Current Available Professional Development Courses
Name | Introduction to Adaptive Music |
Audience | K – 12 Music Teachers and Special Education Teachers |
Presenter Name(s) | Jen Kass, Music Therapist, (MA, MT-BC) Jessica Corwin, Adaptive Music Program Director of the Community Music School of Springfield |
Presenter Bio(s) | Jennifer Kass graduated from Clark University with a B.A. in Music and earned a M.A. in Music Therapy at Lesley University. She is certified by the Board of Music Therapists. Jen is a teaching artist in CMSS’ Adaptive Music Program. In addition to her work as a music therapist, Jen is also a visual artist and photographer. Jessica Corwin is a Pioneer Valley-based music educator and performer. After fifteen years of teaching in Massachusetts public schools, she joined CMSS as the Director of the Adaptive Music Program in 2021. As a multi-instrumentalist, Jessica’s varied resume includes work as Strings Director, Assistant Conductor of the Brookline Chorus, Kodaly educator, and infant and toddler music teacher. In 2016, she was a recipient of the Pioneer Valley Excellence in Teaching Award from the Harold Grinspoon Foundation. Jessica holds a Graduate Certificate in Music Education and Autism from Berklee School of Music as well as degrees from Oberlin Conservatory of Music and The Boston Conservatory. She also serves as the Chair of the Sunderland School Committee and is an active member of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees. Jessica plays viola professionally and was a founding member of the mission-based chamber ensembles Larcom Strings and the Quark Quartet. |
Description | This one-day, in-person course is for in-service general music teachers who are looking for philosophy, language, tools, and activities to support their work with students with disabilities including autism. Music Therapist Jen Kass (MA, MT-BC) and Adaptive Music Program Director Jessica Corwin of the Community Music School of Springfield will give participants tools to bring to their classrooms for accommodation, meaningful inclusion, joyful music-making, and social connection. Topics will include anti-ableist language, neurodivergence-affirming practices, current research on autism, learning differences and corresponding teaching strategies, and the imperative of listening to neurodivergent voices. Participants will engage in a variety of sample classroom activities that can be replicated in their own classrooms. Participants who attend the August 6th session can choose to sign up for the Independent Extension to earn 15 PDPs in Special Education for their license renewal while deepening their understanding of adaptive music education pedagogy and meeting the needs of students who receive Special Education services. Completion of the Community Music School of Springfield’s Intro to Adaptive Music Education for 5 or 6 professional hours is a prerequisite; those hours can be bundled with this Extension course to apply to licensure requirements. Following a Universal Design for Learning model, participants will consider a menu of project options, pick one that suits their interests and needs, complete the project, and present their learning to classmates at a culminating online session. Possible projects include planning and reflecting on lessons for students with high support needs, reading and reflecting on a book about adaptive music education, reading/watching first person perspectives about disability in any of a variety of formats and reflecting on them, and developing highly adapted classroom activities and related materials. Participants will maintain a log of hours spent on this project. Time spent in the welcoming and concluding online meetings count toward the total hours. At the conclusion of this course, professional hours will be awarded according to each participant’s time log, and bundled with the professional hours from Intro to Adaptive Music Education to become 15 PDPs in Special Education. |
Synchronous / Asynchronous | Live, Synchronous |
Location | ACCEPT Collaborative, 4 Tech Circle, Natick, MA |
Dates & Times | Tuesday, August 6, 2024; 9:00am – 3:00pm |
PDPs | 6 |
Credits | N/A |
Cost | For the One Day Course $150 ACCEPT members / $180 non-members For the One Day Course plus Independent Study $300 ACCEPT members / $330 non-members |
Registration Deadline | July 23, 2024 |
| Audience | K – 12 PE and Health & Wellness Teachers |
| Presenter Name(s) | Maria Melchionda and Mary Connolly |
| Presenter Bio(s) | Maria Melchionda, MAHPERD Executive Director, PT Faculty Bridgewater State University Mary Connolly, Program Chair, Skills-Based Health/SEL at Cambridge College and Chair of the Higher Education Committee for MAHPERD. |
| Description | Please join us for this half-day workshop focusing on how to use the new Health and Physical Education Framework to update your curriculum. We will start by examining the Framework and understanding how it is organized. Participants should bring their health/physical education curriculums as well as the scope and sequence for each discipline and we will compare similarities and differences and begin to think about how to proceed. |
| Synchronous / Asynchronous | Live, Synchronous |
| Location | ACCEPT Collaborative, 4 Tech Circle, Natick, MA |
| Dates & Times | Wednesday, August 14, 2024; 9:00am – 12:00pm |
| PDPs | 3 |
| Credits | N/A |
| Cost | $175 ACCEPT members / $210 non-members |
| Registration Deadline | July 31, 2024 |
Audience | Teachers of grades 4 -10 |
Presenter Name(s) | Grace Kelemanik and Amy Lucenta |
Presenter Bio(s) | Amy Lucenta, M.Ed., has extensive K–12 mathematics education experience, which includes a focus on special populations. She is a coauthor of Curriculum Associates’ i-Ready Classroom Mathematics and Routines for Reasoning: Fostering the Mathematical Practices in All Students. She is also a cofounder of Fostering Math Practices, an organization that provides resources, training, and collaboration opportunities for anyone interested in helping all students learn to “think like mathematicians.” Grace Kelemanik has more than 30 years of mathematics education experience. A frequent presenter at national conferences, her work focuses on urban education, special populations, and teacher training. She is a former urban high school mathematics teacher and Project Director at Education Development Center. Grace has also worked extensively with new and preservice teachers through the Boston Teacher Residency program. Most recently, Grace is the coauthor of Routines for Reasoning: Fostering the Mathematical Practices in All Students. She is also coauthor of The Fostering Geometric Thinking Toolkit. She is a mathematics education consultant and professional development provider. |
Description | Supporting students to struggle productively in math class is challenging for us as educators, yet, it is critical that students develop this capacity in order to learn and apply mathematics independently. In this course, participants will take a deep dive into pedagogical strategies to support students to think independently, connect mathematical ideas and representations, make mathematical thinking visible, and engage students in mathematical discourse. Taken together, these strategies engage and support students to make sense of problems and persevere when solving them. Participants will learn the design and purpose of the pedagogical strategies, practice the implementation of them, and then build them purposefully into lesson plans for an upcoming unit. Participant Learning Outcomes: Upon completion of this twelve-hour course, participants will leave with a plan to apply concrete, research-based strategies to support students to struggle productively when thinking and reasoning mathematically. Participants will need access to email and access to www.fosteringmathpractices.com. Facilitators will provide pdfs of all reading materials. |
Synchronous / Asynchronous | Synchronous/In Person |
Location | ACCEPT Collaborative, 4 Tech Circle, Natick |
Dates & Times | August 7 and 8, 2024; 8:00am – 3:00pm |
PDPs | 12 |
Credit | 1 optional graduate credit available for an additional fee of $125 payable to Worcester State University |
Cost | $550 ACCEPT members/$660 non-members |
Registration Deadline | July 31, 2024 |
Audience | SPED teachers, General Ed teachers, Principals, SPED Directors and anyone involved in the Co-Teaching process |
Presenter Name(s) | Lisa Dieker |
Presenter Bio(s) | Dr. Lisa Dieker, is the Williamson Family Distinguished Professor in special education in the School of Education and Human Sciences at the University of Kansas. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Eastern Illinois University and her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana. Her research focuses on harnessing the power of teachers working across disciplines in inclusive settings with specific interests in STEM content areas and harnessing the impact of technology on teacher performance and student learning. Prior to KU, she started as a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) where she co-directed the UWM/Milwaukee Public Schools Special Education Internship Program increasing the number and diversity of teachers in special education. She also co-taught college courses in special education and STEM with the mathematics and science department chairs. At the University of Central Florida (UCF) she was a Pegasus Professor and Lockheed Martin Eminent Scholar in the College of Community Innovation and Education. She served as the director of the Lockheed Martin Mathematics and Science Academy, program coordinator for the Ph.D. program in special education, and co-directed the UCF Center for Research in Education Simulation Technology (CREST). As director of the UCF/Lockheed Martin Mathematics and Science Academy she worked collaboratively with STEM faculty members to direct two programs, the K-8 teacher leadership program as well as a Transition to Mathematics and Science Teaching (TMAST) program, both focusing on teacher preparation. She has advised over 100 doctoral students including 22 students with disclosed disabilities and 34 scholars from culturally diverse backgrounds. In her role as Co-Director of the UCF Center for Research in Education Simulation Technology (CREST), she along with two colleagues created the first simulator for teacher preparation called, TeachLivE, now commercialized by Mursion. Currently, at KU she is leading a new Center in the Achievement and Assessment Institute focused on simulation and innovations in technology, including her current funded projects in developing artificial intelligence agents to support students with disabilities in inclusive settings and creating observational tagging tools and harvesting resources for coaches and special education teachers in STEM instruction. During her tenure as a faculty member, Dr. Dieker has managed over 60 grants from state, local, national, international, and foundation sources amounting to more than $22M; provided over 100 keynote addresses at local, state, national, and international levels and provided service at all levels including 3 journal editorships. She has produced five books, 80 articles and chapters, and holds six patents in simulation and education. |
Description | This session will provide co-teaching teams (highly recommend co-teachers attend together) with tons of practical ideas to further enhance their co-planning, co-instructing, and co-assessing. This session will consist of segments of presenting and segments of co-discussions by teams. The presentation of ideas will focus on more efficient and time-saving co-planning ideas including planning within instruction, ways to elevate co-instruction, and tools to collect real-time data and grade within instruction. Each segment will focus on practical ideas to save time, increase parity, and improve student learning and outcomes Ideas provided will align with universal design for learning, 2-minute planning structures, interdisciplinary collaboration, and integrating technology to increase student outcomes and effective co-teaching. This session is beneficial to co-taught teams at all levels, with a specific focus on already established teams. Thesession will conclude by completing a co-teaching rubric to summarize the ideas from the day and to use for goal setting for teams as they take these practical ideas back to the classroom. |
Synchronous / Asynchronous | Liven In Person, Synchronous |
Location | ACCEPT Collaborative, 4 Tech Circle, Natick |
Dates & Times | August 1, 2024, 8:30am – 2:30pm |
PDPs | 6 PDPs |
Credit | n/a |
Cost | $250 ACCEPT members/$300 non-members |
Registration Deadline | July 19, 2024 |
Audience | K – 12 Educators |
Presenter Name(s) | Carrie James |
Presenter Bio(s) | Carrie James is Co-Director of Project Zero and Managing Director of the Center for Digital Thriving at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. A sociologist by training, for over a decade, James has led research and educational initiatives focused on young people’s experiences in digital life. With Emily Weinstein, Carrie is co-author of the book, Behind Their Screens: What Teens are Facing (and Adults are Missing) (MIT Press, 2022). She is also the author of Disconnected: Youth, New Media, and the Ethics Gap (MIT Press, 2014). James is passionate about partnering with youth and educators to build practical resources to help young people thrive in a connected world. She has an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Sociology from NYU and is a parent to two technology-loving children, ages 14 and 18. |
Description | Technology can be a paradox: helpful and harmful, connecting and dividing, and inspiring and dispiriting. Our students’ experiences with technology are multi-faceted. So, helping them navigate the both/and of tech is essential. Join Carrie James, Co-Director of Project Zero and Co-Founder of The Center for Digital Thriving to learn about insights and resources designed to help your students thrive in a tech-filled world. In this interactive session, participants will: 1) deepen their understanding of the unique pain points teens are experiencing as they grow up in a world with 24/7 connectivity; 2) engage with and practice using evidence-based tools that help teens (and adults) build mindful tech habits; and 3) explore the concept of digital agency and how to cultivate it for yourself and your students to advance well-being. |
Synchronous / Asynchronous | Live, Synchronous |
Location | ACCEPT Collaborative, 4 Tech Circle, Natick, MA |
Dates & Times | Friday, August 9, 2024; 9:00am – 11:00am |
PDPs | 2 |
Credits | N/A |
Cost | $150 ACCEPT members / $180 non-members |
Registration Deadline | July 26, 2024 |
Audience | OT and PT Practitioners |
Presenter Name(s) | Jan Hollenbeck, OT, OTD, OTR, FAOTA |
Presenter Bio(s) | Dr. Hollenbeck has practiced in public school settings for more than 30 years as both an occupational therapist and special education administrator. She has presented extensively at local, state, and national levels sharing her expertise in school practice, secondary transition, and leadership. She is an active contributor as author and editor to professional publications on best practices including peer-reviewed journals, articles, chapters, and textbooks. She is the MAOT liaison to the MA DESE and first author of the Guidelines for Provision of Occupational Therapy Services in Massachusetts Public Schools. |
Description | The NEW Massachusetts IEP will be implemented in the fall across the state. This new IEP form and process facilitates greater collaboration among IEP team members and sets the stage for creating a prioritized set of student IEP goals. As school-based practitioners, this helps to move us toward more meaningful goals and objectives that are addressing the biggest, most important needs of each student. This course is designed for school-based physical therapy and occupational therapy practitioners. Participants will learn how the new MA IEP facilitates collaborative process including the development of a unified set of student IEP goals addressed by the team members who can most effectively support student progress. Strategies will be provided for working with your teams using the new MA IEP form, evaluating student participation, generating academic and functional student-centered IEP goals, establishing data collection systems that measure goals and progress in natural school contexts, and enhancing meaningful consultation and contextual services. There will be opportunities for discussion, reflection on current practice, and development of next steps so that you have a plan to move forward upon return to school in the fall. The last hour of this course will be an open-ended Question & Answer session for any and all OT/PT school-related topics! Join us to learn more about collaborative IEPs, goals, and services! The New MA IEP is an opportunity to move us forward to better align with special education law and with best practices! |
Synchronous / Asynchronous | Synchronous |
Location | ACCEPT Collaborative, 4 Tech Circle, Natick |
Dates & Times | July 30, 2024, 8:30am – 2:30pm |
PDPs | 5 PDPs |
Credit | n/a |
Cost | $250 ACCEPT members/$300 non-members |
Registration Deadline | July 16, 2024 |
THIS COURSE IS FULL email [email protected] to be put on a wait list
Audience | OT and PT Practitioners |
Presenter Name(s) | Jan Hollenbeck, OT, OTD, OTR, FAOTA |
Presenter Bio(s) | Dr. Hollenbeck has practiced in public school settings for more than 30 years as both an occupational therapist and special education administrator. She has presented extensively at local, state, and national levels sharing her expertise in school practice, secondary transition, and leadership. She is an active contributor as author and editor to professional publications on best practices including peer-reviewed journals, articles, chapters, and textbooks. She is the MAOT liaison to the MA DESE and first author of the Guidelines for Provision of Occupational Therapy Services in Massachusetts Public Schools. |
Description | The NEW Massachusetts IEP will be implemented in the fall across the state. This new IEP form and process facilitates greater collaboration among IEP team members and sets the stage for creating a prioritized set of student IEP goals. As school-based practitioners, this helps to move us toward more meaningful goals and objectives that are addressing the biggest, most important needs of each student. This course is designed for school-based physical therapy and occupational therapy practitioners. Participants will learn how the new MA IEP facilitates collaborative process including the development of a unified set of student IEP goals addressed by the team members who can most effectively support student progress. Strategies will be provided for working with your teams using the new MA IEP form, evaluating student participation, generating academic and functional student-centered IEP goals, establishing data collection systems that measure goals and progress in natural school contexts, and enhancing meaningful consultation and contextual services. There will be opportunities for discussion, reflection on current practice, and development of next steps so that you have a plan to move forward upon return to school in the fall. The last hour of this course will be an open-ended Question & Answer session for any and all OT/PT school-related topics! Join us to learn more about collaborative IEPs, goals, and services! The New MA IEP is an opportunity to move us forward to better align with special education law and with best practices! |
Synchronous / Asynchronous | Synchronous |
Location | ACCEPT Collaborative, 4 Tech Circle, Natick |
Dates & Times | Saturday, September 28, 2024, 8:30am – 2:30pm |
PDPs | 5 PDPs (MAOT approved) |
Credit | n/a |
Cost | $250 ACCEPT members/$300 non-members |
Registration Deadline | September 13, 2024 |
Audience | Grade K-12 Teachers, Counselors, Social Workers and Administrators |
Presenter Name(s) | Kelly Mertens, M.Ed., CAGS |
Presenter Bio(s) | Kelly Mertens, M.Ed., CAGS, has worked in special education for the past eighteen years. She is currently a Supervisor of Special Education for Stoneham Public Schools. Previous to this position, she was a Special Education Administrator for Lexington Public Schools. Kelly is also an adjunct faculty member at Boston University (where she focuses on student teacher programs that include teachers at the Landmark School in Beverly), Salem State University and a consultant for EDCO Collaborative. She has provided extensive PD for districts across the state. Kelly was a special education teacher at both the middle and high school level.
Kelly earned her Bachelor’s degree from Union College, a Master’s degree in Special Education from Salem State University and a C.A.G.S. in School Leadership and Administration from American International College.
Kelly is an approved independent PDP provider through the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in Massachusetts and holds the following licenses:
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Description | This workshop satisfies the requirement for 15 PDPs in Special Education for recertification.
The purpose of this course is to provide an overview about the special education process. This course will help staff to understand, instruct, and assess students with varying disabilities, as well as collaborate to employ strategies that ultimately help all students access curriculum. Staff enrolled in this course will learn the ins and outs of special education in the state of Massachusetts that include the referral and eligibility process as well as the development and implementation of the IEP. Together, we will “unpack” both an academic and a psychological evaluation to further understand how these results can inform teachers when planning to ensure they are reaching all students. A variety of teaching methods will be modeled, and the course lessons will be presented using presentations, videos and current articles and publications.
Course Objectives: At the completion of this course, participants will be able to:
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Synchronous / Asynchronous | Asynchronous |
Location | Online |
Dates & Times | July 22 – August 26, 2024 |
PDPs | 15 |
Credit | 1 optional graduate credit available for an additional fee of $125 payable to Worcester State University |
Cost | $295 ACCEPT members/$355 non-members |
Registration Deadline | July 12, 2024 |
- Identify the current timelines related to the new IEP form to ensure proper implementation.
- Develop an understanding of the currently released IEP forms through direct exposure and practice scenarios.
- Understand the feedback related to the new IEP process and forms by the Early Adopter teams who piloted it early.
Based on the popular work of master teacher mentors, Carol Pelletier (Mentoring in Action) and Lois Zachary (The Mentor’s Guide) and the MA DESE Mentoring Guidelines, this workshop is designed to provide practical and reflective principles and activities that help the teacher mentor maximize trust, collegiality, communication, reflection and personal growth with their mentee. The asynchronous format allows the mentor, to go at their own pace, while completing activities that will be useful in their mentoring journey.
This course focuses on the Effective Principles of Effective Mentoring as outlined in the work of Carol Pelletier in Mentoring in Action. This workshop lays the foundation for thoughtful, successful mentorship for either beginning teachers or teachers who are new to a district.
A second part of this course is being developed and will focus on the work of Lois Zachary (The Mentor’s Guide) and extends the 5 principles of effective mentoring into actionable practices for the mentor.
This workshop is designed to help teachers and mentor teachers better understand the MA Teacher Evaluation System for the purpose of successful completion. The workshop is a step by step approach that allows participants to complete their own Educator Plan while completing the workshop.
The Four Focus Areas of the workshop include:
- Focus Area 1: Create a common understanding of the professional Standards for Educators and the Focus Indicators as defined by the DESE.
- Focus Area 2: Create strong student learning goals and action steps.
- Focus Area 3: Create strong professional practice goals and actions steps.
- Focus Area 4: Identify meaningful evidence and artifacts.
This course will take approximately 10 hours to complete.
Audience: Teachers who are unfamiliar with the Teacher Evaluation System or need a refresher, Mentor Teachers who are Assisting New Teachers through the Evaluation process.
Location: Online & Asynchronous
Earn: 10 PDPs
In support of building instructional capacity and providing exemplary educational services for all students, ACCEPT has developed an affordable online paraprofessional training program. This program offers total flexibility, allowing participants to begin at any time during the year. Advanced tracking features also allow districts to see participants’ progress within each learning module to inform future professional development opportunities.
Each of the modules listed below requires approximately 2-3 hours to complete. They can be completed in any order. Our course utilizes the Blackboard online learning platform, one of the most widely used online course sites in higher education institutions. The ease-of-use and interactive features make this tool an invaluable resource to provide innovative professional development opportunities to your employees.