Metropolitan RESA

🌿🔬 Bring Science & STEM Outdoors! 🌎✨

Ready to transform your outdoor spaces into dynamic learning laboratories?

Join Metro RESA Science for our 3-D Science and STEM Outdoors Workshop Series—a hands-on professional learning experience designed to help educators bring Science and STEM to life through meaningful outdoor investigations, authentic problem-solving, and student-centered learning.

Participants will:
✅ Explore engaging K–12 outdoor science lessons
✅ Connect 3-D Science and STEM through real-world phenomena
✅ Learn effective Project-Based Learning (PBL) strategies
✅ Engage in citizen science and ecoengineering challenges
✅ Design outdoor units, lessons, projects, and assessments ready for implementation
✅ Receive practical resources, templates, rubrics, and frameworks

📅 Workshop 1: October 2, 2026
Exploring the Intersection of 3-D Science, STEM, and Outdoor Settings

📅 Workshop 2: November 2, 2026
Effective PBL for 3-D Outdoor Science & STEM

📅 Workshop 3: December 1, 2026
Adapting or Creating Curriculum for 3-D Outdoor Science & STEM

⏰ Time: 8:30 AM – 3:30 PM
📍 Location: Metro RESA Offices
1870 Teasley Drive, Smyrna, GA 30080

💰 Special Multi-Workshop Pricing
• First Workshop: $99
• Additional Workshops: $50 each (Save $49 per session)

After registering for your first workshop, email [email protected] to receive your discount code for additional sessions.

🌱 Learn. Explore. Investigate. Inspire.

🚨 GaTAPP Application Windows Are Closing Soon! 🚨

Have you been thinking about making a difference in the lives of students? Now is the time to take the next step toward a rewarding career in education!

📚 Comprehensive GaTAPP
Perfect for individuals who hold a current 4-year degree and are ready to transition into teaching.

📅 Application Window: October 1, 2025 – June 20, 2026
🔗 Apply Here: https://metroresa.smapply.io/prog/GaTAPP2026

🍎 GaTAPP Elementary Education One-Year Add-On
Designed for currently certified educators seeking to add Elementary Education certification.

📅 Application Window: March 1, 2026 – July 15, 2026
🔗 Apply Here: https://metroresa.smapply.io/prog/OYPFall2026

⚠️ Space is becoming limited, and seats are filling quickly! Don't wait until the last minute to submit your application.

✨ Why Choose GaTAPP?
✔ Alternative pathway to teacher certification
✔ Earn while you learn
✔ Receive mentoring and coaching support
✔ Make an immediate impact in Georgia classrooms
✔ Join a network of passionate educators changing lives every day

📖 Learn more about the Georgia Teacher Academy for Preparation and Pedagogy (GaTAPP):
🌐 https://www.mresa.org/gatapp

Your future in education starts today. Become the teacher who inspires the next generation!

Literacy Teacher of the Year - Apply Today!
Calling all K–3 Georgia public school teachers 📚✨

The Georgia Council on Literacy is now accepting applications for Literacy Teacher of the Year—with winners selected from each of the 16 RESAs and one statewide honoree recognized this fall!

✔ Showcase your students’ literacy growth
✔ Highlight how you use data to drive instruction
✔ Share your commitment to improving literacy outcomes

Why apply?
💰 $1,500 award + $500 for classroom supplies
🏆 Statewide recognition
✈️ State winner receives travel to a literacy-focused conference

🗓 Deadline: June 15, 2026

Ready to apply? Click here! https://fs3.formsite.com/GOSAGHP/jicueouvhq/index Review your screener data and submit your application today! For questions, contact your RESA/CSI coach or [email protected].

🚀 Ready to elevate your coaching impact?

Join the Coaching Connections Academy 2026-2027 (CCA27) and invest in your growth as an instructional coach! Connect with fellow coaches, sharpen your coaching skills, and gain practical tools you can immediately apply to support teachers, leaders, and students.

📚 Designed for K-12 Building & District-Level Instructional Coaches and Coordinators

📅 August 28, 2026 – January 19, 2027
⏰ 8:30 AM – 3:30 PM (all sessions)
💲 $299

From building relationships and analyzing data to mastering coaching moves and developing leadership skills, CCA27 provides a comprehensive coaching experience that empowers you to make a lasting difference.

🔗 Register today through the Metro RESA Course Catalog (Keyword Search: Coaching).

❤️ This is what the GaTAPP family is all about! ❤️

Today was one of those moments that reminds us why we do this work.

After completing his coursework yesterday, Year 2 GaTAPP candidate Daryl Reynolds wanted to do something special for his fellow educators who returned today for elementary math training. Daryl generously prepared and served lunch for the entire class—ribs, hotdogs, beans, and honey buns!

What began as a teacher preparation program has grown into something much more. Our candidates support, encourage, and celebrate one another as they navigate the journey to becoming outstanding educators. The relationships formed through GaTAPP often become lifelong friendships and professional connections.

Thank you, Daryl, for your generosity and for exemplifying the heart of an educator. We are proud to have you as part of the GaTAPP family!

Interested in becoming a teacher through GaTAPP? Learn more at www.mresa.org/gatapp.

📚✨ Ready to take your ELA instruction deeper in 2026-2027?

The 2026–2027 ELA Diving Deeper Series is designed for educators who want practical, research-based strategies that strengthen reading, writing, vocabulary, and comprehension across grade levels and content areas.

Whether you're supporting emerging readers in K–2, building academic language in upper elementary, or strengthening argument writing and analysis in secondary classrooms, this series has something for you!

🔥 Dive into topics including:
✅ Decodables, phonics, fluency, and structural analysis
✅ Intentional vocabulary instruction for all learners
✅ Reading and writing as reciprocal processes
✅ Writing to Learn across literacy, science, and social studies
✅ Argument, analysis, and evidence-based writing across disciplines
✅ Strategies to support comprehension, academic language, and student thinking

🎯 Walk away with:
• Classroom-ready instructional strategies
• Tools to strengthen literacy across content areas
• Approaches that build independent readers and writers
• Practical resources you can implement immediately

Join educators from across the region as we explore what it takes to move students from decoding to deep understanding—and from learning to communicating with confidence.

⏰ Application Window Closes Soon for Metro RESA iLEAD! ⏰

Your leadership journey starts now.

Do you aspire to inspire, motivate, influence, lead change, and foster innovation in education? Metro RESA's iLEAD Leadership Certification Programs provide a premier, job-embedded pathway for educators seeking Tier I or Tier II Leadership Certification through a certification-only (non-degree) model.

Designed for working educational leaders, iLEAD equips participants with the knowledge, skills, confidence, and practical experience needed to lead schools and systems effectively.

🔹 Tier I Leadership Certification
For educators serving in school-level leadership roles below the principal level or system-level positions that do not supervise principals.
🔹 Tier II Leadership Certification
For advanced leaders, including principals, superintendents, and district leaders who supervise principals.

Why Choose iLEAD?
✅ Job-embedded learning aligned to your current role
✅ Personalized support from experienced leadership mentors
✅ GaPSC-approved certification pathway
✅ Practical leadership experiences that make an immediate impact

How to Get Started:
1️⃣ Talk with your supervisor about leadership placement opportunities.
2️⃣ Gather your resume, transcripts, and MyPSC certificate.
3️⃣ Visit www.mresa.org and search for "iLEAD" under Courses & Events.
4️⃣ Complete your application and submit the $75 application fee.

📅 Don't wait—registration is closing soon!

Take the next step toward becoming the leader your school, district, and community need.

📞 Questions? Contact Dr. Rhonda Baldwin, iLEAD Program Coordinator
📧 [email protected]
📞 770-432-2404 ext. 267
🌐 www.mresa.org

🚀 Registration is Now Open for Metro RESA's Updated STEM & STEAM Endorsement Program!

Metro RESA is excited to announce that registration is now open for our newly updated STE(A)M Endorsement Program! The program has been redesigned to fully integrate STEAM concepts throughout the STEM coursework, giving participants the flexibility to earn either a STEM Endorsement or a STEAM Endorsement upon completion.

🌟 Already Hold a STEM Endorsement?
Registration is also open for the newly approved STEAM Micro-credential! Designed for educators who currently hold a STEM Endorsement, this opportunity includes STEAM-focused learning sessions and a portfolio demonstrating arts integration in STEAM instruction. The micro-credential can be added for 2 additional PLUs and a $150 fee.

Whether you're looking to strengthen STEM instruction or expand into STEAM through purposeful arts integration, Metro RESA's updated pathways provide the tools and experiences to lead innovative learning in your classroom and school.

🔗 Learn more and register today:
https://www.mresa.org/endorsements/stem-endorsement

✨ This month’s edition of The Connection is here! ✨

Inside, you’ll find exciting updates, upcoming opportunities, highlights from across the region, and resources designed to support and inspire. Don’t miss what’s happening this month!

📖 Read the newsletter: https://app.smore.com/n/zn1pc-the-connection

The Connection The Connection

Spotlight on the Metro with Metro RESA's Growing Readers Team. Mrs. Hyacinth Byfield, First Grade Teacher, Flat Shoals Elementary, Rockdale County Public Schools.

Mrs. Hyacinth Byfield is making a tremendous impact on young readers through her participation in the Growing Readers Project and her commitment to high-impact literacy instruction. Using Benchmark Intervention Lessons, Amira data, and her class profile sheet, a tool used to analyze student data and determine the root cause of reading difficulties, she carefully identifies students’ literacy needs and develops targeted 5–10 minute lessons to address skill gaps and support reading growth.

Mrs. Byfield’s superpower is her ability to turn data into action while creating opportunities for every child to succeed. The knowledge and practices she gained through the Growing Readers Project, combined with her dedication and passion for literacy instruction, are truly transforming outcomes for students each day. She is, without a doubt, growing readers!

You can find more spotlights and news in this month's Metro RESA Connection at https://app.smore.com/n/zn1pc