Professional Development
Professional development is available in different formats, settings, and schedules. GRAZDA CENTER works with clients to customize PD for maximum impact for individual educators, small groups, or whole school faculties.
GRAZDA CENTER ‘s offerings are diverse, yet unified by their overall goals of supporting teachers, helping students learn in powerful ways, and bringing more joy into the classroom.
Continuing education certificates for contact hours toward professional license renewal are available upon request.
Reading
What if every student could read well, understand what they are reading, and love reading? Numerous challenges exist today for learners and educators. But it is possible, through systematic, powerful, focused instruction, to help every student make significant and lasting progress. Professional development can include one or more of the following components.
Decoding and Spelling
Through teaching how the English code works and showing readers how to read text while constructing meaning, decoding (phonics/phonemic awareness) and fluency problems disappear. GRAZDA CENTER teaches HOW to teach these facets of reading in a way that’s simple, clear, and effective. Progress is rapid and durable, and students experience the transformative power of literacy.
Powerful Vocabulary Instruction- Giving Students Words for Life
What does it mean to really KNOW a word? What is the best explicit instruction for helping students acquire tier two words, including academic vocabulary, and also domain-specific words? How can we help students fully understand what they are reading?
This class will boost your vocabulary instruction by focusing on the most effective strategies and routines for powerful learning and significant student gains in vocabulary knowledge and understanding. Based on research, including the work of Beck, Mckeown, and Kucan, this workshop shows educators how to integrate strategies into their current curriculum and state standards.
Comprehension
What do the best readers do in authentic situations? How does their thinking about text help them learn throughout life? Learn three of the most impactful and versatile comprehension strategies: Reading for Meaning, Compare and Contrast, and Inductive Learning. These strategies enable readers to comprehend deeply and express their thinking about all texts across the curriculum, both fictional and informational.
Reducing Absenteeism and Bullying
When children feel connected to teachers and peers, they are much more likely to attend school. The GRAZDA CENTER ‘s projects have proven to increase attendance, engagement, and connection for children. And these experiences make being at school more meaningful and fun for everyone, including teachers!
Student Presentations
Each learner has hidden literacies— skills and talents that are often not visible at school. By inviting students to share their passions with peers and teachers, we strengthen connections and gain appreciation for each student’s interests and learning journeys. Another benefit is building relationships with families and community members. The workshop includes specific guidance for teachers to help students to prepare their presentations, and also to evaluate student work and incorporate gained insights about students throughout the year.
Awesome Book Clubs
Awesome book clubs are one of the best ways to uncover students’ voices through discussion of high quality literature using a simple, easy to implement process. This workshop includes essentials such as student choice, consistency of meetings and structure, and multiple examples of the power of book clubs to help learners make significant gains in social, emotional, and academic domains. Students learn how to run the clubs independently and with accountability. Many teachers abandon use of book clubs for various reasons. This workshop is for those educators and also those who want to start book clubs for the first time!
Student-created Melodrama
In this cross-curricular project, students create fictional characters, research a specific time and location in their area’s history, write letters in the voice of their characters, generate a script based on the letters, and rehearse and perform an amazing melodrama for the community! Bring history to life through a process that students will remember for years. Educators will learn how to successfully implement all phases of this project. No previous drama experience needed!
