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Courses |
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Special Needs Learning in the International School
International schools often enroll students who need more support
than the standard curriculum can offer. Many of these schools do not
have the resources or the specialized personnel that national systems
may offer and struggle with how to best meet the needs of these learners.
It is essential that classroom teachers in the international school
have a robust repertoire of strategies to identify and address students’
needs, respond to cultural differences, as well as to parental expectations.
Learning for those with special needs can be optimized through developing
professional working relationships to diagnose needs, assess progress
and select effective instructional strategies and interventions – including
for those who need to be stretched and challenged academically. This course
is designed to help classroom teachers and specialists address the needs of
students with identified, or previously unidentified, learning needs.
Participants will:
- Learn to identify
individual student learning needs and develop strategies to optimize
learning for that student, as well as how to apply those same strategies
for other students
- Practice with tools for
working with parents of special needs students
- Develop strategies for planning
and classroom management which incorporate special needs learners
- Design and practice with
assessments for special needs students (diagnostic, formative and summative)
- Develop concrete plans for
implementation of assessment, management and instructional strategies
within the mainstream classroom
- Explore the role of
class community and emotion and perception in learning and what that
looks like in the classroom
Participants are requested to bring a laptop computer
with appropriate adapters and wireless internet capability
to this course.
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Inquiry Based Learning in the International Classroom
"Inquiry-based learning" is
an approach to designing coherent classroom units where the primary
learning target is conceptual understanding. It has a strong,
clear place in the repertoire of instructional practice for every teacher
at every age level.
Central themes of the institute will
be:
- aligning pedagogy and assessment
with a vision of teaching for understanding
- using inquiry to teach learners
specific strategies that will help them become independent learners.
This session will use an “inquiry cycle”
as a framework for unit planning. Participants will use this framework
to design a tightly connected series of constructivist learning experiences
aimed at guiding students towards conceptual understanding. The cycle
includes practical strategies for:
- tapping into current understanding
- gaining new knowledge and
perspectives
- making meaning from the knowledge
gained
- clarifying and testing new
understandings
- demonstrating understanding
- taking action based on what
was learned
Participants will explore the theory
and research supporting these stages, and will learn a broad range of
practical classroom activities that can be used at each stage. By the
end of the institute, participants will walk away with a unit designed
using the inquiry cycle
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Curriculum Writing for the International School Teacher
As teachers in
international schools, we often find ourselves in the
position of developing curriculum or facilitating curriculum
committees. Given that international schools are
typically not tied to a particular set of external curricula
standards, it is important that teachers understand the
essential elements of a quality curriculum. This
one-of-a-kind course will help teachers hone skills in this
vital area, which has now become central to the job of
teaching in international schools. Using actual units
of study, case studies, and other practical curriculum
tools, participants will develop skills in:
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analyzing the current
state of curriculum in your school
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discovering the
different types of curriculum models that are typically
found in international schools
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determining the
essential components of a curriculum that focuses on
quality student learning
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discovering how the
teaching and learning cycle relates to curriculum and
assessment
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utilizing the steps in
developing a quality curriculum
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developing assessments
that reflect student learning of the intended curriculum
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understanding factors
that lead to sustainability of the written curriculum
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determining strategies
for facilitating a curriculum development project in
your school
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Leadership Tools for Department Heads and Grade
Level Leaders
International schools
worldwide have adopted an organizational model which
often includes grade level team leaders and heads of
department. These leaders are critical to student
learning and continuous improvement, yet we often fail
to provide specific, practical training for the job to
be well done. This course, the first of its kind
in the international setting, is designed to help
Department Heads and Team Leaders understand both the
complexity and importance of their roles and provide
them with essential tools for effective leadership,
including:
- exploring practices
that provoke learning and build ownership on teams,
departments, and committees
- recognizing the
stages of change and using strategies to support
teams in the change process
- internalizing
characteristics and stages of development of
effective teams
- taking a deep look
at an appropriate job description and substantiating
the rationale for these positions
- adapting tools for
developing, implementing and monitoring curriculum
at the department or grade level
- becoming a 'leader
of learning'
- practicing specific
leadership strategies and models for focusing the
work of a department or grade level team on student
learning
- assessing one's own
leadership style
- communicating with
team members and other school educators
This course is suitable
for both practicing and aspiring grade level leaders
and/or department heads.
The Learning Brain: From Research to Classroom Practice
- There has been an explosion of research from
cognitive science and
neuroscience in the last two decades, and the
message to educators is clear: all
learning involves the brain. Research
shows that student learning can be positively
enhanced by adopting instructional practices
that are compatible with how the brain learns.
Unfortunately, research also shows the opposite
to be true - that under certain conditions, the
brain - and learning - shuts down. Thus,
it is vital for teachers to develop expertise in
understanding the brain and how we learn.
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- This highly interactive
course is for all teachers, K-12, who are
interested in the implications and applications
of brain research for international school
teaching and learning. Specifically, we
will review the research and examine practice in
the following areas:
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The Emotional Brain
How are emotions and cognition connected?
What can teachers do to foster the optimal
emotional climate for learning?
What does it mean to 'teach with emotional
intelligence'?
What are mirror neurons, and why are they
important to our work as teachers?
What is the influence of stress on learning?
The Malleable Brain
- What is neural plasticity, and why is it
important in the classroom?
- Why are traditional perceptions of
intelligence out of date and actually harmful to
children?
- How do we create an enriched environment for
the brain?
The Active Brain
- How can exercise and movement enhance
learning?
- What does human evolution tell us about what
causes brains to thrive?
The Sexual Brain
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How are girls' and boys' brains different,
and what are some implications for learning?
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How can we accommodate gender-specific
learning needs in the classroom?
The Attentive Brain
- How do we decide what to pay attention to?
- Why is this critical t our learning?
The Forgetful Brain
- How does experience become encoded in short
and long term memory?
- What is retrieval?
- What conditions and strategies enhance long
and short term memory?
This five-day course will also reflect on current
practices and specific classroom applications from
brain research. Participants in this course
should plan on bringing a laptop computer with
wireless internet capability.
Skillful Teaching for Early
Childhood Educators
Teachers of young children have one of the
most important jobs in the world of education! A
positive experience during the early years of learning
has a profound effect on a child's self-worth and future
attitude towards learning. The opposite is also
troublingly true. The misconception that young
children are easier to teach than older children and
that anyone can teach young children is eroding as
school communities come to realize the power of
high-quality early childhood teaching.
Skillful teaching of the youngest learners
requires strong teachers who are able to meet the needs of
young children by understanding their development and family
culture. Early childhood educators need to utilize a
repertoire of differentiated instructional and assessment
strategies, and work in partnership with their parents and
other educators to provide caring, engaging, challenging and
supportive programs.
This course is for individuals who work in
international schools with children ages 3-6 years old,
including classroom teachers, learning specialists, EAL
teachers, guidance counselors, curriculum coordinators
and administrators. In the context of
international schools, participants will:
- examine principles of child development and
learning that inform developmentally appropriate
practice
- examine guidelines for developing effective
partnerships with families
- understanding how to support and extend play
- explore how to scaffold language and literacy
development in young children
- share authentic challenging topics or situations
regarding various aspects of their experiences as
early childhood professionals and discuss possible
solutions within the context of standards of
excellence
Classroom Assessment Strategies
Research from a variety of countries in the last
decade has demonstrated the powerful impact of
particular classroom assessment strategies in
improving student learning. These strategies are
effective because they provide the meaningful link
between curriculum, assessment, and instruction -
they serve as instructional tools as well as
vehicles for providing specific and useful feedback
to students and teachers. In this course we will
examine and apply a variety of classroom assessment
techniques that have emerged from this research and
explore how formative and summative assessment can
be integrated to empower students to be full
participants in their own learning. In addition,
the critical role of collaborative dialogue, within
the framework of both assessment design and
instructional planning, will be studied in terms of
its impact on student learning.
Participants will:
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understand how to use classroom assessment to build
student ownership and understanding of their own
learning
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be exposed to a variety of examples of effective
classroom assessments from different grade levels and
subject areas
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develop and evaluate classroom assessments and
rubrics that exhibit characteristics of effective
design
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understand how the review of assessment tasks, and
the student learning data derived from those tasks,
can feed back into the cycle of instructional design
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be able to apply a variety of assessment strategies
to provide feedback to students and inform
instruction
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explore practical methods of grading and reporting
Technology in the International Classroom
Research from many sectors points
strongly to the positive impact of the use of technology
on student learning. International schools are
well positioned to optimize the benefits of educational
technology. This course assists participants to become
skilled at using computer technology in the classroom
both as a tool for instruction and at assisting students
to enhance their own learning. Specifically
participants will learn and practice how to:
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implement technology standards in the classroom
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plan
for student learning using technology, including
differentiation strategies
-
select the appropriate technology to improve
learning
-
assess
software and internet resources to teach concepts
-
assess
technology learning effectively
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keep
current on the use of technology in the classroom
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make
the best use of a one computer classroom, mobile
lab, and drop in/teaching lab
This course focuses on how to use technology to
improve teaching and student understanding.
Participants in this course are required to bring a
laptop computer.
Instructional Strategies that Work (Grades 3-12)
Which instructional strategies help
students learn and how can they be most effectively
implemented in the international classroom?
The best written curriculum will be ineffective
unless accompanied by instruction that engages
students, facilitates skill acquisition and leads to
deep understanding. Standards, benchmarks and
quality assessments will not contribute to improved
learning if the student is not an active participant
in the interaction.
As experienced professionals, we use
many of these instructional strategies automatically
in the classroom. This course is designed to
provide additional approaches to our repertoires.
We'll explore the notion of which strategies provide
the best prospect of preparing students for the 21st
century based on the latest findings from about how
we learn.
A continuum of approaches will be
presented from teacher directed (where the teacher
is in a prominent role for directing the learning of
students) to independent strategies (designed to
promote the development of the student as a
self-directed learner). A listing of
research-based strategies will be provided for
planning purposes and we will take full advantage of
the experience of fellow participants.
Participants will transfer their understanding to
their own teaching assignments, developing plans for
utilization in their classroom with their
curriculum. Participants will address:
- strategies for accessing prior knowledge and
preexisting understandings
- graphic organizers, note-taking and other techniques
to help students acquire new information or skills
- effective homework practices
- methods for organizing knowledge into frameworks
that will contribute to transfer
- checking for understanding techniques
- metacognitive approaches to help students take
control of their own learning
- review strategies and other summary methods
known to be best practice
The Heart of Teaching: Beyond Content
Students learn so much more in our classrooms than
content and skills. Beyond the content, what do we
want class="correction" id>learners to take
away from their time with us? A sense of wonder? A
positive
attitude toward learning? Some
actual 'learning
skills? There is compelling evidence that, in the
long term, the way teachers interact with students
may even be more influential than the actual content
they acquire. This course explores who we are as
teachers, the climate we create in the classroom,
and the dispositions and bigger learnings we hope
our students will take away from our schools.
Participants in this course will:
- explore 15 affective teacher behaviors that
shape classroom climate and promote
learner
acquisition of positive dispositions
- examine 16 habits of mind
which can be
taught and
assessed and greatly
influence content/skill
acquisition
- practice ways to 'seize the moment', when a
learning opportunity in an international classroom (
racism, etc.) arises
- practice with a range
of strategies to
help learners become
more reflective,
independent
learners
- explore how those big goals of our
school's mission
are 'taught' and
assessed in classrooms daily
Differentiation Strategies
In the non-selective
admissions environment of most international schools,
all teachers must learn to differentiate instruction to
meet the needs of diverse learners. Participants in this
course will develop a framework for effective inclusive
instruction by gaining practical experience in applying
the four major conceptual keys of differentiation:
- knowing your student
- knowing your
curriculum
- developing a
repertoire of strategies
- learning to keep it
in a social context
Specifically,
participants will apply their knowledge in:
- data-gathering in
order to develop a deep understanding of students as
learners
- metacognitive unit
planning for instructional delivery
- acquiring
research-based strategies that support
differentiation
- learning and
practicing principles of adult and student
collaboration to enhance student learning
EAL Strategies for the Mainstream Classroom
- Every
international teacher is an EAL (English as an Additional
Language) teacher just by virtue of the fact that the
majority of students have primary languages other than
English! How can schools provide equitable academic
programs, school-wide attributes and instructional
conditions to English language learners in mixed-lingual
classrooms? How can teachers build a toolbox of
instructional strategies to effectively teach learners of
English in the same classroom as English-proficient
students? How can a standards-driven and assessment
instructional model be used to increase English language
learners' language proficiency and academic achievement?
Participants in this course interactively answer this and
other provocative questions about providing a responsive
environment with specific pedagogical benefits for English
language learners which supports improved teaching and
learning for
all
students. Participants will conceptualize and
relate:
- principles of second language acquisition in an
international-school setting;
- equity
policies inclusive of other languages and cultures;
- the
provision of access to academic grade-level curriculum to
English language learners through various program models,
school-wide attributes and instructional conditions;
- a framework for monitoring students' English-language
proficiency and academic achievement;
- partnerships between mainstream and EAL teachers in
implementing standards-based units of instruction which
align content, skills, and assessments (i.e. backwards
planning);
- ways to
target as part of instructional planning specific
time-honored EAL scaffolds to support beginning second
language proficiency;
- ways to
target as part of instructional planning specific
literacy scaffolds to support first and second language
development and academic achievement;
- ways to
target as part of instructional planning specific instructional
framework scaffolds to support academic achievement;
- the
design of equitable criteria for providing effective
feedback and grading; and
- ways to continue professional development beyond
the completion of the course.
Enhancing Classroom Writing
Grades K-8
This
course will provide an overview of the entire process and
show how teachers can meet the needs of students of varied
English ability at different grade levels. In
addition, the course will allow teachers to experience a
variety of writing strategies firsthand as they learn more
about writing objectives, write short pieces in different
genres, provide feedback for peer writing, and examine ways
to assess writing across grade levels. This course is
appropriate for all elementary and middle school teachers
who use writing in their curriculum. Teachers who take
the course will:
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learn new ways to motivate students to write
- gear
writing instruction to specific purposes and audiences
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explore new conferencing strategies
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gain strategies to elicit better peer response to
writing
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rethink editing approaches
- share ideas about writing in specific genres
- acquire tools for effective writing assessment,
including new approaches to 6+1 traits
- acquire strategies for modifying writing
instruction in a multilingual classroom environment
Teaching Reading in the
International School
While international schools are unique in many ways, all schools
share the need to provide excellent reading instruction. In this
course, participants will explore and practice the effective
strategies resulting from a wide range of research, including:
- The five components of reading instruction: phonemic
awareness, phonics, vocabulary development, fluency, and
comprehension
- The links between reading, spelling and writing
- The role of early intervention and brain plasticity
- What curriculum should be taught at each grade level
- Warning signs, symptoms, and causes of reading
difficulties
- Methods of instruction for poor readers
- Best delivery modes for various types of readers
- How we can best measure success in acquiring literacy
skills
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