Earlier this month, we facilitated a professional development workshop for English Language Arts teachers at Tracy Unified School District in Tracy, CA.
The workshop was titled Creating Critical Thinkers through the Study of Literature and its focus was building literature-based units of study that meet the demands of Common Core.
The following are some testimonials from that workshop:
“Finally! A workshop that was teacher-driven by competent educators. The presenters were knowledgeable and accessible. The book is teacher-friendly and very helpful. Thank you!”
“I rarely write ‘strongly agree’! Thanks for the coaching and patience! Excellent time flow management! Great scaffolding for middle school! Wonderful content and help!”
“Very organized and practical. Everything I learned I can apply to my own classroom. Thought the ‘So what?’ phrase is great; can’t wait to see their reaction after saying it for the 1,000th time.”
“Please have the James’s come back. I was very impressed and really enjoyed having our speakers. Great job.”
“Great, useful activities and focus on rigor.”
“Time was well-spent and informative. Liked the ‘So what?’ approach.”
“Great, dynamic duo!”
“The presenters were knowledgeable and kept things interesting.”
“I learned some new ideas that I can implement this year.”
“This was quite helpful. Having actual teachers who work with students and have used these techniques was a smart choice. I look forward to using this this year.”
“Thank you for helping us enrich our curriculum w/rigor. I am looking forward to reading your book.”
“Two days in a row with lessons I can use immediately!”
“The instructors were very organized and had us active the entire time.”
“Really developed ways to promote understanding and creating connections with literature.”
“This has been the most relevant workshop in years. Thoroughly satisfied.”
“Bring Liz and Bill back!!!”