Course Directory

Course Number:  LANG760N

Focus On:  Across Ages

Category:  Career Development

Term(s) Offered:  Summer 2, Online

Offered for Credit: 1 or CEU or CTLE hours

This course offers an introductory immersion approach to American Sign Language in communication with deaf persons. ASL may also be explored as an alternate means of communication with hearing children with language disorders who may be delayed in acquiring spoken English. Sessions will focus on aspects of deaf culture and the vitality and rich potential of American Sign Language communication. ASL lab practice opportunities will be built into the schedule.

The benefits of learning ASL include:

• Enhances cognition, creativity and abstract thinking;
• Enhances your communication skills through the use of Gesture and signs for working with language barriers;
• Improves your ability to communicate with the approximately 36 million, or 1 out of 10 people with hearing loss in the United States;
• Increases awareness of hand and eye coordination, and the use of spatial relations;
• Opens your eyes to become more aware of your peripheral vision and surroundings; and
• Provides a new skill in communicating visually with diverse populations in different situations.

Course Number:  ARTS500N

Focus On:  Across Ages

Category:  Career Development

Term(s) Offered:  Summer 2, Online

Offered for Credit: 2 or CEU or CTLE hours

Join us this summer for virtual studio art time with Maria Elena Richa. This course will provide you with an opportunity to explore and discover properties of two-dimensional and three-dimensional materials, such as paint, cardboard, and textiles. During our time together, you will develop and have exposure to: language of art along with concepts of art, such as composition, line, color, and form. Scaffolded lessons will build confidence and skills each day along with a strong foundation for future art endeavors.

Course Number:  TEWS830N

Focus On:  Across Ages

Category:  Career Development, Online

Term(s) Offered:  Summer 2, Fall

Offered for Credit: CEU or CTLE hours

If you ever thought: I have always wanted to write (or finish!) that picture book, here is a chance to get going. This is a nuts-and-bolts workshop that focuses on making your story better. Rhythm. Pacing. Voice. Dialogue. Universal themes. Choosing just the right words. These are just some of the things we will look at with a view to giving a uniquely picture book shape as well as your own very personal touch to that story. Participants should come to class with at least the beginnings of a story. *Offered in collaboration with Bank Street’s Center for Children’s Literature.

Course Number:  TEWS652N

Focus On:  Across Ages

Category:  Career Development

Term(s) Offered:  Spring, Online

Offered for Credit: CEU or CTLE hours

Want to start a tutoring practice, but don’t know where to begin? This workshop will address how to determine what kind of tutoring makes the most sense for you and how to market yourself and your skills. Discussions will include such topics as: what to charge, tutoring at your home vs. student home vs. school, cancellation practices, becoming a DOE provider, where to get materials, policies, and professional practices.

Course Number:  TEWS810N

Focus On:  Across Ages

Category:  Career Development

Term(s) Offered:  Fall, Spring, Summer 2

Offered for Credit: CEU or CTLE hours

We are offering this lab for a small group of committed writers who enjoy the writing process and want to come together each month to share their works in progress and receive feedback from other committed writers. This is a safe, supportive place to try out what you’ve been working on independently in a facilitated workshop. Occasional guest speakers from the publishing world will join the group to discuss different aspects of writing, such as writing from an illustrator’s perspective or to provide personal viewpoints on the writer’s experience.

Course Number:  TEWS598N

Focus On:  Across Ages

Category:  Career Development

Term(s) Offered:  Fall, Spring, Summer 2, Online

Offered for Credit: CEU or CTLE hours

So you want to write a children’s book! This workshop will give you the boost you’ve been waiting for and get you started on that picture book, novel, or young reader, once and for all. In this friendly, supportive environment, class discussions will focus on all aspects of good storytelling and good writing, including tone of voice, clear dialogue, characters who feel real, and beautiful language. The focus is on the exciting process of finding your voice and writing not just a story, but one that really means something to you. Teachers will gain a better understanding of the writing process so that they, in turn, can help their students find pleasure in crafting their stories. Everyone who takes this course will come away with new insights about the beautiful power of storytelling, and why children’s books will always count.

Course Number:  TEED346N

Focus On:  Grades 3 – 6

Category:  Childhood / Elementary School

Term(s) Offered:  Summer 2, On Campus

Offered for Credit: 1 or CEU or CTLE hours

When teachers understand how children make sense of multiplication and division, they are better able to create strategies that support students in developing computational fluency. Using student work samples and video clips, we will explore how children develop meaningful, efficient, and accurate computational strategies for multiplication and division. We’ll examine mathematical ideas central to multiplication and division, thereby deepening mathematical content knowledge. Additionally, we’ll analyze the role of the traditional algorithm in a standards-based elementary mathematics classroom.

Course Number:  TEED650N

Focus On:  Grades K – 4

Category:  Childhood / Elementary School

Term(s) Offered:  Summer 2, Online

Offered for Credit: 1 or CEU or CTLE hours

How do children develop computational strategies to help them add and subtract? This course explores how children make sense of these operations. Through video clips and student work samples, we’ll examine effective, efficient, and accurate problem-solving strategies that children can use to master addition and subtraction. We’ll discuss the role of the standard algorithm in a standards-based mathematics classroom and consider the teacher’s role in helping children develop computational fluency. In addition, you will examine mathematical ideas central to addition and subtraction, thereby deepening our own mathematical content knowledge.

Course Number:  TEED652N

Focus On:  Grades 2 – 6

Category:  Childhood / Elementary School

Term(s) Offered:  Alternate Summer 2, On Campus

Offered for Credit: 2 or CEU or CTLE hours

This course will examine how children construct an understanding of fractions, decimals, and percents. We will look at various visual models that help make sense of these topics. We’ll examine big ideas and strategies central to fractions, decimals, and percents and look at ways to design a curriculum that elicits these models, big ideas, and strategies. Throughout the entire day’s discussions and activities, we will develop realistic context that allow students to connect fractions, decimals, and percents to the world outside of school.

Course Number:  TEWS749N

Focus On:  Ages 5 – 13

Category:  Childhood / Elementary School

Term(s) Offered:  Summer 2

Offered for Credit: CEU or CTLE hours

This workshop will explore the role of discourse in the mathematics classroom. How do we support the development of ideas and language in mathematics?  All students, including ELLs and those with language-based disabilities, need supported opportunities to communicate their mathematical thinking and develop mathematical language. The workshop will focus on the “why” of mathematics while exploring strategies to support and develop productive discourse for all learners in a classroom.

Course Number:  TEED565N

Focus On:  Grades K – 3

Category:  Childhood / Elementary School

Term(s) Offered:  Spring, Summer 2

Offered for Credit: 1 or CEU or CTLE hours

In every classroom, some children take longer to master beginning reading skills.  Teachers, therefore, need to develop a variety of materials and approaches to help all children, and particularly those having difficulty learning to read. We will discuss and demonstrate strategies you can use to enhance children’s decoding and encoding skills. We will also review methods and engage in activities designed to improve reading comprehension skills. You will have the opportunity to explore how you can use these techniques in your individual school settings. some teaching experience is required.

Course Number:  TEWS712N

Focus On:  Ages 4 – 11 Years

Category:  Childhood / Elementary School

Term(s) Offered:  Spring, Summer 2

Offered for Credit: CEU or CTLE hours

Mindfulness is a particular way of paying attention to internal thoughts, sensations, emotions and external stimuli with kindness. Practicing Mindfulness in educational settings promotes self-regulation and metacognition, while enhancing attention and decreasing stress.  In this workshop, you will learn activities to use in your classroom to support classroom instruction, community building, and social-emotional learning. We will also explore the history of Mindfulness, current Mindfulness research, and the impact it has on our minds and bodies. For teachers, administrators, parents, caregivers, child life specialists and museum educators.

Course Number:  SPED585N

Focus On:  Grades 1 – 6

Category:  Childhood / Elementary School

Term(s) Offered:  Fall, Spring, Summer 2, Online and On Campus

Offered for Credit: 2 or CEU or CTLE hours

The Orton-Gillingham method of teaching decoding, spelling, and handwriting is a multisensory approach that has been used successfully with children who experience difficulty learning these skills. This course trains you in Orton-Gillingham-based techniques using the PAF Reading Program (formerly known as Preventing Academic Failure Reading Program), which is research based and well-suited for use in a variety of educational settings. You will leave with an in-depth understanding of the specifics of an Orton-Gillingham approach to teaching reading and you will learn how to incorporate this methodology into your practice. This is a fast-paced, intensive class intended for experienced educators who have familiarity with the different components of learning to read, including decoding, fluency, and comprehension. Your prior knowledge of these concepts will serve as the foundation to learn this multisensory approach to the teaching of reading. Direct all questions to cps@bankstreet.edu. Required text: Preventing Academic Failure, by Phyllis Bertin and Eileen Perlman (Monroe Associates Publishers).

Course Number:  TEED658N

Focus On:  Grades 1 – 3

Category:  Childhood

Term(s) Offered:  Fall (Online), Summer 2 (On Campus)

Offered for Credit: 1 or CEU or CTLE hours

Restorative practices hold great promise for shifting the power balance, structures, and approach of traditional classroom and disciplinary practice. At their core, restorative practices are equitable and explicitly anti-racist. They incorporate themes of social-emotional learning, racial and cultural equity, and relationship- and trust-building to promote healthier classrooms and schools. Restorative practices encourage us to engage in self-reflection, to participate on the same level as our students, and to actively question some of the assumptions many of us may hold. In this course, we will explore the foundational philosophy and values of restorative practices, familiarizing ourselves with common themes and practices as we adopt a restorative and transformative lens. Together, we will engage with practical applications of restorative practices in the elementary classroom, trying them out together and reflecting on our experiences.

Course Number:  TEED501N

Focus On:  Ages 3 – 8 Years

Category:  Early Childhood

Term(s) Offered:  Spring, On Campus

Offered for Credit: 1 or CEU or CTLE hours

This course shows you how to provide rich art experiences for young children in a variety of settings. Participants will work with art materials and consider the contribution of art to children’s learning and development. Other topics to be discussed include: setting up art areas; selecting, presenting, and storing materials; planning a meaningful sequence of art experiences; how to make appropriate comments on children’s work; and ways to make art an integral part of the curriculum.

Course Number:  SETE508N

Focus On:  Pre-k – 8th Grade

Category:  Early Childhood

Term(s) Offered:  Fall Online, Summer 2 On Campus

Offered for Credit: 1 or CEU or CTLE hours

Good classroom management is at the heart of effective teaching. This course is aimed at teachers in regular and special education settings who want to learn how to organize their classrooms to help students realize their maximum  potential while also keeping their classes on track. It includes a step-by-step approach for setting up and carrying out a behavior modification strategy. This course is intended for teachers with less than five years experience, but even more experienced professionals will come away with new techniques to add to their repertoire.

Course Number:  SETE513N

Focus On:  Preschool – 3rd Grade

Category:  Early Childhood

Term(s) Offered:  Summer 2, Online

Offered for Credit: 1 or CEU or CTLE hours

Bibliotherapy is the art of using children’s literature to help children understand difficult experiences, and resolve development issues that may interfere with their growth. You will learn how to choose books that address developmental and experiential difficulties. You also will explore how the use of story can help children better understand their own personal experience and learn how to make books that address children’s individual and group needs.

Course Number:  TEED656N

Focus On:  Ages 3 – 9 Years

Category:  Early Childhood

Term(s) Offered:  Alternating Fall, Summer 2, Online

Offered for Credit: 1 or CEU or CTLE hours

Routines, rules, and transitions may be thought of as providing the framework for the daily life of the classroom. The way in which they are constructed and carried out strongly affects the social, moral, and academic atmosphere in the setting. What does democracy mean in relation to routines, rules, and transitions? How can children have a voice in determining them? The ultimate goal is not simply to create order but also to encourage the development of both autonomy and a caring community. Topics to be considered are views of the nature of the child, developmental appropriateness, flexibility, the meaning of resistance, and how routines and transitions relate to academic learning and the various curriculum areas, particularly social studies. Teachers will examine and analyze the structures in their own and each others’ classrooms.

Course Number:  TEWS666N

Focus On:  Grades Pre-k and K

Category:  Early Childhood

Term(s) Offered:  Summer 2, Online

Offered for Credit: CEU or CTLE hours

This workshop will focus broadly on how to design and set up activities to support curriculum in an integrated classroom based upon Bank Street model, with social studies as the core curriculum. We will discuss literacy, math, science, and art activities that incorporate work with materials and play. The workshop will include ways of making these activities more inclusive to address the needs of diverse student population. The unique and specific contexts of your settings will be taken into account and discussed.

Course Number:  SETE517N

Focus On:  Ages Birth – 6 Years

Category:  Early Childhood

Term(s) Offered:  Not currently offered

Offered for Credit: CEU or CTLE hours

This workshop is designed to promote fluency in your early childhood assessment skills across all domains of development. We will review standardized tests such as the DAYC (Developmental Assessment of Young Children) and the Beery VMI (Visual Motor Integration) and help you polish your clinical observation skills. This course includes an overview of sensory integration processing and developmental domain integration. You will learn how one area of development influences others, and how a delay or disorder in one domain can impact on others.

Course Number:  TEWS750N

Focus On:  Ages 4 Years – 1st Grade

Category:  Early Childhood

Term(s) Offered:  Not currently offered

Offered for Credit: CEU or CTLE hours

The goal of this workshop is to enable teachers to differentiate instruction to support the language and literacy development of ELLs/dual language learners in their classroom. Topics include: clinical clues for differentiating language difference and language disorders, instructional strategies to support ELLs/dual language learners, and literacy development for ELLs/dual language learners. Participants will also review the stages of second language acquisition, especially as it relates to culturally and linguistically diverse students in mono and dual language settings. We will also provide strategies for working effectively with diverse families and students and explore best practice in establishing and increasing cross cultural competence in educational settings.

Course Number:  TEWS715N

Focus On:  Ages 1 – 6

Category:  Early Childhood

Term(s) Offered:  Summer 2, Online

Offered for Credit: CEU or CTLE hours

This course will demystify developmental concepts, such as sensory processing, regulation, and sensory integration. You will learn how motor play can impact energy level, attention, and a child’s ability to improve organizational skills. You will complete the course with a toolbox of activities to enhance fine and gross motor development, along with strategies to keep children alert, energized, and in control in the classroom setting. Discussions will include how to collaborate with families and caretakers in using motor play to extend skill-building to the home environment, along with neuroscience research underscoring the importance of sensory motor play for brain organization and building the foundation for lifelong learning.

Course Number:  TEED649N

Focus On:  Pre-k – 4th Grade

Category:  Early Childhood

Term(s) Offered:  Spring, Summer 2, Online

Offered for Credit: 1 or CEU or CTLE hours

A growing body of research indicates that plant-based learning projects, such as indoor gardening and school gardens, are powerful teaching tools inside and outside the classroom. These activities provide an atmosphere that incorporates hands-on learning and strengthens academic, personal and social development while encouraging children to develop critical skills such as healthful living, stewardship, decision-making, and self-sufficiency. This course provides participants with an introduction to botany and applications for plant-based learning inside and outside the classroom, even in limited space. We will move beyond bean investigations by exploring cutting edge methods for growing plants and for learning through plant-based projects. Cross-curricular connections will be made through scientific inquiry and literacy as we explore how to use plants to understand phenomena and the world we inhabit. Participants will receive seeds, plants and materials for continued exploration at their schools.

Course Number:  TEWS826N

Focus On:  Preschool- 1st Grade

Category:  Early Childhood, Online

Term(s) Offered:  on haitus

Offered for Credit: CEU or CTLE hours

Participants will explore the role of play in a content rich and developmentally appropriate classroom. We will discuss the theory and application of play as a medium for learning in young children; the assessment of behavior and content through play; and the creation of play/learning environments in a variety of educational settings. In addition, participants will learn how to communicate with families to calm their fears and clarify the educational value of play. Participants will leave with strategies and techniques to expand their current play-based curriculum or introduce play-based activities to their traditional setting.

Course Number:  SPED550N

Focus On:  Ages Birth – 8 Years

Category:  Early Childhood

Term(s) Offered:  Summer 2, On Campus

Offered for Credit: 1 or CEU or CTLE hours

Young children play to express feelings, gain mastery over materials, and find meaning in complex experiences. When an emotional crisis interferes, with a yound child’s development, play becomes an essential therapeutic tool as well as a diagnostic indicator. This course will utilize current theoretical perspectives to gain insight into children’s play. You will work with these theories to develop play techniques to use in early childhood classrooms and in individual theraphy sessions.  A basic understanding of early childhood development is required.

Course Number:  TEED654N

Focus On:  Ages Infant  – 5 Years

Category:  Early Childhood

Term(s) Offered:  Fall, Spring, Summer 2, Online and On Campus

Offered for Credit: 1 or CEU or CTLE hours

The early childhood program found in Reggio-Emilia, Italy, incorporates an emphasis on the learning environment, proces vs. product, developmentally appropriate practice, and the importance of the community learners. Much of this philosophy reflects the culture of the Italians and is difficult to re-create in the United States. This workshop is meant to provide an introduction to the approach and will attempt to bridge The Reggio-Emilia theory with American culture. We will view the Reggio-Emilia approach as a means to combat the push-down curriculum, competition, product over process, and the jumping/skipping of learning stages we are now experiencing in this country.

Course Number:  TEED630N

Focus On:  Pre-School

Category:  Early Childhood

Term(s) Offered:  Spring, Summer 2

Offered for Credit: 1 or CEU or CTLE hours

This course will review the progression of literacy development for monolingual and multilingual learners. We will discuss how to plan developmentally appropriate literacy instruction, aligned with PreK for All standards and Creative Curriculum, for center-based, large, and small group instruction. We will explore methods of supporting children’s emerging phonemic, phonological, and print awareness as well as opportunities to incorporate oral language as the precursor for successful literacy. We will explore activities that provide opportunities for all children to be successful, including differentiating instruction for migrant youth. We will review markers for inconsistent literacy learning and strategies for intervention. You will have an opportunity to work together to develop lessons and infuse your classroom with literacy activities that can be implemented right away.

Course Number:  SEWS554N

Focus On:  Ages 2 – 6 Years

Category:  Early Childhood

Term(s) Offered:  Summer 2

Offered for Credit: CEU or CTLE hours

This workshop is based on the premise that with increased opportunities to practice language in the classroom, young children will become more efficient communicators. Participants will be provided with a variety of classroom techniques that will engage children with a wide range of language abilities and will help them to listen, learn and communicate most effectively. You will learn to analyze teacher communication styles and how to best match them to the language

learning styles of your students. Using a timeline for development as a foundation, we will review the course of typical language acquisition and contrast it with language delay, differences and disorders. We will use multi-sensory materials to practice how to incorporate language- stimulation techniques into daily lessons so as to seize all interactions as language learning opportunities.

Course Number:  TEED531N

Focus On:  Ages 3 – 8 Years

Category:  Early Childhood

Term(s) Offered:  Fall

Offered for Credit: 1 or CEU or CTLE hours

Bring out the inner scientist in your students and yourself with this course, which includes a wide range of easy-to-do scientific experiments and activities. Using familiar, easily obtainable materials and simple hands-on exercises that illustrate scientific principles, you can learn to make science both accessible and intriguing to children of any age. Some areas covered include: using your senses and scientific tools, science in the air, approaching art and cooking as science, studying living things, and additional adventures in chemistry, physics, electricity, and magnets.

Course Number:  EDUC 606N

Focus On:  Pre-k – 2nd Grade

Category:  Early Childhood

Term(s) Offered:  Summer 2, On Campus

Offered for Credit: 1 or CEU or CTLE hours

Unit blocks and the dramatic play that accompanies block building offer children multiple and diverse opportunities to develop and express their understanding of the social and physical world in which they live. In this course, you will learn how to integrate block-building experiences into the curriculum and organize block-building areas in the classroom. You will examine how block building supports the development of numeracy, literacy, problem-solving, and creative thinking skills, along with social and emotional growth. Field trips—and the opportunities for the first-hand research that they provide—are an essential component of a block program, and will also be included. This course will also support participants in settings with limited or no blocks in applying a broader understanding of the importance of play with open-ended materials and advocating for such experiences in their settings.

Course Number:  SPED587N

Focus On:  Ages Birth – 6 Years

Category:  Early Childhood

Term(s) Offered:  Spring, Summer 2

Offered for Credit: 1 or CEU or CTLE hours

The course examines the play of neurotypical and neurodiverse children and the impact of individual differences in sensory and motor processing on development and play. A core feature of the course is how to employ the Developmental-Individual Difference-Relationship Model (DIR/Floortime) to progress play with children on the Autistic Spectrum. DIR expands and promotes symbolic play, the capacity to express the full range of emotions, and to regulate anxiety and behavior using a teacher-caretaker mediated approach. This course presents the developmental spectrum of play and the manner in which play supports the formation of self-regulation, is self-realizing, addresses all areas of development simultaneously and is spontaneous and intrinsically motivated without the need for teacher directed tasks. We will examine these themes as concept and practice. Throughout the course, you will have the opportunity to discuss challenges you may encounter related to children with whom you are working. The relationship between the material being presented and the use of play for both expressing and working through trauma, will be addressed.

Course Number:  TEWS672N

Focus On:  Grades Pre-k and K

Category:  Early Childhood

Term(s) Offered:  Summer 2

Offered for Credit: CEU or CTLE hours

This workshop will explore the complex dynamics of working as a team in an early childhood environment or classroom.  We will discuss techniques to create a successful school environment that leads to more competent and confident children, healthier partnerships with parents, and a more fulfilling workplace for teachers and administrators.  Directors and head teachers will learn techniques for building a strong dynamic teaching team, how to be an effective mentor, how to work collaboratively and how to delegate responsibilities.