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Professional Development

My expertise in Social Studies professional development has been honed by over 30 years of working with teachers across the United States. The sessions I offer are all intentionally designed to solve a problem – are you having difficulty teaching Emergent Bilingual students? I have a solution for you. Are you frustrated with the lack of true engagement in your class? I have a solution for you.  Are your resources not meeting the TEKS? I can help! Browse my course listing to see how I can help you achieve your goals. Don’t see what you need? Contact me and we can discuss a custom workshop.

Have you looking for different forms of note making for your students? Are your students bored with taking notes the same way during every lesson?

This course will explore the many different ways students can make their own notes in Social Studies. We will examine how to combine the note making process with Social Studies skills.

Are you looking for ideas to help support your struggling EB students in class. Come learn different ways to modify assignments and provide listening, speaking, reading and writing opportunities for an EB student.
 
1/2 or Full Day Training.
 

In this workshop, teachers will learn instructional and assessment strategies for success in secondary Social Studies. Topics will include a model lesson based on the Interactive Student Notebook, Understanding your TEKS and STAAR, and Formative Assessment Strategies. – Full Day Training

Content literacy is a key aspect of Social Studies instruction. Learn a variety of PreReading, During Reading and After Reading Strategies to engage your students in their text or primary source documents. Included in the training is a focus on Building Academic Vocabulary. – 1/2 or Full Day Training

Looking for some new games to add to your bag of tricks? Experience new games and develop your own during this fun, hands on workshop! This makes a great prep for the 8th Grade or US History EOC STAAR – 1/2 Day 

Heavy reliance on digital technology can weaken critical thinking, focus, and literacy – students learn best with pen and paper. The Interactive Student Notebook is a key element of a successful Social Studies classroom. Learn about the structure, management and implementation of an Interactive Student Notebook. Leave the training with your own sample notebook and ideas on supporting student learning through an ISN. – 1/2 or full day training

Are you looking for new ideas to engage your students? Are you struggling meeting the needs of your special populations? This workshop will provide you with tools to differentiate Social Studies for your Emergent Bilingual, Special Education, and Gifted/Talented students. Teachers will experience different instructional strategies and learn tips to engage all students in their classroom.

Move beyond boring book work or mind-numbing lectures. Learn different strategies like manipulatives to engage your students in Social Studies. Explore the elements of engagement and see how they can be easily added to your lesson plan to increase student participation and learning.  This session can be paired with a 1/2 day Make – N – Take to create an Engagement Tool Kit for each teacher. 

This session is designed for the novice 8th grade US History teacher.  It provides an overview of the US History STAAR test, how to read the TEKS, embedding processing standards into instruction and vocabulary strategies. (1 day)

Are you interested in using anchor charts to support your students? Are you confused where to start? Teachers will learn the how and why behind anchor charts and leave with completed anchor charts as well as a manual full of ideas! 

This one to two-hour topic can be added to any training. 

Are your teachers “teaching” primary sources, but your students still missing the questions on STAAR? Maybe it is because your teachers are not tying the skill to the primary source. Learn how primary sources are truly assessed on the STAAR, and the strategies your teachers can use to target primary source instruction.

This two-hour topic can be added to any training. 

Learn how to use manipulatives in Social Studies to engage students.  We will examine manipulatives in both strategies for instruction and strategies for review.

1/2 day session

Do you have teachers who need a variety of instructional strategies? Book this session for my most popular teaching strategies, including vocabulary instruction, reading strategies, visual literacy strategies, manipulatives, and review games. This is a great session for novice and newer teachers.

1 day training

This full-day session is designed to help teachers transform social studies lessons into engaging, student-centered learning experiences based on primary sources. Participants will learn how to implement history labs that guide students in analyzing primary source artifacts and constructing evidence-based understanding. The session also introduces visual summaries and reading challenges that support comprehension and Social Studies skills. By humanizing history through authentic artifacts, teachers will leave with practical strategies to make content meaningful and memorable for all learners.

One day training.