In this session, participants will explore practical, commonsense strategies for creating a proactive learning environment that supports positive behavior, student engagement, and strong classroom culture. Grounded in ideas from Your Illustrated Guide to Classroom Management: A Commonsense Approach, this session will focus on how educators can establish clear expectations, build meaningful relationships, prevent disruptions before they happen, and create systems that help classrooms run smoothly. Attendees will leave with realistic, easy-to-implement strategies they can use right away to strengthen classroom management and maximize learning time.
Dr. Carl Blythe is an experienced educational leader with over 15 years of experience in education. He has served as Principal of Mary Castle Elementary School in MSD of Lawrence Township since 2018. He holds a doctorate in education degree in Educational Leadership - Superintendency, an Education Specialist degree, a master's degree in educational administration and Supervision, and a bachelor's degree in Elementary Education. His work focuses on collaborative instructional systems, positive school culture, teacher leadership, rigorous instruction, and family/community engagement. Dr. Blythe is especially committed to creating learning environments where students feel a strong sense of belonging while being held to high expectations. As a professional development facilitator, author, and thought leader, he brings practical experience and strategic insight to helping educators lead transformational change in schools.
How often do our assumptions shape the opportunities we provide for students with unique learning needs? This session invites educators to reflect on beliefs that may unintentionally limit student growth and to reframe expectations in ways that unlock potential. Participants will explore practical strategies for creating inclusive, high-expectation learning environments that support all learners. Through real-world examples and actionable practices, teachers will leave equipped to challenge deficit thinking, strengthen instructional practices, and improve outcomes for all students.
This introductory session is designed for educators who are new to working with students identified as high ability or who want a stronger foundation in meeting their needs. Participants will explore what high ability is—and what it is not—by addressing common misconceptions and examining key characteristics of advanced learners. The session will also provide an overview of the Lawrence Township high ability identification process and elementary programming options, helping teachers better understand how students qualify and what services they receive. In addition, the session will highlight the often-overlooked affective needs of high-ability students, including perfectionism, intensity, and social-emotional differences, and how these may present differently in the classroom. Teachers will leave with a clearer understanding of these learners and practical strategies for differentiating up to provide appropriate challenge and support.
This engaging workshop equips staff with practical tools to recognize emotional exhaustion, compassion fatigue, and burnout while building resilience and sustainable self-care practices. · Difference between burnout, compassion fatigue, and secondary trauma · Warning signs and workplace impact · Emotional regulation strategies · Boundaries and self-care planning · Creating a healthier workplace culture
Participants will gain understanding of how and when to use predetermined linguistic “spaces” to foster language development while allowing students to access their full linguistic repertoire.
Struggling learners in algebra don’t need more worksheets—they need a clearer pathway to understanding. Discover how the Hands-On Equations system transforms algebra instruction by guiding students from concrete experiences to pictorial models and ultimately to abstract reasoning. This research-based progression builds deep conceptual understanding and strengthens problem-solving processes.
In this professional learning session, educators will explore practical strategies for aligning Hands-On Equations with Algebra standards, ensuring immediate classroom relevance. Participants will leave not only with the knowledge and confidence to implement the system effectively, but also with a full class set of 30 kits—ready to bring engaging, meaningful algebra instruction to their students the very next day.
Got questions? Bring them. This session offers practical support on the topics we encounter most in our media centers—collection development, weeding, databases, book repair, and circulation tools—while creating space for real-time problem-solving. Bring your questions, your challenges, or even that book with the torn spine, and leave with solutions you can use right away.
This session will provide 6th-grade teachers with an overview of the Advanced Pre-Algebra pacing guide, key instructional vocabulary, and problem-solving methods used throughout the year. Teachers will explore instructional resources, notes, and assessments, with time for demonstrations, discussion, and questions to support effective implementation.
High-ability learners don’t need more work—they need deeper thinking. This session introduces elementary educators to Depth and Complexity icons as a practical tool for differentiating up and moving students toward higher levels of thinking. Participants will explore how to shift everyday tasks from basic understanding to analysis, evaluation, and creation by embedding simple, intentional prompts into existing lessons. Through examples and ready-to-use strategies, teachers will leave with concrete ways to elevate rigor, promote critical thinking, and better meet the needs of advanced learners—without adding more to their plate.
This engaging workshop equips staff with practical tools to recognize emotional exhaustion, compassion fatigue, and burnout while building resilience and sustainable self-care practices. · Difference between burnout, compassion fatigue, and secondary trauma · Warning signs and workplace impact · Emotional regulation strategies · Boundaries and self-care planning · Creating a healthier workplace culture
This session focuses on high-impact strategies to effectively support multilingual learners in the general education classroom. Participants will explore practical approaches for creating comprehensible input and increasing meaningful output through structured opportunities for speaking and writing. The session highlights techniques such as scaffolding, modeling, visuals, and intentional student interaction to ensure access to rigorous content. Teachers will leave with clear, ready-to-use strategies to make instruction more accessible, engaging, and language-rich for all learners.
This session focuses on instructional planning and support for students who grade skip in math, with a specific emphasis on newly identified 2nd grade high ability students transitioning into 3rd grade high ability classrooms while bypassing 3rd grade math content. Participants will explore the academic and conceptual gaps that can occur when students accelerate in mathematics and examine strategies for maintaining rigor while ensuring foundational understanding is not lost. The session will address how to assess readiness, identify prerequisite gaps within grade-level content, and design instruction that bridges prior knowledge with accelerated expectations. Teachers will leave with practical approaches for scaffolding, compacting, and differentiating math instruction to support successful long-term outcomes for advanced learners in accelerated pathways.
This session will provide practical strategies for implementing student accommodations in the general education classroom. Participants will explore simple tools, instructional strategies, and organizational systems that make it easier to support diverse learners while maintaining strong classroom instruction.
Discover how your school library can be a powerful partner in teaching and learning. This session highlights the wide range of services, resources, and collaborative opportunities available through the library, along with practical ways to integrate them into your classroom to support literacy, inquiry, and student engagement. Students and teachers have access to dozens of curated databases and over 2 million books through the district's partnership with the Indianapolis Public Library. Come learn how to find them!
This is a focused work session for high ability point people to collaboratively align Jacob’s Ladder passages with the CKLA curriculum in preparation for the 2026–27 school year. Participants will work directly with CKLA units to identify, select, and map appropriate Jacob’s Ladder texts and thinking tasks that extend comprehension and support deeper analytical thinking for high-ability learners. The goal of the session is to produce a coherent, usable alignment that can be implemented consistently across classrooms and grade levels. By the end of the session, teams will have completed initial alignment work and established clear next steps to finalize resources for classroom use in 2026–27.
This session focuses on how intentional classroom design can promote language production and student discourse. Participants will explore the use of narrative input charts as tools to model language, support comprehension, and scaffold speaking and writing. The session highlights how a thoughtfully designed environment can provide ongoing language supports that help students confidently produce language and engage in meaningful conversations.
As MSDLT moves student discipline management out of Smartsheet and into Skyward for the 2026-2027 school year, it is critical that teachers understand the new process. This training will include how teachers can submit concerns about students, as well as discipline incidents, through Skyward, and review best practices for doing so.
In this session, we’ll look at how to move students past basic button-pushing. We will start with tough standardized testing problems that Desmos handles in seconds. Then, we’ll dive into practical, year-round strategies. The goal is to remove arithmetic barriers so we can focus on deeper analysis.
From basic needs (food & clothing) to crisis support, join us in this session to find out about the resources available to your students through the Office of Student Services. Meet District Family Liaisons and find out about how your building-level Liaison can support students and help engage families to improve student attendance and achievement.
This session provides an overview of a K–8 Tiered System of Supports in mathematics, with a focus on planning and implementing targeted interventions for students who are not yet meeting grade-level expectations.
This session helps educators understand the differences between scaffolding, accommodations, and modifications and how to effectively use each in the general education classroom. Participants will learn how to provide appropriate supports that promotes access to grade-level content, maintain high expectations, and meet diverse learner needs while aligning with inclusive practices and IEP/ILP requirements.
This session will focus on using School AI spaces to help students monitor their learning and track their progress towards skill mastery. Participants will be provided with fill-in-the-blank prompts they can use in SchoolAI to set up their spaces, as well as details for how to export and use the data, if they so choose.
Participants will gain practical strategies for incorporating oracy into classroom instruction, from planning through implementation. They will also learn how to craft effective language targets that guide purposeful oracy interactions that support the continued growth of students’ language development.
This session explores the power of intentional spiral review as a key strategy for improving student retention and confidence. Participants will examine how to move beyond routine skill practice to strengthen number sense, fluency, and problem-solving through spaced practice and retrieval. Attendees will leave with practical strategies, examples, and resources to implement meaningful spiral review in their classrooms immediately.
This session provides a practical overview of special education designed specifically for general education teachers. Participants will explore the major disability categories, how students qualify for services, including the exclusionary factors that must be considered during evaluations. The presentation will also clarify the important role general educators play throughout the evaluation process. By the end of the session, teachers will have a clearer understanding of the referral and evaluation process and their role as a member of the multidisciplinary team.
From basic needs (food & clothing) to crisis support, join us in this session to find out about the resources available to your students through the Office of Student Services. Meet District Family Liaisons and find out about how your building-level Liaison can support students and help engage families to improve student attendance and achievement.
This session focuses on Spanish Literacy Development for Elementary Dual Language Teachers, highlighting best practices for building strong literacy skills in Spanish. Participants will explore how to intentionally develop oracy, reading, writing, grammar, and foundational skills to support students in deepening their Spanish proficiency.
This session will focus on using School AI spaces to help students monitor their learning and track their progress towards skill mastery. Participants will be provided with fill-in-the-blank prompts they can use in SchoolAI to set up their spaces, as well as details for how to export and use the data, if they so choose.
Cyber attacks are becoming more sophisticated and more prevalent every year. This session will explore different types of cyber attacks and best practices to avoid compromising the security of your data, your students' data, and our organization's data. This session will explore password security, A.I. data sharing, email phishing, and other potentially harmful components of teachers’ day-to-day tasks.
This session will explore the term “high-leverage practice” which has been defined as “practices that are essential to effective teaching and fundamental to supporting student learning. The high-leverage practices (HLPs) are structured around four key domains: Collaboration, Data-Driven Planning, Instruction in Behavior and Academics, and Intensifying and Intervening as Needed. Within each domain are foundational pillars and integrated practices that emphasize inclusive teaching approaches. While HLPs were originally designed for special education teachers, HLPs are designed to support all educators in meeting the needs of every student, which is why this session will help to provide resources available for a range of roles involved in implementing these practices as well as strategies to begin introducing these practices within your classroom.
This Kindergarten session will focus on decomposing numbers through hands-on, engaging instruction. Participants will share strategies for instruction and ways to differentiate to support all learners while aligning to grade-level expectations. Educators will leave with practical tools and ideas that can be immediately implemented in their classrooms.
This session is designed to support Multilingual (ML) teachers in strengthening their role within a co-teaching partnership. Participants will explore how ML teachers can actively contribute to planning, instruction, and monitoring student learning to ensure multilingual learners have access to rigorous, grade-level content. Through guiding questions, practical planning strategies, and a clear vision for effective collaboration, attendees will leave with concrete tools to launch or refine co-teaching in their classrooms. Co-teaching partners are encouraged to attend together to maximize alignment, though ML teachers are absolutely welcome to join individually.
This session explores how to intentionally integrate English Language Arts standards into content instruction to better support multilingual learners. Participants will explore how to blend content and literacy, giving students meaningful opportunities to practice reading, writing, speaking, and thinking within authentic contexts. The session highlights how embedding ELA standards across subject areas strengthens both content understanding and language development.
Creating an inclusive general education classroom that effectively supports students on the autism spectrum requires intentional planning, flexibility, and a deep understanding of diverse learner needs. This session will provide educators with practical, classroom-ready strategies to support students academically, behaviorally, and socially while maintaining high expectations for all learners. Participants will explore evidence-based approaches such as structured supports, visual systems, proactive behavior strategies, and peer engagement techniques that promote independence and meaningful participation. Through real-world examples and actionable tools, teachers will leave better equipped to foster inclusive environments where students on the autism spectrum can thrive alongside their peers.
Este taller ofrecerá un framework claro y práctico para organizar el bloque de Foundations en español en K–2, equilibrando instrucción directa y práctica significativa. Exploraremos cómo la ciencia de la lectura para el cerebro bilingüe guía la enseñanza y fortalece la lectoescritura en español. Además, aprenderás a usar y recopilar datos para ajustar tu instrucción con propósito. ¡Saldrás con herramientas listas para impactar el aprendizaje desde el primer día!
This session focuses on how to intentionally support students in making connections across languages to strengthen overall language development. Participants will gain hands-on, applicable strategies for making connections at the word and sentence level, helping students transfer knowledge between languages.
This session focuses on practical strategies to strengthen expressive language development for multilingual learners by increasing opportunities for both oracy and writing in the classroom. Participants will explore how to intentionally plan for structured student talk, meaningful writing tasks, and language production across content areas. Using the WIDA Consortium standards and resources, educators will learn how to align instruction to students’ language proficiency levels and design supports that promote growth in speaking and writing. Attendees will leave with actionable strategies and tools to create language-rich classrooms where multilingual learners can confidently express their thinking.
This one-hour, hands-on professional development session explores how to empower every student to communicate and participate using multimodal language strategies. Teachers will learn the difference between analytical and gestalt language processors, practical ways to integrate visual, auditory, gestural, and digital tools—such as speech, writing, visuals, gestures, and media, as well as assistive technology—to foster inclusive communication and support diverse learners, including English Language Learners, students with disabilities, and those with varying learning styles. Through collaborative activities and real classroom examples, participants will discover ready-to-use strategies and resources that promote engagement, accessibility, and student voice across preK–12 classrooms, ensuring every student’s voice is heard and valued.
Does your class utilize CAD, Adobe, or other specific software that allows students to do photo/video/image editing? What if your students could access that software from home from his/her Chromebook? MCIT has been piloting VDI this year and would like to share what we've learned. If you can imagine scenarios where students could benefit from remote access to a computer at school for homework at night, over the weekends to complete projects, during eLearning days or more, this session is for you.
This session is designed for Special education teachers and building level administrators who PAR conferences and evaluate special education teachers. Participants will examine the components of a well-written IEP, including present levels of performance, measurable goal development, and progress monitoring. The session will also include a review of relevant case law to provide a deeper understanding of the rationale behind what should-and should not-be included in an IEP.
This session is designed for first- and second-year dual language teachers to build a strong foundation in the core non-negotiables and instructional framework of a successful dual language classroom. Participants will explore what is expected across key areas, including environmental supports, language allocation, instructional strategies, and the long-term goals of dual language programming. The session will provide clarity on how to create classrooms that intentionally support biliteracy, language development, and rigorous content learning in both languages. Teachers will leave with practical tools, clear expectations to confidently implement the dual language model with integrity.
This one-hour interactive professional development session focuses on how elevating student voice can positively shape classroom behavior and culture. Teachers will explore practical strategies for incorporating student input, co-creating norms, reflecting on behavior, and engaging in restorative practices. By centering student perspectives, participants will learn how to gather authentic feedback, facilitate meaningful dialogue, and implement student-led solutions that foster respect, responsibility, and belonging while focusing on all types of language learners. Through real-world examples and collaborative activities, teachers will leave with tools to build responsive, inclusive classrooms that reduce behavior challenges, increase engagement, and ensure every student’s voice is heard and valued across preK–12 for general and special education settings.
The session will focus on planning with both content and language goals, using scaffolds to support student understanding, and creating opportunities for students to speak, write, and think deeply about grade-level concepts.
Participants will explore how to intentionally plan for oracy, use dictado and implement The Bridge to support meaningful cross-linguistic connections. The focus is on helping students deepen their understanding of target languages by making language features visible and transferable. Teachers will leave with clear, actionable strategies to strengthen biliteracy and elevate language learning in their classrooms.
This two-hour feature presentation is designed for Advisor Leads, and all are welcome.
In this session, we will explore the practices, mindsets, and nervous system states that shape our feelings and behaviors—whether they promote ease and safety or dysregulation in environments that lack perceived safety. Since emotions and stress are contagious, adults who become aware of their nervous system states can learn practices to calm, regulate, and resource themselves. These practices reduce power struggles and conflict, while opening space for curiosity, reflection, and new strategies within challenging environments and relationships.
Art of Education- Deep Dive into Flex Curriculum Discover, Design & Deliver - Virtual Session-Deep Dive into FLEX + PRO is an interactive, implementation-focused training designed for returning districts ready to move beyond the basics. In this session, educators intentionally explore advanced features, deepen their understanding of how the platforms work together, and strengthen instructional decision-making and curriculum alignment. With facilitated exploration and dedicated work time, participants will walk away with actionable strategies ready for immediate implementation.
As MSDLT moves student discipline management out of Smartsheet and into Skyward for the 2026-2027 school year, it is critical that teachers understand the new process. This training will include how teachers can submit concerns about students, as well as discipline incidents, through Skyward, and review best practices for doing so.
This session is designed for dual language leaders, coaches, PLC leaderss, and curriculum specialists to deepen their practice in backward planning with a clear focus on biliteracy and student language output. Participants will examine current biliteracy planning templates and engage in hands-on work to backward plan an upcoming unit, centering language development alongside content goals. The session emphasizes “big picture” planning that prioritizes meaningful, comprehensible student output in both languages. Attendees will also explore how to effectively support and lead PLCs in implementing this planning process within their buildings, ensuring alignment to the core goals of dual language programming.
In this session, we will share practices grounded in nervous system awareness and neuroplasticity to address conflict cycles, reduce power struggles, and reduce challenging behaviors in the classroom.
In this session, we will share practices grounded in nervous system awareness and neuroplasticity to address conflict cycles, reduce power struggles, and reduce challenging behaviors in the classroom.
