Professional Learning and Sustainability

Special Education Directors,Please see this flyer from our colleagues with the Arizona Association of School Psychologists (AASP) regarding their upcoming annual conference.The Annual Arizona Association of School Psychologists (AASP) Conference has gone hybrid!

Are you looking for Occupational Therapists (OTs) and/or Occupational Therapy Assistants?On October 15—16, 2021, ADE/ESS will be recruiting for OT personnel on behalf of all public education agencies (PEAs) at the Arizona Occupational Therapy Association’s annual fall conference. ESS will operate a booth in the exhibit hall to promote the advantages of working in a school setting and distribute flyers listing all current and anticipated OT vacancies in Arizona public schools. We will also run a banner ad on the conference website directing OTs to the Arizona Education Employment Board.

The Heart, Art, Craft, and Sciences of Reading/Writing for the Inclusion of Students with DisabilitiesThe Exceptional Student Services Professional Learning and Sustainability, Special Populations, and Assistive Technology teams are partnering to offer a professional learning opportunity focused on a literacy strengths-based teaching and learning approach for students with low-incidence disabilities in grades K–12.This three-part series will focus on the sciences of reading and writing, adapted to meet the complex needs of all students at Tier 1. The Assistive Technology team will also share tips, tricks, and tools on using technology to enhance reading and writing for all students. Educators will walk away with skills and strategies that can be implemented the next day. This literacy series is for all educators! Participants can earn a total of 4.5 professional development credits for attending the entire series.

Project EASEL, in partnership with ADE/ESS, would like to invite you and your staff to tune into the Exploring Strategies for Social Emotional Learning Fall and Spring series (see attachment). We plan to share a variety of information and strategies that will support your understanding and implementation of Assertiveness, Self-Efficacy, and Self-Regulation.

November Math Office HoursThe ADE Math Team has scheduled office hours to allow educators to meet together to network, problem-solve, and develop solutions to allow all Arizona teachers and students to continue to feel supported and to be successful.Grade-band meetings are provided for all math teachers, including special education teachers! These grade-band meetings will include opportunities for networking, problem solving, and sharing different implementation models. Office hours are one hour long with an additional 30 minutes at the end for a Q & A session. Participants can earn one hour of professional development credit for each session attended.

What does it mean to be fluent in mathematics? In this webinar, we will examine the key components of fluency and make connections across mathematics standards that specify fluency as the intended end-of-year outcome in each grade level from K–6. Additionally, we will explore instructional routines, strategies, and games that will help all students develop flexibility to solve contextual and mathematical problems involving whole numbers.

At their annual state conference, the Arizona Association of School Psychologists (AASP) recognizes an outstanding school psychologist and administrator (principal or director) of the year, and they encourage your district or charter to nominate someone who provides excellent support and advocacy for students with disabilities in our state. Nomination forms can be located on the AASP website and should be submitted to Jamie Timmerman and Cathy Herring at AASP. Additional information is included in the attached flyer. It is recommended to submit at least three letters of support with each nomination. Nominations open on September 1, 2021 and close on September 30, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. The awards ceremony will be held Friday, November 5, 2021 in the morning at Desert Willow Conference Center.

The ADE Math Team has scheduled office hours to allow educators to meet together to network, problem-solve, and develop solutions to allow all Arizona teachers and students to continue to feel supported and to be successful.Grade-band meetings are provided for all math teachers, including special education teachers! These grade-band meetings will include opportunities for networking, problem solving, and sharing different implementation models. Office hours are one hour long with an additional 30 minutes at the end for a Q & A session. Participants can earn one hour of professional development credit for each session attended.

ADE/ESS is excited to share updated information for our 3-day virtual event which will feature over 75 professional learning opportunities addressing legal issues, special education compliance, preschool and secondary transition, social/emotional learning, and new this year, a content strand for school-based OTs, PTs, and SLPs featuring Michelle Bradshaw, Chris Bugaj, Michelle Curcio, Lisa DeWitt, Irma Gomez, Jessica Hartrich, Amy Hill, Rebecca Lopez, Mike Marotta, Jeff Meeks, Fe Murray, Beth Poss, Linda Rudd, Judith Schoonover, Sarah Ward and Elisa Wern.

ADE/ESS is updating our contact lists of designated Lead Speech-Language Pathologists, Lead Occupational Therapists, Lead Physical Therapists, Lead Assistive Technology Specialists, and Lead School Psychologists. We intend to use the contact lists to:Keep related service providers informed of relevant PDFacilitate opportunities for developing discipline-specific professional learning networks or communities of practiceDevelop a pool of expert, experienced, school-based practitioners we may call upon for such things as surveying the need for particular topics in PD and providing content expertise to inform or review guidelines and policies developed by ADE/ESS