ENGAGING. MOTIVATING. PRACTICAL.

Professional Development For Educators, By Educators.

James Simons and Maureen Chapman at a chalkboard with cor creative partners written in cursive

Maureen Chapman and James Simons are the co-founders of Cor Creative Partners, a small, MA-based professional learning company committed to a culture in which everyone loves school. We are longtime, local educators and we draw on our deep expertise in student engagement and leadership development to create customized PD that’s authentic, engaging, inspiring, relatable, and ready to implement. To date we have delivered over 100 workshops, 800 instructional coaching rounds, and 250 leadership coaching rounds since the start of 2024. We also recently published our Solution Tree book,  Leaders of the Class: Units for Teaching Motivation, Perseverance, Communication, and Collaboration in the Secondary Classroom.

We love school, and we want every leader, teacher, and student to love school, too.

Cor Creative Partners is DESE-certified to support Safe and Healthy Schools and Sustainable School Improvement. We are DESE-certified to provide Professional Development in College and Career Readiness, Comprehensive Health, Curriculum/Instruction, History/Social Science, and Leadership/Administration. Learn more on our grant support page.

We would love to partner with you to deliver highly interactive programs designed to build community, honor educators’ expertise, and empower learning from each other. Whether it’s keynotes, coaching, consulting, workshops, or Professional Learning Communities, we help bring educational teams together to achieve their goals with well received programs, tailored to specific priorities, initiatives, and challenges.

Keynotes
Workshops
Team Facilitation
Leadership Coaching
Instructional Coaching

In our Solution Tree book, Leaders of the Class: Units for Teaching Motivation, Perseverance, Communication, and Collaboration in the Secondary Classroom, we draw upon decades of classroom experience and key research to help teachers introduce leadership development into academics. We unpack the definition of leadership, examine interactive pedagogy structures that allow all students to take on leadership roles, and explore self-reflection and self-assessment tools students can employ to set and see progress on concrete leadership goals. Each unit includes personal stories and insights, research, and a suite of practical tools that teachers can use in their daily practice. Leaders of the Class is inspired by and informed by our experiences collaborating with amazing educators.

We partner with districts to implement programs for educators on how to integrate SEL and academics based on our book. Popular programs include:

  • Igniting Motivation
  • Teaching Perseverance
  • Teaching Effective, Appropriate Communication
  • Building Academic Discourse
  • Fostering a Culture of Collaboration

We partner with district and school leaders to design custom Investigating History professional learning experiences and implementation roadmaps that are matched to their contexts and goals and set up Investigating History for long-term success. Please click here for more information.

Feedback from prior participants:
“I appreciated the reflective way of looking at my lesson. The list of questions on that one handout will help me greatly as I deliver my lessons.“
“I was able to take away new ways on how to implement the content when teaching. New pointers I can use to help bring engagement directly to the students.“

 

We are DESE certified in the category of College and Career Readiness, as well as Curriculum and Instruction and Leadership Development. We have partnered with many districts to facilitate MyCAP teams to adopt MEFA Pathways.
Please click here for more information.

Feedback from prior participants:
“Now I understand the DESE requirements regarding MyCAP in addition to learning about MEFA Pathways.”
“Great supportive leaders in Maureen and James.”
“Enjoyed having time to collaborate with peers.”

Engage in collaborative group work with the goal of preparing to support students to do the same. Participants adopt group roles, co-construct a group contract, share about their experiences facilitating student collaboration, and then work together to strategize and make plans for successful student collaboration in their classrooms. In addition to our book, we have published articles in Edutopia, MiddleWeb, Inside Higher Ed as well as presented at conferences such as ASCD, Learning Forward, NELMS, and NYAR.

Feedback from prior participants:
“You’re both very personable and your energy is great!! Your love and passion for this topic is encouraging.“
“This presentation was fantastic. The pacing was just right, Jim and Maureen were both excellent presenters. They are both so positive and welcoming. They created a safe environment that really modeled collaboration in a way that helped us all see how to connect it to our roles and feel like we can actually incorporate it more.”

Help students develop the leadership skills needed to motivate themselves and others, persevere in the face of academic challenge, communicate, and collaborate. Amplify student voice through self-directed learning, build academic discourse, teach effective, appropriate communication skills, teach collaboration skills and build interactive classroom routines.

Feedback from prior participants:
“I believe it hit the mark for teachers who have a desire to improve their prowess in the classroom.“
“Cor always brings a professional, yet unique perspective on education by provided relevant insight and tools that can be directly correlated to use in my classroom.”
“This was an incredible PD – I loved all the opportunities to collaborate and practice the new routines/strategies presented today”.

keynotes

As educator-storytellers, we have a passion for delivering compelling presentations anchored in research, personal insights, and expertise in the classroom and school leadership. We bring a positive, personal touch to every keynote, and we’ll work closely with you to craft a message that helps set the tone, reinforce the theme, entertain, and engage and inspire attendees. Please click here to learn more and view our sizzle reels.

coaching

Engage in collaborative group work with the goal of preparing to support students to do the same. Participants adopt group roles, co-construct a group contract, share about their experiences facilitating student collaboration, and then work together to strategize and make plans for successful student collaboration in their classrooms. In addition to our book, we have published articles in Edutopia, MiddleWeb, Inside Higher Ed as well as presented at conferences such as ASCD, Learning Forward, NELMS, and NYAR.

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I loved how applicable it was but it also touched my soul at the same time.

Hillary Allan

Urbana School District 116

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