Language and Literacy Leadership Series
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Adult Centered Instructional Design

In this workshop, we cover the basics of how to design an effective class or workshop for adults. Participants learn how to use the work of leading theorists in effective and proven ways inside their classroom to create a more engaging experience where students are more actively involved and retain much more of the information covered.   
Prerequisites: Attendees must have an education background or be a teacher or presenter with a current or active class.

Cultural Literacy and Awareness Workshop

In this highly interactive class, we review the basics of the communication and the societal expectation differences between cultures to build awareness and sensitivity when interacting in new environments.  Students learn the five stages of cultural understanding (also known as culture shock) and gain an understanding of the five key differences between cultural communication styles.

Intro to Small Group Teaching and Tutoring Adult Literacy and English Language Learners

In this two session course, attendees learn the basics of how to teach an adult to read and to get started teaching someone desiring to learn English.  Students learn the basics about who is the student, culture, whole language vs. phonics, total physical response, sight words, correction, grammar, pronunciation, lesson planning, goal setting, and creative writing.  The fundamentals taught help attendees get started teaching literacy and ELA students in a small group setting.  This class includes Adult Centered Instructional Design and Classroom Management training. 2 days, 6 hours each.

A Practical Guide to Learning Disabilities

In this workshop, participants gain a basic understanding of the more common learning disabilities along with the techniques shown to work well with many struggling learners.  Specifically, we cover alphabetics, phonemic and morphological awareness, Know-What-Learn (KWL) , Inference Training, Comprehension Builders, and other techniques that participants are given the opportunity to practice during class. The approaches and methods shown can be used with classes or individual students.

Classroom Management: Understanding the Basics

This workshop focuses on the basic techniques and skills needed to manage a classroom in an effective manner.  In this class you will learn how to set expectations, negate conflict, provide feedback in an effective way, keep students involved, and remain likable while still providing structure and keeping your class on task and focused. 

Humor and Creativity in the Classroom

In this class, students learn a series of creativity development games they can use in their own classrooms to increase student humor and creativity.  We cover the most effective improvisational games frequently used with actors that can be transferred into the more traditional classroom setting and how they can be leveraged for more topical learning.  Participants also divide into small groups to compete in a product and advertising creation contest to put their creativity and group interaction skills to the test. 

Learned Helplessness in Adult Education

​In this interactive class, attendees learn about learned helplessness in the adult education community. The focused discussion and activities will help students become more aware of the underlying factors, organizational attitudes, and the social  impact of an often difficult to understand problem.  Bring an open mind and willingness to learn in a small group setting.

Teaching Creative Writing Workshop

This workshop is focused on a broad range of techniques to teach writing either one-on-one or in a small group. We cover how to open up the minimal writer, simple writing drills that can have a big impact, how to teach self-correction, how to improve content through discussions, non-traditional techniques designed to inspire creativity, and how to tackle the common pitfalls of the Adult Literacy and English as a Second Language student.