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Center for Research, Evaluation, and Assessment

Assessment Home - Training

Institutes

Set in a variety of locations, our Institutes are geared towards individuals from different school districts. The size of each institute is limited, so it is imperative that you are on the roster before you incur any non refundable travel expenses. To be sure of your registration, please read our Tips for Registration.


Upcoming Institutes:


Workshops

Workshops are our most popular form of training. We come to your school district and share techniques, strategies and a bushel full of ideas with your staff. You can choose from a wide host of workshop topics or mix and match to fit your own training needs!

6+1 Trait® Workshops:

Workshops are our most popular form of training. We come to your school district and share techniques, strategies and a bushel full of ideas with your staff. You can choose from a wide host of workshop topics or mix and match to fit your own training needs!

Introduction to 6+1 Trait Writing Assessment & Instruction (Grades K-12)

During this 2-day Workshop, participants will learn to evaluate student writing (K-12) across 6+1 dimensions of performance: ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions, + presentation, using clearly defined scoring guides. You will also learn how to implement Trait-based instruction in the classroom.

This workshop can be modified to the grade levels of your choice.

6+1 Trait Writing Assessment & Instruction Across the Content Areas (Grades 6-12)

In this 1 or 2-day Workshop for teachers of grades 6-12, participants will use the 6-Trait model to create the link between assessment and instruction, particularly for teaching expository and persuasive writing. This workshop is designed for middle and high school English and other content area (science, math, social studies) teachers who wish to become conversant with 6+1 Trait Writing, and use Trait criteria to develop the communications skills of their students in informational, nonfiction writing. The theme of the workshop is using peer and self-assessment, and effective feedback as a foundation for revision. It highlights practical, ready-to-use lessons and strategies that help students identify quality writing, manage their own writing process, and become confident writers.

The Workshop will feature an examination of a modified Traits scoring guide with practice in scoring, and a close examination of instructional strategies that work. These include a look at a modes-of-writing guide to clarify purpose, writing in content areas, and a teaching-learning cycle for integrated course design. Prior knowledge of the Traits is not required for this workshop.

6+1 Trait Writing Writing 1-Day Overview

This 1-day workshop is for K-12 educators wanting to learn about the Traits for the first time. This workshop is limited to a general overview that will hopefully lead to a more in-depth 2-Day grade-level Intro workshop.

6+1 Trait sponsored Wee Can Write (Preschool, Kindergarten & Grade 1)

This full-day workshop is designed for teachers of beginning writers. Participants will practice use of each of the Traits through oral language, reading, listening, and writing activities (that take no more than 3 to 5 minutes to prepare) so that teachers become comfortable using the writing Traits to improve students' communication skills. The vocabulary of the Traits provides common words that participants can use to talk to students each day, providing a solid foundation for writing throughout their lives. The participants will gain knowledge of clear, concise, and visual rubrics that are student and teacher friendly. This workshop provides a wealth of flexible, creative, and easy to prepare Trait-writing activities using award-winning literature loved by children, titles found in school libraries or on personal bookshelves. Learn about the writing traits today.use them tomorrow!

Introduction to 6+1 Trait Writing for Para Educators (Grades K-12)

During this 2-day workshop, designed for para educators and support staff, participants will learn to use the Traits to evaluate writing and provide effective feedback to student writers. This will occur by grade level (Grades K-12) across 6+1 dimensions of performance: ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions, + presentation, using clearly defined scoring guides. You will also learn how to implement Trait-based instruction with small groups in support of the classroom teacher. The first day of the workshop will be spent becoming familiar with and practicing the use of the Traits to evaluate student writing and to provide timely, corrective feedback. The second day will focus on the integration of the Traits into classroom instructional practice, including special considerations for K-3 beginning writers.

Aligning Assessment and Instruction with Standards: Effective Course Design (Educators at all levels; especially relevant for classroom teachers & curriculum developers.)

During this 1-day workshop participants will move through our 6-stage Teaching-Learning Cycle on how to (re)design and deliver a course from a standards-based approach using a hands-on manual created especially for this workshop. Participants will: 1) Become familiar with a teaching-learning cycle that integrates assessment with instructional practices; 2) Develop essesential questions and learning outcomes that align to district standards; 3) Match assessment methods to categories of student learning outcomes; and 4) Match assessment methods to instructional decisions and actions. The cycle employs a backwards design process whereby unit learning 1) targets are defined first, 2) assessments that align to those learning targets are then selected, and, finally, 3) an instructional plan is written to prepare students to be successful in meeting the learning targets. Strategies are also generated to use assessment as instruction.

Contact us now to set a date.