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All bookings for Education Workshops are scheduled through Educational Resources Group, Inc.
Click the logo at left to schedule your appointment.
(To schedule a "Storytelling Event",
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Below is a brief description of my various Reading and Writing Educational Workshops. Click on a link below to view details of each workshop:
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APPEARANCES:
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Phyllis has presented at state and national conferences throughout the United States. Her wealth of knowledge, sense of humor and practical strategies makes her a repeat presenter at schools and Regional Offices of Education throughout the country.
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Five Day Writing Series for Grades 3 through 12
Reading Comprehension in the Content Areas
Activities and Strategies to Build Reading Comprehension
Spelling Strategies for Grades 3 through 8
Poetry as a Path to Building Reading and Writing Skills
Writing Continuum for Grades K-2
Storytelling in the Classroom a series of classroom workshops
Vocabulary Development
Socratic Questioning
Reciprocal Teaching
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Five Day Writing Series for Grades 3 through 12
Any day can be offered as an individual full day workshop
Agenda
1. Day One: Sentence Patterns and Linguistic Grammar
What problems do all writers face: lack of motivation, lack of automaticity, and lack of content knowledge. Teach sentence patterns and watch these problems fade away. This workshop will show you how to help your students write 24 patterns that use specific nouns and vivid verbs for higher scores in organization and voice. Learn how to use linguistic grammar rather than traditional grammar to eliminate fragments, run-ons, and dangling participles. Use the patterns to encourage the revision skills: add, delete, change, rearrange. Build a common vocabulary through the patterns. Most of the activities presented in this workshop will be taught in your first weeks of school to form the basis for your writing program.
Goal One: To analyze and write the basic patterns of the English Language
Activities to Support Goal One:
1. Noun Town / Verb Suburb
2. Noun Bank
3. Verb Poems
4. Test the basic pattern
5. The lady walked.
6. Sentence Slam
7. Slap Clap - Snap
8. Short stories
9. Adjective Relay Race (Adjective Avenue)
10. Guess the Adverb
11. Brainstorm Adverbs (Adverb Alley)
12. Preposition Park
13. Enhanced short stories
Goal Two: To compare Linguistic Grammar to Traditional Grammar
Activities to Support Goal Two:
1. Second Basic Pattern
2. N V N Story based on literature
3. Adjective Flip Books
4. Adverb Flip Books
5. Match the Sentences
6. Discussion of Form vs. Function
Goal Three: To implement the 4 Revision Skills during the writing process
Activities to Support Goal Three:
1. Sentence Highlight
2. About Point
3. Spotting Weak Verbs
4. Repetition rewrites
5. Eliminating weak patterns
6. Sentence Charting
2. Day Two: Setting Up a Writing Workshop and Building Student-Designed Rubrics
This workshop will cover the needs of a successful writing workshop: setting goals and establishing procedures. Skill sheets covering the features of writing will be provided to help you chart the specific skills that students need to become independent, motivated writers. Provide students with a range of options to ensure time on task during the writing block. Participants will then learn how to guide students in the development and use of rubrics for expository, persuasive, and narrative writing modes. Learn how to use assessment as a teaching tool as we design and use each rubric.
Goal One: To develop an understanding of Writing Workshop and its importance
Activities to Support Goal One:
1. Establish short term goals
2. Establish long term goals
3. Respond to an author
4. Analyze workshop problems
5. Determine a 5 day cycle
Goal Two: To determine how to begin an implementation of Writing Workshop
Activities to Support Goal Two:
1. Brainstorming Session
2. Discussion of Procedures / Goals
Goal Three: To develop and use a student-made rubric
Activities to Support Goal Three:
1. Read and score expository essays
2. Determine strengths and weaknesses of essays
3. Align to Illinois Writing Rubric
4. Set cut points for writing features
5. Compare Expository to Persuasive
6. Compare Expository /Persuasive to Narrative
3. Day Three: Designing Mini-Lessons to Improve Focus Scores
See how the use of poetry in narrative, persuasive and expository writing can result in higher scores in support and focus. Use poetry as a revision skill to help the audience visualize important details. Poetry skills will then be used to help students move beyond a basic mapping paragraph to create openings and closings for expository, persuasive, and narrative texts that will hook the reader.
Goal One: To embed poetry skills into the sentence patterns
Activities to Support Goal One:
1. Similes and parallel structure
2. Metaphors and Appositives
3. Hyperbole, Tall tales and Expository Essays
4. Visualization, Walt Whitman and specific details
Goal Two: To create effective openings and closings for all modes of writing
Activities to Support Goal Two:
1. Charting General nouns to specific nouns
2. Enhancing opening paragraphs
3. Enhancing closing paragraphs
4. Day Four: Reinforcing the Skills of a Successful Writer
This day will focus on mini-lessons that are tied directly to the skills of focus, support, organization, voice, and conventions. Learn how to use mini-lessons to teach the four revision skills: add, delete, combine, rearrange. Participants will be asked to come to this workshop with a first draft personal narrative of 10 to 20 sentences. Participants will then use the mini-lessons to improve their own writing.
Goal One: To understand the relationship between assessment and instruction
Activities to Support Goal One:
1. Review of the skills charts for the features of writing
2. Process to create mini-lessons
3. Application of Mini-lessons to improve Support
4. Application of Mini-lessons to improve Organization
5. Application of Mini-lessons to improve Conventions
5. Day Five: Hodge Podge of Writing Activities
Teach skill not product. Learn how to teach the skills needed for successful expository, persuasive, and narrative modes without boring students with an endless string of dull assignments. Throw out those boring writing prompts and challenge students to take joy in writing. Participants will leave this workshop with everything necessary to teach a wide variety of writing assignments: Character Sketch, Rebus Stories, My Student the Car, Luxury vs. Necessity and so much more. Short assignments, longer assignments, and games will be provided. All prewriting activities and models of final products will be provided.
Goal One: To analyze the value of teaching skill vs. product
Activities to Support Goal One:
1. Analyze a piece of student writing to determine needed skills
2. Compare skills to State writing requirements
Goal Two: To provide a range of writing assignments that teaches skills of effective writers
Activities to Support Goal Two:
1. Short Assignments and Prewriting activities
2. Long Assignments and Prewriting activities
3. Challenge Activities
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Reading Comprehension in the Content Areas
This workshop offers an array of activities designed to help students deepen comprehension and develop crucial reading skills in the content areas. This workshop will focus on strategies and activities that will help students become independent readers able to organize and use information.
Agenda
Goal One: To help students become independent readers who use the strategies automatically
Goal Two: To help students organize important information for retention
Goal Three: To encourage student responsibility for learning
Activities to Support Goals One Through Three:
1. Introduction to Strategies of good readers
2. Overview of current brain research
3. Overview of QAR (Question Answer Relationship)
4. QAR and Visual Literacy
5. Problems with textbooks
6. A selection from the following activities:
a. Give One Get One
b. Textbook Activity Guides
c. PQRST / SQ3R
d. RAP
e. About Point
f. GIST
g. SWBS / It says, I say, And so
h. 4 2 1 Free Write
i. Graphic Organizers and jigsaw reading
j. Possible Sentences
k. Text Structures for prediction and recall
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Activities and Strategies to Build Reading Comprehension
This full day workshop offers an array of activities designed to help elementary and junior high students deepen comprehension and develop crucial reading skills. Learn Taffy Raphaels QAR (Question Answer Relationship) and how it empowers students. See how QAR can be used to assess and improve your current reading program. QAR can also be used to deepen comprehension in content areas. The remainder of the workshop will give teachers an opportunity to participate in a variety of activities that will be tied to the QAR. Learn how to develop instructional vocabulary that will encourage students to make connections, make inferences, determine importance, ask questions, build vocabulary, visualize and synthesize information.
Agenda
Goal One: To develop an understanding of QAR and its classroom applications
Goal Two: To develop and use instructional vocabulary related to reading strategies
Goal Three: To practice a variety of reading activities and analyze how they support reading comprehension and the development of short constructed answers and extended responses
Activities to Support Goals One Through Three:
1. Overview of current research on reading comprehension
2. QAR what it is and how to use it in the classroom
a. Definition of QAR
b. Question development
c. Instructional vocabulary related to QAR
d. QAR and Visual Literacy
e. QAR and textbook analysis
3. Analyze the relationship between reading strategies and extended response
4. A selection from the following activities:
a. Predict a Character
b. Character Map
c. Tea Party
d. Book Bits
e. Build a Sentence and Structures of text
f. Predict a Gram
g. Character 4 Square
h. Most Important Word
i. Could Have Said
j. Character Report Cards
k. Graphic Organizers
l. About Point
m. Predict the words
n. Visualization activities
o. Sketch to Stretch
p. Snowballs
q. Multiple readings
r. Relationship charts
s. Character traits vs. emotions
t. Character poems
u. Plot charts
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Spelling Strategies for Grades 3 through 8
What do you want in a spelling program? This three hour workshop will show teachers how to develop a spelling program that will empower students. Topics covered will include:
Using strategies while writing
Creating a positive attitude toward spelling
Developing and using an understanding of rulings of spelling
Embedding the spelling program into the writing workshop
Based on the research of Rosencrans, Snowball, and Bolton, this workshop takes a close look at current brain research, assumptions about learning, and how that knowledge can be merged with the crucial elements of spelling instruction. This workshop will cover three tools and six spelling strategies that will make students independent spellers.
Agenda
Goal One: To analyze the problems with current spelling methodology
Activities to Support Goal One:
1. Discussion of traditional instructional practices
2. Discussion of the ideal spelling program
3. Sample weekly plan
Goal Two: To develop an understanding of spelling tools
Activities to Support Goal Two:
1. Samples of student spelling logs
2. Practice weekly spelling test
3. Error analysis
Goal Three: To practice spelling strategies and determine application in current practice
Activities to Support Goal Three:
1. Demonstration of six spelling strategies
2. Activities to support the spelling strategies
a. Words sorts
b. Carousel brainstorms
c. Cluster relay
d. Word ladders
e. Letter ladders
f. Sound in parts
g. Look Say - Cover Write
h. Student teacher cards
i. Prefix / suffix analysis
j. One minute modeling
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Poetry as a Path to Building Reading and Writing Skills
Poetry is a way of taking life by the throat. (Robert Frost) If your students groan at the thought of studying poetry, then this is the workshop you need. Participants in this workshop will walk away with dozens of classroom activities, models of writing, and a solid poetry unit that can be taught in a block of 10 days or spread throughout the year as mini-lessons and challenge assignments. Show students how to recognize and create basic literary devices (simile, metaphor, personification, alliteration, assonance, onomatopoeia, hyperbole). Use form poems (limerick, diamonte, clerihew, quatrains, etc) as an assessment tool for reading comprehension. Poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful. (Rita Dove)
Agenda
Goal One: To demonstrate the connection between poetry and other modes of writing
Activities to Support Goal One:
1. Recognizing literary devices (simile metaphor onomatopoeia alliteration assonance personification hyperbole)
2. Analysis of student writing samples with literary devices embedded
Goal Two: To use form poems as an assessment of reading comprehension
Activities to Support Goal Two:
1. Recognizing a variety of form poems: clerihew, limerick, haiku, tanka, diamante, couplet, sonnet, list poems, push poems, centos, question answer, quatrains
2. Analysis of student poems and the relationship to reading comprehension
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Writing Continuum for Grades K-2
This 3 hour workshop will present the K-2 writing continuum developed by ISBE in 2002. The continuum focuses on the writing development of K-2 students in the areas of focus, support, organization, and conventions. Participants will see a variety of student samples to explain the 6 levels of development for each feature. This continuum was designed to flow directly into the ISAT writing rubrics. Participants will use student samples and work in teams to practice using the continuum. Strategies to move children forward on the continuum will be demonstrated.
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Storytelling in the Classroom a series of classroom workshops
Brain research tells us that real learning takes place when both intellect and emotions are brought into play. We remember those things that we care deeply about; we understand that which we can see. That is why in most cultures the storyteller is also considered the teacher. Invite a storyteller to come to your classroom for 6 separate sessions to work with your students. Teachers and students change once storytelling enters the classroom. Encourage students to learn, to share, to grow through the power of storytelling.
Session One: What is storytelling? Students will hear a variety of stories and create a list of skills a storyteller needs.
Session Two: Letting the story find you. Students will spend time reading a variety of fables and wisdom tales so that they can select a tale to tell
Session Three: How to learn a story. Practicing techniques such as mental imaging, looping, and story maps to learn rather than memorize a story.
Session Four: Storytelling exercises and activities that encourage stage presence
Session Five: More storytelling exercises and activities that encourage stage presence
Session Six: Storytelling Festival
Additional sessions can be provided that focus on learning how to write a variety of stories.
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Vocabulary Development
Vocabulary knowledge is the single most important factor contributing to reading comprehension. (J. G. Laflamme, The Effect of the Multiple Exposure Vocabulary Method and the Target Reading Writing Strategy on Test Scores. 1997) Participants in this workshop will learn the 8 indicators of an effective vocabulary lesson. Numerous lessons will then be presented with an opportunity to evaluate each lesson based upon the 8 indicators. Based on the research of Marzano, Laflamme, Blachowicz, Fisher, Nagy, Anderson, Yopp, and Johnson.
Activities to be Presented:
Possible Sentences and Structures of Text
Vocabulary Monsters
Word Expert Cards and Support Activities Connect Two, Anything Goes, Sentence Completion, Open Sort, Closed Sort
Semantic Features Map
Connotation / Denotation Charts
Mystery Bubbles
Freyer Model
Concept Definition Map
Latin Roots and Greek Stems
Developing a district wide vocabulary list
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Socratic Questioning
Socrates believed that it is far more important to enable students to think for themselves than to provide them with the right answers. This workshop will demonstrate how Socratic questioning can engage students in dialogues. Socratic dialogue encourages divergent thinking. Participants will examine a common text and then work as a team to answer open-ended questions. The goal is to have participants to think critically, analyze multiple meanings, and express ideas with clarity and confidence free of bias. Participants will see the value of respectful, thoughtful listening instead of interruption. Participants will be encouraged to paraphrase essential elements of ideas before sharing support or opposition.
Agenda for Socratic Questioning:
1. Dialogue vs. debate
2. Participation in a Socratic Dialogue
3. Analysis of dialogue
4. Sample Rubrics for participation
5. Question development
6. Socratic questioning and QAR
7. Question answer period
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Reciprocal Teaching
Good readers use a variety of strategies to comprehend text. Reciprocal teaching is a discussion technique that helps students to develop some of these strategies. The National Reading Panel recognizes reciprocal teaching as an effective teaching practice that unquestionably improves student comprehension. Students assist one another in a cooperative setting to understand and apply the four strategies: predict, question, clarify, and summarize. This teaching method requires a high degree of teacher modeling and student practice. Reciprocal Teaching aims to help students monitor their comprehension as they become more metacognitive and reflective. According to a 1986 study by Palincsar and Klenk students demonstrated a 30 to 80% increase on comprehension assessemnt after 15 to 20 days.
Agenda for Reciprocal Teaching:
1. Overview of the 4 reading strategies
2. Goals of reciprocal teaching
3. Demonstration of reciprocal teaching in guided reading groups
4. Practicing the strategies
5. Classroom management
6. Reciprocal teaching as part of a comprehensive reading program
7. Assessing student development
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