An experienced provider of PLD for schools, Andrea specialises in teacher techniques with linguistics and drama to keep a class engaged in productive learning and relating well to each other.
When Andrea is coaching or facilitating workshops she is unpacking the strengths and possibilities within the linguistic patterns and learning approaches of the teachers and children she works with.
Workshops and Presentations
Visual Imaging, Spelling, Learning Strategies
The Visual Imaging Spelling and Learning Strategy provides students with an effective tool they can add to other spelling strategies they may have already learned. Symptoms associated with dsylexia and other learning difficulties can be overcome by learning to use the brain's ability to visually image words and concepts. Phonics can be strengthened
PLD workshops on Visual Imaging for Spelling include:-
Development and the effects of stress and overwhelm
Effective vs ineffective spelling strategies
Dealing with fixed mindsets
Modelling a 9 step spelling process suitable for students to peer coach each other with
Strategies for irregular nouns, homophones and longer words
Effective Teacher Talk
This workshop provide teachers with awareness of the language patterns of their students and how to utilise the children’s patterns while teaching or managing behaviors.
Teachers with a flexible approach to student behaviors can generate the positive learning outcomes they seek from their students.
Content of Effective Teacher Talk presentations and workshops is dependent on the time available and can include the following:
learning skills and linguistic principles that open students' mental 'map' of what's possible.
developing approaches to strengthen students' commitment to change
Strengthening student and teacher resiliency.
Unpacking the nature of student anxiety
Drama as a Learning Tool
Drama can provide students with the opportunity to safely explore situations within a guided process. Big ideas such as what does it take to overcome scary thoughts can be contained by using strategies such as making statues and using spoken thought to discover how a character in a story could be feeling.
By using stories and a drama process involving the whole class children can unpack emotions. This then allows them to find out how they can become calmer and find solutions for the characters. Teachers can later hold class conversations about how the students might be able to apply the same learning or solutions to their own life.
Drama processes are very helpful for classes working their way through the emotions raised by the Covid 19 lockdowns. Some of these emotions are likely to resurface as Covid re-appears in communities around the world where children may have loved ones living.
Andrea has been a Teaching Fellow of Drama within Education at the University of Waikato for over 12 years.