Middle School Presentations

Randy Thompson

MIDDLE SCHOOL STAFF DEVELOPMENT AND MUCH MORE!

The first paragraph in each is the descriptor that I use for Conference Programs. Then I try to describe the session in a little more detail below that. Many of the sessions can be combined as needed by schools for in-service days. I have done all of the sessions listed at many district, state and national conferences. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about any of the sessions at gator@edugator.com and I will be happy help out in any way that I can.

Thanks!!

1. FIRED UP FOR LEARNING!

Supercharge the learning experience in your classroom! Differentiated instruction means finding ways to reach every student in your classroom. In this session you will learn creative instructional techniques, and great activities that can be used in any content area to motivate and challenge the total class. Based on the book “Fire Up For Learning!” you will leave with ideas to motivate your students, and “Fire Up” your classroom.

It can be especially difficult to motivate and teach every student in a classroom with widely varying abilities. We do not want to teach over any of our students and we absolutely cannot water down our curriculum to teach to the lower levels. Closing the achievement gap means that we need to keep all of our students motivated. In this session I model activities for teachers to demonstrate how to actively engage every student in their classrooms regardless of the skill levels involved.

This session can be a one day to a multiple day workshop with teachers and departments having the opportunities to develop lessons after the activities and lessons that are modeled for them. This session is also a very popular concurrent session for conferences. We do not get to do as many activities, but it is always very motivating for the teachers that participate.

Some of the slides for the Power Point Presentation and more information for this session are in the Power Point links below.

2. INTEGRATED CURRICULUMS DOES NOT MEAN "THEMATIC UNITS"-

A PRACTICAL APPROACH TO INTEGRATING SKILLS, ACTIVITIES AND ASSESSMENTS ACROSS CURRICULUM AREAS

In this session we will demonstrate an easy way to align each content area with the state standards and develop an interdisciplinary approach to instruction. We will show how to ensure that curriculums are aligned with the state standards so that as each interdisciplinary learning connection is developed test scores are guaranteed to rise. You will experience the highest levels of teaming as we chart the curriculums and begin to develop shared projects and assessments, which will make teaching and learning more real, relevant, challenging and motivating. We will also demonstrate how to actively involve the exploratory teachers with the teams. When you leave this session you will know how to make sure your curriculums are developed to meet the requirements and ensure no child left behind. Based on the book “WOW What A Team!” this is one of the most practical sessions you will ever attend.

Every time I do this session participants tell me this is the most practical session they have ever attended. This session demonstrates an easy way to enhance curriculum development based communication and gets teachers working together in ways that had been impossible before. If you want to promote collaboration between departments, or you want to get into Project Based Learning, or you want to start a hugely successful community partnership program then this session will fit your needs.

Interdisciplinary Instruction has often been associated with "Themes" or "Teams" and in this session you will see that you do not have to have either of those to have a very interdisciplinary approach to instruction. In this session you also see that I do not ask teachers to ever change What they are teaching or When they are teaching it. This is a system that helps teachers find naturally occurring learning connections with other subjects and share things like worksheets, overheads, and assessment items. Much of the work done by students gets looked at by multiple teachers, and credit is given in multiple areas. By cross-referencing the topics we teach with the skills needed from other areas, we reinforce skills between content areas, we motivate our students, we close achievement gaps, and we raise state test scores.

3. WOW WHAT A TEAM!

Casey Stengel said, “Gettin' good players is easy. Gettin' them to play good together is the hard part.” In this interactive session the components of effective teaming will be shared. We will look at practical strategies for student management, curriculum development, administrative and guidance participation and support, time management, student support systems, great parent conferences, team building, and effective team meetings. This session is based on the book “WOW What A Team!” and participants will leave with ideas for immediate use that will have a positive impact on student performance and make it much easier to ensure that No Child Is Left Behind.

The idea behind this session is simply to make the most of team meeting time. Participants leave this session with a clear direction for teaming. We set up agendas ahead of time by identifying the tasks to be accomplished and demonstrate how to stay on task. For example, many of the middle schools I have worked with have cut their discipline referral rate by well over half by working together to be more pro-active with student management issues. In this session I show teachers in their teams to work with each other and with their administrators and counselors in much more productive ways.

Many of the things we look at are simple management techniques for getting things done more quickly. Some of the things come under the category of what I like to call "administivia", and all of the things we look at impact student performance. We look at how to more effectively work with our special needs teachers. We also look at how to run much more productive Parent conferences and get the most out of the time with the parents.

4. ADVISORY -- DEVELOPING "STUDENT SKILLS" TO PROMOTE STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

The focus of this "hands on" session is to demonstrate how Advisory programs can promote interdisciplinary team programs by working to meet young adolescents' affective as well as cognitive needs. An activity-based, student-centered Advisory program brings together guidance services, teaching staff, and administrators. The goals of this session are to provide numerous activities based on the book “Fire Up For Learning!” The book is full of challenging activities to motivate and actively engage the students. You will not only see how much fun Advisory can be, but also what a huge impact Advisory programs can have on your school.

I prefer to call these "Student Skills" Programs. My session and the programs I promote are very skill based. In this session we identify the skills critical for students to be successful in their particular school setting. Then I focus on activities that can be used to develop, practice and master these Student Skills.

We tend to teach Student Skills by consequence in education and not by direct instruction.

For example, we tell students they have failed because they did not listen well, or take notes well, or work well in their groups, or did not pace themselves on the project, or did not take very good notes, or did not do the homework assignments, and on and on... Or we will write up or have some other punishment for students when they do not respond appropriately, or speak out of turn, or do not bring materials to class, or are tardy, or are not respectful of the teacher or fellow students, and so on and on...

We do need the consequences, but many of the actions are the result of poor skills. The good news is that these and many other "Student Skills" can be taught, practiced, and hopefully mastered. When this happens we get the very best products from students that they are capable of, and many fewer disciplinary situations to deal with.

During this session I like to model as many activities as possible to demonstrate how to work with students to develop their Student Skills. There are some wonderful materials to help teachers and as I get the time, I will include some of the materials I like to use here. As you will see, I try to take 3 P's out of Advisory; Paper, Pencil, and Preparation. I also try to help teachers put one very important P into Advisory and that would a clearly defined Purpose.

When teachers understand the Purpose of Advisory is to help students develop Student Skills, and we identify what those specific skills are, and then give them the materials and training to teach those skills, Advisory Programs can have a huge positive impact on the academic performance of the students, and the climate of the school.

5. INCLUSION CONFUSION

Inclusion. No other term in education seems to create so much confusion. This session looks at what inclusion is -- and isn't. In this session, we will look at what it means to co-teach and how to be successful with inclusion.

In this session we look at the advantages of regular education and special needs teachers co-teaching in the same classroom. We also look at the difficulties that can occur and how to avoid them. I share and model co-taught lessons and how to plan together for a successful co-teaching experience. The co-planning time is usually very limited for the teachers that will be teaching together, and often one special needs teacher will be asked to plan and co-teach with more than one regular education teacher. I have a simplified process and planning form for teachers to use to make the most of their limited planning time.

6."DIFFERENTIATE THIS!"

Experience differentiated instruction and take away examples for immediate use in your classroom! In this session we will demonstrate how to effectively challenge every learner in your classroom regardless of skill level. You will leave this session with a clear idea of how to design and implement a differentiated lesson so that you will not have to ever teach above or below any of your students. This session will take the mystery out of differentiated instruction by showing participants easy, practical ways to plan lessons and by giving them activities to take back to help them jump start their classes.

Differentiated Instruction simply means find ways to teach them all. It can be especially difficult to motivate and teach every student in a classroom with widely varying abilities. We do not want to teach over any of our students and we absolutely cannot water down our curriculum to teach to the lower levels. Closing the achievement gap means that we need to keep all of our students motivated. In this session I model activities for teachers to demonstrate how to actively engage every student in their classrooms regardless of the skill levels involved.

NOTE: This session and number 1. "Fire Up for Learning" are essentially the same.

7. DIFFERENTIATED LEADERSHIP

"LEAD -- FOLLOW (UP) -- (AND THEN) GET THEM ON THEIR WAY!!"

Leading change in schools has been compared to trying to change the tires on a car while it's moving. To me it is more like trying to nail Jell-O to a tree! In this session, we will look at educational leadership and the systems you have in your building. Many a good administrator has been undone by bad systems within their building. In this session we will look at how to lead change in schools, and I will share systems for things like student management that will simplify your life and enhance your school. We will look at how to assess your systems, how to get ownership with your staff, and how to keep things simple. Whatever your leadership role, strategies will be shared to help you become a more effective leader.

Administrators, Team Leaders, Committee Chairs, District Level Personnel and anyone else charged with leadership responsibilities will benefit from this session. Past participants have said this is the most practical session on leadership they have ever attended. Participants will leave with System Models, Forms and Processes that will help define issues and simplify the change process. What I do is demonstrate how to get your staff invested in each other's success. When teachers are truly invested in each other's curriculum development, classroom instruction, discipline and so on, progress is inevitable.

In a conference format we will look at some generic issues to demonstrate how practical and easy we break down the steps for leaders. When visiting schools, I help the school apply the steps to the issues that school is facing. We look at building ownership by getting the staff invested and clearly laying out a game plan to implement change whether it is putting in new practices or adapting and modifying current practices.

8. THE BEST TEACHERS ON THE BLOCK

So, now that you have those longer periods in the block, what are you going to do with them? You have certain weapons in your teaching arsenal, but 90-110 minutes is a long time to be with one group of students. John Wooden said, "Failure to prepare is preparing to fail." So how do we prepare to take advantage of the block time to meet the wide variety of individual needs of our students? The goal of this session is to explore a variety of teaching models, strategies, and resources for the Extended Learning Time (ELT) of the Block. Learn how to actively involve your students and become the Best Teacher on the Block.

Many schools report problems when they move to block schedules such as teachers not covering as much material, classroom management issues due to the longer periods, and student apathy in lecture type classes. THE SCHEDULE IS NOT THE PROBLEM! When teachers are properly trained and given the planning time (part of the training should be how to teach students in the extended learning time, and part of the training should be how to plan to teach students in extended learning time) block schedules can have a tremendous impact on student performance.

In this session I like to model lessons designed for block schedules and help teachers develop lessons. This will require some departmental work on curriculum realignment, and individual teacher planning to more actively engage the students in the lessons. Lecture only will not work in extended periods of time, so I demonstrate how to utilize multiple instructional strategies and how to make the most of teaching in the block.

9. COMPASS -- SETTING THE COURSE FOR THE MIDDLE SCHOOL

The way to get the community and families reengaged in the educational system is to make them a part of the curriculum. COMPASS (Community Partnerships Assuring Student Success) is an innovative program, which is bringing the community, through its businesses and organizations, into the middle school by linking them with teams and developing a "community-based" curriculum.

This session is built into the Curriculum Solutions for No Child Left Behind session listed above. We use the COW's that we build in that session to get the business community and parents actively involved with our curriculums. We want to get their support in the development of our curriculums and in the delivery of our lessons. The trick is to create a system to enables communication between our teachers and our business community. We want the business community to have an understanding of what skills are being taught in classes and then give them several ways and opportunities to support our planning and teaching.

The need for getting the business community meaningfully involved is critical, and the impact a program like COMPASS can have on your school cannot be overstated.

10. BUILDING BLOCKS I

If your school were a car, then your schedule would be the engine. It doesn't matter how nice the body looks, if the engine isn't running well, you're not going far. The "muscle" behind the middle school is in its block schedule. Flexible instructional delivery, student movement, team effectiveness, advisory, alternative assessment, etc., are all determined, to no small extent, by the block schedule. The goal of this session is to look at the advantages and disadvantages of the various types of block schedules.

11. BUILDING BLOCKS II

Now that you have decided that a block schedule is for you, how do you build it? This session takes a look at the nuts & bolts of building a block schedule. This is a practical, roll-up-your-sleeves look at the process of schedule development.

In these sessions I give the participants a look at the various kinds of "Block" schedules and the various modifications that are used in Middle and High Schools. I demonstrate the advantages and disadvantages as well as the challenges of building the various types of schedules. During this presentation we take a look at how to build different schedules, and just as importantly, how to get the most use out of whatever schedule they might have. There are some guiding principles for building the most effective and efficient schedules, but schools need to understand that no two schedules look alike! Every school is unique and will have to look at scheduling accordingly. Also, scheduling should not be just about teacher assignments. The scheduling process should include a look at student movement patterns, the impact on curriculum development and delivery, teacher room assignments, and other issues in the building. (Note: Building Blocks I & II can be, and often are combined for one session.)

12. "STYLE IS EVERYTHING!"

This session looks at your learning and teaching styles. We will use a variety of instruments and activities to learn more about yourself, your students, and your fellow teachers. We will show you how to develop brain based activities and a brain based classroom. Right Brain or Left Brain, you'll be STYLIN' after this session.

See Differentiate This!!

13. "GRIN AND BEAR IT!"

Did Daniel Boone really grin down a bear? Who knows, but you can always get further with a grin than a growl. This session will present how to build and maintain a positive school climate. Starting with good communication, many ideas and strategies will be presented to make your school a positive, productive, and FUN place to work and learn.

PLEASE NOTE: Sessions may be combined or customized to suit individual needs. Most sessions can also be altered to fit any time slot from one hour (conferences or planning periods), to multiple days (in-service days or retreats).

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