Fundamental Learning Center provides a Literacy Intervention Specialist Preparation Program to intensively train parents, classroom teachers, reading specialists and educators who teach children in multi-tiered settings.
This program uses the Alphabetic Phonics curriculum as the core approach for teaching children who struggle significantly to learn to read.
Alphabetic Phonics originated at Scottish Rite Hospital for Children in Dallas, Texas. It incorporates Orton-Gillingham theories of reading instruction and practice, using multisensory activities to link the visual, auditory, and kinesthetic senses.
All of workshops and courses incorporate the five components of reading instruction identified in NIH research:
1. phonological awareness
2. systematic and structured phonics
3. comprehension
4. fluency
5. vocabulary development
These components are essential to meet criteria requirements for the Reading First Initiative.
The curriculum is extremely comprehensive. It balances the many important aspects of language acquisition: listening, phonology, phonetic reading, fluency, comprehension, vocabulary development, handwriting, spelling, and written expression skills.
It extends from developing basic skills such as letter recognition to sophisticated levels of linguistic knowledge such as coding polysyllabic words after breaking them into syllables.
The structured, systematic, sequential lesson takes an hour to complete with 11 activities typically lasting 3-10 minutes each. Each daily new concept is taught through a discovery process that is both fun to teach as well as to learn.
Teacher education is intensive and demanding. It includes a minimum of 200 instructional hours at the Center followed by 700 hours of supervised practice with students. Teachers attend a two-week introductory course, a two-week advanced course the following year, and a final one week advanced-extension course the third year. In addition, two full day workshops are required for both the introductory and the advanced courses.
All course participants begin a 20-hour practicum experience. A total of 9 hours of graduate credit is available from Newman University for an additional fee.
Initial registration may be completed by mail, but an additional telephone registration/interview is required to complete the process.
Mon. – Fri.: Nov. 8 – 19, 2010
Mon. – Fri.: Feb. 28 – March 11, 2011
Mon. – Fri.: June 6 – 17, 2011
Additional Practicum Required.
Time: 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Cost: $1450 for tuition and supplies. $450 deposit required.
Requirements: Deadline for registration is 3 weeks before start of class. Bachelors degree from an accredited 4 year institution. Documentation includes a copy of transcripts, copy of degree, and three professional references. Completion of Advanced and Advanced Extension Level Courses required to become a candidate for certification.
“They should have taught me this in college; I am so much more prepared as a first year teacher.” Sally Holiday
