The primary focus of the proposal is to develop an ideal or educationally maximal school for children from two to eight years of age--preschoolers through third graders. This school will need instructors whose instructional activities are in accord with the mission and objectives of the planned school. A workshop is, therefore, needed to provide information and training to school teachers to ensure concordance between their instructional efforts and activities and the school's educational mission and objective.
The general principles that will be used in conducting the workshops are those delineated by Goldenberg and Gallimore (1991) as crucial for workshops that effectively produce change and innovations in teachers' knowledge, skills and instructional strategies. The authors term these principles "precepts for learning new practices." Based on these principles, it can be noted that the workshop will:
(1) Provide teachers with opportunities to meet with colleagues as well as a skilled consultant for an extended period of time for the express purpose of learning new knowledge and skills.
(2) Organize all discussions of materials presented during meetings around teachers' perceived needs in their own classrooms.
(3) Set specific goals and remain focused on them for a reasonable amount of time.
(4) Operate to intellectual stimulate teachers and thereby make sure they acquire a conceptual understanding of the pedagogical processes as well as the new learning techniques.
(5) Videotape all sessions and make these available for teachers' review.
(6) Provide repeated opportunities for teacher discussion so as to make sure that teachers thoroughly student the intellectual substance of what is being taught to them.
(7) The workshop will be constructed based on the understanding that not everything the teachers need to learn can be achieved in the workshop itself. Instead, it is recognized that many teachers require ...