The Foundational Skills (for short-call subs): Learn the most impactful strategies to successfully engage students while also helping the adults save their energy. Based on the ongoing applied research in over 50,000 classrooms and school settings, The Catalyst Approach is committed to finding relevant and practical solutions to the most common school challenges. This course introduces the roots of The Catalyst Approach and the 12 Foundational Skills to help every adult working with students know where to focus their efforts. Hopefully you’ll finish the course with a renewed sense of hope, joy, and confidence in your work.

The Foundational Skills (for student teachers): Learn the most impactful strategies to successfully engage students while also helping the adults save their energy. Based on the ongoing applied research in over 50,000 classrooms and school settings, The Catalyst Approach is committed to finding relevant and practical solutions to the most common school challenges. This course introduces the roots of The Catalyst Approach and the 12 Foundational Skills to help every adult working with students know where to focus their efforts. Hopefully you’ll finish the course with a renewed sense of hope, joy, and confidence in your work.

Quick Start to Coaching Adult Learners (for those mentoring teachers): Gain insights about the important role of mentoring adult learners. Whether you’re working with a student teacher, a new colleague, or a school leader who supports ongoing professional development for teachers, the strategies in this brief learning experience will sharpen your mentoring skills. Even if you have previous experience in this kind of role, you’ll get to reflect and refine your skills to gain confidence and make your work even more effective!

Are you receiving a stipend from your district to write curriculum this summer? Is your content area up for curriculum review? Come and do it with us! All content-area and grade-level educators are welcome to join us for two mornings of curriculum support. Specific attention will be spent on the inclusion of Anishinaabe and Dakota books, leaders, and resources. Join us individually or as a team.

This course is designed to equip new paraprofessionals with essential skills and knowledge for effective work in educational settings. Participants will explore foundational topics, including an Introduction to Special Education, which covers 13 disability categories, and the impact of implicit bias in the classroom. The course also emphasizes the importance of leading in the classroom and understanding the paraprofessional role. Additionally, learners will gain insights into how the brain responds to stress and the concept that behavior is communication. This comprehensive approach ensures that paraprofessionals are well-prepared to support diverse learners effectively.

Participants will explore foundational topics, including an Introduction to Child Development, which covers physical and cognitive development as well as developmental delays. You will also watch an interview with Shana Larson, Early Childhood Special Education Coordinator and Heidi Hahn, Sourcewell Special Education Partner. The course also emphasizes that behavior is a form of communication and what to expect. Additionally, learners will gain insights into de-escalation, dysregulation, and how to support students. This comprehensive approach ensures that paraprofessionals are well-prepared to support diverse learners effectively.

This practical course provides the background knowledge needed to teach all the components of beginning writing instruction. The instructional practices are developmentally appropriate for children in grades pre-K-3. They are designed to easily transfer to classroom lessons and can be integrated with any writing curriculum or published writing program. The course is tightly aligned with state literacy standards.

The course covers these topics:

• Writing Basics


• Engage a Community of Writers


• Writing Process


• Structure for the Three Types of Writing


• First Steps: Drawing, Labels, Lists


• Syntax, Sentences


• Paragraph Writing


• Writing from Sources

This webinar will identify elements of differentiation and explore differentiation strategies such as questioning, grouping, and choice. Use these strategies to meet both support and challenge needs of your diverse students.

Led by a mental health professional and educator, this webinar will cover key facts about children's mental health, early warning signs of mental health disorders, and signs and symptoms of childhood suicide. Discussion will include strategies for how to respond and how to access help for students.

This training focuses on why and how our body and brain respond to stress/crisis and how that affects our work, wellness, and interactions. Explore Social-Emotional Learning strategies to recognize dysregulation in yourself and others, as well as strategies to regain and retain regulation. These strategies apply to interactions with students, colleagues, and caregivers.

Multilingual learners in our classrooms are a huge asset. Not every educator may feel confident in how to best support and include these students. This webinar offers insights to support educators in creating optimal learning environments and instructional strategies for each learner.

Explore components of effective reading instruction, including phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and motivation and engagement. Within each component, participants will learn what it is, why we teach it, and how we teach it.

LSCI is a brain-based, trauma-informed, relationship-building verbal strategy that turns crisis situations into learning opportunities for young people who exhibit challenging behaviors.

Minnesota Department of Education has recommended timelines for standards implementation.  For the 2022 MN math standards, it is suggested we are in transition year 2.  If this is where you are in the journey, come join us for a deep dive into what transition year 2 could look like for you and your students.  If you are behind on the timeline, please consider joining us June 25 and 26 for both workshops.

Learn with us as we explore the 2022 Minnesota data science anchor standard with Jessica Strom to see how we can incorporate data science into your Building Thinking Classroom. Grade 6 teachers, choose which session might be the best fit for you. The BTC content will be similar in both sessions.  This session will include more examples for middle and high school classrooms.

This workshop will offer you ways for your students to be thinkers beyond rote memorization and repetitive calculations. Jessica Strom, mathematics educator in a small rural Minnesota school, will introduce you to 14 teaching practices for enhancing learning, engagement, and discourse in your math classroom. Learn how to apply these practices to engage your students in learning mathematics.

Here is your chance to experience an overview of the past three years in the MDE suggested implementation timeline for our 2022 Minnesota math standards.  Join us for a deeper dive into changes from the 2007 standards and what this looks like in your schools. We will choose one or two anchor standards and break the corresponding benchmarks per grade level.

This one-day workshop builds on the Mathematics: 2022 MN Math Standards Transition Year 1 to Year 2 workshop offered on June 26, 2026.

MDE's suggested implementation timeline says next school year is a transition year.  School year 2027-28 is full implementation with MCA-IV to be taken spring of 2028.

Join this on-demand training opportunity to access a wide variety of online courses designed to provide paraprofessionals the targeted training needed to succeed as a Title I paraprofessional, including strategies that can be applied immediately.

The training includes access to over 150 courses and can be used for professional development or certification. Access to the content will be available for one year from your registration date. If you are using this training for certification, you must complete PARA Assessment 1 and PARA Assessment 2. The assessments must be proctored. Please be aware that this is an on-demand training and any preparations for the assessments are up to the individual to complete online.

Sourcewell will not be hosting proctoring sessions at this time, please see this FAQ document for more information.

Learn to support students in combining intrinsic ingredients into personalized flow-based projects by doing it yourself.  Meaning, you'll be the learner and we'll support you in creating your own one-of-a-kind project.

School leaders will come together three times throughout the year to share a meal, network with one another on topics of interest to them, and learn up to date information on key leadership topics.

Join our inaugural book club over the summer. Education professionals often don’t find time to read for themselves. This offering takes this reality into account, and we seek a community of readers looking to refresh over the summer. We have selected, Heart!, by Timothy Kanold, a conversational text that invites reflection and academic optimism.  The group will meet in June, July, and August to discuss the book and its personal and professional impact. Registration is required by May 15 to ensure timely delivery of the book.

Language is ever evolving and changing. Sometimes knowing which terms or descriptions to use can be difficult and sometimes we don’t even know we are using outdated or harmful language. This webinar is focused on promoting positive language around topics such as race, gender, and common school-based labels and language.

The Social Studies Standards Workshop is a two-day workshop series designed to equip K–8 teachers and school leaders with the knowledge and tools needed to successfully implement the new social studies standards by the 2026–27 school year. Participants will engage in a guided exploration of the revised standards, including analysis of major content shifts, vertical alignment across grade levels, and implications for curriculum planning.

Throughout the workshop, teams will connect the updated standards to the C3 Framework, deepening their understanding of high-quality instructional practices and identifying necessary instructional shifts to support student learning. Time will be provided for participants to apply their learning to their own curriculum (with a focus on inquiry and interdisciplinary skills).

Sourcewell hosted the Special Education Licensure Via Portfolio Kick-Off with PELSB staff on Oct. 7, 2025. The participants made the request to have multiple full day supports to work with Sourcewell staff and each other as they navigate the competencies in their Core Skills and Licensure Portfolios. The Special Education support team at Sourcewell has identified five full days to provide on-site support for the participants in this cohort.

This professional development training focuses on equipping K–5 educators with research-based strategies to intentionally build students’ vocabulary and academic language across content areas. Participants will explore techniques such as explicit vocabulary instruction, interactive read-alouds, and structured student discourse to incorporate throughout unit plans and daily lessons. This session will also highlight scaffolds that support multilingual learners and students with diverse language needs. Teachers will leave with practical tools and resources to foster rich language development and improve both comprehension and academic achievement.

Transformational leadership is a leadership approach characterized by the ability of district and school leaders to inspire and support their staff, fostering an environment of high expectations and continuous growth. This training will provide you access to training and tools focused on distributed leadership and change management that will support superintendents in becoming transformational leaders.

It is more important than ever that we embrace practices known to insulate young people from the impact of traumatic events. These practices support students who are experiencing adversity, allowing them to remain/become ready to learn, connect, and thrive. Participants will examine the trauma responsiveness of current practices and pedagogy, then use scenarios to apply trauma responsive practices and interventions. This training focuses on strategies and interventions that are trauma responsive, trauma protective, and also academically sound pedagogical practices. The course will provide and use the text, Trauma Responsive Educational Practices: Helping Students Cope and Learn.