+ Lindamood Bell Workshops — Summer 2011

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Lindamood Bell workshops are scheduled in these cities:

•  Tuscon Arizona— June 20 through June 30 — Seeing Stars, Visualizing and Verbalizing, Talkies, LIPS, On Cloud Nine
• San Luis Obispo— June 20 through July 1 –– Seeing Stars, Visualizing and Verbalizing, Talkies, LIPS, On Cloud Nine, Sensory-Cognitive Assessments
• Colorado Springs— June 6 through June 16 — Seeing Stars, Visualizing and Verbalizing, Talkies, LIPS, On Cloud Nine
• Hartford CT— July 18 through July 28 — Seeing Stars, Visualizing and Verbalizing, Talkies, LIPS, On Cloud Nine
• Naples FL— August 1 through August 11 — Seeing Stars, Visualizing and Verbalizing, Talkies, LIPS, On Cloud Nine
• Orlando FL— August 1 through August 11 — Seeing Stars, Visualizing and Verbalizing, Talkies, LIPS, On Cloud Nine
• Tallahassee FL— June 21 through June 29 — Seeing Stars, Visualizing and Verbalizing, Talkies, LIPS
• Boise ID— August 2 through June 30 — Seeing Stars, Visualizing and Verbalizing, LIPS
• Springfield IL— July 19 through July 27 — Seeing Stars, Visualizing and Verbalizing, LIPS
• Fort Wayne IN— July 12 through July 20 — Seeing Stars, Visualizing and Verbalizing, LIPS
• Billerica MA— July 25 through August 4 — Seeing Stars, Visualizing and Verbalizing, Talkies, LIPS, On Cloud Nine
• Kansas City MO— July 19 through July 27 — Seeing Stars, Visualizing and Verbalizing, LIPS
• Winston Salem NC— August 9 through August 17 — Seeing Stars, Visualizing and Verbalizing, LIPS
• Cincinnati OH— June 21 through June 29 — Seeing Stars, Visualizing and Verbalizing, LIPS
• Pittsburgh PA— August 16 through August 29 — Seeing Stars, Visualizing and Verbalizing, LIPS
• Knoxville TN— June 6 through June 16 — Seeing Stars, Visualizing and Verbalizing, Talkies, LIPS, On Cloud Nine 
• Dallas TX— July 12 through July 20 — Seeing Stars, Visualizing and Verbalizing, LIPS
• Halifax, NS Canada— July 18 through July 28 — Seeing Stars, Visualizing and Verbalizing, Talkies, LIPS, On Cloud Nine

For details, visit http://www.LindamoodBell.com or phone 800-233-1819

tutoring in Columbus OH:  Adrienne Edwards  614-579-6021  or email aedwardstutor@columbus.rr.com

+ Professional Development: Children of the Code Offers 4-Disc Series

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From the beginning of the Children of the Code Project, the premise has been that if educators and parents understand the challenges involved in learning to read, they are much better equipped to help their students.

Teaching the Teachers

Based on this premise, their 4-disc series is designed to support educators who can be involved in teaching other educators, literacy volunteers, policy makers and members of the general public.  The content involves “what’s at stake,” and “what’s involved” in learning to read.

This series is not a “how to teach reading” course.  

It’s a collection of video segments and animations designed to help professional adults and parents develop a deeper  first-person understanding of the issues involved.

The Children of the Code Project is offering a one-time 20 percent discount off the regular price on the first 400 DVD four-disc sets.

 Visit  http://www.childrenofthecode.org/DVD/PD-V1_special_offer.htm.  The offer will expire May 3, 2011. 

Included in the package:

• 103 Video Segments
• Upgraded versions of all 64 main videos on the ChildrenOfTheCode.org web site
• Two new chapters:  “The Brain’s Challenge” and “Changing Trajectories”
• 39 new videos not on the web site
• Content that is formatted for DVD and optimized for large screen displays
• Menus and titling conventions that allow for easy navigation
•  Visual metaphors that aid in understanding

The Children of the Code Project is looking forward to hearing how this new 4-disc DVD set assists educators in their efforts.  They are a non-profit organization.

The DVD set is $67.00.  It appears that the first 400 orders by May 3rd will receive a 20% discount.

• Disc 1 — “What’s at Stake,” “What is Reading?” ,”Unnatural   Confusion,” and About the COTC  DVD Series”
• Disc 2 — “So Let it Be Written,” “The First Millennium Bug,” “Paradigm Inertia”
• Disc 3 — “Causes and Contributing Factors,” “Readiness,” “Shame”
• Disc 4 —“The Brain’s Challenge,” “Changing Trajectories”

tutoring in Columbus OH:   Adrienne Edwards  614-579-6021  or email aedwardstutor@columbus.rr.com.

+ Sustainable School Buildings? LEED

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It’s almost Earth Day.

In T.H.E. Journal, freelance writers Timothy Prentiss and Lenny Giteck write about schools that are implementing environmental and sustainable innovations. 

Prentiss spoke with Wendy Rogers, a design principal at the architectural firm LPA in Irvine California.  She  is also an Accredited Professional at LEED: Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. 

Rogers works closely with the US Green Building Council (USGBC)  and speaks with districts and civic organizations throughout California, helping them plan and design green schools.

One of the US Green Building Council’s primary goals in its Green School Campaign is helping students to understand how their environmental school has been constructed or modified. 

The LEED for Schools certification program even offers a credit for green innovation.

USGBC’s Green Schools characteristics:

• Conserve energy and natural resources
• Save taxpayer money
• Improve indoor air quality
• Remove toxic materials from places where children learn and play
• Employ daylighting strategies and improve classroom acoustics
• Employ sustainable purchasing and green cleaning practices
• Improve environmental literacy in students
• Decrease the burden on municipal water and wastewater treatment
• Encourage waste management efforts to benefit the local community and region
• Conserve fresh drinking water and help manage storm water runoff
• Encourage recycling
• Promote habitat protection
• Reduce demand on local landfills

According to Anisa Baldwin Metzger, manager of USGBC’s LEED Green Schools fellowship program, “In effect, the school itself becomes a wonderful teaching tool on the subject of sustainability.”

As part of the Adlai E. Stevenson High School’s LEED initiative, an innovative educational program called NET ZERO Classroom has been implemented. 

The project is an advanced environmental sciences class for select students in their senior year.  Students will create and run a completely energy self-sufficient classroom.

Stevenson’s sustainable features include a small array of solar panels that generate electricity and heat water for the classroom.  The science teacher behind the project is the school’s sustainability coordinator, Dave Wilms. 

Wilms has made a special effort to get students involved with the district’s green committee and to ensure the science curriculum includes topics that relate to the environment and sustainability.

One student at Stevenson is carrying out a study on LED lighting in order to determine the impact of changing all the athletic-field lights to the new bulbs. 

A sustainability consultant advising Stevenson, Marya Graff, explains 

They’ve installed a sample fixture and are going to monitor the energy usage and light output.  The student will write a report about it — and based on the findings, the school may consider a widespread lighting retrofit. 

What makes a school green?  LEED is the brainchild and handiwork of the US Green Building Council, a nonprofit founded in 1998.  The LEED program offers a rigorous certification process for buildings, whether new or retrofits, as they work to meet high environmental standards in design, construction, operations and maintenance.

The Green Schools Campaign is working to bring more K-12 schools into the certification process.  A Green Campus Campaign is working toward similar goals for higher education as well.

According to the USGBC website (July 2010), there were more than 300 LEED certified schools and another 1700 registered LEED school projects.

Anisa Baldwin Metzger manages the LEED Green Schools fellowship program.  Certain things are unique to this program.

For example, some modifications have been made for transportation credits a school can earn with regards to busing.  Also, there are prerequisite credits — meaning they’re required on every school project — for the buildings’ acoustics, which are essential for creating a quiet space conducive to learning.  In terms of lighting credits, school lights need to be adjustable for regular classroom levels and when audiovisual equipment is being used.

The program actively promotes the use of technology to heighten building inhabitants’ awareness of environmental issues.  For example, if an up-to-date building automation system (BAS) is installed, personnel can closely monitor energy use and performance of devices (air conditioners, heating systems, fans, lights).

Metzger explains

You can either hook right into the system at the school or you can look at it remotely.  These systems are capable of communication alerts to whoever is monitoring the school building.

According to Wendy Rogers, some schools have red lights and green lights on their windows — so students see them and know that something needs to be turned off.

One school in California has wind odometers attached to the building.  When a storm is coming in, that measurement is recoded by software in the environmental sciences lab so students can  monitor the information.

Visit USGBC at http://www.usgbc.org/   For the Green Schools Campaign:  http://www.greenschoolbuildings.org/Homepage.aspx

Sole source: http://www.thejournal.com article on April 6, 2011, prepared and written by Timothy Prentiss and Lenny Giteck.  Prentiss is a Chicago based freelance writer and online content producer who blogs at iPhonelife.com.  Writer Lenny Giteck is based in Las Vegas.

tutoring in Columbus OH:  Adrienne Edwards   614-579-6021  or email aedwardstutor@columbus.rr.com

+ 25th Annual ALTA National Conference April 8+9 2011

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The 25th Annual ALTA Conference is to be held in Dallas TX on April 8-9, 2011.

Topics are

• Executive Functioning
• Multi-sensory Math
• Emotional Literacy
• Student/Teacher/Certified Academic language Therapist with Dyslexia

Speakers are

Dr. Michael McLane, who will address executive functioning.  He is a licensed psychologist with expertise in child and adolescent neuropsychology.  

This field is devoted to understanding how learning and behavior are related to the development of a child’s brain structure and systems. 

The term executive functioning describes a set of cognitive abilities that control and regulate other abilities and behaviors, especially goal-directed behavior.  In includes the ability to

• initiate and stop actions
• monitor and change behavior as needed
• plan future behavior when faced with novel tasks and situations  
• to anticipate outcomes
• to adapt to changing situations. 
• to form concepts and think abstractly

Marilyn Zecher will address multi-sensory math.

A multi-sensory approach to teaching math uses concrete manipulatives to teach mathematical concepts.  Using the recommendations of current research, suggestions from the National Math Panel and the principles of Orton-Gillingham instructional strategies, she will provide an interactive hands-on overview of how to help and support students who struggle with learning math.

Marc Brackett will speak on emotional literacy, a powerful concept.

Research has found that social and emotional learning  not only improves children’s social and emotional abilities, but also lowers risks of violence, substance abuse, and unwanted teen pregnancy.  It can influence the development of  children who are better behaved and more positive about learning. 

But most impressively, academic achievement scores improve by an average 12-15%.

At the heart of emotional literacy is the idea that a fundamental awareness of human relationships — how it impacts every angle of a situation — can lead to improved academic outcomes. 

Learning about the brain and its connections to emotions is a valuable tool for both educators and parents.  It can help children choose a  range of options as they broaden their awareness and fine-tune their response to our increasingly complex, global world.

 Dede Toney is a student, teacher and certified academic language therapist (CALT) with dyslexia.  She says

It is an honor to join with you in a profession that the world could not do without, and although it does not value what you do as it should, nor pay you accordingly, this profession is priceless.  Every day you get the honor of igniting the fire of learning as you creatively teach students in the way that they learn best. 

 Just as a coach coaches his team, you get the opportunity to provide your students with play-by-play information that will help them be ready to meet the challenges of a changing educational society.  Educators, thank you for making a powerful difference in the lives of students every day!

Online registration is available at http://www.altaread.org.

What is ALTA?

ALTA  (the Academic Language Therapy Association) is a non-profit national professional organization incorporated in 1986 for the purpose of establishing, maintaining, and promoting standards of education, practice and professional conduct for Certified Academic Language Therapists.

It was the first national group organized solely for written-language professionals.

ALTA and the Orton-Gillingham certifying organizations have a common purpose and methodology: to educate students with dyslexia or written-language disorders to proficiency in literacy.  They all use comprehensive multi-sensory, structured, phonics-based curricula.

The Academic Language Therapy Association is located in Dallas TX, and can be reached by phone: 972-233-9107 or at the Web site http://www.ALTAread.org   

tutoring in Columbus OH: Adrienne Edwards  614-579-6021  or email  aedwardstutor@columbus.rr.com

+ Orton-Gillingham Academy Conference April 29-30, 2011

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The Academy of Orton-Gillingham Practitioners and Educators (AOGPE) will hold its 2011 conference April 29-30 in Charleston, South Carolina.

The conference is titled “Bridging the Gap: Orton-Gillingham In the Low Country.”

It is directed to teachers, tutors, administrators, parents, and any individuals who are interested in learning more about dyslexia and the Orton-Gillingham approach.

Sessions will focus on their theme of “bridging the gap;” the goal is to help students with dyslexia reach their potential.  It is hosted and being held at Trident Academy, in cooperation with the South Carolina Branch of IDA (the International Dyslexia Association).

They have scheduled  renowned speakers covering a wide range of topics, including math, writing, phonology, psychological testing, and comprehension.  There will be demonstrations of teaching practices as well as other informative sessions.

Online registration is available February 11, 2011.

The Academy is in its sixteenth year.  It continues to grow and thrive, and they hope you will join them at Trident Academy for this informative, enriching educational experience.

Fees:

• Academy members and SCB-IDA members: $215 for both days; $120 for one day (either Friday or Saturday)
• Non-members: $245 for two days; $150 for one day only.

Download conference brochure: http://gallery.mailchimp.com/5ae4fa28c8138f8ca3a215174/files/Trident_Program.2.pdf

Download registration form: http://gallery.mailchimp.com/5ae4fa28c8138f8ca3a215174/files/Trident_Registration.1.pdf

The Website for AOGPE is http://ortonacademy.org

tutoring in Columbus OH:   Adrienne Edwards  614-579-6021  or email  aedwardstutor@columbus.rr.com

+ Central Ohio COBIDA Reading Conference

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The Annual COBIDA Reading Conference will be held on Saturday, March 12, 2011 on the Ohio State University campus.

Early bird registration now until February 14.

 “Imagine! Every Child Reading: Making the Vision a Reality in Ohio.” 

• Saturday, March 12 2011
• 9:00 am to 3:30 pm
• The Fawcett Event Center on OSU Campus

To register for the Cobida Conference, go to http://www.childrenofthecode.org/events/cobida/  or email  COBIDA at info@cobida.org.

For overnight accommodations, contact the Fairfield Inn & Suites  Columbus Ohio OSU .  Address is 3031 Olentangy River Road 43202.  Phone 614-267-1111.  Group code: COBC.  Room block will be released on February 18. 

David Boulton is Featured Speaker

The featured speaker is David Boulton:  What’s At Stake and What’s Involved in Learning to Read.

David Boulton is the co-producer and creator of Children of the Code Website. 

Boulton is a learning activist as well as a specialist in learning technology.  His articles on learning have appeared in numerous educational and cognitive science journals.  His work on innovative approaches to K-12 learning is widely referenced both in the United States and internationally.

Five Major Components to Children of the Code Project 

1. A Television, DVD and Web documentary series.
2. A college, university and professional development DVD series.
3. A cross-indexed Web site/database containing videos and transcripts of our interviews with the world’s leading experts in fields related to reading.
4.  A variety of professional development events for educators.
5. A series of presentations for parents, policy-makers, and the general public.  

All of their resources are free.  Visit http://www.childrenofthecode.org  

tutoring in Columbus OH:   Adrienne Edwards   614-579-6021  or email  aedwardstutor@columbus.rr.com  

+ Call For Proposals: 33rd International Conference on Learning Disabilities

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The 33rd International Conference on Learning Disabilities will be in held Austin Texas on October 27th-28th, 2011.

Topic:

Evidence-Based Practices: How Researchers Make Interventions Evidence-Based, and How Practitioners Implement Evidence-Based Interventions.

The Council for Learning Disabilities (CLD) invites proposals from professionals who serve individuals with learning disabilities (LD), including classroom teachers and interventionists, administrators, speech/language pathologists, diagnosticians, researchers, higher education teacher preparation faculty, policy makers, consultants, and other professionals who serve people with LD.

CLD is soliciting proposals for

• Research Sessions
• Intervention Sessions
• Policy Sessions
• Cracker-Barrel Sessions

Proposals are due February 15, 2011.  For more information, see below.

A New Look For the CLD Annual Conference

CLD’s Board of Trustees has restructured the 33rd International Conference on Learning Disabilities.

They have done this in response to the need for

• (a) more in-depth evidence-based, practitioner-oriented workshops,
• (b) opportunities for researchers to discuss their work and learn more from one another about approaches to research design and related statistics, and
• (c) dissemination of the latest policy information that affects individuals with LD and those who work with them.

The Program Chair is soliciting half-day and full-day evidence-based sessions on topics in research interventions, as well as on policy that is related to LD.

Two-hour cracker-barrel sessions in each topical area are also being solicited.  A one-hour poster session will be another feature of the 2011 conference and will be held in conjunction with the President’s Social and Award Presentations.

As always, networking opportunities will be a main feature of the conference.

Send completed proposal to

• Program Chair
• 1095 East King Street
• Boone, NC 28607 

For more information, including proposal submission guidelines and forms, visit the CLD website at http://www.cldinternational.org.

tutoring in Columbus OH: Adrienne Edwards  614-579-6021 or email  aedwardstutor@columbus.rr.com

+ M.Ed Degree from Concordia University Online

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Further your education from the world-class program at Concordia University Online.  They ensure quality instruction in

• Educational Leadership
• Curriculum & Instruction
• Environmental Education
• Career and Technical Education
• eLearning/Technology Education
• Science (K-8)
• Mathematics (K-8)
• Inclusive Classroom (SPED)
• C & I in Reading
• C & I in Methods & Curriculum
• ESOL.

Individuals can earn a Master’s in just one year and expand their career options.  Concordia’s online classes are designed so students are able to turn in assignments online when they want, as long as they are within the due dates of the course syllabus.

Online classes are five weeks in length, and can be accessed via the Internet at the time and location that is most convenient for each student.

Concordia is a national university system with 10 campuses throughout the United States, and was founded more than 100 years ago.  It is the largest private school of education in the USA.

Concordia is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities.  It has a history of a challenging and supportive learning environment focused on preparing leaders for the transformation of society.

Their Web site says

There are monumental changes occurring in the education industry, and those changes have an impact on teachers everywhere.

Concordia University’s online Master’s Degrees in Education are specifically designed to respond to those changes… now. 

Visit  http://www.concordia-university.com/masters_education.php?eng=google

tutoring in Columbus OH:  Adrienne Edwards  614-579-6021  or email aedwardstutor@columbus.rr.com

+ Japanese Universities Offer Degree in “Comics”

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Japanese universities are drawing foreign students by offering programs in manga, the Japanese form of comics, according to an article by Miki Tanikawa in the NY Times.

Japanese universities are working hard to attract students to fill their classrooms while the country’s birth rate declines.  More and more are offering degrees in manga and animation. 

Zack Wood, an American, is now studying at Kyoto Seika University in their manga program.  He is a 25-year-old graduate of Stanford University.

He and many American students like him have gravitated toward modern Japanese arts programs, feeling they may help them in careers in animation, design, computer graphics and the like.

“I like it here because you get totally immersed in the skill training,” says Wood.  “It has turned out to be a lot of fun.”

Many students want to get work experience after they have gained this unique technical and industry knowledge.  So after graduation they find it in Japan, before they head back home.

The real trophy,, says Li Lin Lin, 28, from China, is getting job experience in the country of manga.  Li is attending Digital Hollywood University, a school in Tokyo that specializes in animation and video games.  She wants to work in a Japanese animation studio before going home.

Kison Chang, a training manager at Imagi Studios based in Hong Kong, says none of these animation-themed Japanese university programs seem to be on international radar yet.

But students studying in Japan end up with solid work experience, and could be prime candidates for international recruitment, he insists.

One possible reason that the programs haven’t received international attention is that the language of instruction, Japanese, is daunting.  “If we had an English-based program at the graduate level we would be inundated with Western students almost instantly,” claims Tomoyuki Sugiyama, president of Digital Hollywood University.

But Kyoto Seika University, the first to establish a manga program, has seen its number of foreign enrollees rise from 19 in 2000, to 57 students  today.

source: Miki Tanikawa’s article in the NY Times on December 28,  2010.  Visit http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/27/business/global/27manga.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Miki%20Tanikawa%20Degree%20in%20Comics&st=cse

tutoring in Columbus OH:   Adrienne Edwards  614-579-6021  or email  aedwardstutor@columbus.rr.com

+ Teachers: Library of Congress 2011 Summer Institutes

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The Library of Congress is now accepting applications for its 2011 Summer Institutes in Washington D.C. 

The five-day institutes will provide educators with the tools and resources to effectively integrate primary sources into classroom teaching.

In the Institutes, Library of Congress education specialists will instruct participants in the best practices for using primary sources in the K-12 classroom.  In addition, these specialists will help them explore some of the millions of digitized primary sources available on the Library’s Web site.

All sessions will expose participants to a wide variety of primary sources from the Library’s collections.

Note that Session 4, July 11-15, 2011, will focus specifically on the  use of Civil War primary sources.  Participants will be able to work with teachers from around the ocuntry to explore methods for effectively integrating primary sources into classroom activities.

After participating in the Summer Teacher Institutes, participants will:

• Know how to access primary sources from the Library of Congress
• Become skilled at analyzing primary sources of different formats
• Learn various teaching strategies for using primary sources in the classroom
• Gain skills in the use of primary sources to enable student engagement, critical thinking and construction of their own knowledge
• Develop a Primary Source Project Plan  that will be implemented in the participant’s instructional setting

Following up, participants will

• Continue work on their Primary Source Project and share their results with Library staff
• Implement a Primary Source Project Plan in the participant’s instructional session
• Have the option of obtaining 3 graduate credits (for a fee) from George Mason University for completing all Summer Teacher Institute requirements

Dates of 2011 Summer Institutes

• Session 1 —  May 23-27
• Session 2 —  June 6-10
• Session 3 —  June 13-17
• Session 4 —  July 11-15 (Civil War focus)
• Session  5 —  July 18-22
• Session 6 —   August 1-5
• Session 7 —  August 8-12

Application Deadline: February 4, 2011

to apply, visit http://www.loc.gov/teachers/professionaldevelopment/teacherinstitute/apply/

tutoring in Columbus OH:   Adrienne Edwards  614-579-6021  or email aedwardstutor@columbus.rr.com