Creative Teaching with a Little 'Lagniappe'

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Teachers, parents and school counselors: Do you want to learn how to effectively use comic strip cartooning to tell stories? Or, how about creative and humorous ways to teach math without worksheets?

These topics are just two being offered during a low-cost, active learning summer institute at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

“ Louisiana Lagniappe”– an institute on teaching for high-end learning – will be presented June 6 - 10 with Dr. Sally Dobyns serving as institute director.

The Center for Gifted Education at UL Lafayette along with the College of Education, the Kennedy Center Partners in Education (Lafayette, LA Team) and the Louisiana Department of Education are sponsoring the annual event.

Internationally acclaimed keynote speakers and topics include:

• Dr. Joseph S. Renzulli: A Dozen Teaching Assistants in Your Classroom: A New Resource for Expanding Services to Develop Giftedness and Talents

• Dr. Sandra Kaplan, Dr. Jann Leppien and Dr. Jeanne Purcell: Parallel Curriculum Model (PCM)

• Dr. Susan Assouline: A Nation Deceived: How Schools Hold Back America’s Brightest Students (The Templeton National Report on Acceleration)

• Dr. Don Treffinger: Creativity in the Person: New Insights

• Dr. Bonnie Cramond: Where Have All the Creative Kids Gone?

“ Ever since its inception in 1997, Louisiana Lagniappe has provided first-rate training in enrichment teaching and learning for educators in all types of settings,” said Dobyns. “This year is no different.”

The purpose of the institute is twofold: all students benefit from the advanced teaching strategies and high-end learning often found in gifted programs and gifted and talented students – both identified and unidentified – interact with many types of teachers every day.

“ The variety of sessions makes the institute right for all types of educators,” said Dobyns. “And, this year we’ve added several sessions that will be attractive to parents and grandparents.”

These especially informative sessions for parents and grandparents include: “Parenting for Talent Development: What do parents of gifted children want to know?” and “LearningLinks: Connecting parents, teachers and students.”

Other interesting topics include:

• Digital Storytelling: An Acadian Odyssey

• Books as Hooks for Creating Lifelong Learning

• Double Trouble: Gifted Students with Learning and Attention Challenges

• Learning to Move, Moving to Learn

• Demystifying the College Process.

The institute fee is $25 per day. Registration fees include all costs of instruction, general material packets, breakfast, lunch and afternoon refreshments. A $25 check or purchase order is required for each day of participation in order to reserve a seat.

Louisiana Lagniappe is held on the UL Lafayette campus which is easily accessible by car or air. Lafayette Regional Airport is served by Delta, Continental and Northwest Airlines.

Campus housing is available in UL Lafayette’s Legacy Park Apartments. These are within walking distance from all institute sessions. Cost is $65 per person for 2 bedroom, 2 bath apartments. Registration for housing is required.

Hotel rooms have also been blocked at Hotel Acadiana Best Western on West Pinhook Road. The hotel is two miles from campus and the rate per night is $65 per room.

Participants who register for all five days are eligible to register for three graduate credit hours in the Fall 2005 semester. Tuition for three graduate credit hours is not included in the institute fees. Information necessary for tuition exemption applications will be provided at the institute. Certificates of attendance will be provided for those needing CLUs for Louisiana Lagniappe participation.

For program content questions, special needs requirements or credit hours and CLUs, call Dobyns at (337) 482-1073 or email lagniappe@louisiana.edu

Visit http://lagniappe.zpgraphic.com/ for an application or for more information about Louisiana Lagniappe.