Literacy: The Key to the Academic Kingdom We can change lives when we help all people become literate. According to a 1997 U.S. report, 15–30% of our adult population have difficulty reading common print material: insurance forms, recipes, directions on prescriptions, newspaper articles. The time has come to deal with this literacy nightmare. As educators help students demystify the reading process, they help students become strategic readers. Educators can help students attain the key to the academic kingdom.
Everyone Read! Research-Based Strategies for Struggling Readers The skills associated with content area literacy are integral to students’ success both within and beyond school. This session will provide specific, practical ideas and strategies that teachers can use immediately in all subject areas to assist students with their reading skills. Participants will engage in hands-on experiences for teaching reading through subject-area content.
How to Teach Reading When You’re Not a Reading Teacher ”How do students get to middle school and high school when they can’t read? What am I supposed to do with them? I wasn’t trained to be a reading teacher.” This session will provide specific, practical activities and strategies that teachers can use immediately in all subject areas to assist students with reading skills. Participants will get hands-on experience and lots of ideas for ways to teach reading through subject-area content.
Reading in the Content Areas with the Young Child Developing content knowledge with young children is key to their success in school. Students need to learn at an early age how to think and process informative text because it represents real-life reading. Teachers must model cognitive skills such as monitoring comprehension, visualizing, predicting, questioning, and connecting to text. This training will focus on ideas and strategies that help the young reader comprehend informative text. Participants will address ways to incorporate reading in the content areas so all students become life-long readers.
Reading Maps: Itineraries for Guiding and Challenging Gifted Readers Challenging gifted readers requires more than placement in high ability reading groups. Gifted readers must experience literature that stimulates intellectually and recognizes their need for varied relationships and sense of self. This interactive session will introduce the “reading map” process and engage participants in specific reading strategies which promote critical/reflective thinking. Participants will receive information about the needs of gifted readers and recommended books to guide each student’s reading journey. Bon Voyage!
Reading/Writing Connection in ALL Content Areas All students need to be skilled, articulate writers! We learn to write by reading and experimenting with words. “For the act of composition involves a fresh reaching for expression rather than an arrangement of memorized bits of prose from a bank of expressions in our minds.” (Bruce Joyce, 1998) This training opportunity will show teachers how to help students utilize the works of great writers to develop their own reading and writing skills. By using both quality fiction and nonfiction text, teachers can develop strong creative and technical writers.
Narrow the Achievement Gap Through Vocabulary Development Research has continuously shown that vocabulary development and knowledge are critical to student achievement. In fact, some researchers have concluded that systematic vocabulary instruction is one of the most important instructional interventions teachers could select, particularly with low achieving students. This session will provide important information, practical suggestions, and strategies for vocabulary development.
The Role of Metacognition and Reading to Learn Reading to learn and learning to read—a lifelong process!!! Participants will examine the traits of a strategic reader and the three interactive reading ingredients. Using an informative text strategy, participants will analyze the relationship between the role of metacognition and reading. Participants will discuss how to teach students to use “fit-up tools,” such as questioning, when teaching reading in the content areas.
The Leader’s Role in Developing Strategic Readers Does your school have a literacy school improvement plan, but you’re unsure how to support and lead the teachers who are implementing that goal? Attend this session to discover the critical role of the leader in developing strategic readers in all content areas. During this interactive session participants will develop an increased knowledge base about reading instruction in ALL content areas, examine four traits of a strategic reader, and discuss types of data to collect to show that efforts are making a difference.