Recently, I had the privilege of presenting at Henderson State University’s Resource Academy. Dr. Glenda Hyer orchestrated this amazing event and gave me the chance to share what I love to do. It was exceptionally special, because I consider Dr. Hyer a mentor and a dear family friend. At one point she was my soccer and softball coach, and was a positive influence on my life. Plus, she is just an incredibly kind person with an amazing sense of humor.

Needless to say, having her ask me to present was an honor. My family was able to travel with me, which if you know my family you know our love of adventure, and we extended the trip to give my kids a chance to see other states. We don’t mind driving because of the places we can stop and see. Additionally, I am unable to self-edit the needed materials I want to include and want to bring all.the.things.

See my poor car below:

When I present at workshops, I cannot just provide handouts. My roots as an elementary classroom teacher won’t allow it. I have to find some trinkets or treasures to include so that my workshops are interactive, and attendees find value in everyday things that can also be teaching tools.

My kids helped me put together our goody bags that included items that could be used for multiple purposes. We included pencils with toppers for handwriting practice and as a tracking tool and green/yellow/red pop-it blocks that could be used for beginning/middle/end and prefixes/suffixes. I always try to include a dry-erase mini-board, because it allows me to do so many activities in my classroom and for presenting. Although my children would do it out of kindness, helping me prepare for my workshops has presented an opportunity for them to earn a bit of money or a special treat. They have recently reached the point where they will see something in a store and suggest it for our goody bag. It warms my teacher mom heart.

In this workshop, I focused on Multisensory Strategies for the Classroom. The content was built around the Orton-Principles, the Big Five of Reading Instruction, and research based strategies to support all learners. The group consisted of grades K-12th, so we spent time discussing the foundational pieces that have to be in place and how we can scale up or scale back to meet the needs of various ages. I also emphasized the importance of direct, explicit, and systematic instruction in content areas. Language does not just impact your language block. Language has to be addressed in all content areas. More on that in a future blog post!

It was nice to have my own book Once Upon a Phonogram to use as a tool to model some of the concepts we would be covering. Shameless plug? Perhaps, but it is a great tool for preparing structured literacy, phonics, or Orton-Gillingham lessons. I hope the classroom teachers I spent a few days with will find it useful.

I spent the time on our drive fine-tuning a few new ebooks. They are now available on my website. If you are an early elementary educator, if you have been waiting on a digital book like Once Upon a Phonogram (new stories and new info pages), or if you need a resource and routine for irregular and high-frequency words – be sure to check them out!

I am grateful for the time I spent at Henderson State University with the dedicated educators of the Resource Academy. Educators never cease to amaze me with how much time, energy, and resources they will commit to making sure they are equipped to provide the best instruction possible. I enjoyed sharing my passion and what I hope were useful strategies to add to their toolbox. I always leave workshops invigorated, humbled, and grateful to share what I love to do.

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Bringing Multisensory Strategies to Arkadelphia!