PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS
The Path to Success
Compass Education LLC partners with the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) as a third-party continuing education unit (CEU) provider. Multiple workshops are approved for CEU credits towards ACSI teacher certification requirements. Compass Ed. will work with other accrediting agencies as well to qualify workshops for credits. Explore the many workshop titles listed below to find the best choice for your school's next professional development. Contact us today!
PD WORKSHOPS
TEACHING BY OBJECTIVES
Faculty PD - Approved for ACSI CEU Credit
If adequately written and utilized, course objectives provide the foundation of every course, the basis for lesson plans, and the root for daily instruction. Yet for course objectives to be used to their fullest extent and provide maximum value, objectives should also be the basis for classroom assessment. This workshop examines the relationship among all three areas and looks at ways to analyze how effectively planning, teaching, and assessing connect to learning objectives.
ORIENTING TO A NEW SCHOOL
Faculty PD - Approved for ACSI CEU Credit
The purpose of this workshop day is to provide new teachers with encouragement, support, and the accumulated knowledge and experience of colleagues at their new school. Gifted teachers leave the teaching profession because of frustrations and discouragement. A school cannot promise teaching is easy, or that difficulties and frustrations won’t take place; however, a school can provide an onboarding focus to equip a teacher that is new to the school with tools for success.
CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT 101
Faculty PD - Approved for ACSI CEU Credit
A school’s mission statement captures the big-picture focus of students’ education; therefore, curriculum planning also has to be big-picture focused. As teachers, it is easy to dwell on the details of daily lesson planning. Lesson plans are where teachers live, and lesson plans are essential to keep us on track with the daily educational needs of students. Consideration of the school’s mission statement, however, should remind us to lift our eyes from the daily lesson plan and reflect on our big-picture goal of not only teaching individual courses but teaching as part of the school-wide, big-picture curriculum. Curriculum planning can help us see that our instruction in the classroom is part of a much larger whole, and thus our instruction has greater relevance to our students and should be filled with a greater sense of purpose.
CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT NEXT STEPS
Faculty PD - Approved for ACSI CEU Credit
This course workshop is a follow-up to Curriculum Development 101. After looking at research and the overall general components of curriculum development in the preceding course, this course leads a school in practical steps to define its philosophy of curriculum. Faculty and administration work collaboratively to construct curriculum vision statements to articulate the philosophy, purpose, and outcome of the school’s curriculum. The course will also provide a look at department collaboration through segmenting curriculum work based on teaching disciplines. An initial collegial activity has department team members structure department purpose statements and department goals. The final initiative of the workshop is development of capstone objectives for each department. Capstone objectives are likened to a profile of a graduate and help define the non-negotiable takeaways as students leave the school.
PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES
Faculty PD - Approved for ACSI CEUCredit
Capacity is defined as a complex blend of motivation, skill, positive learning, organizational conditions and culture, and infrastructure of support. Put together, it gives individuals, groups, whole school communities and school systems the power to get involved in and sustain learning over time. Developing professional learning communities appears in research to hold considerable promise for capacity building for sustainable improvement.
CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT
Faculty PD - Approved for ACSI CEU Credit
Discipline is only one component of classroom management. If classroom management is handled well, then discipline becomes a smaller component. This session explores the value of the routines and relationships that supersede student discipline.
CLASSICAL EDUCATION
Faculty PD - Approved for ACSI CEU Credit
PD participants will understand and discuss the characteristics of classical ed. and seek to list ways the model can enhance current teaching perspectives. Participants will investigate the three pillars of the pedagogical approach of the trivium and prepare to work with their grade-level teachers in future sessions to accomplish classical lesson/activity planning.
PEDAGOGICAL PRINCIPLES IN CLASSICAL EDUCATION
Faculty PD - Approved for ACSI CEU Credit
There is no single recipe or formula for Christian education, and the same is true for Classical Christian education. Teachers want to understand practical ways of teaching; they want to be able to capture how to translate something into the classroom. A practical question is, how do we make this happen? It is necessary for professional educators to look at best practices and quality instructional techniques, and strategies. However, practice is informed by principle or by philosophy, and so it is incumbent to pursue an understanding of the philosophies and theoretical concepts of the neoclassical education movement. This course gives a brief overview of the elements of classical education and pedagogy. Through the sessions, it is revealed that when better versed in the principles and philosophy, the more naturally the practices will develop. The workshop finalizes with the practical application of flipping the curriculum map to allow pedagogical principles to pave the way for instructional practice.
HOMEWORK BEST PRACTICES
Faculty PD - Approved for ACSI CEU Credit
From perspectives of never assigning homework to consistent nightly homework and everything in between, this course will review decades of research and, most notably, the most comprehensive research synthesis on homework published by Harris Cooper. The course leads faculty to understand their own views of homework, comparing those views to the school’s current policy on homework, and how to apply the research to the best practices of homework for effective academic impact.
ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES
Faculty PD - Approved for ACSI CEU Credit
Formative assessment gauges student knowledge before and during instruction. Summative assessment determines student knowledge after instruction. This session takes a look at both areas and the techniques to accomplish each. The session also explores other purposes of assessment, such as:
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To promote learning
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To guide instructional decision making
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To assist in the diagnosis of learning and performance problems
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To promote self-regulation
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To determine what students have learned
BIBLICAL INTEGRATION
Faculty PD - Approved for ACSI CEU Credit
Biblical integration should happen as naturally in every class as breathing.
Teachers should work to avoid the Bible verse sprinkle syndrome and work to accomplish authentic Biblical integration. This session examines how teachers’ personal view of the Bible’s role in every discipline impacts Biblical Worldview in teaching. Participants will explore ways to determine the level of Biblical integration in their lesson plans and work through plans to elevate Biblical integration.
FACULTY EVALUATION PROGRAMS
Administrative PD - Approved for ACSI CEU Credit
Administrators are often focused on the daily operations of a school and find it difficult to give due diligence to faculty observation and evaluation. This session looks at defining a quality, differentiated evaluation system that allows administrators to delineate how they work with teachers. The session also takes a look at how to execute observations and the critical components that elevate professional collaboration with faculty.
HOW YOUR PERSONALITY SHAPES YOUR TEACHING
Faculty PD - Approved for ACSI CEU Credit
Are you quiet by nature? Are you the life of the party? Your personality has an impact on how you instruct, the activities you choose, and how your students receive it all. Participants will explore the Myers-Briggs personality teacher profile. Participants will take multiple inventory assessments to see where intelligences, learning styles, and processing preferences shape who they are in the classroom. Participants will understanding how to use the information to make best practice instructional decisions.
IN LOCO PARENTIS / PARENT COMMUNICATION
Faculty PD - CEU Credit available
Teachers are often hesitant, if not fearful, to honestly communicate with parents. It is a delicate balance to honor the authority of parents and maintain authority over the classroom. PD participants will define In Loco Parentis and map the parent/teacher relationship from a biblical foundation. Participants will practice how to share information with parents and how to make parents part of the team.
ETHICS & PROFESSIONALISM
Faculty PD - CEU Credit availble
More information to come.
HOW TO BRING SUCCESSFUL CHANGE TO YOUR SCHOOL
Administrative PD - CEU Credit available
More information to come.
STANDARDIZED TEST ANALYSIS
Faculty PD - Approved for ACSI CEU Credit
Standardized testing (ST) is prevalent and pervasive in education, training, and many other aspects of modern life. ST drives educational programming, teaching, and decision-making, so teachers and administrators must understand the practical applications of analyses and interpretations. This workshop addresses the following:
Course Objectives
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Define and characterize testing applications and measurements
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Identify and disaggregate test scores
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Establish how the use of test score data can shape quality instructional decisions
THE SEVEN LAWS OF TEACHING
Faculty PD - Approved for ACSI CEU Credit
John Milton Gregory's work, The Seven Laws of Teaching, offers timeless direction to professional Christian educators. This course examines the correlation between Gregory's laws, penned in 1884, and modern-day research first presented by Drs. Charles and Brian Walker, in their 2006 editorialized publication of Gregory's original work. Participants will discover and discuss the many teaching insights of the seven laws and how the laws remain relevant and applicable to the 21st-century Christian classroom.
CLASSICAL ED. - GRAMMAR LEVEL WORKSHOP
Faculty PD (K-6) - CEU Credit available
Using the Trivium chart, this session will focus on pedagogical practices for the grammar level and identify classroom applications for teachers. PD participants will learn how the grammar level connects to Bloom’s taxonomy. Participants will be able to identify specific grammar classroom activities and plan for this learning stage of students.
CLASSICAL ED. - LOGIC LEVEL WORKSHOP
Faulty PD (Grades 6-9) - CEU Credits available
Using the Trivium chart, this session will focus on instructional practices for the logic level and identify classroom applications for teachers. PD participants will learn how the logic level connects to Bloom’s taxonomy. Participants will be able to identify specific logic classroom activities and plan for this learning stage of students.
CLASSICAL ED. - RHETORIC LEVEL WORKSHOP
Faculty PD (Grades 9-12) - CEU Credit available
Using the Trivium chart, this session will focus on instructional practices for the rhetoric level and identify classroom applications for teachers. PD participants will learn how the rhetoric level connects to Bloom’s taxonomy. Participants will be able to identify specific rhetoric classroom activities and plan for this learning stage of students.