All In: Everyone's Unique, Everyone Belongs - Special Education Inclusive Practices

In this course, Jessica Saum, the 2022 Arkansas Teacher of the Year, will lead discussions about one of her passions - inclusive education. These discussions will focus specifically on changes in classrooms throughout Arkansas and how to meet the needs of all students. Panelists will present evidence on the benefits of inclusion, discuss what an inclusive classroom setting looks like, and review laws concerning the provision of special education services. The goal is to offer background information, techniques, teaching strategies, and tips to help families and teachers as they navigate through the many transitions of their students' educational journeys.

Using Evaluation Data to Plan for Specially Designed Instruction

This course utilizes High-Leverage Practices 4, 5, and 6 to provide the learner with an overview of the types of data that a special education teacher will use when planning specially designed instruction, emphasizing the importance of using a variety of assessment techniques to evaluate students with special needs. Learners will delve into how a special education teacher, along with members of the IEP team, can effectively communicate assessment results to families and collaborate with them to create a well-designed IEP that reflects the student’s strengths and areas of need. Finally, the course will address how data is used to determine special education eligibility, inform instructional practices, and monitor progress.

Autism: An Overview

This online professional development course, directed and produced by Connect with Kids Network (CWKN), was designed as an overview of Autism Spectrum Disorder. Its purpose is to increase the knowledge base of licensed educators and administrators and to facilitate learning for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Stacey DeWitt, founder and president of CWKN, states: "In this four-part professional development program, you will get to know the Nelsons and many others who are living with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Through their stories, interviews with experts, and research-based information, we hope you will gain a better understanding of how to identify and support social communication and behavioral challenges associated with ASD."

CCSS Institute #4: Learning Progressions in ELA and Math (5-10-12)

This Institute is presented by the Arkansas Department of Education and focuses on the learning progressions within the Common Core State Standards for Math and English Language Arts.

CCSS Institute #9: PARCC Content Model Frameworks (2-15-13)

The Arkansas Department of Education hosted this five-hour institute on February 15, 2013 to help teachers and curriculum directors understand and use the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) Model Content Frameworks for English Language Arts (ELA)/Literacy (Grades 3-11) and the PARCC Model Content Frameworks for Mathematics (Grades 3-11). 

Both documents were developed by PARCC to support the implementation of the Common Core State Standards and to inform the development of item specification and blueprints for the PARCC assessments. As such, the PARCC Model Content Frameworks serve as useful tools for classroom teachers and curriculum developers by providing insight into key areas of focus of the CCSS and PARCC assessments as well as the instructional shifts needed for successful implementation in the classroom.

A Vision and Plan for Science Teaching and Learning

This course provides a vision and plan for classroom instruction consistent with the Framework for K-12 Science Education and Next Generation Science Standards. Participants engage in a science performance that models quality classroom instruction and receive an instructional sequence that can be applied across all grade levels.

This presentation with Brett Moulding was taped on November 7, 2014 during the Arkansas Curriculum Conference at the Marriott Hotel in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Foundations for C3 Inquiry and The Inquiry Design Model (IDM): Part One

Professor John Lee (North Carolina State University) and Professor Kathy Swan (University of Kentucky) give an overview of the inquiry-based C3 Framework for teaching social studies at all grade levels. They describe their Inquiry Design Model (IDM) as a pedagogically logical blueprint for learning that begins with "compelling questions" to activate prior knowledge and stimulate interest in students. The IDM then takes students through skill-building "formative performance tasks" to the goal of constructing sound arguments in answer to compelling questions.

This presentation was taped at the Arkansas Educational Television Network studios in Conway, Arkansas on June 6, 2015.

Foundations for C3 Inquiry and The Inquiry Design Model (IDM): Part Two

This course is part two of a two-part presentation regarding the C3 Framework for social studies instruction and its primary pedagogical tool, the Inquiry Design Model (IDM). In this course, Professors John Lee (North Carolina State University) and Kathy Swan (University of Kentucky) primarily focus on "taking informed action" — school or community student involvement related to their studies — and proper selection and use of source material upon which students will base their ideas.

This presentation was taped at the Arkansas Educational Television Network studios in Conway, Arkansas on June 17, 2016.

Foundations for C3 Inquiry and the Inquiry Design Model (IDM): Part Three

Dr. John Lee (North Carolina State University) and Dr. Kathy Swan (University of Kentucky) begin this course with a brief review of the C3 Teachers Inquiry Design Model (IDM), which is described with great detail in Parts One and Two.

This course focuses on question design and the selection of sources during the inquiry building process conceptualized within the College, Career, and Civic Life Framework’s Inquiry Arc. Follow along with the group of teachers in the workshop and build the beginning of your own inquiry as the professors take participants through the steps of using the IDM Blueprint Template. Please note that the work begun in this course will be continued within Part Four of the series. We advise that these two courses be taken in order.

This course was recorded on June 19, 2016 at AETN studios in Conway, Arkansas.

Foundations for C3 Inquiry and the Inquiry Design Model (IDM): Part Four

Dr. John Lee (North Carolina State University) and Dr. Kathy Swan (University of Kentucky) continue their presentation of the Inquiry Design Model (IDM). Parts One and Two describe this process in detail, and Part Three focuses on the creation of questions and the selection of sources during the inquiry building process conceptualized within the College, Career, and Civic Life Framework’s Inquiry Arc.

In Part Four, follow along with the teachers in the audience and finish building the inquiries you began working on during the previous course. After designing the inquiries’ formative tasks, the professors take participants through the use of the IDM Generator step-by-step in order to add completed IDM Blueprint Templates to the C3 Teachers database of inquiries. Please note that this course is a continuation of the work began within Part Three of the series. We advise that these two courses be taken in order.

This course was recorded on June 20, 2016 at AETN studios in Conway, Arkansas.