Douglas Dispatch

Over 100 Southern Arizona 4th �“ 12th grade teachers from every school district in Cochise, Pima and Santa Cruz county recently benefitted from an educational workshop run by UA South Teacher Education faculty. The seminar was broadcast across ITV (interactive television) to four sites in Sierra Vista, Douglas, Nogales and the UA Science and Technology Park (Tucson). The purpose for the workshop was to provide teachers with new ideas and resources to increase the vocabulary and reading skills of their students, which is a key to long term student success.

The presenters were in Tucson with two UA South Teacher Education faculty serving as facilitators at each of the four sites. The 2 1/2 hour workshop-style session contained presentations, demonstrations and video broadcast over ITV, inter-mixed with local interactive small group discussions, activities and practical application exercises facilitated by UA South faculty at each site. Over 100 teachers participated, along with current UA South Teacher Education students.

This is a cost-effective method to delivery high quality content to a large number of teachers across rural communities. "This seminar was just what we needed. The topic was relevant and we received cutting-edge reading research. It is really a benefit to teachers in Arizona to have UA South faculty and resources here locally to support us."

The program was designed and delivered by Archer Israel Ph.D. & Constance Cain Ed.D. Archer Israel has a Ph. D. in Language Reading and Culture from the University of Arizona. She is a reading coach at T. Dewitt Taylor Middle High, in the rural agriculture community of Pierson, FL. Connie Cain received an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership, Research and Technology from the University of Central Florida in 2002. She is a reading coach at Maynard Evans, an urban Title I high school in Orlando, Florida.

This interactive workshop was entitled: “The Choreography of Engagement: Dynamic Student Interactions for Vocabulary Acquisition and Text Reading.” The two and a half hour presentation offered an overview of the strategies for developing vocabulary acquisition and text reading that can be used effectively in a variety of reading contexts with modeled demonstrations via ITV. UA South faculty and staff facilitated hands on practice and discussion of the modeled techniques at each of the sites.

Teachers left the workshop commenting on the value of the workshop and eager to implement the strategies immediately. "Thank you for hosting this great workshop and providing an opportunity to learn new reading techniques that I can implement immediately, and I receive professional development hours." The attendees requested more professional development opportunities via ITV with facilitated engagement at the various sites.