Meet MetaGroup

We’re a South African organisation that facilitates communication among educators and learners of all ages to achieve mutual goals. We help people to come together in collaboration and productive ways to explore new possibilities in education. We invite you to engage with us to exchange ideas, raise issues and share innovations so we can all learn and support one another in our common work as educators.

MetaGroup Communications helps educators become more effective facilitators of active and complex learning. Based on sound group dynamic theory and practice we teach a facilitation approach that enables groups of people to maximise their ability to learn and work together in collaborative and productive ways. Educators who attend our workshops enhance their ability to design and implement creative and stimulating curriculum that puts learners in the centre of the learning process.

Our Vision is for the classroom and school to thrive as a supportive community of learners where relationships are based on trust, respect, care and co-operation.

Our Mission is to unleash the learning potential of the group by enabling people to connect through co-operation and open communication. We strive to support personal development through the constructive power of the group.

The Key Role of Educators

We recognize the key role that educators and administrators play in any educational renewal program. To be able to model a love for lifelong learning and foster a similar love in learners requires nurturing support for the educators and caregivers. Personal growth and development takes time and a secure space, within oneself and in the external environment. To support this endeavour, we are offering this website as a medium to develop a community of teachers who would like to mingle with others and perhaps find good company as they explore new possibilities for teaching, connecting and education.

What We Do

MetaGroup Communications offers all educators, teachers, principals and administrators, government officials, curriculum planners and developers, trainers, facilitators, corporate managers and executives highly interactive programs that walk the talk of a learning community and organisation. Participants live the theory, principles and practices of creating a positive learning environment, Co-operative Learning (CL), Multiple Intelligences and Outcomes-Based Education (OBE), and thus experience how to translate brain research into best teaching and learning practice.

• Group dynamic theory provides guidelines for promoting a supportive, trusting and caring environment that fosters respect
• Co-operative Learning offers the principles and practices for designing creative and collaborative groupwork for any learning or meeting situation.
• Outcomes-Based Education offers principles to maximize the human resource potential within the group.

Within this framework, participants enjoy interactive experiences that enable them to effectively design and promote collaborative learning.

MetaGroup Communications offers a variety of products and services and workshops and courses for professional development. The interactive learning approaches are seen in real classrooms in our two professional development DVD’s.

Client List

Our educational clients include the Universities of Cape Town, Western Cape and Stellenbosch, former Cape and Peninsula Technikons, Western Cape Education Department, Scientific and Industrial Leadership Initiative (SAILI), Peninsula After School Care Programme, former Teacher Colleges of Cape Town and Good Hope (Khayelitsha), Former Teacher Learning and Resource Centre (at UCT), Zonnebloem Nest Senior School, Cape Town and Portland High Schools, Ocean View, Jamaica, Chumisa, St Agnes, Parkhurst, The Grove, Llandudno, Sweet Valley and Herzlia Primaries, Sid G Rule, Liwa, and Groote Schuur Primaries.

Our corporate clients include Allan Gray, Southern Life, Old Mutual, Board of Executors, ESKOM, Computer Society of South Africa, Synergy Computing, Wildlife Society of South Africa, Catholic Archdiocese of Cape Town, University of Cape Town, South African Institute of Race Relations

Meet Who We Are

Alyce Miller

P O Box 26138
Hout Bay 7872 South Africa
Tel / Fax: +27 (21) 790 1327
cell: 072 148 1284
email: alyce@icon.co.za
websites:  http://metagroup.co.za; http://www.sebezaphone.co.za

ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS

B.A. (Secondary Education) (Queens College, City University of New York)

B.A. Honours (Clinical Psychology) (University of Cape Town)

M.A. (Theatre) (Hunter College, City University of New York)

Licensed (United States) Teacher and Psychometrist

METAGROUP COMMUNICATIONS

1989– Founded MetaGroup Communications consultancy. Assists profit and not-for-profit organisations in experiential learning and facilitation strategies for active learning for large classes of learners with diverse needs, classroom management, creating positive group dynamics in the decision-making process and developing high performance self-empowered teams; develops teaching and learning resources.

SEBEZAPHONE: opening the world of literacy with a whisper

2011 – Founded the Sebezaphone in South Africa, a revolutionary teaching tool that enables learners to hear themselves read in a whisper, amplifying their own voice to improve concentration, fluency and comprehension. Research into the use of Sebezaphone in classroom teaching is showing improvement of 10% in comprehension at a prominent high school for boys in South Africa and improved mastery of the phonetic code and reading fluency at primary level.

Publications and Professional Development Resources

• Thinking Powers for Reading Comprehension: How to integrate reading into learning area teaching (2008): Teacher Training DVD and Educator’s Guide, Edumedia, Western Cape Education Department
• Getting Connected with Co-operative Learning: Creating a learning community for literacy (2008). Learning Programme, Edumedia, WCED
• Co-operative Learning for OBE & C2005: Developing the human capacity in your classroom (2000). Teacher Training DVD and Educator’s Guide, Edumedia, WCED
• Let’s do it with Co-operative Learning: Tried and tested lessons with teaching and learning resources from the Co-operative Learning Project (2010), MSED
• Literate and Loving It: Reading intervention programme in the teaching of reading comprehension strategies across the curriculum

 Experiential Learning Workshops

• Co-opera¬tive Learning for classroom management, enhanced learning achievement and development of social skills and positive behaviours
• Multiple Intelligences to design learning tasks for learners’ strengths
• Curriculum for direct teaching of Metacognition: Thinking Powers for Reading, Writing and Learning
• Balanced Language Approach to Literacy using a framework for daily implementation for all Concepts and Skills for CAPS language while developing expressive and receptive oral language competencies
  • Phonics: Systematic, multilevel interactive strategies to teach and enable learners to transfer phonic knowledge to reading and writing, including Doing the Word Wall and Using Word Wall Words to master high frequency words, skills for cross checking between information cues gained from text; linking assessment with instruction using “Running Records” of Text Reading to monitor reading behaviour and inform teaching.
  • Reading: Develop learner’s ability to perform strategic reading behaviours that develop learners’ ability to read independently and apply phonetic knowledge, thinking strategies to monitor and enhance comprehension and enjoyment. Use of Sebezaphone during Guided Reading to provide significantly more practice for every child to read and opportunities for the teacher to hear each child read.
    • Interactive lessons for Shared Reading
    • Small group, Guided Reading that empower learners to apply reading strategies for reading-to-learn.
    • Direct teaching of Metacognition: Thinking Strategies for greater comprehension and enjoyment (Connect, Pose thoughtful questions, Visualise, Infer, Synthesise and Formulate Conclusions.)
  • Writing: Interactive strategies linking writing to reading, and shape thinking, self-discovery and enhance learning
  • Independent Reading: active engagement with text including Sebezaphone to read aloud in a soft voice to promote metacognitive awareness, enable use of phonetic and language knowledge while reading and writing, increase concentration, comprehension and joy of reading.
• Teaching strategies that translate brain research into best practice
• Differentiated Instruction from Grade R through Secondary School
• Peer Mediation and Conflict Resolution Skills
• Professional Learning Communities to improve teaching and learning, with formative assessment strategies that use learners’ work to inform teaching.
• Group Dynamics for meeting management and creating optimal learning environments
• Large and small group facilitation techniques for education and corporate environments
• Facilitation strategies for interactive training and meetings that engender creative solutions, ‘buy-in’ and commitment to new policies and corporate goals

Corporate clients include:

• Allan Gray, Southern Life, Old Mutual, Board of Executors, ESKOM, Computer Society of South Africa, Synergy Computing, Wildlife Society of South Africa, Catholic Archdiocese of Cape Town, University of Cape Town, South African Institute of Race Relations

Educational institutions include:

• Tertiary: Western Cape Education Department: Metro South, Central, North), Universities of Cape Town (Graduate School of Business, Business Science, Education and Psychology Departments, Drama School), the Western Cape, Stellen¬bosch, Cape Peninsula University of Technology.
• Secondary: Hout Bay Secondary, Portland, Tafelsig, Cape Town High Schools
• Primary: Marine, Fairview, St Mary’s Retreat, Parkhurst, Rocklands, Kennemeyer (Grasslow school cluster), Andile, Heathfield, Littlewood, Pelican Park, Springdale, Zerilda Park, Sumerset College Preparatory, Groote Schuur, The Grove, Saambou, Herzlia Primary Schools (Southern Suburbs, Weizmann, Highlands); Sid G. Rule, Wavecrest, Liwa: Co-operative Learning-by-Doing specialist: Extra Murals Education Project.

 OTHER PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Presenter at national and international conferences: SAALED Southern African Association for Learning and Educational Differences (Cape Town 2011, 2012, Namibia 2011); Western Cape SAALED seminars (2013); Western Cape Education Department Reading Conferences (2010, 2011, 2012); Presentation at DA Education Summit (2010) What teachers need; RASA Reading Association of South Africa (2010; 2011; 2012); IACESA International Association for Cognitive Education in Southern Africa (2009); New Trends in Education, Novalis Seminar, Cape Town (2003); IASCE International Association for the Study of Cooperation in Education, (United States: 1996)