Take Part in our Instructional Strategies workshops

DESCRIPTION OF INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES WORKSHOPS

AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT

This informative and interactive workshop introduces the participants to a variety of alternative assessment tools including observation checklists, rubrics, graphic organizers, logs, and journals. Participants in one and two day formats will have an opportunity to create assessment tools for their own class situations.

a woman giving a presentation in a meeting

BLOCK SCHEDULING

This informative and interactive workshop guides the participants in exploring the major block scheduling options, considering their advantages and disadvantages. In addition, the participants will experience a blending of four major instructional strategies crucial to the success of instruction in block scheduling.

BRAIN COMPATIBLE TEACHING

This workshop rehearses the latest research on the brain and applies this research to the teaching and training situation. Caine and Caine's twelve brain principles are a highlight of this workshop. This workshop includes the four phases of brain compatible teaching and gives participants opportunities to plan lessons or sessions using these four phases.

BRAIN RESEARCH

This interactive workshop explores the latest research on the brain in a way that is understandable for all. The workshop highlights brain structure and brain function. It also delves into the research on memory systems. The workshop emphasizes material that is particularly relevant to the teacher or trainer.

COOPERATIVE LEARNING

This highly interactive workshop provides a solid research foundation for the benefits of cooperative learning. The workshop demonstrates many cooperative learning strategies in pairing, small team, and whole group formats. The workshop concludes giving participants opportunities to plan cooperative learning sessions.

CURRICULUM MAPPING

This workshop builds on the foundation in curriculum mapping laid out by Heidi Hayes Jacobs' book Mapping the Big Picture. After exploring the research behind this concept, the participants create a template for curriculum mapping based on their own particular needs and requirements. Then the participants have an opportunity to map some of their own courses, thereby experiencing firsthand the power of mapping.

DIFFERENTIATED ASSESSMENT

Once differentiated learning is implemented in the classroom, it becomes necessary to expand the repertoire of assessment strategies. This workshop highlights the use of performance tasks, rubrics, observation checklists, logs and journals, portfolios, and graphic organizers as some of the ways to carry out differentiated assessment.

DIFFERENTIATED LEARNING

This workshop is built for those experiencing classes with students who have differing abilities. Built on Carole Ann Tomlinson's work on Differentiated Learning, the workshop explores how to alter the presentation of curriculum content, the instructional processes, and the student products that demonstrate learning. The participants have an opportunity to refashion some recent or upcoming lessons in an attempt to include more students.

GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS

This active and dynamic workshop introduces the participants to a variety of organizers. The participants will also explore the many ways that graphic organizers can be utilized throughout instruction in the classroom. Particular attention will be given to Venn diagrams, mind maps, matrices, fishbones, and bridging snapshots.

HIGHER ORDER THINKING SKILLS

This participatory, active workshop explores the crucial role of questioning and graphic organizers in eliciting higher order thinking skills from students. It organizes fifteen crucial thinking skills into the five categories of: Relevance, Richness, Relatedness, Rigor, and Recursiveness. It provides an opportunity for teachers to create lessons emphasizing one of the thinking skills by using suggested questions and graphic organizers.

INTEGRATING THE CURRICULUM

This workshop builds on the foundation laid by Robin Fogarty in her book How to Integrate the Curricula. The workshop highlights several ways to go about this integration from very simple approaches to ones that take more time and effort. The participants have an opportunity to take one of the approaches and build appropriate integrated lessons.

MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES

This interactive, hands-on workshop introduces the participants to Howard Gardner's work on the eight intelligence's. The participants will learn some of the fundamentals of the theory and then will experience ways to translate these intelligence's into teaching the curriculum in their classrooms.

PERFORMANCE TASKS

This cutting edge, practical workshop enables teachers to incorporate a variety of standards into challenging performance tasks which help the students gather crucial information and knowledge, and then apply all of it to concrete, real-world tasks.

PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT

This practical hands-on workshop introduces the participants to the full ten-step process of creating and using portfolios in the classroom. In one and two-day formats the participants will experience collecting materials in a portfolio, selecting materials for a conference, and reflecting on the selected materials.