Essentials of Literacy Learning:

The Code, the Concepts, the Conversations

February 14-16 | Springfield, Mass.

Session Abstracts 

Access for All: The Code, the Concepts, the Conversations
Feb. 14, 1:30 - 2:45 p.m.
Presenter: Janet Cumbee (Cornerstone Literacy)
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.

Keynote: Language and its Transformative Power
Feb. 14, 3:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Presenter: Jimmy Santiago Baca
Award-winning poet and novelist Jimmy Santiago Baca will forever change your perspective about education as he describes how language, as power, is the foundation of all literacy efforts. Put aside your conventional ideas about how people learn as he describes how his life was transformed, one word at a time, from an incarcerated teen to a celebrated writer.

Engaging Writers! With Jimmy Santiago Baca & ReLeah Cossett Lent
Feb. 15, 8:30 - 10:30 a.m.
Presenters: Jimmy Santiago Baca and ReLeah Cossett Lent
Join Jimmy Santiago Baca and ReLeah Cossett Lent as they discuss the work behind their book, Adolescents on the Edge. The premise guiding this session is that textbooks and programs are impotent without teachers who understand the components of engagement. Come prepared for a lively discussion about how to transform classrooms into communities where intrinsic motivation is at the heart of all literacy activities.

Breaking the Code: Understanding the Intertwining Relationship of Phonics, Spelling and Writing
Feb. 15, 10:45 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. & 1:30 - 3:15 p.m.
Presenters: Karen Wetherell and Kelly Williams (Cornerstone Literacy)
"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
Feb. 15, 10:45 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. & 1:30 - 3:15 p.m.
Presenters: Sue Hucul, Lorilee Cabrera, Andrea Frasier and Melanie Kornacki (Cornerstone Literacy) 
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
Feb. 15, 10:45 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. & 1:30 - 3:15 p.m.
Presenters: Joseph Mills (Cornerstone Literacy) and Gabrielle Agron (Springfield Public Schools) 
"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
Feb. 15, 10:45 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. & 1:30 - 3:15 p.m.
Presenters: Wendy Seger (Cornerstone Literacy) and Carole Leverock (Springfield Public Schools) 
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
Feb. 16, 9:00 - 11:00 a.m.
Presenters: Rebecca McKay and Joseph Mills (Cornerstone Literacy) 
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 used in this session showcase the Cornerstone Literacy Conversation Module (available online). School teams will respond to the clips, followed by response of Knowledgeable Others. 

Now What? From Inputs to Outcomes
Feb. 16, 11:15 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Presenter: Edna Varner (Cornerstone Literacy) 
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.