Expert to offer free education workshop at Randolph

Rick Lavoie

Local teachers, parents, and school administrators are invited to attend a free workshop at Randolph College about classroom motivational strategies for “tuned out” children. Participants will learn new and effective strategies to stimulate learning and classroom success.

Internationally-recognized education speaker and author Rick Lavoie will lead the workshop, “The Motivation Breakthrough,” April 28. The event will start at 7 p.m. and be held in Smith Hall Theatre.

An administrator of residential programs for children with special needs for 30 years, Lavoie holds three degrees in special education. In addition to lecturing at such universities as Syracuse, Harvard, the University of Alabama, and Georgetown, he has also appeared on The Today Show, CBS This Morning, Good Morning America, and the ABC Evening News.

Lavoie has served as a keynote speaker for such special needs advocacy organizations as the Learning Disabilities Association, Council for Exceptional Children, and Children with Attention Deficit Disorder. He has delivered his message to over 500,000 parents and professionals throughout North America, Australia, New Zealand, and Hong Kong.

Organized by Randolph education professors Consuella Woods and Peggy Schimmoeller, the event is funded in part by Community Events and by an education grant.

“Any time we can get an internationally known individual to campus, it’s a plus for the education community,” Woods said. “His books are so well known by parents and educators, and it’s so important when you get a chance to see the person right in front of you and ask questions.”

Schimmoeller has used Lavoie’s books in her classes for several years.

“I think Rick’s philosophy is in mind with Randolph’s mission to educate students in a wide range of interests and educate the whole person to make them a contributing member of society,” she said. “It’s not just about the academic piece—it’s about the social piece, the service piece, and the community interaction piece as well.”

All Randolph education students are required to take a course in teaching students with learning differences. In addition to its undergraduate education program, Randolph offers a one-year master’s degree program. The next Master of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.) and Master of Education (M.Ed.) programs begin May 18, and the deadline to apply is May 1.

“The basis of all our education programs, undergraduate or graduate, is inclusive education,” Schimmoeller said. “A lot of what Rick says is that if you know how to reach and motivate students, then you don’t have to segregate them and they can be successful in general education classes.”

For more information about Lavoie and the workshop he will lead at Randolph, please visit http://www.ricklavoie.com/motivationbreakthrough.html. Also, sign up for and invite others to the event on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/events/939850479462584/.