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Featuring Genevieve Thomas, School Services of Montana's Director of Professional Learning
June 1st - June 4th
8:30 AM - 3:30 PM each day
Dawson County High School Cafeteria, Glendive MT
REGISTRATION OPEN!
June 1-How Well I teach-How Well They Learn - Explicit Instruction research, elements, principles, teaching skills and strategies.
June 2 Teaching vocabulary and knowledge EI practices
This 2 day workshop offers a deep dive into Explicit Instruction as a powerful, evidence based approach to improving student learning across content areas and grade levels. participants will strengthen their instructional delivery and leave with concrete strategies, tools and plans for integrating Explicit Instruction into daily teaching.
June 3 Evidence Based Strategies for Designing Intensive Instruction
Data-Based Individualization is a systematic method for intensifying instruction within MTSS. The Steps of the DBI process will be learned and explored to address persistent learning challenges. Participants will learn to apply DBI by adapting interventions in group size, instructional strategies and materials.
Participants will leave with greater confidence and practical strategies for supporting students who need more intensive individualized instruction.
June 4 Evidence Based Writing Instruction-Research to Practice
Come to explore best practices for writing instruction grounded in research and application by examining key findings on effective writing instruction and daily application. The Writing Rope will be the guiding framework. Educators will leave with practical tools and a clearer vision for strengthening writing instruction in their own classroom.
Books referenced
Days 1-2
Explicit Instruction: Effective and Efficient Teaching (What Works for Special-Needs Learners) Illustrated Edition by Anita L. Archer (Author), Charles A. Hughes (Author)
https://tinyurl.com/2yudba9h
Day 3 No book
Day 4
The Writing Rope: A Framework for Explicit Writing Instruction in All Subjects 1st Edition
by Joan Sedita M.Ed. (Author), Jan Hasbrouck Ph.D. (Foreword)
https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Rope-Framework-Explicit-Instruction/dp/1681255898
GENEVIEVE THOMAS
With nearly two decades of experience in the education sector, Genevieve Thomas is School Services of Montana's brand new Director of Professional Learning. She has also served as a special education teacher, literacy specialist, teacher coach, school psychologist, and special education administrator. She holds graduate degrees in both Special Education and School Psychology from Loyola Marymount University and is currently a doctoral student in the Reading Science Department at Mount St Joseph University.
Genevieve is passionate about partnering with schools to implement best practices for students with diverse learning needs, evidence-based literacy instruction and intervention, and multi-tiered systems of support. She supports teachers and schools across these areas through the development and implementation of professional learning opportunities, side-by-side coaching, and system-level consultation work. She is particularly skilled at collaborative analysis of data to inform instructional decisions for both the core educational program and academic and social-emotional interventions and supports.
Areas of Expertise: Special Education; Literacy Instruction and Intervention; Dyslexia; Multiple-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS)
Tuesday, June 9, 2026
9:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Red Lion Ridgewater Inn & Linderman Elementary Library, Polson MT
Featuring
Powerful Teaching K-12 with Carrie Cole (located at the Ridgewater Inn)
Regulate Before you Educate with Stacey York Nation (located at the Ridgewater Inn)
Creating a Culture of Success PK - 2nd with Stephanie Lester (located at the Linderman Elementary Library)
REGISTRATION OPEN!
Powerful Teaching K-12 with Carrie Cole
Standards-aligned lessons are essential—but how we deliver instruction determines whether students truly learn the content. This session focuses on high-impact instructional practices that significantly increase student achievement, including explicit instruction, guided practice, frequent checks for understanding, and structured student engagement (Rosenshine, 2012; Hattie, 2018). Participants will examine the instructional moves that make learning visible and ensure all students actively process new information. Through modeling and application, educators will see how these strategies can be integrated into any lesson, regardless of subject or grade level. Participants will leave with a set of practical instructional techniques that can immediately strengthen lesson delivery and increase student engagement and learning.
Regulate Before you Educate k-12 with Stacey York Nation
Focus: Practical tools for building emotional safety in classrooms
Includes: The 3R Model (Regulate, Relate, Reason) Creating sensory-safe environments De-escalation scripts and co-regulation language Self-regulation for staff
Creating a Culture of Success PK-2nd
A dynamic, research-based professional learning experience designed to support PK–2 educators in developing and sustaining developmentally appropriate learning environments that promote strong foundations in literacy, mathematics, and social-emotional development.
High-quality early learning environments are intentionally designed using evidence-based practices aligned to how young children learn best. This training focuses on routines, schedules, and management systems that create safe, engaging, and productive classrooms.
Grounded in the Science of Reading and early numeracy research, participants will learn how to embed literacy and math into daily routines using practical strategies aligned with adopted curriculum such as Creative Curriculum.
Through modeling and hands-on application, educators will design environments that support executive functioning, independence, and positive behavior while strengthening language, literacy, and math development
Tuesday, June 9, 2026
8:30 AM - 3:45PM
Dillon, MT - UM-Western Campus, 710 S Atlantic St., Dillon, MT
Presented by Ashlie Buresh, M.S.
Participants will:
How can teachers utilize purposeful evidence-based strategies and assessments to support students in the development of skills to deeply engage with, understand, interpret and think critically about written text?
Participants will develop a comprehensive understanding of comprehension, including the science behind it, the relevant standards, effective teaching strategies, and the use of ongoing assessments to adapt instruction to meet the needs of all students, including those with learning challenges.
Presented by Ashlie Buresh, M.S., is a Board-Certified Educator and Consultant. Her journey in education began around twenty years ago as an elementary teacher. Her love ofv teaching students to read led her to become a literacy coach and now consultant where she partners with educators to improve literacy instruction. She has presented to educators across the country in the areas of The Science of Reading and STRIVE’s Coaching Model. Ashlie has co-authored the book The Summer Before Kindergarten and was a contributing author to STRIVE’S Data System. When Ashlie isn’t working, she can be found spending time with her family hiking, camping, and rafting.
Thursday, June 11, 2026
8:30 AM - 3:30 PM
East Helena Prickly Pear Elementary
Presented by Stephanie Lester
Participants will:
1. Understand how oral language drives vocabulary development, comprehension, and academic
reasoning.
2. Identify the components of effective oral language instruction (vocabulary, syntax, discourse,
listening comprehension, narrative).
3. Implement simple, high-impact routines that strengthen student talk across daily instruction.
4. Use talk structures and teacher moves that support deeper thinking and meaningful participation.
5. Embed oral language opportunities into everyday classroom routines and procedures.
6. Support multilingual learners and diverse language profiles through modeling and scaffolding.
7. Integrate oral language practices into reading, writing, math, and content areas.
8. Create an implementation plan to increase purposeful talk in their classrooms.
Key Components
The key components of the training are:
1. Why talk matters: the oral language–literacy connection
2. Developmental progression of oral language PK–6
3. High-impact talk routines that build student voice
4. Vocabulary development through purposeful conversations
5. Teacher discourse moves that deepen thinking
6. Narrative and storytelling structures that support comprehension and writing
7. Support strategies for multilingual learners
8. Using everyday routines (greetings, transitions, discussions) as language-building opportunities
9. Practical application and classroom planning
Tuesday, July 28, 2026
8:30 AM - 3:30 PM
MSU-Great Falls, Heritage Hall
Presented by Stacy York Nation
Morning Session: Film Screening — Paper Tigers
We’ll begin the day with a viewing of the award-winning documentary Paper Tigers, which follows the journey of Lincoln Alternative High School in Walla Walla, Washington. The film chronicles a powerful transformation in how the school approaches discipline and student relationships through a trauma-informed lens.
Through the stories of six remarkable students—and the educators who stand beside them—the documentary illuminates how understanding and compassion can break generational cycles of poverty, violence, and despair. Paper Tigers vividly demonstrates the profound impact of trauma on the developing brain, the power of connection, and the difference that caring adults can make when they choose to treat rather than judge.
________________________________________
Afternoon Session: Training & Collaborative Discussion
Following the film, participants will engage in an interactive workshop exploring trauma-informed and trauma-restorative practices designed to meet the needs of today’s students—“kids these days.”
Together, we will:
• Examine the underlying factors contributing to high suspension, expulsion, and dropout rates.
• Explore evidence-based strategies to regulate before we educate, emphasizing connection as the foundation for learning.
• Identify practical tools for building relationships that foster safety, belonging, and engagement—particularly with grades 7-12.
• Discuss how educators’ own regulation and presence directly shape classroom climate and student outcomes.
• Develop actionable ways to create cultures of regulation and support within classrooms and across school systems.
• Strengthen the web of supports that help students not only attend but thrive and graduate.
This session blends reflection, discussion, and skill-building to equip educators, counselors, and support staff with tools that work in real-world classrooms—grounded in compassion, neuroscience, and hope.
Tuesday, August 4, 2026
8:30 AM - 3:30 PM
Great Falls Hampton Inn
Presented by Joe Moriarty
The goal for the 9 essential skills for the Love and Logic classroom is to provide low-stress strategies for highly successful educators that make positive and lasting effects in their school and communities. Through the program, educators will become further equipped with practical techniques that:
are simple and easy to learn
teach responsibility and good character
change lives and lower stress levels
have immediate, positive effects on students and schools
Although this will be the second day of training for many of the participants, and we will be focusing primarily on the last 5 skills (positive relationships, limits and enforceable statements, providing choices, preventive interventions, guiding students to solve their own problems), first-time participants are welcome. We will review the first four skills and the program's foundational Love and Logic principles, and the skills can be taught in various orders.
The course will be taught in person by the independent facilitator Joe Moriarty and by video from Dr. Charles Fay (Founder and Owner of the Love and Logic Company). The nine essential tools include:
Neutralizing Arguing
Delayed Consequences
Sincere Empathy
Short-Term Recovery
Positive Teacher – Student Relationships
Setting Limits and Enforceable Statements
Providing Choices within Limits
Quick and Easy Preventive Interventions
Guiding Students to Solve their problems
Joe Moriarty currently lives in Lewistown. Mr. Moriarty is a long-time educator entering his 43rd year in the field, and is authentically grateful for his career, the multitude of students and incredible colleagues he has worked with, and the humble contributions that he is able to continue making.
His experiences have included classroom instruction as a math, science, and social studies teacher; in the moving laboratory (the traffic education arena); and coaching football, basketball, track, and tennis. He was the assistant principal at Sacajawea Middle School in Bozeman for the latter third of his twenty-four years with that district. Joe then began working as an adjunct professor and field supervisor for Montana State University, and a consultant for the Office of Public Instruction as a trainer and MTSS coach. Joe has a special passion for public health and wellness (especially students, teachers, and all members of the educational team). He addresses that passion through his trainings in the PBIS, Better Stress Management, Effective Classroom Practices, Social and Emotional Learning, and the Love and Logic Workshop.
Thursday, August 6, 2026
8:30 AM - 3:30 PM
Best Western Plus Havre Inn & Suites
Presented by Angela Fraley
Building Connection through Encouragement and Choices. This interactive training will begin to facilitate the mindset shift with your staff. Explore how the brain is wired for connection and safety and loves predictability. This experience will inspire, inform, and jumpstart a productive year of growth with Conscious Discipline practices. This is a full day with 6 hours of content, table group discussion, and reflection.
Key Concepts
The Power of Unity: "We are all in this together."
Building connection rituals, such as greetings, celebrations, and wish wells.
Encouraging empathy and mutual respect through shared moments of connection.
Meets Partner Challenges, including:
• Improve Climate and Culture
Angela Fraley has shared her passion for Conscious Discipline for over 15 years, which includes the past 8 years of work in Montana that began with the Montana Preschool Grant. She completed her undergraduate work at the University of Central Oklahoma with teaching certifications in Elementary Education, Early Childhood, Intermediate Mathematics, and Mild to Moderate Disabilities. She earned a master’s degree in Prevention Science and an IC & RC Certified Prevention Specialist credential at the University of Oklahoma.
Monday, August 10, 2026
8:30 AM - 3:30 PM
East Helena, MT @ Radley Elementary School
Presented by Stephanie Lester
Help EVERY Student SUCCEED is built on the belief that every student can succeed—with the right structure, targeted supports, and intentional design. Differentiated instruction is most effective when it is structured, intentional, and deeply rooted in data. This 6-hour interactive professional learning experience provides educators with a clear, actionable framework for designing and implementing differentiated small-group instruction aligned to students’ instructional needs. Participants will explore how to use diagnostic and formative assessments to identify specific skill deficits, plan targeted instruction, and select
research-validated interventions that directly address those needs (e.g., vocabulary,
multisyllabic decoding, morphological awareness, comprehension processes, etc.).
Throughout the session, educators will learn how to establish flexible small-group schedules, develop predictable instructional routines, and design differentiated progress-monitoring plans that ensure instructional decisions are purposeful, responsive, and student-centered. By the end of this training, teachers will have the structure, tools, and protocols necessary to create small- group systems that support meaningful learning - helping every student experience success.
Stephanie Lester has over 40 years in education including: educational consulting, teaching preschool and a Project-Based Learning Multiage K-1st program, professional development speaker, author, College Instructor, Assistant Principal, Early Childhood Education Director, and Director of Curriculum, Instruction & Assessment. Currently Stephanie partners with school communities as an Educational Consultant focusing on providing support to educators on a variety of topics aligned with evidence and research based best practices (including but not limited to: science of reading, classroom management, guidance, instructional strategies, executive functions, science, math, leadership).
Stephanie believes that children learn best when they are excited, engaged, and experiencing success in the learning environment. Stephanie has published two books: Year-Round Project-Based Activities for STEM and Science Through the Year. Stephanie is passionate about inspiring, educating, and motivating teachers to implement evidence-based instructional practices with the goal of developing the social, emotional, physical, and cognitive skills that children will need to experience SUCCESS in school and life. Stephanie primarily supports educational programs in the states of Montana and California.
When Stephanie isn’t exploring with her grandchildren, you will find her creating hands-on STEM activities, presenting workshops on a variety of topics, consulting with teachers throughout the country, gardening, birdwatching, and playing with her dog, Grizzly. Stephanie Lester holds a MA degree in Education: Curriculum and Instruction, an Administrative Credential, a Multiple Subject Teaching Credential, a CLAD Certification, CLASS certification, and a Program Director Child Development permit.
Wednesday, August 12, 2026
9:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Room 122 in the College of Education at Montana State University Billings
Presented by Dori Phillips
Please bring markers or colored pencils, scissor, and a glue stick.
Please register per person as this makes registration much easier.
This is a winter in-person event please check your email and messages for updates due to weather.
Are you ready to re-learn fractions? In this hand-on, highly interactive workshop, you will learn how to understand and teach fractions in a whole new way! Fractions are numbers. We can count fractions just like we count numbers. We need fractions to help us represent amounts between whole numbers. Students must understand benchmark fractions, numerators, denominators, the importance of the “whole” and then use these skills to reason and explain their understanding. We will look at student misconceptions in all areas of fractions and learn how to correct this. The skills included are also helpful for older students who still do not understand fractions and how to work with them.
Skills covered include equal parts, unit fractions, benchmark fractions, what is a “whole”, fractions of a set, equivalent fractions, mixed numbers, use number lines to understand fractions, comparing and ordering fractions, adding and subtracting fractions, and multiplying and dividing fractions.
Learning Targets:
● Learners will practice activities to teach fractions using examples and counterexamples.
● Learners will practice skills to help students understand fractions at a deeper level.
● Learners will use words and phrases to help students understand their own knowledge of fractions.
Participants will have a full day of “make and take” activities. Plan to put your computers away and be a learner yourself!
Materials to bring: markers or colored pencils, scissors, glue stick
Tuesday, August 18, 2026
9:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Hampton Inn Kalispell MT
Presented by Laurie Thompson, PhD, CCC-SLP
Our understanding of autism continues to evolve, and so does the range of students we see in schools. This professional development session offers an opportunity to revisit core concepts and current perspectives so you can start the 2026–2027 school year with a fresh, grounded understanding of where the field stands today.
The session will explore what autism is and how it is currently understood, how it presents in students, and key considerations for school-based identification and eligibility. Understanding these foundations shapes how professionals across roles recognize and respond to the students they serve.
Designed for SLPs, school psychologists, special educators, and administrators, this session is not specific to any single discipline. It is built around shared understanding and is relevant across roles, whether you are revisiting foundational concepts or deepening your understanding.
Laurie Thompson, PhD, CCC-SLP, is Director of the Communication Development Lab and an Associate Professor in the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences at Washington State University College of Medicine. She earned her PhD from Florida State University and completed postdoctoral training in the Pediatric and Developmental Neuroscience Branch at the National Institute of Mental Health. A licensed speech-language pathologist, Dr. Thompson’s research focuses on communication and language development in young children at risk for or with neurodevelopmental disorders, as well as individuals with complex communication needs across the lifespan. Her work integrates assessment and intervention science to advance more precise, developmentally grounded approaches to measuring communication and improving how communication differences are identified, characterized, and supported in real-world settings.
Tuesday, August 18, 2026
9:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Rankin Elementary School Kalispell MT
Presented by Stephanie Lester
A research-based professional learning experience designed to support educators in creating developmentally appropriate learning environments for four-year-old learners that promote foundational academic, social-emotional, and executive functioning skills.
Participants will explore how young children develop early literacy and mathematical understanding through oral language, vocabulary, phonological awareness, play, routines, and intentional interactions. Emphasizing the critical role of play as the primary context for learning, educators will learn how to design environments and daily experiences that naturally support language, thinking, and independence. Special emphasis is placed on free choice time as a powerful driver of executive functioning, language development, and problem-solving. The training affirms that four-year-old learners have unique developmental needs that differ from Kindergarten
Stephanie Lester has over 35 years in education including: teaching preschool and a Project-Based Learning Multiage K-1st program, professional development speaker, author, Assistant Principal, Early Childhood Education Director, and Director of Curriculum, Instruction & Assessment.
Currently Stephanie partners with school communities as an Educational Consultant focusing on providing literacy support aligned with the science of reading, as well as professional development training on a variety of topics. Stephanie believes that children learn best when they are excited, engaged, and experiencing success in the learning environment. Stephanie has published two books: Year-Round Project-Based Activities for STEM and Science Through the Year. Stephanie is passionate about inspiring, educating, and motivating teachers to implement evidence-based instructional practices with the goal of developing the social, emotional, physical and cognitive skills that children will need to experience SUCCESS as 21st Century learners.
When Stephanie isn’t exploring with her grandchildren, you will find her creating hands-on STEM activities, presenting workshops on a variety of topics, and consulting with teachers throughout the country. Stephanie Lester holds a MA degree in Education: Curriculum and Instruction, an Administrative Credential, a Multiple Subject Teaching Credential, a CLAD Certification, CLASS certification, and a Program Director Child Development permit.
Wednesday, August 19, 2026
9:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Lolo Elementary School - Lolo MT
Presented by Wayne Callender Ed.S.
This training addresses the need for a broad differentiated structure that will support students according to risk categories of Advance, Benchmark, Strategic and Intensive. This seminar will focus on developing clear protocols for differentiating instruction within the risk categories, i.e. differentiating instruction for strategic level students, included will specific information on how to (a) use assessments to identify the instructional focus (b) establish a structure/schedule for small group instruction (c) select research validated interventions that target specific skills (i.e., vocabulary, multisyllabic decoding, etc.), and (d) create differentiated progress monitoring plans. Participants will be provided planning tools for establishing differentiated protocols at each grade level.
Wayne Callender Ed.S. is one of the county’s leading RTI / MTSS Consultants who has worked at the state, district and building level implementing RTI and MTSS. A former statewide RTI director, Wayne currently trains and advises educators across the country in the implementation of MTSS and in the area of school improvement. In addition to being featured as keynote speaker at over a dozen state and national conferences, Wayne has authored numerous RtI articles one of which was recently published in Principal Magazine, as well as writing RtI for Secondary Schools – A School‐Wide Approach published by Corwin Press in 2014.
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