2007 Conference Home |
2007 Preconference Workshops |
Conference Sessions
Kaleidoscope Sessions |
Poster Sessions |
Photo Gallery
Get the Flash Player to see this player.
The SIM Leadership Award recognizes individuals who have shown exceptional leadership and excellent service to the Strategic Instruction Model(TM) by helping educators become strategic teachers and, as a result, students become strategic learners. Recipients are standout leaders in the SIM International Professional Development Network, sharing their energy and knowledge and inspiring their colleagues to greater achievements. We recognize their achievements, their courage despite adversity, and their unwavering belief in the power of individuals to join together to make a difference in the lives of students. This year's recipient is Anita Friede, a superb leader in the Network and a tireless advocate for struggling learners.
Anita Friede feels the urgency of her work. Despite 20 years of experience with the Strategic Instruction Model™—including 10 as a certified SIM Professional Developer—she believes she has much more work ahead of her to help fill the great need in schools across the country. "If I'm in 15 districts or I've touched 15 districts, there's got to be 500 that I haven't touched...or not I, SIM hasn't touched," she says with characteristic modesty.
Friede's passion on behalf of students has made her a standout leader in the SIM International Professional Development Network, one her colleagues know as a savvy and compassionate collaborator. They say her thirst for knowledge makes her a valuable resource to the Network and to those with whom she works. Her warm personality and the value she places on workshop participants' experiences build a foundation of trust that opens new doors for SIM. Her desire to ensure the best possible outcomes for students, especially those who struggle with learning, drives her toward ever bigger goals. "Anita's tough," says Don Deshler, director of the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning. "She does not get detoured by barriers that she encounters. I have not met anyone more resilient or more optimistic in the face of what seems to be overwhelming odds. There's always a way to break through, and by golly, she does it!"
These qualities have earned Friede numerous admirers in the SIM world, among them Jean Schumaker, retired associate director of the Center. "She really understands what she's talking about, because she's actually done it herself," Schumaker says. Before Friede presents a new SIM intervention to teachers, she tests it with real students, often drawn from her private practice in which she tutors many students who face dire social and academic consequences if they fail to achieve at acceptable levels in New York City's highly competitive private schools.
For Friede, having that experience is invaluable when it comes to conducting professional development sessions. "You have to be believable when you're in front of 25 teachers," she says. "The only way to really be believable is to stand there and say, 'I tried it. I found this was the challenging part. This was the easy part.'"
Friede's preparation and knowledge encompass such larger topics as adolescent literacy and responsiveness to intervention. The administrators and teachers with whom she works rely on her understanding of complex educational issues to help them navigate new demands on their schools and instructional practices. "Things are changing so quickly with No Child Left Behind. Every day, it seems like there's a different mandate out there. I feel very comfortable knowing that Anita's a phone call away when I have a question," says Lucille McAssey, principal at Waverly Park Elementary School in East Rockaway, N.Y., part of Lynbrook Public Schools. Friede has worked with the district for several years, hired to serve as an educational consultant in special education. She has become a key resource exceeding original expectations. "I think in order to do any kind of staff development, people need to trust you," McAssey says. "Anita has that inherent sense of warmth, honesty, sincerity. Teachers trust her. I trusted her with my school, and I trust her as a confidant and someone who I look up to for advice on instructional strategies."
Friede has parlayed her classroom, tutoring, and professional development experience into a regional SIM initiative encompassing dozens of schools and positively influencing the lives of tens of thousands of students. The personal experiences that enrich her professional development work allow her to establish solid connections with teachers. "She hooked me immediately, because everything that she said made such good sense," says Michele Goodstein, a special education teacher at Waverly Park Elementary School. "Anita just has such a way of getting across what she needs to get across in a very non-threatening way."
Friede's influence extends far beyond classroom practices. Goodstein, like many who have encountered Friede's passion for SIM, will begin the process of becoming a certified SIM Professional Developer herself this summer. Another former teacher who followed in Friede's wake to become a certified SIM Professional Developer is Dotti Turner. Turner now works closely with Friede in conducting professional development sessions in the New York region. "She's been my mentor. She's been my role model. She's been my cheerleader. Now that I work with her professionally, she's just become a really, really close friend," Turner says.
Friede often recruits other SIM Professional Developers like Turner to work with her in fulfilling contracts with schools and districts. "We're trying to make the New York metropolitan area a place where SIM is part of the language just like some of the other programs," she says. She insists on follow-up and fidelity to the research-proven methods of SIM when establishing new contracts, and she collects data to define the needs of students in the schools in which she works. "When she teaches teachers how to use Learning Strategies with perfection, or she teaches teachers how to use Content Enhancement Routines with fidelity, she realizes the impact that that is going to mean for kids," says Patty Graner, director of professional development at the Center.
The same professionalism that has earned the respect of administrators like McAssey and teachers like Goodstein and Turner also makes Friede a model of leadership for the SIM Network and an extraordinarily capable resource for the Center. In the last several years, Friede's creativity, preparation, and quick mind have enriched Content Literacy Continuum initiatives, the intensive study of the Xtreme Reading program, and other high-profile national projects. At the same time, she continually nudges all those involved in these projects toward even grander goals. "She brings so much life into a room. She makes people feel very comfortable," says Graner. "But with Anita, the challenging question is always there as well. She pushes people to be the best that they can be."
2007 Preconference Workshops |
Conference Sessions
Kaleidoscope Sessions |
Poster Sessions |
Photo Gallery
