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INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES FOR MIDDLE & HIGH SCHOOL EDUCATORS
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This course begins with an introduction to the still-developing adolescent brain and provides methodologies for educators to accommodate the specific needs of adolescent students. These struggling learners require non-academic as well as academic support. Because learning is a social, affective, and emotional experience (as well as a cognitive one) participants learn to teach students to interact effectively, to work in teams, to set and work toward goals, and to advocate for themselves. The course emphasizes strategies to help students shift to the meta-cognitive self-assessment tasks that involve setting their own goals, developing their own plans, and assessing their own progress. The course provides instruction in the implementation of block-length classes. Participants will learn how to create and analyze basic charts to measure data relevant to student behavior, attendance, and enthusiasm. Additionally, participants will learn to how modify their classroom strategies to build positive student behaviors. Guidance in the development of differentiated instruction enables participants to create diverse formative and summative assessments. Finally, the course offers a sophisticated presentation of the relationship between instruction and assessment—one that facilitates differentiated, fair, and purposeful assessment.
Strategies for Addressing Academic Diversity in the Middle Grades		Carol Ann Tomlinson
Changing Instruction for the Block Length Class		Rick Wormeli
Differentiated Assessment and Grading		Rick Wormeli
Support Interventions for Struggling Adolescent Learners		Donald Deshler
Learning Strategy Instruction for Struggling Adolescent Learners		Donald Deshler
The Adolescent Brain		Marilee Sprenger
The Ten Root Causes of Educational Frustration		Lee Jenkins
Data in the Classroom: Part I		Lee Jenkins
Data in the Classroom: Part II		Lee Jenkins
Session 17: Leading Kids to Self-Assess		Donna Walker Tileston

INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES, PART I
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Instructional Strategies, Part I introduces what makes a teacher great as well as the extent to which a school is only as great as its teachers. The curriculum then focuses on specific students’ needs, including those impacted by poverty, by students’ multiple intelligences, and those generated by basic brain processes relevant to memory and learning. The course offers strategies for differentiating instruction and delineating and addressing students’ needs, while encouraging teachers to develop their own voice and style. Scholarly research supports the creation of learning environments designed to be safe, accommodating to all students (including those with emotional difficulties), and supportive of student-centered discipline and cooperative learning. The course will provide a range of assessment tools and rubrics to facilitate teacher planning. Finally, Doug Fiore’s “Dealing with Difficult Parents” provides strategies for teachers to actively involve parents in their child’s education.
Strategies for Differentiation		Carol Ann Tomlinson
Teaching and Learning Through Multiple Intelligences		Bruce Campbell
Building a Classroom Community that Supports a Differentiated Environment		Debbie Silver
Managing the Differentiated Classrooms		Debbie Silver
Finding Your Strengths as a Teacher		Debbie Silver
What Great Teachers Do Differently: Part 1		Todd Whitaker
Using Rubrics to Evaluate and Improve Student Performance Part I		Jay McTighe
Dealing with Difficult Parents		Doug Fiore
Differentiation Through Learning Styles and Memory		Marilee Sprenger
Session 5: Generational Poverty		Donna Walker Tileston

INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES, PART II
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Instructional Strategies, Part II continues the pursuit of what makes a teacher great. Participants will explore the implications of recent brain research and multiple intelligences in the classroom. Presenters will provide insight into memory pathways and the improvement of meta-cognitive skills so that students develop productive learning practices. Participants will enhance their ability to teach procedural knowledge (e.g., process skills of comparing and contrasting, classifying, inductive and deductive thinking, and generalizing) and accommodate the particular needs of students from poverty in this context. The course emphasizes the importance of developing decision-making and problem-solving skills. In order to supplement differentiated instruction strategies, Karla Reiss provides practical advice for enhancing school site communication and collaboration. Finally, Jay McTighe elaborates on the use of rubrics for evaluating and improving student performance by introducing participants to carefully developed assessment tools as part of each student’s educational plan.
Differentiation and the Issue of Quality		Carol Ann Tomlinson
The Brain, Learning and Multiple Intelligences		Bruce Campbell
What Great Teachers Do Differently: Part 2		Todd Whitaker
Differentiated Assessment and Grading		Rick Wormeli
Matching Instruction and Assessment Using Memory Pathways		Marilee Sprenger
Using Rubrics to Evaluate and Improve Student Performance Part II		Jay McTighe
Session 11: Teaching Processes to Students from Poverty		Donna Walker Tileston
Session 12: Process Skills and Poverty		Donna Walker Tileston
Session 13: Teaching Decision Making and Problem Solving		Donna Walker Tileston
B.L.A.S.T. O.F.F. To Better Communication		Karla Reiss

COACHING & MENTORING TO IMPROVE STUDENT LEARNING, PART I
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