Professional Development for Teachers

“I really enjoyed the video analysis. The speaker was easy to relate to and I loved hearing about the ideas he has incorporated into his classroom.” Natalie C.

“The standout project for me was the Facebook profile activity.  I appreciate that a template was included that we can use in our classrooms.” Jennifer H.

“I think the trilogy of Pre-During- Post Reading strategies were the best as they offered really practical applications of the critical thinking skills.” Rebekah W.

(Standout Skill was) “Google Docs Add Ons. I had no idea about them and many will be really helpful to use in class.” Kate F.

“I really enjoyed the Add-on exploration.  I had no idea that even existed and I saw several that I would definitely use in my classroom.” Katherine H.

“All were great. I’m just getting started with Teachers Academy and feel there are a wealth of courses for me to take at this time.” Stephanie T. Welcome Stephanie! 🙂

“The certificate.  I was unaware that Google had a drawing program associated with it.  I found it beneficial when I did that activity.” Laura A.

“I liked the parent survey and learning to make certificates.” Claire H.

“I like making the test because I always struggle with spacing and had never thought of using grids for that!  I will be doing that all the time now! It was great! I learned a lot that I can use!” Janie B.

“I absolutely loved the You Decide! Adventure.  It was rather time consuming but once I got going I kept wanting to add more choices.  The only problem I add was trying to make the You Decide part of it not part of the quiz.  I will definitely be using that idea in my class along with the other forms I created.  Super convenient and time saving.” Katherine H.

“The Parent Survey was an excellent project. I know I will use it at Open House!” Julie H.

“I really enjoyed learning how to create a choose your own adventure in Google Forms. The students will love this type of activity. It is a creative way to make learning meaningful and memorable. Excellent course! It is definitely one of my favorites so far!” Kristen F.

“I really enjoyed designing my ideal classroom! It made me take a closer look at my current classroom and see the small changes I can make for now for more flexible learning experiences.” Amy M.

“I enjoyed making blueprints of my ideal classroom.  It was fun to dream, but more importantly, I saw that just because I didn’t have my dream classroom (and would in reality never get it) I could still make some changes to my classroom to enhance it for my students.” Eric J.

“The standout activity was the one in which we were asked to complete three separate assignments. That activity pushed me to think beyond what I normally do in the classroom in order to make my students want to learn, and provide them with lessons that meet their needs.” Cynthia N.

“I found this course very inspiring. Some of the videos even brought me to tears. Such a great class.” Erine R.

“I enjoyed learning about the unique schools around the world and the way that they use structures to enhance learning. It allowed me to consider my own classroom and the features inside and design a new room in a way that promotes function and allows for plenty of creativity.” Kristen F.

“The Ken Robinson video was very cool. I liked his ideas and the video was so interesting too! More about Art please! I LOVE YOUR COURSES!” Ashley S.

Thank you Ashley!! 🙂

“I like doing the Arts activity and seeing how the arts can be incorporated into the standards.” Jennifer S.

“When I created my visual for the question proposed. I had a lot of fun making and designing it. I would love to see what my students come up with.” Erine R.

“I always knew Arts enhanced education. This course provided evidence to show how and why that’s true, which encourages me all the more to incorporate Art with other disciplines.” Rebecca L.

“The online blogging. I have never done anything like that before so this was a fresh skill for me.” Andrew F.

“I was not aware of Edublog, so making the blog was new for me.” Hope H.

“I feel the stand-out project in this lesson was learning how to create an Edu blog for the classroom. Edu blogs are great for archiving and sharing information easily. Edu blogs are a wonderful way to enhance my students internet skills as they learn how to navigate and participate in the classroom art blog.” Andrea V.

“I liked doing the finance budge spreadsheet. I was a lot of fun. Kids would love it.” Laura T.

“The setting up and weigh a grade book was quite beneficial. It creates a tool that can be used daily.” Misty A.

“Everything in this course was great. If you are a beginner or an expert there’s still something to learn about Excel.” Stephanie T.

“The stand out activity for me was learning how to use Excel and Word together to make labels.  I was not aware you could do that.  I also learned I could create a gradebook in Excel. I would love to see more courses in Excel.  I would like to see what type of advance activities you can do with this program.” Laura A.  We are working on it Laura! Thank you! 🙂

“The personal mindfulness practice was the stand-out activity for this course. I found it extremely useful and practical to try to complete my own mindfulness practice to ensure I can provide support and understanding to others.” Adrianna S.

(The Standout Skill was) “Real-life mindfulness practices, because it gave real experience in the practices taught.” Lauren K.

“Writing the lesson because it really made me dig deep to try to come up with something that all students would benefit from that was not too much like meditation.” Christie L.

“The stand-out skill/project in this course was “What Teachers Should Know About the Brain.”  The information presented here was unknown to me.  It was an eye opener.” Blanca G.

“I enjoyed creating the lesson and beginning my own practice. I think that both of these will be useful in the classroom!” Kristen N.

“Dr. Ratney’s Ted Talk was very eye opening especially when he shared the California study on physical activity. This course was very thorough and did a great job conveying the message about the importance of physical exercise.” Magalie A.

“The Powerpoint to present to the administration to make a case for movement in education. After doing the research I was fired up wanting to make a change, but felt like that would be way too much work to put something together. I liked that it was a project because it forced me to compile my learning in a way that would teach someone else. I may go ahead and send my Powerpoint to my principal. It was a great course- thank you!” 🙂 Deanna D.

“Having to take a lesson that I already teach and incorporate movement into it was really valuable. It got me thinking about how easy it really is to add movement into my other lessons. This course really is a great one. It was straightforward in how to complete everything and I think this whole platform is incredibly valuable.” Matt B.

“The lessons will definitely improve with the activities I have learned. I thought everything was really good and videos were very informative! I appreciated the classes and projects I did for this class.” Cassandra P.

“Actually making a lesson plan that I will be able to use in my classroom that incorporates movement ideas.  I loved all the different ways to include movement and not just movement for movement’s sake but as a way of learning!” Diane C.

“The Exercise and Memory Analysis was great. It really built buy-in for me and I imagine it would for kids too. Also, I like the idea of studying how different conditions can help you remember. I’m looking forward to trying it with kids some time.” Phillip B.

“The mini biography was interesting because I got to research a musical personality that I didn’t know much about. I really liked listening to all of the sound clips.” Carleene S.

“Creating the lesson plan. It was the cumulating of information that was then applied to a subject matter. It helped synthesize, or streamline, the information.” Elizabeth C.

“I liked the creation of a lesson plan (and) I thought it was a good layout. Great Course.” Jim S.

“This course was so much fun!  I loved doing the mini biography and the research.” Nancy H.

“I found the writing of the mini-biography to be the stand-out activity of this class.  At first, I found it difficult to decide on the performer to research and write about as there are so many talented musicians who have influenced the evolution of rock music.  Once I made my decision, I enjoyed researching that artist and writing about her. I really appreciated the entire course.  I feel like I learned a lot about music that will be beneficial to me as an educator (and also as an individual living in today’s world).” Mary Ann F.

“Converting an  existing Science Lesson Plan into a STEAM Lesson Plan.   I’ve been teaching hands-on science for over 40 years and I have so many good, practical lessons already and I don’t want to reinvent the wheel.” David M.

“The amount of reflection on our own philosophy and how to blend the skills we learned with it. This was wonderful- thank you!” Michelle M.

“I liked revamping lessons to make them appropriate for STEAM interesting.” Tamara A.

“I enjoyed the lesson redesign.  It really made me think of how STEAM activities  can be included in regular lessons already taught.” Lisa H.

“I enjoyed creating my own STEAM lesson plan revolved around building bird nests. I do not have a lot of experience with STEAM, so it was helpful to combine different elements and create a new lesson.” Kendra W.

“I liked the activity that required me to evaluate a lesson plan that was not STEAM based and modify it so it became STEAM based.  It was a great way to challenge my own thinking and it allowed me to research and use my own creativity about incorporating STEAM based plans.” Melissa A.

“It was useful new method in helping students learn new vocabulary and be able to apply this strategy in their reading skill, and written and oral language.” Maria G.

“I loved how the course was simple to follow, engaging and practical to the classroom!” Michelle C.

“Very helpful and I plan to use it in my classroom. I think the skills taught are great. I wouldn’t add anything else to it. Great Course.” Anthony F.

“I really liked this course.  I really think adding any additional objectives would be more than three hours.  I like the course as it is.   I’m looking forward to implementing this activity in the fall.” Aimee P.

“I enjoyed writing a story and comparing it to the article, using the Story Maker strategy. I was able to connect the vocabulary in new ways to the material.   It helped me to understand how helpful it would be for my students.” Kristen N.

“The ideas to help students connect with the idea of empathy. This isn’t something we “teach” but allow teachable moments to run our classroom.” Diane M.

“The stand-out activity for me was the scenario activity. I really liked that it made you think and really analyze the situations. It was also great because these are scenarios that may actually happen in a school.” Staci D.

“I enjoyed the last project creating our own lesson plan .” Gina F.

“I just wanted to take the opportunity to express my gratitude for The Teacher’s Academy. I have been certified in Arizona for 40 years, but not still in the classroom.  The Teacher’s Academy courses have been fantastic and I would highly recommend them to any teacher needed recertification hours. The topics I chose were relevant to my current work and I honestly learned a great deal.” Nancy H.  Thank you Nancy!! 🙂

“The project where we chose and validated activities for students to practice empathy. These were useful examples that I will take to my classroom.” Megan T.

“I really love the podcast, the slowdown and reviewing it. I even did my lesson plan on it!” Melissa C.

“I had heard good things about the Library of Congress and was not very informed. I enjoyed running around in it and loved the author interviews.” Paul W.

“I really enjoyed spending time looking around on the Library of Congress website. I am surprised I have never used this tool before, and I’m excited to make use of the many resources in the future!” Claire B.

“The stand out project in this lesson was the PowerPoint I created because I can actually use it in a classroom with students. It was a very practical, useful requirement for the class.” Denise P.

“Creating the trigger lesson was very challenging initially. I had to seek additional support on YouTube and other mediums.” Magalie A.

“I love that I have a game all ready to go for my class when we get to that content.” Julie H.

“This was a challenging course on creating triggers in PowerPoint lessons. I have experience with creating these types of lessons but using the triggers was something I had not learned before and it will be extremely useful going forward! I received adequate, appropriate and timely feedback from The Teacher’s Academy: Agree I think this course was very well written and thorough! Thank you!!! Kathy B.