MittenCI Pre-Conference
Pre-Conferences are full (due to space limitations at Friday locations)! You may join the waitlist for the pre-conference of your choice at the button below. We will contact you if space becomes available. Please understand that only the waitlist will be honored for pre-conference requests (even if you e-mail us and request a special spot, we have to stick to this list to be fair to all attendees).
Only those that are registered for Saturday may attend Friday's pre-conference. If at all possible, please carpool to the pre-conference as parking is limited.
Registrations are open for the MittenCI Pre-conference. You must purchase a ticket for Saturday in order to attend the FREE pre-conference. Due to limited space at Friday's pre-conference; Friday's sessions are only open until space is full (first come, first served).
The training will run from 8:00 am to 4:30pm on Friday, April 17th. There will be slightly over an hour for lunch on-your-own in downtown Saline. Times and locations vary slightly based on availability of facilities. Multiple locations and times for Friday's events help us keep Mitten affordable for all of you!
A printable schedule can be found will be available early February.
All pre-conference options are held at : at Liberty School 7265 N Ann Arbor St, Saline, MI 48176. (see map).
Only those that are registered for Saturday may attend Friday's pre-conference. If at all possible, please carpool to the pre-conference as parking is limited.
Registrations are open for the MittenCI Pre-conference. You must purchase a ticket for Saturday in order to attend the FREE pre-conference. Due to limited space at Friday's pre-conference; Friday's sessions are only open until space is full (first come, first served).
The training will run from 8:00 am to 4:30pm on Friday, April 17th. There will be slightly over an hour for lunch on-your-own in downtown Saline. Times and locations vary slightly based on availability of facilities. Multiple locations and times for Friday's events help us keep Mitten affordable for all of you!
A printable schedule can be found will be available early February.
All pre-conference options are held at : at Liberty School 7265 N Ann Arbor St, Saline, MI 48176. (see map).
Prep for Success: How to Launch a Successful Reading Program: Carol Gaab, Kristy Placido, and Carrie Toth (All Day)- More info coming soon...
Reading is a powerful tool for facilitating language acquisition and one of the fastest ways to broaden vocabulary, improve spelling and grammatical accuracy, and improve writing skills. Learn how to deepen comprehension, inspire HOT (higher order thinking) boost learner engagement and accelerate acquisition through powerful reading-centered activities. Learn guided reading strategies to maximize acquisition and pre- and post-reading strategies that will inherently facilitate acquisition and build literacy skills simultaneously. Discover how easy it is to use a wide variety of reading to enhance acquisition.
Schedule-
8:00 -8:45
Building Blocks to Literacy
Micro knowledge/comp to Macro
How brains process words…. phrases… sentences… messages
8:45 - 10:00
Preparing the brain for reading
Personalization
Connecting to the setting, character(s) and topics
Laying the foundation / Familiarizing students with vocab structures
10:15 - 12:15
The “nuts and bolts” of teaching a whole-class reader
Processing the text during reading
Follow up to reading together
1:30 - 2:30
Maintaining student engagement
Processing a text in multiple ways for maximum acquisition
Fun and kinesthetic activities that really WORK!
2:30 - 3:30
Live demonstration of reader’s theater!
Tips and tricks for making text come alive!
|
|
|
-This session is full and is closed. Waiting list coming soon...
1/2 day with Laurie Clarcq - Strong and Centered : Essential CI
Whether you are just starting out on a CI journey, working with newcomers to CI, or just needing to hit the “refresh” button, this workshop is for you! We will dig deep tinto the essentials of Comprehensible Input-based instruction by connecting the comprehension of key concepts to the core, engaging, interactive activities used in CI classrooms. The goal is to provide participants with a clear vision of what effective Comprehensible Input-based instruction looks like from a teacher’s perspective, and how it feels from a student’s perspective. Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of the “what” and “why” of CI, along with new ideas, new insights, and hopefully new friends and colleagues!! The workshop is designed to be helpful to teachers of all languages and all levels. Start the conference off strong and centered with this workshop!!
1/2 day with Karen Rowan- 3 secret hacks to build a killer story archPowerful, Explosive, Gut-Splitting Storytelling isn't always as easy as some people can make it look. Comprehensible but unengaging stories will still work for language acquisition, but teachers can end up feeling like one-man entertainment committees.
If you've ever longed to have your classes hanging on your every word rather than fighting you at every turn....
If you've wanted to write class stories that are compelling.....
If you've wanted to spin stories on your feet that are home runs.....
If you feel like working personalized information into stories isn't your strong suit....
The secrets to Comprehensible, Compelling Storytelling, Story-Asking or StoryListening can be found in brain research. By tweaking our content (regardless of the source) we can very, very easily dump one of three brain chemicals into student brains the way Master Storytellers do. Home run stories can be co-created with classes with story building tips from expert storytellers and applied to stories for language classes in any language at any level.
Turn your stories into page-turning, binge-watching worthy, drama-filled, cliff hangers in Asked and Written Stories using one of 3 simple hacks.
This workshop includes templates that can be useable with any curriculum right away, saving teachers time and work and increasing student engagement.
Practice building stories with suspense, cliff-hangers, emotional reactions and feel-good, memorable happy endings and embedding cultural content.
Schedule with Laurie Clarcq AM:
8:00 -8:10 Introduction and Welcome
8:10-8:45 Demo of CI Core Elements in a Vietnamese lesson
8:45-9:00 Observations and Reflections of Core Elements from Demo
9:00-9:30 Identifying Teacher Strengths
9:30-9:45 Break
9:45-11:15 Connecting current strengths re Core Element skills with activities that provide CI.
Preparation, practice and coaching as desired by participants.
Schedule with Karen Rowan PM:
11:15- 12:15 (break from lunch 12:15-1:30)
Hacking neuroscience for attention-grabbing, powerful storytelling (Cortisol and
Dopamine)
Grabbing attention from the intro to the first cliffhanger
12:15-1:30 Lunch
1:30-2:15 Empathy to Happy Endings (Oxytocin to Endorphins)
Using personalization to connect the student with the story
2:30-3:30 Lesson Planning (Transportation and Mirror Neurons)
Using a lesson planning template, practice converting existing stories into attention-
getting story-experiences. Concrete, useable examples of readers, stories, songs and
Movietalk clips.
3:30-4:30 Optional
Discussion and work session on applying brain research to story-writing for authors or
in-class story writers (en lieu of coaching session for those who do not attend coaching)
1/2 day with Laurie Clarcq - Strong and Centered : Essential CI
Whether you are just starting out on a CI journey, working with newcomers to CI, or just needing to hit the “refresh” button, this workshop is for you! We will dig deep tinto the essentials of Comprehensible Input-based instruction by connecting the comprehension of key concepts to the core, engaging, interactive activities used in CI classrooms. The goal is to provide participants with a clear vision of what effective Comprehensible Input-based instruction looks like from a teacher’s perspective, and how it feels from a student’s perspective. Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of the “what” and “why” of CI, along with new ideas, new insights, and hopefully new friends and colleagues!! The workshop is designed to be helpful to teachers of all languages and all levels. Start the conference off strong and centered with this workshop!!
1/2 day with Karen Rowan- 3 secret hacks to build a killer story archPowerful, Explosive, Gut-Splitting Storytelling isn't always as easy as some people can make it look. Comprehensible but unengaging stories will still work for language acquisition, but teachers can end up feeling like one-man entertainment committees.
If you've ever longed to have your classes hanging on your every word rather than fighting you at every turn....
If you've wanted to write class stories that are compelling.....
If you've wanted to spin stories on your feet that are home runs.....
If you feel like working personalized information into stories isn't your strong suit....
The secrets to Comprehensible, Compelling Storytelling, Story-Asking or StoryListening can be found in brain research. By tweaking our content (regardless of the source) we can very, very easily dump one of three brain chemicals into student brains the way Master Storytellers do. Home run stories can be co-created with classes with story building tips from expert storytellers and applied to stories for language classes in any language at any level.
Turn your stories into page-turning, binge-watching worthy, drama-filled, cliff hangers in Asked and Written Stories using one of 3 simple hacks.
This workshop includes templates that can be useable with any curriculum right away, saving teachers time and work and increasing student engagement.
Practice building stories with suspense, cliff-hangers, emotional reactions and feel-good, memorable happy endings and embedding cultural content.
Schedule with Laurie Clarcq AM:
8:00 -8:10 Introduction and Welcome
8:10-8:45 Demo of CI Core Elements in a Vietnamese lesson
8:45-9:00 Observations and Reflections of Core Elements from Demo
9:00-9:30 Identifying Teacher Strengths
9:30-9:45 Break
9:45-11:15 Connecting current strengths re Core Element skills with activities that provide CI.
Preparation, practice and coaching as desired by participants.
Schedule with Karen Rowan PM:
11:15- 12:15 (break from lunch 12:15-1:30)
Hacking neuroscience for attention-grabbing, powerful storytelling (Cortisol and
Dopamine)
Grabbing attention from the intro to the first cliffhanger
12:15-1:30 Lunch
1:30-2:15 Empathy to Happy Endings (Oxytocin to Endorphins)
Using personalization to connect the student with the story
2:30-3:30 Lesson Planning (Transportation and Mirror Neurons)
Using a lesson planning template, practice converting existing stories into attention-
getting story-experiences. Concrete, useable examples of readers, stories, songs and
Movietalk clips.
3:30-4:30 Optional
Discussion and work session on applying brain research to story-writing for authors or
in-class story writers (en lieu of coaching session for those who do not attend coaching)
|
|
Coaching 4 Coaches with Teri Wiechart- Full Day
Are you an experienced practitioner of Acquisition Based Teaching? Do you want a way to pay it forward to others who are starting on this journey? Then this workshop is for you. It's a way to expand your own teaching skills and to prepare you for taking these skills home to your own districts or regions. During this day-long session you will practice basic and advanced skills and learn how to evaluate and give feedback to others in a way that is encouraging and supportive. Large conferences, for a week in the summer, are a wonderful start for teachers wanting to shift their paradigms, but beginners to teaching towards Language Acquisition need follow-up support as they explore teaching this way. The more trained coaches we have, the more likely the success rate will grow. Spend the day in a room full of coaches and practitioners of TCI and, coaching you in various skills and then having you coach others. Think of the power of working and discussing and working again on those skills where you would like to grow, all the while preparing you with a skill set to help others.
Schedule:
8:00 -8:30 Introduction and Welcome
8:30-9:15 Explanation of Coaching
9:15-10:00 Developing one’s Coaching Philosophy
10:00-10:15 Break
10:15-12:15 Learning the steps of coaching
12:15-1:30 Lunch
1:30-2:30 Practice in groups
2:30-3:30 Q & A
3:30-4:30 Coaching with any volunteer workshop participants*
Mandarin Teachers
(and teachers of other languages with a writing system that's new to students)
All pre-conference options are held at : at Liberty School 7265 N Ann Arbor St, Saline, MI 48176. (see map).
Full day for Mandarin Chinese teachers with Diane Neubauer! A close location for Chinese sessions will be announced soon!
ChineseCI
Chinese teachers (and teachers of other languages with a writing system that’s new to students) have some special teaching needs. We introduce a new language and a new way to read. This day-long workshop will provide a comprehension-based framework for instruction and then discuss specific teaching strategies to reach towards the goal of developing students’ proficiency and literacy, using Chinese examples. Participants will help choose which strategies we focus our time:
- Planning lessons, weeks, & semesters
- Transitioning towards more comprehension-based teaching
- Ways to introduce new words & phrases
- Building students’ auditory comprehension
- Finding & writing effective reading material
- Reading strategies: whole-class and individual
- Assessment, culture, handwriting, and other frequently-asked questions
Diane Neubauer (杜雁子) has been teaching Mandarin Chinese for 13 years with students ranging from age 5 to age 75, in classrooms, tutoring, and online. She is a PhD student in Foreign Language and ESL Education at the University of Iowa, currently vice chair of ACTFL’s Comprehension-based Communicative Language Teaching special interest group, & presents, teaches, & coaches at a variety of language teaching conferences. She blogs & shares videos online.
Schedule:
8:00-8:15 Introductions & goals for the day
8:15-9:15 Demonstration: Thai language lesson & reading
9:15-9:30 Debrief the language lesson: what did you see, hear, think, wonder? What would come next, or be different, in a daily language class?
9:30-9:45 Break
9:45-10:30 Overview of the teaching strategy template & sequencing instruction. List of priorities from participants.
10:30-11:15 Auditory input strategies introduced
11:15-11:30 Break
11:30-12:15 Trying auditory input strategies: skills, strategies, questions.
12:15-1:30 Lunch
1:30-2:30 Reading input strategies: whole class and semi-independent
2:30-3:00 Creating reading material for their classes to use
3:00-3:30 Assessment strategies; questions and debriefing the day
3:30-4:30 Open coaching
Want more CI goodness?
- Want an even longer conference with even MORE options? Check out IFLT20! To be held in SoCal! This incredible 4-day conference has it all! Language labs, sessions, workshops, round tables, adult language classes and more!