Professional Development Courses & Workshops

Workshops with a Difference!

Experience learning-centred workshops where

• Every key concept is discovered by you
• Every teaching tool is experienced by you
• Brain-researched best teaching practices are demonstrated
  • Co-operative Learning
  • Multiple Intelligences
  • Cohesive learning experiences
  • Social & emotional needs are met in optimal learning environments

We provide workshops, site-based consultancy, and curriculum development programmes that include:

• Thinking strategies for reading, writing and learning
  • Make metacognition a daily aspect of teaching
  • Promote thinking powers through non-verbal representations and active engagement with reading and writing for learning.

• Implementing the Balanced Language Approach to Literacy
  • Succeed with CAPS: Curriculum and Policy Statements for South Africa for language
  • Teach all the components of language literacy using the essential elements of teaching and learning
  • Ensure all learners are productively engaged in language development for reading, writing and thinking to learn

• Co-operative Learning
  • Discover how to design groupwork tasks for co-operation and implement lessons for inclusion so that learners want to and are able to learn together co-operatively
  • Change potential discipline problems into co-operative learning behaviours

• Getting Connected with Co-operative Learning: Creating a learning community for literacy
  • Enable learners to engage with all language learning area outcomes while establishing co-operative practices and classroom management routines

• Co-operative Learning, Multiple Intelligences and how the brain learns best
  • Translate brain research into best classroom practice
  • Design co-operative groupwork tasks with Multiple Intelligences to active learners’ prior knowledge, process new information and build background academic knowledge while having fun

• Implement Foundations for Learning Campaign with large classes of learners with diverse needs
  • Discover classroom management techniques and numerous pre-designed strategies that will empower you to implement the instructional goals of the Campaign and enable learners to achieve learning area outcomes.

• Training the trainer and facilitator
  • Become a curriculum leader and guide educators to
    • design coherent learning experiences that enable learners to achieve ultimate learning outcomes
    • Facilitate simultaneous interaction of total class, pairs and small groups of learners with diverse needs learning activities
    • Translating brain research into best classroom practice

• Managing the Group dynamics for Meetings and Teams
  • Design interactive meetings to bring out the creativity, wisdom and commitment of your team members
  • With the aid of the “Group dynamics barometer” discover how to develop risk-free environments to promote open communication, creative problem solving, and succeed in managing change
  • Experience a variety of facilitation techniques to unleash to potential of the group: Co-operative Learning, Appreciative Enquiry, Deep Democracy.

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Thinking strategies for reading, writing and learning

Bring the 5 key thinking powers into your classroom

A series of workshop that engage participants with such topics as:

• What is reading? Discover how we make meaning from text and how to apply before, during and after reading activities that enable all learners to learn from textbook reading.
• How do you teach metacognition? The Five Thinking Powers provide a concise curriculum that teachers can apply in all learning areas. Experience how to make thinking visible and audible using Multiple Intelligences.
• How do you enable all learners to learn together co-operatively? Discover what to do and how to do it to create a learning community and high performance teams with Co-operative Learning.
• How do you develop strategic readers? Enable all learners to activate background knowledge, make connections, predictions and inferences, pose questions, visualise, differentiate importance, synthesize, draw conclusions and transform their understanding of the subject matter.
• How do you build background knowledge? Find out how to develop learners’ academic knowledge when it is missing so that they are better able to formulate questions, make connections and learn from reading.
• How do you teach reading and achieve learning area outcomes? Experience a variety of effective whole class and small group comprehension strategies that learners apply to reading learning-area texts.

Thinking Powers for Reading Comprehension: How to integrate reading into learning area teaching
Introduction to THINKING POWERS   Discover how to Teach for key Thinking Powers Teach with non-verbal representations Integrate the Thinking Powers into learning area teaching Enable learners to use their thinking powers before, during and after reading assignments across the curriculum Toolkit: DVD and Educator’s Guide for Thinking Powers for reading Comprehension MetaGroup’s Planner for Strategic Teaching and Enhanced Learning Lesson plans for teaching key Thinking Powers Animations of the reading process and how the brain learns CL People Organisers with Comprehension Strategies for before, during and after reading assignments Pre-requisite: Basic understanding of Co-operative Learning and Multiple Intelligences 6-16 hour workshop series depending on desired learning outcomes	Advanced course on Thinking Powers: Developing Strategic Readers   Discover how to Teach all 5 Thinking Powers for reading, writing and learning Integrate each of the Thinking Powers into learning area teaching Use a variety of Comprehension Strategies as Before, During and After Reading activities Design cohesive lessons where activities build on previous activities which enable learners to achieve targeted outcomes How to design mini Writing-to-Learn workshops and practice tasks Toolkit More Comprehension Strategies that develop strategic reading behaviours Writing-to-learn activities CL People Organisers for mastery learning and concept development Lesson Plans for teaching and applying Thinking Powers to reading, writing and learning activities across the curriculum Pre-requisite: Introduction to Thinking Powers Two-day workshop for learning area teaching and texts
Facilitators’ WorkshopBecome Curriculum Leaders who assist educators in designing lessons for Strategic Teaching for enhanced learning of Thinking Powers across the curriculum

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Balanced Language Approach to Literacy
Succeed in implementing South Africa’s CAPS and Foundations of Learning Campaign

Literacy is about communicating and connecting with others, basic social human needs. When our teaching focuses on meeting these needs, learners hunger to learn how to read, write and speak and listen to one another. In a series of workshops,

• Discover how you can address learners’ social and emotional needs and give every child a love of reading, writing and learning.

• Acquire a variety of learner-centred game-like activities to teach all components of literacy: listening, speaking, reading, phonics, writing and thinking strategies
• Ensure productive pair and group work with Co-operative Learning and Multiple Intelligences
• Design integrated lessons for all aspects of language literacy
  • Words and Sentence Level Work (e.g. phonics, decoding and encoding skills; vocabulary development, sentence formation, word attack strategies)
  • Thinking Strategies for making meaning from text (e.g. Shared and Guided Reading that actively engage learners in finding personal meaning in the text)
  • Writing (Shared, Guided and Independent writing, applying thinking strategies to express oneself)
  • Independent reading of self-selected texts, where learners apply strategic reading strategies to help themselves better understand what they read.
• Use the Sebezaphone to enable all learners to become good readers and writers.
  • The Sebezaphone is a handheld ‘phone’ that enables every learner to read out loud at once – in a whisper. Without disturbing others, the Sebezaphone amplifies the reader’s voice so that they better hear themselves read.  Phoneme differentiation improves, learners work out unknown words; ability to focus increases. All this improves fluency, comprehension and the joy of reading.

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Co-operative Learning (CL)

• Make CL part of every lesson
• Use practical and easy-to-use People Organizers that promote learner-learner co-operation and learning success

• Improve classroom atmosphere and your learners’ motivation to work and learn together
• Enable learners to acquire social and leadership skills while achieving learning area outcomes
• Get answers to your questions for groupwork:
  • How do you make sure learners stay focused on the learning task and co-operate?
  • How do you prevent ‘free-riders” where some learners make no effort and others do all the work?
  • How do you enhance learners’ motivation and skills to learn together?
  • How do you ensure learners listen actively and participate equally?

½ Day Awareness Workshop enables you to Manage large classes of learners with diverse needs Increase motivation and skill to learn and work together co-operatively Use teacher-friendly People Organizers to facilitate simultaneous interaction of all learners Pre-empt discipline problems by creating a needs-satisfying learning environment Design classbuilding and teambuilding activities to develop co-operative norms for classroom management

1 & 2 Day Introduction to CL Workshop enables you to Achieve outcomes of the Awareness Workshop plus Discover and teach with the 5 Co-operative Learning Principles Directly teach and provide practice in Social and Leadership Skills while addressing learning area outcomes Discover more People Organizers for Mastery of Skills and information and Conceptual Development

1 & 2 Day Advanced CL Workshop enables you to Design lessons for differentiated instruction and groupwork tasks for mixed ability Plan and deliver lessons that achieve multiple outcomes Acquire facilitation techniques that empower learners to take charge of their learning Use co-operative games and activities that develop effective communication skills Assess learning and group interaction through self, peer, and class assessment tools

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 Co-operative Learning, Multiple Intelligences and how the brain learns best

• Translate brain research into best classroom practice
• Design Co-operative Learning groupwork tasks with Multiple Intelligences to active learners’ prior knowledge, process new information and build academic knowledge while having fun

Co-operative Learning (CL) and Multiple Intelligences (MI) for large classes of learners with diverse needs

Introduction to Co-operative Learning and Multiple Intelligences Discover how to Create a positive learning environment and establish classroom management routines to pre-empt discipline problems Use MI and CL to activate learners’ prior knowledge (schema) to learn more effectively Design cohesive lessons that achieve learning area outcomes through active participation, social skills development and improved learning-to-learn skills Toolkit: Co-operative Learning Resource pack with CL lesson sequence planner MI and CL People Organisers for class and teambuilding and achieving learning area outcomes Lessons for establishing CL practices, classroom management routines and developing social skills 6-12 hour workshop series

Advanced Course on Co-operative Learning and Multiple Intelligences Discover how to Create the “Mighty Minds Museum” for 8 Intelligence Centres to enhance learning Use MI and non-linguistic representations to teach literacy and other learning areas Enable learners to coach and encourage each other for mastery and complex learning tasks Translate brain research into best classroom practice Toolkit: Multiple Intelligences Resource Pack to teach for and with each intelligence MI and CL People Organisers for mastery and complex learning tasks Lessons for developing group skills to improve participation and learning of teammates Self and peer assessment tools to improve learning and group interaction 10-16 hour workshop serie

 

View how Co-operative Learning and Multiple Intelligences work together to enhance learning in our new professional development DVD: Thinking Powers for Reading Comprehension 

• click here – to view promotional DVD

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GETTING CONNECTED with CO-OPERATIVE LEARNING: Creating a learning community for literacy

What to do the FIRST WEEK OF THE TERM to establish classroom routines and behaviours for co-operation, inclusion and good discipline. This programme enables you to implement the Foundations for Learning Campaign, the latest National Education Policy in South Africa.

Four complete, two hour lessons that guide educators in addressing all language learning area outcomes while teaching social skills, co-operative routines and actively engaging all learners in thinking, talking and language development.

In these 4 step-by-step lesson plans, Getting Connected with Co-operative Learning guides educators in how to

• Manage their classrooms so that learners will want to and be able to learn together co-operatively.
• Structure a balanced literacy program for speaking and listening, reading to develop decoding and comprehension skills, writing for learning and pleasure, and developing complex thinking strategies for learning
• Use age appropriate texts to develop the theme and attitudes of inclusion
• Directly teach social skills so that learners take turns, actively listen and paraphrase, build on each other’s ideas and give direction to the group
• Facilitate whole class and simultaneous small group interaction

Workshops and courses

Getting Connected with Co-operative Learning

Implement the Getting Connected Inclusion Unit Setting up the CL classroom Step-by-Step Learning Programmes for the first week of term for Foundation, Intermediate or Senior Phase Classrooms to achieve language learning area outcomes Comprehensive lessons around the theme of inclusion enable educators to Pre-empt discipline problems by addressing social/emotional needs of learners Structure cohesive lessons for a daily balanced literacy programme (in line with the Foundations for Learning Campaign) Directly teach social skills and co-operative routines to share responsibility for learning and smooth running of the class Use assessment checklists for Skills, Attitudes, Values and Knowledge achieved through the CL People Organisers Toolkit: Detailed comprehensive lessons CL People Organisers for classbuilding, teambuilding, mastery learning and conceptual development, and reflection, applicable to all learning area teaching Two-day workshop

Facilitators’ Workshop Become a Curriculum Leader and assist educators to establish CL classrooms and practices while addressing language learning area outcomes Toolkit: Facilitator’s Guide for the learning programme Getting Connected with Co-operative Learning Teaching Tips for classroom management and skills for facilitating large groups and simultaneous interaction of many small groups Planning tools for teaching basic social skills for groupwork Resource pack of teaching tools to design and implement the CL lesson sequence with per-designed CL People Organisers Two-day workshop

Contact us for more information about this unique and vital learning programme series:

Available in English, soon to be translated into Xhosa and Afrikaans

Getting Connected with Co-operative Learning: Creating a learning community for literacy, Foundation Phase plus (Grades R- 4)

Programmes currently being developed:

• Creating a learning community for literacy, Intermediate Phase plus (grades 4-7)
• Creating a learning community for literacy, Senior Phase and beyond (grades 7-12)

Contact us to participate in developing these resources at your school, in your classroom

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Implement Foundations for Learning Campaign with large classes of learners with diverse needs

MetaGroup Communications offers teacher-friendly tools and resources to implement the instructional goals of the Campaign. These effective teaching tools will help you manage large classes of mixed ability learners and successfully implement the prescribed activities of oral work, speaking and listening, pair and small group work. These tools will help you achieve learning outcomes in Language, Mathematics and in all learning areas.

Teaching Tools to implement the Campaign

• MetaGroup’s Strategic Teaching Planner to integrate instructional strategies into cohesive lessons that achieve learning outcomes

• Co-operative Learning People Organisers that are pre-designed interactive small group activities for mastery learning and concept development in Maths and Language
• Comprehension Strategies that are pre-designed activities that develop thinking skills and strategic reading and learning behaviours for maths and language outcomes
• Phonics and Vocabulary Development pre-designed strategies that enable mastery of basic reading and writing skills, which can be applied to developing language for learning and writing about Maths and other learning areas
• View actual classroom lessons designed with the instructional goals of the Campaign in the DVD: Thinking Powers for Reading comprehension. *click here
• Teach the two-hour language component of the Campaign in your Foundation Phase class tomorrow with Getting Connected with Co-operative Learning. *click here

 

Workshops and Courses:

Implement Foundations for Learning Campaign with large classes of learners with diverse needs

A balanced literacy programme for the Foundation Phase Discover how to: Design a sequence of learning activities for a two-hour interactive lesson for language literacy Design for differentiated instruction Develop learners’ will and skill to learn co-operatively as a whole class, in pairs and small groups Toolkit: Lesson Planner for all instructional goals of the Campaign to achieve language area learning outcomes Active learning strategies and pre-designed tasks for whole class teaching, pair and/or groupwork for Maths and Language and literacy development: o Oral Work o Working with Phonics & Words o Guided Reading o Comprehension Strategies o Writing Strategies for learning and self-expression 12 hours

A balanced literacy programme for the Intermediate Phase Discover how to: Enable learners in Intermediate Phase to receive literacy development across all learning areas Develop learners’ will and social skill to learn co-operatively as a whole class, in pairs and small groups Apply Co-operative Learning People Organisers for pair and groupwork to maths and other learning areas Use learning area textbooks to achieve outcomes Toolkit: Lesson Planner for all instructional goals of the Campaign to achieve learning area outcomes Active learning strategies and pre-designed co-operative learning tasks for whole class teaching, pair and/or groupwork for language and literacy development o Speaking and Listening (Oral Work) o Working with Phonics & Words in learning areas o Guided Reading o Comprehension Strategies o Writing Strategies for learning 12 hours

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Training the Trainer, Facilitator and Curriculum Leaders

Guide educators and colleagues in creating learner-centred classrooms and enriched learning experiences. Discover how to facilitate learning using Co-operative Learning, Multiple Intelligences and best teaching practice for improved learning.

With this course you will design and implement workshops that enable educators to

• Design coherent learning experiences that progressively develop learners’ capacity and motivation to achieve ultimate learning outcomes
• Turn “Ice-Breakers” into effective ways to activate prior knowledge while enabling social warm-ups
• Translate brain research into best classroom practice by
  • creating a needs-satisfying learning environment
  • providing sufficient and varied stimulation to enable the brain to process and remember new information and skills
• Facilitate simultaneous interaction of total class, pairs and small groups of learners with diverse learning needs
• Design differentiated instruction with Multiple Intelligences and Co-operative Learning principles and practices
• Construct desired learning outcomes and assessment criteria for success with learners
• Create learning centres for classroom teaching
• Live the principles and practices of Outcomes Based Education, Co-operative Learning and Democracy in classrooms

2-Day Intensive

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Managing the Group Dynamics for Meetings and Teams

Corporate Leaders, Managers, Facilitators and Trainers!

Good-bye to long, tedious, unproductive meetings where the leader does all the thinking and talking and little action follows.

Become a learning organisation!

• Create high performing teams
• Design interactive meetings to bring out the creativity, wisdom and commitment of team members
• Use the “Group dynamics barometer” to monitor the changing atmosphere
• Create risk-free environments to promote open communication, creative problem solving, and succeed in managing change
• Discover a variety of facilitation techniques to implement change
• Co-operative Learning
• Appreciative Inquiry
• Deep Democracy
• Develop a leadership style that fosters commitment, learning and enthusiasm for achieving shared goals

Facilitation Tools:

• MetaGroup’s Interactive Workshop Design
• Group Dynamic Barometer
• Pre-designed interactive tasks for brainstorming, problem definition, group decision making, needs assessment, strategic planning
• Question formation that promotes high level thinking and creative problem solving

Meet with us to design memorable meetings and workshops to achieve your performance outcomes!

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Ways to structure your in-service opportunities

1. Host a MetaGroup Workshop

 

….Bring a fantastic learning experience to your school or district.

• It’s cost effective: on-site training saves money
• It’s just for you: get solutions to your ‘real-life’ challenges

….Provide the venue and bring the participants together

• At your school, for your school: 3-6 weeks in two-hour staff-development sessions
• At your school or teachers’ centre, for your area:
  • ½ day; 1, 1 ½, 2, 3, or 4 day training programs during the week or over the weekend.

2. Attend public workshop events

• Complete the information form so you can be notified of upcoming training events

3. Co-host a public workshop:

• Request specific workshop topics and assist in the advertisements

4. Purchase our teacher training DVD’s and Educator’s Guides. Start your professional development programme by seeing scenes of real classrooms where teachers create optimal learning environments with Co-operative Learning, Multiple Intelligences and OBE active learning strategies.

DVD and Educator’s Guide: Thinking Powers for Reading Comprehension: How to integrate reading into learning area teaching This 120 minute DVD presents a curriculum for metacognition to teach thinking strategies for reading, writing and learning. South African educators use ‘non-linguistic representations’ so that learners of mixed ability and language competence can see, hear and feel what each thinking strategy means. Lessons show how to enable learners to apply thinking strategies to classroom learning and textbook reading.

DVD and Educator’s Guide: Co-operative Learning for OBE: Developing the human capacity in your classroomThe 47-minute training DVD shows CL in action in South African classrooms, with detailed explanations of how CL fosters co-operation, equal participation and improved learning.

For more information: Alyce Milleralyce@icon.co.za +27 (0)72 148 1284

To purchase DVD with educator’s guide: http://edumedia.wcape.school.za/catalog +27 21 689 9536

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