Elementary Classroom
JOB-EMBEDDED COACHING
Research informs us that school-based professional learning is most effective when paired with job-embedded coaching. We believe that teachers have the greatest impact within the school system to impact student learning, so while students benefit from the guidance and support of a teacher walking with them along their learning journey, teachers benefit from a similar supportive relationship with our coaching team.
At Abacus, we believe that students and their needs should drive great instruction, so we utilize a student-centered coaching model which keeps student thinking and learning at the center of every coaching conversation. Abacus coaches and teachers collaborate and plan instructional strategies to move students towards identified targets and collect and analyze data in the form of student work, classroom conversations, and/or student conferences to evaluate student progress. While the agenda of each day may look different (i.e. planning, co-teaching, modeling, collecting/analyzing data, practicing new instructional skills, etc.), the purpose of each day remains the same: to increase student learning and understanding.
All students, teachers, and coaches deserve a trusting and supportive partner to help them reach their full potential as learners and doers of math and science. Our one-on-one and group coaching for coaches supports instructional leaders in developing their capacity to meet the needs of those they support within the classroom.