Professional Development for teachers
Online PD Year-Round with OER Project
Our virtual events are expert-led and always free. We’ve lined up professional development sessions with the topics you’ll be teaching throughout the year so you can find the learning you want when you need it. From teaching historical thinking skills to fresh takes on familiar content, our live webinars feed your purpose and fill your toolbox. You bring the curiosity—we’ll bring the tools, community, and inspiration. Plus, certificates of attendance are available upon request, making it easy to track your PD hours.
If you’re looking for professional learning to jump into right now, check out Teacher Resources focused on instructional strategies, our Community forums where teachers ask questions and share ideas, and Blogs with historical content and teaching tips.
Summer Professional Development
Looking for an energizing start to the school year?
Each summer, OER Project offers a fresh lineup of timely, engaging professional learning experiences designed to spark ideas and strengthen your practice.
Launching a Year of Critical Thinking
August 5, 2026, from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. ET / 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. PT
Get your classroom ready with OER Project’s historical thinking skills resources and take a deep dive into continuity and change over time with Bridgette Byrd O’Connor.
Grow Student Writers in Social Studies
August 19, 2026, from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. ET / 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. PT
Start the year with the tools you need to engage student writers, guide a rubric-based writing process, and focus on feedback to help students grow.
Fall Professional Development
Ready to dive deeper once the school year is underway?
Our fall sessions offer timely support, fresh strategies, and inspiring conversations to help you meet the moment in your classroom. Whether you’re tackling new content or fine-tuning your approach, there’s something here for you.
Zoom In, Zoom Out: Contextualization in History
September 10, 2026, from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. ET / 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. PT
Zoom in on teacher-tested moves for contextualization and zoom out to the bigger thinking you want students doing all year.
Teach Climate Solutions Through Adaptation Stories
September 22, 2026, from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. ET / 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. PT
Teach climate solutions through stories of human adaptation with Nat Geo Explorer Alizé Carrère—and help students see possibility in a changing world.
Chart a Course with Maps: Geography in Social Studies
October 21, 2026, from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. ET / 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. PT
Teaching with maps can take students places. Get classroom-ready resources to bring geography skills into your social studies lessons.
Contemporary Conflict: Historical Analysis for Hard Questions
November 4, 2026, from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. ET / 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. PT
Get a practice approach to help you navigate student questions about current and historical conflicts by strengthening their historical analysis, and move beyond quick-takes and surface-level answers.
Deeper Discussions in Social Studies
November 19, 2026, from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. ET / 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. PT
Join Dr. Abby Reisman, who is lead academic for Deeper Discussions and a former classroom teacher, to dig into a discussion toolkit you can use to deepen discourse in social studies.
Winter Professional Development
Need a midyear boost?
Our winter sessions are designed to reenergize your practice with new ideas, practical tools, and thought-provoking conversations. It’s the perfect time to reflect, reconnect, and refresh your approach for the second half of the school year.
Design Your Own Escape Room
January 27, 2027, from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. ET / 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. PT
Learn how to design your own classroom escape room—and you’ll even leave with an OER Project escape room on predicting the next threshold of increasing complexity.
Student-Driven Inquiry
February 9, 2027, from 7:00 to 8:15 p.m. ET / 4:00 to 5:15 p.m. PT
See how student-driven inquiry takes shape in an OER Project lesson—and leave with practical ideas you can bring into your own teaching.
Teaching the Cold War in Latin America
March 11, 2027, from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. ET / 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. PT
Widen students’ view of the Cold War with films, lessons, and interactive maps that reveal its reach across Latin America and its broader global impact.
Spring Professional Development
Looking to finish the year strong?
Our spring sessions are built to support the content you’re tackling right now and help you get ready to start next year at your best.
Framing Better Climate Change Discussions
April 7, 2027, from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. ET / 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. PT
Learn how to design your own classroom escape room—and you’ll even leave with an OER Project escape room on predicting the next threshold of increasing complexity.
Past Professional Development Sessions
You'll get the most out of our PD sessions by attending live, but we also put together highlight packages from each event to help you get a taste of the discussions! Find PD videos.