MISIC: Members Impacting Students; Improving Curriculum

Grades K-2 - Putting the Science of Reading into Action
2024-10-22 08:30 - 14:30 (America/Chicago) | City Church, 2400 Oakwood Road, Ames, IA, 50010, United States
MISIC is excited to announce that we are hosting a workshop, Putting the Science of Reading into Action – Grades K-2, on Tuesday, October 22, 2024. Mark your calendars and register now!

Grades 3-5 – Putting the Science of Reading into Action
2024-10-24 08:30 - 14:30 | City Church, 2400 Oakwood Road, Ames, IA, 50010, United States
MISIC is excited to announce that we are hosting a workshop, Putting the Science of Reading into Action – Grades 3-5, on Thursday, October 24, 2024. Mark your calendars and register now!

Implementing the Math Standards
2024-11-04 08:30 - 15:00 | City Church, 2400 Oakwood Road, Ames, IA, 50010, United States
MISIC is excited to announce that we are hosting a workshop about Implementing the Math Standards on Monday, November 4, 2024. We will be joined by April Pforts from the Iowa Department of Education. Mark your calendars and register now!

MISIC Quarterly Meeting #2 - 2024-2025
2024-11-19 09:00 - 11:00 | IA
Please join us on Zoom for the second MISIC Quarterly Meeting for 2024-25.
Join MISIC on Tuesday, November 19 from 9:00am to 11:00am for our second quarterly meeting for 2024-2025.
The meeting agenda includes:

Science of Reading Resources – Lisa Pulis & Cathy Stakey
Student Behavior – Action Planning Tool – Callie Stein
ELA & Math Resources Update – Jamie Morgan
Integrating Resilience and Trauma Informed Care Approaches with Literacy – Emma Harding, Tanager Place
And more!

The meeting will be broadcast via Zoom. Register now and make plans to join us. The meeting will also be recorded and posted.
Click here to register for the meeting.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email that contains the link to join the meeting.

MISIC Quarterly Meeting #3 – 2024-2025
2025-02-21 09:30 - 11:30 | Online
Please join us on Zoom for the third MISIC Quarterly Meeting for 2024-25.

Join MISIC on Friday, February 21 from 9:30am to 11:30am for our third quarterly meeting for 2024-2025.
The meeting agenda includes:

ISASP Update – Catherine Welch & Stephen Dunbar
Legislative Update – Margaret Buckton
ELA & Math Resources Update – Jamie Morgan
And more!

The meeting will be broadcast via Zoom. Register now and make plans to join us. The meeting will also be recorded and posted.
Click here to register for the meeting.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email that contains the link to join the meeting.

MISIC Quarterly Meeting #4 – 2024-2025
2025-04-14 09:00 - 11:00 | Online
Please join us on Zoom for the final MISIC Quarterly Meeting for 2024-25.

Join MISIC on Monday, April 14th from 9:00am to 11:00am for our final quarterly meeting for 2024-2025.
The meeting agenda includes:

Alternative School Calendars – Jon Suntken, Melcher-Dallas & MaryDawn Schuck, Van Buren County
Understanding Collective Stress and Trauma – Jen Alexander, Author & Presenter
MISIC Resources Update – Sue Beers & Jamie Morgan
Legislative Update – Margaret Buckton, ISFIS/RSAI
And more!

The meeting will be broadcast via Zoom. Register now and make plans to join us. The meeting will also be recorded and posted.
Click here to register for the meeting.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email that contains the link to join the meeting.

MISIC Quarterly Meeting #1 - 2025-2026
2025-09-09 09:00 - 11:00 | IA
Please join us on Zoom for the first MISIC Quarterly Meeting for 2025-26.

Join MISIC for our first quarterly meeting for 2025-2026 to hear about all of the new tools and resources that we have available for you. We will be joined by Wendy Parker and some of her team members from Rapacious Learning to focus on Special Education and how we can help support your district.
The meeting will be broadcast via Zoom on Tuesday, September 9 from 9:00-11:00am. Register now and make plans to join us. The meeting will also be recorded and posted.
Click here to register for the meeting.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing the link to join the meeting.

Math Workshop 2025
2025-09-23 09:00 - 15:00 | City Church, 2400 Oakwood Road, Ames, IA, 50010, United States
MISIC is excited to announce that we are hosting a workshop for math educators on Tuesday, September 23, 2025. We will be joined by April Pforts & Christi Donald from the Iowa Department of Education. Mark your calendars and register now!

ISASP Workshop - Fall 2025
2025-09-25 09:00 - 15:00 | City Church, 2400 Oakwood Road, Ames, IA, 50010, United States
MISIC is excited to announce that we are hosting an ISASP workshop on Thursday, September 25, 2025. We will once again be joined by Catherine Welch, Stephen Dunbar and others from Iowa Testing Programs to help you dig into your Spring 2025 data. Register now.

Special Education Workshop
2025-11-04 09:00 - 15:00 | City Church, 2400 Oakwood Road, Ames, IA, 50010, United States
MISIC is excited to announce that we are hosting Navigating the Changing Face of Special Education in Iowa on Tuesday, November 4, 2025. This interactive workshop will be presented by Wendy Parker from Rapacious Learning. Register now.
Join us for a dynamic professional learning day designed to support school districts in responding to the significant shifts in Iowa’s special education service delivery system.
This interactive session will equip district and school leaders with the knowledge, tools, and collaborative strategies needed to reimagine and redesign special education services.
Participants will:

explore state-level changes
examine implications for local practices
engage in hands-on planning to align systems, staffing, and supports with the evolving changes you are facing.

I've LETR'D: Now What? - Putting Text at the Heart of Planning for Instruction
2025-11-05 09:00 - 15:00 | City Church, 2400 Oakwood Road, Ames, IA, 50010, United States
MISIC is excited to partner with Really Great Reading to offer this dynamic workshop for K-5 educators featuring:

Word Wizardry: Dual Coding & Semantic Reasoning in Vocabulary Instruction – Julie Sealine, Really Great Reading
Creating the Conditions for Comprehension: Practical Tools for Vocabulary, Language, and Text-Driven Instruction – Cathy Stakey, MISIC Team

Bring your curriculum materials or a piece of text you use during whole group reading instruction to use in the workshop.

Click here to register now.

MISIC Quarterly Meeting #2 - 2025-2026
2025-12-16 09:00 - 11:00 | IA
Please join us on Zoom for the second MISIC Quarterly Meeting for 2025-26.

Join MISIC on Tuesday, December 16th from 9:00am to 11:00am for our second quarterly meeting for 2025-2026.
The agenda for the meeting includes:

Special Education Resources – Jon Hueser, SE Valley CSD
Responding with Care to Challenging Behaviors – Emma Harding, Tanager Place
New Micro-Credentials, One Pagers and Other Resources – MISIC Team
And More!

The meeting will be broadcast via Zoom on Tuesday, December 16 from 9:00-11:00am. The meeting will also be recorded and posted.
Click here to register for the meeting.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing the link to join the meeting.

MISIC Quarterly Meeting #3 – 2025-2026
2026-02-11 09:00 - 11:00 | IA
Please join us on Zoom for the third MISIC Quarterly Meeting for 2025-26.

Join MISIC on Wednesday, February 11th from 9:00am to 11:00am for our third quarterly meeting for 2025-2026.
The agenda for the meeting includes:

Legislative Update – Margaret Buckton, ISFIS
ISASP Update – Catherine Welch & Stephen Dunbar, ITP
Curriculum Adoption Protocol – Lisa Pulis, MISIC Team
And More!

The meeting will be broadcast via Zoom on Wednesday, February 11th from 9:00-11:00am. The meeting will also be recorded and posted.
Click here to register for the meeting.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing the link to join the meeting.

MISIC Quarterly Meeting #4 – 2025-2026
2026-04-22 09:00 - 11:00 | IA
Please join us on Zoom for the fourth and final MISIC Quarterly Meeting for 2025-26.

Join MISIC on Wednesday, April 22nd from 9:00am to 11:00am for our fourth quarterly meeting for 2025-2026.
The agenda for the meeting includes:

Legislative Update – Margaret Buckton, ISFIS
Professional Development Resources – MISIC Team

SkillsForce Update
License Renewal Credit
Upcoming Workshops

New Resources – MISIC Team

New Micro-Credentials for Writing Strategies
Social Studies Crosswalk and Resources
And More!

The meeting will be broadcast via Zoom. The meeting will also be recorded and posted.
Click here to register for the meeting.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing the link to join the meeting.

Math for Every Learner: Balancing Rigorous Instruction with Tiered Support
2026-04-27 09:00 - 15:00 | City Church, 2400 Oakwood Road, Ames, IA, 50010, United States
MISIC is excited to partner with April Pforts, Christi Donald & Melissa Carlson from the Iowa Department of Education to offer this workshop for K-12 educators!
How do we maintain high expectations while supporting students who struggle? Join us to explore the intersection of high-quality Tier 1 instruction and effective Tier 2/3 interventions. We’ll examine what makes instruction “high-quality” in today’s classrooms and provide practical, evidence-based strategies for both whole-group instruction and targeted small group interventions.
Click here to register now.

From Standards to Sensemaking: Designing Coherent Science Learning
2026-04-28 09:00 - 15:00 | City Church, 2400 Oakwood Road, Ames, IA, 50010, United States
MISIC is excited to partner with Dr. Chris Like from the Iowa Dept of Ed. to offer this dynamic workshop for K-12 educators!
What does meaningful alignment to Iowa’s new Academic Standards for Science look like in practice? This session explores how to design coherent, phenomenon-driven instruction that supports sustained student sensemaking. Through classroom examples and practical strategies, participants will examine key instructional shifts and leave with tools to create connected learning experiences that help students actively construct and apply scientific understanding.
Click here to register now.

Supporting Struggling Adolescent Readers - Building the Skills That Make Understanding Possible
2026-04-29 09:00 - 15:00 | City Church, 2400 Oakwood Road, Ames, IA, 50010, United States
MISIC is excited to partner with Julie Sealine from the Really Great Reading to offer this impactful workshop for educators!
In adolescent classrooms, students are expected to read increasingly complex texts across content areas. Yet many students struggle with comprehension not because they lack thinking skills, but because the foundational processes that support understanding—automatic decoding, strong vocabulary knowledge, and fluent reading—are still developing.
This session explores how strengthening foundational reading skills helps adolescents move beyond decoding words to truly comprehend complex text. Participants will examine the role of decoding automaticity, vocabulary development, and fluency in building strong adolescent comprehenders and experience practical instructional routines designed for older students.
Participants will leave with ready-to-go strategies they can implement immediately to support adolescent readers on the path to deeper understanding, including the bridge to writing, complex vocabulary, summarizing, note-taking, and more!
Click here to register now.

Special Education Planning Workshop for 2026-2027
2026-06-17 09:00 - 15:00 | City Church, 2400 Oakwood Road, Ames, IA, 50010, United States
MISIC is excited to partner again with Wendy Parker and Rapacious Learning to offer this workshop that is designed for special education administrators, district and building administrators, special education teacher leaders, and building teams who want practical guidance, tools, and systems they can immediately apply. Register now and join us on June 17th.
License Renewal Credit
Course Details – Special Education Planning 2026-27
Registration Form for License Renewal Credit

Transforming Leadership Together
2026-09-15 09:00 - 15:00 | City Church, 2400 Oakwood Road, Ames, IA, 50010, United States
Get ready for a day of fresh ideas, meaningful conversations, and practical strategies that make a real impact in schools! This engaging leadership experience brings together school leaders and administrators to connect, collaborate, and spark innovative thinking around teaching and learning. Through interactive discussions, creative table talks, and shared success stories, participants will explore powerful approaches to curriculum, instruction, assessment, and instructional leadership — all in an energizing atmosphere designed to inspire action. Leave with new connections, ready-to-use ideas, and renewed excitement for leading learning in your school community!
Check back soon for more details and registration!
