August 2017
The Professional Development & Resource Center (PD&RC) Pride is a monthly email communication celebrating the work facilitated by BT BOCES PD&RC to advance teaching and learning. This will also be an opportunity to highlight resources available for loan as well as upcoming regional events. We hope you find this communication helpful and welcome your feedback.  
Collaboration in the Universally Designed Classroom
The RSE TASC’s Cathleen Stewart , Jennifer Blackman and Tuesday Mishook worked alongside both teachers and administrators this August to build capacity for Collaboration in the Classroom.

This collaborative session began by exploring foundations of special education through utilizing the in-class flipped classroom model. Next, the teachers dove into new learning about the six co-teaching models and engaged in facilitated planning time to discuss how they might use the models to increase the intensity of instruction for students.

In addition, participants were given the opportunity to practice having collaborative discussions by implementing the key principles of effective conversations as highlighted in the book, Crucial Conversations by Patterson, Grenny, McMillan, & Switzler.

Teachers also spent time playing the Brain Architecture Game , where they learned about the effects of adverse childhood events on the developing brain. This game set the stage for discussions about how to help students overcome chronic childhood stress— it takes just one caring adult to change a child’s life trajectory! 
31st Annual Principals' Academy - Dr. Luis Cruz - Building Collaborative Cultures 
Administrators from around the region joined together for the 31 st Annual Principals’ Academy on August 24 and 25. This year’s speaker was Dr. Luis Cruz , who is known for his work on creating a collaborative culture that leads to high achievement for all students.

During the two-day academy, principals and district administrators were presented with practical ideas for re-culturing their schools. Dr. Cruz spoke about the vital role of a guiding coalition in establishing a school culture and structure focused on learning for all students. He addressed what it really means to collaborate and teams had an opportunity to reflect on the stages of collaboration for their professional learning teams. At the end of the two days, teams had an opportunity to process all of the ideas and resources and develop an action plan to move the work forward in their district and buildings.

Participants were very happy with the professional development and left energized for the start of the 2017-18 school year. Their comments included:

  • “Dr. Cruz is a great presenter”
  • “We can take materials and apply it to our building/staff immediately”
  • “Practical examples and approaches were great”
  • “Great balance between stories, information, and activities”
  • “Great presentation- we left with an action plan to incorporate and many topics to continue discussion in our district”

Participants also noted that they would like continuing support in developing teacher leaders, designing common assessments, and identifying learning targets.

At the conclusion of the academy, the Professional Development & Resource Center team highlighted some of the upcoming opportunities that support the work of collaborative teams. These opportunities include:



We look forward to continuing this work throughout 2017-18 during regional leadership meetings.
New Media Library Resource Catalog! (Replaces SNAP)
As you get ready to begin the new school year, please note – the Media Library has a brand new catalog! You can find all of our resources – digital and physical – at our new URL : http://medialibrary.btboces.org  

The new catalog features a cleaner, more intuitive interface, additional search tools, and greater capability to create custom lists of resources to streamline searching and borrowing. Your same SNAP username and password will work in the new system, and tutorials are available here: http://www.btboces.org/MediaLibrary.aspx

As with anything new, we are sure to have a few growing pains – if you need help , or have any issues finding or borrowing our resources, please contact Kristina Garcia at kgarcia@btboces.org

  Learn ~ Collaborate ~ Explore  ~ Register Today!
Looking for more Professional Development opportunities?
Check out the PD&RC calendar here !