This course is designed to provide educators with the knowledge and skills necessary to build strong, positive relationships with students and their families. Participants will explore the crucial role these relationships play in fostering student achievement and creating a supportive classroom culture. The course covers key topics such as effective communication techniques, cultural competence, and strategies for engaging parents and caregivers. Drawing on the influential work of Dr. Joyce L. Epstein, whose framework of six types of parental involvement has significantly shaped how schools engage with families, educators will gain deeper insights into fostering meaningful family-school partnerships. Additionally, the course will highlight the research of Dr. Anne T. Henderson, who has extensive publications on building strong relationships. Educators will also learn methods to support students’ emotional and academic needs, manage conflicts, and build collaborative partnerships with families. By the end of this course, participants will develop an implementation plan or presentation to demonstrate their knowledge and application of these strategies. Throughout the course, participants will engage in interactive dialogue through a variety of mediums to receive valuable feedback to reflect on from their instructor. All formative and summative projects are reviewed and graded, and feedback from the instructor will be provided allowing the participant to enhance their portfolio of educational tools/resources to impact their classroom or school community.

Course #: IMW25025
Dates: 02/03/25 - 03/02/25
Categories:

Educational Leadership Social & Emotional Learning Positive Classroom Management

Format:

Interactive

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Participants in this course will take an in-depth look at the research by Angela Duckworth and how “grit” is clearly correlated to student success in the classroom and beyond. Participants will learn about grit and how it differs from resilience. Numerous grit strategies, classroom management practices, and strategic lesson planning development will be explored, discussed, and developed so that the participant will have a working knowledge of how to embed grit into their classroom culture at the conclusion of the course. Participants will learn how grit strategies can increase achievement and improve wellbeing, thus changing their students’ development trajectory when faced with a problem or difficult task. Additional topics include how grit is related to talent. What is productive struggle? What does a gritty student look like? How to effectively educate parents on bringing grit elements into their children’s lives at home will be explored. The course will allow participants to dive into grit research and learn about online web resources to support their gritty classroom during the school year and develop grit-infused lessons. It will conclude with participants developing an implementation plan or presentation to demonstrate knowledge and application of how grit frameworks/strategies impact their classroom so students can improve education performance and well-being. Throughout the course, students will participate in interactive dialogue through a variety of mediums to receive valuable feedback to reflect on from their instructor. All formative and summative projects are reviewed, and graded, and feedback from the instructor will be provided allowing the student to enhance their portfolio of educational tools/resources to impact their classroom or school community.

Course #: IMW25026
Dates: 04/07/25 - 05/04/25
Categories:

Positive Classroom Management Content-Area Teaching

Format:

Interactive

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