MPE Professional Development Resources

MPE is pleased to provide the following professional development resources to support its members’ professional growth for the benefit of themselves and their students, as research has proven that superior professional development is vital to elevated school performance.  MPE is not endorsing any provider or opportunity listed here; rather, the information is provided as a tool for MPE members in their endeavors. 

Training in the following areas is designed for administrators and/or school leadership teams:

	Classroom Instruction That Works
	Instructional Coaching
	Instructional Leadership
	Purposeful Communities Supporting Student Achievement
	Students with Disabilities

Teachers, as well as administrators, may attend training in the following:

	Art From Around the World
	Autism
	Biotechnology and Microbiology
	Conservation
	Discover a Wonder Curriculum—the Private Eye®
	Economics
	Filling the Blank Page:  Writing for Teachers

	Literacy Coach
	Writing

Each provider’s website is listed so that MPE members may contact individual providers for additional information or to register for these opportunities.  These professional development resources will be updated monthly, so please check back for the most recent information. 

Resources for Administrators

   Classroom Instruction That Works

• This module emphasizes research-based instructional strategies that meet the needs of all students. Through a wide variety of activities, participants learn guiding principles for using strategies, create and share classroom examples of model instructional practice, and learn techniques to monitor instruction. (www.gceic.org; 10 SEMIs; free)

• July 7 - Gulfport (Day 1)
• July 8 - Gulfport (Day 2)

Instructional Coaching

• The University of Mississippi’s Institute for Education and Workforce’s Instructional Coaching Institute is a 3-day program designed to help principals and school leaders learn to coach faculty members to embed standards-based education into the systems and practices of their schools.  The first day of the Institute explores how to become an effective instructional coach and introduces a six-step process adopted by the National Institute for School Leadership.  The following two days, participants learn how to analyze instruction in the classroom and apply the coaching techniques to individual and group settings. (662.791.8150 or 662.915.2707; enrollment is limited to 25 principals and administrators)

Instructional Leadership

• JBHM Education Group’s Institute for Instructional Leaders equips school leaders with the tools they need to serve as instructional leaders.  This three-day interactive Institute provides intensive training on the basics of each area of need.  During the Institute, participants will learn to:

	Interpret assessment data related to state and federal accountability
	Use data to drive instructional practice
	Understand special education issues and implications
	Conduct classroom observations with a focus on student learning
	Provide constructive feedback to teachers
	Utilize all resources effectively

(www.jbhm-edgroup.com; $7,500 per district with 20 participants required; regional institutes are presented with individual registration available)

     Purposeful Communities Supporting Student Achievement

• This two-day module was developed in an effort that participants will understand the relationship between purposeful community and student achievement. In addition, participants will understand the four characteristics associated with purposeful community:

1 .Accomplishing purposes and produce outcomes that   matter to all

2.Development and use of all available resources and assets

3. Knowledge and understanding about how to establish  and develop  a purposeful community

4. Increase knowledge about research-based leadership responsibilities associated with a purposeful community

(www.gceic.org; 10 SEMIs; FREE for GCEIC members and non-members)

• July 21 -- Pascagoula (Day1)
• July 22 -- Pascagoula (Day2)

Students with Disabilities

• The University of Mississippi’s Institute for Education and Workforce’s Students with Disabilities Institute is a two-day program designed to prepare principals for exercising leadership in mobilizing staff to address the learning needs of students with disabilities, and in designing and managing continuous professional development systems for all staff in the school around supporting all students, including those with disabilities.  The program is not a course on Special Education law and regulations. The program is divided into five main topics:
  

	Designing assessments for progress monitoring
	Developing sound instructional goals
	School wide behavioral interventions
	Instructional and assessment accommodations
	Organizing the school to support and sustain high quality learning experiences for students with disabilities

(For additional information, call 662.791.8150 or 662.915.2707)

Resources for Administrators and Teachers

Art From Around The World

• The purpose of this East Mississippi Center for Educational Development (EMCED) workshop is to enlighten elementary teachers with ways to incorporate art in their curriculum from around the world.  Participants will be engaged in hands-on activities that will assist them in connecting art with the subjects in a fun-filled way for the students in their class.  The content will be presented to the group in an informal setting using visual aids.  Participants will have an opportunity to ask questions, develop lessons for integrating art with other subjects, and leave with an assortment of ways to teach art from around the world (without actually being artistic yourself)!  (www.emced.org; .5 CEUs; FREE for EMCED members; $50 for non-EMCED members)

• June 17    --   Meridian

   Autism

• The Mississippi Department of Education will host the Mississippi Autism Institute on July 14-16 in Jackson. This workshop is aimed at instructing teachers and administrators on how to teach communication skills to children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and other developmental disorders.  Dr. Vincent Carbone, director of a center-based clinic for children with Autism in Rockland County, NY, will be the key presenter.  Teachers will receive 2.25 CEUs and administrators will receive 15 SEMIs for attending all 3 days of the workshop.  The fee is $75 and you must register by June 15.  You may register online at http://gsmu.mde.k12.ms.us.   This is MDE’s online event registration site and you will have to register and create a password before registering for the Autism Institute.

Biotechnology and Microbiology

• The Base Pair/SOAR Program at the University of Mississippi Medical Center is sponsoring two (2) one-week workshops for middle and high school science, as well as AP science, teachers: a microbiology and a biotechnology focused session.  These workshops will include teachers from the public schools as well as undergraduate students from Millsaps College who are interested in gaining hands-on experience with up-to-date laboratory exercises for use in middle and high school science classes.  Teacher participants will be provided with materials for implementation of these laboratory exercises in their classroom.  Middle and high school teachers who are committed to teach in the 2008-09 school year are eligible.  Teacher participants will receive a stipend at the level of approximately $10.50/hr ($425/week).  Participation in the Teacher Professional Workshops is granted on a competitive basis.  Applicants from middle and high school teachers who currently teach biology/AP biology courses and who are committed to teach in the 2008-09 school year will be accepted based on faculty recommendations and teaching goals as outlined in the application.  Additional information and application

   Conservation

• The Mississippi Forestry Association will sponsor a week-long Teachers' Conservation Workshop June 21st - 26th at Northeast Mississippi Community College in Boonville. This intensive hands-on workshop provides training in tree identification, timber cruising and water quality evaluation. It includes field trips to managed forests, logging sites and forest industries. The cost, including dorm room, meals, etc., is $75.00. Credit for 4.0 CEU's or three semester hours is available for an additional fee. Contact Dr. Tom Monaghan at 601-312-7687 or visit www.msforestry.net .

• June 21-26    --   Northeast MS Community College Booneville

    Discover a Wonder Curriculum—the Private Eye®

• Magnify your lessons with a jeweler’s loupe! Discover this exciting, hands-on interdisciplinary approach to thinking by analogy, changing scale, and theorizing. Use a jeweler’s loupe, close observation, drawing, creative writing, and scientific inquiry to meet state competencies and depth of knowledge objectives for all grades. This is a perfect complement to your gifted and talented classes, magnet or charter schools, and home school instruction.  (www.millsaps.edu/conted/ceu.shtml; .6 CEUs; $50 (includes materials); registration deadline of June 5th)

• June 12    --   Millsaps College, Jackson

Economics

• Fifty-six school districts do not yet have a Master Teacher of Economics.  Scholarships are available to cover the cost of the program for summer sessions.  Teachers can earn the Master Teacher of Economics by attending a weeklong program at Mississippi State University the week of June 8 or a weeklong program at the University of Southern Mississippi the week of June 15.  Course requirements can be completed online following the in class sessions.  All students need economic and financial literacy before they graduate from high school in order to succeed in today's world.  The schools with Master Teachers of Economics are able to provide their students with tools they need to succeed in this important area.  Applications are available on the MS Council on Economic Education website at www.mscee.org or phone the MCEE offices at 601-974-1325

• June 8 - 12     --    MS State University
• June 15 - 19   --    University of Southern MS

Filling the Blank Page:  Writing for Teachers

• Nothing is more daunting than the blank page. How can teachers help their junior/senior high school students mine their ideas and translate them into writing that transcends the minimum requirement of organization—writing that has substance, a creative spark, and an individual voice?  Join veteran teacher Gerry Wilson in exploring (and practicing) a variety of writing techniques and strategies that translate well into the classroom experience and help students “find” and focus on their subject, develop creative, independent voices, and enhance their critical thinking skills.  (www.millsaps.edu/conted/ceu.shtml; .5 CEUs; $40; registration deadline of June 12th)

• June 18     --    Millsaps College, Jackson

    Literacy Coach

• The Department of Curriculum, Instruction, and Special Education at the University of Southern Mississippi wants you to become a Literacy Coach.  Earn a Masters of Education with a Reading Specialist/Literacy Coach Degree from the University of Southern Mississippi.  Nationally recognized by the International Reading Association as an exemplary program, the Master of Education degree prepares teachers to serve as literacy leaders in a variety of settings. This fast-track degree includes two 8 week summer sessions on the Hattiesburg campus and two practica experiences in your own classroom or school. Candidates work collaboratively with the literacy faculty in a cohort model to shape coursework and action research in classroom and field-based settings.  This program develops: foundational knowledge; instructional strategies; curriculum materials; assessment and diagnosis; evaluation; organization and management; and professional development.  Financial aid assistance is available. (Dr. Margie Crowe, 601-266-6005, margie.crowe@usm.edu; Dr. David Daves, 601-266-5247, david.daves@usm.edu)

   

    Writing

• The Mississippi Writing/Thinking Institute’s fourth annual writing connection conference - “The Blues is All Write!” - will be held June 12 and 13 at Delta State University.  Sessions include, but are not limited to, “Writing Across the Curriculum,” “Teaching Test-taking Skills through Writing,” and “State Writing Assessments.”  CEUs will be available.  Visit www.mwti.msstate.edu or call 662.325.7777 for registration information.

• June 12 - 13      --      Delta State University

Additional Resources

The Mississippi Department of Education’s Office of Leadership and Professional Development provides all school personnel with research-based professional development infused with nationally recognized “best practices” and training theories.  For more information, visit www.mde.k12.ms.us/olpd.

Mississippi Public Broadcasting’s PBS TeacherLine is the premier resource offering professional development courses online to PreK-12 teachers and school districts.  PBS’s facilitators lead over 100 standards-based courses that span the entire curriculum.  Coursework can cover a complete sequence of study or address a specific requirement, depending on a teacher’s or districts’s needs.  Visit:  www.pbs.org/teacherline.  Select “Course Catalog” – by state, drop down to “Mississippi.”  For more information, contact Jill Boteler at jill.boteler@mpbonline.org or 601.432.6203.

Mississippi e-Learning for Educators is a partnership between Mississippi Public Broadcasting and the Mississippi Department of Education which uses an online delivery model to provide effective professional development, leading to gains in educators’ content knowledge, improvements in teaching practices and increased student achievement.  Participants learn and share best practices and instructional resources through interactive communities.  You may view the course listing at http://www.mde.k12.ms.us/olpd/edtech/index.html.