Berkshire Educational Resources K12

Professional Development

Greater Efficiencies| Greater Access, Opportunity, and Equity | Greater Effectiveness

Nonprofit
Monthly Meetings
Focus on K-12

Professional Development and Professional Learning Communities

In collaboration with our partner districts in The Berkshires, BERK12 offers a range of professional learning opportunities for our region's educators. Our countywide professional development day, formerly sponsored by the Berkshire County Superintendents’ Roundtable, is a key opportunity for educators in our region to engage in and offer workshops. We also facilitate professional learning communities to bring educators together of similar roles and subject areas.

Read the November 2023 County Wide PD Report that documents a successful county-wide event. See the full catalog of workshop offerings here.

2024 Countywide Professional Development Day

The 2024 Countywide PD day will take place from 8:00 - 3:00pm on November 5th 2024. Our annual PD survey and Request for Proposals will be released later this spring.

For questions, potential ideas for workshops, and for additional infomation please email Bill Ballen - ballenw770@gmail.com and Brendan Sheran - bsheran@pittsfield.net
Professional Learning Communities

Berkshire Educational Resources K12 (BERK12) helps schools succeed across the region with a focus on research towards partnerships, collaborative projects, professional development, and networking and advocacy. In fulfillment of this mission BERK12 sponsors several educator Professional Learning Networks (PLN).

The Professional Learning Networks were established over a decade ago by the Berkshire County Superintendent’s Roundtable, and have been expanded and are currently managed by BERK12. PLNs are year-round multidisciplinary learning communities organized by educational role type (see full list below), created to provide professional development activities for specialists in the County, especially for those in the smaller, rural districts. These groups meet in person and virtually throughout the school year and serve as a clearinghouse to exchange ideas, share information, solve common problems, serve as peer-mentors, engage in training, and advance content and job specific knowledge and skills. The groups also generate ideas and proposals – such as follow-up course work - and serve as network/liaison to other organizations/agencies such as DESE and DPH. Many of the networks offer on-going professional development opportunities to its members during the school year, including targeted workshops associated with the November county-wide professional development day.

PLN leaders are paid a stipend through BERK12 to coordinate activities and each group receives a small allocation towards meetings and activities. PLN leaders create a plan for each school year, organize meetings and activities, maintain a network list, disseminate information, and coordinate progress reporting with the BERK12 PLN Facilitator.

Below is a brief summary of PLN efforts in the the 2023-2024 school year:

ARTS LEARNING NETWORK. Created for visual art, music and performing arts teachers, the ARTS PLN sponsored several workshops at the November PD Day, including participation in the Arts Integration Workshop at the Linde Center at Tanglewood. Follow up activities continue including plans for Spring and Summer offerings, and Leader Stephanie Graham updates members through a monthly newsletter. Highlights include a ceramics project on the UN’s SDG’s, an Art Exhibit at the Berkshire Museum on climate change, and possible workshops at the Olde Stone Mill Center in Adams, and the Clark Art Museum in Williamstown. Lead contact: Stephanie Graham (sgraham@sbrsd.org)

SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGISTS NETWORK. The Psychologists have met monthly following up on their workshop from November 7th. Participants have met to discuss, collaborate and expand on the two topics that were presented then, Risk Assessment and the New Massachusetts IEP. The group has also explored opportunities to meet with local pediatricians to support IEP development and evaluation requests from local districts. Lead contact: Courtney Bopp (courtney.l.bopp@gmail.com)

HISTORY/CIVICS/SOCIAL STUDIES. Lesley Herzberg, PLN Leader and Director of the Berkshire County Historical Society at Arrowhead, has coordinated the establishment of three Civics clubs in middle schools in Pittsfield and Clarksburg. While promoting the Massachusetts Historical Society’s History/Civics Day this Spring, she continues to work with the Berkshire County League of Women Voters to register students of age to vote in the 2024 election and expand education about the political system. Lead contact: Lesley Herzberg. (lherzberg@berkshirehistory.org)

PHYSICAL EDUCATION/HEALTH. Building on activities from the November PD Day, Leader Maureen Kennedy is planning a follow up workshop in the Spring on teaching tennis and pickleball in the schools. Partnering with the United States Tennis Association’s New England Section, instructors will provide instruction on both sports, with an emphasis on pickleball, the fastest growing sport in the country. Lead contact, Maureen Kennedy. (mkennedy@lenoxps.org)

SCHOOL ADJUSTMENT COUNSELORS & GUIDANCE COUNSELORS. As a follow up to their November workshop, these two PLN’s are planning a series of workshops this Spring on Training for Counselors on the LGBTQ Culture and Needs in the school setting. They will be partnering with one of BERK12’s community partners, Berkshire Pride, to offer these workshops. In addition, the group continues to explore ways to expand mental health services for youth and adolescents with County Mental Health providers. Lead contact: Scott Balawender (sbalawender@hoosacvalley.org)

ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS (BELT). Given the growing population of Latino students in the County, following up on the November PD Day activities, the group continues to explore activities that support migrant children and youth to assist them in overcoming educational disruption, cultural and language barriers, social isolation, and other factors that might inhibit their ability to succeed in school. Working with the MMEP Program, (Massachusetts Migrant Education Program), on-going activities for additional PD include demonstrating how MMEP can be integrated into current practices. Lead contact: Elizabeth Whitman (ewhitman@napsk12.org)

WORLD LANGUAGE TEACHERS (BOLT). At the November PD Day, World Language teachers participated in a workshop that supported strategies for raising motivation and language acquisition in the classroom. These strategies also helped students develop a love of reading in their target language. In addition, an upcoming workshop for members will focus on how Artificial intelligence can support teaching and learning in the classroom. Lead contact: Amy Bainbridge-Jordan (amybethbainbridge@gmail.com)

SCHOOL NURSES. Learning Network Leader Joan Roy provides weekly updates to her group from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and other Nursing groups. With only a few School Nurse Supervisors remaining in the County, this on-going communication has proven to be invaluable to the group. Feedback from the November PD Day was extremely positive. The Nurses spent the day at Berkshire Community College in their Simulation Lab working with College faculty while rotating through various medical scenarios, including overdose care, cardiac arrest, anaphylaxis, and asthma attack. A Spring follow up workshop is being planned. Lead contact: Joan Roy (jroy@cbrsd.org)

OT/PT/S&L THERAPISTS. Introduced at the November PD Day, therapists continue to complete assignments and activities related to this training by addressing strategies for dysregulation for both students and staff, studying sensory differences caused by trauma, imbedding PT services in the classroom, and observing the evaluation and treatment of reflexes through neuroplasticity. Those therapists who attended the November workshop are continuing to complete assignments virtually. Upon completion, participants will take an independent exam and obtain CEU’s. PLN Leader Noelle Sullivan is planning to offer a virtual Spring workshop to assist those who are finishing the work and preparing to take the exam. Lead contact, Noelle Sullivan. (nsullivan@williamstownelementary.org)

SCIENCE/STEM. Following up on the November 7th Professional Development Day, the Science/STEM PLN continues to support teachers who participated in workshops that day and who are completing additional assignments and projects. These workshops include: Teaching Science Through Project Based Learning; Meaningful Science Projects in the Middle School; What Science Says about How We Learn; Incorporating Science and Technology in the Classroom; and Exploring Nature for Young Children. Leader Judy Callahan publishes a newsletter on a regular basis highlighting professional development opportunities and programs for Science/STEM staff throughout the County. Lead contact; Judy Callahan
(jcallahan@pittsfield.net)

For more information, to learn more, or to get involved with a PLN, contact Bill Ballen - BERK12 PD Coordinator @ ballenw770@gmail.com or drop BERK12 a note at info@Berk12.org.
Past Countywide PD Day Offerings