Professional Development

 

Professional Development

Praxis help and information
Check out NEA Foundation grants
DSEA training and workshops available
Specialists: don't let your license expire!

Registrations are limited; sign up is on a first-come, first-served basis.

Through the News Journal’s Newspaper in Education (NIE) sponsorship program, teachers/students will be able to access the News Journal at home, on their laptops, and in the computer labs through our Electronic Edition (E-Edition). 

2010 “Sign on to Literacy” Program ivites teachers to teach writing skills using the electronic edition of the News Journal, as well as The Constitution in the News.
Sponsored by DUPONT

With the NEW E-Edition of the News Journal, teachers will have on-line access to:
(Hard copies of guides and contest rules will also be mailed to participating teachers)
·        “Teaching Writing Skills using the E-Edition” guide introduces students to the E-Edition of the News Journal while teaching them how to build the skills that will make them better at expository, persuasive and other forms of writing.
·        “The Constitution in the News” guide will teach your students how the Constitution affects their lives by looking at constitutional issues and court cases that have made news in the last several years.  Page after page, lessons will focus on issues that affect students.

Deadline to Sign up is August 30, 2010
Licenses to access the E-Edition are limited; sign up is on a first-come, first-served basis.

To participate or learn more about the FREE DuPont “Sign on to Literacy” sponsored program, please call
           
Shirley P. Roane, NIE Manager at
(302) 324-2502, (800) 235-9100 ext 2502
or e-mail sprice@delawareonline.com. key word Literacy

New on-line series -- Using CBM for RTI 

Using curriculum-based measurement (CBM), educators can identify student needs and make informed decisions about what supports and interventions are appropriate. This is especially important for effective implementation of response to intervention (RTI) frameworks.

NEA is a primary partner for the National Center on Response to Intervention (RTI), a federally-funded project housed at the American Institutes for Research. Below is a message announcing the launch of their new on-line professional development module series. These on-line resources are free and have been approved (vetted) by the U.S. Department of Education.

Find out what CBM is and how to use it to enhance Response to Intervention (RTI) implementation.

Attention specialists: Don't let your professional license expire

  Many specialists are licensed by both the Dept. of Education and their professional boards (such as school nurses), but some are not licensed by DoE. They are only licensed by their professional organizations. These include speech language pathologists, audiologists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, and ROTC instructors.
   DSEA recently learned of several situations in which members employed as these types of specialists mistakenly believed that they did not have to keep their license/certification current with their professional board if their practice is limited to school settings.
   This is not the case! You must maintain your license/certificate in these areas in Delaware in order to practice in a public school district.
   DSEA has assisted several members who found themselves in front of their professional licensing board through the process to secure or maintain their license but they still face investigation and possibly criminal charges for the unauthorized practice of their profession.
   "Hopefully the investigators will reach the same conclusion as the licensure board that the individuals did not intentionally ignore the licensure requirements" states DSEA General Counsel Jeff Taschner. "The clear lesson that needs to be taken from these situations," he adds, "is that every individual is charged with the responsibility of knowing and complying with the state licensure requirements."

   Please spread the word so that this does not happen again.

NEA offers PRAXIS Study Guide

As part of its commitment to seeing highly-qualified teachers placed in every classroom, NEA has developed an online tutorial for Praxis II Principles of Learning and Teaching, one of several licensure exams required in many states.
Delaware does not require that new educators pass the standardized Principals of Learning and Teaching test before they can become licensed, but many states do. Check it out .
For more information, contact Kimberly Anderson , NEA Student Program, (202) 822-7163.

Educational Testing Service, creators of Praxis I, II and ParaPro certification tests

Praxis Prep Info, an information site for soon-to-be teachers looking for help with the Praxis exams required for certification to teach in Delaware and most other states. This site, administered by the Graduate Education Information Service (GEIS), offers tips, a complete Praxis I practice test and hundreds of Praxis II questions.

Teaching Science in the 21st Century: Part 6 in a series from NSTA Reports
The sixth installment in NSTA Reports series is titled Virtual Professional Development: The Good, the Bad, and the Future.
Written by Karen J. Charles and Jane E. Griffin, the piece begins Improving science programs for students means improving professional development for their teachers."
As curriculum materials and instructional programs evolve, educators need to know how to use new textbooks and materials based on inquiry and on cognitive research. They also need to know how to establish collaborative learning environments in which teachers can learn and grow while studying these new materials (Nelson 2006). What does this mean for professional development? What are the new tools and strategies that can meet the demands of a new workforce, one raised on 24/7 access to technology, to information, and to peers? Most of us are familiar with the term online professional development, but we would say that our experiences with it have been less than satisfactory.

This series offers opinion pieces by many of the leaders in science education today.
To read the sixth installment in the series, click here.

Think Big !

The NEA Foundation for the Improvement of Education (NFIE) now offers certain grants on an ongoing, year-round basis.
Over 300 small grants of $1,000 to $3,000 are awarded each year to fund your BIG ideas. The NEA Foundation's grants fund classroom innovations or professional development for improved practice in public schools and higher education institutions.
Apply today. Get an application here or call 202-822-7840.

The NEA Foundation and NEA Teacher Quality Department announce grants of up to $100,000 for partnerships inclusive of a state affiliate and at least one local affiliate and school district.
Act quickly to take advantage of this opportunity to develop bold new ideas and incentives to attract and retain accomplished teachers in hard-to-staff schools establish innovative policies and practices, and feature the leadership of National Board Certified and other accomplished teachers.
To apply, go to The NEA Foundation web site and submit a completed application as an email attachment to rgamen@nea.org at the NEA Foundation. You will also find the grant guidelines on the web site. No paper involved!

DSEA offers Training and Professional Development tailored to your needs

In addition to various classes, DSEA can offer special, just-for-you and/or your local training.

Talk to anyone who has attended DSEA training, and they'll tell you how beneficial - and fun - it was. Training comes in all shapes and sizes, depending on need. Requests come to DSEA staff through local leaders , local Instruction and Professional Development committees, and, of course, directly from you.

Many times our training is tailored for a particular situation.

Also available -
 The Law and You
Dealing with Difficult People
Conflict Resolution
Mediation techniques
Managing Stress

Interested? Contact your DSEA UniServ Director.

© 2010 Delaware State Education Association. All rights reserved.