Gifted Course:

HIGH IMPACT TEACHING

Alanna Eimers

CONSULTANT: Alanna Eimers

Alanna is a Teaching and Learning Specialist in Surprise , Arizona, where she lives and has spent 20 years in education.  After ten years teaching kindergarten through middle school (math), she transitioned into the world of instructional coaching and adult education. At a school and  district level she has worked in partnership to  create instructional  systems to target skills and knowledge students need to thrive in their current world.  Alanna has a passion for  supporting teachers with the integration of conceptual understanding, thinking structures, blended learning, and gifted learning approaches into everyday practice.  Alanna received her Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education and her MAEd in Adult Education and Training. In her free time she loves reading, working on house projects  and playing with her nephew and German Shepherds.

Class Description:

  • Examine the why, how, and what of high impact teaching and learning which will help you close the pandemic learning gap.

  • Explore learning structures, across multiple content areas, that are shown to accelerate student learning.

  • Delve into research about how to make learning “sticky” in the brain.

  • Design tasks to be “low floor/high ceiling” with an accessible entry point for all learners.

  • Engage in practices that enhance critical thinking and learning for both teachers and students.

  • Plan for ways to support and grow student agency and executive functioning skills in the classroom.

  • Walk away with 4 days’ worth of strategies ready to implement into the classroom immediately to impact student learning.

Objectives/Outcomes:

  • Explore the role problem solving plays in daily life.

  • Participate in classroom structures and protocols that promote high impact teaching and push the “thinking”  load to students.

  • Connect research about how the brain learns to high impact teaching and learning strategies.

  • Design tasks to be “low floor/high ceiling” with an appropriate entry point and exit point for all learners.

  • Reflect on personal learning throughout the workshop through self regulation structures and protocols that can be mirrored in the classroom.

  • Plan and participate in structures to assess and increase student efficacy and help close the pandemic learning gap for all students.

  • Explore ways to deepen academic conversation between students in the classroom through thinking frames and structures.

  • Reflect on workshop  experiences and plan for individual classroom implementation.

    Course may be used toward the gifted endorsement.