Blog Archives

Frag-Free Fluency: The Importance of Complete Sentences and Sentence Variety in Dialogue, Reading, and Writing

This session will teach participants how to provide more opportunities for student-to-student discourse, giving written and verbal feedback, and utilizing tech, activities, and research-based strategies to improve communication in the classroom while answering the age-old question posed by students, Do We Need To Use Complete Sentences? This session can provide elementary and junior high teachers with valuable insights and practical strategies to en- hance their literacy instruction and support their students’ development as proficient readers and writers.

 

The Rhetoric of Rap: Harnessing the Power of Hip-Hop When Teaching Rhetorical Moves

Rather in-the-face of literary tradition, participants will explore how hip-hop/rap lyrics can be used to teach rhetorical moves and examine expert use of language in many situations. The session presenter will highlight a unit she’s taught in high school classrooms for almost 10 years, sharing ways to harness student engagement through the use of rap lyrics, examining context, appeals, reading like a writer, and a little literary analysis. Turn the love of a fascinating musical genre into a real-world way to teach rhetorical concepts.

Note from presenter on session materials: These slides are Google Slides, but feel free to email and I will send you access to view. Thanks for attending!

Authentic Assessments with AI

Authentic Assessment with AI is a workshop that attempts to align project- based learning with AI supports. Whether researching a topic for an essay, developing an in-class paragraph, or designing a creative project, students can utilize AI independently or with teacher supports to create prompts that address the fundamental structures of an assignment or assessment while also evaluating and reflecting on their decisions in the development of a product. By using authentic assessments with AI, teachers can show students the limitations of AI in this process when it comes to the authentic learning experiences they engage in as well as the critical thinking skills necessary for student success.

Participants will be provided with some purposeful review and examples of project-based learning with practical application for a high school setting or relative experience in middle-school or college. Participants will also explore, design, and outline their own authentic assessment with AI. Organizationally, participants will be provided with an overview of the steps of a project-based learning assessment and will be shown where AI can be used to support student learning. Though not necessary, attendees are suggested to bring a device with access to ChatGPT or MagicSchool AI to allow for some person- alized exploration.

Session materials:

Teaching Texts with Multiple Perspectives: Analyze “Perspective,” Cultivate Humanity

Cultivate humanity by preparing your high school students to see the world and all it encompasses (past, present, future) by reading texts that encourage analyzing multiple perspectives so they, as the next generation of readers, thinkers and leaders, can be more tolerant and accepting of others around them. Three specific novels are intertwined in this presentation: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

The Nostalgia Project: Discovering Community Through Poetry, History, and Human Impact

In preparation for a return to school following the pandemic in 2021, East Aurora School District partnered with Dr. Badia Ahad, Loyola University Provost, to train staff district-wide on the concept of Nostalgia, Reclamation, Regeneration, and Retribution. Following the training, The Nostalgia Project was born. As an element of a four-part interdisciplinary unit ending with a four- part podcast, students shared their oral and written histories in the format of narrative poetry inspired by George Ella Lyon’s poem “Where I’m From” while considering their childhood homes, families, and community. Transitioning to social studies, math, and science, students learned about the history of their city and the diverse immigrant groups that worked to contribute to the identity and uniqueness of where they are from; compiled information about demographics of the area they chose to investigate and created their own data representation with projections; and proposed a way to resolve a social, environmental, or political issue in their city in a way that would benefit the community as a whole. In this session, educators will gain specific knowledge of the project in order to collaborate with their colleagues to provide a rich interdisciplinary experience for students to become experts in their community and to “forge a better future.” Attendees are suggested to bring a device to access links to resources presented during this session.

Session materials: PDF 1; PDF 2

Stories in Every Classroom: Energize Your Teaching, Empower Your Stu- dents, and Help Save the World

Storytelling is the key to classroom learning. Why? Because it’s the key to human cognition, communication, and culture. If the English teaching pendu- lum has swung away from narrative and toward argumentation and analysis, it needs to swing back. The presenter proposes that telling stories—both oral and written—is one of the most powerful life skills a student can ever learn. The same goes for teachers, because stories are essential to a lively, humane, and knowledge-resonant classroom. And yet, storytelling is prone to pitfalls and misuses, and students need to learn about those, too. The presentation will include storytelling basics, practical story activities, and an overview of the storytelling crisis students and teachers face today—and what teachers can do about it.

Interactive Lectures and You

In this session, the presenter will demonstrate how interactive lectures (Nearpod, Peardeck, etc.) can introduce literature and literary elements, help students to analyze literature, make note-taking engaging, guide them through self-assessments of their writing, and more. Teachers are always looking to increase student engagement, deepen student reflection, and teach more effectively, and interactive lecture sites can help teachers to reach those goals. Teachers are invited to learn how they can incorporate this option into their current repertoire. Attendees are suggested to bring a laptop or tablet (a phone will work, too) to access the sites featured in the presentation.

Session materials: Nearpod

The Science of Reading for Adolescents: What to do when big kids can’t decode

This presentation was born out of the presenter’s experience with the reading achievement gap at the secondary level. When students don’t master the strands of Word Recognition Skills in Scarborough’s Reading Rope by third grade, they typically end up being middle school or high school students who still can’t decode. Secondary teachers know how to support reading comprehension, but they are not trained to teach decoding or fluency. Furthermore, there are limited resources for secondary students who need decoding and fluency work. In this presentation, attendees will discover how to engage adolescent readers using age-appropriate strategies grounded in the science of reading. Participants will explore the science of reading and its application to older students, delving into evidence-based practices that promote literacy development. Whether you’re a classroom teacher, reading specialist, or literacy coach, this workshop offers valuable insights and tools to enhance your teaching practice and empower your middle and high school students to become proficient readers. Attendees are suggested to bring a phone or laptop to access QR codes for resources referenced in the presentation.

Implementing Writing Across the Disciplines

This workshop introduces instructional techniques and activities for implementing writing across the disciplines. It is appropriate for all grades K-12 and is based on The Writing Revolution, training educators to incorporate short and simple activities into pre-planned lessons for any content. The objective is to boost students’ writing abilities and knowledge of the similarities and differences of content writing. Think about a science report and an ELA literary essay—a hypothesis vs. thesis statement, results of an experiment vs. proving an argument, etc. Participants will leave with several content-specific activities and the know-how to incorporate them into the units they’re already teaching. Attendees are suggested to bring a lesson plan.

Session materials:

The Larry Johannessen New Teacher Forum

This open discussion session focuses on challenges, hopes, and strategies for success in teaching. Student teachers and teachers in their first few years of service are invited to talk about challenges and victories. Experienced teachers and others who care about the struggles of novice teachers are encouraged to attend and share their ideas.