Consultants & Workshop Descriptions
ABE Round Table
Tommie Valle – tvalle@esc6.net
Attention will be made to ABE instruction and best practices with a focus on program question and answer.
ACES Data Inputting
Gloria Cofield/Bettye Martin
gcofield@esc6.net, bmartin@esc6.net
The Adult and Community Education System (ACES) is an adult education student tracking and reporting system. The system’s primary function is to track and report the status of students participating in Texas adult education programs. ACES data entry (including: adding, upgrading, and deleting participant data and contact hours) will be demonstrated during this session. In addition, session participants will receive hands-on practice.
Advanced ESL Strategies
Michelle Martinez - mimtz@sbcglobal.net
Have your Advanced ESL students hit a plateau? It can often be difficult for these students to make the transition to a higher-level class, whether it be an ABE/GED classroom or a college-level course. This session will provide tips and techniques for empowering your advanced students with the confidence and ability to move on to the next learning level.
Away from Worksheets-Into an Active GED Classroom
Jeanne Pruitt – jpruitt@sbcglobal.net
Instructional strategies that lend themselves to active and participatory learning. Lesson plans and activities will be furnished to each participant and will cover all five areas of the GED.
BEST
Becky Collet – collet@txcyber.com
This training will provide supervisors, instructors, and teacher aides with the basics to general administration, grading, and scoring of the Basic English Skills Test. This is a great introductory training.
Coaching History
Bill Shuttlesworth – bshuttlesworth@esc6.net
This workshop takes solid teaching in the social studies classroom and carries through the analogy to coaching football. We will look at –Feeder Programs (vertical alignment), -Scouting Reports – (data analysis), -Plays (classroom strategies), -Drives (unit lesson plans), -Halftime adjustments (remediation) and many more. Although the title suggests the intended audience is for coaches that teach social studies, it is designed to help all social studies educators.
Computer Assisted Class Reports
Lupe Schneider – lschneider@esc6.net
Instruction will be provided on various methods of maintaining and documenting contact hours with Microsoft Excel. Participants will be given pre-formatted spreadsheets on a 3 ½ inch floppy that will contain formulas to facilitate ACES data entry.
Content Area Reading
Traci Seils – tseils@esc6.net
Active strategies to help students process content area/expository text successfully will be demonstrated with an emphasis on students being able to take responsibility for their own learning once strategies have been taught. Students will learn how to think about what they read and understand text structure better using these strategies. In addition, these strategies have been selected so that a minimum of teacher preparation and class time is taken from the teaching of content.
Credential Project
Mary Geiger – mgeiger@esc6.net
This session will provide an update on the proposed credentialing model for all Adult Educators. Participants will learn the status of the move to give educators the option of accumulating “points” toward a credential through professional development activities. Various models of staff development and issues related to the project will be examined. This session is for participants interested in a volunteer pilot project.
Each One, Teach One
Linda Masters – pfister@totalzone.com
Each One, Teach One – a phrase that began the largest adult literacy movement the world has ever known. In one session, learn how to teach adults to read and discover a hero inside you.
Early Childhood (0-3 Years)
Dora Owens – dankowe2@aol.com
Active Learning – More than Babysitting. Infants and toddlers learn through play. Discover the five ingredients that will help you create a supportive active learning environment in your classroom.
Early Childhood (3-5 Years)
Karen Taylor – kltaylor67@prodigy.net
In this session, the participants will discover the wide array of learning that takes place during developmentally appropriate “play”. Participants will also be given strategies to use in the classroom that utilize low cost, no cost, or found materials to better meet preschool children’s needs even on a tight budget.
EL Civics
Lupe Schneider – lschneider@esc6.net
Various activities designed to help students identify aspects of their communities will be analyzed along with ideas for the EL Civics instructor. Examples will be given from existing EL Civics program at Region VI.
ESL Orientation
Tommie Valle – tvalle@esc6.net
Topics covered will be: Registration, Baseline Assessment, Student Retention, Placement, and Goal-Setting.
ESL Round Table
Tresa Pokorski - 936-760-1354
Information will be discussed regarding ESL strategies, best practices, and a question and answer session.
ESL Strategies
Tresa Pokorski - 936-760-1354
This training will provide the participant with strategies and activities for the ESL Multi-level classroom. The participant will gain a clear understanding as to implementing these strategies and activities in the classroom.
Forming Effective Partners/Collaboration
Susan Pritchard – susanp@brenhamisd.net
Many problems face our country: hunger, homelessness, teenage June 3, 2008r person can manage our problems alone. Programs and organizations must work together to achieve results. We are more likely to achieve positive results together than alone. Come learn how effective collaboration techniques can boost your programs’ progress.
GED Instruction
for the Adult Learner Who Learns Differently
by Amelia Gilley and Resa Wingfield
Research in the field of learning disabilities supports instruction that is direct, intensive, and systematic, as well as an instructional approach that is sensitive to the ways that learners process information (Bridges to Practice Guidebook 4, pg. 6). This training module will provide a hands-on approach for providing multi-sensory instruction to adults in GED programs. Topics will include: characteristics of appropriate instruction for adults who learn differently, collaborative and direct instruction across all GED content areas, and a couple of teaching strategies for participants to immediately begin using in the classroom.
Improving GED Essay Scores by Knowing How TEA Scores
Cheryl Masters – cheryl.masters@wsdtx.org
In this session, participants will learn how their students’ essays are graded and what TEA scorers are looking for. Participants will practice grading essays and comparing their scores to those of TEA. Tips will be given on how to obtain a better grade on the essay portion of the GED. Handouts will be provided.
Integrating Technology into the Classroom
Dr. Steve Cuvelier/ Cathie Bishop
icc_sjc@shsu.edu / cbishop@esc6.net
This session will be a workshop on enriching learning with PowerPoint, infused with an open discussion of computer-related issues. All participants are invited to share their trials, triumphs, needs and desires in bringing computer technology into their classrooms.
Intelligence and the Adult Learner
Sheri Meeker – smeeker@conroe.isd.tenet.edu
Participants will learn about Howard Gardner’s Nine Intelligences. Practical application to the classroom and strategies for understanding the adult learner will be stressed.
Keys to Motivation
Janet Hofer – jfeac@aol.com
The Nature of Motivation; What Motivates Others? Us?; How Effective are Fear and Punishment?; 14 Factors Affecting Motivation in the Workplace; Individual and Organizational Influence.
Learning & The Three LD’s
Dr. Gale Miller – galemillerphd@aol.com
This training will outline and provide teachers strategies by which they can actively engage students in the learning process. These strategies will be presented in the context of accommodating for students’ learning differences, learning difficulties, and learning disabilities.
Learning to Read…Reading to Learn
Sharon Armstrong – s_l_Armstrong@yahoo.com
This session will focus on ways to move students from the concept of only learning how to read, to the concept of reading to effect learning. Research results will be presented to the participants to illustrate the significance and methods of teaching terminology first. Manipulatives to assist in teaching reading will be given to the audience.
Learning to Relax
Janet Hofer – jfeac@aol.com
Body Awareness, Breathing, Progressive Relaxation, Guided Imagery.
Maslow Updated… Motivating the Adult Learner
Sheri Meeker – smeeker@conroe.isd.tenet.edu
Participants will take a fresh and critical look at Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Strategies for motivating adult learners will be developed.
Mastering Collaborative Teaching Strategies
Bill Shuttlesworth – bshuttlesworth@esc6.net
Participants will learn, practice, and refine several strategies for incorporating collaborative activities into the classroom designed to increase student retention and ownership over their own learning. Strategies include: Reciprocal Teaching, Think-Pair Share, Team Word Webbing, Co-op, Three-Step Interview, Jigsaw, and more.
Math for the GED
Steve Meeker – smeeker@conroe.isd.tenet.edu
Participants will learn practical steps to help their students successfully pass the mathematics portion of the GED examination. Demonstrations will cover basic operations as well as algebra and geometry. Reproducible handouts will be provided.
Mock Result Based Monitoring
Mark Kroschel – mkroschel@esc6.net
This session will include an overview of Results Based Monitoring and its indicators. Participants will discuss staff information forms, student documentation, classroom observation criteria, parent perceptions of public schools and the Results Based Monitoring checklist. Disaggregating data and communication between the adult education teaching staff will be emphasized.
Mystery of Modifying: Creative Solutions
Dorothy Yawn – dyawn@esc6.net
The document entitled, The Mystery of Modifying: Creative Solutions is a resource document developed for use by instructional leaders and teachers. The document provides specific information about types of learners and effective teaching strategies appropriate for all grade levels and subject areas. The session will focus on how to use individual learning styles to determine appropriate instruction with an emphasis on study skills, test modifications and setting up the physical classroom.
PowerPath ® LD Screening
Sherry Nash – 2snash@tvcc.edu
PowerPath ® is an easy-to-use and highly effective program for screening and – more importantly – empowering adult learners with learning difficulties. Not only does it give the adult learner critical information about what may be causing learning difficulties, it provides extensive, research-tested strategies that the student and teacher can use to increase successful learning experiences. This session provides an overview of the program and information about how it is being implemented in the Adult Education Program at Trinity Valley Community College in Athens, Texas.
Project Based Learning in the ESL Classroom
Michelle Martinez – mimtz@sbcglobal.net
DON’T DICTATE, COLLABORATE! Create a student-centered classroom through the use of project-based learning. This is an instructional method that incorporates real life situations to motivate learning. We will discuss how you can involve students in designing projects that will not only sharpen English proficiency, but also strengthen their communication, interpersonal, and problem solving skills.
Process Writing: A Practical Approach (Secondary)
Traci Seils – tseils@esc6.net
The Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test, the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), as well as the research on effective practices, emphasizes writing as a process. In Process Writing: A Practical Approach, strategies, mini lessons, organization, and management for process writing will be addressed.
Retain by Engaging the Brain
Cheryl Masters – cheryl.masters@wsdtx.org
Have you ever wondered why some students cannot seem to retain knowledge? This session will focus on brain-friendly strategies and activities for better retention in the classroom. Participants will learn methods of retention through activities that are pleasing to the brain. Handouts will be provided for participants.
Security Training for the Education Professional in a Correctional
Setting
Sharon Armstrong – s_l_Armstrong@yahoo.com
Safety and security issues that affect the correctional education classroom will be presented, and participants will learn methods to reduce the risks of working with incarcerated adults.
Social Studies, Science, & Writing
Steve Meeker – smeeker@conroe.isd.tenet.edu
Participants will learn practical steps to help their students successfully pass the writing, social studies, and science portions of the GED examination. Reproducible handouts will be provided.
Soft Skills for Workplace Success
Sharon Armstrong – s_l_Armstrong@yahoo.com
The presenter will focus on “soft skills” required of workers to be successful employees, and methods of teaching these skills. Communication skills, establishing positive relationships on the job, becoming a responsible employee, and other skills needed by workers, will be discussed as ways to meet the demands of employers.
Speed Math/Thinking Outside the Box
Mary Kruppa – 936-295-7460
Warm-up your students with brain-stretchers and then watch their confidence, accuracy, and computation scores soar with speed math exercises.
State-Mandated Pre-Inservice for New Employees
Kristi Currie – kcurrie@esc6.net
This workshop will provide 6 hours of State-Mandated Pre-Inservice for New Employees training as mandated by the State. All areas of programmatic implementation will be addressed with a large focus on classroom management.
Strategies for Reading Improvement
Dr. Ginger Metz – gmetz@wt.net
Various approaches to adult literacy learners will be demonstrated. Included will be: motivation, ideas for assessing student needs, and strategies that will provide for reading improvement.
Strategies for Struggling Readers
Becky Wilson – bwilson@esc6.net
This session will provide concrete strategies for working with struggling readers. Topics will include strategies for word study, vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency.
Student Retention
Karen Raley – kraley@huntsville-isd.org
This session will concentrate on exploring the issues that keep students from staying in adult education programs. Participants will receive strategies, tips, and specific guidance on how to deal with retention issues.
TABE
Steve Meeker – smeeker@conroe.isd.tenet.edu
This training will provide supervisors, instructors, and teacher aides with the basics to general administration, grading and scoring of the Tests of Adult Basic Education. This is a great introductory training.
Teaching Higher Order Thinking Skills
Sharon Armstrong – s_l_Armstrong@yahoo.com
A paradigm shift in learning has created a need for educators to move their teaching from the fact and knowledge levels to the higher levels of analysis and synthesis. This session will focus on the reasoning for this change and techniques for teaching critical thinking skills. Participants will receive information to effect changes in lesson planning, classroom management, and teaching higher order thinking skills.
Time Management
Janet Hofer – jfeac@aol.com
Setting goals, establishing priorities, creating a master plan, tickler files & to-do lists, time blocking, creating effective habits.
True Colors
Dorothy Yawn, Lorraine Coleman, Michelle Martinez
dyawn@esc6.net, lcoleman@esc6.net, mimtz@sbcglobal.net
Tutoring Adults with Learning Disabilities
by Amelia Gilley
The National Institute for Literacy reports estimates of learning disabilities in the general population range from 3-13 percent. Among adults with low literacy levels, the estimates are much higher – between 30 and 80 percent. This training module specifically focuses on working with adults who have low literacy skills and may or may not be diagnosed with a learning disability. Topics include: a general overview of learning disabilities, using a learning disabilities screening tool, creating an appropriate learning environment, preparing for instruction, and adapting curriculum to meet the learner’s needs.
Uses of ACES Data
Tammy Gilbert – tgilbert@esc6.net
This workshop will assist administrators and teachers in the desegregation of data in ACES for program or class adjustment or monitoring. ACES access, roles, tables, reports and other data from ACES will be examined.
Using the CASIO FX260 Calculator
Dr. John Huber – jhuber@shsu.edu
Instruction will be provided to teachers in order to help familiarize their students with the functions of the Casio FX-260 Calculator used on the GED test. This session will cover the basic operations, as well as advanced calculations such as percents, square roots, and exponents.