• Experienced Local Educators
• Proven Instructional Strategies
• Instructional Modeling
• In-Classroom Coaching
• Team Teaching
• Lesson-Plan Training

• Sustained Professional Development
• Student-Centered Teaching and Learning
• Increased Internal Capacity
• Standards Alignment
• Rigorous Course of Study
• Improved Student Performance and Achievement

1

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CONSTRUCTIVE COMMUNICATION, WHICH INCLUDES THINKING ALOUD PAIRED PROBLEM SOLVING (TAPPS) AND EFFECTIVE GROUP PROCESS IN THE CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT

The Conditions Necessary for Establishing Student-Centered Learning

Participants learn instructional methods and techniques for establishing a nonstressful teacher-facilitated, student-centered environment conducive to collaboration and teamwork, coherent verbalization, attentive listening, and the appreciation of thoughts and opinions different from one's own.

2

THE IMPLEMENTATION AND INTEGRATION OF STUDENT-CENTERED, STRUCTURED THINKING SKILLS, WHICH ARE NECESSARY FOR CONTENT MASTERY AND RETENTION OF INFORMATION

Participants directly experience methods and techniques for assisting students in identifying, developing, and structuring their innate Thinking Skills for systematic application to, and mastery of, course content across the disciplines. When Thinking Skills are identified, developed, structured, used consistently, and internalized, students are able to quickly, efficiently, and meaningfully organize and retain new information for daily and lifelong application. Such Thinking Skills, emphasized in national, state, and local content and performance standards and assessments, are essential for student academic success.

LITERACY INSTRUCTION K-12

The development of student literacy is a critical component of an effective student-centered classroom

LITERACY INSTRUCTION I: 
For the Early Grades (K to 3)

Participants are provided with a balanced approach to literacy instruction, which incorporates both phonological awareness and language-based literacy instruction, and integrates semantic, syntactic, and graphophonemic linguistic cueing systems with components of the Ventures Initiative and Focus™ approach and the school's curriculum. VESC™ -structured reading and writing methods; techniques and materials that allow students to experience and experiment with a variety of literary styles, forms, and subjects at each grade level; and effective assessment and evaluation methods are also introduced. When fully implemented, students will have a strong foundation in reading, writing, and oral language on which to build, and will have internalized the essential literacy skills necessary for future high academic achievement. The conditions established allow for, and ensure, that students will read at grade level and beyond in accordance with district, state, and national standards.

LITERACY INSTRUCTION II: 
For the Later Grades (4 - 12) or VESC™ -STRUCTURED READING AND WRITING

Participants learn how to analyze the problems students have in understanding what they read and how to integrate the development of Structured Thinking Skills with reading and writing exercises to overcome those problems. Various forms of reading and writing are explored, including essays, compositions, reports, journals, stories, and poems. VESC™ , recognizing that content mastery depends on student literacy, carefully combines the effective use of Structured Thinking Skills with content instruction to strengthen student literacy skills.

STRUCTURED THINKING PROCESSES

PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING (PBL)

Participants learn how to guide students in integrating VESC™-structured Problem-Based Learning (originally based on a medical model) with Constructive Communication, Effective Group Process, and Structured Thinking Skills, as they work independently and collaboratively to solve complex problems and master content in one or more academic disciplines. The specific mental steps for assembling substantive content and for creating an appropriate mental framework for the information gathered are demonstrated. Participants are shown how to construct PBL problem statements that cover course content aligned with district, state, and national standards. As problem-based learning is developed, passive listening and rote memorization (with little retention and understanding) are replaced with active student-centered investigation and problem solving. In addition, students learn how to construct their own learning issues, as they actively pursue the information (course content) they need to resolve a complex series of problems.

PROJECT LEARNING

VESC™ -structured Project Learning, hich incorporates all of the previous components of the Ventures Initiative and Focus™ system, including PBL, introduces a dynamic and creative, highly effective, Structured Thinking Process for both teaching and learning. Participants are shown how to construct a teacher-designed project statement, which will be fully explored by students through a series of systematically developed problems, utilizing an interdisciplinary approach. The project statement, which generally focuses on a real life situation, may take several weeks, one semester, or an entire academic year to resolve. The steps involved in completing a VESC™ structured project make it an excellent vehicle for incorporating the core curriculum, arts and applied sciences, communication skills, and school-to-career initiatives. One teacher or more, or an interdisciplinary team of teachers, from some or all of the disciplines, may participate in the learning project, as well as professionals, artists, tradespeople, government officials, and other members of the community.

5

STANDARDS ALIGNMENT 

ONGOING THROUGHOUT THE IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS

Aligning school curricula with assessments, benchmarks, and standards is not a daunting task when done efficiently and effectively. In these workshops, participants are shown how to establish measurable goals for student performance and achievement; how to align them with school-wide curricula and instruction and district, state, and national content and performance standards across all grade levels and academic disciplines; and how to develop assessments and benchmarks for meeting the goals that have been set. Analytical reasoning, problem-solving, and literacy skills are systematically incorporated with course content and aligned with standards throughout the implementation process; and, existing practices, assignments, curriculum, and assessments are analyzed and restructured, where necessary.