"All students deserve a great teacher, not by chance, but by design." John Hattie's research on 300 million students worldwide has transformed education. Learn how Hattie's findings apply to literacy learning, and leverage techniques for maximum effect. This session examines techniques for reading, writing, and discussion such that students move from surface learning through deep learning and transfer.

Session Description: Educators have been in search of "what works" for decades. Our collective search for better ways to reach students and ensure that they develop knowledge and skills has resulted in thousands and thousands of books, hundreds of thousands of research articles, and countless websites. The truth is, not everything works. Only a few things work at ensuring that students gain a full year's worth of growth for a year of enrollment in school, and we think it's time we focused on what works, what doesn't work, and what can't hurt. And we've turned to Visible Learning (Hattie, 2009) for help.

As he noted, students must develop surface-level learning if they are ever going to go deep. And we know that deep learning can facilitate transfer, which has been a goal shared by educators for as long as there have been teachers. In this interactive session, we focus on specific approaches that work at the surface level of learning and note that they are different from strategies that work at the deep and transfer levels. Importantly, we will clarify which approaches work at which phase of learning.

With his trademark combination of humor and heart, Steven Layne tackles one of the most significant issues in reading instruction today: How to engage reluctant readers. Teaching the skill of reading is viewed by many educators as a major objective; teaching the will of reading is too often an afterthought. Based on his bestselling book Igniting a Passion for Reading, Dr. Layne's address features a charismatic blend of anecdotes and practical suggestions for building an instructional repertoire to successfully engage all readers and is sure to fan the flame of literacy into a raging inferno-inspiring teachers as well as their students to keep the bedside lamp on just a little bit later into the night.

Are you ready to revolutionize your teaching and dramatically improve the engagement and comprehension of all of your students? Take your comprehension instruction to the next level so students are the ones doing the work and using the strategies when they read on their own. Many students decode and yet don't comprehend what they read. The Fabulous Four, or reciprocal teaching strategies- predict, question, clarify, and summarize work together as a powerful package to yield dramatic results in reading comprehension in as little as just a few months! (Palinscar &Brown,1984; Hattie, 2008) Based on the best selling third edition of Reciprocal Teaching At Work (ASCD, 2018) this presentation by author Lori Oczkus promises dozens of engaging new lessons for whole class, content area reading, guided reading, book clubs, close reading lessons and intervention models. Come to this hands-on and entertaining workshop to learn ideas you can use tomorrow to strengthen student comprehension using any reading material. A handout and helpful complimentary online resources will be provided!

The Writing Next report (2007) identified eleven evidence-based practices that improve student writing. In the decade since that report, analysis of other types of research has enlarged our understanding of evidence-based instructional practices for writing. In this session, we will explore these effective practices and how we can implement them more fully in our classrooms.

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Picture books are a valuable resource for scaffolding literacy activities at any grade level, and Steven L. Layne can show you how to make it happen! This session promotes practical ideas which use picture books as a vehicle for expanding students' reading and writing experience. Come prepared for a lively and engaging session full of great ideas for the classroom.

Teachers often ask us how to include decodable readers during phonics instruction. This session answers that question. The session also addresses (1) how decodable and leveled texts different, (2) why decodable texts are a critical early reading tool for preventing struggling readers, (3) when to start using decodable text, (4) when it is appropriate to move away from decodable text, (4) how to track students’ progress with decodable texts, and (5) how to use decodable text to practice a new advanced phonics pattern when it is taught, even when students are capable of reading grade level text independently.

What factors come to mind when you hear the term “Balanced Literacy?” It is a term that has been used (and misused) for so long that it has lost meaning. Time to restore and refine! Balanced literacy learning requires: maintaining equilibrium across the language arts domains (reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing), ensuring students have access to instruction in foundational skills (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency), and meaning making (vocabulary and comprehension), utilizing a variety of instructional delivery modes (direct, dialogic, and independent), using strategic grouping (individual, small group, and whole class), and working with narrative and informational texts building skills and knowledge applying formative and summative assessment data to inform teaching and learning

Attendees participate in three simulations to help them experience frustrations that struggling readers feel every single school day. Teachers and parents of struggling readers often experience ‘ah ha’ moments during this session. The simulations include breaking a well-ingrained habit, struggling to read with fluency, and learning to reading with a new alphabet. After experiencing the simulations, participants will be encouraged to think about how they can change to have more empathy toward students who struggle with reading. After the workshop participants can request the slides to use with teachers in their schools.

The three simulations address reading problems experienced by students of all ages.

1. Simulation #1 Breaking a Habit is more appropriate for understanding older students who have developed poor reading habits, but also demonstrates the importance of allowing students to develop accurate reading habits before encouraging students to read faster.
2. Simulation #2 Fluency is appropriate for teaching both younger and older students. It demonstrates how both accurate decoding and understanding word meanings affect reading comprehension.
3. Simulation #3 Learning to Read with a New Alphabet is appropriate for teaching beginning reading. This simulation demonstrates that learning to decode is not nearly as easy as those of us who decode effortlessly think it is.

How can we create a joyful environment that jump-starts learning for all of our students-and ourselves-every single day? Through poetry-and poetry combined with music, movement, art, and even curricular areas such as science, math, and social studies. Author Janet Wong will share quick and easy strategies for infusing happiness into our daily teaching and learning.

In this session, the presenter will demonstrate instructional strategies using a science text for participants to practice how to:

• Select academic language using different types of words, phrases, and language structures to address core standards and classroom discourse.
• Teach vocabulary expeditiously before reading, during close reading, and for text-based writing.

Come learn the powerful effect scaffolded writing instruction can have on your students. Guided writing is the "missing middle piece" that supports students during that fledgling phase between modeled/shared writing and their solo work. Lori's practical lessons show you how to easily transform dull, lifeless writing into colorful organized pieces full of voice. You'll walk away with the steps and "cool tools" to guide students as they write everything from personal narratives to response to literature, poetry, and reports. Strengthen and dramatically improve student writing and craft using mentor texts, modeling, impromptu dramatizations, and cooperative group writing. Proven ways to reach struggling, reluctant writers will be included throughout the day. The presentation is based on Lori's best selling Heinemann book, Guided Writing: Practical Lessons, Powerful Results. You'll leave with dozens of proven and exciting ideas to use immediately to improve your students' writing.

We hope our students will see the writing in our classes as more than assignments, as practices that help them develop as life-long writers. But in order for that to happen, we need to set up our classrooms and our instruction to promote their growth as strategic writers. In this session, we will explore the types of writing and instructional practices that can engage and encourage strategy development.

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In just five minutes or less each day, you can address required standards and skills for different content areas by sharing a poem. Poet and anthologist Janet Wong will share a wide variety of poems that can be used to teach science, math, social studies, the arts, physical education, and more.

The goal of this session is to convince participants that English spelling does make sense. Participants learn that our spelling system makes sense if they understand the four major layers of the English language: Anglo-Saxon, Norman French, Latin, and Greek. Understanding these layers will help teachers answer the question, “Why is it spelled that way?” There is a reason why so many of our most frequently used words (was, of, from, who) have unexpected spellings. There’s also a logical reason why in some words 'ch 'spells /ch/ (chin, chapter, chest), in other words it spells /sh/ (chef, parachute, chauffeur), and yet in other words it spells /k/ (chorus, character, chaos). Teachers will also understand how a word’s language of origin influences its meaning and its spelling. Both spelling and vocabulary instruction will be enhanced for teachers of all grades with the information learned in this workshop. — This workshop may sound dry, but Linda makes it entertaining and fun.

In this session, the presenter will demonstrate instructional strategies using a science text for participants to practice how to:

• Delve deeper into reading comprehension.
• Using two close reading strategies.
• Overview of follow up writing, editing, revising after reading.
• Participants will have online access to lesson sequences/templates, and other teacher and student tools.

It’s all about using the right approach at the right time. This interactive session introduces a frame for organizing instruction using direct, dialogic, and independent learning for secondary students. Participants will learn about how these intersect with John Hattie’s findings about what works in education. Take a deep dive into direct instruction to promote surface level acquisition of skills and concepts. Teacher-led dialogic instruction in reading and writing deepens learning, with attention to close reading and writing for sources. Student-led dialogic tools in literacy include peer tutoring, reciprocal teaching, and Socratic seminar. Develop independent learning using metacognition, goals setting, and self-regulation.