Sherry Norfolk-Professional Development
Available August 17, 18, 19, 2009 and other dates throughout the school year.

What Struggling Readers Need and How to Provide It:
Research-Based Approaches That Really Work!

Recent research has provided startling and encouraging new insights into how to develop proficient readers. In this workshop, we'll explore the research findings and how they can be applied in the home, at school and in the library, then create practical strategies for fostering a love of reading and helping kids develop the skills they need. This workshop is NOT about teaching kids to read. It IS about bringing kids and books together in meaningful ways. Be ready to "think outside the box" -- we all may need to accept some new roles and acquire some new skills in pursuit of that goal! (2 to 6 contact hours)

Storytelling for Classroom Teachers & Librarians

By its nature, storytelling is experiential, engaging, and involving. More classroom teachers are discovering what storytellers have always known: that storytelling can be the springboard for curriculum integration because one need not be limited to the confines of the language arts. Activities from storytelling can span and thereby aid in integrating the entire curriculum. Storytelling nurtures both the imaginative and analytical sides of a student's brain. "Storytelling for Classroom Teachers" is an introduction to this artform and its interdisciplinary, cross-curricular applications.

Through demonstrations, hands-on, highly interactive activities, and lively discussion, teachers will learn Why storytelling is important in the classroom; How to choose or develop appropriate stories; How to tell a story effectively; How to use storytelling as a cross-curricular, interdisciplinary approach to learning. As a result of the class, students will be engaged in meaningful, low-stress, instruction which integrates the curriculum while enhancing language skills and critical thinking skills. Participants will each select a story and prepare and present a cross-curricular plan using that story.
(2 to 10 contact hours)

The Moral of the Story:
Character Education Through Storytelling

Meaningful, experiential character lessons can be taught effectively and non-didactically through storytelling! Learn to use storytelling to infuse character education throughout the curriculum, resulting in character education instruction that is meaningful and non-confrontational, and which is accessible to all learning styles and applicable to multiple intelligences.

Participants will learn:
What Character Education is and how storytelling relates to it
How to choose and prepare folktales to help kids develop character traits such as caring, teamwork, respect, honesty and sharing
Sources of stories for character education
Quick-and-easy ways to learn a story to tell
How to use an instructional model which teaches these traits, thus awakening the "moral imagination." (2 to 10 contact hours)

Teaching Kids to Tell Stories

Learn effective methods for teaching students of all ages how to learn-and-re-tell or create-and-tell stories, thus improving both written and oral communication skills as well as impacting critical thinking skills, increasing poise and enhancing self-esteem, and learning to accept and appreciate the creative efforts of others. Successfully engage students in an artform which provides a meaningful context in which to expand their written and oral communication skills, improve their self esteem, and practice positive peer interaction. Participants will learn: How to create, learn and tell stories; How to coach student tellers; Sources for instructional support; How to integrate student storytelling into the curriculum; and, How to develop student telling as an extra-curricular activity. (2 to 10 contact hours)

Storytelling:  A Power Tool for Brain-Based Education

School librarians and teachers will learn how the precepts of brain-based educational research can be applied easily and effectively through storytelling, thereby positively affecting test scores and competencies. Story-based instruction creates and extends meaningful locale systems which provide a matrix for learning and retaining information in all curriculum areas, and which is accessible to all learning styles and applicable to multiple intelligences. Participants learn: basic precepts of brain-based research; techniques for applying these precepts through storytelling; ways in which storytelling can help children achieve their learning objectives; ways to use storytelling as an assessment tool for critical thinking skills. (2 to 10 contact hours)

Building Blocks to Literacy

Recent research provides new insights and perspectives on the ways storytelling helps lay the best possible foundation for learning in the early childhood classroom. Participants will explore relevant research and its practical applications, engaging in demonstrations and discussions that put theory into practice. Participants will also learn how to tell stories with confidence and style! This fun-filled, fast-paced, hands-on workshop will bring out the natural storyteller in each person as they discover creative and effective ways to use voice, body language, gestures and facial expression to bring stories to life effectively for young listeners. (2 to 6 contact hours)

Representing only the highest quality teaching artists and performers!