Recommended for instructional librarians and staff in academic, public, and grades 6-12 school libraries.
About This Course
Learn how to increase learner engagement through industry-leading instructional practices.
Live sessions via Zoom: Tuesdays, June 3, 10 & 17, 2025 from 2:00 to 4:00 pm ET (recordings available for 6 months)
Workshop: Asynchronous, facilitator-led workshop over 3 weeks
This three-week course is designed to take you through the foundations of instruction, including how to design impactful content, engage learners, develop your presence as an instructor, and build and navigate relationships with classroom teachers and faculty. We’ll discuss how to ensure your instruction is trauma-informed and inclusive, as well as techniques to handle classroom disruptions or behavior challenges. This course will help you reimagine how you approach instruction and ensure you are equipped to enter the classroom with confidence.
The live sessions run on Tuesdays, June 3, 10 and 17, 2025 from 2:00-3:45 pm ET (recordings available) with an ongoing facilitator-led workshop over 3 weeks. Don’t miss this opportunity!
Julia E. Torres, MAEd., MA, MLIS, University of Denver
Julia E. Torres is a nationally recognized veteran language arts teacher, librarian, and teen programs administrator in Denver, Colorado. She is a teacher/activist committed to education as a practice of freedom. Her practice is grounded in the work of empowering students to use language arts to fuel transformative resistance and social progress. Julia has been awarded the 2020 NCTE Colorado Affiliate Teacher of Excellence award chosen as a 2020 Library Journal Mover and Shaker, and serves educators as a member of the Educolor Collective, Book Love Foundation, and as a Co-founder of #DisruptTexts. Through her work with The Educator Collaborative, and other organizations, Julia facilitates workshops and professional conversations about anti-bias/anti-racist education, social justice, and culturally sustaining pedagogies in language arts, as well as digital literacy and librarianship. Her work has been featured in several publications, including NCTE’s Council Chronicle, NPR, AlJazeera’s The Stream, PBS Education, KQED’s MindShift, NY Times Learning Network, The Chicago Tribune, ASCD’s Education Update, Rethinking Schools, School Library Journal, and many more. Her co-authored title Liven Up Your Library: Design Engaging and Inclusive Programs for Teens and Tweens, is just the first of many forthcoming publications for librarians and educators.
Week 1: Building Foundational Instruction Skills and Relationships Tuesday, June 3, 2025
Course & Workshop Introduction | 2:00-2:20 pm ET An introduction to the weekly assignments, an overview of what to expect from the online workshop in this course, and a chance to complete the course pre-assessment.
Session 1 | 2:20-3:20 pm ET Foundations of Library Instruction What are the roles of a teacher-librarian? What are the foundations of pedagogy and praxis, and what does it all mean for librarians? How do you simultaneously teach specific skills and critical thinking? This introductory session will explore how to engage students in critical thinking and learning. We will discuss how to grow your confidence in teaching and encouraging students to be critical consumers of information instead of passive. Leave with ideas for how to elevate your instructional content to encompass both micro- and macro-level concepts.
Break | 3:20-3:30 pm ET
Session 2 | 3:30-4:30 pm ET Building and Navigating Relationships with Faculty How can you build effective relationships with classroom teachers and faculty? What are ways to negotiate those relationships, especially when things get tricky in the classroom? This session will discuss practical ways librarians can advocate for classroom faculty to integrate the library in their course plans. We will explore how to adapt to a pre-established classroom culture that you might not have a hand in creating and how to navigate student behavior challenges alongside the instructor of record.
Week 2: Designing Effective Learning Content for All Students Tuesday, June 10, 2025
Weekly Workshop Introduction | 2:00-2:15 pm ET An introduction to the weekly assignments and a chance to ask questions about the online workshop.
Session 1 | 2:15-3:15 pm ET Trauma-Informed and Culturally Responsive Instruction What are trauma-informed and culturally responsive instructional practices? How can you implement these practices into your instruction no matter the level or frequency with which you teach? This session will take a deep dive into student-centered, trauma-informed, and culturally responsive teaching. Leave with big and small ideas to apply these skills to your instruction right away.
Break | 3:15-3:30 pm ET
Session 2 | 3:30-4:30 pm ET Creating Impactful Content for All Learners: Applying Universal Design for Learning How can you increase the value and efficacy of your lessons? How can you ensure your learning content is accessible and impactful for all learning? This session will cover the foundations of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) as a method for creating all of your content. We will also discuss lesson planning approaches such as Understand by Design (UbD) and the ADDIE model to ensure that your content is pedagogically sound and aligned with your learning outcomes.
Week 3: Growing Your Confidence and Engaging Students Tuesday, June 17, 2025
Weekly Workshop Introduction | 2:00-2:15 pm ET An introduction to the weekly assignments and a chance to ask questions about the online workshop.
Session 1 | 2:15-3:15 pm ET Developing Your Instructor Presence and Confidence How can you develop your presence and confidence when you enter a classroom? How does your perspective and positionality affect how you might approach teaching? What tactics from public speaking might help make you a more dynamic presence? This session will discuss how to develop your instructor ethos and persona and help you reflect on the type of instructor you are or want to be. Leave with tips for cultivating self awareness, compassion, and confidence in your role.
Break | 3:15-3:30 pm ET
Session 2 | 3:30-4:30 pm ET Maximizing Student Engagement in Learning What are effective ways to engage students? How can you make the most out of your time in the classroom and ensure your content is student-centered? This session will cover techniques for engaging students. We will also discuss best practices for different instructional approaches, including Socratic, lecture-based, and activity-based styles. No matter your instructional preferences, you will leave with ideas for how to increase engagement and foster a productive learning environment.
Who should take this course
Recommended for instructional librarians and staff in academic, public, and grades 6-12 school libraries.
This will be a 3-week online course and will include:
Live Sessions: Guest speaker presentations by leaders in their field. (All sessions are recorded for on demand access for six months after the course ends.)
Facilitated discussions: Audience participation in Q&A and discussion with guest speakers.
Asynchronous workshop: Project-based weekly assignments to connect what you’re learning to your professional life. Includes written feedback from an expert in the field who functions as the workshop facilitator, as well as peer conversation via discussion forums. Workshop available for all multi-week courses plus half-day courses where indicated.
Early access on-demand resources: Access to a series of past live session archives from Library Journal and School Library Journal courses to explore at your own pace.
Online Classroom: The virtual learning platform that holds all course content and is accessible for six months after the course ends.
*Note: You do not have to complete the asynchronous work during these three weeks; it will be open to you for six months. However, the feedback from facilitators will only be available from June 3-24.
Expected time commitment
If you attend or watch the recordings of all live sessions and participate in the asynchronous workshop, you'll spend approximately 2-4 hours per week on this course. You'll earn 15 hours of PD credit and a Library Journal certificate of completion.
On-demand access
All live guest speaker sessions are recorded and available on-demand for six months following the initial broadcast as a part of your purchase.
Certificate of completion
Complete the course and earn 15 professional development credit hours. We provide a certificate that is emailed to you.
Accessibility
All guest speaker sessions feature auto captioning and are made available on demand after the initial broadcast. Please email course-support@libraryjournal.com upon registration if you require any special accommodations and we will make our best efforts to facilitate them.
Discounted rates are available for a limited time only. Secure your tickets now to lock in the best price.
Rate
Early Bird
Advance
Standard
Deadline
April 15, 2025
May 20, 2025
June 17, 2025
Ticket Price
$239
$261
$284
Group Rates
We offer discounts for groups of 3 or more.
For larger groups of 15 or more, we offer the option to apply group rates across multiple courses to receive significant discounts. For more information, select “Bulk Course Credits Packages” in the form below.
Julia E. Torres is a nationally recognized veteran language arts teacher, librarian, and teen programs administrator in Denver, Colorado. She is a teacher/activist committed to education as a practice of freedom. Her practice is grounded in the work of empowering students to use language arts to fuel transformative resistance and social progress. Julia has been awarded the 2020 NCTE Colorado Affiliate Teacher of Excellence award chosen as a 2020 Library Journal Mover and Shaker, and serves educators as a member of the Educolor Collective, Book Love Foundation, and as a Co-founder of #DisruptTexts. Through her work with The Educator Collaborative, and other organizations, Julia facilitates workshops and professional conversations about anti-bias/anti-racist education, social justice, and culturally sustaining pedagogies in language arts, as well as digital literacy and librarianship. Her work has been featured in several publications, including NCTE’s Council Chronicle, NPR, AlJazeera’s The Stream, PBS Education, KQED’s MindShift, NY Times Learning Network, The Chicago Tribune, ASCD’s Education Update, Rethinking Schools, School Library Journal, and many more. Her co-authored title Liven Up Your Library: Design Engaging and Inclusive Programs for Teens and Tweens, is just the first of many forthcoming publications for librarians and educators.
