Institute/Session Summary:

Dee Tadlock is majority owner of Read Right Systems, a company formed in 1991 to bring Read Right®, a reading intervention program that reflects a paradigm shift in theoretical constructs as compared to mainstream reading theory, to children and adults who suffer with reading problems.

This institute, as you will see when reading the following summary, is not about Read Right, although the Read Right methodology is one of three curricular applications that will be offered as examples of constructivist learning environments. Dee also developed the constructivist spelling program and critical thinking program that will be offered as examples. Her company is not currently marketing these two curricula, though it may in the future. Offering application examples and tying them back to the key elements of a constructivist learning environment will serve to clarify the constructivist model and make it more likely that participants will understand constructivism well enough to design their own curricular applications.

Participants in the institute will be able to immediately apply the critical thinking methodology and the spelling methodology with their own students—but not the reading intervention; it requires intensive training to implement correctly.

Dee checked that she is not a vendor on the application because this institute is not designed as a vendor presentation. Dee presents widely at conferences, sharing her expertise in constructivist learning theory and making educators aware that current reading theory is flawed and that it is possible to quickly eliminate even the most severe reading problems through appropriate application of a constructivist model.  One indicator that she understands the difference between selling and educating: She is frequently paid for doing presentations!

Jan Swinton, the co-presenter has been a reading teacher at Spokane Falls CC for over 20 years, has collaborated with Dr. Tadlock in presentations many times during those years, is a Read Right trained tutor (when SFCC brought the intervention model to their students), has implemented the critical thinking methodology at her college, and for the past 3 months has worked part-time in Dee's company.

Relevance to the Conference

An institute titled "Procedural Learning Requires a Constructivist Model--Why? And How?" is relevant to the brain-compatible teaching and learning strand and to the reading strand. The institute will be exploring the characteristics of a constructivist model and thus will provide pertinent information for the staff learning portion of the conference theme: how to use constructivist principles to design curriculum. Additionally, since a constructivist model is required for procedural learning, information from the institute will also be ultimately contributory to student learning and also "fits" in the student learning portion of the conference theme. Attendees can immediately transfer what they learn about using a constructivist model to improve students' spelling abilities and their critical thinking abilities to their classes if they choose. The constructivist reading model is more complex and can't be immediately applied without additional training, but it will serve to deepen the attendees' understanding of the constructivist model and help position them for their own curricular design.

Relevance to the Field

Developmental educators, whose responsibilities reside mainly in an arena of procedural learning (or "how to" things:how to write, how to read, how to spell, how to study, how to take tests, how to think critically) have an extremely effective tool available to assist them in designing learning environments for teaching process: interactive constructivist learning theory. The field has not historically emphasized the implicit nature of procedural learning, yet the reality that all processes are learned primarily below the level of conscious awareness constitutes the major challenge in teaching process. In fact, processes cannot be directly and explicitly taught, rather the instructor must create an environment that compels the brain to figure it out for itself. This institute will explore these ideas and will provide explicit information about designing such learning environments. 

Overview of Proposed Institute

Because developmental educators are responsible for procedural, or "how to" learning (how to read, how to spell, how to write, how to study, how to take tests, how to think critically), it is important that they be well-grounded in the nature of procedural learning. Perhaps most significantly, they need to be aware that because both learning and performing a process happens implicitly-below the level of conscious awareness' the creation of a constructivist learning environment is necessary so the brain can figure out the targeted process for itself.

This institute will explore in some detail (with information, metaphors, and parallels & examples drawn from every day experiences) both the nature of procedural learning and the  theoretical constructs that support a constructivist model of learning. Included in this exploration: the assimilative/accommodative model, the role of disequilibration in learning, and the concept of autonomy as an aim in education (from a cognitive rather than a social, political, or economic perspective).

Once this foundation is in place, the institute will define key elements of a constructivist learning environment and then offer three separate application examples. Thus the institute will move from theoretical models, to implications and global application to a curricular design model, and then to application of the curricular model to design constructivist environments that will compel the brain to figure out specific processes (spelling, reading, and critical thinking). Hopefully, this progression from the "why" to the "how" will enable participants to design their own constructivist learning environments.

Learning Outcomes

Participants will:

• Know the theoretical constructs that support interactive constructivism.
• Learn the key elements of a constructivist learning environment.
• Realize that a constructivist model is the only viable one for procedural learning because procedural learning happens primarily implicitly (below the level of conscious awareness).
• Engage in a constructivist environment focused on developing critical thinking skills.
• Become familiar enough with a constructivist model for developing spelling ability to utilize the model with their own students.
• Understand that a constructivist model can be used to eliminate reading problems.
• Leave the institute with an understanding of how participation in a constructivist environment facilitates learning and with the key information needed to design constructivist learning environments.
  

• PowerPoint presentation handout with minimized slide and space for notes (3 to a page).
• Constructivist Curricular Model Handout
• Key Elements of a Constructivist Learning Environment
• Constructivist Spelling Handouts
• What Do Excellent Spellers Do? Analysis Procedure for Spelling, Templeton's Levels of Spelling; Constructivist Spelling Model: Procedures for Implementation
• Critical Thinking Handouts
• Comprehension and Critical Thinking; A Selection from the California Test of Basic Skills; A Constructivist Model for Developing Critical Thinking Ability

Presenter1 Name: Dee Tadlock
Presenter1 Institution: Central Washington University; Read Right Systems
Presenter1 Bio: Dee Tadlock earned a Ph.D. in reading education in 1978. She has taught reading at every level from elementary school through graduate school and has also worked with adult literacy in community college, community-based, and workforce programs. Dr. Tadlock is a past president of the College Reading and Learning Association and has been published in several professional journals. She is author of the book, Read Right! Coaching Your Child to Excellence in Reading, published by McGraw-Hill in 2005.

Tadlock is currently Director of Research and Development for Read Right Systems and holds adjunct faculty status at Central Washington University.

She has presented at numerous state and national conferences including keynote addresses, break-out sessions, and workshops on topics related to construcvist learning, reading, writing, spelling, study skills, and critical thinking.

Presenter2 Name: Jan Swinton
Presenter2 Institution: Spokane Falls Community College
Presenter2 Bio: Jan Swinton recently retired from her full time position as an English and Reading instructor at Spokane Falls Community College where she taught and coordinated the developmental English and reading program for 27 years. A main area of her classroom teaching focused around learning communities where she linked college and/or developmental level study skills courses with specific content courses such as American History, Biology, Elementary Algebra, Gerontology, Interpersonal Communications, and Environmental Science. Other previous teaching experience includes two years as a Reading Specialist at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, three years as a high school English teacher in Kaiserslautern, Germany, Department of Defense Overseas Schools and two years as a middle school English and Reading teacher in Denver, Colorado.

Jan has presented annually at College Reading and Learning Association (CRLA) national conferences and the Northwest Regional College Reading and Learning Association and numerous times at the National Association of Developmental Education (NADE) conferences, the Washington Association of Developmental Education conferences, the Washington Higher Education Assessment conferences, the Washington Center for the Improvement of Post Secondary Education conferences and national Learning Community Summer Institutes.

With William Agopsowicz, Jan co-authored Read and Respond: A Reading Improvement Text, currently in its 4th edition, and she has written articles for regional newsletters and publications, most recently The Pedagogy of Possibilities, a monograph about developmental education learning communities, published by the Washington Center for the Improvement of Post Secondary Education and AAHE.

Jan is a recipient of the CRLA Long and Outstanding Service Award, presented at the 2006 national conference.