Details on CDL's most requested seminar titles

The professional staff of CDL delivers effective training and professional development for teachers, principals, and other professional educators. Typically, these sessions are offered on-site, customized for your school, district or organization. In addition, CDL also delivers a limited number of public sessions on selected topics. CDL's public sessions are listed on its Professional Development Calendar. Contact us for more information on any of these topics.

Learning Profiles: Differentiated Instruction for Diverse Learners This four-day institute for teachers and principals results in increased student achievement and a reduction in the number of students referred to special education. Learn more. Check CDL's calendar for the next open admission session.

The Assessment of Neurodevelopmental Processes that Underlie Learning The purpose of this workshop is to provide a practical conceptual framework for assessing and treating attention and learning problems experienced by school age children. Learn more. This session is intended for school psychologists, social workers and educational consultants. It is approved for 12 hours of continuing education for school psychologists in Louisiana. See CDL's calendar for upcoming sessions.

The Assessment and Treatment of Dyslexia and Other Reading Disorders This workshop will present information regarding the importance of reading, current State of the Union of reading skills in our nation’s children, the findings of the National Reading Panel and traditional systems for diagnosing and classifying reading disorders. Learn more or view CDL's professional development calendar.

Right from Birth and Going to School Learn both content and parent group facilitation in order to become certified to deliver the Parenting Series that accompany these two books written by Drs. Craig and Sharon Ramey. The parenting series bring practical application to the information presented in the books - findings from all areas of study on child development and early learning, communication, social skills and emotional growth.

Administering and Scoring the DIBELS The Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) are a set of standardized, individually administered measures of early literacy development. They were designed as one-minute fluency measures that may be used to regularly monitor the development of pre-reading and early reading skills. Learn how to administer and score these measures as well as how to group students who are below expected levels of performance in different areas of pre-reading and reading skills for effective instruction.

The Five Essential Components of Reading and Reading Instruction Learn the five essential components of reading and reading instruction outlined in the National Reading Panel (2000) and National Research Council (1998) reports: phonological awareness, alphabetic understanding, vocabulary, fluency and text comprehension. Additionally, learn what instructional strategies research has shown to be effective for teaching these five components.

Understanding the Learning Process Become familiar with the technical and practical aspects of the learning process: Attention, Memory, Language, Graphomotor (writing) Skills, Organization, and Higher Order Thinking. Specific strategies will be discussed for applying information on how the brain works - how to translate that information into the classroom for student success. Attention will also be given to the impact of social skills and emotions on the learning process. Walk away with strategies and activities that you can use in your classroom the very next day!

Instructional Strategies That Work Reverse the trend of low achievement through changes that engage and support, rather than disconnect, students. Learn teacher-tested strategies that have proven to be effective with students in low achieving schools - strategies that ignite and release the talents, energies and meaningful contributions of all students. And you'll discover that classroom management improves when these strategies are used.

Improving Classroom Climate Creating a positive school and classroom climate is a prerequisite for optimal learning. Educators have the power to create and promote a positive climate for all students - a climate that fosters motivation, learning, responsibility and resilience. Learn about conditions that contribute to a positive climate: (1) the importance of empathy in understanding the world of the student, (2) factors that help students overcome problems and become more resilient, (3) understanding the components of self-esteem and motivation, (4) finding and reinforcing each student's strengths and (5) developing our own "stress hardiness" and changing our own negative scripts. Leave with specific strategies for fostering motivation, self-discipline, responsibility, resilience, and a community among learners in the classroom.

How to Increase Motivation In Your Students Discover answers to the question: "How can I motivate my students?" Participants will learn how to take control of the "impossible task" of motivating even the most unmotivated low-achieving student. Learn how these strategies improve classroom climate, too. Participants will leave with strategies they can use in their classrooms tomorrow.

Understanding Change Forces and Dealing With Resistance Explore change forces and consider how an understanding of change can lead to creative breakthroughs. Learn strategies for dealing with resistance to change and strategies for action that lead to change and school improvement. See how purpose, passion, relationships and results are linked into any successful change process. School leaders will explore how to lead their schools through the change process and emerge as learning communities. Appropriate for principals and teachers of any grade levels.

Assessing Assessment: User-Friendly Ways to Interpret Standardized Test Scores Learn what standardized test scores really mean and how to use them as a tool for increasing student achievement. You'll walk through a step-by-step process that will show you how to use test results to guide your planning for improvement. You'll learn the difference between norm-referenced (IOWA) and criterion-referenced (LEAP) tests. Participants will leave knowing how to analyze, compare and draw conclusions from test scores for the individual student and for the school as a whole. Appropriate for all grade levels.

How to Increase Higher Order Thinking for Increased Student Success Discover ways to promote higher order thinking in your classrooms and increase your students' LEAP and IOWA scores. Participants will learn a step-by-step process helps them design classroom activities that develop their students' higher order thinking. With this method, developed by Robert Sternberg, the playing field will get level across socioeconomic and ethnic boundaries. Whether you teach Language Arts, Social Studies, Science, Art, Foreign Language or Physical Education, you'll leave with strategies you can use in your classroom next week.

Classroom Management: Resolving Conflict in the Classroom Explore the value of conflict resolution in the classroom - teacher-student conflict and student-student conflict. You'll learn strategies that will develop your skills in active listening, honoring student voice, respecting all parties, and settling conflicts peacefully. Participants will want to go back to their schools and teach these techniques to their students and improve school climate.

How to Develop Reading and Writing Skills In Every Subject Improve your capacity to increase reading comprehension in students across the curriculum. Whether you teach Language Arts, Social Studies, Science or Math, you'll learn strategies and methods and activities instructional activities that help all students become active readers. Appropriate for teachers of grades 6 - 12.

How to Accelerate Learning by Teaching Learning-to-Learn Strategies Discover how to teach students essential learning-to-learn skills and content material about the learning process, all while using proven teaching strategies. Learn how to get continuous improvement in student performance and LEAP scores, especially for average and low achievers, with a new student-focused tool. You'll learn how to use this new tool to help students learn answers to questions such as, "What kind of brain do I have" and "How can I use it more efficiently and effectively?" In the process, teachers will learn something about how they learn, too! You will want to use this exciting new tool right away! Appropriate for grades 6 - 12.

The Brain and School: How to Use Brain Research to Increase Student Achievement The more teachers know about how the brain learns, the more effective they can be. New brain research helps us understand teaching and learning processes in ways we could not have imagined before. Understanding how the brain learns empowers teachers to teach differently and increase student engagement, student success, and LEAP and IOWA scores. This interactive workshop reviews some of the fascinating new research about the brain. Participants will have the opportunity to learn new information, challenge their own beliefs about how children learn and explore the power of linking theory to strategies. You'll leave with practical strategies that allow you to meet the individual needs of your students - and you can use them in your classroom on Monday! Appropriate for grades 1 - 12.

Portfolio Assessment Learn the ins-and-outs of student self-assessment, how to set up portfolios in your classroom for any subject area and how to weave portfolio assessment into everyday practices in a meaningful way. Rubric development and successful assessment of the portfolios themselves will be addressed. Student samples will be shared, including a variety of grade levels and a variety of student quality. Templates and related materials for how to implement portfolios will be provided for each participant. Allow students to take charge of their learning and to show you their strengths through portfolio assessment!

How Learner-Centered Classrooms Promote Positive School Climate and Increase Student Achievement Explore the 14 Learner-Centered Principles developed by the American Psychological Association that develop positive classroom climates. The learner-centered principles provide an excellent guide for restructuring schools so they are more relevant to students. They contribute to understanding effective strategies that can address problems of low levels of academic achievement. In a learner-centered school, education is done "with" instead of "to" students. Students feel connected in a learner-centered school; the student, his classmates and his teachers are "partners" in the learning process. The principles are expected to speak to teachers, instructors, and others involved in designing or implementing instruction. Participants will leave with a set of principles that will lead to increased student achievement. Appropriate for principals and teachers of grades K - 12.

Successful Intelligence Understand Robert Sternberg's theory of successful intelligence, and the practical application, too! You will explore Sternberg's three ways of good thinking, the higher order thinking processes underlying them, and how to apply them directly to your teaching activities and strategies. You'll also learn how to help your students understand their own learning profiles and how to apply that knowledge to school achievement. Leave with practical and manageable teaching strategies that enhance thinking!

Assessing Assessment Strategies Do you ever feel that your students' test scores don't reflect what they actually know based on their classroom performance? Take a look at how you are assessing students in your classroom and how to meet the needs of all students by compiling learning profiles. Begin with the end in mind by creating contextualized forms of assessment-aligning forms of assessment with teaching strategies. Templates and guidelines will be provided for implementing these strategies in your classroom tomorrow!

Diverse Strategies for Diverse Learners Knowing a student's strengths and weaknesses opens the door for student achievement and success. For example, what does it mean to be a visual-spatial thinker or a temporal-sequential thinker? Discover how to use learning profiles by experiencing case studies and how to interpret that information in order to help students select strategies for learning that work best for their profiles. Learn how to design diverse classroom activities that will allow your classroom of diverse learners to excel!

Attention and Learning Discover more about the influence of attention on learning. The first thing that is necessary for learning to take place is attention. Attention is a complex process that includes the ability to select and focus on what is important at any given moment. Learn how to help students apply strategies that will allow them to maintain focus and mental energy. Walk away with activities that increase student attention that you can implement immediately!

Memory and Learning How does memory work? How does it affect learning? Gain new insights into how memory and learning are linked and how to provide students with strategies to overcome problems with retrieval and processing. You will participate in interactive activities that will increase student memory. Maybe you'll learn something about your own memory as well!

Language Language is the primary way that we give and receive information world wide, so it is important to enable students, regardless of their learning profiles, with the ability to navigate the various channels of morphology, phonology, semantics, syntax, expressive language and receptive language. Activities include vocabulary and word games that help students feel at ease. Also, you will learn how to identify subtle language breakdowns and specific strategies that help a student bypass the problem. Both technical and practical advice will be given that have direct application to the classroom.

Graphomotor (Writing) Skills Do you ever wonder why a student who is so smart and verbally adept in conversation recoils from doing written work? Find out if it's a graphomotor problem that's causing his reluctance to write. It takes neural, visual and muscular coordination to produce written work. If any one of these skills is out of kilter, the task of producing written work is substantially more difficult. Learn all about the intricacies, "clues" that are "right in front of your eyes" that you can observe, and ways to help. Come away with some practical, hands-on ways to make the physical aspect of writing easier for your students. At the same time, gain understanding of the difficulties that need to be overcome. Who knows - you may even diagnose your own writing phobia!

Organization for Increased Student Success There are two main ways that the brain organizes information - through what is seen as a whole and through what is organized part by part in a series or sequence. Learn how to identify those students who have weak visual-spatial skills or temporal-sequential problems. Then hear how to select, introduce, and apply strategies that will help students navigate around these weaknesses. Many of the strategies suggested will also give tools to all students to help improve their study skills and sense of organization, factors that help spell success in the learning process. Appropriate for all grade levels.

Homework and Study Skills Understand the benefits of homework and how it can serve as a bridge that joins schools and parents. Learn how to make the homework experience more interesting and meaningful and one that helps develop personal skills and study skills, including a child's sense of responsibility. Receive practical tips and models for managing the homework process, especially for those reluctant students. Make homework a positive, rather than a hectic happening. Appropriate for all grade levels.

How to Use Cooperative Learning for Increased Student Achievement Make student learning meaningful and motivating and improve your students' social skills at the same time! The objective of this interactive session is to understand the impact of cooperative learning on student learning, motivation and diverse abilities and talents. Participants will experience multiple cooperative learning strategies and learn the difference between group work and cooperative learning. You'll leave with strategies you can use in your classroom tomorrow.

Linking Professional Development to Improved Student Achievement Beginning with the end in mind, participants will learn a process for selecting professional development programs that will increase student achievement. You'll walk through a four-step process that will help you identify specific student and teacher outcomes, target specific skills and knowledge, and staff development systems that deliver. Appropriate for all grade levels.

How to Use Student Self-Evaluation for Increased Student Achievement Explore how giving students opportunities to participate in evaluating their own work has a positive impact on their success. Learn what student self-evaluation does to support and improve student achievement. Effects are even greater for students who are taught self-evaluation techniques. Practical instruments for teachers and students will be used in this workshop. A step-by-step process helps you design a rubric you can take back to your classroom and use right away. Appropriate for grades 1 - 12.

Professional Development that Produces Results! Get familiar with the standards endorsed by BESE from the National Staff Development Council and the essential ingredients of a professional development that produces results. Explore what research and schools tell us about successful professional development. Participants will learn how to become smart staff development shoppers for their schools in this interactive session. Appropriate for all grade levels.