During this time of social distancing, you can continue to advance your skills with various styles of professional development. There are options such as taking a course through Cypherworx (free through HCDE’s CASE for Kids), viewing webinars from NAA, Afterschool Alliance, CASEL and Share My Lesson or just watching OST and SEL best practice videos and reflecting on ways to improve your interactions with youth. Many of these organizations are offering access to their materials free to ensure that OST professionals continue to learn and grow professionally during social distancing. Please consider joining one of the membership organizations in the future to express your appreciation.
Cypherworx is an online professional development platform where you can access a variety of courses, 24/7. CASE for Kids offers you the opportunity to access this resource for free! All courses have been approved for clock hours by the Texas Early Childhood Professional Development System. Take a 36-hour school age certificate series, access early childhood courses, and explore workshops on non-profit operations or health and safety matters. Enroll here and get learning! Contact Kathy Evans at kevans@hcde-texas.org with questions.
Webinars on demand or scheduled:
CASE for Kids offers a webinar series to offer different teaching strategies to implement in afterschool and summer programs. Webinar topics include literacy, numeracy, and social-emotional learning (SEL) integration. Each webinar is 15-25 minutes in length and can be viewed at any time. Our presenter is Dr. Cedric B. Stewart is an educational practitioner and consultant. He has over 22 years of experience working in public urban education settings. He specializes in behavioral interventions and special educational instructional methodologies designed to impact students ‘ academic and behavioral progress. Topics range from behavior management and SEL concepts o reading and numeracy strategies in OST. These webinars help to meet the training requirement for Select Service providers. Click here to access the list of available webinars on page 14 of the 2020 Spring Training calendar.
Afterschool Alliance offers a searchable database of webinars. Topics range from summer learning to youth voice, bullying, programming ideas and resources for OST field leaders. Access their webinars, to enhance your work in the field.
CASEL (Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning) has launched CASEL Cares, an initiative that connects SEL community with experts to discuss how SEL can be helpful in the current situation and in the future. Topics are developing and a recorded version of “Strategies for being your Best SELf” is available. Click here to access recorded webinars and see schedule for live webinars in April.
NAA (National Afterschool Association) understands that it is essential that OST leaders understand and develop their own social and emotional competencies. This webinar series offers tips on developing SEL curriculum and guides leaders on how to assess their own EQ.
Sandford Harmony offers webinars focused on relevant topics in education. These engaging webinars help inform educators about social emotional learning and provide practical SEL strategies that can be used in schools and organizations across the world. Click here for recorded webinars and to see upcoming scheduled webinars in April.
Share My Lesson is pleased to offer educators free access to the 42 webinars that were just presented at their virtual conference. Explore topics such as trauma informed practices, STEM, equity in education and SEL. Register here to access these informative webinars focused on relevant topics in PK-12 education.
Videos to watch and reflect:
Nation at Hope shares videos that they produced in collaboration with Edutopia to show how schools and classrooms across the country are supporting their students’ social, emotional, and academic growth. Watch these videos to explore what we know from research about how learning happens and how that knowledge can be translated into practices and strategies for students at all ages and stages.
Smithsonian Institute, Good Thinking offers short videos that include ideas on teaching science through brain research driven instruction. Click here to watch these fun and informative videos on best practices for teaching science.
Temescal Associates is dedicated to building the capacity of leaders and organizations in education and youth development who are serious about improving the lives of young people. Click here to see the 1-hour documentary on the history of afterschool and to see video presentations from past How Kids Learn Conferences.