Professional Development

The MEF funds nationally acclaimed speakers as Professional Development for the teaching staff of the Morris School District. All of these programs are presented outside of the school day. These speakers present the latest and greatest concepts, materials and techniques for teachers to use while delivering curriculum to students.

Programs by the following educators and speakers were made possible by the Morris Educational Foundation in recent years:

2010
Will Richardson is the author of the highly ranked and read edublog Weblogged and the author of the book, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. He is an advocate for school reform which encourages the integration of technology in learning.

2009
Frank Serafini is an Associate Professor of Literacy Education and Children's Literature at the Arizona State University. His workshops and research focus on reading instruction and the role of children's literature in the reading curriculum. He has published six professional development books for elementary educators with Scholastic and Heinemann Publishers.

2008
Thomas Armstrong, Ph.D. is an award winning author and speaker with over thirty-five years of teaching experience from the primary through the doctoral level. His books on issues related to learning and human development have sold over one million copies.

2007
Jim Grant, an internationally renowned educator, author and keynote speaker, is regarded by fellow educators as one of America’s most passionate advocates for children. A teaching principal for almost twenty years, he founded Staff Development for Educators, SDE,Inc., with the goal of creating classrooms where all students can succeed.