This year, you may choose to attend the Session A Keynote with Kathy Collins or a breakout session with Linda Rief.
Session A Keynote: The Lenses of Our Teaching: Making Adjustments So We See Clearly and Teach Responsibly (Grades PreK–8) Kathy Collins, Literacy Consultant and Author, NH
Kathy will suggest a variety of ways that we can see and know students so we are better able to teach both where they are and who they are.
F eatured S essi o n LCA-1
Engagement: Creating Fluent Writers and Readers (Grades 4–8) Linda Rief, Teacher and Author, Oyster River Middle School, Durham, NH
To become fluent writers and readers, our students need reading that engages, interests, and challenges them, and writing for real reasons for a real audience. What are the beliefs that ground a Writing and Reading Workshop? As a tool in the language arts, how does technology engage learners? This session will answer these questions. Linda will give an overview of Writing and Reading Workshop, including Writers-Readers Notebooks, portfolios, examples of writing conferences, evaluation, and reading connections.
Session B Monday, November 7, 2011 10:30 am–12:00 pm PreK–8 Literacy Conference
LCB-2
More Than Words: Comprehension Instruction in Reading Conferences with Young Readers (Grades K–1) Kathy Collins, Literacy Consultant and Author, NH
Young readers need support as they orchestrate strategies to figure out words, but there is also a treasure trove of essential comprehension instruction we can offer as our students read even the easiest books. Kathy will help teachers approach conferences with multifaceted intentions so that we are supporting children to become efficient word solvers while also teaching them to be readers who think about their stories, no matter the level of text. This workshop is suitable for classroom teachers. LCB-3
Marvelous Minilessons for Teaching Writing (Grades 3–8)
Monday | SESSIONs A–D
Session A Monday, November 7, 2011 8:30 am–10:00 am
Lori Jamison, Educational Consultant, Canada
How can we take our student writers beyond the “laundry list” to well-crafted and engaging pieces of writing? This session looks at the power of the ten-minute minilesson, a structure for explicit, focused teaching, followed by opportunities for guided practice and independent application. Lori will offer techniques for prewriting and prescriptions for the pain of revision, as well as practical lessons on elaboration, voice, and the writer’s craft, in both narrative and expository writing. LCB-4
Make Me a Story: Teaching Writing Through Digital Storytelling (Grades 1–5) Lisa Miller, Associate Professor, University of New Hampshire
Digital storytelling—combining text, art, voiceover narration, and music on a computer—is a powerful tool for teaching writing, for students must go through a writing process to create effective stories. In this workshop, we will view examples of students’ digital stories and discuss the process students must go through to create them, reasons we should teach digital storytelling, ways to teach students to make these stories, and skills students learn by completing such projects. Repeated: LCD-3. LCB-5
F eatured S essi o ns LCB-1
Supporting New Teachers Through Layered Coaching (Grades K–8) Jennifer Allen, Literacy Specialist and Coach, Waterville School District, ME
Too often, new teachers enter the profession excited to make a difference in the lives of children only to find themselves disillusioned and overwhelmed with the expectations of the classroom. This session will explore ways to create an infrastructure of support within a school for new teachers. We will discuss strategies of how to support new teachers through administering and analyzing assessments, curriculum planning, coaching in and out of the classroom, peer observations, and providing ongoing professional development where new and veteran teachers have opportunities to learn alongside one another. This workshop is suitable for mentors, coaches, and administrators.
Planning Family Engagement Literacy Nights (Grades PreK–6) Margaret Berges, Reading Specialist, Randolph Public Schools, MA Heather Fagan-Kela, K–5 Reading Specialist, Somerset Public Schools, MA
This workshop will outline the process of planning, promoting, and running fun, interactive literacy-based events for students and their families based on community needs. Margaret and Heather will present specific examples of events designed to strengthen home-school relationships. The focus of these events is to provide families with literacy-enriching activities that are easily applied to their lives at home.
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