Instructional Support Services

The Herkimer-Fulton-Hamilton-Otsego BOCES Instructional Support Services Newsletter is your go-to hub for all things teaching! Packed with handpicked resources, tools, and fresh ideas, it's here to help you level up your teaching game and make learning more engaging and fun for your students. Here at ISS, we're all about creating a space where teachers can connect, swap ideas, and learn from each other. Whether you need support, resources, or just want to pitch a professional development idea, or share a great teaching moment, we're here for you. So don't be shy—reach out, and let's make teaching a collaborative endeavor! Here's a link to our website.

The ASCD is focusing on Joy this December! Please enjoy these resources about moving towards joy and nurturing it in your students. Click the green button below to read their article on nurturing student joy!

Click the list of offerings above to sign up on MyLearningPlan. We can't wait to see you!

The Albert Shanker grant was established to defray the costs of National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) certification to eligible New York State public school teachers. NYSED makes funding available through the Albert Shanker grant to support eligible New York State public school teachers in the following order:

• Candidates seeking their first National Board Certification.
• Candidates seeking to retake one component.
• Candidates seeking to maintain their certification.

The application deadline is February 7, 2025. Funding is limited and allocated on a first-come, first-served basis to eligible candidates in the priority order of funding. Resources are available on NYSED's Albert Shanker Grant webpage and in the candidate FAQ. Questions may be directed to shankergrant@nysed.gov.

Empower your teaching journey with insightful resources and strategies. Here are some shareable/discussable resources the ISS team has looked over, and we think they might be worthy of your limited time! Click on the items that you think will help you and skip the ones that won't.

Looking to encourage problem solving and logic skills in your classroom? These brain teasers are much more than math skills and foster a creative way to get students thinking in class! Click the green button above for the article!

A teacher shares her strategies for creating a culture and routines that foster students' sense of involvement in the classroom. Click the green button above for the article!

This article provides four different theater games that can be used in any classroom to help reinforce material taught to students. A fun way to incorporate games into the classroom! Click the green button above to read the article!

For this December Teacher Feature, Brittany Allen is in the spotlight! Brittany is a Kindergarten teacher at Poland Elementary School, working diligently to implement curriculum changes in reading and phonics. Throughout this process, Brittany has gone above and beyond to problem solve challenges that come up, giving herself grace to try new approaches. As a result of this determination, her students have shown drastic improvement in their literacy skills compared to the beginning of the school year. Her dedication to her students' success does not go unnoticed!

Brittany, thank you for all you do and congratulations!

Enjoy a gift from the ISS team!

Follow @tchr2tchr on Instagram for more teaching ideas!

Got Ideas? We've Got Resources! Let’s work together to make this school year great!

Our Instructional Coaching team is here to support you! Don’t hesitate to reach out to one of our coaches in the field or contact our secretary, Amanda Chapple, at Instructional Support Services at (315) 867-2077. We can help with:

• Co-planning lessons and units
• Providing classroom resources and materials
• Modeling instructional strategies
• Supporting curriculum design and alignment
• Offering professional development workshops
• Facilitating collaborative team meetings