# Model Teaching: Education for Better Educators

> Online Professional Development Courses and Continuing Education For Teachers, Educators, and Schools\. Education For Better Educators\.

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## Pages
- [About Us \& Our Mission](https://www.modelteaching.com/our-mission)
- [Online Professional Development Courses](https://www.modelteaching.com/online-professional-development)
- [Teacher Salary Advancement Courses](https://www.modelteaching.com/teacher-salary-advancement-courses)
- [Valley City State University](https://www.modelteaching.com/university-partners/valley-city-state-university)
- [University of the Pacific](https://www.modelteaching.com/university-partners/university-of-the-pacific)
- [UMass Global](https://www.modelteaching.com/university-partners/umass-global)
- [Augustana University](https://www.modelteaching.com/university-partners/augustana-university)
- [Southern New Hampshire University](https://www.modelteaching.com/university-partners/southern-new-hampshire-university)
- [Build Your Own Graduate\-Level Credit Course Bundle](https://www.modelteaching.com/professional-development/build-your-own-graduate-level-credit-course-bundle)
- [Home](https://www.modelteaching.com/)
- [Master of Education](https://www.modelteaching.com/masters)
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- [About Our Courses](https://www.modelteaching.com/pd-courses-for-schools-districts)
- [Private, Charter, \& Religious School Teacher Training](https://www.modelteaching.com/private-charter-religious-school-teacher-training)
- [Education Articles](https://www.modelteaching.com/education-articles)
- [Free Professional Development](https://www.modelteaching.com/free-professional-development)
- [Build Your Own PD Bundle](https://www.modelteaching.com/professional-development/build-your-own-pd-bundle)
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- [Northeastern Illinois University](https://www.modelteaching.com/university-partners/northeastern-illinois-university)
- [Professional Development Courses](https://www.modelteaching.com/professional-development-courses)
- [Free Teacher Resources](https://www.modelteaching.com/education-resources)

## Posts
- [The 4 Types of Learners: What Learning Styles Can and Cannot Do in Your Classroom](https://www.modelteaching.com/education-articles/teaching-strategies/4-types-of-learning-styles): If you have taught for any length of time, you have probably taken a quiz that sorted you into a learning style, or watched your students take one\. The idea is familiar and appealing\. Some students seem to learn best by seeing, others by listening, others by reading and writing, and others by doing\. This framework, often called the four types of learners or the VARK model, appears in workshops, lesson planning templates, and countless blog posts\. It offers a simple promise: identify how a student learns best and teach to that style so that you can watch your student’s achievements rise\.

The framework is worth understanding, and there is real value in knowing your students’ preferences\. But, the promise that applying learning methods or preferences in your instruction improves student outcomes is overstated and is worth delving into so that you understand the true impact of what implementing learning style preferences does in your classroom\. Decades of research now tell us that matching your instruction to a student’s preferred style does not necessarily improve academic outcomes alone\. This article explains what the four types of learners are, what research actually shows, and how you can use the idea of learning preferences in a way that supports your students without overpromising results\.
- [A Simple Review for Your Teacher Retirement: What to Consider as You Plan Your Retirement](https://www.modelteaching.com/education-articles/teacher-wellness/teacher-retirement-checklist): Retirement takes planning, in addition to all the hard work you have put in over your career to save and prepare for life after teaching\! You already know that all the paperwork, the benefits, and the life you want to build after you retire will go more smoothly when you start your planning early\. After years of retirement contributions, you can finally start envisioning life after teaching\. You can use this article to help you stay on track in the year before you leave and in the months after so that you engage in a stress\-free retirement from the beginning\.
- [Planning Checks for Understanding in Math: A Free Lesson Builder for Your Classroom](https://www.modelteaching.com/education-articles/math-instruction/planning-checks-for-understanding-in-math): Consider this scenario\. A third\-grade teacher is about to begin a math lesson on finding the missing side length of a polygon when the perimeter and the other side lengths are given\. She has taught perimeter over the last two days, and her lesson plan is ready\. What she does not yet know is whether her students can still determine the perimeter of any object when given the length of all sides, whether they can add and subtract well enough to work with those numbers, or which two or three students will need her attention first once the new content begins\. Without that information, she will find out the answers later, like in the middle of the lesson, or on the unit test, when it’s too late to help her students in the moment\. Effective checks for understanding come from strategic planning, beginning with what you want to test students on and ending with data gathered from every student about what they have learned and know from the lesson\. The Model Teaching Math CFU Lesson Builder is a free planning tool that helps create a detailed plan to check for understanding in a specific lesson, aligned to your lesson objective or standard\. 
- [Illinois Teacher Lane Change](https://www.modelteaching.com/education-articles/teacher-wellness/illinois-teacher-lane-change): If you teach in Illinois, you may have noticed that your district’s salary schedule may be different from that of a neighboring district, and options for salary increases depend on the individual school district you work in\. 
In many districts across Illinois, earning graduate\-level credits can help you increase your salary\.  For every 15 or 30 credits you accumulate beyond your bachelor’s degree or your master’s degree, your district could allow you to trigger a lane change on your salary schedule and add thousands of dollars to your paycheck every year\. Read more in this article\.
- [What Makes Professional Development Effective? Research\-Based Characteristics and the ESSA Definition](https://www.modelteaching.com/education-articles/teaching-strategies/what-makes-professional-development-effective): Every fall, school and district leaders make decisions about how to spend professional development dollars\. Some of that money comes from local budgets, and a large share comes from Title II, Part A, which arrives in two installments and must be spent on activities that meet the federal definition of professional development\. You have many options for professional development, like conferences, workshops, in\-person trainings, online trainings, coaching, and more\. The difficult part for you, though, is determining which professional development activities will be the most effective for your teachers\.

This article gives you some ideas on what effective professional development means\.  In this article, you will first learn about the research on what effective professional development looks like, summarized in seven characteristics that you can use as a checklist\. The second is the definition of professional development written into the Every Student Succeeds Act \(ESSA\), which determines whether an activity is an allowable use of federal funds\. Understanding this in more detail will help you choose professional development that improves instruction and also withstands a compliance review\.

## Education Resources \- Listings
- [The MTSS Model Infographic](https://www.modelteaching.com/education-resource-item/listing/the-mtss-model-infographic/)
- [Sensory FRIENDly Framework Guide](https://www.modelteaching.com/education-resource-item/listing/sensory-friendly-framework-guide/)
- [RAMP It Up Guide](https://www.modelteaching.com/education-resource-item/listing/ramp-it-up-guide/)
- [SLIDE Reference Guide](https://www.modelteaching.com/education-resource-item/listing/slide-reference-guide/)
- [The Six Co\-Teaching Models](https://www.modelteaching.com/education-resource-item/listing/the-six-co-teaching-models/)

## Products
- [Common Reading Behaviors Checklist Tool](https://www.modelteaching.com/shop/common-reading-behaviors-checklist-tool): This is the product description for this tool

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## FAQs
- [What are the semester term dates for university partners?](https://www.modelteaching.com/faq-items/what-are-the-semester-term-dates-for-university-partners)
- [I Completed PD Courses, Can I Convert to ISBE Hours for Illinois?](https://www.modelteaching.com/faq-items/i-completed-pd-courses-can-i-convert-to-isbe-hours-for-illinois)
- [Where Can I Find Course Codes for University\-Partnered Courses?](https://www.modelteaching.com/faq-items/where-can-i-find-course-codes-for-university-partnered-courses)
- [Can Any Courses be Applied Towards a Master's Program?](https://www.modelteaching.com/faq-items/can-any-courses-be-applied-towards-a-masters-program)
- [Paying with a Purchase Order \(PO\)\.](https://www.modelteaching.com/faq-items/paying-with-a-purchase-order-po)

## Categories
- [Teaching Strategies](https://www.modelteaching.com/category/education-articles/teaching-strategies)
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- [Classroom Management](https://www.modelteaching.com/category/education-articles/classroom-management)
- [Social Emotional Learning](https://www.modelteaching.com/category/education-articles/social-emotional-learning)
- [Testing Strategies \& Prep](https://www.modelteaching.com/category/education-articles/testing-strategies-prep)

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