Davis® Learning Strategies Workshop
We understand…
the challenges of meeting diverse learning needs
Are you a teacher struggling to meet the diverse learning needs of your students, provide individualised instruction, and maintain engagement among all learners, particularly for those who appear disinterested or struggle to focus?
Are you a teacher or school leader finding it challenging to manage disruptive behavior in your classroom or school, especially with students who exhibit behavioral difficulties?
Are you a professional providing educational support and feeling overwhelmed by the sheer number of students requiring assistance with learning difficulties, and the limited resources available to support them?
Benefits of DLS in your classroom
Educators and schools who have integrated the Davis Learning Strategies into their teaching practices have witnessed remarkable outcomes, including:
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A significant decrease in the need for learning interventions, enabling professionals providing educational support to dedicate more attention to students facing additional learning challenges.
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A significant increase in referrals for Gifted & Talented programmes, raising classroom standards and enriching the learning environment for all students.
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Students assuming ownership of their learning journey.
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Increased productivity among students.
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Improved self-regulation skills.
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Reduction in behavioral incidents.
Benefits of DLS for your school
Training all teachers in a grade or across a school presents a remarkable opportunity to integrate the inclusive, social, and economic benefits of Davis Learning Strategies into the school’s culture, fostering long-term advantages for the entire educational community, encompassing students and their families, as well as teachers and support personnel.
Discover the transformative power of Davis® Learning Strategies in this short video, where we highlight the remarkable results they have delivered in schools all over the world.
If you are a school leader, please see the section below about Maximizing value for School Leadership.
Students mastering Math words at Omega International School in Chennai, India.
Classroom using DLS
Maximizing value for School Leadership
The whole school advantage
All the important associated benefits of empowered teachers and thriving students make the initial investment in Davis Learning Strategies highly worthwhile.
From the perspective of school leadership, adopting a whole-school approach to Davis Learning Strategies offers substantial financial, managerial, and branding advantages. As evidenced in the video above, investing in comprehensive teacher training across your institution can lead to significant benefits for students, their families, teachers, and support staff.
Moreover, such an approach promises numerous long-term organisational and business advantages for the school itself. These include mitigating the causes contributing to teacher turnover, attracting and retaining quality educators through the raised classroom standards and enriched learning environment, alleviating pressure on Special Educational Support departments through a significant reduction in the incidence of learning difficulties, and attracting more students through quality teaching and a positive learning environment.
Ultimately, these myriad benefits, which result from Davis Learning Strategies empowering teachers and facilitating student success, render the initial investment in the workshop highly worthwhile.
Innovative teaching tools that work for all students
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Learn research-based methods that seamlessly integrate into and enhance any existing curriculum.
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Equip yourself with engaging tools and strategies suitable for ALL learners, regardless of their learning style or level, tapping into their creative learning process and making learning interactive, enjoyable, and effective.
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Enhance hand-eye coordination, a foundational skill crucial for literacy development.
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Strengthen attention skills, improving students’ ability to stay focused and on task.
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Develop robust literacy skills, including mastery of letters, punctuation, and sight words.
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Boost pre-reading and reading skills, improving the performance of all students in your class, regardless of their learning style.
Understanding and ability to empower struggling learners
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Gain insights into the diverse learning styles and embrace the strengths of all your students, guiding them towards greater self-awareness and regulation, thereby enhancing their ability to maintain focus, regulate energy levels, and manage their emotional well-being
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Proactively support students at risk of developing learning difficulties, providing them with foundational learning skills using methods that work for them, and which will allow them to keep pace with their peers and thrive academically.
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Elevate students’ self-esteem and motivation through meaningful success experiences, fostering a genuine enthusiasm for learning.
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Join a supportive network for ongoing learning beyond the workshop. Attend bi-monthly meetings with a DLS Mentor and other DLS-trained teachers to share experiences and insights. This year-long mentorship will give you the support you need to seamlessly integrate the new tools and strategies into your teaching practice, for lasting growth and maximum impact on your students’ learning journey.
What is the Davis Learning Strategies Workshop?
What is the Davis Learning Strategies Workshop?The Davis Learning Strategies Workshop is a comprehensive programme designed for K-3 teachers, support professionals, school leaders and educators of students aged 5-9 who struggle with reading and behavior in a school context. This all-in training is suitable for parents and homeschooling communities. Gain valuable insights, proven strategies, and practical support to reach every student effectively. Experience immediate results in your classroom and foster a positive learning environment for all learners.
What you will learn
In the Davis Learning Strategies workshop, you will gain expertise in a step-by-step approach perfect for teaching students essential learning and reading skills that will turn them into strong readers by the end of Grade 3. In practice, this involves training you to teach:
Davis® Focusing Skills
Through simple relaxation and focus exercises, children develop the ability to be both physically and mentally focused on their learning tasks. They learn techniques to maintain and direct their attention effectively, setting the stage for optimal engagement and learning success.
Kindergarten students learning their letters
Davis Symbol Mastery®
Through Davis Symbol Mastery, students embark on a hands-on journey to master the alphabet, punctuation marks, and basic sight words. Using engaging clay modeling techniques, they explore these fundamental elements in a creative and enjoyable manner, breaking away from traditional pencil-paper activities and drills. Initially, students delve into this learning adventure without the need for pen and paper, allowing for a tactile approach to mastering language essentials.
Grade 1 student mastering sight words
Davis® Mastery of Basic Words
Mastery of basic words is achieved through Davis’ creative and multisensory methods. Learning is easy from a relaxed state where one’s own creativity is used. This approach takes students further on their literacy journey by enabling them to truly master the spelling, pronunciation (sound), and meaning of the most common words encountered in reading. These ‘sight words’ (the, of, if, and, was, etc.) form the foundation of reading proficiency for learners of all types. Through this stage, students solidify their understanding of language fundamentals, empowering them to become confident and proficient readers.
Grade 2 student mastering sight words
Reading Exercises
In addition to mastering focus skills, students learn various reading exercises to enhance their reading experience and prevent errors, making reading enjoyable for all. These are designed to improve word recognition and comprehension, which can be used independently or in conjunction with other reading programmes.
After completing the two-day workshop, you can immediately implement these techniques in the classroom. They’ll help you create a safe learning environment that’s relaxed, flexible, and provides deeper insights into the learning process for all students.
At LMOIS, we’re proud to have over 100 teachers trained in DLS, along with three DLS Mentors and 2 licensed Davis Facilitators. We strongly believe that implementing these strategies nurtures holistic growth in children, preventing learning difficulties and unlocking the potential of every student. Many of our senior teachers have also received DLS training.
However, more mentors are needed. Once a teacher gets trained in DLS, if you don’t give them proper mentoring support to help them integrate the new methods into their classroom routine, they can forget the techniques and become discouraged. Mentoring and handholding is essential for teachers to succeed. At Indigo, we ensure that all teachers receive the support they need, and that’s why it’s working out so well.
Priti Venkatesan, Unit Head, Indigo Heartful Kids, inclusive branch of Omega International School.
How you will learn
Join our two-day workshop to explore Davis Learning Strategies in a supportive and engaging group setting. Whether you join us in person or virtually, our highly experienced instructors will guide you through theory and practice, fostering interactive discussions and hands-on exercises and giving you the sound understanding and practical skills you’ll need to effectively and inclusively support every student in your classroom.
With limited group size to ensure the highest quality of training, each day of the workshop is meticulously structured to cover essential topics, delivered through clear explanations, engaging demonstrations, Q&A sessions, and hands-on individual and pair-work practice using our signature clay modeling approach.
Value of DLS mentorship for maximum ROI
Following the introduction of DLS to Omega School in 2014, the number of children being referred from the mainstream to Indigo [Special Education Unit] for Special Educational Needs assessment steadily dropped from 25 per year to just one or two, even though there are over 6,000 students in our school. That is when the school knew the ‘DLS experiment’ had worked. In 2022, Indigo was opened to support children from other schools.
The Davis Learning Strategies can be provided as an annual package to the entire primary school team, with the roll-out beginning with the lower grades. This comprehensive package includes a predetermined number of hours of expert support from a DLS mentor. Research has shown that engaging the DLS Mentorship Package leads to greater success in implementing the Davis Learning Strategies both in the classroom and across the school. Supported teachers are more engaged, perform at a higher level, implement the methods more effectively in their classrooms, and consequently achieve more impactful results faster.
From my past experience with DLS as a teacher at Strath Taieri, DLS did change my practice and deepen my understanding of learners and the range of ways we learn and think. As the Principal of Hinds School, I am conscious of bringing us back to thinking about the tools and the learner, and how we can use the tools to better support our students to be in a focused state to be able to engage in learning, rather than stick with the “they are ‘just not engaged, can’t sit still, home background’” type of comments.
School Principal (2018), Hinds School, New Zealand
Workshop format and timeframe
Online
The online format is a stimulating and enjoyable learning experience. This is no dry webinar. We aim to recreate the in-person experience as far as possible. Features of the online workshop experience include:
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“Camera-on,” “mic-on” video conferencing for real-time interaction
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Adapted pair-work practice in “breakout rooms”
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Content review and Q&A sessions to reinforce learning as you progress
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In-session use of clay for hands-on experience of Davis Symbol Mastery
Ready to unlock potential?
Empower all your students with engaging learning methods and self-regulation tools! Join the Davis Learning Strategies Workshop today and transform your classroom into a nurturing environment for every learning style. Witness student growth, enhance their joy of learning, and make a lasting impact on their education. Let’s unlock their potential together!