Professional Development
Positive Education Teacher Training
A series of four sessions (each three hours long) to nurture wellbeing and growth in the classroom.
You can register for individual sessions or the entire series of four sessions at a discount.
Positive Education Teacher Training provides educators with the science, theoretical frameworks and practical strategies to support all students in developing healthy wellness habits that facilitate learning.
Educators receive interactive practice and templates that empower students with skills such as self-regulation, resilience, and a growth mindset to navigate school and life successfully.
Upcoming Training Sessions
Fall 2023 Series: Sessions will be held online via Zoom on Thursday evenings (5:00 to 8:00pm)
- November 23, 2023 – Session 1: Positive Psychology and Positive Education
- November 30, 2023 – Session 2: Promoting Resilience
- December 14, 2023 – Session 3: Promoting Strengths
- January 11, 2024 – Session 4: Promoting a Growth Mindset
Spring 2024 Series: Sessions will be held in-person on Saturday mornings (9:00am to 12:00pm) at Fraser Academy, 2294 West 10th Avenue, Vancouver, BC
- April 13 – Session 1: Positive Psychology and Positive Education
- April 20 – Session 2: Promoting Resilience
- April 27 – Session 3: Promoting Strengths
- May 4 – Session 4: Promoting a Growth Mindset
Session Cost: $147.50 per session
Series Cost: $525 (for all four sessions)
Application deadline is one week prior to start date
If you have any questions, please contact ProD@fraseracademy.ca.
Session 1
Fall 2023 Series (online): November 23, 5:00 to 8:00pm
Spring 2024 Series (in-person): April 13, 9:00am to 12:00pm
Session 1: Positive Psychology and Positive Education
What helps students become optimistic and resilient? Students with dyslexia often struggle with learning, so they need support to develop the skills to learn how to struggle well. This three-hour session provides you with an overview of the field of positive psychology and the science of human flourishing. Learn a framework for Positive Education that also serves as a recipe for all students to flourish in the classroom. Leave with ready-to-apply skills for managing stress and boosting positivity for yourself and your students.
Participants will learn to:
- Explore the well-being continuum and what it means for the classroom
- Experience resilience and happiness promoting activities for personal and classroom use
- Understand how to leverage the power of emotions in the classroom
- Identify the mechanisms by which we can undo stress in real-time
- Understand the 6 pathways (PERMA-V) to flourishing and tools to support their development
Session 2
Fall 2023 Series (online): November 30, 5:00 to 8:00pm
Spring 2024 Series (in-person): April 20, 9:00am to 12:00pm
Session 2: Promoting Resilience
Resilience is one the most important life skills a person can possess, especially students with dyslexia who regularly face challenges in the learning environment. It is the capacity to work through adversity and pursue one’s goals despite obstacles. This three-hour session provides an overview of the science of resilience, identifying it as a buildable skillset and mindset. Participants will learn to spot the signs of distress and how to manage stress within themselves and help their students do the same. Simple cognitive strategies are introduced for helping individuals cope in real-time.
Participants will learn to:
- Understand what resilience is and why it matters
- Redirect stress before it becomes distress
- Practice 3 simple approaches for training resilience in real-time
- Apply basic physical movements to down-regulate the stress response
- Work with practical reframes for judging judgments which would otherwise lead to overwhelming feelings
Session 3
Fall 2023 Series (online): December 14, 5:00 to 8:00pm
Spring 2024 Series (in-person): April 27, 9:00am to 12:00pm
Session 3: Promoting Strengths
Since the days of Aristotle, people have been driven to understand what it means to live a good life. Over the past 30 years, scientists have uncovered the ingredients that support learners to flourish personally, academically, and socially. Understanding how to lead from strengths is of particular importance to students with dyslexia, who often struggle to learn using conventional methods. In this three-hour session, discover the 24 strengths of character and how to help children know, show and grow their strengths. Learn to have strengths-based conversations, embed strengths into curricula and implement activities to bring out the best in ourselves and our young people.
Participants will learn to:
- Understand the origins of a strengths-based approach
- Explore using basic strengths research in the classroom
- Understand the role strengths play in overcoming challenges
- Implement ready-to-use strengths-based activities
Session 4
Fall 2023 Series (online): January 11, 2024, 5:00 to 8:00pm
Spring 2024 Series (in-person): May 4, 9:00am to 12:00pm
Session 4: Promoting a Growth Mindset
What supports learners with dyslexia and language-based learning differences to flourish? Mindset. Researchers confirm that holding a growth mindset is a prerequisite for ongoing development. How is a growth mindset achieved? And most importantly, how do we detect and redirect when students are developing a fixed mindset about their capacity? Join us for this three-hour overview of the science of mindset: where it comes from and how to shape it. Learn practical, ready to apply strategies for helping children view failure as feedback, value effort and persist in the face of setbacks. Use these skills to help all learners drive towards success and academic tenacity.
Participants will learn to:
- Distinguish between a fixed mindset and growth mindset
- Identify how to support learners to shift from negative judgment mode and into learning mode
- Offer constructive feedback that motivates learners
- Utilize simple techniques for developing a growth mindset and maintaining student’s openness to learn
- Identify how to sustain curiosity in students as they generally lose it over time
About the Trainer
Erin Kline, M.Ed, MBA, Certified Positive Educator
Executive Director, FAx
Erin Kline is the Executive Director of Fraser Academy’s Outreach Center. As a member of the BC Ministry of Education’s Program Assessment Team, Ms. Kline contributes to the review of quality standards and practices of teacher training programs in BC. Ms. Kline holds an MBA in Executive Management, a Master of Education in Curriculum Studies, and is a certified Orton-Gillingham tutor. She is passionate about ensuring all children have an opportunity to be successful learners, and educating teachers on how to support the 1 in 5 students with language-based learning differences.
About the Trainer
Cindy Dang, MEd, RCC, Certified Positive Educator
Director of Counselling
Cindy Dang is a teacher, Registered Clinical Counsellor, and the Director of Counselling at Fraser Academy. Ms. Dang implements support systems and continuously strives to provide tools and strategies for student success. She is passionate about seeing students grow, develop, and learn how to thrive, and helping other educators to do the same.
Our trainers are certified by The Center for Positive Education to provide these sessions.