Crafting Questions to Increase Learning
"Great ideas! I would love to have more time to explore more of what she has to offer –she was great!"
Asking questions is an essential instructional strategy that is used when teaching any subject matter. Effectively done, questioning can promote involvement, enhance learning, motivate learners and provide both teachers and learners with feedback about progress.
Participants in this workshop will learn how to frame questions that address multiple levels of learners. An examination of several models will provide a variety of questioning techniques suitable to varied content areas.
Please bring a textbook or teaching material for developing questions.
Audience: Teachers, paraprofessionals- all grade levels
Recommendation: maximum 30 participants
Time frame: Two hours
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With the push to address each student’s needs in today’s classrooms, the management of multiple resources, programs and varied instructional practices can be overwhelming. In this workshop, participants will explore strategies that will help with the management and delivery of instruction and resources.
The following practices will be addressed:
- Maintaining a stimulating learning environment
- Using assessment data to strategically plan instruction
- Selecting and implementing appropriate instruction for whole and small groups, partners and individuals
Audience: K-4, or 5-8 or 9 -12 teachers, teaching assistants, administrators
Recommendation: maximum 30 participants
Time frame: 3 hours
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Small Group Strategies for the Paraprofessional
"I appreciated your energy and affirmations and reminders of how to challenge higher-level thinking."
"Dynamic, clear concise - used time to the fullest."
Participants will learn and practice techniques to use with individuals and small groups in mixed-ability classrooms
- Effective questioning
- Use of strategies that increase student learning
- Verbal triggers to help students build meaning
Audience: Paraprofessional - all grade levels
Recommendation: maximum 30 participants
Time frame: 2 hours
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Assessment: the Beginning, the Middle and the End
Comments from actual workshop participants:
From an art teacher: "Excellent subject. . . I was able to re-evaluate/change/improve/begin current curriculum as it relates to rubric assessments. The workshop was very good and the workshop was organized, timely, informative, and relevant."
From a family & consumer science teacher: "Andrea and Christina worked together well as a team. They took a good read of the audience and talked at our awareness level. There were good handouts and the examples were helpful."
From a P.E. teacher: "I will be able to develop clearer rubrics for better student understanding. The presenters were helpful and knowledgeable on the subject. They walked around the room assisting as needed. The handouts were informative."
From a foreign language teacher: "The workshop was very effective, well-organized, and applicable."
From an art teacher: "It was nice to have a workshop that actually pertained to me and my content area. It was fun and highly informative. 4 out of 4. I will be renovating my projects to make sure all levels are clear and concise in my rubrics."
From another art teacher: "I was completely engaged in this presentation and am looking forward to going over current assessment strategies I am currently using in my classroom. I can develop more detailed rubrics to my existing general rubrics. I will also use the exit ticket instructional strategy in a way that works with my students."
With the renewed push for using assessment data to inform instruction, teachers must incorporate varied assessment devices and rubrics in all instructional programs. Participants will review three types of assessment: pre-assessment, formative and summative assessments and will learn the distinctions between informal and formal assessment as they relate to their classrooms. Facilitators will demonstrate how to create a generic rubric with tips on how to customize it for a particular subject, performance, or assignment. Models of rubrics will be available.
Participants are encouraged to bring a task that demonstrates student learning of a specific skill or knowledge from their content area.
Audience: non-core teachers ( music, art, physical education, technology, family and consumer science, etc.)
Recommendation: 30 participants
Time frame: 2 hours
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Stories, Songs, Paintings, and Prose: Using Literature and Media to Integrate English and Social Studies
Research has shown that interdisciplinary instruction enhances motivation and increases retention. Why not capitalize on this instructional practice by engaging in rich explorations of historical periods using multiple interdisciplinary resources? The presenters will demonstrate techniques and strategies incorporating art, music, film, and a wide variety of literary genre that bring historical periods to life. Resources and strategies will be differentiated. Participants will have an opportunity to click into current technology resources that appeal to the 'net generation of learners including databases and Web 2.0 tools.
The workshop will be customized for any one of the selected historical periods listed below. Additional historical periods are available upon request.
- Ancient Civilizations
- Medieval World
- Renaissance and Exploration
- Pre-Columbian Cultures and Civilizations in the Americas
- Age of Revolutions: American Revolution or French Revolution
- Early Colonial Life
- United States Civil War
- Immigration
- World War I
- World War II and/or the Holocaust
- Communist China
- The Cold War and the Nuclear Age
- 20th Century Human Rights
- 1989
Audience: Grades 7 – 12 social studies, English, special education teachers
Recommendation: Maximum of 35 participants
Time Frame: 3 hours
Note: Access to computers and the Internet required.
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