January 11, 2022
Shawnee State University’s Center for Lifelong Learning will host its monthly professional learning series, Final Friday, in Jan. and Feb. 2022 by welcoming nationally-recognized leaders in the field of early childhood education, Dr. Mary Dahlgren and Teacher Tom. Now in its third month, this collaboration provides high-quality professional development that aligns with the science of reading to bring collegial insights and best practices to early childhood programs across southern Ohio.
“We are pleased to offer this conference highlighting some of the evidence-based, best practices implemented for our youngest learners,” said SSU’s Project BEAR Director, Hayley Venturino. “This monthly professional learning series focuses not only on preschool but also on creating strong transitions in the early grades. These strong connections help us strengthen our efforts so we can improve literacy outcomes for our youngest learners.”
Dr. Mary Dahlgren will be hosting the series on Friday, Jan. 28 for a full-day session on sound walls that will benefit preschool-grade 1 teachers. This session will provide the most current brain research backed by the science of reading and the benefits of teaching from “speech to print”. This workshop will explain the layout of a sound wall using the 44 speech sounds, teach participants how to introduce the sounds using quick explanations and examples, provide opportunities to build sound walls in small groups, and end with a discussion of how to do a daily review in an engaging way.
Dr. Dahlgren is the founder of Tools4Reading and is a national literacy consultant whose longstanding interests have centered on providing professional development for early childhood and elementary education teachers by providing training in the science of beginning reading on how to provide the best first instruction or specify the correct intervention for struggling readers.
The Friday, Feb. 25 session will be hosted by Teacher Tom Hobson, an early childhood educator, international speaker, education consultant, teacher of teachers, parent educator, and author. Teacher Tom is a global thought leader in early childhood education. He is a sought-after speaker by serving the needs of both teachers and parents, bringing great insights, inspiration, and humor to every occasion.
In his full-day session, he will be discussing the importance of partnering with parents, grandparents, and caregivers by seeing students not as fully independent humans, but rather members of families where the parents and caregivers have held the role of “first teachers”. In the afternoon session, Teacher Tom will be exploring metacognition mixing anecdotes, data, and provocative questions to take a look at the history and purpose of education and specifically at the process of thinking. Participants will be invited to think deeply about their own thinking, to consider how and why we must be 'researchers' in the classroom, and to learn right alongside the children.
“Throughout the last two years, in spite of the challenges created by the pandemic, our dedication to providing high-quality, in-person, early learning opportunities has remained steady,” said Amanda Hedrick, SSU’s Director of the Center for Lifelong Learning. “Our Final Friday Professional Learning Series is one example of how we continuously renew and refresh our commitment to providing quality professional development to early educators in our region.”
Local educators are invited to attend one or both of the upcoming Final Friday sessions. Cost of attendance per session is $50.00 per person and includes lunch. Registration can be found online.
For more information on the upcoming Final Friday sessions, contact Amanda Hedrick at (740) 351-3188 or Hayley Venturino at (740) 351-3059. To learn more about the Center for Lifelong Learning, visit shawnee.edu/center-lifelong-learning.