Crete Teachers Attend Reading Training in Oregon
by Julie Reetz
August 20, 2010
What do teachers do over the summer? Go to school, of course! In July, five Crete Elementary teachers attended the Association of Direct Instruction National Conference in Eugene, Oregon. Thanks to a grant from the Engelmann Foundation, teachers Amy Schroder, Heather Wendelin, Tricia Hintz, Amy Braunberger and Donna Salomons were able to attend this week-long conference. They were involved in specialized training, attending grade level specific sessions, and the “Becoming An Effective Direct Instruction Trainer Institute.” Several of these teachers are now certified DI instructors. With the addition of Lisa Fye and Jill Shaw, who attended the Institute last summer, Crete now has a full DI training team in our district.
Highlights of the week included meeting Siegfried Engelmann, the author of the Reading Mastery Signatures reading series, interacting with experienced DI instructors, and exchanging ideas with other teachers and administrators from across the United States, Kenya and Australia. Crete teachers were also privileged to attend a morning session at the National Institute for Direct Instruction, the headquarters for Crete’s implementation company. They saw layouts of pages for the newest programs, met the real “Owen” (one of Dr. Engelmann’s sons) who is a prominent character in the Signatures Level 2 stories, and walked the hallways lined with scenic watercolors painted by Dr. Engelmann. They all felt it was a tremendous honor to be in the place where such brilliant minds had come together to create a reading program that has been proven so successful.
