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Professional Development
Public Schedule
Making Thinking Visible: A Playbook for Image-Based Math Assessment
Date:
November 17, 2026
Kristine Gibson
Location:
RPDA
The Royal Banquet Hall
613 Hope Road
Eatontown, NJ
Grade:
K-8
Stop guessing what your students really understand. This session equips
educators with a practical playbook for using image-based prompts, such as coordinate planes, data
tables, and visual models, to capture authentic mathematical reasoning in under five minutes.
Participants will learn how to evaluate student-created images and how to select images to prompt
student thinking and increase depth of understanding. This session emphasizes simple, transferable
strategies that strengthen mathematics instruction and build conceptual understanding and critical
thinking skills.
Building Blocks to Success: A First-Year Teacher's Guide to Engagement, Accountability and Classroom Routines
Date:
November 19, 2026
Kristine Gibson
Location:
Morris-Union Jointure Commission, PD Center
340 Central Avenue
New Providence, NJ
Grade:
3-12
This workshop provides foundational strategies for creating an efficient, well-managed classroom that supports student engagement and learning. Participants will learn how to establish clear routines, set consistent behavioral and academic expectations, and implement practical techniques to increase participation especially among less confident or less verbal students. The workshop also covers research-based instructional strategies to improve clarity, accountability, and feedback across all content areas.
Do the Math! Four Powerful Strategies to Engage all Students in Mathematical Thinking and Problem Solving
Date:
November 20, 2026
Bill Atwood
Location:
Instructional Support Center @Sequoya
750 Waverly Avenue
Holtsville, NY 11742
Grade:
5-8
In this workshop, teachers will learn and practice four important strategies to help students deepen their understanding of critical math standards. The strategies will help students master mathematical vocabulary, read and break down complex problems, and engage with mathematics in ways which are social, fast-paced, lively, and kinesthetic. In addition, participants will learn methods to assess students' understanding and build fluency by making practice fun.
Picture This! Overcoming Student Writing Resistance in the Content Areas by Using Graphics
Date:
November 20, 2026
Kristine Gibson
Location:
Morris-Union Jointure Commission, PD Center
340 Central Avenue
New Providence, NJ
Grade:
5-10
Graphics have great versatility when it comes to building content-area skills, and quizzing is proven to deepen understanding and increase retention. This online workshop guides educators in using curriculum-based graphics (charts, diagrams, maps, primary source images, etc.) to build content vocabulary, help students fine-tune observation and analysis skills, and even anticipate test questions. Combined with a manageable system for grading writing in the non-ELA classroom, teachers will see greatly improved subject-area performance with just a few minutes of practice each week.
Exploring and Maximizing the Reading-Writing Connection to Build Literacy
Date:
December 2, 2026
Kristine Gibson
Location:
RPDA
The Royal Banquet Hall
613 Hope Road
Eatontown, NJ
Grade:
K-5
This session will focus on aligning frequent and purposeful writing with your
current reading curriculum. Learn how to maximize reading comprehension and manage the many
writing and discussion tasks embedded in your reading series. Explore strategies that draw on your
current resources to build writing skills and that use writing to improve reading. This workshop will
include time to delve into your reading series materials and plan writing assignments that you can start using right away with students.
Harnessing the Science of Writing to Improve Thinking and Learning
Date:
December 14, 2026
Kristine Gibson
Location:
Morris-Union Jointure Commission, PD Center
340 Central Avenue
New Providence, NJ
Grade:
3-12
This workshop focuses on the understanding of where writing fits in with the growing focus being on the science of reading. Current research on how students learn to write and practical strategies to apply that knowledge in the classroom will be explored. Participants will examine the connection between writing, thinking, and learning, and gain tools to design effective writing tasks, improve content understanding, and build strong writing habits. This workshop emphasizes balancing fluency, content, and mechanics while simplifying assessment and feedback through clear instructional focus.
Activities That Promote Close Reading and Thoughtful Text-Based Response
Date:
January 26, 2027
Kristine Gibson
Location:
Morris-Union Jointure Commission, PD Center
340 Central Avenue
New Providence, NJ
Grade:
3-8
This workshop will focus on fully preparing participants to plan, assign, and quickly evaluate assignments designed to improve close reading skills and text-based writing. During this workshop, participants will learn key, routine assignments that significantly impact student achievement in cross-curricular literacy. Participants will be able to guide students in organizing and structuring key assignments (summaries, compare and contrast essays, arguments, and text analyses) that demonstrate and increase understanding of both fiction and nonfiction texts. The assignments align perfectly with the performance tasks that appear on state assessments and are easily modified to meet individual classroom and subject-area curricula.
Improving Cross-Curricular Engagement, Understanding and Constructed Response with Sentence Expansion
Date:
January 29, 2027
Kristine Gibson
Location:
Morris-Union Jointure Commission, PD Center
340 Central Avenue
New Providence, NJ
Grade:
4-10
The sentence expansion framework introduced in this online workshop provides opportunities for students to develop the habit of building information-rich sentences while learning course content. Using this framework, a basic sentence is expanded by including details from the content that students are studying. The tools and strategies provided to participants are to guide students as they learn to develop content-rich, mechanically-correct sentences within the context of everyday learning. Sentence expansion is a highly effective strategy for improving and reinforcing content knowledge, can be assessed quickly by the educator, and can easily be used in little time across all content areas.
Retrieval Routine: A Daily Learning Routine That Works
Date:
January 29, 2027
Kristine Gibson
Location:
Morris-Union Jointure Commission, PD Center
340 Central Avenue
New Providence, NJ
Grade:
6-12
Based on the latest cognitive research, the Retrieval Routine offers four short, high-impact activities designed to boost student understanding and retention across all subject areas. These five to ten minute strategies help combat forgetting, promote learning accountability, and strengthen students' ability to recall and apply knowledge. Participants of this online workshop will explore how to integrate these routines into daily instruction to enhance long-term learning and engagement.
Making Mechanics Matter: Holding Students Accountable for Your Biggest Writing Pet Peeves
Date:
February 5, 2027
Kristine Gibson
Location:
Morris-Union Jointure Commission, PD Center
340 Central Avenue
New Providence, NJ
Grade:
4-10
During this online workshop, participants will learn strategies that tackle one of the biggest challenges facing any teacher who collects written work from students--poor mechanics! Learn what the essential conventions of formal language are, how to teach them, and most importantly, how to coach students toward applying these skills within their own writing and hold them accountable for doing so. Stop being a copyeditor for your students; make mechanics matter!
Revising and Editing Reboot: Simple Strategies That Build Revising and Editing Skills
Date:
February 5, 2027
Kristine Gibson
Location:
Morris-Union Jointure Commission, PD Center
340 Central Avenue
New Providence, NJ
Grade:
3-10
This online workshop offers practical strategies to help students take greater ownership of revising and editing their writing. Rather than relying solely on teacher correction, participants will learn how to embed quick, effective revision routines that empower students to check and improve their own work. The workshop focuses on shifting responsibility to students, making the revision process more efficient and impactful without taking up significant class time.
Complete Assessment Makeover! Improving Assessment and Feedback Across the Curriculum
Date:
April 7, 2027
Kristine Gibson
Location:
Morris-Union Jointure Commission, PD Center
340 Central Avenue
New Providence, NJ
Grade:
3-10
This workshop focuses on designing meaningful assessments that integrate reading, writing, and speaking to measure students' understanding of course objectives through real-world tasks aligned with state standards. Participants will explore how to create a range of assessments--from quickwrites to complex projects--and how to provide timely, actionable feedback that fosters a growth mindset. Emphasis will be placed on practical strategies for promoting literacy, critical thinking, and student reflection throughout the assessment process.
Online Graduate Courses - Stay Tuned!
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