MERIT Professional Learning

Center for Multilingual-learner Education, Research, and Innovative Teaching (MERIT)

MERIT offers a variety of professional learning opportunities for educators throughout the academic school year and Summer. Our professional learning facilitators work with district partners across Georgia, across the country, and internationally to meet our shared goals of supporting the teaching and learning of multilingual learners.

The Instructional Conversation (IC) Pedagogy is a research-based model for collaborative, conversation-based, culturally responsive, small-group instruction that is ideal for teachers concerned with how to meet the needs of students spanning a range of cultural and linguistic varieties. The IC Pedagogy focuses on developing students’ cognitive and language skills by increasing the rate and intensity of their interactions with peers and teachers. The MERIT Team’s model for implementing the IC Pedagogy, the Arch System for Collaborative, Conversation-Based Instruction , provides students with the tools and structures necessary to actively and productively collaborate and engage with the content. Learn more about IC Foundational Institutes .

We also offer a variety of additional professional learning opportunities focused on the practical application of current research regarding cognitive, linguistic, and cultural supports that positively impact the language and concept development of multilingual learners in the classroom. Learn more about our one-day workshops .

Please refer to the upcoming events section for a list of our current offerings and links to more information as well as registration.

Upcoming Events

One-Day Workshops

MERIT offers intensive one-day workshops. These include, but are not limited to:

Accelerating Newcomer Academic Language Development

This interactive, 8-hour professional learning day offers educators the opportunity to explore and practice research-based principles and techniques for collaborative, conversation-based instruction to:

Better meet the needs of newcomers
Integrate newcomers productively into content classrooms
Actively develop newcomers’ academic language skills

Integrating Language Goals into Content Instruction One-Day Workshop

This practical, hands-on session introduces educators to the language “functions” embedded in disciplinary content standards. The interactive session moves beyond vocabulary lists and offers educators the opportunity to identify what key language uses (e.g. inform, narrate, explain, argue) are embedded in the content standards and what associated language functions and features the standards ask students to master to demonstrate their conceptual understanding of content.

Cost

Regularly scheduled one-day workshops are $250 per participant. For districts that wish to schedule their own workshop, prices vary depending on location and are subject to a minimum number of participants.

Registration

You may find out more about and register for a particular upcoming workshop by selecting from the upcoming dates or by visiting our online “store”.

Find and register for a course/event

Interested in Additional One-Day Topics? Let us know!

If you are interested in one of these professional learning opportunities but do not see a date or location that is convenient for you, or if your district is interested in exploring other professional learning topics, please email Jodi Weber . We’d love to learn with you!

IC Foundational Institutes

Join the Center for Multilingual-Learner Education, Research, and Innovative Teaching (MERIT) for 30 hours of professional learning over four days, on the Instructional Conversation (IC) Pedagogy and its application in classrooms. This hands-on, applied professional learning opportunity helps educators reflect on how to create contextually relevant, rigorous lessons that develop literacy across the curriculum through facilitated, collaborative, conversation-based instruction that supports the language development and content learning of all students spanning a range of cultural and linguistic varieties.

This institute will introduce teachers to:

The linguistics of second language learning
Strategies for integrating language goals into content teaching
Tools for encouraging collaborative conversations
Ways to make content and language standards real and relevant for all learners while maintaining complexity
MERIT’s online IC platform

The Instructional Conversation (IC) System provides a structure for teachers to integrate focused language goals with rigorous content instruction as a way to contextualize teaching and learning to positively impact student language development and open spaces for formative assessment and differentiation. Teachers who use this pedagogy say they are able to cover more material in greater depth. Research has shown that MLs in classrooms using the IC Pedagogy show statistically significant academic gains on state assessments.

Any educator who is directly or indirectly involved in the teaching and learning of students is welcome, and we highly encourage personnel who oversee teachers implementing this model to attend!

Cost

$850 per participant

Registration

You may find out more about and register for a particular upcoming institute by selecting from the upcoming events or by visiting our online “store”.

Find and register for a course/event

District Follow-Up Support (Post-Institute)

Because research shows that the success of professional learning often hinges on sustained, job-embedded support, MERIT provides a wide range of follow-up professional learning services for those educators who have participated in one of our IC Foundational Institutes.

We often collaborate with districts to customize a plan for sustainability that may include:

Learning labs
Online webinars
In-school staff development
Day-long workshops
Year-long leadership team development

Requests for follow-up professional learning services may exceed our capacity, but we regularly form relationships with new schools and districts and are eager to talk with you about that possibility!

For more information about receiving follow-up professional learning services from the MERIT team in your school or district, please email Jodi Weber .

Video Resources

Testimonials

What an amazing experience I had at the [IC] Institute in Athens! It was, without a doubt, the most impactful PL I have ever attended. As someone who facilitates professional learning on a regular basis, I was simply amazed by the way you created such a cohesive learning community in such a short amount of time. Just wow!
Beth McMichael, Instructional Coach, Barrow County Schools

In my experience with [the IC Team], this Summer and throughout the year, I have never been more supported in any moment of my professional career, the graduate school included … From the week this Summer to the webinars, learning labs, observations, and videos with feedback, and renewals. You guys don’t just introduce us to your powerful pedagogy and send us out into the world to use it or not. You are there for us every step of the way, celebrating our successes and cheering us on through the challenges. Thank you for that!
Shelly Salom, ESOL Teacher, Jackson County School System

I just had the privilege of attending the Integrating Collaborative, Conversation-based Instruction into your Classroom Summer [Institute]. It was by far the best professional and personal development instruction I have participated in. To put that in perspective, I’ve participated in many professional development opportunities as a teacher for 10 years, from conferences to our school’s weekly professional learning. It’s like your team has thought, “What doesn’t work for people who are learning new content, skills, and processes?” and then you removed those things from your training.
Andrea Antepenko, Teacher, Franklin County School District

Thank you, thank you, thank you–for making me a better teacher…and a better student! I love what you are doing! You are helping to change the world.
Rita Cevasco, Speech-Language Pathologist, Mason, Ohio

Our Partners

Partner Map

We have grown this professional learning initiative and have had more than 3,200 educators in 57 districts across Georgia complete the IC Foundational Institute since 2014.