CC’s Workforce Development offers classes for Wyoming teachers
The Casper College Workforce Development department provides a variety of classes to help Wyoming teachers in the classroom. Teachers can choose from learning classroom management, cutting edge pedagogy, and leadership skills all from the comfort of their own home and on their schedule,” said Sarah Schneider, workforce training specialist at Casper College.
Casper College, in partnership with ed2Go, provides nearly 100 classes and most have been approved for 1.5 or more Professional Teaching Standards Board credits. These six-week online courses are project-oriented and include lessons, quizzes, hands-on assignments, discussion areas, supplementary resources, and more. In addition, there are several short online classes offered as well.
Some of the many classes offered include the Educators Fundamentals Series. This course is a professional development series designed to help make teaching easier by providing teachers with the tools to handle problems that may arise in the classroom. Participants will learn the secrets to solving everyday classroom discipline problems so that they can enjoy a more peaceful, orderly classroom and how to handle more serious and chronic discipline with a six-step approach. Teachers will also learn practical ways to help children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder control their behavior and succeed in school, according to ed2go. This class is approved for 7.2 Continuing Education Units or 5.0 PTSB credits. The course costs $350, and the instructional materials required for this course are included in the price and will be available online.
Empowering Students with Disabilities is worth 2.4 CEUs or 1.5 PTSB credits for $129. According to ed2go, this course will give teachers the tools to teach students with disabilities successfully. The course provides powerful strategies to put to work immediately in the classroom and the knowledge needed to understand and cope with the most common disabilities encountered in the classroom. Instructors will be able to foster the reading, writing, and math skills of students with special needs and learn techniques to help those with disabilities behave appropriately and make friends in the classroom. The class is appropriate for any grade level, from preschool through high school.
Guided Reading and Writing: Strategies for Maximum Student Achievement will examine why reading and writing are difficult for students. According to ed2go, participants will discover the total literacy framework and see how it mitigates literacy problems. “Since this framework is based on guided reading lessons that flow naturally into writing challenges, instructors will learn to successfully transition from guided readings to writing lessons,” noted information provided by the company. The cost for the class is $129 and is worth 2.4 CEUs or 1.5 PTSB credits.
For those teachers wanting to increase their effectiveness as a science teacher in grades four through six, Teaching Science: Grades 4-6 is the answer. Participants will learn to help students in this age group understand the scientific method as they learn different learning and organizational tools to benefit their students and the principles of direct instruction. This course includes lots of worksheets and specific examples of experiments to try in the classroom. Teaching Science: Grades 4-6 costs $125, includes instructional materials, and is worth 1.5 PTSB credits.
According to Schneider, many new skills-targeted classes for teachers are also available, including The Science Poster For the GT Student, Teaching Methods for Solving Word Problems, and Student-Led Classroom Management, ranging in price from $44 to $89.
In addition to instruction, The Science Poster for the GT Student comes with a downloadable PDF of the content, a planning document to support instructors in their experiment design, and a poster presentation plan. There is also a poster template instructors can provide to their gifted and talented students to ensure their presentations are targeted and thorough.
In Teaching Methods for Solving Word Problems, teachers will learn about students’ challenges when solving word problems. The course will present varied solutions for teaching problem-solving skills to students. Teachers will receive a detailed plan for teaching two problem-solving strategies in their classroom, depending on their students’ needs: the GUESS method and the CUBES method for word problems.
The Science Poster for the GT Student and Teaching Methods for Solving Word Problems are only $44 each.
Finally, Student-Led Classroom Management will give instructors a student-led way to classroom management by addressing the design of expectations and the natural consequences in the classroom. According to ed2go, instructors will also learn to track behaviors, hold students accountable, and communicate behavioral issues and progress to families and campus specialists. The cost for this class is $89.
For more information on these or other online classes for Wyoming teachers offered through the CC Workforce Development department, go here or contact Schneider at 307-268-3847 or sarah.schneider@caspercollege.edu.