Spring Learning Series

More than ever, teacher turnover is a critical problem within schools and districts. Research shows younger teachers - especially those early in their careers - are most likely to leave the profession altogether. A plan to onboard and support new teachers and paraprofessionals needs to be at the forefront of every administrator conversation going into a new school year.

BetterLesson and industry experts to kickstart these conversations in this bite-size webinar series. Hear from speakers Michael McDowell, Trudy Arriaga and more about inspiring alignment with district goals, focusing on equity and curriculum, finding supportive resources and tools to build success in year one, and learning differentiated approaches to supporting educators throughout a school year.

Watch the Recordings

Inspiring New Teachers to Align with District Goals

Dr. Michael McDowell

As leaders, we crave more authentic ways to inspire teachers’ creativity and engagement. Simultaneously, leaders must ensure educators are facilitating maximal academic learning gains for every student. How can we enable our educators to thrive in both testing new approaches to learning and refining current practices?

Michael McDowell, Ed.D. published author and Superintendent of the Ross School District, discusses several processes for developing classrooms, departments, schools and systems that focus on extensively enhancing student learning over time. Using the latest research in school and executive leadership, cognitive and improvement science, and curriculum and instruction, this session presents leaders with practical approaches and tools to move their organization forward.

Key Learning Outcomes & Resources

Explore a school system development process designed to enhance student learning over time
Balance innovative approaches and traditional best practices for substantial staff and student learning
Identify strategies that enable students to develop ownership over their own learning
See the slides
Get the Workbook

Opening Doors to Equity and Access

Dr. Trudy Arriaga

Do the actions of your educational institution truly reflect the stated values of the organization? Dr. Trudy T. Arriaga has held leadership roles at all levels to include assistant principal, principal, director and superintendent. She is a Corwin author, national consultant and the Associate Dean of Equity and Outreach in the Graduate School of Education at Cal Lutheran University.

Dr. Trudy Arriaga discusses the critical role of the educator in shaping an organization where the success of each and every student is realized through culturally responsive and inclusive practices. Trudy offers a counter-narrative and strategies to overcome the barriers that exist in our educational organizations to ensure open doors for every student and their communities.

Key Learning Outcomes

Articulate the language, beliefs, policies, and practices that support all learners
Promote a values-based, inside-out approach for embracing cultural differences within an organization or district
Understand the tools and strategies needed to embed Cultural Proficiency into organizational culture

Strategic Planning Now for the Success of New Teachers in the Fall

Monica Washington, Romain Bertrand, and Kent D. Maslin

The back to school season seems far away but helping your new teachers be off to a strong start should begin now to allow you to create a strategic plan for their professional learning and support.

This process can seem daunting without guidance, Romain Bertrand and Monica Washington, Solution Designers at BetterLesson, and Kent D. Maslin, Groton Elementary Principal, host an impactful learning session providing simple steps and strategies to design and implement a better professional learning strategy for your new teachers next school year.

Key Learning Outcomes & Resources

Define the key phases of implementation of a strategic plan for professional learning
Explore specific strategies to help you this Spring create your vision, set goals, assess strengths and areas of growth, and build early ideas of professional learning strategies for your new teachers next school year
Build an understanding of what a strategic approach to professional learning can look like with shared insight from Groton Elementary
Get the New Teacher Support Strategic Planning Template
Case Study: Groton's early career teachers see gains in student achievement
5 things to know about todays teaching force

Re-imagining New Teacher Support with Self-Directed Learning

Daniel Guerrero

The past two years have finally brought to light that teachers need high quality, immediately applicable self-directed learning experiences that they can access at their own pace when they need it the most.

As our schools get ready to welcome an unprecedented wave of new educators, it is time to think strategically about how we design and make available impactful learning experiences to teachers who are just starting in our profession.

Learn from Daniel Guerrero, Vice President of Learning Design at BetterLesson, and one of the minds behind BL Connect, our self-directed learning courses. In an application-packed 30-minute session, Daniel will discuss actionable and accessible methods leaders can use to effectively support the growth of new educators without adding to educator overwhelm.

Key Learning Outcomes

Why is self-directed learning essential to new teachers
What do educators want out of self-directed learning and what they do not want
How BL Connect was designed with teachers' needs in mind
How you can make BL Connect accessible to all your teachers
See the slides

Getting Your New Teachers Up to Speed with Curriculum

Jenna Keaney

The learning curve is steep at the beginning of a teaching career. The newest members of your learning community have a lot to learn in a short period of time - creating a positive classroom culture, building strong relationships, designing and delivering impactful instruction, and leveraging formative assessment data.

Having a high-quality curriculum can help new teachers move through this learning curve more successfully. We must make thoughtful professional development and support available to our new educators as they take on a curriculum that is brand new to them.

Jenna Keaney, Vice President of Professional Learning at BetterLesson, leads a session focused on tested and connected strategies designed to support new teachers with the understanding and application of a new curriculum.

Key Learning Outcomes & Resources

Support new teachers to understand the why and how of curriculum
How to differentiate professional learning for new teachers
Prepare new teachers to identify and learn from best practices of curriculum implementation when already in use
Get the Backwards Planning from Assessment Template
Learning Catalog & Workshops:

Principalship: Supporting New and Experienced Principals With Differentiated Solutions

Stefani Morrow

Strong Instructional Leadership is second only to classroom instructions as one of the leading factors to successful students (Louis, Leithwood, Wahlstrom, and Anderson (2010)) and there is no evidence of successful schools without a strong leader (Leadership Matters Report, 2013) and yet the road to becoming a principal, and an effective one does not offer enough differentiated options to meet school leaders where they are on this journey.

Join Stefani Morrow, Instructional Leadership Learning Designer at BetterLesson and award-winning author, for a short actionable learning session on ways BetterLesson is transforming how Professional Learning is done for principals by introducing the principalship learning pathway, a differentiated learning experience for school leaders leveraging and connecting self-directed learning, small group workshops, and 1:1 coaching in an unprecedented way.

Key Learning Outcomes

Examine the key functions of effective Instructional Leadership
Learn the critical attributes of effective Principals' PD and support
What is Principalship at BetterLesson and how it aligns with research
How to give access to Principalship
Supporting School Principals: What do the experts say?
The Principal Effect: How school leaders affect students and schools
See the slides

Dr. Michael McDowell

Published Author and Superintendent of the Ross School District

Michael McDowell, EdD, serves as the superintendent of the Ross School District in California. Dr. McDowell has authored bestselling books, presented keynotes and workshops, and provided practical tools and resources for thousands of teachers and leaders on almost every continent around the world. He is the author of Rigorous PBL by Design, The Lead Learner, Developing Student Expertise, Teaching for Transfer, and forthcoming, The Busy Teacher.

Stefani Morrow

Award-winning Author, Educational Trainer, Professional Learning Designer at BetterLesson and Former Educator

Stefani Morrow is an educational leader with over 20 years in public education. During that time she served in various roles ranging from classroom teacher to leading school improvement work in districts across the state of Texas. Stefani joined BetterLesson in May 2022 as the Manager of Learning Design for Instructional Design responsible for curating professional learning for campus and district level leaders.

Jenna Keaney

VP of Professional Solution Design at BetterLesson and Former Educator

Jenna Keaney has over twenty years of experience in the education field and now serves as the VP of Professional Learning at BetterLesson. In this role, she leads a team of instructional experts to utilize their expertise to design professional learning solutions that address a district’s most pressing needs. She strongly believes in the important work of educators and is passionate about equipping all teachers and leaders with the best resources to help them succeed in ensuring equitable outcomes for all students.

Monica Washington

Innovative Professional Solution Designer at BetterLesson and State Teacher of the Year

Monica Washington is the Director of Inclusive and Responsive Educational Practices and an instructional coach for BetterLesson. A decorated educator of twenty-three years, Monica has received honors and awards from a wide variety of organizations for her leadership, advocacy, and classroom instruction. She serves on the Board of Directors for the National Education Association Foundation and The National Network of State Teachers of the Year. Monica is the 2014 Texas Teacher of the Year.

Led by Industry Experts

Dr. Michael McDowell

Dr. Trudy Arriaga

Stefani Morrow

Daniel Guerrero

Kent Maslin

Jenna Keaney

Romain Bertrand

Monica Washington

Explore Each Session

Inspiring New Teachers to Align with District Goals

Key Learning Outcomes & Resources

Opening Doors to Equity and Access

Key Learning Outcomes

Strategic Planning Now for the Success of New Teachers in the Fall

Key Learning Outcomes & Resources

Re-imagining New Teacher Support with Self-Directed Learning

Key Learning Outcomes

Getting Your New Teachers Up to Speed with Curriculum

Key Learning Outcomes & Resources

Principalship: Supporting New and Experienced Principals With Differentiated Solutions

Key Learning Outcomes

Meet the Speakers

Dr. Michael McDowell

Dr. Trudy Arriaga

Stefani Morrow

Daniel Guerrero

Jenna Keaney

Romain Bertrand

Monica Washington