Orion High School - Professional Learning for Busy Educators

Provider Information

As an accredited private school, Orion High School is an approved provider for continuing profession education for Texas teachers, and for our own mentors. For Orion High School, since we are a digital school, our professional development is through our learning management system as well as live on-site professional learning in Austin TX. At the culmination of professional learning sessions, educators will be provided with a certificate indicating that they have successfully completed the sessions. The certificate is then used for submitting documentation for continuing certification (State Board for Educator Certification).

Facilitator Information

Dr. Joseph Gallegos will be your session facilitator. Dr. Gallegos has provided professional learning for educators for over 20 years. His sessions of note are in understanding the Standards, and in implementing research based instructional strategies which leverage learning, understanding, and high achievement for students. The latest development for Dr. Gallegos has been in the area of creating formative tasks that will enable teachers to be able to dig deeper into student's understanding and thinking, as they (the students) construct an assigned task. Tasks are open-ended, and through a rubric analysis, allow the teacher to be better informed about student learning.

Additional Facilitators will be listed along with session information.

The Structure of the Sessions

Orion High School's Professional Learning Sessions are focused primarily on the the standards, and on digital content development aligned to the standards. Digital Content Development Sessions are held on-site at Orion High School's Satellite Office.

Since Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) are the Texas approved standards our focus in those TEKS sessions is on ensuring collaborative learning about the standards. Other standards that are the focus of some additional sessions are the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts and Reading and Mathematics. Additional standards that are the focus of other sessions include the syllabi for I-GCSE, AS, and A-Level courses that will be implemented by Orion High School in the near future.

Online Sessions are either 1 month long or 2 months long. If a session is one month long, a participant will receive 12 hours of CPE (we document these in hours simply because that is the requirement for Texas educators). If a session is 2 months long, a participant will receive 24 hours of CPE.

1 Month Sessions' Focus:

Studying the content standards (two weeks)
Creating aligned lessons (one week)
Sharing lesson results (one week)
Assigned asynchronous discussion and to-dos each week (there are three discussion topics per week, and one to do - project)
Each week will begin and end with a live webinar, hosted by the facilitator of the session. There will be a culminating webinar, where participants will receive their certificates.
Participants will expect to spend 12 hours in both discussion and in live sessions. All details are posted in the session calendar, as the session begins.

2 Month Sessions' Focus:

Studying the content standards (two weeks)
Creating and implementing aligned lessons (one week)
Creating and implementing formative assessment tasks (two week)
Sharing lesson results (one week)
Sharing assessment results (one week)
Research and Design of aligned instruction (one week)
Assigned asynchronous discussion and to-dos each week (there are three discussion topics per week, and one to do - project)
Each week will begin and end with a live webinar, hosted by the facilitator of the session. There will be a culminating webinar, where participants will receive their certificates.
Participants will expect to spend 12 hours in both discussion and in live sessions. All details are posted in the session calendar, as the session begins.
During the two month session, participants may one Skype Coaching Session from the facilitator.

Sessions that Focus on the Standards

Studying the TEKS and Aligning Curriculum - Endorsement Areas Alignment
Studying the TEKS and Aligning Curriculum - Mathematics
Studying the TEKS and Aligning Curriculum - Science
Studying the TEKS and Aligning Curriculum - English Language Arts/Reading
Studying the TEKS and Aligning Curriculum - Social Studies
Studying the Common Core State Standards and Aligning Curriculum - Mathematics
Studying the Common Core State Standards and Aligning Curriculum - English Language Arts/Reading
Studying the Next Generation Science Standards and Aligning Curriculum
Studying the Core Course IGCSE, AS, and A-Level Syllabi and Aligning Online Learner Tasks (Biology, Physics, Maths, Social Sciences, English)

Saturdays In Austin Sessions

Spend Saturdays in Austin with us for professional learning. Our Saturday sessions are held at Orion High School's Satellite Office, located at 3401 South Lamar, Number 3131 (The 704). Saturdays in Austin Sessions are from 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM, with a 45 minute lunch break. The Saturdays in Austin Sessions focus primarily on:

Development of Digital Courses
Development of Digital Assessments

Adobe Articulate is the software used, so educators must bring their laptop loaded with Articulate as well as access to Rise. The sessions are divided into Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced Developers' sessions.

Additional Topics for Professional Learning

Orion High School offers American English for participants who would like to learn English as a Second Language. In those sessions, participants will:

Engage in learning to speak, read, write, and otherwise communicate in American English.
There are five levels of American English.
Each level is two months long.
Participants will utilize Orion High School's Rosetta Stone Learning Center for the content learing.
Participants will participate in asynchronous discussion.
Participants will participate in bi-weekly webinars to interact with each other.

Registration Fees

One month, 12 hour sessions are $400.00.
Two month, 24 hour sessions are $500.00
ESL/American English Levels - Each Level is $400.00

Participant Responsibilities

All participants are expected to be able to navigate around the online session room. An orientation module is available for all participants to study during day one of the session. All participants must have their own computer or laptop, and will be required to download Orion's App for Weekly Webinars (provided during orientation). All participants will be required to attend one orientation session the week prior to the beginning of their session. Those webinar dates will be published in the Orion High School Social Area. All participants are required to attend weekly opening, and weekly closing webinars. All participants are required to contribute to professional learning via asynchronous discussion and projects.