This is my Semester 1 of the 2022-23 school year check in.
I wanted to do a check in 1) to keep my accountable and 2) to let other WA state educations know about good training opportunities before the asynchronous time runs out.
This post is broken into sections: WEA asynchronous trainings, OPSI trainings, Trainings provided by Educational Districts that can be found on PDenroller (Typically has an associated $3 per clock hour fee), and clock hours earned through my district trainings and contractual obligations.
I color coded the month each training was completed- the key is at the bottom. Please be aware I worked on many of these asynchronous courses over several months as many of them are time consuming and/or emotionally heavy.
WEA Trainings
De-escalation and Behavior Modifications 4 Clock Hours
- This training was a good refresher and I think would be a great option for staff who don't normally get access to Right Response Trainings (Or other de-escalation trainings from their district)
- It has a lot of resources, videos and short readings
- All Assignments are 5-10 minutes in Length
Behavior Intervention Strategies to Support Students through Inclusive Practices 20 clock hours
- This training provided information on the following topics
- Trauma and Aces
- The impact of the lens you view the world through, bias as well as the impact of language and biology
- School Climate and culture: Structure and procedures
- Building relationships: Communication, Expectations, Feedback, and more
- Assignments varied in length from a short assignment or post taking 3-10 minutes; while longer/larger assignments could take up to an hour.
- Recommend for Special ed, Admin of special ed, behavior techs, staff in inclusive settings, behavior dean
TPEP 101 4 Clock Hours
- I've had 4 different versions of TPEP over the last 4 years between the push to virtual to flatten the curve, our year of hybrid life, or post-pandemic year in person with limited expectation and maybe back to "Normal now" but TPEP changed in the process of those 3 years. It was good to get a refresher course.
- I would strongly recommend this for new teachers or teachers who have had a Basic review in the last year.
Standards Based Grading that Promotes Equity and Inclusion 10 Clock hours
- As someone who has used standards based grading for several years this was a good extension to think about how some of our practices of what it looks like at my school, may not be promoting equity and inclusion
- Just having tests is not equity and inclusion so how do we take the system we have and make it better with out burning out all the teachers who "just want a normal year"
- Good for anyone- you don't have to be familiar with SBG to do this, but you could also be practicing SBG and still have valuable reflections.
TPEP Evidence and Artifacts 8 Clock Hours
- Resources on how artifacts you may not have considered
- Looking at how to use artifacts and evidence as a way to promote yourself up from basic to proficient to distinguished or keep yourself at distinguished.
- Comparing the differences between CEL+, Danielson and Marzano
- I think this training would be really good for anyone moving between districts that use different rubrics for evaluation. There is a lot of difference in expectations and how to show distinguished on each rubric.
Coaching and Mentoring for Specifically Designed instruction in Inclusive Classrooms 12 Clock Hr.
- This is not a foundational course it expects a high level of understanding and skill of what SDI, modifications and accommodations are as well as how to support across contents and grade levels.
- I've been in special education for 9 years and parts of this training made me feel out of my depth.
- I'd say this training is appropriately targeted at Coaches and Mentors. As that is a role I am looking to move to in the next few years, I'm happy I'm doing these trainings so that I can be better prepared for that role when its time.
Coaching and Mentoring for the inclusion of students with significant disabilities 15 Clock hours
- This is not a foundational course. It requires a high level of understanding of SDI, accommodations and modifications required to support a wide array of students.
- It requires understanding of systems and structures of district operations.
- This training required that I do outside research and readings in order to feel I could meaningfully engage.
- It took me more than 15 hours to complete this course.
- I do feel more prepared as a result of this training to apply for coaching or mentoring roles in the future.
OSPI Trainings
History Unfolded: What American's knew about the Holocaust via Newspapers 1 Clock hour:
- Webinar model
- Easiest to access
- Least engaging
- I caught the tail end of last years series, but have another series coming up this fall that I plan to participate in.
Using the GTSA Training Series Episode 1 1 Clock hour
- GTSA is the Guides to Tools, Supports and Accommodations on State assessments.
- Targeted to administrators and special education certificated employees.
- This was the general over view- there are more parts to this series later in the year.
GTSA Episode 2: Universal Tools and Designated supports for all students 1 Clock hour
- Did you know students can practice different accommodations for the SBA in advance so we can put meaningful and useful accommodations on their IEPs and 504 plans that they will actually use.
- More information about the tools that are always on vs. tools that have to be specifically designated for individual students
- Supports for English Language learners in 13 different languages in the test process- SBA Math and Science is fully available in Spanish
GTSA Episode 3: Accommodating Students with Disabilities 1 Clock Hour
- Provided ideas of how to talk about test accommodations in IEP meetings
- Gave specific language around how instructional accommodations may look different than test accommodations and how to correlate them so they are meaningful
- Reviewed embedded vs not embedded accommodations
- Importance of making sure students and families understand there are some sections were certain accommodations cannot be provided as it would interrupt the concept being assessed.
GTSA Episode 4: Supports for Multi-Lingual Learners 1 Clock hour
- See everything I shared about the other 3 but focused on MLL students.
- I leave all these trainings frustrated I don't know who enters information into the Tide system and feel like I don't have the ability to support individualization of these supports.
WIDA: Reframing Education for Long-term English Learners 1 Clock hour
- About 1 hour worth of commitment
- Lots of support materials that I will reference later
- Mostly a reflection time for myself of where my L-tel students may fall through the cracks in my classroom.
WIDA: Making Language Visible in the Classroom: Explore the Key Language Uses 1 Clock hour
- Used a self- paced game of Jeopardy to test knowledge of content learned in course- I honestly probably spent more than an hour in this training, because it was fun
- Picked up some tangible ideas I could bring into work tomorrow with minimal effort.
WIDA: The WIDA ElD Standards Framework: A Collaborative Approach 4 clock hours
- While there was a ton of valuable information, the session really stressed me out
- The additional workload to get myself to a space of implementing this all with fidelity would be more than I can handle this year. I wish I felt like they had identified a priority or a way to start without doing it all at once and burning me out.
Way to Staff Wellbeing in Schools: Secondary Trauma for Educators 1 clock hour
- Webinar
- Actually helpful ideas to take care of me
SEL Learning (7 Modules) 20 Clock Hours
- 7 Asynchronous modules on the following topics related to SEL:
- Intro to SEL- We've all had this training already but I understand needing to have an intro in every training
- Embedding SEL school wide- Even though the target is leadership I found ideas I can use in my classes
- Creating a professional Culture- Again focused my thinking and reflection to my sphere of influence
- Integrating SEL into culturally responsive practices- lots of good take aways
- Trauma - informed Social Emotional Learning- So what I do every day- This is the stuff I really love learning about and studying
- Identifying Evidence Based SEL for implementation- I don't get to make these decisions but maybe in a future role I will find this information useful
- SEL considerations for Covid Context- We've had 20 trainings like this in the last 2 years.
Other ESDs ($3 per clock hour fee)
How STEM can support social emotional learning and racial equity 3 Clock hours
- Would not recommend- basically a webinar with 1 break out- no tangible information to take away
Skamania School: Social Emotional Learning for the Inclusive Classroom 2 Clock Hours
- Administered by AESD- $6 cost for clock hours
- Quick 60 minute training time
- 3 readings of your choice/youtube videos and 3 questions to respond to.
- A lot of resources and materials for SEL supports in the classroom.
LMS: Foundations of Computer Science 6 Clock hours
- I went in with a computer science understand of 0/10 and came out a 2/10 - I'm personally really proud of this.
- I did my best and found resources that are useful for my students who are interested in computer science but cannot meaningfully access the AP only versions of computer science offered in my building
- I also learned about unplugged resources that build pre-requisite skills that we can do through physical movement and offline activities.
My District Trainings
Special Education Back to School Training Day-8 clock hours I ran one of the trainings today in 2 sessions. I think my part of the day went well, but cannot speak the rest of it.
LID Days- Back to school PD days 15 Clock hours - Contract Required PD. We have so few required days in our district it's not a big deal. Today was actually a really smooth transition back into school I'm excited about what our building leadership and Racial Equity and Inclusion teams are doing this year happy to attend.
Sept Building PD 1.5 Clock hours - Building PD- the list of things I need to do grows
Educator Directed PD- 1.5 Clock hours: At our building we've set up our para educator trainings as EDPD so that we can be credited for the benefits growth of our team as a whole Octobers PD was on the norms and expectations in our department supporting students with complex needs with dignity and consistency
Oct. Building PD 1.5 clock hours
Oct. Professional work day 5.5 clock hours its normally 7.5 but I got sick and left early
Oct District Directed PD 2 Clock Hours: This was not a beneficial use of my time. It was on a model that is only researched up to age 7 and I teach 17 year olds. Also lectures don't work for most kids and they don't work for adults. I gave this feedback and concern to my employer.
November EDPD- Para professional Safety Training 1.5 clock hours
November EDPD- High School and Beyond Plan Training 1 Clock Hour
December Building PD- 1.5 clock hours
January EDPD-Para professional ResQ Mat training 1.5 Clock hours
January Building PD- 1.5 clock hours
Most of my clock hours are through asynchronous courses, some of which I started as early as August of 2022, but for tracking purposes I am tracking how many clock hours I complete each month-knowing that most were completed over the course of several months.
Clock hours finished between August 26 and Sept 30th : 102.5
