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One Day Themed Workshops
Peeping

Science of Reading for Administrators

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Strategic Literacy Leadership for: 

Superintendents, Assistant Superintendents, Principals, Assistant Principals,

Special Education Administrators, Team Chairs,

Curriculum Coordinators, and school based literacy teams

​​May 17, 2024

The “Science of Reading” at a Glance

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  • What does the science of reading mean for my school/district?        

  • What existing and potential new laws will impact systemic change?      

  • What does the science of reading look like in action?

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Early Literacy Screenings, Intervention, and Systemic Change

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  • How do required literacy screenings impact and relate to MTSS?

  • What current or existing practices in my district need to change?

  • How do administrators become agents of systemic change that disrupts deeply ingrained belief systems of educators?

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District Action Planning & Implementing Sustainable Change

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  • What might be the best path forward for your individual district?

  • What strategic next steps will your district outline related to the Science of Reading?

  • What plan will you outline for knowledge building of both educators, support staff, and families?

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Facilitated by:

Jackie Abrams, Pre-K to 5 Humanities Coordinator, Canton Public Schools

Jackie is a veteran educator with 20 years experience working in both urban and suburban districts. Her own journey of unlearning a balanced literacy approach led her into a study into the Science of Reading in an effort to deeply understand how the brain learns best how to read and write and what implications this body of scientific knowledge has on our work as educators. She developed a passion for sharing that knowledge with colleagues. Jackie has served in many roles including an elementary classroom educator, Title I interventionist, literacy coach, School Committee member in her town, and currently serves as the Pre-K to 5 Humanities Coordinator for the Canton Public Schools. She is also an Associate Lecturer at Curry College teaching graduate students the foundations of reading for diverse learners. 

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Deborah Rooney, Director of Curriculum, Instruction, & Assessment, Canton Public Schools

Deborah has 34 years of experience working in both urban and suburban districts. Her experience has predominantly been working with students with special needs in a full inclusion school in Boston. As a former literacy coach and principal working with students with significant learning challenges, Deborah understands the adult learning necessary to reflect on and adapt educator beliefs about literacy instruction to best meet the needs of students with evidence-based practices in our classrooms today. Deborah taught first and third grade in a full inclusion school in Boston, she then served as a literacy specialist/coach, and principal in Boston. Her strengths lie in being able to empower members of a team in a way that develops their leadership skills and motivates those around her to grow and lead.

5 PDPs ~  $250

NOTE LOCATION: Fireside Grille ~ 30 Bedford Street ~ Middleborough

Girl Relaxing

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Educator Wellness: Reset and Refuel

Responding to the noise and dysregulation (yours and theirs)

Building educator confidence, resilience, and sustainability 

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5 PDPs  ~  8 am - 2 pm

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  • Employ techniques to prioritize self-care and well-being

  • Learn tools to relax, reset, and re-energize

  • Build self-confidence, fortitude, and tenacity for the workplace

  • Disrupt the neural pathways causing stress and anxiety

  • Control the cognitive and sensory overload that impedes perceived success

  • Master strategies for self-regulation and time management

  • Manage the compassion fatigue of caring for youth

  • Apply and practice techniques in the yoga studio setting with certified staff

April 5, 2024

$250

Class will be held at the Little Red Yoga Studio

71 Main Street, Lakeville 

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​Conflict Management ~ Difficult Conversations ~ Effective Confrontation

Responding to the Current Landscape!

5 PDPs   ~   8 am - 2 pm

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  • Master the art and science of conflict management.

  • Develop communication skills to navigate difficult people.

  • Learn the six elements of mastering difficult conversations.

  • Employ deescalating techniques to common scenarios.

  • Recognize fear-based behavior and resistance.

  • Apply specific strategies to five difficult personality types.

  • Practice difficult conversations for mediations, complaints, and evaluation conferences.

March 22, 2024

$250

Group project help

The Grade Awakening

I know. I think I know. I forget! Now what?

5 PDPs   ~   8 am - 2 pm

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  • Disrupt the forgetting curve and re-imagine homework and grading!

  • Move from what students know and are able to do – to – how students think and are able to apply what they know.

  • What about grading product, process, and progress? (T. Guskey, 2015)

  • How do assessments develop metacognition, sustain rigorous engagement, and ask students to apply, create, contribute, and problem-solve?

  • Explore contract grading and conferencing. 

  • Elevate assessing enduring understandings and transferable skills.

  • Are we grading compliance or cognition? Is it rigorous?  Or just rigid?

March 1, 2024

$250

Students in a Science Class

Student Engagement: Immersion, Inquiry, and Intellectual Risk-taking

Transforming lessons from teacher talk to student centered instruction

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5 PDPs   ~   8 am - 2 pm

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  • Develop cognitive engagement best practices to promote self-directed, immersive learning.

  • Learn how to move students outside their comfort zones and close critical thinking gaps.

  • Advance learning objectives from 'what students know and are able to do' to 'how students think and are able to apply'. 

  • Transform compliance lessons and passive students into inquiry fueled lessons and intellectually engaged learners.

  • Harness curiosity to support creative self-efficacy and independent responsibility for learning.

  • Examine how exploration builds autonomy, motivates the learner, and increases engagement.

  • Elevate the learning zone over the performance zone.

  • Workshop best practices and principles of student centered learning. 

February 9 2024

$250

Bored Boy

Special Education and the Guidance Office

A Nuanced Path to Improving Graduation Rates

5 PDPs  ~  8 am - 12 pm

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  • Understanding regulatory flexibility in state vs. local graduation requirements.

  • Interpreting and aligning student transcripts with Out of District placements.

  • Managing transportation, McKinney-Vento, Office of Civil Rights, Bureau of Special Education Appeals

  • Scheduling supports and services from the IEP grid pages.

  • Monitoring student progress and service delivery.

  • Mastering the counselor’s role at the IEP meeting.

  • Working with the Team Chair, Principal, advocates and Special Education Administrator.

November 3, 2023

$200

Group rate: $100 for each person over 2 from the same district 

Laying on a Chair

Thwarting Student Dysregulation and Defiance

Classroom Management: Where Neuropsychology and Pedagogy Meet

5 PDPs   ~   8 am - 2 pm

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  • Engage the dysregulated, defiant, and disinterested student.

  • Apply cognitive strategies to emotion regulation.

  • Identify teacher moves that invite or escalate conflict.

  • Employ purposeful relationship building strategies.

  • Recognize hypoarousal, hyperarousal, and cognitive fusion.

  • Practice defusion dos and don’ts.

  • Employ pedagogy that disrupts the neural pathways.

  • Review classroom management fundamentals to thwart student defiance.

  • Add lesson elements that increase emotionally positive hormone levels (dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, endorphins).

November 17, 2023

$250

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