Pre-Conference Workshops
Sunday Sessions

Sunday, November 6, 2011 | 11:00 am–4:00 pm

Pre-Conference workshops are intensive sessions on specific topics with experts in the field of literacy learning designed to improve and extend the quality of your teaching.

Literacy Conference Workshops

PC-1 – Featured Session
Genre Study in a Reader’s Workshop (Grades 1–8)   
Irene Fountas, Author and Professor, Lesley University, MA   
Gay Su Pinnell, Author and Professor Emerita, The Ohio State University       
In this interactive session, learn about the process of genre study for developing your students’ foundation of knowledge in fiction and nonfiction genres. In a Reader’s Workshop structure, you will learn how to help your students get inside the characteristics of a variety of engaging books as a means of developing their understandings to improve comprehension and writing about reading. Participants are asked to bring The Continuum of Literacy Learning, PreK–8: A Guide to Teaching (Heinemann, 2010) to this workshop. If you have an earlier version of The Continuum, or the K–2 or 3–8 versions, you may use them in the workshop.

PC-2 – Featured Session
The Book Whisperer: Balancing Academic Reading Goals and Students’ Lifelong Reading Habits (Grades 3–8)
Donalyn Miller, Author and Sixth Grade Language Arts Teacher, Trinity Meadows Intermediate School, TX
Abundant studies reveal that students who read widely and avidly experience the greatest academic success across the school day and report greater agency and self-determination as readers. While we strive to create readers in our classrooms, reading volume and interest often declines throughout the teenage years. In classrooms with high expectations for independent reading, we must still ensure that students master grade level content. In this hands-on workshop, you will explore numerous standards-aligned reading lessons incorporating mentor texts, graphic organizers, and assessment tools that connect to students’ independent reading while moving them forward as engaged, motivated readers. You will learn practical, classroom-tested strategies for implementing Reading Workshop and holding students accountable for their reading. This workshop is suitable for classroom teachers, special education teachers, literacy and instructional coaches, librarians, and administrators.

PC-3 – Featured Session
Processes and Perspectives on Learning and Leading as a Literacy Coach (Grades K–8)
Kristin Rainville, Assistant Professor and Chair, Literacy, Manhattanville College, NY
Literacy coaching engages and supports teachers and school communities in becoming more reflective, knowledgeable, and skillful within their professional practice so all students learn. The learning processes involved in performing as a literacy coach are numerous and require excellent people and communication skills, combined with sound content knowledge that is backed by theory and evidenced in practice. To achieve high-quality professional development through the vehicle of coaching, ongoing support is necessary for coaches and school literacy leaders. Kristin will present ways to guide coaches, those supporting coaches, teachers, and school leaders through several of the processes that accompany gaining new perspectives that result in changed thinking, changed behavior, and improved professional practice.

[Back to top]

PC-4
Teacher Language That Supports Independent Problem Solving: Using the Prompting Guide in Guided Reading Lessons (Grades K–3)
Chris Chase, Educational Consultant, VT
Learn about teaching moves that facilitate your students’ ability to work through a text with effective problem-solving actions. You will learn about the language to use when students have difficulty and need your support to initiate effective reading behaviors. You will also hear about how to teach for, prompt for, and reinforce word-solving actions, self-monitoring, self-correcting, fluency, and the ability to search for and use information in a text. Participants are required to bring The Fountas and Pinnell Prompting Guide Part 1: A Tool for Literacy Teachers (Heinemann, 2008) to the session.

PC-5
Teaching Writer’s Craft with Mentor Texts (Grades 3–6)
Donna Eident, Literacy Coordinator, Sandwich Public Schools, MA
Susan Lupone Stonis, Literacy Coordinator, Sandwich Public Schools, MA
Maureen Wiklund, Literacy Coordinator, Sandwich Public Schools, MA
Revisit your Interactive Read-Alouds in Writer’s Workshop.  In this session, we will dig into some of our favorite children’s picture books to discover the craft of writing.  Through inquiry, we will uncover the author’s craft and develop minilessons inspired by the work of some of our favorite authors.

PC-6
Leveled Literacy Intervention (LLI): Extending Students’ Reading Power Through Writing (Grades K–2)
Linda Garbus, Educational Consultant and Adjunct Faculty, Lesley University, MA
Diane Powell, Assistant Director, Primary Literacy Collaborative, Lesley University, MA
This session is intended for LLI teachers who are working with students, as designed by the Fountas and Pinnell Leveled Literacy Program. The focus of the session will be to build on the reciprocity between reading and writing so that what is learned in writing powers the reading process and vice versa. We will look in depth at reading and writing samples across the text gradient. This process will allow us to explore effective teaching moves that empower students’ writing about reading. We will be working from When Readers Struggle: Teaching That Works (Heinemann, 2008); The Continuum of Literacy Learning, Grades PreK–8, Second Edition: A Guide to Teaching (Heinemann, 2010), and The Fountas and Pinnell Prompting Guide Part 1: A Tool for Teaching (Heinemann, 2008). All three professional texts are required for the session.

[Back to top]

PC-7
Teaching Focus: Refining Reading Instruction (Grades K–8)
Chrisie Moritz, Primary Literacy Collaborative District Trainer, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA   
Helen Sisk, Literacy Collaborative District Trainer, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA
What do I teach next in reading? How do I plan responsive instruction to meet the diverse needs of my students? These are questions that often plague many teachers. In this session, you will delve into The Continuum of Literacy Learning, Grades K–8: Behaviors and Understandings to Notice, Teach, and Support (Heinemann, 2007) by Pinnell and Fountas to understand how this resource supports teachers in planning for instruction around the reading process. Through the analysis of teaching interactions and student work, you will learn to determine what to teach, and how to teach it, when designing whole class, small group, and individual lessons based on student need.  You will need to bring a copy of The Continuum of Literacy Learning to this workshop. If you have the second edition of The Continuum, you may use it in this workshop. This workshop is suited for those familiar with the components of a Reading Workshop.

Reading Recovery Workshop

PC-8 – Featured Session
Assessing and Teaching for Phrased and Fluent Reading    
Connie Briggs, Reading Recovery Trainer and Professor of Reading, Texas Woman’s University
This workshop will explore the aspects of fluency that contribute to a consolidated, complex, generative learning system.  You will listen to children’s reading and analyze records to determine how best to teach for phrased and fluent reading within a Reading Recovery lesson.  Connie will address assessing, monitoring, and teaching for phrased and fluent reading within a classroom setting. New and experienced teachers may find this session helpful.

[Back to top]

Click here to view Monday and Tuesday Sessions