Do you have one or two educators that could benefit from a particular training? Or maybe you want to attend a session to see about bringing it to your district or campus? Open sessions provide an opportunity to get the lead4ward professional learning experience you depend on. All open sessions are in Central time zone and most are offered virtually. Questions? Email [email protected] or call us at 512.201.2999 ext. 5.
Looking for help planning your sessions? Download now!
open sessions for leaders and teachers
Do you have teachers and leaders who are new to lead4ward tools and resources or need a refresher?
Launch your lead4ward work or renew your lead4ward focus by accessing and using lead4ward’s teacher-friendly tools, resources, and strategies to help educators focus planning, renew their sense of hope, inspire trust, and promote confidence.
what you’ll learn:
- how to deeply understand the TEKS:
-
- snapshots
- teacher learning reports
- TEKS scaffolds
- field guides
- how to target vocabulary and visuals:
-
- academic vocabulary
- IQ released item analysis tool
- how to better assist students in monitoring their own comprehension:
-
- student learning reports
- how to engage learners through low-prep/high-yield comprehension checks, purposeful activities, and rigorous questioning:
-
- instructional strategies playlist
- quickchecks
- think it up questions (for teachers)
- thinking stems (for students)
your solution for:
- increasing student achievement
- identifying resources to enhance/complement district curriculum and HQIMs
- building leader and teacher capacity and effectiveness
How can we promote engaging, dynamic, differentiated instruction with minimal teacher preparation and maximum results? With lead4ward’s low-prep/high-yield instructional resources!
Move from teacher-centered instruction with passive, bored students to exciting, engaging instruction where students move, do the talking, comprehend content, correct mistakes, and deepen connections. Get ready to move, interact, and have lots of fun as we rehearse activities that engage students to learn academic vocabulary, analyze complex visuals, comprehend difficult text, and THINK! TALK! WRITE! You’ll be able to use the strategies we practice in the session with students the very next day!
what you’ll learn:
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- how to use lead4ward’s instructional resources as enhancements and complements to district curriculum and HQIMs
- how to proactively address classroom management issues as instruction becomes more student-directed
- how to connect engaging instruction to teacher evaluation rubrics such as T-TESS
- how to promote engagement through lead4ward’s four instructional resources:
- instructional strategies playlist
- quickchecks
- think it up questions for teachers
- thinking stems for students
-
your solution for:
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- increasing student achievement through active engagement
- building teacher capacity
- improving Tier 1 instruction
- infusing engagement into direct teach, guided practice, intervention, and review
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This class helps teachers and leaders make the most of PLC planning time by using lead4ward field guides to unlock ideas for approaching and addressing the content and process standards.
what you’ll learn:
- how to dig into the field guide components to leverage the field guide content
- how to use the field guides to drive instructional conversations and collaboration in PLCs (we’ll practice with sample scenarios and guiding questions)
- how to connect learning objectives to the implications for instruction
- how to examine common misconceptions and error patterns to plan proactive instruction and intervention
- how to use the latest and greatest features in the lead4ward field guides, including subject-specific process rubrics and instructional strategies
your solution for:
- improving planning and PLC discourse while spending less time figuring out what kids need most
- helping teachers understand the context in which each student expectation fits into the big picture, as well as the specifics that inform instruction
- building content knowledge with explanations, stimulus identification, and essential vocabulary
open sessions for principals and leadership teams
creating a leadership pipeline
As a principal, it’s essential to define your role in campus communities, drive instructional priorities, and model and maintain focus on those priorities. Additionally, our high-paced world of school leadership requires concrete ways to build a team that is prepared and ready to assume leadership roles. By creating a leadership pipeline, we can establish a solid, internal leadership foundation that is able to maintain momentum and resilience despite changes and turnover in schools.
In this session, we’ll:
- identify the principal’s role in the learning community
- learn effective ways to lead in the moment and anchor in the pillars of purpose, people, and process
- examine characteristics of high-performing schools
- explore how lead4ward’s Leadership Field Guide can support leaders in choosing short-term focus areas, creating personalized plans of action, and routinely monitoring progress
- share ideas for developing the skills of a leadership team and ensuring that teachers have agency in their own classrooms
- discuss the journey from schoolhouse to professional learning community
- determine an action plan for leading4ward!
going from HOW? to WOW!
How can we use our lead4ward tools with district curriculum and instructional materials to get the most from all available resources, including state-identified HQIMs? Increasingly, educators have multiple resources they are expected to internalize, vet, and implement with integrity. When preparing Tier 1 instruction, educators must ensure instructional materials:
- tightly align with the TEKS and STAAR
- prioritize high-impact concepts and skills
- enable ongoing progress monitoring and reflection
- provide universal access for diverse learners
- offer opportunities for:
- student engagement and collaboration
- comprehension
- oral and written communication
- rigorous thinking and application of learning
- real-world connections and multiple representations
- options for loopback
In this session, we’ll explore how your lead4ward tools can help you think through these considerations and enhance your instructional materials. While instructional materials provide support to address challenges such as scarce planning time and varied levels of teacher content knowledge or experience, they can be enriched for maximum alignment with the standards, student engagement, and learning! Together, we can improve instructional delivery that takes us from HOW? to WOW!
What are we learning from STAAR 2.0 … and how can we use the data and lead4ward tools to strategically inform our instructional leadership? Let’s thoughtfully analyze released items, frequency distribution, and statewide and local performance data to discover practical insights and identify actionable takeaways!
In this session, we’ll:
- explore lessons learned from the first administration of the redesigned STAAR test
- model and rehearse specific strategies that directly support the cognitive demands of the new item types, including:
- unpacking and clarifying the question/prompt
- making connections and layered thinking
- effectively engaging with vocabulary
- building fluency and flexibility with stimuli
- responding to open-ended items such as constructed response, equation editor, text entry, fraction model, graphing, and number line
- comprehending text, various item types, and visuals
Through engaging and structured activities, we’ll use a variety of data to determine the implications of STAAR 2.0 and our priorities for effective instruction that target growth, student thinking, and engagement. Together, we’ll connect the lessons we can glean from the data so we know where to take action!
Leaders know that hiring and retaining high-quality teachers is extremely important. Leaders also know that the demands on an early-to-career teacher can make this an especially difficult endeavor. Equally challenging can be establishing the right mindset, priorities, expectations, and support to develop effective, committed, and confident teachers. So how do we become the leaders our new teachers want and need?
New teachers have specific needs. They also bring much-needed energy, enthusiasm, and fresh ideas to the campus and classroom. An intentional and supportive leader can make the difference between success and frustration for early-to-career teachers. During this class, we’ll explore what new teachers need from an effective leader and how to prioritize support for two essential goals for new teachers, making the first years on your campus the first of many successful years to come!
open sessions for special educators
Sometimes IEP goals feel disconnected from the curriculum, the classroom, and Tier 1 instruction. How can we ensure that the plan that we develop for students with disabilities truly provides access to enrolled grade-level curriculum and allows for meaningful progress in the standards that matter the most?
Join us as we start the journey to re-imagine the IEP development process with tools and strategies that help us better understand and leverage our students’ strengths in the aligned curriculum. We’ll explore a collaborative data-gathering process that not only develops an effective PLAAFP but also informs instruction in real time to support growth. Finally, we’ll learn about the standards to consider first when developing IEP goals: the highest impact process standards and long-strand content standards (standards that build across grade levels and have relevance in future learning and in life). These aligned standards target the thinking and content that students need in the classroom, on STAAR, and in life.
Participants will:
- learn the structure and design of the TEKS and their role in specially designed instruction and goal development
- identify high-impact process and long-strand content standards to inform the decision-making process
- explore an effective, informed, simple PLAAFP development process that focuses on involvement and progress in the general education curriculum
- practice teaching strategies that support cooperation, participation, and engagement in learning for students with IEPs
Classrooms are diverse places, full of students with a variety of strengths and needs. What if we could find better ways to respond to that diversity and remove barriers to participation and achievement for ALL learners?
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) provides us with a framework for removing barriers to instructional access for all learners by incorporating high-yield supports that promote understanding content, engaging with learning, and demonstrating evidence of learning. This framework has been found to have additional benefits in student memory, effort, and goal-directed behavior.
This session engages educator teams serving students with disabilities and struggling learners in an interactive learning experience to collaboratively plan universally accessible instruction. We’ll explore ways that educators can design learning experiences that ensure access to the rigor of instruction and, ultimately, support growth on STAAR.
Participants will:
- examine principles of universally designed instruction and how they connect with the instructional cycle
- apply a planning framework that helps design rigorous learning experiences to proactively meet the needs of ALL learners
- explore options for engagement, representation, and expression that reduce barriers for diverse learners across content areas
- practice teaching strategies that support cooperation, participation, and engagement in learning for students with IEPs
The research is clear on what works in teaching students with disabilities: specially designed instruction should be intensive, strategic, supportive of foundational skills, and focused on generalization. How do we provide proactive rather than reactive instruction for students with disabilities across settings, but particularly in the inclusive classroom?
This session will re-imagine specially designed instruction by introducing practical, streamlined routines that prioritize high-impact curriculum standards. These routines create opportunities to learn without disrupting classroom instruction, help us know more about what our students can do, and support meaningful progress in the TEKS and the IEP. Through this context, we’ll begin to explore evidence-based interventions in reading language arts and math that have been found to improve student independence and learning outcomes for the diversity of students we serve.
Special Educators will learn how to help students:
- get started with rigorous content
- build independence in learning the content
- focus on what is important
- apply their learning
- make connections
- monitor their own progress and develop self-determination
How can we influence the mindset of educators and students in all settings to create an engaging and enriching classroom environment that fosters positive student behavior, cultivates willingness to take risks, and fuels remarkable student achievement?
In this interactive session, we’ll dive into the power of a growth mindset and its profound impact on student learning as well as the importance of educators AND students building resilience, persistence, and a love of learning. Together, we’ll explore ways to encourage struggling students to embrace challenges, learn from setbacks, and develop a belief in their abilities to grow and successfully learn. Additionally, we’ll discuss proactive approaches that foster respect, responsibility, and cooperation among students; methods to address challenges; and ways to create an inclusive learning space where every student feels valued and supported.
Participants will:
- learn effective strategies that emphasize a growth mindset and establish a positive and engaging classroom culture
- gain practical insights and lead4ward tools to create a supportive classroom environment for diverse learners
- examine real-world case studies and success stories
- collaborate with fellow educators to share best practices and innovative ideas
- develop a plan of action for implementing strategies effectively in your school/classroom
Through actionable methods that integrate behavior management and growth mindset principles into teaching practices, we can motivate and inspire students to set and achieve personal and academic goals and establish a culture of continuous improvement and academic success!
open sessions for literacy educators
How can we leverage instructional strategies to develop language among emergent bilingual students while fostering a learning environment where they can thrive academically?
We’ll explore an integrated approach that bridges language and literacy through intentional content delivery. Together, we’ll examine essential elements such as second language acquisition, diversified support, and culturally and linguistically sustaining practices and tools that support the linguistic, cognitive, and affective needs of bilingual learners. By deepening students’ understanding of texts, developing their written expression, and honing their unique abilities to pull from multiple languages, we empower them to reach their full potential.
The session will include:
- engaging lead4ward strategies and tools that integrate authentic reading and reflective writing experiences and connect language and literacy through listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking
- ways to navigate the complexities of language development and cultivate an inclusive learning environment
- scaffolds that provide access to grade-level curriculum
- connections across languages for effective second language acquisition
Through the power of language development, we can unlock the incredible strengths that emergent bilinguals hold and help students succeed in every aspect of their lives!
How can we harness the power of writing to help students engage more deeply with texts? STAAR 2.0 emphasizes the undeniable connection between writing and comprehension, and this session explores that relationship to assess and support students’ understanding of whatever they read, hear, or view. We’ll offer practical insights, effective strategies, and actionable takeaways that improve learning outcomes for all students. Let’s strengthen students’ competence and confidence through written trails that show their thinking and comprehension!
In this session, literacy teachers and leaders will learn how to:
- use constructed response as an assessment tool to gauge comprehension
- integrate reading and writing effectively to deepen understanding
- design writing experiences that boost critical thinking and response skills
going from HOW? to WOW!
How can we use our lead4ward tools with district curriculum and literacy instructional materials to get the most from all available resources, including state-identified HQIMs? Increasingly, educators have multiple resources they are expected to internalize, vet, and implement with integrity. When preparing Tier 1 instruction, educators must ensure instructional materials:
- tightly align with the TEKS and STAAR
- enable ongoing progress monitoring and reflection
- provide universal access for all learners
- support transfer of learning from instruction to STAAR and local assessments
In this session, we’ll explore how instructional materials can be built upon and enriched to provide opportunities for:
- student engagement and collaboration
- vocabulary development and reading comprehension
- oral and written response
- critical thinking and application of learning
- cross-curricular and real-world connections
Let’s connect the dots in literacy by using lead4ward tools to support and enhance your instructional materials. Together, we can improve instructional delivery that takes us from HOW? to WOW!
What are we learning from STAAR 2.0 … and how can we use the released items to drive effective Tier 1 instruction in the literacy classroom? Let’s analyze released items, frequency distribution, and statewide performance data to discover practical insights and identify actionable takeaways!
In this session, we’ll model and apply specific strategies that support the cognitive demands of the new item types, including:
- comprehending texts using layered thinking
- unpacking and clarifying the question/prompt
- synthesizing information to create new understanding
- using formal and informal writing to monitor and assess comprehension
- building fluency and practicing with vocabulary
- responding to open-ended items such as text entry, short constructed response, and extended constructed response
Through engaging and structured activities, we’ll determine the implications of STAAR 2.0 and our priorities for effective literacy instruction that target student growth, thinking, and engagement!
2024-25 hosted literacy academies
The lead4ward Literacy Academy hosted by Belton ISD engages educators from multiple districts in interactive, standards-based learning to strengthen their literacy practices. The Academy includes year-long support through four (4) face-to-face professional development sessions, virtual support, and optional instructional coaching. Using a learn-practice-reflect model, educators gain the confidence and competence to set in motion meaningful change to improve outcomes for all students. Hands-on practice, collaboration, and resources empower educators with the knowledge and skills to elevate teaching and allow learning to continue beyond the academy.
Essential Components & Outcomes:
- Reading and Language Arts TEKS Analysis
- Establishing Clear Learning Objectives and Outcomes
- Effective Lesson Planning
- Aligning Standards, Instruction, and Assessment
- High Impact Instructional Routines and Strategies
- Engaging Learners, Developing Critical Thinkers, and Inspiring Writers
- Reading and Writing Integration
- Prioritizing Reading Comprehension and Writing Proficiency
- Strategic Review for STAAR 2.0
- Implementing Rockin’ Review Framework
The lead4ward Literacy Academy hosted by Belton ISD engages educators from multiple districts in interactive, standards-based learning to strengthen their literacy practices. The Academy includes year-long support through four (4) face-to-face professional development sessions, virtual support, and optional instructional coaching. Using a learn-practice-reflect model, educators gain the confidence and competence to set in motion meaningful change to improve outcomes for all students. Hands-on practice, collaboration, and resources empower educators with the knowledge and skills to elevate teaching and allow learning to continue beyond the academy.
Essential Components & Outcomes:
- Reading and Language Arts TEKS Analysis
- Establishing Clear Learning Objectives and Outcomes
- Effective Lesson Planning
- Aligning Standards, Instruction, and Assessment
- High Impact Instructional Routines and Strategies
- Engaging Learners, Developing Critical Thinkers, and Inspiring Writers
- Reading and Writing Integration
- Prioritizing Reading Comprehension and Writing Proficiency
- Strategic Review for STAAR 2.0
- Implementing Rockin’ Review Framework
The lead4ward Literacy Academy hosted by Lubbock-Cooper ISD engages educators from multiple districts in interactive, standards-based learning to strengthen their literacy practices. The Academy includes year-long support through four (4) face-to-face professional development sessions, virtual support, and optional instructional coaching. Using a learn-practice-reflect model, educators gain the confidence and competence to set in motion meaningful change to improve outcomes for all students. Hands-on practice, collaboration, and resources empower educators with the knowledge and skills to elevate teaching and allow learning to continue beyond the academy.
Essential Components & Outcomes:
- Reading and Language Arts TEKS Analysis
- Establishing Clear Learning Objectives and Outcomes
- Effective Lesson Planning
- Aligning Standards, Instruction, and Assessment
- High Impact Instructional Routines and Strategies
- Engaging Learners, Developing Critical Thinkers, and Inspiring Writers
- Reading and Writing Integration
- Prioritizing Reading Comprehension and Writing Proficiency
- Strategic Review for STAAR 2.0
- Implementing Rockin’ Review Framework
The lead4ward Literacy Academy hosted by Lubbock-Cooper ISD engages educators from multiple districts in interactive, standards-based learning to strengthen their literacy practices. The Academy includes year-long support through four (4) face-to-face professional development sessions, virtual support, and optional instructional coaching. Using a learn-practice-reflect model, educators gain the confidence and competence to set in motion meaningful change to improve outcomes for all students. Hands-on practice, collaboration, and resources empower educators with the knowledge and skills to elevate teaching and allow learning to continue beyond the academy.
Essential Components & Outcomes:
- Reading and Language Arts TEKS Analysis
- Establishing Clear Learning Objectives and Outcomes
- Effective Lesson Planning
- Aligning Standards, Instruction, and Assessment
- High Impact Instructional Routines and Strategies
- Engaging Learners, Developing Critical Thinkers, and Inspiring Writers
- Reading and Writing Integration
- Prioritizing Reading Comprehension and Writing Proficiency
- Strategic Review for STAAR 2.0
- Implementing Rockin’ Review Framework
open sessions for math educators
going from HOW? to WOW!
How can we use our lead4ward tools with district curriculum and math instructional materials to get the most from all available resources, including state-identified HQIMs? Increasingly, educators have multiple resources they are expected to internalize, vet, and implement with integrity. When preparing Tier 1 instruction, educators must ensure instructional materials:
- tightly align with the TEKS and STAAR
- prioritize high-impact concepts and skills
- enable ongoing progress monitoring and reflection
- provide universal access for all learners
- support transfer of learning from instruction to STAAR and local assessments
- offer opportunities for:
- student engagement and collaboration
- comprehension
- oral and written communication
- rigorous thinking and application of learning
- real-world connections and multiple representations
- options for loopback
In this session, we’ll explore how your lead4ward tools can help you think through these considerations and enhance your instructional materials. While instructional materials provide support to address challenges such as scarce planning time and varied levels of teacher content knowledge or experience, they can be enriched for maximum alignment with the standards, student engagement, and learning! Together, we can improve instructional delivery in math that takes us from HOW? to WOW!
What are we learning from STAAR 2.0 … and how can we use the released items to drive effective Tier 1 math instruction? Let’s thoughtfully analyze released items, frequency distribution, and statewide performance data to discover practical insights and identify actionable takeaways!
In this session, we’ll:
- explore lessons learned from the first administration of the redesigned STAAR test
- model and rehearse specific strategies that directly support the cognitive demands of the new item types, including:
- unpacking and clarifying the question/prompt
- making connections and layered thinking
- effectively engaging with vocabulary
- building fluency and flexibility with stimuli
- responding to open-ended items such as equation editor, text entry, graphing, number line, and fraction model
- comprehending text, various item types, and visuals
Through engaging and structured activities, we’ll determine the implications of STAAR 2.0 and our priorities for effective math instruction that target growth, student thinking, and engagement!
open sessions for science educators
going from HOW? to WOW!
How can we use our lead4ward tools with district curriculum and science instructional materials to get the most from all available resources. Increasingly, educators have multiple resources they are expected to select from, vet, and utilize. When preparing Tier 1 instruction, educators must ensure instructional materials:
- tightly align with the TEKS and STAAR
- prioritize high-impact concepts and skills
- enable ongoing progress monitoring and reflection
- provide universal access for all learners
- support transfer of learning from instruction to STAAR and local assessments
- offer opportunities for:
- student engagement and collaboration
- comprehension
- oral and written communication
- rigorous thinking and application of learning
- real-world connections and multiple representations
- options for loopback
In this session, we’ll explore how your lead4ward tools can help you think through these considerations and enhance your instructional materials. While instructional materials provide support to address challenges such as scarce planning time and varied levels of teacher content knowledge or experience, they can be enriched for maximum alignment with the standards, student engagement, and learning! Together, we can improve instructional delivery in science that takes us from HOW? to WOW!
The new science TEKS standards will be in effect for the 2024-25 school year. What changes have been made, and how will they impact instruction and student learning? How do teachers decide which lessons/activities are worth keeping, need tweaking, or should be thrown out altogether? What movement across and within grade levels affects potential learning gaps? These are just some of the new issues facing Texas science educators, but we can begin to prepare for them now!
your solution for:
- determining instructional impacts that will occur this year as well as down the road
- comparing and understanding content and cognitive changes with the help of the lead4ward side-by-side resource
- exploring the shifting focus on scientific literacy and critical thinking
- identifying and managing the gaps that will be created by moving standards
- examining the new Scientific and Engineering Practices and Recurring Themes and Concepts in the K-12 Framework and how to connect these to content to support student learning
open sessions for social studies educators
Eighth Grade Social Studies teachers and students find the depth, breadth, and complexity of the Social Studies TEKS and revised STAAR test to be challenging. lead4ward and Social Studies Success™ have joined forces to bring you socialstudies+ with yearlong support that addresses the challenges teachers face: “what” to teach and “how” to teach it!
In this session, we’ll introduce the lead4ward planning guide; resources for Exploration and Colonization from lead4ward, including select pages from the Grade 8 Field Guide; Social Studies Success™ resources, including a lesson plan; and some of the hallmark strategies we’ll use throughout the year in socialstudies+.
Teachers will leave the session with:
- A solid plan for teaching the Economics of the Colonial Regions subcluster
- An understanding of the lead4ward planning guide and other resources
- Strategies that can be applied to other units of instructions
Is your students’ challenge with comprehension affecting their learning? Do your students struggle to effectively respond in writing to what they’ve read or viewed? Writing responses rely on comprehension AND the skills to answer in their own words to demonstrate their understanding of content. Discovering and implementing effective ways to help our students become strategic readers who can write about what they read is essential in all subjects!
what you’ll learn:
- tools and strategies to model and build the invisible, in-head actions essential for comprehension of various stimuli including text, videos, demonstrations, visuals, and mini-lessons
- how to incorporate engaging experiences for processing and practice with text, videos, and visuals
- how to guide students to answer a short-constructed response question from a prompt and communicate detailed explanations with relevant vocabulary and supporting evidence to showcase their depth of understanding in response to the text or visual stimulus
your solution for:
- improving comprehension and short-constructed response skills that will support student learning and success in all subjects
open sessions for educators new to the profession
Do you have teachers and leaders who are new to lead4ward tools and resources or need a refresher?
Launch your lead4ward work or renew your lead4ward focus by accessing and using lead4ward’s teacher-friendly tools, resources, and strategies to help educators focus planning, renew their sense of hope, inspire trust, and promote confidence.
what you’ll learn:
- how to deeply understand the TEKS:
-
- snapshots
- teacher learning reports
- TEKS scaffolds
- field guides
- how to target vocabulary and visuals:
-
- academic vocabulary
- IQ released item analysis tool
- how to better assist students in monitoring their own comprehension:
-
- student learning reports
- how to engage learners through low-prep/high-yield comprehension checks, purposeful activities, and rigorous questioning:
-
- instructional strategies playlist
- quickchecks
- think it up questions (for teachers)
- thinking stems (for students)
your solution for:
- increasing student achievement
- identifying resources to enhance/complement district curriculum and HQIMs
- building leader and teacher capacity and effectiveness
Helping first-year teachers grow and flourish is at the heart of this professional learning experience.
New teachers will work collaboratively to explore important beginning-of-year topics common to first-year teachers. Learn and experience engaging, low-prep ideas and strategies that can be used and applied with your own students and classrooms so you can confidently start the year off strong and be set up for success!
We’ll focus on:
- becoming an effective teacher
- getting ready for the first days
- managing time, space, and materials