Professional Development Opportunities for the Winter and Spring

During the past few months, Covid has changed everything. You've likely had a very strange and challenging year, and certainly, PARC's struggled too. We hate that we haven't been able to support you as we have in the past. As this post is being written, our team is talking about what we feasibly can offer. As plans evolve, we'll update this post with more information. For now though, we want to share opportunities that might work for you.

VSLA Spring Conference

The 54th Annual VSLA Conference will be held virtually this year March 18-20th and includes many wonderful literacy experts and a wide variety of topics. For a look at the agenda, you can click HERE Just to grab your interest, here are a few names you might recognize:

• THE ART OF TEACHING: CREATING RESPONSIVE READERS: Kelly Gallagher
• INTENTIONAL LESSON PLANNING WITH CAFÉ: Gail Boushey and Allison Behne
• HERO, LEADER, KING: THE IMPORTANCE OF CREATING STRONG BLACK MALE PROTAGONISTS IN CHILDREN'S LITERATURE: Derrick Barnes
• WRITING STRATEGIES FOR REMOTE AND IN-PERSON TEACHING: Jennifer Serravallo

Cost:

Member Rates: $150

Non-Member Rates: $250

Paraprofessionals & Student Rates: $75

Member One Day Rate: $125

Non-Member One Day Rate: $200

Registration:

Technology Integration Opportunities from the VDOE:

The Office of Innovation offers several 6-week online professional development courses that focus on integrating technology into instruction, with an eye to supporting the Profile of a Virginia Graduate and associated initiatives. The courses are provided at no cost to Virginia teachers. Each course takes about 30 hours all together to complete (these facilitated courses involve acquiring knowledge, interactive discussions each week with teachers from around the state, and developing an appropriate integration project). A certificate for 30 recertification points is awarded upon successful completion of the course.

Course Options:

Project-Based Approaches (Word) – foster self-directed learning
Collaboration in the Digital Classroom (Word) – use online tools to assist collaboration in the classroom
Designing Blended Learning (Word) – design your own blended learning experience for students
Assessment in 21st Century Classrooms – explore different types of assessments
Thinking Critically with Data (Word) – how to involve students in using real data for knowledge creation
Inquiry in the Science Classroom (Word) – use science content and skills to teach thinking

WINTER SESSION

To sign up for the Winter session courses, which will begin January 27, 2021, and run for six weeks until March 9, 2021, please send an email to cynthia.evans@doe.virginia.gov by January 15 (though registration will close when classes are full) with the following information:
Your name
Your school division
Your preferred email for the course
Course you wish to take

SPRING SESSION (Registration starts March 12. Pre-registration or a wait list is not available)

To sign up for the Spring session courses, which will begin April 14, 2021 and run for six weeks until May 25, 2021, please send an email to cynthia.evans@doe.virginia.gov by April 2 (though registration will close when classes are full) with the following information:
Your name
Your school division
Your preferred email for the course
Course you wish to take

Book Discussion Opportunity with GWRC

The Greater Washington Reading Council is hosting a virtual book club to discuss From Striving to Thriving, The fee to participate is $20 for members and $40 for nonmembers. If you'd like more details, you can click HERE or click the image above to download all of the detailed plans. 

Reading @ UVA

UVA has non-degree opportunities for those interested in workshops and shorter term sessions. To learn more about what's offered, CLICK HERE

If you are a member and need assistance with resources, teaching ideas, and literacy support, do not forget that you can always email us at vsrapiedmont@gmail.com  We also have links to some resources on our home page, and you can use your membership password to access the resource library on VSLA. If you do not remember your password, you'll need to secure that through VSLA. We do not have access to your password sadly. 

Thanks for visiting, and best wishes for the coming months.