Enhancing Instruction Seminars

Enhancing Instruction in the General Education Classroom

For questions or to schedule contact Nancy Coffman ncoffman@shelton.org or 972-774-1772, ext. 2233.  Districts can schedule seminars to meet the needs of their faculty. 

ALTA CEUs: ALTA has approved each of the seminars for 7 CEUs.

In response to the requirement for continuing education for educators who teach students with dyslexia, including training regarding new research and practices in educating students with dyslexia, Shelton offers a series of four seminars.

This series of four seminars is designed to raise the knowledge base for general education teachers in the areas of multisensory instruction, reading, and spelling. The goal is to better serve all students, including those students with dyslexia and related disorders. These seminars can be taken in series or as individual seminars.

Day One: Multisensory Instruction Across the Curriculum
Topics Covered:

• Simulation of Learning Differences and an Overview of Dyslexia
• Activities to simulate learning differences in order to raise awareness and enhance empathy for students
• An overview of the definition of dyslexia linked to specific student behaviors
• Organization and Study Skills
• Guidance for teachers/therapists in assisting in organizing for academics and in providing direct instruction in developing strategies to analyze assignments, to form effective strategies, and to effectively complete these assignments in a variety of subject matter classes
• Vocabulary development and reading comprehension strategies will also be addressed.
• Multisensory techniques applicable to a variety of content areas

 

Day Two: Reading Development and Phonemic Awareness
Topics Covered:

• Discussion of the stages of normal reading development
• Discussion of Phonemic Awareness (PA)
• The components
• The importance
• Various activities, from simple to complex
• Practice with the activities
• Discussion of the alphabetic principle and the relationship with PA
• Various activities, from simple to complex
• Practice with the activities

 

Day Three: Reading Mechanics: Sight words, Learned words, and Decodable Words
Topics Covered:

• Overview of reading: automaticity vs accuracy
• Discussion of instant/sight words
• Activities/strategies with instant/sight words
• Presentation of syllable types
• Importance
• Explanation of the types
• Various activities, from simple to complex
• Practice with the activities

 

Day Four: Spelling: Who knew there were rules?
Topics Covered:

• Overview of spelling
• Link to PA, alphabetic principle, syllable types, and morphemes
• Discussion of the “rules” for basic spelling patterns
• One syllable base words
• Discussion as to the rationale of constructing weekly spelling lists
• Practice in constructing lists
• Various activities, from simple to complex
• Practice with the activities

Course Instructors:
Chris Bedenbaugh, M. Ed., LDT, CALT-QI, Director of Outreach/Training
Nancy M. Coffman, MS, CALT-QI, Director of SARA