PD for teachers

This 6th-12th professional development supports teachers in addressing Climate Change Education: New Jersey Student Learning Standards by exploring how human activities affect Earth’s systems and climate. The session focuses on water flow, watersheds, aquifers, and clean drinking water, emphasizing systems thinking, cause-and-effect relationships between rain and drought, and local climate impacts. Teachers will engage in hands-on, developmentally appropriate activities that model how students can use observations, simple models, and evidence to understand environmental change. Participants will leave with classroom-ready strategies and resources that integrate science instruction with NJ’s climate literacy expectations

FYI: This PD is targeted for 6th-12th grade. Please note if you took this PD last year, you are not able to attend this year to allow for new participants to take part.
This PD is only open to New Jersey Public School Teachers and is sponsored by the NJDOE Climate Change Grant, allowing for there to be no charge for the PD. Stipends are available for NJ Public School Teachers at $50 an hour for non-contractual hours, or sub-pay is available for contractual hours at $62.50 for a half day and $125 for a full day

Join us for a hands-on professional development session focused on integrating NJ ADAPT—a suite of data visualization and mapping tools developed by Rutgers University—into your classroom instruction. Using NJ Climate Change Education Standards as a framework, participants will collaborate to create climate- and data-based lessons that foster student engagement and real-world learning. We encourage participants to bring a colleague to co-develop lessons and exchange feedback. Rutgers faculty and staff will be available throughout the session to provide guidance and technical support in using NJ ADAPT effectively.

FYI: This PD is only open to New Jersey Public School Teachers and is sponsored by the NJDOE Climate Change Grant, allowing for there to be no charge for the PD. Stipends are available for NJ Public School Teachers at $50 an hour for non-contractual hours, or sub-pay is available for contractual hours at $62.50 for a half day and $125 for a full day.

We described/defined various climate emotions and offered strategies for students and teachers on how to manage those feelings. We help teachers and students identify feelings, normalize the feelings, and give examples of youth advocating for climate justice. 

FYI: This PD is only open to New Jersey Public School Teachers and is sponsored by the NJDOE Climate Change Grant, allowing for there to be no charge for the PD. Stipends are available for NJ Public School Teachers at $50 an hour for non-contractual hours, or sub-pay is available for contractual hours at $62.50 for a half day and $125 for a full day.

Learn how bird and amphibian populations are changing due to climate change, and how to bring citizen science projects into your classroom to study wildlife with your students. With activities that are adaptable for any grade level and discipline, we will share a few mini lessons, lots of background information, and have plenty of time for brainstorming and collaboration. Educators will have the opportunity to learn about NJ wildlife, explore a variety of habitats, and adapt lessons to their community. Part of this workshop will take place outdoors so please dress for the weather!

FYI: This PD is only open to New Jersey Public School Teachers and is sponsored by the NJDOE Climate Change Grant, allowing for there to be no charge for the PD. Stipends are available for NJ Public School Teachers at $50 an hour for non-contractual hours, or sub-pay is available for contractual hours at $62.50 for a half day and $125 for a full day.

A cross-disciplinary approach to deepen understanding of real-world issues, like climate change, through informational text, while meeting literacy standards in science, social studies, and language arts.

FYI: This PD is targeted for 6th-12th grade. Please note if you took this PD last year, you are not able to attend this year to allow for new participants to take part.
This PD is only open to New Jersey Public School Teachers and is sponsored by the NJDOE Climate Change Grant, allowing for there to be no charge for the PD. Stipends are available for NJ Public School Teachers at $50 an hour for non-contractual hours, or sub-pay is available for contractual hours at $62.50 for a half day and $125 for a full day

Young people are among the more vulnerable groups to the impacts of climate change. Even those students who have not been directly affected by climate change may struggle emotionally when learning about climate change and its impacts. In this workshop we draw on the healing justice framework with its emphasis on self-expression through art and storytelling. We will focus on strategies, in particular movement-based approaches, for creating learning environments that center care and support students in finding the power and joy to fight climate change

FYI: Please note if you took this PD last year, you are not able to attend this year to allow for new participants to take part.
This PD is only open to New Jersey Public School Teachers and is sponsored by the NJDOE Climate Change Grant, allowing for there to be no charge for the PD. Stipends are available for NJ Public School Teachers at $50 an hour for non-contractual hours, or sub-pay is available for contractual hours at $62.50 for a half day and $125 for a full day.

In this session we will look at ways to incorporate ideas from Peter Liljedahl's "Building Thinking Classrooms" for your K-5 class in math. This session is for teachers with little to no experience or knowledge about "Building Thinking Classrooms" and attendees will come away with ideas for incorporation into their own classes.

We will discuss how air quality is affected by weather and how it can affect human health. We will then discuss how climate change may exacerbate these impacts and how to mitigate poor air quality.

FYI: This PD is targeted for K-5th grade. Please note if you took this PD last year, you are not able to attend this year to allow for new participants to take part.
This PD is only open to New Jersey Public School Teachers and is sponsored by the NJDOE Climate Change Grant, allowing for there to be no charge for the PD. Stipends are available for NJ Public School Teachers at $50 an hour for non-contractual hours, or sub-pay is available for contractual hours at $62.50 for a half day and $125 for a full day.

This session will explore integrating productive struggle into math in grades 3-8. We will engage in content tasks, discuss features of effective implementation of productive struggle tasks, and discuss what works in an ideal math class incorporating productive struggle in learning. Attendees will learn about the value of integrating productive struggle into their lessons and the effective placement of these tasks within a lesson. Takeaways will include activities and tasks that can be used in the classroom.

Join Earth Friends Founder Janna Hockenjos for an interactive workshop that bridges the worlds of books and nature to nurture literacy skills in pK-3. We will use informational texts and storybooks as the foundation to build lessons that introduce young children to science, stewardship, and their own self-agency. Whether introducing children to new words or showing them how storytelling can give them a voice, books are the gateway to learning not only about our world but how we can be an active participant in it.

This session will explore integrating productive struggle into Algebra 1, Algebra 2, and Pre-calculus classes through open-ended collaborative tasks. Attendees will learn about the value of integrating productive struggle into their lessons and the effective placement of these tasks within a lesson. Takeaways will include activities and tasks that can be used in the classroom.

Come one, come all! A dance workshop for ALL content areas! This session will focus on the latest New Jersey climate change standards, and how you can use movement as the key to bring them to life in your classroom through arts strategies, arts enhancement, and arts integration. You will walk away with a reinvigorated approach to your teaching and lesson ideas you can implement immediately.

FYI: This PD is only open to New Jersey Public School Teachers and is sponsored by the NJDOE Climate Change Grant, allowing for there to be no charge for the PD. Stipends are available for NJ Public School Teachers at $50 an hour for non-contractual hours, or sub-pay is available for contractual hours at $62.50 for a half day and $125 for a full day.

Participants will explore how Desmos supports student thinking through visualization, connecting graphs, tables, and equations in intuitive and dynamic ways. The session will demonstrate how students can use Desmos to analyze functions, model data, solve contextual problems, explore transformations, and check the reasonableness of solutions—all critical skills for success on state and national assessments. After highlighting key features and test-specific functions, the session will transition into a hands-on exploration where participants can select a standardized test of focus and investigate real-style questions using Desmos. Educators will leave with ready-to-use strategies to help students confidently navigate calculator-allowed sections, deepen mathematical reasoning, and reduce test anxiety through familiarity and fluency. By the end of this workshop, teachers will see Desmos not just as a digital calculator, but as a visual thinking tool that levels the playing field and brings mathematics to life across courses and testing contexts.

This training is specifically designed for NJ Directors and Supervisors of Special Education and Child Study Team Members to enhance support and educational strategies for students with visual impairments.

What to Expect:

• Role Insights: Learn what a Teacher of the Visually Impaired (TVI) and an Orientation & Mobility (O&M) Instructor are.
• Compliance: Discussion on staying compliant with IDEA Laws.
• Curriculum: Learn about the Expanded Core Curriculum for blind/visually impaired students.
• Assessments: Overview of assessments tailored for students who are blind/visually impaired.
• Service Models: Receive the tools to set up a service model / educational setting that will foster student independence.
• Interactive Experience: Participate in live simulations.
• Personal Perspectives: Meet and hear directly from adults and college students with visual impairments.

FYI: Free for Collaboration Members, reach out to edwcohen@lli.rutgers.edu for discount code

Join us for an interactive, two-day virtual professional learning experience designed to introduce elementary educators to the OpenSciEd Elementary Curriculum. This training guides participants through the instructional shifts required to implement student-centered, phenomena-based science learning.
 

Workshop Highlights & Objectives

• The Storyline Approach: Learn how to ground learning in Anchoring Phenomena and leverage student curiosity to drive instruction.
• 3D Learning & NGSS: Master the integration of Disciplinary Core Ideas, Crosscutting Concepts, and Science & Engineering Practices.
• Cross-Curricular Integration: Explore built-in literacy (ELA) and mathematics connections naturally embedded within K–5 science units.
• Productive Science Talk: Practice using Driving Question Boards (DQB) and consensus-building routines to foster student agency.

FYI: 2 Days: October 26, 2026 & October 27, 2028

In this session, we will focus on building elementary math teachers' skills in multiplying and dividing fractions. We will focus on how to teach the fraction operations of multiplication and division for deep understanding, emphasizing the connection of the concept to the procedures and creating models and diagrams.

Now that you know the basics of the OpenSciEd storyline and routines, it’s time to move from implementing the curriculum to mastering it. This advanced professional development workshop is designed for experienced OpenSciEd educators ready to dive deeper into the nuances of student-led learning.

Rather than focusing on unit navigation, this session centers on advanced facilitation, productive discourse, responsive pacing, and equitable grading practices. Participants will analyze real classroom video footage, practice high-leverage discussion moves, and learn how to adapt storylines without losing scientific coherence.

Help your students to move beyond using AI as an answer generator and transform it into an engine for critical thinking. In this session, educators will practice how to position AI tools as flawed experts that require students to analyze, critique, and reason mathematically. Learn practical ways for prompting students to explain step-by-step logic, identify subtle AI errors, and deepen their conceptual understanding of mathematics.

Discover how the free Desmos Graphing Calculator can help prepare students for success on New Jersey's new adaptive mathematics assessments, including the NJGPA and NJSLA Algebra I & Algebra 2. This introductory webinar will familiarize educators with the calculator's key features and demonstrate how students can use Desmos to graph functions, model situations, and check the reasonableness of solutions. Participants will explore assessment-style examples and learn practical strategies for building student confidence and fluency with the digital tools available on test day.  

Turn abstract math into highly engaging, relevant experiences without spending hours on lesson planning. This hands-on workshop demonstrates how to leverage generative AI to instantly convert standard curriculum problems into dynamic, real-world scenarios customized to your students’ passions, career goals, and cultural backgrounds. Educators will leave with ready-to-use prompts for immediate differentiation across diverse learning levels

Before young learners can become meaningful stewards of the planet, they need rich opportunities to build an emotional bond and sense of kinship with the natural world through story, dialogue, and expressive language. Traditional early environmental education often overemphasizes abstract data and distant ecological crises, which can trigger eco-anxiety and reinforce a disconnect between humans and nature. This immersive December workshop reframes climate and science learning through a literacy-rich lens, guiding educators to seamlessly integrate place-based experiential learning, narrative storytelling, and nature-inspired journaling with Next Generation Science Standards. By using powerful children’s literature and reflective discourse to explore themes of reciprocity, wonder, and interconnectedness, teachers will learn how to nurture both foundational literacy skills and a lifelong love for our shared Earth. 

 Unpack the science of cognitive load to eliminate learning bottlenecks and maximize retention. This session provides educators with practical, research-based strategies to align lesson design with the natural limits of working memory. Learn how to break down complex tasks, reduce cognitive clutter, and structure instruction so students spend less energy processing information and more energy mastering it. Bring a copy of your lesson plans with you to this session.

Elevate math discussions from quick answer-sharing to rigorous, student-led discourse. Educators will explore practical techniques for orchestrating productive discussions around middle and high school math concepts. Discover how to frame high-leverage tasks, prompt students to justify multi-step reasoning, and hold learners accountable for engaging with one another’s ideas.

Prepare students for success on the NJGPA Adaptive Mathematics Test and the NJSLA Algebra I Assessment by using the Desmos graphing calculator, a free, powerful tool for mathematical reasoning and test readiness. In this session, educators will explore strategies for integrating Desmos into daily instruction to strengthen students' understanding of functions, modeling, transformations, systems of equations, and multiple representations while building fluency with calculator features available on state assessments. Through hands-on practice with NJGPA and NJSLA Algebra I-style questions, participants will learn how to help students use Desmos strategically to visualize concepts, verify solutions, increase confidence, reduce test anxiety, and improve performance on New Jersey's mathematics assessments.  Participants will also learn how student school-issued devices can be utilized as “calculators” for in-class assessments and standardized test practice.