Online        


Scroll through below all of our classes that we offer online.

To see courses that we offer in person at St. John Fisher, click here.


Technology Resources to Improve Performance of Students with Special Needs: January 9, 2012 – February 3, 2012, Presented by Pat Reed.
Technology provides methods and resources to address the needs of all types of students. In this workshop, participants will gain a better understanding of the obstacles faced by many of the children in our classrooms, and information on strategies to improve learning for all students. Discover tools for multi-sensory learning of reading and mathematics, and methods to help your students stay enthused and on-task, reduce frustration and experience success. Learn about new developments in assistive technologies (equipment and software). Participants will benefit from the sharing of ideas with one another on procedures for meeting individual learning needs. This workshop addresses NCLB requirements and meets special education recertification criteria in Illinois (20% of CPDUs for classroom teachers must be directed to serving students with disabilities in the least restrictive environment).

Alternative Assessment I: January 9, 2012 – February 3, 2012, Presented by Kathy LaRocco. Alternative Assessment is defined as any type of assessment in which a student creates a response to a question or task, rather than choosing a response from a given list, such as multiple-choice, true/false, or matching. In this workshop, participants will examine a variety of web-based resources which offer the opportunity to create their own alternative assessments, as well as a wealth of related materials and tools for teachers available online. Upon completion of this online course, participants will have a library of web-based resources for measuring student performance and mastery of material that will allow them to tailor assessments to the needs of their students. Participants will be invited to comment on the tools and resources presented, and share ideas for their use.

Innovative Teaching: January 9, 2012 – February 3, 2012, Presented by Nancy Garrity.
Innovative Teaching is designed for teachers of all subjects and grade levels. In this collaborative course, participants will share some of the innovative ways in which they inspire their students to learn. One activity that will be shared with you is a template for creating interactive games that can be modified for students of all subjects and grade levels. With your permission, your final project will be posted on our Teacher’s Teacher website. We will also look at various resources for curriculum integration and classroom management.

Creating Internet Webquests: February 6, 2012 – March 2, 2012, Presented by Pat Reed.
Webquests are inquiry-oriented activities for student groups in which learners read, analyze and synthesize information using the world-wide web. Collaborative learning within a creative scenario engages the learner. In this workshop, participants will learn about the typical webquest project, discover sources of ready-made webquests for use in the classroom, and design one specific to the needs of their students. Teachers will develop a project which includes the traditional components: Introduction, Task, Process, Resources, Evaluation, and Conclusion. Upon completion of this online course, participants will have published a webquest ready to use with students.

Combat Bullying: February 6 – March 2, 2012, 2012, Presented by Kathy LaRocco.
Bullying, whether it is virtual or face-to-face, is an abusive, destructive behavior that has damaging effects on the people involved, and creates a stressful, fearful environment in the classroom and/or school. In this workshop, participants will examine resources, websites, and interactive activities that will help teachers and administrators set up an environment that proactively discourages this behavior, find methods to address the behavior when it occurs, and provide students with tools to handle a bully if they find themselves in that situation. In addition, each week we will provide an open forum section so participants can post questions, invite discussion, or ask for input.

NEW: Digital Storytelling: March 5, 2012 – March 30, 2012 and June 11, 2012—June 29, 2012, Presented by Pat Reed.
Technology tools provide an incredible opportunity to tell a story and incorporate digital text, images, video and/or sound. Digital stories can be used across the curriculum, from writing personal narratives, persuasive writing, fiction and fairy tales, recounting historical events, or explaining scientific concepts. Digital stories can be created by students, or used for teacher presentation to young students. In this workshop, participants will explore a different digital storytelling tool each week. Detailed directions, examples, and related lesson plans will be provided, along with directions for creating student accounts. Participants will have the chance to experiment with each tool and share their creations with one another.

Virtual Field Trips: March 5, 2012—March 30, 2012, Presented by Kathy LaRocco.
Have you ever wished you could take your students on a field trip to a Civil War battlefield or to a cave to learn all about bats? Virtual Field Trips are interactive, web-based experiences that can be designed by students or teachers to provide an in-depth exploration of a particular content or theme. They are created using a series of websites and resources that provide the benefits of a field trip without having to overcome obstacles of time and location. Imagine taking your students on a virtual field trip to an arctic habitat or ancient Greece. Rather than creating a PowerPoint presentation as an assessment, imagine your students designing a virtual field trip to one of the 50 states. Participants in this workshop will be taken through the step-by-step process of developing Virtual Field Trips, examine a host of resources and examples of Virtual Field Trips, and create an outline for a basic Virtual Field Trip for use in their classroom, or as a guidebook for creating more complex VFTs.

Student Teams and Technology: April 16, 2012 – May 11, 2012, Presented by Pat Reed.
The 21st Century classroom requires new strategies for teaching and learning. Cooperative learning provides opportunities for students to develop teamwork skills and to become more actively involved in their own learning. Utilizing student teams in the classroom helps in the development of critical thinking, communication and social interaction skills. With access to the world-wide web, students can collaborate with other students around the world on projects that encompass all curricular areas. Learn best strategies for utilizing student teams, gain access to global projects, and discover ways to employ alternate methods of assessment for student team projects.

Alternative Assessments II: April 16, 2012 – May 11, 2012, Presented by Kathy LaRocco.
In Alternative Assessments, a variety of non-traditional methods of assessing students were examined, and participants finished with a library of resources to consult when searching for an assessment option for their students. Alternative Assessments – Part II will examine even more methods and strategies for evaluating student performance available to teachers, including portfolios, tiered assessments, journals/logs and response groups, to name a few. At the end of this online course, participants will have a wealth of resources to choose from that provide strategies for measuring student mastery of content in different ways. Participants will be invited to comment on the assessments presented, and share ideas on best use of these tools. There are no prerequisites to the class; participants may join whether or not they have participated in the Alternative Assessments class previously offered.

NEW - LiveBinders: June 11, 2012 – June 29th, 2012, Presented by Kathy LaRocco.
Have you ever wished you could have all your links and documents, organized by subject or project, available wherever you have internet access? Have you ever wished you could create a project or assignment for your students with every resource available to them with just the click of a mouse? LiveBinders does just that and more. LiveBinders is a site that allows you to create virtual binders (with tabs) to organize your information in ways that are meaningful to you, and host those binders on their site. Melissa Edwards of The Inspired Classroom explains LiveBinders as follows: "Think of Livebinders as a virtual 3 ring binder that you can put pretty much anything in. Webpage, PDF, image, video, text: they all can go into a page organized for you. Each item can be on its own tab or you can further organize by using sub-tabs. In this online class, we’ll explore LiveBinders that other teachers have posted, share our findings and comment on the LiveBinders we find, and create a LiveBinder of our own.

Classroom Management, Student Behavior, Academic Performance and School Policies: June 11, 2012—June 29, 2012, Presented by Pat Reed.
Easy-to-use classroom management strategies for grades preschool through eighth grade to help teachers accomplish simple tasks such as maintaining quiet in the hall to properly using an assignment notebook, to more complicated issues such as motivating students to continual good behavior and academic achievement. This course will provide tried and true strategies from seasoned classroom teachers and a forum for discussion and sharing experiences among colleagues. Participants will learn about and discuss the necessary components for a school-wide academic and behavior policy. Acceptable use policies and policies for staff and parents will also be covered. The purpose of this course is to help all students, teachers and parents become valuable contributors to student education.

Innovative “Friend” and “Fund” Raising for your School: June 11, 2012 – June 29, 2012, Presented by Mary Ostrem.
Fundraising is necessary and worthwhile for every school or organization but may seem overwhelming at times. The pressure is on for private school teachers and administrators to maintain school vitality not only by maintaining enrollment, but by generating revenue. Are you interested in raising money for your elementary or high school but need a new perspective? This course will begin with the fundamentals of “friend-raising” so that you will ultimately have better fundraising results. Learn innovative ways to raise money via email, phonathons and direct mail solicitations. Benefit from the sharing of ideas among participants, and learn ways to effectively reach out to your constituents so that when you ask the question, “Would you please donate?” the answer will be “Yes”.