Core STEM programs: Strengthen sessions
Professional development sets teachers and leaders up for success, whether they are new to or experienced with a program. Each Strengthen session promotes a deeper understanding of the program through targeted instructional practices.
Explore STEM Strengthen sessions by program below.
About Strengthen sessions
Support 牡丹直播 implementation with sessions that target specific instructional practices for teachers and leaders in year one and beyond. When you’re ready to schedule your Strengthen session, contact us. An 牡丹直播 expert will support you in selecting the session that best fits your needs and that will help you push student results forward.
Each package includes one Strengthen session. Additional sessions can be added as enhancements.
Desmos Math
Desmos Math lessons are powerful in their ability to elicit student thinking and spark interesting and productive discussions. Intuitive, memorable, and effective, Desmos Math helps you spend less time searching for new resources and more time teaching. And it’s been rated all green by !
Explore the Desmos Math sessions (grade bands 6鈥揂lgebra 1) for Begin packages and beyond. Select the session title or scroll to learn more about each session.
Begin packages
| Strengthen sessions |
| On-site package (15 hr.) |
Hybrid 15, on-site package (15 hr.) |
Hybrid 10 package (10 hr.) |
Hybrid 15, virtual package (15 hr.) |
Virtual package (7 hr.) |
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| One session per package | On-site 3 hr. |
On-site 3 hr. |
Virtual 1 hr. |
Virtual 3 hr. |
Virtual 1 hr. |
| Enhancing planning |  |
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| Enhancing practice |
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| Enhancing observations for leaders | |
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| Unit-level planning |
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| Increasing engagement with Instructional Routines | |
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Begin: Enhancing planning for teachers
On-site or virtual, 3 hours
Dive into planning an upcoming Desmos Math lesson using curriculum resources and new protocols. Leave with a greater understanding of your unit story and a roadmap of an upcoming lesson to guide student learning, make connections across lessons, and measure student mastery of learning goals.
Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)
Begin: Enhancing practice for teachers
On-site or virtual, 3 hours
Learn how to use Desmos Math Teacher Dashboard features such as anonymizing, pacing, and pausing to create engagement at the start of activities, sustain learning in the middle, and summarize student thinking at the end. Leave with a deeper understanding of how each of these tools can create a classroom culture that promotes critical thinking and student discourse.
Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)
Begin: Enhancing observations for leaders
On-site or virtual, 3 hours
Learn to use our non-evaluative classroom look-for tool for Desmos Math to promote the use of instructional resources, focus on instructional delivery, and monitor instruction. Leave with an action plan for collecting and analyzing observation data to support teachers in their implementation of Desmos Math.
Audience: Leaders (maximum 30 participants)
Begin: Unit-level planning
Virtual, 1 hour
Dive into unit planning as you learn the story of how your upcoming unit is tied to other units and grade levels, and discover the big ideas you will explore alongside your students in Desmos Math.
Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)
Begin: Lesson-level planning
Virtual, 1 hour
Dive into lesson-level planning as you learn how to create a roadmap for a lesson that guides student learning, makes connections across lessons, and measures student understanding of the learning goals in Desmos Math.
Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)
Begin: Increasing engagement with Instructional Routines
Virtual, 1 hour
Explore how the Desmos Math Instructional Routines Number Talks and Notice and Wonder spark conversation and provide opportunities for students to showcase their brilliance. Walk away with strategies for effectively using these Instructional Routines in your next lesson.
Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)
Practice packages
| Strengthen sessions |
| On-site package (15 hr.) |
Hybrid 15, on-site package (15 hr.) |
Hybrid 13 package (13 hr.) |
Virtual package (9 hr.) |
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| One session per package | On-site 3 hr. |
Virtual 3 hr. |
Virtual 1 hr. |
Virtual 3 hr. |
| Enhancing planning | |
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| Enhancing practice |
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| Enhancing observations for leaders | |
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| Using the 5 Practices to orchestrate math discussions |
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| Unit-level planning |
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| Lesson-level planning |
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| Increasing engagement with Instructional Routines |
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| Building language with math routines | |
Practice: Enhancing planning for teachers
On-site or virtual, 3 hours
Dive into planning for an upcoming Demos Math unit and lesson by using the Unit Overview and Teacher Guide. Leave with a greater understanding of your unit story and a roadmap of an upcoming lesson to guide student learning, make connections, and measure student mastery of the learning goals.
Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)
Practice: Enhancing practice for teachers
On-site or virtual, 3 hours
Learn how to use Desmos Math Toolkit features such as anonymizing, pacing, and pausing to create engagement at the start of activities, sustain learning in the middle, and summarize student thinking at the end. Leave with a deeper understanding of how each of these tools can create a classroom culture that promotes critical thinking and student discourse.
Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)
Practice: Enhancing observations for leaders
On-site or virtual, 3 hours
Learn to use our non-evaluative classroom look-for tool for Desmos Math to promote the use of instructional resources, focus on instructional delivery, and monitor instruction. Leave with an action plan for collecting and analyzing observation data to support teachers in their implementation of Desmos Math.
Audience: Leaders (maximum 30 participants)
Practice: Using the 5 Practices to orchestrate math discussions
On-site or virtual, 3 hours
Explore how you can use Smith and Stein鈥檚 5 Practices with the Desmos Math dashboard to collect and discuss student ideas. Leave with strategies for fostering class discussions based on student work.
Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)
Practice: Unit-level planning
Virtual, 1 hour
Dive into unit planning as you learn the story of how your upcoming unit is tied to other units and grade levels, and discover the big ideas you'll explore alongside your students in Desmos Math.
Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)
Practice: Lesson-level planning
Virtual, 1 hour
Dive into lesson-level planning as you learn how to create a roadmap for a lesson that guides student learning, makes connections across lessons, and measures student understanding of the learning goals in Desmos Math.
Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)
Practice: Increasing engagement with Instructional Routines
Virtual, 1 hour
Explore how Desmos Math routines, such as Number Talks and Notice and Wonder, spark conversations and provide opportunities for students to showcase their brilliance. Walk away with strategies for effectively using these instructional routines in your next lesson.
Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)
Practice: Building language with math routines
Virtual, 1 hour
Explore how the routines Stronger and Clearer and Compare and Connect bolster students as they make sense of new contexts and mathematical problems in Desmos Math. Leave with strategies for using these routines to students as they simultaneously learn mathematical practices, content, and language in your upcoming lessons.
Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)
牡丹直播 Desmos Math
牡丹直播 Desmos Math is a new core PreK鈥�12 program from 牡丹直播 and Desmos Classroom 鈥攁vailable in English and Spanish鈥攖hat applies a problem-based approach to develop deep conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and application. Using technology inspired by students鈥� natural curiosity, 牡丹直播 Desmos Math connects the classroom and fosters real collaboration, discourse, and perseverance in problem-solving. Captivating activities, powerful teaching tools, and lots of support enable students to develop math proficiency that lasts a lifetime.
Explore the 牡丹直播 Desmos Math Strengthen sessions (for grades PreK鈥揂lgebra 2) for Begin packages and beyond. Click the session title or scroll down to learn more about each session.
Begin packages
| Strengthen sessions |
| On-site package (15 hr.) |
Hybrid 15, on-site package (15 hr.) |
Hybrid 10 package (10 hr.) |
Hybrid 15, virtual package (15 hr.) |
Virtual package (7 hr.) |
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| One session per package | On-site, 3 hr. |
On-site, 3 hr. |
Virtual, 1 hr. |
Virtual, 3 hr. |
Virtual, 1 hr. |
| Enhancing planning for K鈥�5 Teachers | |
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| Enhancing planning for 6鈥揂1 teachers |
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| Enhancing practice for K鈥�5 teachers | |
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| Enhancing practice for 6鈥揂1 teachers |
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Begin: Enhancing planning for K鈥�5 teachers
On-site or virtual, 3 hours
Dive into both big-picture and day-to-day planning for 牡丹直播 Desmos Math. Practice using lesson and unit planning protocols that will help you build a deep understanding of the math content you鈥檒l be teaching and the planning resources available to you in the curriculum. Walk away with practical strategies for planning, even when you may not have much time.
Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)
Begin: Enhancing planning for 6鈥揂1 teachers
On-site or virtual, 3 hours
Dive into both big-picture and day-to-day planning for 牡丹直播 Desmos Math. Practice using lesson and unit planning protocols that will help you build a deep understanding of the math content you鈥檒l be teaching and the planning resources available to you in the curriculum. Walk away with practical strategies for planning, even when you may not have much time.
Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)
Begin: Enhancing practice for K鈥�5 teachers
On-site or virtual, 3 hours
Dig into 牡丹直播 Desmos Math's Launch, Monitor, Connect framework to level-up the student discourse in your math class. Explore in-the-moment differentiation support to help you orchestrate discussion and make the most out of key opportunities for conversation and collaboration.
Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)
Begin: Enhancing practice for 6鈥揂1 teachers
On-site or virtual, 3 hours
Dig into 牡丹直播 Desmos Math's Launch, Monitor, Connect framework to level-up the student discourse in your math classroom. Explore in-the-moment differentiation support to help you orchestrate discussion and make the most out of key opportunities for conversation and collaboration.
Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)
Practice packages
| Strengthen sessions |
| On-site package (15 hr.) |
Hybrid 15, on-site package (15 hr.) |
Hybrid 13 package (13 hr.) |
Virtual package (9 hr.) |
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| One session per package | On-site, 3 hr. |
Virtual, 3 hr. |
Virtual, 1 hr. |
Virtual, 3 hr. |
| Enhancing planning for K鈥�5 teachers |
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| Enhancing planning for 6鈥揂1 teachers |
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| Enhancing practice for K鈥�5 teachers |
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| Enhancing practice for 6鈥揂1 teachers |
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| Strengthen focus: Teaching a digital lesson (碍鈥�5) |
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| Strengthen focus: Snapshots in the Teacher Dashboard (6鈥揂1) |
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Practice: Enhancing planning for K鈥�5 teachers
On-site or virtual, 3 hours
Dive into both big-picture and day-to-day planning for 牡丹直播 Desmos Math. Practice using lesson and unit planning protocols that will help you build a deep understanding of the math content you鈥檒l be teaching and the planning resources available to you in the curriculum. Walk away with practical strategies for planning, even when you may not have much time.
Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)
Practice: Enhancing planning for 6鈥揂1 teachers
On-site or virtual, 3 hours
Dive into both big-picture and day-to-day planning for 牡丹直播 Desmos Math. Practice using lesson and unit planning protocols that will help you build a deep understanding of the math content you鈥檒l be teaching and the planning resources available to you in the curriculum. Walk away with practical strategies for planning, even when you may not have much time.
Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)
Practice: Enhancing practice for K鈥�5 teachers
On-site or virtual, 3 hours
Dig into 牡丹直播 Desmos Math's Launch, Monitor, Connect framework to level-up the student discourse in your math class. Explore in-the-moment differentiation support to help you orchestrate discussion and make the most out of key opportunities for conversation and collaboration.
Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)
Practice: Enhancing practice for 6鈥揂1 teachers
Virtual, 1 hour
Dig into 牡丹直播 Desmos Math's Launch, Monitor, Connect framework to level-up the student discourse in your math classroom. Explore in-the-moment differentiation support to help you orchestrate discussion and make the most out of key opportunities for conversation and collaboration.
Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)
Practice: Strengthen Focus: Teaching a Digital Lesson
(碍鈥�5)
Virtual, 1 hour
Get ready to facilitate digital lessons with your students. Explore what鈥檚 possible with the Teacher Dashboard and plan to make the most of these exciting instructional moments.
Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)
Practice: Strengthen Focus: Snapshots in the Teacher Dashboard (6鈥揂1)
Virtual, 1 hour
Explore how to use the Snapshots tool in the Teacher Dashboard to create a collaborative classroom that invites and celebrates student thinking. Leave with planning tips and tricks that will get you ready to use Snapshots during your busy math classes.
Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)
牡丹直播 Science
牡丹直播 Science is a K鈥�8 science curriculum that blends hands-on investigations, literacy-rich activities, and interactive digital tools to empower students to think, read, write, and argue like real scientists and engineers.听
Explore the 牡丹直播 Science sessions (for grade bands K鈥�5 and 6鈥�8) for year one packages and beyond. Select the session title or scroll to learn more about each session.
Begin packages
| Strengthen sessions |
| On-site package (15 hr.) |
Hybrid 15, on-site package (15 hr.) |
Hybrid 10 package (10 hr.) |
Hybrid 15, virtual package (15 hr.) |
Virtual package (7 hr.) |
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| One session per package | On-site, 3 hr. |
Virtual, 3 hr. |
Virtual, 1 hr. |
Virtual, 3 hr. |
Virtual, 1 hr. |
| Enhancing planning | |
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| Enhancing practice |
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| Enhancing observations for leaders | |
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| Planning an 牡丹直播 Science lesson |
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| Supporting diverse learners: Exploring the resources |
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| Supporting diverse learners: Teacher modeling and student discourse |
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| Unit kit materials and prep | |
Begin: Enhancing planning for teachers
On-site or virtual, 3 hours
Learn how to use a planning protocol to internalize an upcoming 牡丹直播 Science unit. Leave with a plan to support students engaging in three-dimensional learning while also meeting the diverse needs of students in your classroom.
Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)
Begin: Enhancing practice for teachers
On-site or virtual, 3 hours
Learn how 牡丹直播 Science supports phenomenon-based learning. Experience a sequence of model instruction from the curriculum, and walk away with a plan for how you can enhance the curriculum through your teaching practice to build a powerful culture of figuring out in your science classroom.
Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)
Begin: Enhancing observations for leaders
On-site or virtual, 3 hours
Learn to use the non-evaluative classroom walkthrough tool for 牡丹直播 Science to promote the use of instructional resources, focus on instructional delivery, and monitor instruction. Leave with an action plan for collecting and analyzing observation data to support teachers in their implementation of 牡丹直播 Science.
Audience: Leaders (maximum 30 participants)
Begin: Supporting diverse learners: Exploring the resources
Virtual, 1 hour
Learn how to use lesson-specific differentiation briefs, embedded assessments, and activity-specific teacher support notes to maximize instruction for diverse learners with 牡丹直播 Science.
Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)
Begin: Supporting diverse learners: Teacher modeling and student discourse
Virtual, 1 hour
Explore ways to leverage and build upon two key instructional elements in 牡丹直播 Science, and plan how you鈥檒l use these supports to engage diverse learners in your next lesson.
Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)
Practice packages
| Strengthen sessions |
| On-site package (15 hr.) |
Hybrid 15, on-site package (15 hr.) |
Hybrid 13 package (13 hr.) |
Virtual package (9 hr.) |
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| One session per package | On-site, 3 hr. |
Virtual, 3 hr. |
Virtual, 1 hr. |
Virtual, 3 hr. |
| Enhancing planning | |
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| Enhancing practice |
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| Enhancing observations for leaders | |
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| Supporting all learners with complex texts (K鈥�5 or 6鈥�8) |
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| Supporting English learners (K鈥�5 or 6鈥�8) |
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| Writing in science (K鈥�5 or 6鈥�8) | |
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| Assessment system (K鈥�5 or 6鈥�8) |
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| Engineering Internships (6鈥�8) |
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| Science Seminar (6鈥�8) |
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| Planning an 牡丹直播 Science lesson |
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| Supporting diverse learners: Exploring the resources |
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| Supporting diverse learners: Teacher modeling and student discourse |
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| Analyzing student work |
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| Supporting diverse learners: Multimodal learning and multiple at-bats |
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| Grading with 牡丹直播 Science |
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| Enhancing the digital experience (碍鈥�5) |
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| Planning with the Coherence Flowchart |
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Practice: Enhancing planning for teachers
On-site or virtual, 3 hours
Learn how to use a planning protocol to internalize an upcoming 牡丹直播 Science unit. Walk away with a plan to support students engaging in three-dimensional learning while also meeting the diverse needs of students in your classroom.
Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)
Practice: Enhancing practice for teachers
On-site or virtual, 3 hours
Learn how 牡丹直播 Science supports phenomenon-based learning. Experience a sequence of model instruction from the curriculum, and walk away with a plan for how you can enhance the curriculum through your teaching practice to build a powerful culture of figuring out in your science classroom.
Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)
Practice: Enhancing observations for leaders
On-site or virtual, 3 hours
Learn to use the non-evaluative classroom walkthrough tool for 牡丹直播 Science to promote the use of instructional resources, focus on instructional delivery, and monitor instruction. Leave with an action plan for collecting and analyzing observation data to support teachers in their implementation of 牡丹直播 Science.
Audience: Leaders (maximum 30 participants)
Practice: Supporting all learners with complex texts (grades K鈥�5 or 6鈥�8)
On-site or virtual, 3 hours
Collaborate to solve common reading challenges alongside other educators. Learn strategies to support students in grades K鈥�5 or 6鈥�8 in accessing complex texts in 牡丹直播 Science units by engaging in a model reading sequence. Leave with a plan for incorporating effective strategies into your upcoming 牡丹直播 Science reading lesson.
Audience: Teachers, instructional staff of grades K鈥�5 or 6鈥�8 (maximum 30 participants)
Practice: Supporting English learners (grades K鈥�5 or 6鈥�8)
On-site or virtual, 3 hours
Explore strategies and engage in model activities to support multilingual/English learners in grades K鈥�5 or 6鈥�8 in developing their abilities to do, talk, read, write, visualize, and construct arguments in 牡丹直播 Science. Leave with strategies to support a deeper understanding of the critical role that language and literacy play in developing scientific understanding.
Audience: Teachers, instructional staff of grades K鈥�5 or 6鈥�8 (maximum 30 participants)
Practice: Writing in science (grades K鈥�5 or 6鈥�8)
On-site or virtual, 3 hours
Develop an understanding of how the 牡丹直播 Science writing approach supports students in grades K鈥�5 or 6鈥�8 in engaging in science practices, making sense of science ideas, and growing as writers. Leave with a plan for supporting student writing in your next unit.
Audience: Teachers, instructional staff of grades K鈥�5 or 6鈥�8 (maximum 30 participants)
Practice: Assessment system (grades K鈥�5 or 6鈥�8)
On-site or virtual, 3 hours
Available: Fall 2024
Analyze a sample formative assessment, deepen your understanding of 牡丹直播 Science unit learning progressions, and participate in discussions to understand the relationships between different types of assessments and your unit鈥檚 learning goals. Walk away with strategies for collecting, analyzing, and responding to student assessment data.
Audience: Teachers, instructional staff of grades of K鈥�5 or 6鈥�8 (maximum 30 participants)
Practice: Engineering Internships (grades 6鈥�8)
On-site or virtual, 3 hours
Plan for the first 牡丹直播 Science Engineering Internship course of your grade level (6鈥�8) by exploring the Futura workspace and digital tools students will use during the Internship experience. Leave with an understanding of how students will apply science concept knowledge to construct design solutions. This session will feature one of the following Engineering Internships based on your need: Metabolism, Plate Motion, or Force and Motion unit.
Audience: Teachers, instructional staff of grades 6鈥�8 (maximum 30 participants)
Practice: Science Seminar (grades 6鈥�8)
On-site or virtual, 3 hours
Experience a Science Seminar sequence of a sample 牡丹直播 Science grade 6鈥�8 unit from the student perspective to gain an understanding of how students apply science concepts to engage in argumentation about a phenomenon. Leave with a plan for teaching a Science Seminar unit in your own classroom.
Audience: Teachers, instructional staff of grades 6鈥�8 (maximum 30 participants)
Practice: Supporting diverse learners: Exploring the resources
Virtual, 1 hour
Learn how to use lesson-specific differentiation briefs, embedded assessments, and activity-specific teacher support notes to supplement instruction for diverse learners with 牡丹直播 Science.
Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)
Practice: Supporting diverse learners: Teacher modeling and student discourse
Virtual, 1 hour
Explore ways to leverage and build upon two key instructional elements in 牡丹直播 Science and plan for ways to use these supports to engage diverse learners in your next lesson.
Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)
Practice: Analyzing student work
Virtual, 1 hour
Engage with a protocol to analyze real student work and plan for instructional next steps in 牡丹直播 Science. (You are required to bring student formative assessment samples to this session.)
Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)
Get in touch with a PD expert
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