Our workshop formats are flexible, interactive, and hands-on. We build in time for reflection and ways to apply the concepts to the work you do with students.
Find details about current workshop offerings here. If you don’t see what you’re looking for, contact us about customizing our professional learning opportunities to meet your needs at 802.387.1662 or email@example.com.
In response to recent state and federal legislation mandating renewed focus on dyslexia, LCIRT has updated its professional learning services for schools and colleges around dyslexia screening, interventions, and teacher training.
Our customized onsite workshops or online webinars offer contemporary understanding of dyslexia neuroscience and pedagogy for all levels. LCIRT offers high quality Professional Learning to K-12 schools and colleges, as well as to teacher preparation programss that want to deepen their understanding of dyslexia. A series of face-to-face, onsite workshops or online webinars can provide support to educators in the following areas:
- Overview of dyslexia: examines etiology, neurodevelopmental pathways, brain signatures, prevalence and characteristics, as well as a brief overview of the history of dyslexia research, interventions and legislation
- Recognizing signs of dyslexia in school populations: helps educators understand typical signs of dyslexia at different developmental stages, as well as individual variations in functional limitations
- Understanding English word structure: the key to scientifically-validated remediation is familiarity with the phonology, orthography, and morphology of words in English, since these form the basis for instruction that develops accurate and automatic application of the alphabetic principle when decoding words
- Early interventions that prevent reading failure: examines classroom-tested and scientifically valid programs and approaches based on systematic, language-based, multi-sensory instruction
- Remedial approaches for older students: while early intervention is the gold standard for efficient remediation, Landmark has 30+ years of success in transforming lives of older students through direct instruction, meta-cognitive strategy development, and proficiency with assistive technology
- Assessment: looks at how to assess individual progress and evaluate programs, including early screening and ongoing progress monitoring
For additional information, contact:
Landmark College Institute for Research and Training
The 21st Century Classroom: Tablet-based Pedagogical Practices for Supporting Diverse Learners
Many schools are moving towards campus-wide tablet initiatives that put a tablet in the hands of each student and teacher. Tablets offer a great deal of promise as tools for enhancing student learning, but only when accompanied by effective pedagogical practices.
This is particularly true for students who typically struggle in the traditional classroom. When practices don't meet the needs of students at the margins, they can find themselves farther behind their peers than they would have otherwise been.
This workshop will focus on effective pedagogical practices for supporting students with diverse learning needs and will provide examples of how apps can be used to enhance and in some instance transform how those practices are implemented in today's classroom.
The Crucial Role of Executive Function in Student Success
Why do some otherwise able students struggle with organization, sustaining effort or attention, and getting their work done on time? These struggles could be the result of Executive Function (EF) challenges. EF refers to brain-based abilities that allow us to harness our energy and focus on goals—in short, EF allow us to manage ourselves and get things done. This interactive workshop will provide a practical model of executive function and explore how educators can use an inquiry-based approach to support students in learning to successfully manage the EF challenges inherent in an academic setting. As a result of this workshop, participants will (1) understand EF within the context of brain development, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and Autism Spectrum Disorders, and (2) have access to an effective approach, supported by a repertoire of strategies to help improve students’ skills in time management, task completion, and self-regulation.
Effective Instruction through Universal Design
Universal Design for Instruction (UDI) has recently gained the attention of educators, administrators, and policy-makers as they realize that while one-size-fits-all approaches don’t meet the needs of diverse learners, it is impractical to differentiate according to each individual student’s profile.
This workshop will highlight the principles of UDI, introduce best practices for teaching a diverse range of students within the context of UDI, and explore the inherent benefits and challenges in applying UDI to course planning and delivery, instruction, and assessment.
Participants in this hands-on workshop will begin to develop UDI approaches and tools that they can adapt for instruction in their own courses.
Introduction to Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)
This workshop will provide an overview of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and discuss the challenges that students with ASD face on a daily basis. Participants will engage in interactive activities to highlight the characteristics of ASD and to understand how individuals with ASD process emotions and academic environments. By the end of the workshop, participants will develop strategies to support executive functions and social cognition in their students with ASD.
Literacy for Learning: Essential Skills for Academic Success
Academic reading and writing are among the most challenging tasks for struggling students, and the wide adoption of Common Core State Standards raises the bar in both areas. As students progress through high school and beyond, reading and writing assignments increase in length and complexity, placing greater demands on effort, memory, and critical thinking. This workshop will review current research in reading and composition practice, and model effective instruction that promotes academic success for secondary and postsecondary students with learning difficulties. Participants will learn how to develop strategies to improve reading comprehension and academic writing. They will have opportunities to integrate concepts and strategies covered in the workshop into their own course design/lesson plans.
Neuroscience of Teaching and Learning
This workshop is designed to provide participants with an in-depth understanding of the neuroscience involved in the learning process. By engaging in hands-on activities to understand the neural processes underlying attention, emotions, language and memory, participants will learn effective, brain-based classroom strategies to motivate student learning. With as many as 100 billion neurons in each brain capable of forming trillions of connections with one another, see how many new neural connections you can form just by participating in this workshop!
Overview of Learning Differences: LD, ADHD, ASD
In this workshop, participants will gain a core understanding of learning theories and best practices for working effectively with students who learn differently. Discussion of current definitions, trends, and research on Learning Disabilities, ADHD, Dyscalculia and Autism Spectrum Disorders, will lay the foundation for understanding how educators can provide optimal learning opportunities for all students.
Teaching Foreign Language to Students with Learning Differences
This workshop addresses the question of what makes learning a second language extraordinarily difficult for some students. It explores the research literature on issues such as the cognitive basis of language learning. How do language, memory, and attention interact? Why do at-risk students often fail foreign language classes?
The workshop presents the latest thinking about a theoretical framework which explains second language learning difficulties, including simulations of second language learning difficulties designed to give instructors insights and empathy for students’ challenges.
Participants explore recommendations for effective second language instruction based on research, literature review, and decades of classroom practice developed in Landmark College’s highly successful foreign language programs. The workshop includes suggestions for structuring foreign language programs and for specific classroom approaches and materials.
Teaching Math: Why Students Struggle and What You Can Do to Help!
"I am just no good at math," is a comment one hears far too often, but why is it that so many seem to struggle with math? This workshop will take a close look at the key cognitive and neurological factors that cause students to struggle with mathematical content, including our emerging understanding of Dyscalculia. The workshop will then present evidence-based, hands-on instruction in practices that can help all students learn math.
Teaching Supportive Study Skills
Study skills are sometimes called the “hidden curriculum.” Teachers often assume students know how to organize materials, manage time and tasks efficiently, take and use notes effectively, and prepare for tests. However, many students lack these essential skills and approach these tasks haphazardly.
This workshop introduces classroom-tested strategies that teachers can implement within content courses, and will explore effective uses of innovative academic apps to support organization skills, note-taking, and self-regulation.
Technology: Assistive and Ubiquitous
This workshop provides an overview of how educational technologies can enrich and enhance the education of students who learn differently. The presenter examines ways to support the key areas of reading comprehension, academic writing, and note-taking with technologies that are appropriate to students with learning challenges in a variety of educational settings.
At the request of the host school, the workshop can feature demonstrations of traditional assistive technology such as Kurzweil 3000, Dragon-Naturally Speaking, and Inspiration software; a range of tablet-based apps such as Voice Dream Reader and Notability; or a combination of the two. The emphasis is on scaffolding research-based pedagogical approaches with technology tools that reduce cognitive load and support strategic approaches.
Participants learn how to implement time-tested Landmark College approaches to supporting students who learn differently using updated technology.
For additional information:
Landmark College Institute
for Research and Training