Workshops and Keynotes
Dr. McBride is widely known for his dynamic and humorous workshops and keynotes. He presents both the research basis of best practices while modeling practical strategies immediately transferable to the classroom.
Implementation and Accountability
Workshops are useless unless attendees implement what they learn. Dr. McBride utilizes the following techniques to ensure implementation:
- An engaging and inspirational workshop experience that models best practices and inspires teachers to try new methodologies
- Detailed step-by-step handouts so that teachers can practice strategies after the workshop
- Establishment of content area vertical teams to promote collaboration
- Activity commitment forms filled out by vertical teams after strategies are presented
- Duplicate commitment forms shared with administrators who promise positive evaluations for teachers when they attempt a new strategy
- Follow-up workshops to promote sharing of successes and deeper reflection and change.
- MP3 podcasts of Bill explaining his strategies on his Blog Spot at: http://entertaininganelephant.blogspot.com/ (Needs to be a hot link to blog page.)
Descriptions of Dr. McBride’s Workshops
Engaging the Disengaged: Energizing Adolescent Learners
Today's students see more and more of a disconnect between school environments and the outside world. Recent research clearly identifies six environmental stimuli that get the brain's attention--stimuli that are inherent in most pieces of technology. Yet teachers rarely employ these elements in their teaching to increase student engagement. This highly interactive workshop will model a number of brain-based literacy strategies that utilize all six stimuli and consequently get students involved in learning. Teachers will learn strategies to help students preview texts, take notes, comprehend while reading, and summarize what they have read. Come prepared to be inspired and have fun. Detailed handouts are provided.
Literacy Across the Content Areas
Content area teachers will participate in research-based, hands-on activities that promote literacy for all readers. The workshop covers the following five areas:
- Brain-based learning to increase student engagement
- Vocabulary Development for Older Students
- Before Reading Strategies
- During Reading Strategies
- After Reading Strategies
- Understanding by Design Implementation
The reading strategies presented represent some of the most successful activities teachers can implement in various content areas. This is a highly interactive and inspirational workshop designed to create teacher change in philosophy and practice. Detailed handouts are provided.
Girls will be Girls, Boys will be Boys: Teaching to Gender Differences.
Recent scientific research is illuminating the genetic differences between the male and female brain. Based on the works of Michael Gurian and Leonard Sax, this workshop presents the differences in male and female brain development that affect behavior and learning. Teachers will come to understand that most school practices reinforce how girls learn rather than boys; consequently, boys make up the majority of our behavior problems, failures, and drop outs. Practical, hands-on literacy strategies will be presented that promote instruction specifically for males, for females, and for both sexes. Detailed handouts will be provided.
Vocabulary Development for Grades 3-12
Students reading content area texts are immersed in difficult concepts—abstract -isms, foreign terms, scientific and mathematical words, and concepts about which students have little prior knowledge. Vocabulary research points to clear strategies teachers can use with students to help them read and retain difficult key terms. This workshop will provide teachers with an understanding of what it means to “know” a word, what doesn’t work with older students in developing vocabulary, and which effective strategies increase a student’s word power. Hands-on practical activities will be modeled and detailed handouts will be provided. (It should be noted that primary teachers also enjoy this workshop.)
Teaching Note Making and Summarizing
Making notes is the first step in studying by requiring a student to reflect on what he or she has read. Summarizing requires a student to reflect once again, and consequently, builds retention. In order for students to learn how to make good notes and summarize, they need good models for each of these processes. This workshop will demonstrate successful strategies that utilize graphic organizers to scaffold the processes of making notes and summarizing texts. These activities also enhance a student’s ability to review and reflect on what they have read.
Brain-Based Teaching to Build Retention
Medical echnology has made profound inroads into learning how the human brain works in the last decade. Though we are still scratching the surface, we now are beginning to understand how the brain learns and retains information. Based on the work of Eric Jensen, Marilee Sprenger, Pat Wolfe, and David Sousa, this workshop shows teachers how to adapt their classroom practices to make use of the way the brain works. Teachers will learn that “chalk and talk” no longer makes sense with today’s kids whose brains are wired by a technological environment. Specific strategies will be modeled that show teachers how to teach for comprehension and retention. Detailed handouts are provided.
Building Literacy in Social Studies
This interactive workshop will present practical activities that get students actively involved in reading their Social Studies texts. Brain-based research shows educators how the brain learns, how to help students store information in long-term memory, and how to engage a student’s attention. Teachers will learn strategies to help students preview texts, take notes, comprehend while reading, and summarize what they have read. Attendees will also learn about best practices to improve the vocabulary development of older students. This workshop combines research-based methodologies and hands-on activities that teachers can translate immediately to their classrooms. Detailed handouts will be provided.
Vocabulary Development for Social Studies
Social Studies texts are filled with a multitude of difficult abstract concepts—many -isms, -ologies, and -ocracies. Terms often describe places and times about which students have little prior knowledge. Vocabulary research points to clear strategies teachers can use with students to help them read and retain difficult academic terms. This highly interactive workshop will provide teachers with an understanding of effective strategies that increase a student’s understanding and retention. Hands-on practical activities and Powerpoint games that are also appropriate for English Language Learners will be modeled. Detailed handouts will be provided.
Building Literacy in Math:
This interactive workshop will present practical activities that get students actively involved in comprehending their Math texts. Teachers will learn how to help students preview texts, learn academic vocabulary, decipher word problems, and use language to aid understanding of key concepts. Teachers will also learn methods to get students more physically and verbally engaged in classroom activities. This workshop combines research-based methodologies and hands-on activities that teachers can translate immediately to their classrooms. Detailed handouts will be provided.
Building Literacy in Science
This interactive workshop will present practical activities that get students actively involved in reading their Science texts. Brain-based research shows educators how the brain learns, how to help students store information in long-term memory, and how to engage a student’s attention. Teachers will learn strategies to help students preview texts, make notes, comprehend while reading, and summarize what they have read. Attendees will also learn about best practices to improve the vocabulary development of older students. This workshop combines research-based methodologies and hands-on activities that teachers can translate immediately to their classrooms. Detailed handouts will be provided.
Building Literacy in Math and Science Texts
Brain-based research shows educators how the brain learns, how to help students store information in long-term memory, and how to engage a student’s attention. This interactive workshop will present practical activities that get students actively involved in reading two of their most difficult textbooks—Math and Science. Teachers will learn strategies to help students preview texts, take notes, comprehend while reading, and summarize what they have read. Attendees will also learn about best practices to improve the vocabulary development of older students. This workshop combines research-based methodologies and hands-on activities that teachers can translate immediately to their classrooms. Detailed handouts will be provided.
Building Literacy and Composition Skills in Language Arts
This interactive workshop will present practical activities that help students read both fiction and nonfiction texts. Teachers will learn strategies to help students preview texts, make notes while reading, and summarize what they have read. Attendees will also learn about best practices to improve the vocabulary development of older students. Teachers will also learn how to use a student’s reading as a springboard for writing instruction. This workshop combines research-based methodologies and hands-on activities that teachers can translate immediately to their classrooms. Detailed handouts will be provided.
Teaching Persuasive Writing through Debate
What teenagers do well is argue. In this interactive workshop, teachers learn to use this natural “resource” to teach students to write persuasively—the most tested mode of writing on high stakes test. Students begin by analyzing student models to learn how to support an opinion well. Cross content instruction helps students understand surveys, statistics, and logical fallacies. Students then research topics that matter to them, construct their arguments, research counterarguments, offer rebuttals and summarize views in actual classroom debates. Once the argument is well developed, students are able to transfer their work into a powerful persuasive paper.
Researching and Evaluating Internet Information
Many of our students consider research as simply “cut and paste.” They illegally copy whatever information they find and drop it into their paper. Students also use unreliable sources, or only one source, such as Wikipedia. This workshop will actively engage teachers in using online reference tools, using a variety of Search Engines, doing Boolean searching, evaluating web sites, conducting surveys, and even understanding basic statistics used in research. The workshop also shows the differences between plagiarizing and paraphrasing. Teachers will work online as they practice the same skills they will model for their students.
Supporting Parents and Teachers of the Gifted and Talented
Teaching Gifted and Talented students doesn’t simply mean giving them “more” than other students. These students have special intellectual and personality needs that need to be addressed with depth, not breadth. This interactive workshop will describe gender differences in brain-based learning, how to enhance teaching and parenting for girls and boys, how to fight “learned helplessness” in girls, how to deal with active kids, and how to use “positives” instead of “put downs.” Practical classroom strategies will be modeled that show how to differentiate content, process, and product for Gifted and Talented students.
Vocabulary Development for Mathematics
Math texts include more concepts per sentence and per page than any other textbook. Concepts are often introduced but not used again until later in the text, thus compromising retention. Vocabulary research points to clear strategies teachers can use with students to help them read and retain math academic terms. This highly interactive workshop will provide teachers with an understanding of how to get students to understand math concepts so that they can discuss and retain them. Hands-on practical activities and Powerpoint word games that are also appropriate for English Language Learners will be modeled. Detailed handouts will be provided.
Vocabulary Development for Science
An average high school Chemistry text may include as many as 3,000 new concepts. An average high school student can learn about 3,000 words a year. (That doesn’t leave much for the rest of us!) Science texts are filled with highly technical terms. This interactive workshop will provide teachers with a wealth of strategies to help students retain the complex academic terms presented in science. Hands-on practical activities and Powerpoint word games that are also appropriate for English Language Learners will be modeled. Detailed handouts will be provided.
Vocabulary Development for Language Arts
Language Arts teachers are faced with two vocabulary issues. Students must learn academic terms, such as plot, irony, and foreshadowing. Students must also be able to understand the terms in the literature in order to have a literal understanding of what they read. Vocabulary research points to clear strategies teachers can use with students to help them read and retain words. This highly interactive workshop will provide teachers with a multitude of strategies to teach word parts, Latin and Greek roots, abstract concepts, and context clues. Hands-on practical activities and Powerpoint word games that are also appropriate for English Language Learners will be modeled. Detailed handouts will be provided.
Using Student Video in the Content Area Classroom
Our students today are drawn to technology and visual images more than to print. This highly interactive workshop shows teachers how to use some simple forms of technology to motivate students to read and retain content information. Teachers will learn how to use the “Flip” video camera. This pocket-size camera, as seen on Oprah, can record up to 2 hours of video and requires only 2 AA batteries. The Flip also uses a USB to download data into any computer. Once teachers have learned to Flip, they’ll learn how to turn raw video into movies using Windows Movie Maker or Apple I Movie. This workshop requires a computer lab with no more than 2 teachers per computer. For samples of student work, see the Technology and Teaching page of this web site.
Dr. McBride’s Keynote Speeches
Keynote: Girls will be Girls, Boys will be Boys: Teaching to Gender Differences.
Many boys are failing in our schools. Statistics clearly show that boys make up the bulk of our discipline problems, drop outs, and even inmates. Schools may be contributing to these failure rates by not considering differences in male and female brain development. Gender differences in brain development affect our children’s' behavior, emotions, and ability to process information. Dr. McBride's speech will weave humor with specific strategies to promote instruction that supports both male and female brains.
Keynote: Hold Fast to Dreams
Whom do our students look up to? Are they mostly impressed by figures in the media and sports? If they only have these unrealistic representations as models of morality and behavior, what kind of people will they become? Perhaps giving students models of compassion, service, and tolerance is just as important as raising test scores. Perhaps the most important job we do as teachers is not passing on knowledge, but passing on the wisdom to use that knowledge to make the world a more compassionate place.
Keynote: Turning Word Losers into Word Lovers
Students who are reading content area texts are immersed in difficult concepts—abstract -isms, foreign terms, scientific and mathematical words, and concepts about which students have little prior knowledge. This highly entertaining keynote describes why English is a difficult language to learn, what doesn’t work in teaching words with older students, and what it means to “know” a word. Using humorous examples, teachers will discover classroom practices that help students increase the joy of learning words.
Keynote: What to do with Gifted and Talented Kids
Teaching Gifted and Talented students doesn’t simply mean giving them “more” than other students. These students have special intellectual and personality needs that need to be addressed with depth, not breadth. This speech describes gender differences in brain-based learning that affect talented students, how to enhance teaching and parenting for girls and boys, how to fight “learned helplessness” in girls, how to deal with active kids, and how to use “positives” instead of “put downs.”
Keynote: Engaging the Disengaged: Getting Students Involved in Learning
Today's students see more and more of a disconnect between school environments and the outside world. Recent research identifies six environmental stimuli that get the brain's attention--stimuli that are inherent in most pieces of technology. Teachers, however, rarely employ these elements in their teaching to increase student engagement. This highly entertaining speech will model just how engaging learning can be when classroom activities have the impact of a video game.
