professional learning course information
What Makes TCC professional development innovative & effective?
our PD courses utilize blended learning to allow educators choice and the ability to learn, practice, implement, & reflect upon course conent.
When teachers are professionally learning, they are the students. In our classrooms, we differentiate & personalize instruction to best reach our students. The same must be done when educators become students via professional development. It is only this way that will allow PD to truly be effective! Most of the PD currently offered in the world does not do this. Rather, many staff development opportunities provided for teachers are forced onto them at a specific time and place in a whole group setting regardless of what that specific teacher needs and if the teacher is even ready to hear it! The Contemporary Classroom PD allows teachers CHOICE in content, time, and place based on the teacher’s current NEEDS and learning types! This ensures that teachers are engaged, ready to learn/hear the content, and then implement it into their classrooms!
This professional development can happen whenever and where ever a teacher best learns – during their daily planning time, at a coffee shop, at home in their kitchen while they reflect on the day before they go to bed, at night when they are prepping for future lessons, etc.
This PD can be completed individually or teachers can get together in a group setting via in-person or our online community to bounce ideas off one another as they individually complete the requirements of this PD.
We use research based instructional strategies
The Contemporary Classroom uses blended learning as well as other research based instructional strategies.
This enables the following…
A) This takes teacher learning a step further. We provide opportunities where teachers learn, try it out in their actual classroom with their current group of students, and reflect.
B) It is time efficient and integrates our real life. The Contemporary Classroom becomes part of a teacher’s everyday life by integrating professional development content, time for teachers to prep & plan ways to take that content into their classroom, time for teachers to implement their plans with their actual students, on-going support for educators, & time for teacher reflections/conversations. Because teachers actually try course content out & are compensated (via credit hours) for the time they spent prepping & reflecting on that hands-on, real life learning opportunity they are more inclined to continue to implement the information they learned via the professional development.
Most other PD opportunities in the world are provided in a way where teachers “pause” their normal daily tasks of teaching, spend a few hours listening to PD content that has been dragged out to fill the time and maybe get to try it out in a theoretical environment often with other adults as the students. Then, the teachers resume their normal daily task of teaching without taking the next steps to integrate what they listened to. In between this, there is no time given to teachers for prepping & planing ways to integrate this and take the time to try it out. Therefore, many teachers leave with their instructional practice unchanged from the PD.
C) We focus on “building teachers’ content knowledge” & “how students learn content,” which research shows “is more likely to be related to changes in classroom practice and enhanced student outcomes (Teacher Quality Under NCLB: Final Report, pg. 90).
This results in effective professional development that truly impacts students across the world!
How Are The Hours Of Credit Calculated?
The number of hours of credit for each course varies. Majority are 3 hours. The number of hours for credit is based on the following: time taken to read the articles and information, time taken to complete the course activities of prepping and planning a lesson to use with their current students, and time taken to reflect on the course content and activities.
It is stated at the beginning of each course how many hours are available.
For example: The Blended Learning Professional Development is worth 3 hours of credit. 45 minutes for reading the article; 90 minutes for designing, planning, & prepping a corresponding lesson to teach with your current students; 45 minutes for reflection, after you teach the lesson to your students, comprised of creating a written response to the Call(s) to Action – which include: “Have you participated in blended learning as a student before? If yes, when & how? Have you participated in blended learning as a teacher before? If yes, when & how? Respond via the comments section below!” AND “submit a 300 word response answering the following questions after integrating a blended learning lesson.”
The Basics:
How Can educators Get Credit For Professional learnin Hours?
It’s Simple!
At the beginning of each course it states how many hours of credit you are able to earn from completing the course.
Step 1: Complete each lesson within the course.
Step 2: After completing each lesson activity, your responses will be sent to our instructors. After an instructor grades your response and you earn a passing grade, your lesson will be marked “completed.” After each lesson within the course is completed, a certificate of completion will automatically be e-mailed to you and will appear in your dashboard/my account.
Note: Each school, district, and state has different professional learning requirements. Please check with your administration to confirm they will accept your cpe credits.
Our goal is to provide resources for all teachers to use in their classrooms. We know educators seek out PD for 2 reasons. 1) To obtain cpe hours. 2) When they need help so they can improve their instructional practice. So, we partner with individual schools and districts to provide their educators with formal professional development including certificates of completion for their teachers. To provide access to all educators, we ALSO provide the content of our professional learning courses via “think pieces.” We do not offer certificates for engaging in our think piece articles. However, we hope that the information within them help you!
If your school is not a partner, we welcome you to take our free, formal MakerSpace course! You can earn a certificate of completion within this course!
To download a PDF of our basic course information, click the picture below.
FAQ
Yes! We partner with schools to provide their educators the opportunity to receive professional learning credit hours for each course they complete.
This partnership provides their educators yearly memberships and includes course instructor individualized feedback/support to each educator as they work to complete course activities. After completion, course completion will be validated and educators will receive a certificate of completion for the number of credit hours designated for each course. For example, educators who complete the blended learning course will receive a certificate of completion for 3 continuing education credits. Additionally, administrators will receive a spreadsheet listing which educators completed which courses.
For individual educators who are looking to earn credit hours from TCC courses, we are happy to assist you too! For information about registering for a Contemporary Teacher membership please e-mail andrea@thecontemporaryclassroom.org. Since each state’s requirements are different we ask that you check with your district/administration prior to your registration.
E-mail andrea@thecontemporaryclassroom.org to register to become a TCC member and be able to formally take TCC courses.
Some are! Our MakerSpace course allows users the opportunity to enroll for free and earn certificates of completion for 3 hours of MakerSpace PD.
TCC’s goal is to help educators best meet the needs of their students. To provide access to all educators, we ALSO provide the content of our professional learning courses via “think pieces.” Educators may read the think piece articles for their own personal learning and personal use of our lesson plans. We do not offer users certificates for engaging in our think piece articles. However, we hope that the information within them will help you!
To formally enroll in our courses, we offer memberships to allow educators the opportunity to formally engage in our course content. This includes the opportunity to receive individualized support/feedback from experts as educators work to complete course activities, course activity validation, and a certificate of completion for the number of credit hours designated for the course they completed. To register to receive these services, you can find more information by visiting our pricing page.
Credit hours for each course vary. The number of hours for credit is based on the following: time taken to read the course content, time taken to complete the Call(s) To Action, and time taken to respond to the Call(s) to Action.
It is stated at the beginning of each course how many hours are available.
We believe the more opportunities educators have to engage in course content and complete course activities, the stronger they become in their ability to integrate the skills in their classrooms. Therefore, we allow educators the opportunity to formally participate in courses repeatedly for 75% of the original continuing education credit hours. They must provide different lesson responses than their previous answers in order to earn credit. For example, our blended learning courses certifies 3 hours of credit the 1st time. If an educator wants to take the course again, they do so for 2.25 credit hours. Additionally, to ensure educators are deepen their understanding of course content each time they take a course, we work very closely with educators to ensure their course work is different each time.
No. The exception is if you are re-registering for a course – then you will receive 75% of the original credit hours.
If you are using a purchase order, you will receive an invoice. Once payment has been received, you will be provided an individualized access code and will be considered a registered TCC member who is able to formally use our courses.
Due to the costs and materials associated with membership and providing opportunities for educators to formally complete our online courses we are unable to provide refunds. We do allow you to transfer your membership to another educator prior to you beginning your course work. Once you have begun course work, you are unable to transfer membership.
For additional questions, please e-mail andrea@thecontemporaryclassroom.org
We are always looking for new sponsors and partners. Contact hello@thecontemporaryclassroom.org for more information.