February 11, 2026
February 11, 2026
MVYPS Professional Development Day
This half day of professional development is entirely structured around teacher-directed professional learning and development. It is MVYPS' hopes that teachers will take advantage of this day to engage in professional development that is collaborative, authentic and relevant to their practice, related to individual professional development plans, and enriches the learning experience of the students in their classrooms (see note below). ESPs have a normal contractual work day on this PD day (see below for ESP PD options).
MVRHS- 11:00 am to 4:00 pm
K-8 Schools- 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm
The following opportunities have been organized by MVYPS leaders and educators to provide rich, high quality PD and Collaboartive meeting time on this day.
ALL teachers are asked to complete a PD google form, linked on this page. This is the tracker for your PD and will award you the PDPs for your work.
Collaborative Meetings, including COPs and PLCs
Collaborative Meetings are opportunities to connect with colleagues to deepen instructional work and collaboration. These meetings have a variety of purposes, including vertical transitions, grade level and content alignment, collaborative planning and team building. Continuous engagement with a specific meeting group over the course of two years may result in 5 PDPs (more information about how this can occur to come).
Schedule is here. This is a work in progress, so check back often. I am adding meetings, times and links as they come my way!
Contact Sara Dingledy with any questions
PD Workshop: Unlocking History: Explore Inquiry-Based Learning for Middle and High School students at MV Museum
Date(s): February 11, 1pm-3pm (same workshop will be offered again on May 27 in case this date doesn't work for some of you)
Host: MV Museum Educators (Becky Nutton & Taylor Smalley) & Curatorial Staff
Target Audience: Middle and High School Island Teachers, all disciplines welcome
Format/Location: In-person workshop at the MV Museum featuring gallery exploration, archival tutorials and collaborative lesson development discussion
Session Overview:
Moving beyond a 2-dimensional history lesson, this workshop will explore the power of encountering authentic historical documents and artifacts in person. Using MVM’s Unfreedom curriculum as our model, participants will take the role of a visiting student and engage directly with primary sources that demonstrate evidence of the institutions of slavery, incarceration and indentured servitude on our Island in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Guided inquiry will demonstrate how students can turn unfamiliar materials into powerful catalysts for historical investigation.
Goals for Educators:
Learn/experience why students are more likely to persist in learning when working with “real stuff” rather than secondary source material
Build/expand upon strategies that improve comprehension and the ability to synthesize complex, sometimes conflicting, data
Connect with the MV Museum Education, Curatorial and Research team to identify specific ways that we can help you/your students tangibly access local history
Please email Becky Nutton with questions and to RSVP for this workshop
PD Workshop: Breaking Shells: Revitalizing the Classroom as a Place of Transformation
Date/Time: February 11, 1:30-3:00
Facilitator: Daniel Soares
Target Audience: MS/HS Staff
Location: MVRHS Rm 202
Session Overview:
Students often arrive in our classrooms guarded—present, but closed. This can often be interpreted as disengagement—but what happens when we understand their presentation as protection? Building on the learning that is already happening in our classrooms, this workshop will explore how creating spaces that invite students to open, connect, and bring their lived worlds into the work can deepen voice, autonomy, and engagement. The session will consider what it means to read the world before reading the word. Grounded in cross-cultural education—and inspired by Paulo Freire’s insight that the reading of the world precedes the reading of the word—participants will reflect on how learning students’ worlds transforms how they read texts, and how they read themselves. Through our work together, the hope is that we might collectively renew our sense of purpose as teachers.
Please email Justine DeOliveira with questions
PD Workshop: STE Performance Assessment Tasks: An Introduction to the DESE tasks for grades 3 - 8
Date(s): February 11, 2:30-4:00
Host: Justen Foster, Edgartown School, Room 248
Target Audience: Teachers grades 3-8
Format/Location: In-person workshop with a hybrid option (zoom link will be published soon)
Session Overview:
This workshop will introduce teachers to the STE Performance Tasks that are designed to support high-quality STE curricula and DESE's deeper learning goals for all students. The classroom tasks require students to apply their knowledge and skills to real-world problems. The tasks include hands-on investigations using computer simulations and manipulatives, group work, and individual student work.
This is a teacher led workshop. Justen Foster, MS Science teacher in Edgartown will share her experience with the DESE STE Performance Tasks.
Goals for Educators:
Learn/explore the existing tasks on the DESE website
Explore ways to integrate the tasks--and the core skills they promote--into island classrooms.
Please email Justen Foster with questions and to RSVP for this workshop
PD: Introduction to Collaborative Problem Solving
[2 PDPs upon completion]
Who: All MVYPS educators and staff interested in learning the foundations and theory behind Collaborative Problem Solving*.
Time: Self-directed, self-paced virtual learning series
Purpose: MVYPS has worked with Think:Kids to provide MVYPS educators and staff free access to this learning module.
This 2-hour, self-paced course introduces the basic principles of Collaborative Problem Solving, an innovative, trauma-informed, and evidence-based approach to understanding and helping kids and adults with behavioral challenges. The principles of Collaborative Problem Solving® will be discussed, while outlining how the approach is uniquely suited to the needs of today's educators and students. The CPS approach aligns with CASEL's 5 core competencies, integrates with MTSS frameworks, PBIS, and restorative practices, is evidence-based, neurobiologically and trauma-informed, and child and family-centered.
Participants learn a more empathic and accurate understanding of what causes unmet expectations and challenging behavior and are exposed to an overview of the three key components of the approach. These courses lay the foundation for attending Essential Foundation in Collaborative Problem Solving (Level 1)
Objectives:
Understand what really causes challenging behavior or unmet expectations in others.
Discover the limitations of motivational approaches as a solution to unwanted behavior.
Learn three ways to respond to unwanted behavior and the best times to use them.
See how the approach can positively change interactions and outcomes with youth and adults.
Location: Please contact Hope MacLeod with questions and complete this form to get access to the learning platform.
Focus Area(s):
Bucket 1- A System-wide Commitment to Our Children >
Emphasis on teaching models
Emphasis on physical and emotional welfare of our students
Prioritize alternative approaches to discipline
Bucket 2- A Commitment to Nurturing the Culture within Our Schools >
Emphasis on relationships and themes of care
Strategies to improve school climate
*Note: This course is not for those educators who have been trained in Level 1 or Level 2 CPS Practices. This course is for those educators/staff who are curious about CPS and want to develop a foundational understanding for the practice.
Who: All MVYPS Educational Support Professionals (ESPs)
Purpose: The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is pleased to share a new and growing set of resources to support the onboarding and continued professional learning for paraeducators across Massachusetts. District administrators, school leaders, and paraeducators are welcome to access and use the first two e-learning modules in a larger series aimed at providing targeted learning and support for paraeducators. Paraeducators across Massachusetts informed the design and directly contributed to these modules.
Objectives: Varies based on module
Time: Asynchronous
Facilitators: MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Location: Click the links to specific topics (available by clicking on the videos on the right-side of the page or by going directly to DESE's webpage)
Registration: No prior registration required
MVYPS focus area(s):
Note: Professional development points are not relevant/awarded for these asynchronous sessions.