Multisensory Math Teacher Training 

Presented by: Marilyn Zecher, M.A., CALT

Strategies for Helping All Students Master Essential Concepts

Beginning with basic numeracy and quantity awareness, there are specific conceptual horizons which all students must master if they are to succeed in higher math.  Place Value, Multiplication/Division and Fractions are historically important content milestones where significant numbers of students struggle. This workshop will offer hands-on, evidence-based strategies for meeting the needs of all students in critical skill areas. One segment will offer strategies for using simple technology to create differentiated instructional materials. The core focus of the workshop will be foundation skills but algebra readiness standards and links to algebraic procedures for early middle school will be addressed and modeled.  Participants will leave with ideas for teaching a whole class, a small group or an individual learner especially in focusing on multiplication/division and fractions.  The workshop is suitable for those who work with all traditional learners, students with learning disabilities, at risk populations and ELL’s and is most appropriate for K-8 teachers.

Learning Outcomes for Workshop Participants

1. Participants will become aware of current research identifying a possible core deficit in math disabilities and will leave with new strategies for addressing it at various levels of instruction.
2. Participants will learn the importance of using hands-on manipulatives to model math concepts and leave with at least five new ideas for using inexpensive manipulatives to model numeracy, place value, addition/subtraction, multiplication/division and fraction concepts.
3. Participants will learn the difference between conceptual and procedural knowledge and the research basis for modeling concepts before teaching procedures.
4. Participants will learn the importance of using appropriate language to reinforce math concepts and will practice linking language with hands-on practice using manipulative objects and morphology.
5. Participants will create model manipulatives they may use with students in individual or classroom settings.
6. Participants will leave with handouts, models for classroom use, and model manipulatives.

Course Dates

About Marilyn Zecher

M.A., CALT

A nationally certified Academic Language Therapist and former classroom/demonstration teacher, Ms. Zecher is a specialist in applying multisensory Orton-Gillingham based strategies to a variety of content areas. She trains nationally for The Multisensory Training Institute of the nonprofit Atlantic Seaboard Dyslexia Education Center in Rockville, Maryland and is a part-time instructor at Loyola University, Baltimore.  A frequent presenter at regional and national conferences including IDA, LDA, & NCTM, Ms. Zecher specializes in evidence-based methods and interventions for all students but which are especially effective with students with learning difficulties in the fields of mathematics, written language and study skills. Her presentations incorporate O-G strategies, the principles of UDL, and recommendations from NCTM, The What Works Clearinghouse and the Common Core State Standards. She developed the Multisensory Math Program and graduate level math methods courses for which she is the instructor.  She also gives professional development workshops on multisensory applications in math, written language and study skills. She maintains a private practice supporting older students who have dyslexia and related learning differences in Rockville, Maryland.