Teacher Training

Orton Gillingham Workshop Meets Requirements for New Assembly Bill 1369 Going into Effect at the Start of the 2017-2018 School Year

The passage of AB 1369 mandates that students receive early identification and appropriate intervention for dyslexia. General education and special education teachers will need to receive the proper training and implement the proper curriculum to address the needs of children with dyslexia. We are one of the few programs that include curriculum with training.

Cullinan Education Center, Inc. offers workshops for teachers who wish to increase their effectiveness with students who exhibit weaknesses in decoding and encoding. This methodology is vital for those students who have language deficiencies, and is beneficial for students of all ages, since it emphasizes the structure of the English language in a direct, concrete approach. The training is aligned to State Board of Education standards as evidenced by our approval as a provider of professional development in reading. Our curriculum is based on an adaptation of the well-known Orton Gillingham method (a multi-sensory, kinesthetic tactile, explicit phonics approach).
Years of research and proven results are proof that the methods we use work. What better way to meet the needs of both students and committed teachers than to offer a teacher training seminar? The training is Orton Gillingham based and offers the following:

Classroom instruction that includes:

• Lecture.
• Practicals.
• Demonstrations.
• Supervised student teaching.

Curriculum:

• That is a multi-sensory, kinesthetic-tactile, explicit phonics approach.

Improvement in:

• Knowledge of the English language, including phonemes, graphemes, blends and clusters, syllables, spelling and affixes.
• The ability to recognize comprehension deficiencies.
• Teaching techniques through increased improvement strategies, drill work, kinesthetic-tactile activities, and lesson plans.

Objective Checklist

The workshop will include classroom instruction, demonstrations, and supervised student teaching. The following checklist covers the primary knowledge and skill areas that you will be conversant with by the conclusion of the training.

1. Language ‒ Instruction will provide a thorough understanding of the phonemic and graphemic structure of an alphabetically based language, like English, and its significance for teaching decoding and encoding.
2. Reading Research ‒ How Children Learn to Read, Summary of Research, “Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning About Print.” Marilyn Jager Adams, University of Illinois Reading Research Center.
3. Recognizing Children with Reading Disabilities ‒ Signs and symptoms, appropriate testing and intervention.
4. Language Inventory ‒ Assessing language for development of a strategy of implementation and delivery of appropriate reading instruction.
5. Phonemes ‒ Ability to recall and correctly pronounce the principal sounds associated with the primary phonemes of spoken English.
6. Graphemes ‒ Ability to recall and recognize the primary and secondary spellings (graphemes) and their corresponding phonemes.
7. Blends/Clusters ‒ Correct pronunciation of the blends, clusters and consonant – le syllables contained in the phoneme/grapheme organizational chart.
8. Syllables ‒ Teachers will know:
   • Seven kinds of syllables and how they govern the use of sounds and symbols.
   • Five different syllable division word patterns.
   • Basic accent (stress rules).
   • Schwa concept;
   • Syllable segmentation and blending.
9. Spelling ‒ Teachers will know:
   • ff-ll-ss-zz rules;
   • ck-ge-dge-tch rules;
   • soft c, g and hard c, g rules;
   • doubling rule (single and multi-syllable words);
   • silent e rule;
   • y rule;
   • spelling by phoneme, grapheme correspondence rules;
   • finger spelling;
   • non-phonetic (“red” or “sight”) words.
10. Affixes ‒ You will have an understanding of the nature and importance of teaching affixes. (Systematic treatment of this subject is not within the scope of this workshop. Affixes are covered with advanced students, and instruction in how to teach affixes is treated in a special workshop).
11. Reading Comprehension ‒ Recognition of comprehension deficiencies and improvement strategies.
12. Teaching Techniques
    • Drill work ‒ You will be able to carry out a visual, auditory and blending drill and know what to do when a student blocks.
    • Kinesthetic-Tactile (KT) ‒ You will develop skill with basic kinesthetic-tactile (KT) learning techniques.
    • Lesson Planning ‒ You will be familiar with the basic format and requirements for lesson planning.
13. Approach ‒ You will be familiar with the general philosophy and approach used by Cullinan Education Center Inc. You will have an appreciation for the potential of the approach in the classroom setting and in small group instruction.
14. Action ‒ You will have the basis to develop an action plan by which you can begin to apply the decoding/encoding knowledge and skills gained in this workshop in both one-on-one and classroom situations. You can be assured that those students who need this kind of approach will be significantly benefited. You can also look forward to continuing professional education, which will better equip you to use this general approach with students ready for more advanced linguistics.