Professional Development by McGee-Keiser

Scroll down to read about the sessions available from M*K!

Are you looking for an upbeat, practical approach to professional development for your campus or district? Are you searching for a way to get your teachers excited about teaching and planning during this last part of the school year? Would you like to provide a six-hour update training to make the '06-07 school year the best year yet? Then McGee-Keiser professional development opportunities are the solution for your district.

We offer many sessions to fit the diverse needs of your district and can modify or build sessions to help you meet state and/or district guidelines. With years of experience and reasonable rates, M*K can help your teachers grow professionally.

Is your school or district having a mini-conference? Are you looking for ways to meet the expectations of the district parent involvement component? M*K can help. Call or e-mail today for more information. We provide the following presentation formats:

• 6-hour updates
• 3-hour 1/2 day sessions for updates
• Teacher Inservice Days
• ESC conferences
• District and regional conferences
• parent information meetings
• student-centered activities for mini-conferences
• mini-conference presentations

Sessions Available Now:

NEW!

McGee-Keiser Implementation Training

Session Duration Times: 3-hour or 6-hour

Session Format: Available in Train the Teachers or Train the Trainer

Ideal Session Size: 10-40 teachers/coordinators per session

Audience: Teachers/Coordinators/Administrators K-8

Ready to implement McGee-Keiser Academic Enrichment Programs across the district or in your school? Then you might want to schedule a staff development day to get you off on the right foot. Even with the teacher-friendly, easy-to-follow format, a group session will bring you more success and more consistency.

Optional Correlation with District Benchmarks and Goals: Half-Day Session

Session Duration Times: 3-hours

Ideal Session Size: 2 teachers per book being benchmarked

Audience: Teachers/Coordinators/Administrators K-8

This session is typically added to M*K Implementation Training in lieu of the afternoon session. Using M*K guides purchased by the district, we provide a chart and help districts weave M*K activities into existing district curriculum. This session helps teachers know when it makes sense to implement each M*K activity.

Differentiating Curriculum for the Gifted Learner

Session Duration Times: 1-hour, 3-hours, or 6-hours

Ideal Session Size: 10-40 teachers/coordinators per session

Audience: Teachers/Coordinators/Administrators K-8

From theory to practice, we take the mystery out of differentiating curriculum for gifted students. First learn the "what" and the "why", then dive into a full day of "how" with lots of modeling and active participation. Depth and complexity will be fully explored. Don't throw out that favorite unit - bring it with you and leave with a new, pumped up version that will suit all your special students.

Creativity and Instructional Strategies for Gifted Students: Assessments with Pizzazz

Session Duration Times: 1-hour, 3-hours, or 6-hours

Ideal Session Size: 10-40 teachers/coordinators per session

Audience: Teachers/Coordinators/Administrators K-8

Are you running out of creative, yet meaningful assessments? Tired of the same old written report? Add some new ideas to your "bag of tricks" in this session dedicated to process and product. Encourage students to demonstrate what they have learned in a wider variety of forms that reflect both knowledge and the ability to manipulate ideas. By modifying process and product opportunities, you will help facilitate ways for talented students to produce products that reflect their potential.

Learning to Be a Durable Person - Affective Needs

Session Duration Times: 1-hour, 3-hours, or 6-hours

Ideal Session Size: 10-40 teachers/coordinators per session

Audience: Teachers/Coordinators/Administrators K-8

What is a durable person? A durable person is one who can survive the day-to-day struggles of life and still be satisfied, productive, and happy. Why do we want this for gifted children? We believe as educators we want this for all children. However, gifted children present a uniqueness when addressing their social and emotional needs. For a gifted child to meet both academic and social potentials, care and support must be provided for their emotional needs. There are many manuals on surviving giftedness. We want students to thrive, not just survive.

This session explores ways gifted students can explore their own giftedness, expand social skills, cultivate leadership skills, and develop strategies for combating stress, anger and perfectionism. Gifted children need to be taught to be durable, so they can continue to be responsible and productive citizens.

Reader's Theater and So Much More…

Session Duration Times: 1-hour or 3-hours

Ideal Session Size: 10-40 teachers/coordinators per session

Audience: Teachers/Coordinators/Administrators 2-5

You know they work, you know kids love them so learn how to put them to work for you. Learn how to use readers’ theaters as a jumping off place for research and creativity for students of all ability levels. Learn how to differentiate and extend your content lessons with a skit, game show, or a clever talk show interview. Not only do these experiences provide a legitimate reason for students to reread text and practice fluency, but also write text and promote cooperative interaction with peers.

Systems: Planning and Implementing Differentiated Curriculum

Session Duration Times: 1-hour, 3-hours, or 6-hours

Ideal Session Size: 10-40 teachers/coordinators per session

Audience: Teachers/Coordinators/Administrators K-8

From concept to the lesson plan book, come be a part of a mass development session. Discover the kinds of questions to ask as you plan lessons and write curriculum to include gifted and talented strategies that help you differentiate. Teachers will use these strategies to brainstorm, categorize, and narrow any universal concept (for example: systems, patterns, structures, changes, discoveries, explorations, balances, etc.) in order to develop a series of ready- to-use lessons in their classrooms. This session is the ideal introduction for teachers planning to write new district curriulum.

What is a Scientist? Primary Science Enrichment

Session Duration Times: 1-hour or 3-hours

Ideal Session Size: 10-40 teachers/coordinators per session

Audience: Teachers/Coordinators/Administrators K-3

Empower your students to BECOME scientists. See how using simple manipulatives can help even non-readers participate and get the most out of science experiments and demonstrations. Also, get an overview of our popular Ph.D. curriculum for K-3 learners. In this program students explore the worlds of entomology, oceanography, meteorology, astronomy, chemistry, physics, zoology, and paleontology. Walk away with a ready to use lesson, one set of scientist skill cards, and a wide range of ideas about how to make your early elementary science curriculum contain the "WOW" factor.

Consider the Stakeholders – Implementing Program Changes Successfully

Session Duration Times: 1-hour or 3-hours

Ideal Session Size: 10-20 /coordinators/administrators per session

Audience: Coordinators/Administrators K-8

Implementing changes within any district gifted program will raise concerns. Proactive response to these issues can help them go more smoothly. The importance of teacher response to changes in gifted program planning is critical, but often overlooked. This session focuses on actions taken once the decision to make a change has been made. Who are the stakeholders affected by this decision? What concerns might they have and how can they be addressed? Two approaches for implementing changes are examined and compared. Ultimately, no change should be considered without being sure it is being implemented to improve instruction for our children.

The Research Puzzle: Helping Students Investigate Successfully

Session Duration Times: 1-hour, 3-hours, or 6 hours

Ideal Session Size: 10-40 teachers/coordinators/administrators per session

Audience: Teachers/Coordinators/Administrators K-5

Studies show inquiry is a preferred activity of gifted learners. Teaching gifted students to research effectively is the challenge. In addition to setting up a research-friendly environment, several questions will be addressed during this practical session: How do we facilitate locating information safely in the 21 st century? What are some methods of acquiring this information? In what ways can this information be recorded and organized so that it is usable? How can this information best be communicated? Providing students the tools to research effectively can only have a positive impact on their later endeavors.

That’s Not Geography, Is It? Making Connections Between World Geography and Other Core Areas

Session Duration Times: 1-hour or 3-hours

Ideal Session Size: 10-40 teachers/coordinators/administrators per session

Audience: Teachers/Coordinators/Administrators 2-8

The importance of developing a global perspective and a sense of world interdependence is often overlooked. Imagine teaching the required skills and intertwining world geography with them. This session is dedicated to raising awareness of world geography and sharing examples of how the five themes of geography can be incorporated into other core areas. Facilitators need not simply focus on location and physical characteristics of places. This session considers questions such as: How does the environment affect human settlement? How are the environment and humans interconnected? By better understanding our world, students will understand themselves and their places in society.

Next Stop. . .Earth Central!

Session Duration Times: 1-hour or 3-hours

Ideal Session Size: 10-40 teachers/coordinators/administrators per session

Audience: Teachers/Coordinators/Administrators 4-6

What is the most dangerous thing about a volcano? The lava? The ash? The earthquakes and tsunamis the volcano can cause? The most dangerous thing about a volcano and many other of earth’s natural forces is their unpredictability. Come join a team of fellow explorers as we examine the earth from the inside out. Fun, hands-on project ideas will be shared and the scientific method will come alive in a plate tectonics simulation. Participants will leave the session with several activity ideas and a deeper appreciation of the planet we call home.

Any of the above sessions can be modified to suit the needs of your district or school. Please call today to specify your needs, select a date, and get pricing information.

Download a Video Clip From an M*K Session Now:

This clip is from the session titled Differentiating for the Gifted Learner. During this session we present practical ways for teachers to differentiate their classrooms and instruction to meet the needs of all children, including the gifted. We based our research on several differentiation models, including C.J. Maker's which includes environment as well as content, process, and product. In this clip, Debbie Keiser presents a variety of ways to enhance and modify the classroom environment to make it a more versatile place to learn. Click HERE to view the clip.