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 recipients, Barbara Ehren and Joyce Rademacher, have each played vital roles in shaping the direction of research at the Center for Research on Learning and in leading the SIM Network toward ever-greater achievements.
In Florida, new groups of SIM Professional Developers adopt "bird" names--herons, flamingos--when they attend potential professional developer institutes. Barbara Ehren, who became hooked on the Strategic Instruction Model(TM) long before the first institute in the state, says she belongs to the pterodactyl group.
Barb's introduction to SIM came when a young colleague at Florida Atlantic University, Keith Lenz, asked her to review the nascent Paraphrasing Strategy. At that time--the early 1980s--the notion of strategic instruction was innovative.
"I was quite taken with it then, as I am still," Barb says.
Barb collaborated with Keith to bring Learning Strategies to Florida, an initiative the state adopted and continues to support today.
"Her influence in Florida was really terrific," says Patty Graner, who found SIM well-established when she moved to the state in 1986. The next year, Patty had the opportunity to work with Barb on a language-sensitive SIM project.
"She helped me learn a lot about SIM," says Patty, who is now director of professional development at the Center for Research on Learning. "She's shaped my thinking tremendously."
Anyone who has met Barb or is familiar with her work will readily associate one word with her: language. Barb has applied a language lens to SIM, prompting the Center's researchers to consider the language underpinnings of strategic instruction and how research in this area can inform further development of the Strategic Instruction Model. Her accomplishments include the development of STRUCTURE Your Reading, a new strategic reading approach.
"If anyone has kept our focus on language within the Center, it has been Barb," says Don Deshler, director of the Center. "We have needed those constant reminders, and she has done it in such a delightful range of ways: with humor, with directives, with excitement, and with passion."
The work that Barb considers her most important in connection with the Center is the development of the Content Literacy Continuum(TM), including defining the role of speech-language pathologists at Level 5: Intensive Clinical Intervention Options.
"The history of the field of speech-language pathology has been more of a focus on skill development," she says. Her work merging strategic instruction and research on language impairments brings to light the need for strategies, not just skills, for these students.
As professor and director of the doctoral program in communication sciences and disorders at the University of Central Florida, Barb and her doctoral students will continue to pursue these ideas and themes, investigating discipline-specific literacies and the degree to which language plays a role in adolescents being able to use specific strategies for specific disciplines.
Besides "language," another word readily associated with Barb is "fun."
"She injects fun into any activity that you're involved with," says Patty.
Barb's energy, enthusiasm, and the glitter of her jewelry and outfits reflect a bright personality that draws people in. Her presence stands her in good stead when faced with difficult situations, such as the time she transformed a room full of skeptical, reluctant administrators and teachers into willing followers ready to learn more about SIM.
"She met those New Yorkers eye to eye, and at the end of the day, she had them eating out of her hand," Don says.
Countless people have been exposed to Barb's magic through dozens of professional development sessions, potential professional development institutes, and preservice workshops she has conducted. She has worked in nearly every state and devoted a great deal of time to bring the speech-language pathology community to strategic instruction.
"She works tirelessly," says Patty. "She enjoys the work, and I think her heart is with SIM."
2008 Conference Home | Preconference Workshops | Conference Sessions | Keynotes
