Current PD Course Catalog

Strengthening Language Comprehension Through Interactive Read‑Alouds

• Date:  8/10/26
• Times:  8:30 am - 11:30 am
• Grades: K-1

This three‑hour session will focus on how Interactive Read‑Alouds can build students’ language comprehension and oral language skills in meaningful, practical ways. Teachers will experience an Interactive Read‑Aloud the way students do, look closely at the moves that make it powerful, and practice simple routines that help students talk, think, and make sense of complex texts. We’ll explore how to choose the right texts, how to plan purposeful stopping points, and how to guide conversations that stretch students’ vocabulary and understanding. By the end of the session, teachers will leave with ready‑to‑use strategies that make read‑aloud time more intentional, more engaging, and more supportive of students’ growing language skills.

Teaching and Learning Cycle in the ELA Classroom

• Date:  7/14/26
• Times:  8:30 am - 11:30 am
• Grades:  K-8 teachers of writing

This three‑hour session introduces teachers to the Teaching and Learning Cycle, a practical approach from SFL genre pedagogy that helps students become stronger, more confident writers. Together, we’ll look at how the cycle supports students by breaking writing instruction into clear, manageable steps: building background knowledge, studying strong models, writing together, and then writing on their own. Teachers will experience each part of the cycle the way students do, examine real classroom examples, and practice planning a short sequence they can use right away. By the end of the session, participants will leave with a simple, repeatable structure that makes writing instruction more supportive, more explicit, and more successful for all learners.

Making Thinking Visible in the ELA Classroom

• Date:  7/16/26
• Times: 8:30 am - 11:30 am
• Grades: All Grades

This three‑hour session will help ELA teachers focus on the classroom practices that make the biggest difference for student learning. Using John Hattie’s Visible Learning research as our guide, we’ll look closely at high‑impact moves that strengthen reading, writing, discussion, and feedback. Teachers will experience these practices the way students do, reflect on why they work, and consider how to bring them into their own classrooms with confidence. By the end of the session, participants will leave with a short list of practical strategies they can use right away to boost engagement, deepen thinking, and make learning more visible for all students.

Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling LETRS Training - Full Training

• Dates & Times: Unit 1: 7/16/26 from 8:00-12:00 (4 hours)
  Unit 2: 9/17/26 & 9/24/26 & 10/1/26 from 4:00-6:00 (6 hours each)
  Unit 3: 10/15/26 & 10/22/26 & 10/29/26 from 4:00-6:00 (6 hours total)
  Unit 4: 11/5/26 & 11/12/26 & 11/19/26 from 4:00-6:00 (6 hours total)
  Unit 5: 12/3/26 & 12/10/26 & 12/17/26 from 4:00-6:00 (6 hours total)
  Unit 6: 1/14/27 & 1/21/27 & 1/28/27 from 4:00-6:00 (6 hours total)
  Unit 7: 2/4/27 & 2/11/27 & 2/25/27 from 4:00-6:00 (6 hours total)
  Unit 8: 3/11/27 & 3/18/27 & 3/25/27 from 4:00-6:00 (6 hours total)
• Grades:  K-12 teachers are responsible for teaching reading and spelling

Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS) provides educators with deep knowledge of the science behind how students learn to read and spell. This professional learning series equips teachers with a research‑based understanding of phonology, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension, along with practical tools to strengthen daily instruction. Participants will build expertise that directly supports high‑quality Tier 1 teaching and targeted intervention.

44-hour course
Unit 1: The Challenge of Learning to Read
Unit 2: The Speech Sounds of English
Unit 3: Teaching Beginning Phonics, Word Recognition, and Spelling
Unit 4: Advanced Decoding, Spelling, and Word Recognition
Unit 5: The Mighty Word: Oral Language and Vocabulary
Unit 6: Digging for Meaning: Understanding Reading Comprehension
Unit 7: Text-Driven Comprehension Instruction
Unit 8: The Reading–Writing Connection

5 Mathematical Practices (6 PDPs)

This four-session virtual book study is designed for educators who want to strengthen Tier 1 math instruction by moving beyond surface-level “show and tell” discussions to purposeful, goal-driven mathematical discourse. Using 5 Practices for Orchestrating Productive Mathematics Discussions by Margaret Smith and Mary Kay Stein, participants will learn a practical framework for planning and facilitating discussions that are rooted in student thinking while still advancing clear mathematical goals. Across sessions, we will explore the five core practices, anticipating, monitoring, selecting, sequencing, and connecting, and how they help teachers maintain rigor, elevate student reasoning, and ensure discussions build toward key mathematical ideas rather than remain disconnected. Educators will leave with concrete strategies to improve planning, better leverage student thinking, and lead more coherent, impactful math conversations. Participants will receive a copy of the text as well as 6 PDPS Fall River Schools Credits for participation in all sessions. 

• Dates: 7/31, 8/3, 8/10, 8/17 

• Time: 9:00 -10:30

• Facilitators: Jen Grafton and Shaina Ferreira

Audience: K-12 Math educators, ESL teachers, instructional coaches, interventionists, Special educators and educators supporting multilingual learners in mathematics.

ADD+Vantage Course 1 (22 PDPS or Credit Options)

Add+Vantage MR Course 1 (AVMR 1) includes foundational learning of whole number topics such as number words and numerals, structuring numbers, addition and subtraction, and topics that affect the development of future mathematical understanding. The topics and domains covered often appear later as holes in understanding for older struggling students. Supports early numeracy development and number sense through meaningful assessment and instruction. The topics and games align with the Centers in Illustrative Mathematics.

• Date: 6/29,  6/30, 7/1, 7/2

• Time: 8:30 - 2:30

• Facilitators: Lori Gauvin and Kerin Royds

Audience: Pre-K and K - 2 Math Educators, instructional coaches, interventionists, and special educators supporting mathematics

Unlock Student Thinking with Number Strings -Multiplication & Multiplicative Reasoning (3 PDPs)

Join us for an engaging professional development session focused on multiplication-centered number strings—purposeful mental math routines that develop mathematical reasoning, computational fluency, and deep conceptual understanding.

Explore how carefully crafted strings can be used to develop language, big mathematical ideas, models, and strategies within the progression of multiplicative thinking. Through equal-group drawings, arrays, area models, ratio tables, doubling and halving, scaling, and the properties of operations, participants will examine how students' understanding of multiplication develops across grades 2–5 and how number strings can make that thinking visible.

Teachers will leave with practical tools, ready-to-use examples, and a deeper understanding of how to leverage number strings to strengthen student reasoning, connect representations, and build toward efficient and flexible strategies.

Grade 2 Note: While most Grade 2 number string work centers on addition and subtraction, this session will support teachers with end-of-year array work and provide valuable insight into the multiplicative thinking students develop in later grades. Understanding this progression can help teachers recognize and intentionally nurture foundational ideas that prepare students for future multiplication and division concepts.

• Date: July 22nd
• Time: 9:00 - 12:00

Facilitators: Nancy Magoni and Mary Loranger

Audience: Grades 2-5 Math Educators, instructional coaches, interventionists, and special educators supporting mathematics

Unlock Student Thinking with Number Strings - Multiplicative and Proportional Reasoning (3 PDPs)

Deepen your pedagogy for facilitating minilessons using number strings during intervention and core instructional time. Each minilesson is crafted as a tightly structured series, or "string," of computation problems designed to encourage students to look at the numbers first, before they decide on a computation strategy.

Explore how carefully crafted strings can be used to develop language, big mathematical ideas, models, and strategies. Through ratio tables, doubling and halving, scaling, and the properties of operations, participants will examine how students' understanding develops across grades and how number strings can make that thinking visible.

Teachers will leave with practical tools, ready-to-use examples, and a deeper understanding of how to leverage number strings to strengthen student reasoning, connect representations, and build toward efficient and flexible strategies.

• Date: July 22nd
• Time: 9:00 - 12:00

Facilitators: Sheryl Patterson and Kerri Frattaruolo

Audience: Grades 6-9 Math Educators, instructional coaches, interventionists, Special educators, and educators supporting mathematics

Best Practices in Math Using WIDA (PDPs can be used towards Recertification for SEI)

The session will focus on best practices for supporting multilingual learners in mathematical discourse, reasoning, explaining, justifying, and problem-solving. Participants will examine instructional routines and scaffolds that support oral language development, comprehension of mathematical language, and participation in collaborative mathematical thinking.

Teachers will also explore ways to make the language demands of mathematics visible through sentence structures, vocabulary development, visual supports, and opportunities for structured student talk aligned to mathematical practices.

• Dates: 8/18, 8/19, 8/20
• Time: 9:00 - 2:00 pm

Facilitators: Kelly Cooney and Sheryl Patterson

Audience: Math teachers, ESL teachers, instructional coaches, interventionists, and educators supporting multilingual learners in mathematics K-12

In this professional development session, participants will unpack the language functions and language features of WIDA 2020 for the language of mathematics. Teachers will explore how multilingual learners develop mathematical language across proficiency levels and how the WIDA 2020 English Language Development Standards Framework and PLDs can support rigorous, grade-level math instruction.

The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth currently has three pathways to ESL proficiency/licensure. Teachers working under an emergency or provisional license, or who are interested in pursuing ESL licensure:

• MAT with Initial Licensure in ESL — A DESE-approved Master of Arts in Teaching pathway that leads to Initial ESL licensure. Designed for working educators, with hybrid (online and on-campus) delivery, part-time scheduling, and field-based experiences embedded in the district. Curriculum emphasizes WIDA standards, culturally responsive pedagogy, and strategies for multilingual learners

• Integrated MAT + PRPIL Pathway — For staff currently teaching under a Provisional license, the MAT can be paired with the Performance Review Program for Initial Licensure (PRPIL), a DESE-approved, portfolio-based route to Initial licensure. This lets teachers earn a master's degree and complete licensure simultaneously while continuing to teach.

• ESL Certificate  — A 4-course, focused, non-degree pathway for staff seeking ESL credentialing without committing to the full MAT.

Ready to start your path to ESL licensure?
Contact for more information:
Dr. Traci Almeida · talmeida@umassd.edu
Dr. Christopher Clinton · cclinton@umassd.edu

Next Gen ESL + Curriculum Audit - July 29th

This session will provide an overview of the core principles of DESE’s Next Gen ESL and its available resources for auditing ESL best practices and curriculum. Using these resources, educators will evaluate the current level 3 high school curriculum for alignment with Next Gen ESL. 

• Time: 9:00-12:00
• Facilitator: Andreas Cella
• Audience: High School Level 3 ESL teachers

ELD 3C Curriculum Preview - August 26th

• Time: 9:00-12:00
• Facilitator: Andreas Cella
• Audience: High School ELD 3 C teachers

This professional development session will support teachers in internalizing the first unit of the FRPS ELD 3C curriculum, designed for high school multilingual learners who have been enrolled in ELD 3 for multiple years. Participants will engage in a close study of the unit’s mentor texts and examine how language and content are developed throughout the Teaching and Learning Cycle. Teachers will participate in “language detective” work to analyze the vocabulary, grammatical patterns, text organization, and language functions embedded within the unit texts using principles from Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) and the WIDA 2020 framework. During the second portion of the session, participants will collaboratively unpack Week 1 lessons, review instructional routines and language targets, and prepare for implementation of the unit in their classrooms. 

Joint Deconstruction - August 20, 2026

• Time: 9:00 - 12:00 pm

• Facilitator: Chelsea

• Audience: all ESL teachers

During this professional development, teachers and administrators will gain a deeper understanding of joint deconstruction, building a comprehensive understanding of the purpose behind this aspect of the teaching and learning cycle. Through modeling and application, participants will leave with a deeper understanding of how to build metalanguage within their own classrooms in order to talk about the language choices authors make, and the impact it can have on students' own writing. 

Best Practices in Math Using WIDA 2020 - August 18-20, 2026

• Time: 9 AM -2 PM
• Facilitators: Kelly Cooney and Sheryl Patterson
• Audience: Math teachers, ESL teachers, instructional coaches, interventionists, and educators supporting multilingual learners in mathematics

In this professional development session, participants will unpack the language functions and language features of WIDA 2020 for the language of mathematics. Teachers will explore how multilingual learners develop mathematical language across proficiency levels and how the WIDA 2020 English Language Development Standards Framework and PLDs can support rigorous, grade-level math instruction.

The session will focus on best practices for supporting multilingual learners in mathematical discourse, reasoning, explaining, justifying, and problem-solving. Participants will examine instructional routines and scaffolds that support oral language development, comprehension of mathematical language, and participation in collaborative mathematical thinking.

Teachers will also explore ways to make the language demands of mathematics visible through sentence structures, vocabulary development, visual supports, and opportunities for structured student talk aligned to mathematical practices.

Best Practices for Multilingual Learners in Science - July 28, 2026

• Time: 8:00–11:00 AM
• Facilitators: Kelly Cooney and Kim LaLiberté

In this professional development session, participants will explore best practices for teaching multilingual learners in science classrooms through the lens of the WIDA 2020 English Language Development Standards Framework. Teachers will work to identify aspects of OpenSciEd that can be leveraged to support the strengths, assets, and language development needs of multilingual learners.

The session will focus on instructional strategies that promote student discourse, language development, meaning-making, and access to rigorous grade-level science content. Participants will examine how routines embedded within OpenSciEd—including collaborative talk, multimodal meaning-making, modeling, and evidence-based discussion—can support multilingual learners in engaging deeply with scientific practices and phenomena-based instruction.

Teachers will leave with practical strategies and tools that can immediately be integrated into science instruction to support multilingual learners in participating meaningfully in science learning.

Using the Teaching and Learning Cycle, Systemic Functional Linguistics, and  WIDA 2020: Inform and Explain Reports - July 27-28, 2026

• Time: 12:00–3:00 PM
• Facilitator: Kelly Cooney
• Audience: Open to all educators interested in multilingual learner instruction, literacy development, and genre-based teaching practices

In this professional development session, teachers will be apprenticed into the functions and features of report genres that inform and explain through the lens of the Teaching and Learning Cycle (TLC), Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), and the WIDA 2020 English Language Development Standards Framework.

Participants will explore how informational and explanatory report writing develops across proficiency levels and how the WIDA 2020 PLDs can be used to support multilingual learners in reading, discussing, and producing increasingly complex informational texts. Teachers will engage in joint deconstruction, language analysis, collaborative writing, and genre-based instructional routines aligned to the TLC.

The session will also focus on how language features such as expanded noun groups, technical vocabulary, cohesion, classification language, and explanation structures support meaning-making within informational and explanatory texts across content areas.

Open to any teacher interested in strengthening genre-based literacy instruction for multilingual learners.

Supported Reading in the Teaching and Learning Cycle (TLC) with WIDA 2020 - July 16, 2026

• Time: 9:00 AM –12:00 PM
• Facilitator(s):Allison Semple

Grounded in the WIDA 2020 English Language Development Standards Framework and the Teaching and Learning Cycle (TLC), this session introduces teachers to supported reading practices that help multilingual learners access and engage with complex grade-level texts across content areas.

Participants will explore instructional routines that prepare students to successfully read academic texts through scaffolding, structured interaction, and explicit attention to language and meaning-making. The session will model strategies such as previewing key vocabulary and concepts, chunking text, collaborative reading routines, structured partner talk, annotation, and comprehension support through dialogic discussion.

Teachers will also examine how supported reading builds students’ confidence in working with challenging texts while strengthening oral language, vocabulary development, and academic comprehension. Participants will leave with practical routines and scaffolds that can immediately be integrated into classroom instruction to support multilingual learners in becoming more independent readers of complex texts.

• OSE Unit Launch, 3.1, 4.1, 5.1

• Date: 8/19-8/23
• Time: 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM
• Grades: 3-5

OSE Storylines

• Grades:  K-2

OSE Unit Launch

• Grades:  K-5, 6-8, 9-12

Effective OSE Discussions

• Dates: 7/8 through 7/12
• Time: 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM
• Grades K-5

Best practices MLLS science

• Date:  July 28, 2026
• Time: 8-11 AM
• Grades: Science Teachers, Leads, and Evaluators

In this professional development session, participants will explore best practices for teaching multilingual learners in science classrooms through the lens of the WIDA 2020 English Language Development Standards Framework. Teachers will work to identify aspects of OpenSciEd that can be leveraged to support the strengths, assets, and language development needs of multilingual learners.
The session will focus on instructional strategies that promote student discourse, language development, meaning-making, and access to rigorous grade-level science content. Participants will examine how routines embedded within OpenSciEd—including collaborative talk, multimodal meaning-making, modeling, and evidence-based discussion—can support multilingual learners in engaging deeply with scientific practices and phenomena-based instruction.
Teachers will leave with practical strategies and tools that can immediately be integrated into science instruction to support multilingual learners in participating meaningfully in science learning.


 

Investigating History: Grades 3 & 4 Pilot Launch

• Date: July 17, 2026
• Time: 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Grade 3 and 4 teachers will pilot 2 units of Investigating History during the 2026-27 school year.  This three-hour session will workshop the structures of the curriculum, recurring strategies, literacy focus, and support resources.  3 PDPs.

Investigating History: Grade 5 Full Launch

• Dates: July 14, 2026 & July 28, 2026
• Time: 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
• Grade 5

This two-session workshop will support Grade 5 teachers with full implementation of the Investigating History curriculum for the 2026-27 school year. Session 1 will workshop the structures of the curriculum, recurring strategies, literacy focus, and support resources. Session 2 will focus on unpacking and preparing to implement Unit 1. 6 PDPs

Investigating History: Deepening Recurring Strategies

• Dates: July 31, 2026
• Time: 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
• Grade 6-7

This workshop will lift the major recurring strategies in Investigating History to deepen implementation and refine the continuum from sixth to seventh grade. 3 PDPs.

Democratic Knowledge Project: Rethinking the Civics Action Project

• Dates: July 17, 2026
• Time: 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
• Grade 8

This workshop will begin the process of reimaging the Civics Project to spread its timeline across the academic year to deepen the experience for students. 3 PDPs

• Coming Soon!