Dear Principal of IE school

I am pleased to inform you that US expert Ms Barbara J. Cockroft, M. Ed., NBCT, Consultant, (US) will be coming in April 2018 on promoting the effectiveness of teaching and learning and raising students’ learning motivation in schools by using the inviting teaching strategies of Formative Instructional Practices (FIP) to increase students’ ownership in learning, we are able to organize this seminar for your school to participate.

She will be presenting a1day intensive train the trainers workshop on FIP to equip your teacher leaders to be the competent trainer of FIP so that he/she could go back to the school to support other teachers to adopt and implement FIP. This is very timely for HK schools after we had implemented the New Academic Structure in 2009 and with relatively large no. of SEN students enrolled in the schools. In fact, decades of researches have made it clear that FIP is the heart of teaching and learning. It can help to empower your teachers with improved, high-quality teaching and assessment practices which can accelerate and motivate student learning. In addition, it can help to cater for learners’ diversity, one of the key issues to address in classroom teaching these days. Please see the details of the 1 day workshop as follows:

Raising Students’ Motivation by Catering to Their Diverse Learning Needs through FIP

Workshop Description:

"Where am I going? Where am I now? How can I close the gap?"When students are involved with their learning, student motivation increases. By learning how to create a learning progression of skills necessary to achieve mastery, students can visibly see where they are on the continuum of learning. In this workshop educators will discover how using high-quality assessment and teaching practices can accelerate the learning of ALL students.

Formative Instructional Practices (FIP)—the formal and informal ways that teachers and students gather and respond to evidence of student learning—are vital to improving student achievement and ensuring that every student is college and career ready. At the core, formative instructional practices make assessment an integral part of the teaching and learning process, the instructional process. The result is a collection of intentional practices on the part of teachers and students. And when FIP is a school-wide effort, leaders engage in these practices, too.

In this session, participants will review the core components of FIP:

  • Creating and using clear learning targets;
  • Collecting and documenting evidence of student learning;
  • Using evidence and feedback to increase learning; and
  • Fostering student ownership of learning.

In this interactive learning workshop, participants will experience what the core components of FIP look and sound like in action, allowing them to see for themselves how FIP benefits teachers, leaders, students, and parents.

Leaders in this workshop will come away with the knowledge of how to support a FIP culture in their school, and teachers in this workshop will gain practical knowledge of how to use the tenets of FIP as a way to more effectively deliver classroom instruction to reach the needs of ALL learners. Participants will also gain knowledge of how to initiate conversations about FIP with other educators to encourage colleagues to embrace these research-based instructional practices.

Language: English

Trainer : Barbara J. Cockroft, M.Ed., NBCT

With more than 40 years in education Barb Cockrofthas successfully introduced the IE initiatives into her school leadership work and has achieved excellent results in the schools and districts in which sheworks. Barb has more than 35 years of classroom experience as a 7th and 8th grade language arts teacher on which to base her expertise, including 18 years of teaching reading and writing to gifted students. Additionally, Barb used her passion for education to mentor both aspiring and experienced teachers in her past position as Director of the Center for Professional Development and as an Adjunct Professor in the Division of Education at Walsh University in Ohio (USA).

Barb has helped Battelle for Kids create blended-learning experiences, including face-to-face and online courses and activities in order to build educators’ capacity to understand and apply various educational-improvement strategies. As a consultant, she supports teachers’ and leaders’ efforts to ensure curriculum alignment, adopt formative instructional practices (FIP), and create a school-wide culture that supports educators and students every step of the way.

She has delivered professional development in Tennessee, Oklahoma, California, Georgia, Texas, and Ohio, as well as in several other states. She has worked for the past 4 years helping to set up model FIP schools in Hong Kong.She is credentialed as a teacher evaluator, a FIP specialist as well as a state-trained assessment literacy specialist. She holds a permanent teaching license, is a National Board Certified teacher, and holds a M.S. degree in Curriculum and Instruction as well as a K-12 Gifted Endorsement. She is sought after both locally and nationally as a speaker at various educational conferences and events.

Date and Time: 19 April 2018 ( 9:15 am- 4:30pm )

Venue:ELCHK Lutheran Secondary School (52 Waterloo Rd, Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon) student activity centre (油麻地信義中學活動中心)

Please fill in the reply slip for enrolment by17 April 2018 and fax to Stephanie for registration.

If you have further enquiry, please feel free to contact Peter WONG (93336474).

(Ken Wright)

IAIE Inviting School Project Coordinator

Reply Slip

To:IAIE (Hong Kong) c/o Creative Primary School (Fax: 2338 2924)

Attention: Ms Stephanie Chan

(Please fax on or before Friday 17 April 2018)

Workshop on 19 April 2018

In responses to the invitation as detailed in the letter, my school’s participations are as follows:

Name / Position
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Name of School :

Name of Principal: ______

Signature : ______

Name of the coordinating teacher:

Telephone:______

E-mail:______

Date:______

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