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Fitzroy Method: Mastering the Essentials - next date to be advised
Fitzroy Method: Writing Course - next date to be advised
How do you use the Fitzroy Readers?
If you’re like most people, you’ll probably start by picking up the first one (A Fat Cat) and studying it with your students.
As you do so, you’ll help them with any words they struggle with, and afterwards, you might even get them to go through some exercises in our Word Skills books before moving on to the next Reader.
This gets good results, and even without doing anything else, many teachers swear by our program.
But have you ever wondered if there is an ideal way to use the Fitzroy Method?
A harmonious way to integrate all of its parts so that each one best complements the other.
The answer, naturally, is ‘yes’, and that is exactly what we teach at our Fitzroy Method: Mastering the Essentials training course.
It distils everything we’ve learned in classrooms at Fitzroy Community School over the last 45 years, and it will take away all uncertainty about using our materials by giving you a teaching template you can immediately put into practice.
It’s something we’ve not only taught all around Australia, but also in Taiwan, Thailand, India and Singapore, and when teachers, parents and educators use what they learn, they frequently get inspired results.
These results are why the Fitzroy Readers have been used by over 3000 Australian schools and why so many educators wholeheartedly love them.
So if you’re currently using the Fitzroy Method but are unsure how to get the maximum from it, or if you are considering using our method, then join us for a day of training where we'll show you how to effortlessly integrate all of the different parts of our program into a potent, logical whole.
What Specifically Will You Learn?
The Fitzroy Method: Mastering the Essentials seminar is ideal for teachers, tutors and parents. Over the day, we will cover every topic you need to get the most out of our program. Topics include:
· Phonics: Basic tricks and traps that even experienced teachers sometimes overlook.
· System and Structure: The unique way our program is pieced together and why coherency matters. Learn this, and you’ll not only understand how you can better integrate all of your school’s phonics resources, but also why so many literacy programs are doomed to fail.
· First Letters: Which letters should you really teach first? Is there a logical, intuitive way to go about it? Learn how we cultivate ‘success experiences’ to systematically bolster student confidence and make learning to read and write the first letters a joy.
· Word Formation: How do you take the leap from reading individual letters to reading whole words? In this section, you’ll learn our best word-forming games to make this transition easy and fun.
· Phonics in the Classroom: Teaching phonics in the classroom isn’t like teaching other methods. To do it well, you need a set of specific phonics techniques to get the most out of your students. In this section, we’ll share practices that have seen us excel year after year in NAPLAN testing – practices you can easily implement in your classroom.
· Fitzroy Method Specifics: During our training, you’ll learn specific tips for getting the most out of our literacy range, with particular emphasis on the first 40 Readers. You’ll learn our roadmap for integrating all of our teaching resources at the right time and in the right way.
· The Psychology of a Classroom: Learning to get the most out of young children is an art. A teacher could use the greatest literacy method ever created, but if they lose their students’ attention, they won’t have much success. So, in this section, we reveal our best psychological tips and strategies for keeping your students focused and enthusiastic about everything you teach them.
· Evaluating Students: How do you know when students are ready to move on to the next Reader? How can you evaluate/test them to ensure they don’t have gaps in their knowledge? In this part, you’ll not only learn how we evaluate students, but also how we ensure they have a thorough grasp of everything we teach them.
Teaching writing can be challenging.
You’re articulate.
You’re good at grammar.
You read widely.
Yet when it comes to giving students advice, you can wonder what you should say beyond the simple things, like misspelled words, punctuation, and clumsy expressions.
But maybe that isn’t so surprising, for writing is a craft – and a difficult one at that!
Kurt Vonnegut once famously wrote that "When I write, I feel like an armless, legless man with a crayon in his mouth."
Ernest Hemingway expressed it like this: "There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed."
So if famous writers like these find writing hard, then it is only natural that it is a challenge for the rest of us.
And that is why we created the ‘Fitzroy Method Writing Course’.
Its purpose is to give you a writing roadmap.
A writer’s toolkit.
It will show you concrete ways to examine creative writing, essays, and persuasive arguments so you can give your students easy-to-understand, practical advice for improving their work.
It also delves into some of the best ways to create the optimal psychological environment in which your students can flourish.
It does this in a relaxed workshop format so that what you learn is never abstract.
Rather, you’ll learn by doing, and this will give you the confidence to teach what you have studied.
In the process, you’ll discover:
· What people mean when they suggest you 'Show don’t tell', and why this is critical for vivid and entertaining prose. (You also learn the exceptions to this rule!)
· The art of using all five senses to take writing from 'mono' to 'stereo'.
· The need for 'concrete writing' (it's not a 'sweet’, it's a 'lollipop'!) and why this will help you create memorable worlds for readers to inhabit.
· The virtue of using strong verbs and precise nouns (and why this – perhaps more than anything else – will elevate the quality of your students’ prose).
· Why you need to take care with adverbs and adjectives. (As Stephen King once wrote: "The road to hell is paved with adverbs.")
· Why syntax matters (and how the position of a word can make all the difference to the impression we create for the reader).
· A simple method for crafting interesting, authentic-sounding, lively dialogue.
· How to structure/plot a gripping story. In this section, you’ll learn two models: one you can use for young children and the other for more advanced, older students. Here, we will look under the hood of well-known movies to see how these plot structures play out (and your student will delight in recognising them!).
After tackling creative writing, you will also learn simple – yet powerful – techniques for crafting compelling, persuasive arguments and the like.
Here, you will discover:
If you want to approach your writing classes with confidence, knowing you have precise tools to give concrete, helpful advice to your students, then you'll love the Fitzroy Method Writing Course.
The presentation will commence at 9:00am AEST/AEDT and run until 3:30pm, with a 45-min break for lunch. There will also be several short breaks throughout the day to keep things fresh. All participants will receive course notes prior to the day, a personalised digital certificate at the end of the course, and free access to the online modules. (Note: the online Advanced Training course has 50% different course content to the in-house Writing Course.)
To secure your place, please make payment 1 week prior to the course date (30 day invoices do not apply). Cancelled places will be offered to those on the waiting list if payment is not received.
Please advise us if you’re unable to attend the course no later than 72 hours before the date, to receive a full refund. Cancellations made within the preceding 72 hours of the PD will not be refunded, unless there are genuine extenuating circumstances.
Certificates will be sent to all attendees after attending the full days’ training.
For any questions, or to enrol in a course:
Course Presenter:
Jeremy O’Carroll is the author of four novels and an Amazon best-selling non-fiction work. He has been writing for 20+ years and will show examples from his own books to help bring his ideas to life. He is also the author of the 11x-20x Fitzroy Readers and is the principal author of The Fitzroy Method Teacher’s Guide.
