Essentials of Literacy Learning:

The Code, the Concepts, the Conversations

October 12-14 | Columbus, Ga.

 

Session Abstracts 

 

Access for All: The Code, the Concepts, the Conversations

Oct. 12, 2:30 – 3:45 p.m.

This session will provide an overview of the conference through the lens of what Alfred Tatum calls the “Vital Signs of Literacy Development.”  He stresses providing the tools/ models, improving the human conditions, rescuing the significance of teaching, and interacting with students.  These vital signs will be addressed through the code, concepts, and conversations as well as through the expertise of the adaptive experts and knowledgeable others.

---

Breaking the Code: Understanding the Intertwining Relationship of Phonics, Spelling, and Writing

Oct. 13, 11:15 a.m. - 12:45 p.m. & 2:15 - 3:45 p.m.

"Breaking the Code" will allow participants to explore the connections between phonics, spelling, and writing. They will have the opportunity to explore the developmental stages for word study as students move along a continuum from emergent spellers to derivational spellers. The session will address the following questions: How do we discover where children are on the developmental continuum? And how do we best support children as they move along the continuum?

Writing About Text: A Vehicle for Improving Reading

Oct. 13, 11:15 a.m. – 12:45 p.m. & 2:15 – 3:45 p.m.

In this session, participants will explore how writing can be used as a tool to improve reading, deepen comprehension, and increase content learning. We will examine the reciprocal relationship between reading and writing by analyzing, personalizing, and manipulating key ideas in text. Participants will have an opportunity to experience various written response techniques and receive practical ideas for implementing these strategies in the classroom. 

Making Messages: Multiple Pathways to Expressing Understanding

Oct. 13, 11:15 a.m. – 12:45 p.m. & 2:15 – 3:45 p.m.

"Making Messages" will explore the ways in which children develop the ability to bring together all of the cueing systems in our Interactive Model of Reading and Writing in acts that effectively communicate ideas to others. We will examine the interplay between young children’s development of oral language, visual representation, and writing. Participants will experience strategies for encouraging development in these domains and plan ways to apply these strategies in the elementary classroom.

Conceptual Learning: Approaches that Build Motivation

Oct. 13, 11:15 a.m. – 12:45 p.m. & 2:15 – 3:45 p.m.

This session will probe into the ways students can reach high levels of learning with equally high levels of motivation. By building conceptual knowledge within a given topic or concept, students read to learn so that they can share new knowledge with peers. Based on a study by Collins Block, et. al., participants will experience two approaches that build expertise about a topic while offering choice and flexibility to support student motivation.

---

 

Access to Lived Experiences: Teachers Too!

A Video Study with Knowledgeable Others

Oct. 14, 8:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.

This session will provide an opportunity to study videos of exemplary essential literacy learning with school teams. Inquiry questions and viewing guides will provide the path to discovering examples of the research on conversations as a tool to build deep comprehension. The video clips, available online, showcase the Cornerstone Literacy Conversation Module (also available online). School teams will respond to the clips, followed by a panel of knowledgeable others. The entire session is offered as ‘turn-around professional development” for school teams to take back to their schools.

Becoming an Adaptive Expert

Oct. 14, 10:30 a.m. - 11:00 p.m.

Early in August 2011, a group of Muscogee County School District teachers gathered together to begin a two-month study about how their instruction could better meet and support the increasingly diverse needs of their students. Through professional study and adult learning, they broadened their understanding of how to become an adaptive expert, one that can strategically check and modify their instruction based on student results. Their new learning is coming alive in the classroom as we approach the Fall Conference. During this session, participants will share how becoming an adaptive expert leads to high expectations for learning and experiences of success for their students.

Now What? From Inputs to Outcomes

Oct. 14, 1:30 – 3:00 p.m.

To translate powerful adult learning into equally powerful student outcomes, we must be clear about the differences between inputs and outcomes and everyone’s role in ensuring them. This session will give school leaders a roadmap and a way to monitor the journey from knowledge building to predictable, dramatic results.