DEVELOPMENT DESIGNS FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL 1 (DDMS2)
To meet the social, emotional, physical, and intellectual needs of young adolescents, the Development Designs for Middle School (DDMS) approach offers an array of strategies designed to keep young people safe, connected, responsible, and engaged in learning.  The DDMS approach is based on our research-grounded belief that healthy, enjoyable relationships are the foundation for success in school.  In order to establish and maintain those relationships, teachers much know their students, students must come to know and appreciate each other; clear parameters for acceptable behavior must be drawn and consistently maintained; and learning must be engaging, exploratory, relevant and varied.

INSTRUCTOR(S): Origins Trained Facilitators
GRADE LEVEL:5-8
CREDIT: 1 or 2

DDMS1 is for educators working within a middle-school setting who are new to the Developmental Designs approach or who are using some of the strategies but have not participated in a week-long workshop.  The workshop presents an approach to building community, classroom management and instruction that is designed to strengthen teaching practice with a sound, integrated social and academic curriculum.  Educators are immersed in const5ructivist, engaged learning all week.

During the DDMS1 workshop, participants learn how to implement needs-based, developmentally appropriate social, academic, and behavior management practices that include:

• Developing classroom and school-wide cultures that honor cooperation, assertion, responsibility, empathy and self-control as the context for the development of independent, competent learners

• Meeting young adolescents' social needs by starting each day with a Circle of Power and Respect or related advisory activity

• Starting the year off right by creating goals (Goals and Declarations) and rules (Social Contract) together with your students

• Showing specific examples of the Social Contract in action through modeling routines, creating "look-sounds-feel" charts using social action theater (Role Play) and other strategies

• Introducing the using behavior-management strategies (Pathways to Self-Control) that help students to act responsibly and with self-control

• Understanding many ways to problem-solve when faced with more challenging behavior issues

What the RC and DDMS workshop week will be like: For experienced and new teachers alike, this will be a week of professional personal growth.  Throughout the week, participants will experience:

• Affirmation - of the good practices already in use

• Solutions - for turning past classroom problems into future successes

• Camaraderie - sharing ideas with fellow educators, support for challenges and the power of community membership

• An immersion experience - facilitators don't just talk about positive strategies; they model them.  Modeling is followed by opportunities during the week to practice strategies

Sections contain groups of up to 25 teachers who teach approximately the same grade.  If an educator is a specialist, he or she may choose a grade level to work with for the week and will be invited to a special session for specialists.  The classroom situations discussed and the strategies learned will all be geared for the educators' specific grade levels.

The registration cost for the RC1, RC2 and DDMS sessions is $645.00 per person plus a non-refundable application fee of $50.00 (attach your application before mailing).  In addition, participants will also incur the credit fee of $155.00 per credit if they choose to take  the class for graduate credit through Cardinal Stritch University.