Model Teaching Week

"I think all teachers should be trained in this process;
I didn’t realize how life-changing this Model Teaching Week would be for me.
I am now a solid believer in the Highly Effective Teaching Model
as the only and most effective way to teach."
- Educator from South Carolina

Change is much more possible when those involved share a clear picture of what it is they are trying to achieve. Model Teaching Week, an intensive and often magical five-day workshop, provides those pictures of how the parts and pieces of the Highly Effective Teaching (HET) Model work together to optimize the learning environment in the classroom.

For each group of 50 participants, a multi-age classroom full of your local students from various ethnicities, socio-economic status, and backgrounds is teamed with Master HET Associates. In one dynamic week, participants observe our Master Educators as they transform your traditional classrooms into enriched learning environments where community, collaboration, and masterful learning take place. Watch your local students being taught through brain-compatible instruction, increasing student engagement and collaborative learning. View firsthand the “why” and “how” of implementing the comprehensive elements of the HET Model founded in brain research in your classroom.

• Day One: Enriched environment & classroom set-up
• Day Two: Absence of threat & building community
• Day Three: Pattern seeking & being there study trips
• Day Four: Program building, Multiple Intelligences, & state standards
• Day Five: Social and political action

While one Associate creates the classroom experience for the students, another Associate provides the information and tools required for teacher/participants to experience what brain-compatible learning looks like in a heterogeneous classroom. Participants alternate between observing in the classroom and attending sessions with the other Associate that expands their professional knowledge base, increasing their own capacity to apply the bodybrain-compatible learning opportunities for their own students. Participants are given daily opportunities to debrief with the Associate and are given a chance to interview the students near the end of the week. Goals for the Model Teaching Week include:

• Observing the planning and creation of an enriched learning environment
• Experiencing the impact of conceptual curriculum anchored in a sensory-rich being there experience
• Identifying and integrating State Standards and basic skills within conceptual curriculum
• Providing first-hand experiences that lead to the development of responsible citizens
• Evaluating the impact of bodybrain-compatible strategies and conducting comprehensive assessment
• Designing an action plan for successful implementation for your own classrooms

Specific content for the week emphasizes the importance of using a sensory-rich location in your local community as the starting point for creating curriculum that is integrated and conceptual. Skills are often the target of standardized measures that are taught in relation to the real-life location and topic under study. The yearlong theme and its essential construction are introduced as a tool for creating integrated curriculum. The Model Teaching Week provides participants with a new perspective on what is possible, offering teachers a vivid mental image which becomes a guide for them to collaborate with peers in creating their own bodybrain-compatible classrooms. This exceptional training includes observation and interaction with our Master Educators for creating your own action plan, selecting specific instructional strategies and bodybrain-compatible elements to implement in your classroom, thereby optimizing the educational experience and increasing human capacity.

"Thank you for hosting the most outstanding professional learning opportunity that I have ever experienced! The quality of teaching that Jill Hay modeled was consistently exceptional, and the leading-edge material was surprisingly integrative. She, and all involved, walked the talk of this research-based, brain-based model of effective teaching. The special education focus of the presentation was extremely helpful as well.

Beyond the delivery of information, classroom observation opportunities were essential to encourage application of the HET model in our own classrooms. Cheri Vaniman and Stephanie Neal brought the model to life in the small group classroom setting. The respect and teaching skill they demonstrated will set a standard for me in years to come. They successfully used strategies that I had been previously told would not work with special needs students. They expanded my vision of what is possible.

Teaching children is my passion. I constantly seek solutions for learning and behavior challenges. The HET model gives me a structure to organize and a springboard to implement solutions, and create even more effective ones. Thank you for offering this prescription for excellence to us. I am excited to pilot this program in my small group classroom next fall!

The fact that you and Cobb County can bring us such a gift in these most challenging times is most heartening, and I thank you."
– Amy Forman
Special Needs Teacher
Cobb County, Georgia

For more information, please submit the Request Form by clicking the link in the left sidebar.