The instructor’s immediate feedback was the most meaningful and valuable to me. The rigor of this class and my vertical learning curve created a lot of self-doubt for me as a teacher. I also many times felt like I had failed my students. However, her words of wisdom and reflective questions kept me focused, motivated and rejuvenated! The professional conversations are priceless, especially when you are in the middle of a shift in instructional practices and theories. Planning the actual unit/lesson in chapter 7 was by far the most intense lesson! I took a unit and standard I had taught in the past and totally re-tooled the unit from top to bottom to differentiate for process, product and content. My own guilt around differentiation has been extremely hard to swallow. I feel like I "should-of-known" more and been doing more all along -- After all I have 17 years of teaching experience! I know I can't focus on the past, yet, I feel a huge sense of guilt for what I could and should have done for all of my learners! I have changed in many ways. This course really exceeded my expectations in terms of differentiating for unique students -- ELL, special ed., poverty, GT, culturally diverse, etc. Thanks for a truly life-changing experience! My classroom will never be the same -- thanks to you.

These 7 or 8 weeks have flown by!! Implementing and using the very best teaching practices was so insightful and useful to me immediately. I was able to take information directly from the lessons and work to implement suggested strategies immediately into my teaching practices. I was excited about gaining some new insight into creating classroom, as well as individual, expectations as well as implementing ideas to enhance the already existing classroom learning environment. My expectations for learning were most definitely met during this online course. I enjoyed the interaction between students, as well as the positive reinforcement and encouraging interaction with our instructor. If I were to make any recommendations at all to Learning Bridges, it would be to keep this instructor. She is helpful, insightful, creative, and encouraging. I would take courses that are facilitated by her any time!! Thank you! It has been a pleasure working with you while taking this course!!

This was my first time to complete a course that wasn’t face to face. I liked the fact that I could complete the course at my own pace. I learned a lot about Decoding through Clues. I learned strategies that have already helped my students. I have begun looking at my lessons from a more objective eye. I think that the most important think I learned from the class is to be more culturally aware. I didn’t think about culture when I planned or implemented my reading lessons. Now that I do think about it, my students seem more excited and eager to share things about themselves. I am extremely glad I took this course and I would even recommend it to a friend.

I know now that I am guilty of assuming a child knows the language, when in fact, it's really more of a social understanding, not academic. I was given really useful strategies such as developing basic background knowledge of a subject or concept. We have to lay the groundwork of understanding before taking any concept to a higher level of understanding. This class surpassed my expectations. I took the class because I could use credit and I work with ELLs. I found myself getting really engaged when trying new strategies with my ELLs. The smile and excitement on their faces made this class valuable - so much more valuable. Thank you!

I would say that this online class not only met, but exceeded my expectations for learning. It took what was "theory" and turned it into reality in my classroom. The working knowledge I gained from the course is benefitting all my students. This was my first online class and I was very surprised at the level of feedback from the instructor. She gave very specific and insightful feedback which was very helpful. It made the class seem much more personal.

The lesson helped me to understand how important it is to provide real-world connections so that the learning is meaningful to students. I also learned that many urban learners learn by doing. This has dramatically changed the focus of the learning activities that I design. I really did not think I would enjoy taking the class and thought that the information would again be irrelevant to what I do on a daily basis. However, I found that by planning and designing better learning activities I can become a better teacher and satisfy my personal goals as a professional as well as state and district objectives. My advice to other educators is to approach the online course with an open mind and a willingness to learn.

I feel that this course has been a blessing in disguise because it provided me with new concepts to improve my classroom planning. I came into this course not knowing exactly what to expect but it has proven to be very beneficial. Now I feel I have superior strategies to use that will work with my students. I believe they will actually enjoy and feel successful using these strategies. Thank you for an enlightening learning experience!

After teaching for many, MANY, years, I realize the importance of vocabulary to learning in any subject area. The lessons here were presented in an excellent manner and "modeled" instruction was very well done. It made it easy to participate and to follow. Thank you so much for offering this opportunity to learn. I have taken another 30 hour course on the computer, but this is by far much, much better! Thank you for your positive feedback!

I have learned a lot and have been able to use it in my classroom. I have seen some positive results and wish I would have known about this years ago when I first started teaching. I plan to use this strategy for all my classes in the future. The students really love to form pictures in their minds or on a piece of paper. What I really liked about the way this course was taught is that the way that we (the teachers) were taught, is the same way our students should be taught. I felt really engaged instead of reading information and trying to make sense of it. I would greatly recommend this course to all educators both future and current.

I truly enjoyed all of the assignments and tutorials for this class. The lessons and topics were very clear and all assignments were easy to complete. This class allowed me to learn at a pace that was comfortable and stress free for me. If I wanted to complete 6 assignments one week and 1 the next, I was able to work at my own pace. Thank you also for your immediate instructor responses/replies. Your feedback was very helpful and encouraging. I am looking forward to taking additional Learning Bridges classes in the near future.

I feel as if I have learned a great deal and have been able to reflect what I have learned in my writing, testing and lesson plans. I know that this class has made me a better teacher, and for that I am thankful! I really enjoyed the flexibility that this course offered. I have only positive comments for this class! I thank you so very much for this class and your instructor feedback.

I enjoyed this course, and I learned so much about motivating my students! I have changed the climate in my classroom, and I let my students set goals and make decisions about how they were going to solve problems and complete tasks. I make sure all my assignments are clear, and I make my expectations known. I have noticed an increase in motivation since taking this class. I appreciate all the feedback that you have given me. Thank you for your guidance. This was my first online course, and I feel good about what I have learned. I feel even better with the benefits I am seeing in my classroom with the motivation of my students!

I must confess - everything I've read has been of interest and value. This on-line course far exceeded my expectations! It has afforded me the opportunity to acquire new knowledge, review prior knowledge, and most importantly to rejuvenate my own personal motivation in an effort to motivate those teachers and students who are under my leadership. Definitely pleased with the framework, purpose, structure and organization. The on-line course layout is very easy to understand and manipulate. I am pleased with all aspects of Learning Bridges and especially like the positive feedback offered by the instructor. My success is evident by my ability to apply learned knowledge into the planning and implementation of lessons. The only recommendation I would have is to implement this on-line course as a part of new teacher induction/licensure process.

This class far exceeded my ideas about what I was going to be learning. I feel better equipped to help my students make connections, store information in long-term memory, find their own learning styles and become smarter learners. As with every worthwhile class or workshop I take, I always wish I had known the information sooner so I could have been a better teacher for the students I have had in the past. I enjoyed the class.

Last year as a new teacher in the district, I taught science to sixth graders for the very first time. The second Foss science unit, Levers and Pulleys, was a "bear" for me to teach and for the students to learn. The unit was very technical with many new scientific concepts and vocabulary terms. This school year, I experienced 180 degrees turnaround with respect to teaching the Levers and Pulleys unit. The main reason for this improvement was due to my recent completion of the Learning Bridges course, Vocabulary Strategies. This online training equipped me with new perspectives in teaching vocabulary, the building block for all subject areas. I now use the brain-based research methods in all of the subject areas that I teach. The techniques help make my job easier, but most importantly, the students comprehend and retain material at higher levels.

I have been very impressed with the format of the class, the convenience of taking the course online, the instructor, and the relevance of the information covered in the course. I graduated with my Masters in 2002 so I thought that this would be more of a brush-up course on how to keep kids in line. I was surprised to find that I was learning new things with every lesson. Every time I read a lesson and reflected on it in writing, I was prompted to try one of the strategies in my classroom immediately. This Learning Bridges course directly taught me how I am to deal with students of poverty, meaning those students lacking resources (money being not the only resource). It emphasized the importance of teaching these students explicitly how to find solutions and follow through with them. I appreciate very much taking this course and would highly recommend it to anyone.