As teachers, one of our primary responsibilities is to help students understand and analyze various types of texts. To do this effectively, we need to have a solid understanding of the text ourselves. This learning activity will help you develop your skills in analyzing texts and prepare you to help your students do the same.

As educators, it's essential to cultivate informed and engaged citizens who can participate actively in the democratic process. Integrating civics education into the curriculum can help students develop critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making skills to prepare them for active citizenship. This professional learning activity will explore various ways to integrate civics education into the curriculum and provide resources to support effective instruction.

Mental wellness is essential for our overall health and happiness. As students, it is crucial to understand the importance of mental wellness and learn practical strategies for managing stress and maintaining emotional well-being. In this activity, we will explore the concept of mental wellness, learn practical strategies to manage stress and anxiety and reflect on how we can prioritize our mental wellness moving forward.

Welcome to "The Mindful Teacher: Cultivating Presence and Well-Being" activity. Teaching can be a challenging and demanding profession, and it is essential for teachers to take care of their well-being. Mindfulness is a practice that can help teachers cultivate presence, awareness, and emotional regulation, leading to reduced stress, improved well-being, and better student outcomes. This activity will introduce you to the concept of mindfulness, and its benefits, and provide you with practical tools to incorporate mindfulness into your daily life.

Welcome to "The Power of Positive Thinking: Building Resilience Through Self-Talk" activity. How we talk to ourselves can have a powerful impact on our thoughts, feelings, and actions. Negative self-talk can be damaging and lead to a lack of self-esteem, limiting beliefs, and difficulties in facing challenges. In contrast, positive self-talk can help us build resilience, develop a growth mindset, and cope better with challenges.This activity will take you through the process of identifying your negative self-talk patterns, replacing them with positive self-talk, and building resilience.

As teachers, we are responsible for preparing our students for success beyond the classroom. A critical aspect of this is ensuring that our students are ready for their future careers. In this professional learning activity, you will learn about the skills and knowledge necessary for students to be career-ready, locate and utilize resources to support student career readiness and develop strategies to integrate career readiness into your curriculum.

As teachers, we often put our students' needs before our own. However, it is important to prioritize our mental wellness to be our best selves both in and out of the classroom. In this activity, we will explore the concept of mental wellness, learn practical strategies to manage stress and maintain a healthy work-life balance, and reflect on how we can prioritize our mental wellness moving forward.

On January 4, 2024 the Curriculum Services Team delivered a 2-hour webinar titled "Using the Magic of AI to Innovate Professional Learning" to a national audience.  Based on a presentation delivered at the AESA National Conference in December 2023, this webinar was a deeper dive into the ways that the WIU Curriculum Services Team leverages AI to develop professional learning activities to support the school districts in Westmoreland County and beyond.