IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 11/07/2005 CONTACT: William Charland 538-6085
 
Silver City-Con Confianza/Title V will be sponsoring an in-service training featuring educator Erica Volkers. Volkers will be speaking in the Western New Mexico University Besse-Forward Global Resource Center auditorium on Friday, Nov. 11, from 2 to 4 p.m. Volker will focus on economic differences within the classroom, which oftem make both teaching and learning challenging. Volkers will address these issues and will ouline specific strategies for working with students from poverty.

Volkers began her career as a secondary social studies teacher working primarily with at-risk youth.  In order to better meet the needs of these students, Volkers underwent extensive training on effective teaching and assessment strategies with Peak Learing Systems, an educational consulting group. The implementation of these strategies had a major impact on the achievement of her students and Volkers began sharing these strategies with school districts across the nation. Upon moving to New Mexico, Volkers had the opportunity to attend "The Framework for Understanding Poverty," a workshop by Ruby Payne. She found that Payne's research resonated with her experiences with students from poverty. Volkers then became certified as a trainer for the workshop and has used these materials to facilitate workshops.

Currently, Volkers is the Chair of Teacher Education at Santa Fe Community College and teaches the course Effective Classroom. Volkers has also conducted several workshops on three-tiered licensure, effective instruction, assessment and classroom management for educators in New Mexico. She is also pursuing a doctorate of education.

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