Scope

The overall goal of The Henderson Inclusion Elementary School is to help ALL students learn and succeed. This session will outline the learning experiences that support students’ academic and social / emotional needs. The scope of this workshop will include the basic definitions and value of co-teaching, how to prepare for and structure this collaborative model of instruction, and it will highlight the challenges and benefits of the co-teaching model especially with regard to full inclusion environments. The organisers will share their experience in transforming the public elementary district school to a successful national model of full inclusion.

Gain an understanding of co-teaching, hear about the six basic models of co-teaching and acquire an appreciation for inclusion and how co-teaching supports this model of education. Through presentation, interactive exercises and discussion educators will learn how to support one another and each child to develop to their fullest potential. Various methods of assessments and accommodations will be reviewed that can be used in the full inclusion setting that can benefit both students’ and teachers’ success. Co-teaching and inclusion concepts can be adopted whether school-wide or by a lone classroom teacher. The methods and strategies are helpful to any educator wishing to reach ALL students.

Terri Wellner and Darlene Jones Inge
Henderson Inclusion Elementary School, Canada

Scope

The Tic Tac Toe Math was created by the presenter and has been successfully used by adults and children for more than 20 years. This workshop will provide participants with:

• A rationale for using alternative instructional techniques with individuals who have learning disabilities.
• A description and demonstration of Tic Tac Toe Math* for completing multiplication, division, fraction and percentage problems.
• A discussion of the pros and cons of using such alternative techniques.

The technique uses the familiar Tic Tac Toe pattern to substitute for rote memory of the times tables.

This workshop will explore the alternative instructional technique of Tic Tac Toe Math for teaching basic math skills and discuss the pros and cons of alternative instructional techniques. The motivation for workshop participation is to:

• Learn to use a successful alternative math technique that can replace the usual drill and practice model.
• Learn about an alternative technique that appears to match the way that individuals with learning difficulties process information.
• Explore the implications for conducting outcomes based research on the use of this technique.

Richard Cooper
Center for Alternative Learning, USA

Scope

This active session will introduce teachers, administrators, community members, students and parents to this proven method of educational planning that engages all stakeholders and leads to success.
While many organizations spend 80% of their energy on the 20% of things about which they disagree, Future Search (FS) helps groups focus on commonly shared values and visions, while building unified commitment to action. Through simulation, learn what it looks like to bring together the stakeholders needed to visualize and actualize a stronger school or school district. FS is not the answer; it is the methodology that will help your school or district create a shared, realistic and successful future.

Schools and school systems around the world have used Future Search to build a common foundation from diverse interests. The methodology helps elicit sustainable commitment, ownership and buy-in in school change projects. Participants will actively learn the key components of the FS methodology by:

• Identifying various stakeholders.
• Taking stock - Acknowledging past and current (Practices).
• Building the future.
• Finding Common Ground & Next Steps.

Future Search is invaluable in establishing shared goals, standards, implementation strategies, or curriculum priorities. It can help departments, schools and communities develop or implement a mission. It is a powerful way to coordinate activities between departments, agencies or other service institutions.

Ruth Feldman
Project for School Innovation
Social, Entrepreneurial Expertise and Development (SEED), Canada

Writing a Research Paper and PhD Thesis

Scope

The idea of writing a research paper or developing a topic of research interest that can lead to a PhD proposal is always an endless thinking of where, when, why, what and who. Therefore, becoming an experienced researcher and writer in any field or discipline takes a great deal of practice. This special track provides solutions in response to the lack of competence demonstrated by young researchers and PhD students, and the understanding of what contributes to knowledge gap.

The purpose of this workshop is to address the problems encountered during and after writing a research paper or PhD thesis. While every effort has been made to proof read and to make sure that there are no unexpected errors. This workshop will engage participants in discussion.

Charles A. Shoniregun
Infonomics Society, UK

Scope

This workshop will explore a new research project that the presenters have begun with students who have language-based learning disabilities. The project is based on anecdotal evidences of the difficulties such clients experienced in therapy or counseling sessions. The research tests the hypothesis that language-based learning disabilities (underdeveloped vocabulary – especially understanding abstract concepts) interfere with the therapeutic process.  Because these clients are self-conscious about their limited vocabulary, they rarely ask therapists for clarification of terms. Thus, the clients may proceed with very confused or erroneous understanding of common therapeutic words or phrases (identity, working through, process, association), while the therapist or counselor is completely unaware of the client’s predicament.

This workshop will provide participants with:

• Provide anecdotal illustrations of the hypothesis.
• Explain the significance and scope of the problem.
• Describe the proposed methodology for the project and request feedback from participants.

Richard Cooper
Center for Alternative Learning, USA

Enhancing Your Mentoring Skills: Applying Adaptive Mentorship

Scope

Adaptive Mentorship (AM) is a mentoring model applicable across all professions/occupations; and it has been developed, refined, and researched by the authors during the past several years, for the purpose of enhancing the mentoring/coaching/supervising process within all educational/training settings. Adaptive Mentorship has been recognized as a clear conceptual and practical framework that has proven effective in guiding leaders' mentorship practice.
The creators of the AM model have recently received support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to promote and disseminate this model more widely, because it is believed that it has potential to enhance all mentorship practice wherever it is implemented across the learning spectrum.

Attendees from any professional discipline, who have an interest in enhancing the mentoring process, will benefit from this workshop by:

• Becoming acquainted with the Adaptive Mentorship model, its rationale, and its research results.
• Witnessing  the model’s applicability in assisting learners in any field to develop their respective body of knowledge and skills.
• Learning how to implement  Adaptive Mentorship in any type of mentor-protégé relationship.
• Examining the proven strengths of the model in helping mentor/protégé  pairs to conceptualize the mentoring relationship and to guide their actions.
• Investigating how Adaptive Mentorship might be misapplied.
• Considering how AM could be adapted to their unique situations.
  

Edwin G. Ralph
College of Education,
University of Saskatchewa, Canada

10 Concrete Classroom Activities that Aim at Long-term Learning

Scope

The workshop consists of ten classroom activities briefly presented and followed with guided discussion to encourage participants to explore elements which increase the possibility of long-term learning. The specific examples provided in the session act as a kick-off point for reflection: 'What am I doing that works?' 'How can I modify these ideas to suit my learning scenarios?' 'What are the factors that make learning stick, and how can I build them into the package I offer my students?' Multi-media clips, short paper and pencil exercises, 'beehive' sessions and handouts provide information about the activities discussed.

Ten Concrete Classroom Activities that Aim at Long-Term Learning stemmed from a desire to build an interactive learning session based on college practitioners' experience of what 'worked' in their classrooms. We wanted to 'walk the talk' and include interactive reflective participation that encouraged participants to be part of the event in the same way we attempt to engage our Cegep students. We target elements such as: novelty, use of technology, social interaction, creativity, multiple learning styles, teacher enthusiasm, motivation, community involvement, humour, role modeling, and organization as possible factors that might influence increased long-term learning.

Sophie Jacmin and Caroline Chwojka
Vanier College, Canada

The Impact of the Corporal Dimension on Teaching

Scope

Corporal expressions determine pedagogical situations to a vast extent and influence the educational situation significantly: A despising regard or an encouraging and benevolent glance from a teacher will certainly influence the student’s dispositions, motivations, feelings and thoughts and probably even his or her self-estimation and role behaviour. We want to show that the reconstruction of corporal expressions can reveal significant insights into pedagogical realities by analyzing the explicit and the implicit scenery and by dismantling “unspoken” realities.

Knowledge about the significance and meanings of corporal expressions in pedagogical contexts will allow us to get a more differentiated view on ‘doing school’ and to identify sources for problems and pedagogical success, but also to comprehend their impact on the development of interpersonal relationships and constellations. The objective of the workshop is to analyze and discuss:

• the way meanings are expressed corporally
• the significance of corporal communication for pedagogical situations
• the impact of discrepancies between verbal and nonverbal messages in pedagogical contexts
• methods that shed light on empiric examples of corporal communication

Bernd Hackl and Sandra Klampfl
Department of Teacher Education
University of Graz, Austria

Continuing Teacher Professional Development:
A Simulation Exploring a Model for School-Based Teacher Learning

Scope

Participants in this workshop will examine the case of Jewel Malan, principal of Mabaleni Secondary School, who is frustrated with the low impact of Continuing Professional Teacher Development (CPTD) programmes on teacher performance and student learning.  Using documents from the school needs assessment, participants will join Principal Malan as she endeavors to build a school-based programme with the goal to raise matric (school-leaving exams) pass rates, raise staff morale, and improve the school’s image among stakeholders.

This workshop is designed for teachers and practitioners in the teacher development field to understand a model for CPTD in which teachers become the core facilitators of their own professional development.

The workshop was developed to explore alternative approaches to CPTD.  In South Africa, the setting for the mini case and simulation, teacher development is a national priority, and yet conventional university-based programmes have not yet adequately impacted student learning.

The objective of the workshop is to review conventional models and challenges of CPTD as it is currently provided in South Africa and relate that to the international community; review research-based strategies that teachers can use to develop their own professional development programmes; analyze
and discuss a mini case; and participate in a simulation exercise, taking on the roles of teachers in a fictional South African school.

Kakoma Luneta
Department of Mathematics Science Technology and Computer Education
Faculty of Education
University of Johannesburg, South Africa

Mitalene Fletcher
Programs in Professional Education
Harvard Graduate School of Education, USA

Scope

This workshop will explore a new research project that the presenters have begun with students who have language-based learning disabilities. The project is based on anecdotal evidences of the difficulties such clients experienced in therapy or counseling sessions. The research tests the hypothesis that language-based learning disabilities (underdeveloped vocabulary – especially understanding abstract concepts) interfere with the therapeutic process.  Because these clients are self-conscious about their limited vocabulary, they rarely ask therapists for clarification of terms. Thus, the clients may proceed with very confused or erroneous understanding of common therapeutic words or phrases (identity, working through, process, association), while the therapist or counselor is completely unaware of the client’s predicament.

To study the comparative education situation in 3 developing Asian Countries viz., India, China and Bangladesh. To study the links between Women Education & Economic Development of these Three Asian Economies. To study the relationship between non-economic factors and Women Education. To study the connection between Women Education and Employment with special reference to Gender discrimination. To draw the policy conclusions related to Women Education in India.

Motives: To improve educational standards and administrative efficiency of institutes in these areas.

T. Tirupati Rao, Zubaida Azeem, A. Muralidhar Rao, G. Ramakrishna, S. Sudhakar, Vasudevachary
Osmania University
University College for Women (Autonomous), India

Scope

The workshop will look at the recent research concerning the increasing digital divide between traditional learners and non-traditional learners, specifically adult learners. In an open dialogue, participants will discuss their own experiences, identify specific areas of need and create a working adult learning cohort.

The motivation of this workshop arises from the organizer's experience as a professor of English at an urban community college where there is a rising adult population. Objectives include creating open dialogue to address concerns surrounding the non-traditional learner and to workshop potential solutions.

Ellen Feig
English Department
Bergen Community College, Meadowlands Campus, Lyndhurst, USA