Credits for Teachers
Credits for Teachers offers graduate level professional development courses for K-12 educators of all content areas. Our mission is to provide educators with a variety of relevant and impactful teaching strategies that will not only benefit their practice and therefore the learning of their students, but can also be easily implemented into any classroom. All of our courses are completely online and self-paced, so educators can easily fit them into their busy schedules and complete them on their own time. While using our courses towards recertification, salary advancement, and continuing education credits, educators can improve their practice and enhance their passion for teaching.
| Course | Description | Fall 2025 | Spring 2026 | Summer 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The BSCS 5E Instructional Model: An Inquiry-Based Method of Instruction | This course offers a specific model of inquiry instruction called the 5E model. Included in the course is a description of each of the phases of the 5E model (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate) as well as how to implement each phase in the classroom. Although originally designed for a science classroom, the 5E model can be applied to any content. By incorporating this model, educators provide more inquiry in their instruction allowing students to make their own discoveries and therefore improve their learning. | 25101 | 25301 | 25401 |
| Advanced Differentiation: Using Differentiated Learning Plans & Tiered Assignments | This course builds upon the foundation of differentiation principles developed in the "Basics of Differentiation" course. Advanced Differentiation puts a focus on differentiating for students based on interest and difficulty level. Through developing differentiated learning plans and tiered assignments, educators will be better able to meet the individual needs of their students. | 25102 | 25302 | 25402 |
| Basics of Differentiation | This course introduces the basics of differentiation and what it looks like to differentiate for all students in the classroom. This course also provides a process for how to get started differentiating in the classroom and how to start building a repertoire of differentiated lessons. With several strategies, this differentiation course shows that there are many ways to differentiate within the classroom, but the most important step is to just start. | 25103 | 25303 | 25403 |
| Building Relationships with Students | This course provides a variety of strategies on how to build relationships with students that can be applied at any point during the school year. The main goal of this course is to show educators that building stronger relationships with students not only helps the students, but also helps educators enjoy their jobs that much more. When students know educators care about them, they begin to care about the content and that is when learning takes place. Because of this, this course inevitably helps improve student learning. | 25105 | 25305 | 25405 |
| Co-Teaching: How to Maximize Your Teaching Resources | For educators who are lucky enough to have a co-teacher in the classroom, this course offers strategies to help co-teaching be done more effectively. This course provides key elements for effective co-teaching as well as multiple models of co-teaching for educators to choose from. Finally, there is a focus within the course on strategies for co-teaching with special education teachers, paraeducators, and English Language Learners (ELL) specialists. However, the strategies can be applied to almost any co-teaching situation. With the wide range of techniques offered, educators are sure to be able to work together to co-teach all students to improve learning. | 25107 | 25307 | 25407 |
| Communicating with Parents & Families | This course offers a variety of strategies to help educators communicate with and build positive relationships with parents and families of students being taught. Using these strategies makes communicating with students’ families more feasible and less overwhelming. By establishing valuable, consistent communication with students’ families, this course shows educators that they can help improve their students’ success and increase their own enjoyment of teaching at the same time. | 25108 | 25308 | 25408 |
| Creating a Safe Learning Environment | This course offers strategies on how to create a safe learning environment in the classroom. Conversely, this course also states what to avoid by showing ways in which a feeling of safety can be ruined. Based on the principle that students cannot learn if they do not feel safe, this course provides educators with a variety of methods for designing an environment that promotes positivity, safety, and comfort so student learning is more likely to take place. | 25117 | 25317 | 25417 |
| Differentiating for Gifted & Talented Learners | This course focuses on differentiating lessons specifically for gifted and talented students to help them grow in their own learning. The course also distinguishes the difference between differentiating for students who need some extra challenge and differentiating for gifted and talented students. By offering multiple strategies to help gifted and talented learners flourish, this course helps ensure that all students’ needs are being met in the classroom. | 25110 | 25310 | 25410 |
| Effective Discipline in the Classroom | This course offers an effective and positive approach to disciplining students called "Discipline with Dignity". Through "Discipline with Dignity", the focus is to teach students responsibility rather than requiring them to be obedient. The goal of this approach is to try to prevent disciplinary issues and then offer appropriate interventions when necessary. With a variety of strategies, educators will be able to discipline their students in ways that result in positive behavior changes, which will then put the focus back on learning. | 25109 | 25309 | 25409 |
| Growth Mindset in the Classroom | This course offers a synopsis of the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset, specifically as it relates to teaching. This course not only explains the importance of having a growth mindset, but it also gives strategies on how to institute a growth mindset within the classroom. With the main message being that anyone can learn anything with enough effort, hard work and practice, this course inevitably improves student learning. | 25111 | 25311 | 25411 |
| Growth Mindset in the Classroom (1 credit) | This course offers a synopsis of the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset, specifically as it relates to teaching. This course not only explains the importance of having a growth mindset, but it also gives strategies on how to institute a growth mindset within the classroom. With the main message being that anyone can learn anything with enough effort, hard work and practice, this course inevitably improves student learning. | 25125 | 25325 | 25425 |
| Improving Motivation and Behavior through Classroom Structures | This course provides strategies for structuring one’s lessons and classroom in order to increase student motivation and engagement and prevent behavioral issues in the classroom. With a wide variety of strategies that work for a multitude of teaching styles, educators can feel confident in creating high quality lessons and classroom structures to be used regularly in any lesson. As a result, students become more motivated and engaged in the classroom and student behavioral problems are reduced. | 25106 | 25306 | 25406 |
| Increasing Student Engagement | This course provides strategies to help increase student engagement in the classroom. With an emphasis on lesson planning, teacher language, and class discussions, the strategies offered in this course help educators develop engaging lessons for their students. The end goal is to get students more excited about their own learning, which in turn results in improved student learning. | 25112 | 25312 | 25412 |
| Integrating Standards Effectively | This course provides strategies to help students effectively integrate their course standards into their lessons in order to ensure their own students are learning the required standards. Through the development of a Standards Wall, students will take time to analyze their standards, make their standards known within the classroom, and help their own students towards mastery of those standards. | 25113 | 25313 | 25413 |
| Providing Interactive Learning Experiences | This course offers a variety of strategies to help educators design lessons that are more interactive for their students. By utilizing these strategies for interactive learning, educators provide multiple opportunities for their learners to become more interactive with the content and with each other. Along with offering a multitude of strategies, this course also addresses the challenges of interactive learning and ways to overcome those challenges. While participating in activities that are interactive, learners are more likely to engage with the content and improve their comprehension. | 25114 | 25314 | 25414 |
| Providing Student Choice Opportunities | This course provides ways to incorporate more opportunities for student choice in the classroom in a controlled setting in the form of choice boards. Within the course, a variety of choice boards are offered to not only increase student choice opportunities in the classroom, but also to differentiate students in the classroom. As a result, this course helps increase student motivation as it allows students to get more involved in their own learning. | 25121 | 25321 | 25421 |
| Reading Comprehension | This course provides strategies to improve student reading comprehension while reading fiction and non-fiction. Presented within the course is a three-part approach to reading comprehension, which involves an emphasis on what is done before the reading takes place, while reading takes place, and after the reading is done. Using strategies to help with all three parts of the reading process, educators can help students really understand what it is they are reading. | 25116 | 25316 | 25416 |
| Self-Care: Healthy Strategies for Sustaining Excellence | This course provides educators with strategies on how to take care of oneself in order to be their best selves for their students and to avoid teacher burnout. These strategies help educators take care of themselves within multiple aspects of their lives including healthier habits for bringing work home. By forcing teachers to make time for themselves, this course helps teachers stay invigorated about teaching and continue their love for teaching, which then has a positive effect on their own students. | 25118 | 25318 | 25418 |
| Setting High Academic Expectations | This course provides a set of strategies to help educators promote and ensure high academic expectations for their students. With these easy-to-use strategies, educators get to set high expectations for all their students without demanding more than what they can handle. Students quickly learn that they will be held accountable for their learning and for doing excellent work that meets the appropriate standards. | 25119 | 25319 | 25419 |
| Standards-Based Grading | This course provides an introduction into what standards-based grading is and how to implement it in the classroom. Even within a district or school building that does not incorporate standards-based grading, educators can still apply standards-based grading practices within their classrooms, and this course gives strategies on how to do so. By implementing standards-based grading, grades have more meaning to both educators and students. On top of which, educators and students better understand where students are at in their learning. | 25120 | 25320 | 25420 |
| Teaching English Language Learners | This course provides strategies to help educators teach English Language Learners (ELLs) in the classroom so they can understand grade level content. Learning English at the same time as learning content specific material is especially difficult, so this course helps educators meet the needs of these learners. From vocabulary specific strategies to integrating language objectives, this course offers a variety of strategies to help make sure ELLs can learn in a grade-level appropriate classroom. | 25122 | 25322 | 25422 |
| Teaching Vocabulary | This course provides students with a variety of strategies to help teach academic vocabulary. Introducing the use of a TIP (Term, Information, Picture) chart in the classroom, this course emphasizes the importance of making vocabulary constantly present in the classroom as well as being associated with not only a definition but also a picture. Many other strategies are also offered to help learners truly understand the academic vocabulary presented to them in the classroom. | 25123 | 25323 | 25423 |
| Understanding by Design: Using Backwards Planning | This course introduces the idea of backwards planning when it comes to designing a unit. Students have the chance to participate in the process of “Understanding by Design” (UbD) while creating a unit by designing it backwards with the end in mind first. This involves first analyzing the standards and end goals of a unit and then implementing lessons that meet those standards and goals. By using this backwards design process, there is a much higher chance of students achieving mastery of standards in the classroom. | 25124 | 25324 | 25424 |
| Using Brain Research to Improve Learning | This course offers many different brain research-based strategies to help educators improve student learning. The course also provides an understanding of the brain and how it works, especially while the brain is learning. The basis of the course is developing an understanding of how the workings of the brain can help educators better their teaching. The strategies offered help improve student memory as well as memory retrieval which therefore helps them learn. | 25104 | 25304 | 25404 |
| Using Love & Logic to Develop Responsibility | This course gives an introduction of the principles of “Love and Logic:” an institution developed to help parents and educators teach responsibility to children as well as help them take ownership of their own actions. By implementing the principles of “Love and Logic” in the classroom, educators can minimize arguments and other negative interactions with students and instead promote learning and growth opportunities for their students. Through the use of natural consequences, empathy, and love, educators give students the chance to solve their own problems with appropriate guidance, which in turn helps students be better learners and better people. | 25115 | 25315 | 25415 |