Professional Development

Pre-K-12 Programs main page | Family Welcome Center | English Language Learning Program | Summer Programs | Multicultural Resource Library | Professional Development | Parent Outreach

Training and Educational Opportunities for Staff

The Multilingual and Multicultural Center offers a variety of in-service professional development opportunities for Portland Public Schools’ faculty and staff throughout the academic year. The goal of our professional development offerings is to raise staff knowledge and skills in educating culturally and linguistically diverse students.

Offerings include:

• Monthly language and culture workshops provide in-service experiences connected directly with the Language and Culture Bulletin series and cover a range of issues including writing, differentiation, mainstreaming, classroom instruction, diversity, reading, characteristics of ELL success in school, aspects of culture and language, and second language acquisition;
• Special workshop series focuses on on topics such as multicultural books and authors, world languages, native American curriculum, and child-rearing practices in various cultures;
• School-based staff training addresses topics of concern in individual elementary, middle, and high schools related to language minority learners;
• Staff-specific and cluster in-service trainings are directed at ESL teachers and native language facilitators on issues relevant to curriculum and instruction;
• ACCESS for ELLs TM administrator training qualified teachers to deliver the yearly mandated evaluation of academic language proficiency;
• USM off-campus graduate courses are offered in methodology, cultural diversity, applied linguistics, curriculum, and testing and assessment to enable participants to move towards State ESL endorsement.

Language and Culture Bulletin series

Assisting ELLs in the Classroom
This academic year’s focus is on aspects of teaching to English Language Learner (ELLs) population to help impact their learning in a positive manner. As in previous workshops, the focus is both on content and application, i.e., how the topics can be “translated” into classroom practice for all K-12 teachers. Course List

Teaching ELLs: Best Practices
This workshop series will address topics of teaching and learning to English Language Learners (ELLs) that relate to the classroom strengths and experiences of Portland and other area ELL teachers.  The emphasis is on the resources and experiences of our very experienced Portland Schools staff in their work with ELLs that can be of great benefit to all staff in the district.  All workshops will be held at The Multilingual and Multicultural Center.  Each workshop will be advertised two weeks before delivered; sign up is electronically through Suzanne Hardy at the Educational Planning Office. Course List