Professional Learning in Summer 2021

Author Jenny Han said, “Everything good, everything magical, happens between the months of June and August.”

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We have plenty of courses available for anyone working toward the 12 required hours for the State of Iowa Talented and Gifted Endorsement.

We do begin in May, with two wonderful workshops. Teachers can earn academic credit with a 50% tuition scholarship* at our Summit on the Neuroscience of Twice-Exceptionality (PSQF:4128). We are also offering Math for High Ability Learners (EDTL:4022). After that, we packed the summer months with classes that will increase your understanding of giftedness.

Join us for the magical professional learning opportunities this summer!

Serving Underrepresented Students

Gifted education programs focus on ways to identify and serve underrepresented gifted learners.

In June, we offer a book study about Excellence Gaps in Education (Plucker & Peters, 2016). This class focuses on strategies we can use to eliminate achievement gaps among the highest-performing students (EDTL:4096:0WKD).

The Belin-Blank Chautauqua, taking place online this summer, will also address the needs of these students. We are offering two new classes about meeting the needs of a broader range of gifted learners. Talent Development: Arts, Academics, and Athletics (EDTL:4096:0WKB) focuses on preparation for gifted performers. Serving Visual/Spatial Learners discusses ways to identify talent beyond mathematical and English/Language Arts abilities.

Belin-Blank Chautauqua

The Belin-Blank Chautauqua offers six classes in a fast-paced (accelerated) format. (Learn more about acceleration in Academic Acceleration (PSQF:4123:0EXW), a three-semester-hour class offered from June 14 – August 5.) The first two days of each Chautauqua class include time for participants to get to know each other on Zoom. Each class lasts for three weeks.

Chautauqua Week 1 includes:

• Family Issues and Giftedness (RCE:4119)
  • Jul 5, 6 – 23 (Psychology strand)
• Talent Development: Arts, Academics, Athletics (EDTL:4096:0WKB)
  • Jul 7, 8 – 27 (Programming)
• Serving Visual/Spatial Learners (EDTL:4096:0WKC)
  • Jul 9, 10 – 29 (Programming)

Chautauqua Week 2 includes:

• Creativity (RCE:4129)
  • Jul 12, 13 – 30 (Psychology)
• Programming: Facilitating Student Research Projects (EDTL:4073:0WKA)
  • Jul 14, 15 – Aug 3 (Programming)
• Evaluation of Gifted Programs (EPLS:4111)
  • Jul 16, 17 – Aug 5 (Administrative)

Scholarships for the cost of one class are available to those who enroll in three classes in either week. Those who take all six classes over the two weeks receive a full scholarship for the cost of one class each week*.

Online and Asynchronous Classes

Our online classes offer educators many options for better understanding their gifted and talented students. These classes take place over three weeks, but they have no scheduled synchronous meetings. These are designed to help you with your hectic schedule!

June

• Counseling / Psychological Needs (RCE:4125)
  • Jun 7 – 25 (Psychology strand)
• Reading for High Ability Students (EDTL:4026)
  • Jun 14 – Jul 2 (Programming)
• Academic Acceleration (PSQF:4123:0EXW)
  • June 14 – Aug 5 (3 semester hours: 1 in Psychology, 1 in Programming, 1 in Administrative)
• Topics: Excellence Gaps (EDTL:4096:0WKD)
  • Jun 22 – Jul 12

July

• Advanced Placement credit for those participating in the University of Iowa Advanced Placement Summer Institute (APSI, formerly APTTI) :
  • (2 s.h., EDTL:5080)*
  • Jul 1 – 22 (Programming)
• Differentiation at the Secondary Level (EDTL:4074)*
  • Jul 6 – 26 (Programming)
• Leadership Skills for G/T Students, K-12 (EDTL:4029)
  • Jul 13 – Aug 2 (Programming)
• Current Readings/Research in Gifted (EDTL:4085)
  • Jul 20 – Aug 6 (strand determined by readings)

Practicum

Those earning the State of Iowa Talented and Gifted Endorsement must have at least one semester hour (s.h.) in each of the four strands (Psychology, Programming, Administrative Issues, and practicum). Workshops vary over the two years teachers can use to complete their endorsements. We offer practicum every semester (EDTL:4189 for one s.h. and EDTL:4188:0EXW for two or three semester hours).

Registration

To take part in our classes, you must register one time each year with Distance and Online Education as a non-degree seeking student. For the State of Iowa Endorsement in Talented and Gifted Education, you may register as either a graduate or undergraduate student, regardless of your professional status. If you won’t benefit in other ways from the graduate credit, you can save tuition dollars. Once you have your HawkID and password, you can follow the directions to register for the courses that interest or benefit you. Follow belinblank.org/educators/reg. All our classes fulfill strands required for endorsement.

Questions? Email educators@belinblank.org!

*Classes with an asterisk provide an automatic scholarship for those registered as graduate students.

Registration Open for AP® Summer Institute

Registration is now open for the University of Iowa’s AP® Summer Institute (APSI), hosted by the Belin-Blank Center! APSI will take place online from June 28 – July 2, 2021.

“Even if you are not going to teach an AP® class, the content and methods from the APSI at the Belin-Blank Center open up a myriad of teaching possibilities. I admit it—I was so energized about content after attending APSI!!”

-Jill Schany, APSI participant from Emmetsburg High School

APSI workshops offer online professional learning for these AP® courses:

• Calculus AB
• Computer Science Principles
• English Language and Composition
• English Literature and Composition
• Human Geography
• Physics 1
• Psychology
• Spanish Language
• Statistics
• US Government & Politics
• US History
• World History

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AP® courses introduce high school students to academically challenging material and offer a chance to earn college credit by taking AP® exams. APSI prepares teachers to develop and teach an AP® course.

College Board-endorsed AP® consultants instruct each workshop. APSI participants will discuss questions about AP® subject-area content and receive an overview of the Advanced Placement program®. They will also learn how to complete the College Board’s required AP® Course Audit. 

Participants can also earn academic credit (with a 50% scholarship!) or Iowa Licensure Renewal Units for successful completion of an APSI workshop. Grants of $450 are available to Iowa teachers through the Iowa Online AP Academy (IOAPA).  

Click below to learn more or register today!

Learn More

Register

AP Summer Institute: Online!

Belin-Blank Center staff members are making plans to host a summer program to prepare teachers to teach Advanced Placement (AP) courses. Those of you who have been following the Belin-Blank Center for some time will remember the professional development program was known as the AP Teacher Training Institute (APTTI). This year, we have a new name! The program is now called the University of Iowa AP Summer Institute, or APSI for short.

The Belin-Blank Center will host our APSI from June 28– July 2, 2021 (Monday through Friday). Classes will meet during the day. All courses will be taught online. Courses will include:

• Calculus AB
• Computer Science Principles
• English Language and Composition
• English Literature and Composition
• Human Geography
• Physics 1
• Psychology
• Spanish Language
• Statistics
• US Government & Politics
• US History
• World History

We are excited to offer APSI online for summer 2021. We look forward to including people from all over the nation in our courses, which will be taught by content experts endorsed by the College Board.

More information can be found here. The new information for 2021 will be updated on the website in the coming weeks.

Advanced Placement Teacher Training Institute (APTTI)

Are you starting to make summer plans? Don’t forget to add the Advanced Placement Teacher Training Institute (APTTI) into your summer schedule! This professional development opportunity takes place at the University of Iowa campus on June 25-28, 2019. Registration is now open!

APTTI is a College Board approved Advanced Placement Summer Institute (APSI). AP Summer Institutes provide subject-specific training for teachers who are interested in teaching an AP course. Summer Institutes can also support current teachers of AP courses seeking to develop their skills, or gain familiarity with the course.

“It [APTTI] not only provided me the opportunity to gain an understanding of AP-teaching, but I gained resources and new ideas that I now apply to all of my classes. “

“The training was invaluable…I find myself continually going back to my notes, looking at the resources I obtained at the training, and even emailing the facilitator who still quickly responds to me even though it has now been 2.5 years. I would not be as successful in my classroom had it not been for this training.”

Funding

The Iowa Online AP Academy (IOAPA) offers the AP Institution Grant, a grant to support Iowa teachers in attending APTTI. (Participation in IOAPA not required.) This grant will cover $450 (more than 80%) of the $550 registration fee.  Click here to learn more and click here to access the grant application. This application is due June 1st, 2019. 

Academic Credit

Teachers who register for APTTI may pursue additional opportunities for graduate-level academic credit and/or Iowa licensure renewal units (additional fees and registration required). University credit is NOT included in the cost of APTTI. Click here to learn more about academic credit options!

Apply today here, and email us at aptti@belinblank.org with any questions or concerns.

Register for APTTI and Apply for Funding Opportunities!

AP Teacher Training Institute 

Start the New Year off right by planning your summer professional development! Make sure to save the date for the 2019 AP Teacher Training Institute (APTTI). This will take place at the University of Iowa campus on June 25-28, 2019. Registration is now open! We will be offering workshops for AP Biology, AP Calculus AB, AP Chemistry, AP English Literature & Composition, AP Physics I, and AP US History.

APTTI is a College Board-approved AP Summer Institute (APSI). AP Summer Institutes provide subject-specific training for teachers who are interested in teaching an AP course. Summer Institutes can also benefit current teachers already teaching AP courses to develop their skills, or gain familiarity with the course. Teachers who attended our previous institutes shared some of their valued experiences:

It gave me a framework for how to structure my course, wording for my syllabus for the College Board, and very valuable information to prepare my students for the AP exam.

Not only did I gain more resources to further my instruction, but I also learned many strategies for implementing these materials. I had the opportunity to learn from an instructor who was vastly knowledgeable and taught us as if we were students…so we could better understand how to teach our own students. This knowledge was immensely valuable!

I feel like this program has a direct impact on high school students…I am more confident in the material and the course/text structure, and my experience as an AP teacher has been much more successful than it would have been without an APTTI.

It was a wonderful course that prepared me to teach AP. The instructor modeled an AP class for us, so we not only left with content knowledge, but methodology knowledge as well. These methods can extend beyond just our AP classes and into our general classes as well.

Funding

We want to inform you of scholarships funded by the College Board that support teachers in attending an APSI. Applications for these scholarships are due Tuesday, February 12^th, 2019. Scholarships offered by the College Board are listed below, and you can find more information about these scholarships and the application process here.

• AP Fellows Program: For teachers at schools serving minority or low-income students
  • Scholarship Amount: $1,000 – for cost of tuition and lab fees (when applicable)
• AP Rural Fellows Program: For teachers at rural schools
  • Scholarship Amount: $1,500 – for cost of tuition and lab fees (when applicable)

The Iowa Online AP Academy (IOAPA) also offers the AP Institution Grant, a grant to support Iowa teachers in attending APTTI. (Participation in IOAPA not required.) This grant will cover $450 (more than 80%) of the $550 registration fee.  Click here to learn more and click here to access the grant application. This application is due June 1st, 2019. 

Don’t miss the chance to apply for these great scholarships, especially since deadlines for some are approaching quickly! If you’re considering attending an AP Summer Institute and/or our AP Teacher Training Institute, apply today!

Scholarships for AP Teachers

The season may be changing, but it is never too late to think of summer! Make sure to save the date for the 2019 AP Teacher Training Institute (APTTI). This will take place at the University of Iowa campus on June 25-28, 2019.

APTTI is a College Board-approved Advanced Placement Summer Institute (APSI). AP Summer Institutes provide subject-specific training for teachers who are interested in teaching an AP course. Summer Institutes can also benefit teachers already teaching AP courses to develop their skills, or gain familiarity with updates to the course.

As deadlines always seem to quickly approach, we want to inform you of the available scholarships that support teachers in attending an APSI. Scholarships offered by the College Board include:

• AP Fellows Program: For teachers at schools serving minority or low-income students
• AP Rural Fellows Program: For teachers at rural schools

Additional details and application materials are available on the College Board’s website. The deadline to apply for these scholarships is typically in February, so if you’re considering attending an AP Summer Institute, apply today!

The Iowa Online AP Academy also offers a grant for Iowa teachers to help offset the cost of APTTI registration and attendance. Click here to learn more.

IOAPA: Staying Connected with AP and the Belin-Blank Center this Summer

The last week of AP testing wrapped up on Friday, and while AP teachers and Iowa Online AP Academy mentors are breathing a sigh of relief, College Board and the Belin-Blank Center are gearing up to help support you and your AP students for the 2014-2015 school year!

Here are a few things you can do to help get ready for AP for 2014-2015:

Right Now: 

A few days after the AP exam is finished, the College Board will release the free response items from the 2014 exams.  If you have enough time before the end of the school year, talk about these free response questions with your current AP students.  A student discussion around the questions and responses will help you and your students prep for future AP courses.

Celebrate!  Some schools host AP breakfasts or a special lunch/reception after the AP exams are over.  Take the time to relax, and pat yourself on the back.  You all have worked hard and you deserve it!

 

This Summer:

Participate in an AP Summer Institute to learn more about the course content for each AP course and to learn about upcoming course revisions.  (The Belin-Blank Center is hosting an institute July 7 – 10.  Register here.)

Send in your Iowa Online AP Academy mentor form.  All mentors will be contacted in early August to participate in a webinar with Apex AP instructors before the beginning of the next school year.

If you are a counselor, register to attend the free fall counselor workshops.

Attend the AP Annual Conference July 9 – 13, 2014.

 

Congratulations on your participation in AP during the 2013-2014 school year!