Professional Development Workshops

Don’t miss this transformative workshop on AI-Assisted Lesson Design. Learn how to leverage the power of generative AI tools like Gemini and ChatGPT to streamline your workflow, personalize instruction, and create engaging learning experiences. Discover practical strategies for prompt engineering, automating tasks, and differentiating instruction to meet the diverse needs of your students. By the end of this workshop, you will be equipped to effectively integrate AI into your teaching practice.

One of the biggest challenges ESOL program administrators face is retaining teachers session after session. Teacher turnover can negatively impact learners, staff, and program funding. What can program administrators do to encourage ESOL instructors, assistants and tutors (paid or volunteer) to stay with their programs? In this workshop, participants will learn concrete strategies that will improve their programs’ retention rates, engage in a self-assessment of their own program, and select one or more best practices that they will plan to implement in the near future.

Learn how the Smithsonian Institution’s free, online Talk with Me Toolkits can be used in family literacy and adult education programs. The Toolkits allow access to world-renowned artifacts from the Smithsonian’s digital collection and provide adults with ideas and questions to start conversations and interact with their children. They can also be used to support ELL students’ vocabulary, conversation and listening skill development. This will be a two-part workshop with opportunities for peer interaction and lesson plan development related to the Toolkits. 

Motivational Interviewing (MI) is an evidence-based, person-centered method for fostering change and growth and is applicable across a broad range of helping professions. MI is defined as “a particular way of talking with people about change and growth to strengthen their own motivation and commitment.” (Miller & Rollnick, 2023) MI’s guiding principles, referred to as the “spirit” or “heart-set and mind-set,” include compassion, partnership, acceptance, empowerment, and the promotion of personal autonomy. With these guiding principles, and in concert with its core skills of open questions, affirmations, reflections, and summaries, Motivational Interviewing supports those in the helping professions to develop stronger and more effective relationships with persons served. This highly participatory and experiential workshop will introduce learners to Motivational Interviewing.

In this 3-hour hands-on workshop, teachers will learn the fundamentals of small business and entrepreneurship, focusing on how to transform their curriculum, classroom aids, and learning modules into marketable products. Participants will explore strategies for identifying target audiences, creating a brand through learning Canva (a free design tool), and navigating online platforms for selling educational resources. By the end of the workshop, educators will be equipped to turn their educational innovations into entrepreneurial opportunities, supporting their professional growth and financial empowerment.

This workshop helps adult basic education teachers deepen learning and add engagement to their classrooms through games and movement-based learning strategies. Participants will explore techniques for incorporating interactive activities that make learning more enjoyable and memorable and can be used in any lesson. Through hands-on practice, teachers will learn how to adapt games and movement to fit their unique teaching environments and student needs. The session offers simple, effective ways to increase student participation and improve knowledge retention. Join us to discover how small changes can create a more dynamic and energized classroom!

Together we will look at practical ways to engage both educators and students in technology in the classroom, with practical examples and ideas to spark curiosity for technology learning beyond the classroom.

Do you have learners who want to develop their writing skills? While writing skills have always been important for navigating daily life, it is increasingly done online. Digital writing requires three kinds of skills – writing, keyboarding, and word processing. In this workshop, we will show you how to teach academic writing skills using interactive class activities. We will also show you free online resources to assess digital literacy, and teach keyboarding, word processing, and grammar skills.