Reviews the most important handwriting research of the last 80 years, including recent studies in cognitive development, so that teachers leave the workshop ready to show parents a clear plan that explains the choice of particular materials, tools, and procedures to help children handwrite manuscript and cursive quickly, legibly, and automatically. PowerPoint slides concretely illustrate materials and procedures. (2 hours)
A review of contemporary research in literacy instruction, including recent Ministry of Education reports, such as the Early Reading Strategy: The Report of the Expert Panel on Early Reading in Ontario; and Think Literacy Success Grades 7-12: The Report of the Expert Panel on Students at Risk in Ontario, and describes how children develop from not being able to read at all to reading proficiently. Dr. Rogers draws on his doctorate in reading education and his experiences as a literacy educator, psycho-educational consultant, and early literacy expert on the Ministry of Education Turnaround Schools Program. His well-developed slide presentation is used to illustrate specific, concrete teaching materials and procedures for helping children learn to read and write their first words, develop phonemic awareness, conduct phonic analysis, comprehend sophisticated reading material, and read and write to learn content subjects at secondary school. Parents and teachers report that this presentation gave them a clear understanding of how to nurture literacy from preschool to grad school. (3 hours)
A two-hour introductory workshop for parents and parent groups, this workshop teaches the elements of Baby Steps to Reading. Parents are taught the importance of talking, singing and reading to babies from birth, how important their modeling of reading is to baby’s interest and how to respond to their child’s natural curiosity about books and print.