Athens, Ga. – A two-day professional development workshop to introduce teachers to the foundations of the Strategic Instructional Model® and prepare them to implement the fundamentals in theme writing strategy will be presented by the University of Georgia College of Education Sept 27-28.
The workshop will be held from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. each day at Rivers Crossing located at 850 College Station Road in Athens. The registration deadline is Sept. 19. SIM® Professional Developer Kathy Boyle-Gast, of the College of Education’s department of communication sciences and special education, will be the instructor.
The research-based program helps students acquire strategies for writing and editing a theme by using a basic structure and framework to plan and write effectively. With incremental instruction, students are taught how to gather information, organize it using a diagram, and write a theme with a structure that includes an introduction, body, conclusion and connecting paragraphs with appropriate transitions. The strategy is designed and found to be most appropriate for students in grades 6-12, although some have taught the strategy successfully to fourth graders. Students who can write complete sentences and well-organized paragraphs respond most successfully to instruction in theme writing strategy.
Participants in this workshop ideally have already received professional development in the SIM® paragraph writing strategy.
Developed through the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning from on-going studies for more than 30 years, SIM® is an evidence-based model of instruction that provides learning strategies and content enhancement routines geared towards students who are struggling to learn in the classroom, including those with specific learning difficulties. The SIM® workshops require instruction by a University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning-approved professional developer.
The cost for the workshop is $250. Professional learning units can be earned through the workshops, contingent upon approval by the individual’s school district administration. For more information on other workshops or to register online, see the UGA College of Education Office of Outreach and Engagement at www.coe.uga.edu/events/.
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