Thinking Maps Training Concludes at The College of New Rochelle

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NEW ROCHELLE, NY (02/14/2012)(readMedia)-- More than 35 educators from Westchester County, Rockland County, and New York City are now equipped to return to their school districts and use new techniques to improve language development, comprehension, writing skills and math skills of their students, after participating in a series of training workshops at The College of New Rochelle.

The sixth and final meeting of the Center for Educational Policy and Practice Thinking Maps® Training of Trainers workshop was held on Friday, February 10, 2012 on The College of New Rochelle's Main Campus.

The six Thinking Maps Workshops were taught by Larry Alper, co-director of Designs for Thinking, with the assistance of faculty member, Dr. Estrella Lopez, Assistant Professor of Education in the Graduate School, and held under the sponsorship of Dr. Walter Sullivan, Director of the Center for Educational Policy and Practice at The College of New Rochelle. According to Dr. Sullivan, "Thinking Maps are a visual language based on eight fundamental cognitive skills. By focusing on content learning and through processes, Thinking Maps improve students' reading comprehension and writing across all subject areas and from Pre-K to college."

Educators from Westchester County, Rockland County, and New York City attended the six sessions in the training to be trained in this important teaching tool. The school districts in attendance included New Rochelle, East Syracuse Minoa, North Rockland, Ossining, Eastchester, as well as Touro College, and faculty from both the undergraduate and graduate schools of The College of New Rochelle.

The sixth session workshops examined and evaluated visual tools such as webbing, graphic organizers, and non-linguistic representations to facilitate thinking, understanding, and comprehension. The training also included important research based learning practices.