Breakout Session D

Session D1

Rebecca Holdsworth, rholdsworth@unit6.org
    Fieldcrest High School
Room: Fell A
Audience: High School

Mentored by the Greats: Using Novels to Raise the Next Generation of Writers
What if we read novels to enhance our own? Often, after dissecting the pieces (literary analysis), we stop discussing the texts. This doesn’t have to be the end. This presentation conveys how to apply the genre studies approach to the class novel in order for students to write their own narratives and memoirs.

Session D2

April Davenport, albehre3@ilstu.edu
Andy Goveia
    Thomas Metcalf  Laboratory School
Room: Fell B
Audience: Middle/High School

Using Podcasts to Conduct Social Analysis
Teens love to debate and argue issues they care about. Come hear how our English Language Arts and Social Studies interdisciplinary unit allows students to challenge themselves and others by utilizing the “Serial” podcast to develop social analysis, research, and critical reading and thinking skills.

Session D3

Melissa Cunningham, mcunningham@district146.org
    Central Middle School
Room: Fell C
Audience: Middle School

Grammar Reasons:  5 Ways to Make Grammar Meaningful
Learn 5 ways to motivate students to form grammar habits that they will take with them the rest of their lives!  1. Show Me the Right Way!  Using Mentor Texts 2.  Why Do I Need to Know This?  Real-Life Writing 3.  I Already Know This!  Differentiating Grammar Lessons 4.  What’s the Point of This?  Targets and Goals 5.  This is Boring!  Grammar Tech

Session D4

Roni Facen
    Proviso Evening School
Norman Boyer, boyer@sxu.edu
Angelo Bonadonna, bonadonna@sxu.edu
    Saint Xavier University
Room: Redbird E
Audience: High School

The Real Problem with “At Risk” Students
What defines youth as “at risk”? Who are they? What are their struggles? What are they “at risk” of doing? Or not doing? Roni will work to define that term and will offer some candid insight into the world of alternative education, followed by conversation with former Saint Xavier University professors Angelo and Norm, and with the audience.

Session D5

Laura Brown, lbrown@d125.org
Carly Lacombe, clacombe@d125.org
    Adlai E. Stevenson High School
Room: Redbird F
Audience: High School

Writing for College
We collaborate to provide high-school seniors with experiences that will prepare them for the cross-curricular writing challenges of college. We will share learning targets, units of study, and assessments that allow for enough student choice to be relevant while still maintaining clear objectives that meet the rigorous standards of CCSS.

Session D6

Kristen Strom, kstrom@ilstu.edu
    Illinois State University
Room:  Beaufort
Audience: Middle/High School

Redefining Borders in the English Language Arts Classroom Through the Use of Text Sets
Using texts that “talk” to each other, teachers can establish “third spaces” that allow students to explore the borders of history, identity, and power. This presentation will introduce “third space” to help teachers and students challenge borders by using various text sets in conjunction with main texts typically studied.

Session D7

Jeannette Gagliardi, jegagliardi@leyden212.org
    East Leyden High School
Room: Redbird C
Audience: Middle/High School

Empowering Writers with Strategies to Increase Elaboration
Inexperienced authors struggle to incorporate background knowledge and content knowledge into their creative, analytic and argumentative writing.  This presentation will detail teaching strategies such as analyzing mentor texts, teacher modeling, discussing revisions in partners, evaluating student work, conferencing and direct instruction that have been successful in my classroom.  This presentation will also describe reflection activities students completed to help them think about which teaching strategies most effectively improved their elaboration.