2019 Alaska Cross Content Conference

Fearless Writing Project allowed student to find their voice through the genre of creative writing. Through the study of poetry students explored the choices of poets and authorial choices themselves by imitating the choices of great writers as they developed their own voice through exploring the craft of writing (i.e. figurative language, word choice, and critical thinking skills). Because of the population of student that were involved in the program the selection of mentor text used was very intentional.

Middle and high school classroom teachers are responsible for helping students learn academic content within their discipline, as well as discipline-specific ways to communicate, read, and write.  Drawing upon the International Literacy Association's Standards 2017, this session will provide an overview of literacy fundamentals that support the work of middle and high school teachers.

Create Reader's Theater from primary sources aligned with your Social Studies and History curriculum. This strategy increases both historical understanding of primary sources and literacy. Participants will create a Reader's Theater Script during the session.

The right book at the right time can make all of the difference in our writing instruction. Mentor texts serve as an additional teacher in the room when we model how to use them to lift the quality of writing and support new learning. When students can choose authors and texts as their own mentors, we also foster creativity, voice, and agency. Join me in exploring ways to use mentor texts with students to scaffold learning how to write different genres; apply new instructional standards; and connect curriculum from year to year.

Today’s students are worldly, wired and widely exposed to a host of trans-media influences. So how does a modern-day educator meet the mandates of a standards-based curriculum while providing dynamic, student-centered instruction that amplifies literacy across the curriculum? Come discover concrete strategies adolescent student success with proven tools that are firmly rooted in decades of research about language, learning, teaching, and assessment across the disciplines. All in all, instead of trying to force the curriculum into our students’ live, effective teaching first considers our students, and then places their lives into the center of the curriculum. A session sure to provide ample solutions to real classroom challenges.  This session is based on my recent book, Literacy & Learning Centers: Content Area and Disciplinary Literacy Tools for Grades 4-12.  

A classroom library is the heart and soul of a classroom community. When we organize and reorganize our books into collections that reflect the students in front of us, we let them know that they are the centers of their reading lives. Better yet, when we involve them in the process of curating the book collection in the classroom library, we help them develop the habits and dispositions of a reader. Assessment, instruction, community, book love, and fun all rolled into a classroom library.

The ability to read, write and speak with proficiency is essential for student success. Students who struggle in school may not possess accurate literacy tools or self-regulation strategies for college and career readiness. This inspiring presentation will showcase how an integrated school-wide literacy and self-regulation plan resulted in at least 15% student growth in one academic year and how you can lead your school to a similar outcome. Research suggests that academic improvement can occur when a self-regulatory model is integrated with strategic literacy instruction that fosters self-efficacy and independence.

Poetry is a structure that writers can use in any unit of study. This session will make the case for including poetry in content area and nonfiction literacy units of study. In reading, it is a great way to build one’s schema in a content area and to synthesize the big idea in an area of research. In writing, poetry offers choice in terms of how a writer wants to convey information. We will explore poetry mentor texts and craft moves to teach your students. Join me in exploring how to incorporate poetry in your informational reading and writing units of study.

This is a facilitated roundtable, a symposium-style collaborative session. Helping mainstream teachers of ELs facilitate literacy acquisition brings questions: How is building literacy of ELs different? What are the research-supported models of EL coaching? and more. This session is of special interest to EL coaches and anyone involved in the professional development of mainstream teachers working with English learners.