Each workshop can be customized to your needs. By default, each workshop listed is designed as a full-day workshop (unless otherwise noted). The content can be compressed to fit into a half-day workshop or even a 60-90 conference-style session. Some workshops are offered in partnership with other organizations (e.g. Smarter Science with Youth Science Canada, PRIME with Nelson Canada) and some are my own creations.
Workshops can be delivered to teachers only, as part of a professional development session, or the content can be demonstrated in the classroom as a model lesson to your students. A hybrid version is also available, with the first part being offered as professional development to teachers and then a visit in the classroom. For highly effective implementation and change in practice, ongoing support with an initial workshop and then regular visits in the classroom, is a very effective option.
Some workshops are also available for parents, including sessions on how they can support their child in mathematics or science. With these workshops, parents have a better understanding of the way mathematics and science are taught in today’s classrooms.
My office is located in Belleville (Ontario), but I offer my workshops from coast to coast to coast. Most of the time, I will travel to your location (school, school board or district, convention centre, etc.) to deliver the workshop. Some workshop can also be delivered via videoconference such as Skype for Business, thus reducing the workshop fees.
Contact me to discuss your needs and get a quote. All workshops are sold with a fixed price that you know ahead of time. It includes preparation, workshop delivery, follow-ups, administrative costs and travel fees (flights, parking, accommodation, meals, mileage, etc.) No other fees are added. If you don’t see the workshop that meets the professional development needs of your staff, send me a message and I will tailor one exactly to your needs.
My schedule tends to fill up very quickly. If you only need a day or two and you are flexible on the dates, you may try a last-minute booking. However, if you require specific dates or if you want to book more than 3 days in a row, it’s better to book 6 months to a year in advance.
1. Everything is Awesome with LEGO® Math!
K-8 Math Teachers or K-8 Students
Did you know that approximately 7 LEGO® sets are purchased worldwide every second? This popular brick can help students truly understand what numbers mean. Fractions are just a “fraction” of what you can do with LEGO®. Learn how to use them to teach geometry, data management, algebra, measurement, equations, number sense, operations and more.
2. StoryBricks: Using LEGO® for Literacy
K-6 Literacy Teachers or K-6 Students
Now, even your most reluctant writers will have fun learning the basic skills for writing a story! Using LEGO® bricks, figures, plates and special software, students work collaboratively to create visual scenes that they write down, photograph, publish and share with others. Using LEGO takes away any stress associated with staring at a blank page while trying to come up with something. Ready to see students excited by the process of writing and proud of the results they come up with? This is the workshop for you!
3. Become a Robot Wrangler
K-12 Teachers or K-12 Students
Build on student fascination with robots to teach problem solving and computer programming. Discover how fun this kinesthetic, experiential approach to science, technology, and engineering (STEAM) can be! I specialize in the use of LEGO® Robotics sets for use in the classroom to cover your curriculum or as an extra-curricular activity in the form of a robotics club. I usually recommend LEGO® WeDo for early elementary (grade 1-3) and LEGO® Mindstorms EV3 for upper elementary through grade 12.
I also offer workshop using these robotics kits:
- Fisher Price Code-a-pillar
- BeeBot/BlueBot
- Ozobots
- Dash and Dot
- Cue
- Cubelets
- Little Bits
- Neuron
- Airblock
- Edison
- LEGO® Boost
- Sphero
- mBot
If you need help purchasing the right robotics kits for your needs and the needs of your students, I can also provide consulting and support to help you make the right choice.If your school doesn’t own robotics kits or electronic devices yet, no worries. I will bring the equipment required for the workshop. You can then decide what is best for the needs of your students and teachers. Once you are ready to order, give your B&B representative a call or visit http://bb.ca.
4. Smarter Science
K-12 Teachers
*3 full day workshops
Ready to discover a framework for teaching science that emphasizes process rather than content? This inquiry-based approach builds upon the natural curiosity of students and helps them approach a question in the same way that a scientist would. These tools are also readily adaptable for any subject beyond science. The three days cover the following topics: Workshop 1 – Introduction to Smarter Science; Workshop 2 – Assessment and Evaluation of Inquiry; Workshop 3 – Innovation and Creativity through Inquiry.
Dominic is one of two nationally certified trainers for Smarter Science. To book a Smarter Science workshop with Dominic, please call Youth Science Canada at 1-866-341-0040 x 236 or email him at dominic.tremblay@sciencesjeunesse.ca
5. The ABC of Coding
K-12 Teachers or K-12 Students
Computational thinking is essential to the development of computer and smartphone apps. Developing computational thinking with your students will help them develop their problem-solving skills as well as many other 21st century skills such as communication, resilience, creativity and critical thinking, in a fun and interactive way. There is nothing more rewarding than creating your own app, device, or game and then using it. I can help you integrate coding at any grade level (K-12) using the following platforms:
- Potato Pirates
- Osmo Coding
- Scratch Jr
- Scratch
- Makey Makey
- Micro:bit
- Arduino (with Arduino IDE)
- Raspberry Pi
- Crazy Circuits (with Arduino IDE)
- Blockly
- Google Apps Script
- Microsoft MakeCode
- Apple Swift Playground
- Code.org
- Adafruit Circuit Playground Express
To maximize creative potential and gain a better understanding of technology in the classroom, consider pairing a coding workshop with a robotics workshop!
If your school doesn’t own robotics kits or electronic devices yet, no worries. I will bring the equipment required for the workshop. You can then decide what is best for the needs of your students and teachers. Once you are ready to order, give your B&B representative a call or visit http://bb.ca.
6. PRIME Approach to Teaching Math
K-7 Math Teachers
*2-4 full day workshops
Find out how the PRIME series provides an invaluable continuum of learning for math, along with diagnostic tools to evaluate exactly where their students are. PRIME can be used with any math textbook and helps teachers understand how students learn math developmentally.
Dominic is certified to teach PRIME workshops and train other PRIME trainers. To book a French PRIME workshop, please contact TC Media Livres at 514-273-1066 ext. 2148. To book an English PRIME workshop, please contact Doug Morrow at Nelson Education Ltd. at 416-752-9100 ext. 3357.
7. Leaps and Bounds Toward Math Understanding
K-8 Math Teachers
Explore a ready-to-use curriculum that is ideal for classrooms where there are many levels of math aptitude. It is particularly helpful for students who struggle with math and is designed to bring a sense of success for everyone involved.
Dominic is certified to teach Leaps and Bounds workshops. To book a Leaps and Bounds workshop with Dominic, please contact TC Media Livres at 514-273-1066 ext. 2148
8. Food Far and Wide
Elementary Teachers
Everyone is interested in food! Learn how to integrate food literacy into every subject of your pre-existing curriculum. Your little chefs can learn about topics such as: nutrition, reading labels, how to cook, geographical origins for recipes and environmental factors involved in food production.
9. Masters in Their Fields
K-12 Social Studies Teachers
Expand your students’ curiosity about social studies as they become historians, geographers, and economists in their own right. Students learn to ask their own questions when they see an artifact or photograph—the same as professionals would! Working from these questions, they then begin to put their investigative skills into action through the use of a unique Social Studies Toolbox created by Dominic. The Toolbox can be scanned into a smartphone and includes 10 elements designed to help students find answers to their questions. Each element has its own video to explain how it can be used. Students learn to use social networks, databases and statistics, interviews, interactive panoramas, surveys, recent and historical newspapers, maps, photographs, paintings, drawings and trends on the Internet for their research. This workshop shows you an effective and innovative way to support students as they explore inquiry-based learning.
10. Follow The Money
K-12 Teachers
Transform your whole classroom into a mini-economy in connection with a specific project that is ready to integrate into your curriculum. Students gain understanding of currency, borrowing, online shopping, taxes, buying supplies, the impact of counterfeit currency, selling services and more as they explore options in this project.
11. Making Interactive Boards Truly Interactive
K-12 Teachers
If your interactive board is simply being used as a high tech bulletin board, this workshop is for you! You will learn strategies for creating exciting projects in all subjects and have hands-on opportunities to discover how to create engaging material. (Participants should know the basics of how to use the boards.)
12. D-Code Math on the iPad
K-8 Math Teachers
Move beyond games and entertainment to explore how the iPad can be used as an effective instructional tool for teaching math. Students will discover features on the iPad that enable them to identify solutions, generate questions, communicate with the teacher and participate in a group discussion within a multimedia context.
13. A Number of Answers
K-8 Math Teachers
Does the range of math abilities in your classroom make you feel like you are trying to climb Mt. Everest without a Sherpa? Bring differentiated instruction into your classroom by learning how to generate open-ended questions and broadening existing textbook questions so you can reach everyone at the same time.
14. Miscellaneous Manipulatives
3 Workshop Strands: K-3, Gr. 4-6, Gr. 7-10 Math Teachers
Are there manipulatives gathering dust in your classroom somewhere? Let Dominic show you how to breathe life into these resources and use them effectively to help students form solid foundations for understanding new math concepts. From kindergarten all the way to grade 10, students do better when they can work creatively with visual representations to comprehend abstract concepts. Let’s put those manipulatives back to work!
15. The Science of Organizing a Science Fair
K-12 Teachers
Ready to learn about the Leidenfrost Effect and balloon rockets? Discover what you need to know to successfully organize a science fair at your school, and how to support students while they are working on their projects.
16. One for All, and All for One!
Gr. 9-10 Teachers
Discover ways of working together as a team to create projects based on an integrated curriculum that covers a variety of subjects simultaneously. Strategies for assessing students will also be covered. This approach will save time and ultimately assist students in seeing the bigger picture.
17. Grammaire nouvelle
Gr. 7-9 French Teachers
Go beyond memorization and learn to teach French grammar by creating a deep understanding of the underlying structure of the language. This new approach is based on syntax and text. The workshop will also integrate multiple technologies, including interactive boards, iPads and computers.
18. Indestructible Geometry
Gr. 4-9 Math Teachers
Find out how to effectively teach geometry through the use of dynamic geometry software such as Geometer’s Sketchpad, GeoGebra or Cabri Geometry. Students learn through exploration and by figuring things out for themselves. Can your students create indestructible structures? If not, its back to the Sketchpad!
19. Podcasting
Gr. 4-12 Teachers
When students no longer have the stage fright that accompanies being put on the spot, they’re able to slow down and articulate themselves best. That is the goal of the podcasting workshop- to give students control, so that they are confident in delivering high-quality podcasts that reflect their understanding of a given subject. With the ability to control all aspects (including tone, speed, and voice), students will develop the comfort they need and will understand podcasting tools to effectively deliver their message. They will also be introduced to augmented reality through audio clips! Teachers will then be able to present students with audio feedback for assessment and evaluation. Cultivate a love of literacy, or any subject, through this podcasting workshop!
20. Remarkable Readers: Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA)
Gr. 4-8 French Language or French Immersion Teachers
Would you like to discover an effective way to assess the reading skills of your students and learn how to improve those capabilities? Developmental Reading Assessment, or DRA, is a tool that helps instructors identify reading levels, accuracy, fluency and comprehension in their students. Once these are determined, it becomes easier to focus assignments to meet the needs of the students. Through DRA, three criteria are tested: fluidity, understanding, and motivation. Motivation is a key factor in learning, and this is one of the only tools set up to assess this.
21. Literature and Social Media
Gr. 4-12 Teachers
Consider your student’s interests and engagement by incorporating social media into your literacy lessons! This conference-style session will guide you through using social media in the classroom to help students gain a deeper understanding of their reading and writing. By having to get inside their character’s head, students will consider the world from a new perspective and be required to think outside the box, using a medium that they are comfortable with. These lessons will also provide tangible evidence of understanding, especially useful for non-native language learners and ELLs.
Offered in collaboration with my colleague, Paige Albright
22. The Superpowers of LEGO® for Scientific Inquiry
K-8 Teachers
Did you know that LEGO has superpower potential for your science classroom? By their modular structure, they can be used to assemble a variety of models, that can then be used to test a hypothesis and come up with a conclusion. Using LEGO, students will learn about testing the effect of an independent variable on a dependent variable, while being able to control many other variables. You will be surprised that LEGOs are not only used to teach about simple machines, but can also be used to cover a wide variety of themes in your science and technology curriculum. Everyone feels like a superhero when learning is this fun!
23. The FIXER movement, a more environmentally-friendly version of the MAKER movement
K-12 Teachers
The FIXER movement can be a much more environmentally friendly version of the MAKER movement. Redefine the mission of your MAKER space by changing how your students use 3D printers, laser cutters, wood-working tools, soldering irons, sewing machines, and much more. Instead of creating new stuff that will eventually end up in a dumpsite, your students can use these tools to repair electronic devices, appliances, clothes, furniture, and a variety of household objects. Encourage your students to develop their entrepreneurship skills by opening a repair shop at your school!
Offered in collaboration with my colleague, Pierre Sarazin
24. Abracadabra for Students
Gr. 4-12 Students; Maximum 30 participants
Give your students the opportunity to learn how to perform magic like a professional. The science of misdirection, the art of showmanship, the psychology of magic will all be revealed right before their eyes. Presto! Its all yours, right here!