School and Community Fall 2023

Beyond the Book Club Looking for Career Ladder or PD hours? MSTA’s “Beyond the Book” Club has options for every educator. Educational book studies are a great opportunity for professional development. Book studies open doors for educators to collaborate while exploring new ideas and enhancing practiced ideas. As educators, we love the concept of book studies... but keeping up with everything during the school year while participating in a book study can be overwhelming. MSTA’s “Beyond the Book” Extended Book Studies might be the perfect way for you to get individualized professional development. The Extended Book Studies allow participants to complete a book study over the course of two months while providing additional support and resources. All Extended Book Studies are focused on a specific topic – this year, we will focus on supporting student behaviors and trauma-informed practices. Extended book studies are led by Ursulla Wadley, JAG Specialist for Cape Academy in the Cape Girardeau Public School District. Book titles for this academic year’s “Beyond the Book” Extended Book Studies are: • October – November: “Fostering Resilient Learners: Strategies for Creating a Trauma-Sensitive Classroom” by Kristen Souers and Pete Hall • January – February: “What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing” by Bruce D. Perry and Oprah Winfrey • March – April: “Better than Carrots or Sticks: Restorative Practices for Positive Classroom Management” by Dominique Smith, Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey If you prefer a fast-paced book study over a variety of relevant topics, check out MSTA’s original “Beyond the Book” club. Nicole Nowlin, a fifth-grade teacher from Lee’s Summit, facilitates this study with new and veteran teachers. Book titles for this academic year’s “Beyond the Book” studies are: • October: “Creatively Productive: Essential Skills for Tackling Time Wasters, Clearing the Clutter, and Succeeding in School— and Life!” by Lisa Johnson • November: “The Wild Card: 7 Steps to an Educator’s Creative Breakthrough” by Wade King & Hope King • January: “When Teaching Gets Tough: Smart Ways to Reclaim Your Game” by Allen Mendler

• February: “Shattering the Perfect Teacher Myth: 6 Truths That Will Help You THRIVE as an Educator” by Aaron Hogan • March: “Discipline Win: Strategies to Improve Behavior, Increase Ownership and Give Every Student a Chance” by Andy Jacks • April: “Kids Deserve It: Pushing Boundaries and Challenging Conventional Thinking” by Todd Nesloney and Adam Welcome • June: “Collaborative Classroom: Teaching Students How to Work Together Now and For the Rest of Their Lives” by Trevor Muir New Online Courses • Reading Strategies for All Content Areas (recommended for third grade and up) This course shares a multitude of instructional strategies to promote reading across the curriculum. Strategies shared in the course can be implemented before reading, during reading, or after reading to help students “read to learn.” Strategies are presented in video form and participants are asked to share and reflect on the implementation of strategies with others in the course to learn from one another. Strategies shared were designed thinking about reading in the content areas; however, the use of these strategies is transferrable and can be implemented to boost student engagement in general. • Engagement through Universal Design for Learning Universal Design for Learning (UDL) honors the professionalism you bring to teaching. UDL helps you address learner variability while still adhering to the focused learning of a lesson. It acknowledges your relationship with students as you consider the needs of students in your classroom. Furthermore, it supports the high-level learning you want all students to achieve by honoring the voices of students and building choice into their learning. We know you want to make that learning meaningful to students in a myriad of ways. Join this course to explore the basics of UDL and its role in engaging lesson design.

To learn more, listen to episode 28 of the MSTA Presents Podcast featuring Ursulla Wadley. Register for these events and more at msta.org/events.

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