Outreach & Workshops
Churchill Center & School’s Sandra K. Gilligan School Partnerships & Outreach Program is essential in strengthening our mission of fostering greater understanding and support for all people with learning disabilities by training other educators, supporting families, and enlightening the community.
Since the inception of our Community Outreach Program in 1990, more than 37,500 educators, parents, students, and other supporters have been given the opportunity to experience and broaden their understanding of learning disabilities.
We offer Teacher Workshops, Parent Workshops, Student Workshops, Community Service Events, and a Speaker Series. Each one of these programs offers our community a variety of services to recognize learning disabilities and to then equip the participants with strategies and knowledge to offer further assistance.
Reviews from Outreach Program Attendees:
- “What a great role model Churchill Center & School is for our community.”
– Educational Program Director - “Please accept my gratitude for your willingness to come and speak with our staff. There’s a lot of exciting things happening with study skills — a daily “organizational tip of the day,” teachers actively teaching study skills, and many more ideas brewing.”
– Middle School Director - “You had a positive impact on me when you presented at our school, and I am still using your references.”
– High School Principal - “Faculty members found the topics to be pertinent and directed to their needs and concerns.”
– Learning Consultant - “The speakers were fascinating and I am avidly reading their book, Overcoming Dyslexia. I am very impressed with the knowledge base of the teachers at Churchill as well as their dedication and professionalism!”
– St. Louis Area Psychologist - “Both presenters were terrific and all in attendance left with a wealth of knowledge and enthusiasm to begin a new school year.”
– Elementary Principal
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Wilson Reading System® Introductory Course – November/December 2023
WILSON READING SYSTEM® INTRODUCTORY COURSE - November-December 2023
WHEN: Wednesday, November 29, 2023 | Thursday, November 30, 2023 | Friday, December 1, 2023
TIME: 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. Each Day
WHERE: Churchill Center & School
1021 Municipal Center Drive | Town & Country, MO 63131
PRESENTED BY: Churchill's Sandra K. Gilligan School Partnerships & Outreach Program
WHAT:
This course provides participants with an overview of the Wilson Reading System® (WRS) 4th Edition curriculum and serves as the prerequisite for WRS Level I Certification. Over three consecutive days (16.5 hours), this course examines how WRS addresses the teaching of phonemic awareness, word identification, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension through an integrated study of phonology, morphology, and orthography with students in grade two and above with persistent phonological coding deficits. Participants learn about reading research, dyslexia, appropriate student identification and placement, program implementation, progress monitoring, scheduling, and creating a successful learning environment. Principles of language structure and how to teach language with direct, multisensory methods are demonstrated and practiced during the course. Participants explore the standard 10-part Wilson Lesson Plan and practice planning and delivering a lesson while receiving modeling and feedback from a Wilson® Credentialed Trainer during the course.
Everyone Deserves To Learn To Read!
Wilson Reading System® (WRS) is the flagship program of Wilson Language Training® and the foundation of all other Wilson® programs. The Tier 3 Structured Literacy (SL) program is based on phonological-coding research and Orton-Gillingham principles.
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
Upon the completion of the course, participants will be able to:
• Define dyslexia and describe common characteristics.
• Explain the process of identifying appropriate students and placing them in the Wilson Reading System.
• Understand the principles of instruction: explicit, sequential and cumulative, engaging multiple learning modalities with multisensory techniques, repetition, and feedback.
• Create an optimal learning environment, prepare a lesson plan, and practice techniques.
• Understand the key components of instruction and presentation of lessons in three blocks:
- Block 1 – Word Study/Foundational Reading Skills: Lesson Plan Parts 1-5: Phonemic Awareness, Decoding, Vocabulary, High Frequency Word Reading, Single-Word Accuracy/Automaticity, Phrasing/Prosody, Fluency and Comprehension at the Sentence Level
- Block 2 – Spelling/Foundational Writing Skills: Lesson Plan Parts 6-8: Phoneme Segmentation, Encoding (Spelling), English Spelling Rules, High Frequency Word Spelling, Vocabulary, Concept Mark Up, Sentence-Level Punctuation and Proofreading
- Block 3 – Fluency/Comprehension: Lesson Plan Parts 9-10: Vocabulary, Listening/Silent and Oral Reading Fluency and Comprehension, Narrative and Informational Text
Participants may enroll in the WRS Level I Certification Training or the online course WRS Intensive Instruction for the Non-Responsive Reader (Steps 1-6) within five years of completing a WRS Introductory Course.
COST: $700.00 per person (lunch on your own)
Materials are NOT included. All materials can be purchased directly from Wilson Language Training®.
* Full attendance for all three days is required to gain completion status. *
For questions or further information, please contact Rachel Wheatley, Director of Sandra K. Gilligan
School Partnerships & Outreach, at rwheatley@churchillstl.org.
Churchill does accept registration with purchase orders. Please follow the instructions on the registration page.