School of Education, UAlbany New York

The Second Annual
Summer Literacy Institute

ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY INSTRUCTION

June 27 - June 29, 2006

University at Albany Uptown Campus

SESSION INFORMATION

	Day 1:	CHOICE WORDS: How our language affects children’s learning.

	Day 2:	WRITING INSTRUCTION AND : It Takes (and Makes) a Village: Writing Instruction and Community-Building

	Day 3:	CURRENT ISSUES FOR LITERACY INSTRUCTION

DAY 1 (June 27)
CHOICE WORDS:
How our language affects children’s learning.

CHECK IN (8:15 – 8:30 , Science Library Atrium)

BREAKFAST (8:30 – 9:00 , Standish Room)

KEYNOTE (9:00 – 10:30 , Standish Room)

Keynote: Peter Johnston, UAlbany Dept. of Reading . In his address, Johnston will show how teachers use language to build emotionally and relationally healthy learning communities in which children become not only competent, but also caring, actively literate human beings and resilient learners. The address is grounded in a study of accomplished literacy teachers. Findings from the study are published in a book of the same title, Choice Words: How our language affects children’s learning .

BREAK (10:30– 10:45)

BREAKOUT SESSION 1 (10:45– 11:45)

How to Conduct Effective Discussions in Your Classroom

Jane Agee, UAlbany Dept. of Educational Theory & Practice

Did you know that well-designed classroom discussions will help your students become better readers and writers? This workshop will focus on what we’ve learned from research on classroom discourse and will show you how to use research-based strategies for setting up and conducting more effective discussions. We will model some of these strategies in the workshop, and you will take home information that will help you try new strategies with your students.

Meeting the Needs of Behaviorally Diverse Learners in the Inclusive Setting

Mimi Staulters, UAlbany Div. of Special Education

Educators and administrators will learn manageable approaches to recognizing, understanding and responding to the messages students communicate through their behavior. Ms. Staulters will focus specifically on instructional and behavioral strategies for including students who present mild to more serious behavioral challenges. The workshop is designed to help educators: find reasonable ways of understanding the function of challenging behavior, derive ideas for replacing undesirable behavior with more socially acceptable behavior, develop an understanding for how our own reactions may unintentionally reinforce undesired behavior, and determine how we can respond more appropriately through our instruction to reduce the frequency and intensity of the behavior.

Reading Is Thinking: Experiencing Literature through Meaningful Conversation and Classroom Practice

Kelly Millet-Wilson, CELA’s Partnership for Literacy

English teachers in the middle schools of Niskayuna have been working with CELA’s Partnership for Literacy for several years. Learn from one of these veterans about how she integrates that approach into her instruction. With real classroom examples.

WORKING LUNCH WITH FACILITATED
SMALL GROUP DISCUSSIONS
(11:45 - 12:45, TBA)

BREAKOUT SESSION 2 (12:45 – 2:30 pm)

Assessment as a Moment of Learning: Using Rubrics to Promote Achievement

Heidi Andrade, UAlbany Division of Educational Psychology & Methodology

The purpose of this workshop is to introduce the notion of assessment-as-learning in general and instructional rubrics in particular. Designed for K-12 teachers, the goals of the workshop are for participants to:

Understand what is (and what is not) an instructional rubric

Understand how to use rubrics to support thinking, learning, and writing

Have a collection of ready-made rubrics and a list of rubric resources

Get answers to their questions about creating and using rubrics.

Struggling Readers Need the Same Quality Teaching as Their Higher Achieving Peers

Kathy Nickson , CELA’s Partnership for Literacy

This includes a dialogic classroomthat provides opportunities for them to develop and test ideas orally, an approach that strengthens both reading and writing. This session will offer examples from high schools, provide reasons why the strategies are effective, and give participants opportunities for discussion .

DAY 2 (June 28)
WRITING INSTRUCTION
It Takes (and Makes) a Village:
Writing Instruction and Community-Building

CHECK IN ( 8:15 – 8:30 , Science Library Atrium)

BREAKFAST ( 8:30 – 9:00 , Standish Room)

KEYNOTE (9:00 – 10:30 , Standish Room)

Keynote: Robert P. Yagelski, UAlbany Dept. of Educational Theory and Practice, and Co-Director, Capital District Writing Project. In his address, Yagelski will explore the connections between writing instruction and two meanings of the idea of community: the classroom community and the larger communities that students and teachers are part of. In examining these issues, Yagelski will draw on his experiences with at-risk students at a local high school and on his own research on writing and identity.

BREAK (10:30– 10:45)

BREAKOUT SESSION 3 (10:45– 11:45)

Beyond Crayons and Paper: Developing Oral Language as Part of Writers Workshop in Elementary Classrooms

Liza Schofield, Capital District Writing Project

Did you know that well-designed classroom discussions will help your students become better readers and writers? This workshop will focus on what we’ve learned from research on classroom discourse and will show you how to use research-based strategies for setting up and conducting more effective discussions. We will model some of these strategies in the workshop, and you will take home information that will help you try new strategies with your students.

Achievement and Merit Grading or Setting Expectations to Inspire Student Achievement: moving the focus of assessment from the product to growth and process

Molly Fanning and Brigid Schmidt, Capital District Writing Project

In this session, two teachers will share how they used classroom based inquiry, current research and professional collaboration to make significant changes in their classroom practice. Achievement and Merit Grading inspires students of all ability levels to engage effectively, and reflectively, in the writing process.

What Does My Teddy Bear Mean?: Expanding the Notion of Text to Inspire Student Writing

Alicia Wein, Capital District Writing Project

This interactive presentation will model an approach to teaching writing in which personal effects are "read" as a way to explore questions about context and culture, which can then be pursued in student writing. In learning to analyze and interpret various cultural texts, students not only find topics for their own writing but they also deepen their understanding of how we make sense of the world through writing and reading.

Peer-Assisted Writing Strategies, Self-Regulated Writing Strategies, and Paired Writing: Effects on Third Grade Writers in an Inclusive Setting

Bruce Saddler, UAlbany Division of Special Education

Based on the results of his New York State Higher Education Task Force-funded project in which Dr. Saddler compared three different types of writing interventions within inclusive classrooms in a large inner-city school district in the Northeast. Results from the project will be shared along with implications for writing instruction in general.

WORKING LUNCH WITH FACILITATED
SMALL GROUP DISCUSSIONS
(11:45 - 12:45, TBA)

BREAKOUT SESSION 4 (12:45 – 2:30 pm)

Extending “Envisionment-Building” Classroom Discussions to Student Writing

Johanna Shogan, CELA’s Partnership for Literacy

Working with the Partnership for Literacy in the School of Education ’s Center for English Learning & Achievement (CELA), a group of middle school English language arts teachers have been using Judith Langer’s envisionment-building research to guide richer and more thoughtful classroom discussions, and then extending those discussions to a variety of writing assignments.

Building a Bridge from Good Classroom Discussion to Successful Test-Taking – and Beyond

Eija Rougle, CELA’s Partnership for Literacy

Students who perform well in a classroom environment that encourages them to discuss their ideas and insights about texts may not understand how to employ those same skills to respond to state ELA assessments. This session will share strategies for helping elementary students see the relationship, thus preparing them for the tests while not abandoning effective classroom practice.

DAY 3 (June 29)
CURRENT ISSUES FOR
LITERACY INSTRUCTION

CHECK IN ( 8:15 – 8:30 , Science Library Atrium)

BREAKFAST ( 8:30 – 9:00 , Standish Room)

KEYNOTE ( 9:00 – 10:30 , Standish Room)

Keynote: Richard Allington, professor of education at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and President of the International Reading Association. Previously, Allington served as the Irving and Rose Fien Distinguished Professor of Education at the University of Florida, and as chair of UAlbany’s Dept.of Reading. He has served as President of the National Reading Conference and as a member of the International Reading Association Board of Directors. He is the co-recipient of the Albert J. Harris Award from IRA in recognition of his work contributing to the understanding of reading and learning disabilities. In addition Dick has been named to the IRA Reading Hall of Fame. He is the author several books, including Classrooms That Work: They can all read and write and Schools That Work : All children readers and writers both co-authored with Pat Cunningham and No Quick Fix: Rethinking Reading Program in American Elementary Schools with Sean Walmsley

BREAK (10:30– 10:45)

After Dr. Allington’s address, we will conclude the Institute with a wrap-up panel discussion including the keynote speakers and plenty of time for participants to ask questions of the panel. Day 3 will end at 1 pm.