Drinko Center to be site for upcoming education seminars

The first seminar will be Thursday, with the others planned for Feb. 27-28.
NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. -- The Westminster College Drinko Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning will host an education seminar, "Differentiated Instructional Strategies to Reach All Students: Application to Literacy Content Areas," at 4 p.m. Thursday in Lakeview Room of the McKelvey Campus Center.
Barbara Seni, an educational consultant and trainer in the area of literacy in grades K-12, will be the featured speaker.
The workshop is meant to inspire teachers, whether novice or veteran, to examine their instructional practices in light of what is known about the bond between content area literacy and differentiated instructional application.
Participants will be presented with a number of strategies that support all the ways a differentiated classroom can offer a variety of learning options designed to tap into various readiness levels, interests and learning profiles of their students. Participants will also be provided with opportunities to engage in these interactive and collaborative strategies.
Upcoming
Two other education seminars are set for Feb. 27-28, both in the Lakeview Room.
"Best Practices for Math Literacy: Comprehensive Strategies that Produced a Culture of Math Achievement in the South Fayette School District," will be at 4 p.m. Feb. 27. This math literacy workshop features several educators from the South Fayette School District, which has been recognized as having one of the highest overall math achievement levels on the annual Pennsylvania System of School Assessment test in western Pennsylvania over the past three years. The team will share the district's vision and strategies around curriculum, instruction and assessment that ensure all students meet proficiency in mathematics.
"Optimizing the Use of the School Counseling Program for Academic Success" is scheduled for 9 a.m. Feb. 28. This seminar features Dr. Judy Bowers, who supervises the 170 kindergarten-through-12th-grade school counselors who serve 61,000 pupils in the Tucson (Ariz.) Unified School District, and Christopher Laudo, a 12-year school counselor veteran for the Pequea Valley School District in Lancaster, Pa. They will present program opportunities to make school counselors a more significant part of the successful mission of schools.
Purposes
The Drinko Center was developed to advance world-class teaching at Westminster and enrich K-12 education through outreach programs for area educators.
Both Thursday's and the Feb. 27 seminars are sponsored by the Tri-State Area School Study Council Department of Administrative and Policy School of Education of the University of Pittsburgh in collaboration with the center. To register, contact Carol Fiumara at the Tri-State council at (412) 648-7185, or e-mail fiumara@pitt.edu. Applications can also be mailed to: 4302 Wesley W. Posvar Hall, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh 15260.
Registration for the Feb. 28 seminar can be made with Dr. Sam Farmerie, (724) 946-7053, or Dr. William Evans, (724) 946-7184.