From Acting to Authorship: Literacy Professional Learning Sessions for Teachers to Get Excited About

Our ELA professional learning team is getting more and more excited about seeing educators at the 2022 literacy conference for teachers, Literacy for All: The National Institute. It’s bound to be a memorable event!

Not only do we have three powerful keynote speakers lined up for you, but our sessions will be sure to keep you engaged in meaningful learning with fellow educators. Facilitated by master practitioners with a wide range of expertise and many years of classroom experience, the sessions will provide practical, research-backed, and immediately actionable insights and practices to elevate your classrooms.

Want to know what to expect? Here are two sessions for elementary educators and two for secondary educators to get excited about.

Sessions for Elementary Educators

I Am a Writer!: Shining a Light on the Early Writing Process

Everyone has something to say and therefore everyone has something to write—even a 5-year-old. Examine the benefits of a laser-like focus on writing for students in the early years of school that taps into their intrinsic motivation to write and develops their ability to express themselves. Reflect on responsive learning and teaching that helps us connect with and engage our students. Participants will explore how to develop the authorial and secretarial skills required to become a proficient writer by leveraging students' natural need to communicate.

Facilitated by Sonya Fleming, Manager of Professional Learning Design, Literacy. Sonya’s twenty-year career in elementary education has had her move from classroom teacher to literacy coach to assistant principal to a valued literacy consultant.

Tried-and-True: Top 5 ESL Routines to Create a Language-Friendly Classroom

Using research-based methodologies and best practices for second language learning, this session will identify five routines that will create a language-friendly classroom that promotes English language development while honoring students’ native language. The second language learning routines explored will be focused on social-emotional strategies, student engagement in discussions and conversations, vocabulary development strategies and activities, student participation, and ways to scaffold instruction. These tried-and-true strategies will promote increased student interaction and make learning fun! Emergent bilinguals will benefit emotionally and academically from teachers implementing the use of these strategies into their classroom routines. Strategies will be modeled, and participants will experience the learning through examples, role-playing, and demonstrations.

Facilitated by Teresa Arrambride, Bilingual Master Practitioner, Literacy. Teresa has spent 34 years in education, having served as both a teacher and administrative coordinator for special programs. She has extensive experience providing curricular trainings at the district, state, and national levels.

Sessions for Secondary Educators

Let the Drama Begin: Using Acting Techniques to Engage Students in Studying Drama

High school students and teachers alike often groan at the thought of delving into drama. Participants will experience the techniques and strategies well-known actors use to unpack a scene and get into character. By implementing these strategies in the classroom, teachers will be able to help students understand the world and themselves in a fun and engaging way.

Facilitated by Dr. Ricky Adamson, Director of Sales Empowerment, Pilot Implementations. Ricky has spent over twenty years in education: as a classroom instructor teaching middle and high school French, Spanish, English, and Reading Improvement; as an Instructional Specialist for World Languages; Director of World Languages for Dallas ISD; and in educational publishing.

“That’s the English Teacher’s Job”: Promoting Writing and Reading Instruction Outside the ELA Classroom

Do you ever feel like everyone is looking at you to fix the literacy problems in your building? Join this support group--we mean session--to explore strategies for promoting literacy instruction within the other content areas by the other content area instructors. Return to your school with the materials you need to onboard students, teachers, and administrators in ensuring literacy for all, taught by all.

Facilitated by Dr. Barrie Olson, Chief Literacy Officer. Barrie has published research in academic journals as a literacy professor and is the former Chief Academic Officer of educational non-profit Literacy Design Collective.

Don’t Miss This Powerful Professional Development Event

LITERACY FOR ALL: The National Institute will be a professional learning event you won’t forget! We can’t wait to see you there.

Conference details: 

• Where: Renaissance Esmeralda Resort & Spa | Indian Wells, California
• When: July 18-21, 2022