Professional Development
Effective teachers commit to furthering their own learning as well as their students’ learning. Practicing educators take part in regular professional development opportunities in order to be effective and engaged teachers. The College of Education fosters this career-long commitment to learning and professional development by requiring our undergraduate students seeking initial licensure to complete a series of Professional Growth Units, or PGUs.
All undergraduate students in licensure majors who entered NC State in fall 2011 or later must complete a minimum of 4.5 PGUs prior to graduation. All MAT students must complete a minimum of 2 PGUs prior to graduation. It is recommended that all undergraduate students complete a minimum of 1.5 PGUs per year and MAT students complete a minimum of 1.0 PGU per year. You cannot complete all of your PGU requirements in one academic year.
The College holds a variety of professional development events each semester that offer PGU credit. Qualifying events lasting 45 minutes to one hour earn 0.5 PGU, with longer events earning additional PGU credit. The maximum number of PGUs a student can earn for a single event is 1.5. We expect students to have completed a variety of opportunities within their required PGUs. Therefore, attending the same PGU experience every year will not be accepted. For example, all PGUs coming from conference attendance will not be accepted.
This semester’s events are listed below.
Please check back frequently as new events will be listed as they become available.
Learn the importance of using LinkedIn as a tool to shape your professional influence and how to create your profile efficiently and effectively. Participants will receive one-on-one guidance in setting up or updating their LinkedIn profile, as well as the opportunity to have a free professional headshot taken.
Date: Tuesday, September 26, 2023
Time: 5:30 – 6:30 PM
Location: Poe Hall, Room 216
Audience: Primarily first-year College of Education students, but it will be open to the entire College of Education.
Contact: Samantha Worrell
Credit: 0.5
In this workshop, we will walk through the purpose and process of Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). We will practice writing and exploring several necessary components. By the end of the workshop, learners will be able to describe how IEPs can support students with disabilities and how teachers can create proper IEPs.
Date: Tuesday, September 26, 2023
Time: 6:00 – 7:00 PM
Location: Poe Hall, METRC
Audience: Preservice and Beginning Teachers
Contact: Dr. Jared Stewart-Ginsburg
Credit: 0.5
In this session, students will learn about and engage with high-quality mathematics tasks. Students will experience firsthand what it is like to learn from a high-quality mathematics task. We will then explore what makes the task effective for teaching mathematics. This is the first of three sessions to help prepare students to successfully create and implement effective tasks in their future classrooms.
Date: Thursday, September 28th, 2023
Time: 6:00 – 7:30 PM
Location: Poe Hall, Room 117
Audience: Mathematics (Pre Service)Teachers
Contact: Aaron Ideus
Credit: 0.5
Join us for a professional development event that celebrates the potency of young adult literature in fostering civic engagement and bearing witness to history. This event features a special virtual session with YA author, Emily Inouye Hue, who will discuss her transformative novel Beneath the Wide Silk Sky. Afterward, expert panelists, including Dr. Angela Wiseman, Dr. Crystal Chen Lee, and Dr. Carl Young, will enrich the discussion and attendees will be invited to participate in a contextual gallery walk. Tailored for students in the College of Education, this event invites guests to discover how narratives can shape our understanding of the world as critical witnesses.
Date: Tuesday, October 3, 2023
Time: 5:00 – 6:30 PM
Location: Poe Hall, Room 216
Audience: All students of the College of Education
Contact: Amber Moore
Credit: 0.5
Studying abroad is a lifelong transformational opportunity. Come by and learn from the experiences of past study abroad participants.
Date: Tuesday, October 3, 2023
Time: 5:00 – 6:00 PM
Location: Poe Hall 512
Audience: Undergraduate Students
Contact: Ajaya Francis Jones
Credit: 0.5
Many of us can remember participating in an elementary school field day. We raced through various outdoor activities, participating in a combination of fun team and individual events. Imagine typical field day activities: three-legged races, egg-on-a-spoon relays, tug-of-war, sack races, or ring toss. We have mathematized these activities! Students will compete in teams of four on 5 team relays (against other teams) and 10 station activities. Each event has a physical and mathematical component.
Date: Friday, October 13, 2023
Time: 3:00 – 5:30 PM
Location: Court of Carolinas
Audience: Any student that wants to come out and have fun! This includes current students interested in teaching math, mathematics, elementary education, and teaching middle grades, as well as students interested in learning more about our programs.
Contact: Dr. Erin Krupa
Credit: 1.0
Students will get an overview of the submission process.
Date: Tuesday, October 17th, 2023
Time: 6:00 – 7:00 PM
Location: Online
Audience: Student Teachers
Contact: Kimberly Ideus
Credit: 0.5
In this workshop, we will describe strategies for involving and supporting families raising students with disabilities in and beyond the IEP process. We will discuss the importance of cultural responsiveness, work through common parent concerns, and reflect on ideas for involving all members of the family in the education process.
Date: Wednesday, October 18, 2023
Time: 6:00 – 7:30 PM
Location: Poe Hall, METRC
Audience: Preservice and Beginning Teachers
Contact: Dr. Jared Stewart-Ginsburg
Credit: 0.5
Youth Mental Health First Aid Training provides training about various mental health challenges as well as their role as teachers and strategies for dealing with these situations. Youth Mental Health First Aid training will support participants in their interactions with peers and provide strategies they may use in their future classrooms.
Option 1 PD 631 001:
Date: Friday, October 20, 2023, REGISTER BY 10/11/2023
Time: 12:00 – 4:00 PM
Location: Friday Institute, Nortel A/B
Audience: Students of the College of Education
Contact: Dr. Sarah Cannon
Credit: 1.5
Option 2 PD 631 002:
Date: Tuesday, November 28, and Thursday, November 30, 2023, REGISTER BY 11/13/2023
Time: 5:00 – 7:30 PM
Location: Online
Audience: Students of the College of Education
Contact: Dr. Sarah Cannon
Credit: 1.5
Participants will attend one or more teacher professional development workshops at the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, IN. Topics include science integration, CASE, inquiry learning, and content areas.
Date: Tuesday, October 31 – Saturday, November 4th, 20223
Time: 9:00 – 12:00 PM
Location: Indianapolis, IN
Audience: Agricultural Education and related content
Contact: Dr. Park (tdpark@ncsu.edu)
Credit: 1.0
This PGU is open to all College of Education students, but best suited for elementary education majors. Robots have been widely used in teaching elementary classes and align with state and national standards for technology integration. Research has demonstrated that new technology materials enhance student learning motivations. Future prospective teachers should understand how to integrate new technology tools in their classrooms. Indi is a great robot tool that future teachers could be inspired to use to promote students’ coding interests. This PGU is designed to develop college of education students’ computer science competence. Students will benefit from understanding block coding by playing with Indi robots.
Date: November, 1st, 2023
Time: 5:00 – 6:00 PM
Location: METRC
Audience: All College of Education Students, recommended for Elementary Education Students.
Info: Yuru Zhang
Credit: 0.5
The PACK Success PGU provides engaging professional learning for preservice elementary teachers with the goal of increasing their self-efficacy, and thereby confidence and intention, for including CS in the “regular” classroom. Students will explore online and physical resources and gain exposure to related teaching standards with hands-on activities. Participants will be asked to participate in the related research project, taking a pre- and a post-survey and potentially being interviewed during the semester.
Dates: Wednesday, September 13, 2023, and Wednesday, November 15, 2023
Time: 4:30 – 6:30 PM
Location: Poe Hall, METRC
Audience: First, Second and Third-year elementary ed majors
Contact: Dr. Rebekah Davis
Credit: 1.5
In this unconference-styled event, students will discover, research, and discuss hot topics facing NC Education.
Date: Thursday, November 16, 2023
Time: 5:30 – 7:30 PM
Location: TBD
Audience: Teaching Fellows or Pre-Service Teachers
Info: Alicia Burnette Whitley
Credit: 1.0
Youth Mental Health First Aid Training provides training about various mental health challenges as well as their role as teachers and strategies for dealing with these situations. Youth Mental Health First Aid training will support participants in their interactions with peers and provide strategies they may use in their future classrooms.
Option 1 PD 631 001:
Date: Friday, October 20, 2023, REGISTER BY 10/11/2023
Time: 12:00 – 4:00 PM
Location: Friday Institute, Nortel A/B
Audience: Students of the College of Education
Contact: Dr. Sarah Cannon
Credit: 1.5
Option 2 PD 631 002:
Date: Tuesday, November 28, and Thursday, November 30, 2023, REGISTER BY 11/13/2023
Time: 5:00 – 7:30 PM
Location: Online
Audience: Students of the College of Education
Contact: Dr. Sarah Cannon
Credit: 1.5
Youth Mental Health First Aid Training provides training about various mental health challenges as well as their role as teachers and strategies for dealing with these situations. Youth Mental Health First Aid training will support participants in their interactions with peers and provide strategies they may use in their future classrooms.
Option 1 PD 631 001:
Date: Friday, October 20, 2023, REGISTER BY 10/11/2023
Time: 12:00 – 4:00 PM
Location: Friday Institute, Nortel A/B
Audience: Students of the College of Education
Contact: Dr. Sarah Cannon
Credit: 1.5
Option 2 PD 631 002:
Date: Tuesday, November 28, and Thursday, November 30, 2023, REGISTER BY 11/13/2023
Time: 5:00 – 7:30 PM
Location: Online
Audience: Students of the College of Education
Contact: Dr. Sarah Cannon
Credit: 1.5
The NCATA Mid-Winter Conference is a day-long professional development for agriculture teachers. Topics relate to instruction, classroom management, SAE, and FFA.
Date: Saturday, January 20, and Sunday, January 21, 2024
Time: 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Location: Orange High School
Audience: Agricultural Education, CTE Education students
Contact: Dr. Travis Park
Credit: 1.5
Agricultural Education and CTE students will attend the annual conference of the NCACTE and NCATA in Greensboro, NC. Participants will complete professional development related to curriculum, leadership, and CTE/Ag content areas.
Date: July 18-21, 2024
Time: 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Location: Greensboro
Audience: Agricultural and CTE Education students
Contact: Dr.Park (tdpark@ncsu.edu)
Credit: 1.5