Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Getting Ready for Takeoff!

You have arrived from the summer, fully refreshed from the experiences you have had with friends and family. You are comfortable and relaxed, ready to make a positive difference in the life of every student you touch and every colleague you work with.

Now you are here at Emily Grey for an important event. Some of you returning and some of you are here for the first time. You are getting ready for takeoff…ready to embark on your great adventure into the upcoming year. Every student at Emily Grey School is looking forward to being in your classes and learning from you.

This Accelerative Learning workshop will support each one of you by giving you the tools to deliver increased student success in the upcoming school year.

You will acquire the use of 11 different research-based models of learning, including Dr. Lozanov’s newest “Seven Laws of Suggestopedia”, Dr. Gardner’s “9 Intelligences”, Dr. Canfield’s “7 Psychological Objectives”, Dr. Krashen’s “Knowledge Acquisition”, Dr. Asher’s “Total Physical Response” and many more.

In this workshop, you will learn these new research-based techniques will create a student-centered classroom, one where each student taps into their 9 processing styles and their 7 psychological objectives to maximize their ability to learn effortlessly.

When you learn and apply these skills during this workshop, you increase your ability to transfer these talents to your students. These are powerful tools. You will use these powerful techniques every day to increase student success in your classroom. You will see the smiles of students as they succeed.

You are surrounded by a team of colleagues who will accompany you on this adventure. They may be in elementary school or middle school, and they all have the same goal…to be part of a team working toward a common goal where every child succeeds under your guidance.

You will work in constantly changing teams throughout the workshop, so that you quickly acquire the ability to work with people who have different learning and processing styles than you. This will allow you to recognize these differences in your students, so they in turn will learn to recognize and appreciate these qualities among their classmates.

These are lifelong learning skills your students will use their entire lives, and teach to their children. This is your opportunity to change lives.

You will share stories of your favorite teachers in this workshop, so that you may apply the important secrets of enhancing student success throughout the school year.

Your students will learn easily using an Accelerative Learning approach with a SMART curriculum (science, math, art, reading, and technology). They will have fun and learn in teams with Accelerative Learning centers and projects that you will use for the entire year.

Your students will learn how to work in teams and quickly research new information to make group and individual entries into journals, all based on their age level.

You will also learn how to use the walls of your classrooms to teach your students with the use of peripherals. This is based on Dr. Marion Diamond’s work with “enriched environments”. You will work in teams to acquire the skill of making a “spiral-designed’ peripheral wall, and then transfer your new skill into your own classroom.

You will learn the magic of Accelerative Learning Centers, Projects, and Story Sequences. You will be given this curriculum to use which automatically incorporates the research-based theories you will learn in this workshop. You will learn how ICAL’s 11-step model ensures each student learns systematically and joyfully with these lesson plans.

You will learn to use these lesson plans to increase student success in your classroom. Your students will love doing these activities, which have been successfully used on over 500,000 students to date. The lessons are student-centered, developmentally-based by grade, and easy to use with students of any age. They are even used with adult learners!

Finally, at the end of the week, you will all have the opportunity to demonstrate the acquisition of all the tools that were given to you during the week. In teams, you will present the different articles you have read to each other, so everyone shares their team’s knowledge with each other. You will show off your classroom to everyone in a “gallery walk” from classroom to classroom.

And most importantly, you will leave this workshop with the knowledge and confidence to change the lives of your students forever. As some cultures believe, it takes a village to raise a child. As a village of teachers at Emily Grey School, you will make a positive difference in the lives of these children this year, and make a difference in your lives as well.

We salute you, teachers and staff of Emily Grey. We are honored to be with you on this year-long journey of exploration and success! You are ready for Take-Off!

Thursday, August 4, 2011

The New Thing I Learned and When I Had Fun!

Each session of the Accelerative Learning workshop is fast-paced and full of new information and new experiences.

The latest research in Neuro-Education proves that new information is permanently acquired when you review it immediately after the learning event, and then just prior to going to sleep.

So we ask you to quickly complete a form at the end of class each day:
"When did you have fun?"
"What was one new thing you learned?"

Then, later that evening, take a moment to think about your day again and answer the same two questions above. You may remember something different from the response you made in class and double your long-term retention of the workshop content!

Now... enter those two new responses in the comments field below this post. Have fun and we'll see you tomorrow!

The ICAL Team