Melissa Dickson
Melissa Dickson MEd is passionate about helping teachers meet the diverse needs of today’s classrooms with research-based ideas and strategies that can be immediately implemented. As an educational consultant she has provided professional development globally on literacy strategies, best practices for instruction, differentiation, and the formative assessment process at all grade levels. In addition to her trainings around the world, she has worked extensively with schools conducting formative assessment walk-throughs and helping administrators and leadership teams set school-wide goals for improvement and providing individual coaching for teachers.
​
Keynote Address
Balancing Structure and Flexibility: Making DI Work in Real Classrooms
Differentiation reflects a teacher’s mindset and their commitment to recognizing the diverse needs of the learners in their classrooms. Most teachers agree with the theory of differentiation, but face challenges when trying to implement this on a day-to-day basis. This keynote goes right to the heart of daily instruction. Together, we’ll explore what differentiation might look like in a classroom of diverse learners, as well as, how to use the strategies in subject-based groupings.
​
In this session, participants will:
-
Learn the 4 steps to effective and impactful instruction (The Instructional Cha-Chas)
-
Examine how to practically balance whole-class and small-group activities.
-
Participate in research-based, high-impact strategies that can be easily differentiated to meet the needs of a variety of readiness levels
​
You’ll see how to intentionally plan your daily instruction to include the 4 steps (Chunk-Chew-Check-Change) and how to easily differentiate within each step. You’ll see how the strategies and grouping are designed to address both academic and non-academic goals. In addition, you’ll leave with tools and strategies that can immediately be implemented to improve student engagement and retention of content.