This series of offerings is focused on classroom research and strategies to improve achievement and to develop social and interpersonal skills in students. It offers a wide variety of choices to support the school and district outcomes; each workshop can be customized to the specific client needs. In our commitment to building school and district capacity, Heart of Change Associates also offers differentiated follow up to all workshops to increase transfer of skills and to support development of leaders and facilitators.

Teaching and Learning Follow Up – Heart of Chance Associates can visit classrooms, coach teachers, support principals and offer advanced topics to ensure transfer of skills and behaviors from the workshop to the classroom.

1. Identifies the decisions that all teachers make,
2. Supplies teachers with a repertoire of research-based skills and strategies, and
3. Encourages teachers to select those strategies and processes, which are appropriate in order to increase learning.

This program provides teachers with a body of knowledge and an inventory of skills that they can apply when deciding which instructional actions to take.

The body of knowledge that is taught in the workshop under girds all other effective models or modes of teaching (Balanced Literacy, Month by Month Phonics, Everyday Math, Resnick's Principles of Learning, Workshop Model Format, direct instruction, concept attainment, multiple intelligences, thinking skills, functional grouping, differentiated instruction, lesson design, multiple intelligences, cooperative learning/team learning strategies, etc) because it identifies the decisions that all teachers must make regardless of the chosen method of instruction. This approach is especially important to the successful implementation of any of these programs.  Researchers like Joyce and Showers, Allington, and others have uncovered this fact: without a solid understanding of instructional decision-making the decisions that all teachers must make teachers, coaches and supervisors are significantly less likely to successfully reach all learners.

Because the Essential Elements of Instruction are trans-disciplinary and founded in the brain research that supports all other programs, it provides the fundamental basis for all teacher decisions. Quality instruction is the result of quality decision-making with any curriculum or set of performance or learning standards. These same decisions apply regardless of the content, age, background of the learner or the teacher style.

In addition, participants will develop precision in perception and in language.  A common body of knowledge and precise terminology encourages reflective conversation, self-assessment, and discussion of teacher artifacts. This precision will reflect a deeper understanding of effective teaching and the teacher decisions that support it. For teachers, this will result in better decision-making in the classroom.  Supervisors, Professional Developers, Mentors, Coaches, Principals and Assistant Principals, can use this deeper understanding in their observations of teaching. It will enable administrators to recognize good teaching and to make sound, consistent judgments about what they see. The common language used to analyze teaching also makes it possible for these Instructional Leaders to raise teaching standards, and to provide Technical Coaching.

As a result of successfully completing the program, educators will approach their decision-making in an even more professional manner.

Because, as Pat Wolfe's research suggests, teachers make between 1500-3000 decisions each day, our programs focus on teacher decision-making. Garmston, Marzano, Schon, Allington and others point out that one key distinction between successful teachers and those who are not is the quality of the foundation that teachers have for making instructional choices.

In the June 2002 Kappan article based on his longitudinal study of reading instruction, Richard Allington goes so far as to say that no proven program is the answer. What matters is good instructional decision-making based on a solid foundation. In fact, his research found that implementing one-size-fits all programs that interfere with teacher decision-making actually erodes student success in reading.

1. Understand the 5 differences between group work and cooperative interaction
2. Foster and teach interpersonal and small group skills
3. Dramatically improve student achievement and test scores
4. Create and manage a cooperative classroom
5. Develop an out-of-consciousness” behavior to be able to determine what skills are needed in a cooperative classroom
6. Apply activities that enhance student learning and team development

Participants will be able to:

1. Apply current research regarding Multiple Intelligence Theory
2. Prepare lessons and classroom activities accessing multiple intelligences
3. Optimize learning for every student in the classroom
4. Give their classroom the spontaneity and excitement learning deserves

Grouping, by itself, doesn't improve students learning abilities; it is how groups are used that produce more successful students. Our program helps teachers optimize structures using learning activities, cooperative structures, higher order thinking, and multiple intelligence strategies. Using the latest research, we assist teachers in the diagnosis, grouping of students base. Teachers will learn effective approaches to planning for differentiation of instruction to improve performance for all students.

Participants will be able to:

1. Use current learning research for diagnosing learners
2. Access multiple intelligences
3. Select Objectives at the Correct Level of Difficulty 
4. Apply strategies for planning differentiated approaches
5. Establish and manage differentiated learning teams

Participants will be able to:

• Examine their own thinking about thinking”
• Understand and teach 14 indicators of intelligent behavior
• Develop strategies for increasing specific student thinking behavior
• Create questioning strategies to foster higher order thinking
• Create a classroom where thinking is valued