Upcoming Professional Development
Contact Thea Keppel at keppeltm01@buffalostate.edu with any questions or concerns regarding event registration
Summer Learning Opportunities 2026
Professional Writing Workshop
Dr. Julie Henry and Dr. Michael Jabot
Are you interested in sharing your teaching ideas with a wider audience? The Western NY cohort is again hosting a writing program for NYS Master Teachers who want to publish their teaching ideas and experiences in professional journals. Interested teachers can work alone, with another Master Teacher or a college faculty co-author to generate topics and outlines for articles. Teachers who are ready to complete the writing process will be invited to the Professional Writing Workshop to write their articles and submit them for publication. This year’s writing coaches will be Dr. Julie Henry and Dr. Michael Jabot.
Date: July 13-16, 2026
Location: Holiday Valley in Ellicottville, NY 14731
The Western Region of the New York State Master Teacher Program is excited to offer two segments of our mathematical landscapes of learning series that focus on the pedagogical moves teachers make to nurture a community of mathematicians across the elementary and middle school grades. The mathematical content will be situated within Cathy Fosnot’s landscape of learning framework and will explore the coherent development of multiplication and division, and fractions along the K – 8 spectrum. Video case studies across the grade levels of classroom practice will be analyzed and discussed using the TRU Framework, from Dr. Alan Shoenfeld at the University of California, Berkeley. These video cases provide opportunities for participants to share their grade level expertise and to enhance our understanding of the content connections across the landscape.
Each session will highlight building a welcoming math community for learners to take risks, gain confidence, and take charge of their learning with a focus on the landscape of multiplication and division, and fractions, across grades K-8. Sessions will feature mathematical models and tools for thinking, including number lines, Building Thinking Classroom principles, number strings, and more. Real world contexts and situations will be used as we consider how to best develop students’ conceptual understanding and mathematical identity within a supportive and nurturing classroom community.
Dates: Monday-Thursday, July 20-21 (Multiplication/Division), July 22-23 (Fractions); 8:30am - 3:00 pm
Location: Buffalo State University, SAMC 259
Landscapes: Multiplication/Division and Fractions Minicourse Registration
Landscapes: Multiplication/Division and Fractions Minicourse Flyer
Physics Teacher Workshops
Are you new to teaching physics? Working toward your physics teacher certification? The WNY Region of the New York State Master Teacher Program is offering two workshops for new physics teachers this summer!
In these two 4-day workshops you will complete NYSSLS lab activities that will enhance your physics content knowledge, prepare you to teach using the new physics standards and will be fun! You will experience effective physics classroom activities and strategies that lead to successful physics teaching.
Physics Olympics and making classroom-ready materials will be included throughout both workshops and in optional Friday sessions.
Workshop 1: Mechanics and Energy
This workshop will include labs such as Modeling Pendulum Motion, Graphical Analysis of Motion, Modeling Newton’s Laws, Impulse and Conservation of Momentum, Conservation of Energy and the NYS Thermal Tails Investigation. Physics Olympics and making classroom ready materials will be included throughout the week and in optional Friday sessions.
Dates: Mon-Thurs, July 27th-30th, 8am-5pm
Location: Buffalo State University, SAMC 359
Workshop 2: Electricity and Waves
This workshop will include labs such as Mapping Electric Potential, Series and Parallel Circuits, NYS Wheels to Watts Investigation, Speed of Sound, ray diagrams and optics, diffraction and wavelength of light.
Dates: Mon-Thurs, August 3rd-6th, 8am-5pm
Location: Buffalo State University, SAMC 359
Physics Teacher Workshops Registration
Physics Teacher Workshops Flyer
Earth Science in Action: Fieldwork, Fossils, & the Niagara Landscape
NYESTA Summer Conference
Join Earth Science educators from across New York State for a 3-day immersive professional learning experience. This conference will include hands-on earth science learning, collaboration, and classroom-ready strategies aligned with NYSSLS standards. CTLE provided. Register today on the NYESTA website.
Dates: August 4th-6th