If you would like to book a workshop, please reach me via the contact form. Some of the workshops available are:

The Power of Extreme Writing! Creating Eager and Fluent Writers

Students who write too slowly, and can’t “ideate” quickly fall further and further behind as subjects become more demanding. But…how do we enhance fluency and keep it engaging long enough to succeed?

Extreme Writing is a totally new journaling program that works. “It’s fun! Can we do more?” Leave with a plan for the year, and a method of assessing student capacity. The brain loves novelty and this workshop includes 7 unique strategies to keep the program novel, with multiple ideas for each strategy, creating a year of refreshing unexpected choices for your Grade 4-9 students.

Inquiry 2.0! Harnessing the Collective Brainpower of Your Class

Launch your students into inquiry with a simple model—easy to understand, easy to use! Diana’s movable provides an exciting provocation to thinking, collects great questions, inspires investigations, and most importantly, encourages student collaboration. After investigating, students return to answer their original “I wonder” questions. They produce individual contributions to their collective brainpower. It’s fun! It’s fast! It’s practical—and includes many engaging potential inquiries with accompanying resources!

Guys Write! 9 Sure-Fire Ways to Excite Your Boys About Writing (and your girls too)!

Are your boys reluctant to write? Write the minimum? Are difficult to inspire? Both boys and girls need 21st Century writing skills, but the average GRADE 12 BOY still writes only as well as the average GRADE 8 GIRL.

Diana Cruchley presents 9 simple ways to TWEAK your writing program to make it fit more with how boys learn—your girls will like it too. This practical workshop includes more than two dozen ideas for writing that your boys will love—tomorrow. Use the 9 simple ways of thinking about topics to always be able to alter a writing assignment “just enough” to engage your boys (and girls).

Is That Logical? Creating Critical Thinkers

Why? Because critical thinking is a core competency in the new curriculum AND it’s important to make future citizens aware of logical fallacies as they are inundated with persuasion from ads, politicians, and social media! AND it’s fun!

This workshop includes lots of practical ideas for Grades 5-9 utilizing 3 critical skills: listening for logic, listening  for the gist of something, and listening for specific information.

Braveheart Writers: 10 Secrets to Quality Writing

Inspire students with The Author’s Club strategy to improve the quality of their writing. Then develop your own Braveheart Writers—Grade 4-9 students who are chomping at the bit to write because their personal writing kit is loaded with 10 simple “secrets” to apply to their writing.

“The pen is mightier than the sword, and it’s a lot easier to write with a pen.” These “secrets” can be used all their lives to produce impressive quality writing.

Fabulous Fables

Fables are short, punchy, important for cultural literacy, and fun to teach. Here’s a list of fables, a collection of writing and oral language ideas, and picture book sources ranging from literal to wildly humorous—a fun practical workshop.

Happily Ever After Writing

With more than 12 fractured fairy tales and more than 12 different writing strategies, this practical workshop contains “golden” ideas you can use over and over again in your classroom, starting from the springboard of the classic fairy tale. Tons of fun for you and your Grade 4–8 students—and worthwhile learning in multiple genres as well.

What’s the Word? 24 Adaptable Strategies for Enhancing Vocabulary

In the last 30 years, the working vocabulary of a typical 14 year old has fallen from 25,000 words to 15,000 words. Vocabulary is CRITICAL to reading comprehension, to writing skill, to “fitting in” with social situations, and to understanding your world. But teaching vocabulary is often a grind. Dictionaries and spelling lists don’t help.

Here are 24 novel and adaptable strategies for enhancing your students’ vocabulary that do work. They are fun, versatile, and not time-consuming. There’s also a great handout included.

One Stop Language Arts: Love That Dog

Love That Dog is a fabulous book because:

• the students love it,
• the topic is irresistible,
• it’s moving and funny,
• you can read it aloud in less than an hour, and
• it lends itself to great discussions and terrific lessons

Use Love That Dog to:

• teach multiple reading strategies,
• introduce and motivate students’ journal program,
• inspire students in a poetry unit,
• connect to many engaging writing topics, and
• develop oral language skills, and more

Love That Dog ideas adapt to any novel and you can do it all with just one book.

Monopoly Madness: Over 20 Writing Ideas Inspired by a Monopoly Board

Monopoly is a lot of fun AND the board can be used to teach over 2 dozen different curricular lessons ranging from writing (poetry, newspaper articles, directions, comparisons, lists, etc.), to P.E., Social Studies, Geography, as well as a fun personality analysis.

You can teach the use of active verbs, powerful openings, and have a great lesson on taking notes, and more. The handout includes the complete original Monopoly Homework Game and is over 45 pages.

Shhh! Canadian Scientists and Inventors RULE!

From Diana Cruchley, an alphabet of lesson ideas from Acetylene to Zipper—each letter an astonishing Canadian invention. The workshop connects writing and science and includes language arts, math, science activities, games, a scavenger hunt, internet connections, a look at what a patent is, a complete scavenger hunt of Canadian science, Heritage Week ideas, and lots more!

The Most Gorgeous Art and Poetry Book Your Kids Will Ever Make

Leave with 8 fresh and easy poetic forms. Obtain 3 ideas for easy, effective illustration and bind all of this in an unusual flag book your students will be proud of (and so will their parents).

Leave with your own book, and a step-by-step handout useful for varied projects.

 

 

Grooving on China: History, Folktales, Inventions

China is building a new Silk Road but this time it’s not camels—it’s a belt and road initiative from China to connect the Middle East, Russia, Europe, and Africa.

Engage your students in the history of the 16 Dynasties leading to the modern age, their folktales, their religions, and their amazing inventions. In this mini-unit, intended for Grades 4-9, build a greater understanding of the ancient origins of this contemporary trade juggernaut.