The first few years of teaching are daunting enough as it is. As the new school year is underway, the teacher shortage is affecting states across the country, including Pennsylvania. As a result, the Pennsylvania Department of Education developed an Educator Workforce Strategy. This strategy outlines goals and aims to address critical needs in regards to teacher staffing, training, and retention.

The plan outlines 5 areas of focus for addressing the educator workforce needs:

1. Meeting staffing challenges
2. Building a diversified workforce representative of the student population
3. Making a more user-friendly certification process
4. Providing aspiring teachers with training that strongly prepares them
5. Ensuring access to high-quality and relevant growth opportunities

To support this plan, specifically focus area #5, Teq would like to offer access to our “New Teacher” playlist on OTIS, our online professional learning platform. The featured courses offer support for new teachers, including courses on pedagogy, assessment, classroom management, and technology integration. Each week in October and November, Teq will unlock a course at no cost. These will also remain free for the remainder of the calendar year.

Connect with us on OTIS for educators to learn new skills and strategies that can be put into practice today! Check out the list of courses below as they become available.

Best Practices for Using AI to Support Differentiation  (airs live 10/9)

Join us for this course where we will explore effective strategies for using AI tools to create personalized and differentiated student learning experiences. Additionally, we will take a look at several AI platforms where you can take your current content/curriculum and generate differentiated resources to enhance student engagement and achievement!

Starting the Year Strong with Classroom Management  (starts the week of 10/14)

Starting a school year can be equally exciting and stressful. New classes, new students, and different experiences can often present challenges. Join us as we discuss some best practices and ideas for creating and implementing practical, engaging, and sustainable classroom management systems. Let’s make the start of the school year a success!

Tools and Resources to Construct Meaningful Report Card Comments  (starts the week of 10/21)

Report card season can bring on stress and anxiety for students, teachers, and even parents. What can we do to ensure that the report card comments that we give are purposeful and provide students with opportunities to grow throughout the year? In this session, we will discuss the importance of meaningful report card comments and how these comments can be used to promote growth for our students’ mindsets. We will share specific comments that focus on students’ efforts and strengths as well as strategies for improvement. We will also discuss how these comments can be differentiated based on grade-band. Prepare to provide students with the most impactful, yet understandable tools for success.

Getting Ready for Parent-Teacher Conferences  (starts the week of 10/28)

Parent teacher conferences can be a stressful time for parents, teachers, and even students, but it doesn’t have to be that way. In this course, we’ll take a look at some things that everyone involved can do to get the most out of this critical event! Join us as we see how you can make conferences meaningful.

Getting Started with Plickers  (starts the week of 11/4)

As teachers, we’re constantly looking for ways to streamline our classroom and make everyday tasks easier. What if there was a tool that could help you easily informally assess your students and see what theme they want for their reward party? Look no further than Plickers! In this course, we’ll tell you everything you need to know to get started using Plickers QR responses in your classroom. You’ll walk away feeling confident in creating classes & your first activity. In addition, you’ll be inspired to use them as part of your class routine.

Introduction to Restorative Practices   (starts the week of 11/11)

Using restorative practices in your classroom can be a game changer for building and maintaining positive relationships with challenging students. Join us for this course where we will lay a foundation for restorative circles. Then, we will discover how and where they originated, and useful ways to integrate them into your practice.

Classroom Management Tools for Keeping Students Engaged  (starts the week of 11/18)

No matter the time of year, it is necessary that we develop appropriate strategies for keeping our students engaged. If students are feeling distracted, excited, or even worried, it is essential that we provide them with tools and resources to stay on track during the school day. Join us for this session where we will discuss classroom management tools that will engage students across grade levels. Additionally, we will explore ideas for motivating students as they approach the end of the school year!

The 4 Effective Ways to Re-Engage Students After a Holiday Break  (starts the week of 11/25)

Winter and holiday breaks are just around the corner! While it is a time to relax and recharge, it can also be a time when your students seem to end up “forgetting” everything they’ve learned this year. Join us for this session where we will learn four surefire ways to get your students quickly re-engaged in school and back on track to begin the second half of the school year!

As Ben Franklin wisely said, “If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.” Whether it’s the start of year three or twenty-three, there’s something for everyone to brush up on. Happy watching!

For more tips, tricks, and tools for teaching in and out of the classroom, check out more content on the Teq Talk blog or our YouTube channels OTIS for educators and Tequipment.

We also offer virtual professional development, training, and support with OTIS for educators. Explore the technology and strategies that spark student success — no matter where teaching or learning are happening!

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