Dr. Nell Duke – Literacy Webinar

by Delia DeCourcy
Not Like Pulling Teeth: Revision in a Project-Based Context

Thursday, February 11, 2016   7-9pm EST (optional discussion 8-9pm)

insideinformationResearch suggests that students write better when they have an audience beyond the teacher and revise more when they have a specified purpose for writing. Project-based approaches provide a framework for engaging students in writing for authentic purposes and audiences, thus more deeply motivating their revision. In this webinar, Duke will describe how to situate revision in a project-based context and share techniques for structuring students’ revision and editing processes within that context.

Recommended Reading: Inside Information: Developing Powerful Readers and Writers of Informational Text Through Project-Based Instruction

 

NellKDukePhoto copy

Nell K. Duke is a professor of literacy, language, and culture and a faculty affiliate in the combined program in education and psychology at the University of Michigan and a member of the International Literacy Association Literacy Research Panel. Duke’s work focuses on early literacy development, particularly among children living in poverty. She has received a number of awards for her research including, most recently, the P. David Pearson Scholarly Influence Award from the Literacy Research Association. She serves as editor of The Research-Informed Classroom book series and co-editor of the Not This, But That book series. She is also author and co-author of numerous journal articles and book chapters. Her most recent book is Inside Information: Developing Powerful Readers and Writers of Informational Text through Project-based Instruction.

 

Dr. Troy Hicks – Literacy Webinar

by Delia DeCourcy
Revising Digital Writing

Thursday, January 14, 2016  7-9pm EST (optional discussion 8-9pm)
slides    hyperlink paragraph example     web text paragraph

craftingdigitalwritingAs the inputs continue to multiply, how can we help students find, evaluate, and synthesize information from a variety of sources? More importantly, how can we help them craft — and revise — digital writing in effective ways? When revision happens with multimedia, we must think broadly about how text, images, audio, and video can be used to best reach an audience. Based on Hicks’ book Crafting Digital Writing, we will explore a variety of web-based tools and mobile applications to help students combine amplify their voices when revising digital texts.


Recommended Reading: Crafting Digital Writing: Composing Texts Across Media and Genres

Hicks_PortraitDr. Troy Hicks (@hickstro) is an associate professor of English at Central Michigan University and focuses his work on the teaching of writing, literacy and technology, and teacher education and professional development. A former middle school teacher, he collaborates with K–12 colleagues and explores how they implement newer literacies in their classrooms. Hicks directs CMU’s Chippewa River Writing Project, a site of the National Writing Project, and he frequently conducts professional development workshops related to writing and technology. Hicks is author of the Heinemann titles Crafting Digital Writing (2013) and The Digital Writing Workshop(2009), as well as a co-author of Because Digital Writing Matters (Jossey-Bass, 2010) and Create, Compose, Connect! (Routledge/Eye on Education, 2014). He blogs at Digital Writing, Digital Teaching. In March 2011, Hicks was honored with CMU’s Provost’s Award for junior faculty who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in research and creative activity. Most importantly, he is the father of six digital natives and is always learning something new about writing and technology from them.

Marc Aronson – Literacy Webinar

by Delia DeCourcy
Revising Nonfiction: Dowsing for Depth

Tuesday, December 8, 2015  7-9pm EST (optional discussion 8-9pm)
resources   slides – Revising Nonfiction  The Research Journey

SugarChangedtheWorldIn our classes we ask students to read carefully and write based on what they find in their texts. It might seem, then, that writing is just a matter of finding a key quotation, carefully recording it, then explicating its meaning. What, then, is revision? For students the absolutely crucial discovery is that while “it is fine as is” is sometimes almost true, when you really revise you are not doing it because you are told to, but because you discover more within yourself. It is precisely like taking hundreds of jump shots in the gym, so that in a game you shoot without thinking — it is the work that allows you to find who you are, what you have to say, and how best to say it. Dr. Aronson, an award-winning author, editor, and now a professor in the Rutgers Master of Information program, will explore the nature and uses of revision in nonfiction writing – and how to engage students in the process.

Recommended Reading: Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science

MarkAaronsonMarc Aronson is an assistant teaching professor at the Rutgers University school of Communication and Information, where he teaches in the Master of Library Science track. He earned his doctorate in US History at NYU focusing on the history of book publishing. The winner of the American Library Association’s first Robert F. Sibert medal for excellence in informational books for young readers, he continues to write books for middle grade and high school students that strive to bring fresh insights and ideas from the academy to a new audience. Dr. Aronson frequently speaks with teachers, librarians, parents, and students about the wonders and glories of nonfiction. He and his wife, the author Marina Budhos, have a new book coming out in January, 2017 The Eyes of the World: Robert Capa, Gerda Taro, and the Invention of Modern Photojournalism.

Georgia Heard – Literacy Webinar

by Delia DeCourcy
The Revision Toolbox: Teaching Techniques that Work

Tuesday, November, 17 2015 Georgia Heard 7-8pm EST (optional discussion 8-9pm)
resources – Google Doc

RevisionToolbox

Students need to be able to bring the tools of revision to writing the way a carpenter comes equipped for a job with a toolbox. In this session, we will re-envision revision and consider multiple lessons and strategies that will help writers revise in any genre.

Recommended Reading: The Revision Toolbox: Teaching Techniques that Work

GeorgiaHeardGeorgia Heard is a founding member of the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project in New York City. She received her M.F.A. in Writing from Columbia University.  Currently, she is a frequent keynote speaker at conferences and in schools around the United States and the world. She is the author of numerous books on teaching writing including the newly revised edition of The Revision Toolbox: Teaching Techniques That Work.  website: www.georgiaheard.com  Twitter: @georgiaheard1

 

Dr. Jennifer Fletcher – Literacy Webinar

by Delia DeCourcy
Revising Rhetorically: Re-seeing Writing through the Lens of Audience, Purpose, & Context

Thursday, October 22, 2015    7-9pm EST (optional discussion 8-9pm)
slides      resources

TeachingArgumentsWhen students revise their writing rhetorically, they practice the situational awareness and responsiveness that characterize real-world communication. They try to see their compositions through their readers’ eyes, making choices about what works based on considerations of audience, purpose, and occasion. In this interactive session, we will explore ways to help students make revision decisions by applying rhetorical reading strategies—such as descriptive outlining and “the doubting and believing game”–to their own writing. We’ll also examine strategies for helping students analyze their image as writers and negotiate the different voices in a written conversation.

Recommended Reading: Teaching Arguments: Rhetorical Comprehension, Critique, and Response

JenniferFletcherDr. Jennifer Fletcher is an Associate Professor of English at California State University Monterey Bay, where she coordinates the undergraduate program for future English teachers. She is the author of Teaching Arguments: Rhetorical Comprehension, Critique, and Response and co-author of Fostering Habits of Mind in Today’s Students: A New Approach to Developmental Education. Jennifer leads professional development sessions for high school teachers throughout California as part of a nationally recognized academic preparation initiative, the California State University’s Expository Reading and Writing Course (ERWC). She also serves on the ERWC’s Steering Committee. Before joining the faculty at Monterey Bay, Jennifer taught high school English for over ten years in Southern California.

Literacy Webinar Series 2016-17

by Delia DeCourcy

Word Study, Vocabulary & Grammar: the Toughest Nuts to Crack

toughestnut

Thank you to all of the educators who made our 2016-17 webinar series a huge success!

If you missed any of the sessions or want to view the recordings, please access the content below.

Effective instruction in spelling, phonics, vocabulary, and grammar are the most challenging areas for K-12 ELA teachers to gain traction with their students. There’s confusion about effective practices, how to organically integrate word study, vocabulary and grammar into reading and writing instruction, as well as how to design or select the best resources and programs for this work.

This webinar series features hour-long sessions with experts and practitioners in the field who will provide direction in how to gain instructional traction in word study, vocabulary, and grammar that will affect student achievement. The questions addressed across the series include:

  • How can teachers facilitate the transfer of skills learned in word study to reading and writing?
  • How do teachers decide what vocabulary words to teach and how to teach them?
  • How do we teach grammar in a way that impacts student writing?
  • How do we make smart decisions about the resources and programs we select for word study, vocabulary and grammar instruction?

SERIES SCHEDULE

Thursday, October 27, 2016  7-8pm EST
Dr. Tim Shanahan, University of Illinois at Chicago
Complex Texts, Complex Sentences: Grammar and Comprehension in the Time of Common Core
recording and slides

Thursday, November 17, 2016  7-8pm EST
Dr. Laura Tortorelli, Michigan State University
Words in the World: Transferring Word Study to Everyday Reading and Writing
recording, slides, and resources

Thursday, December 8, 2016  7-8pm EST
Dr. Jonathan Bush, Western Michigan University
Grammar in Theory; Grammar in Practice: Language Use in Culture, Society, and Our Classrooms
recording, slides, and resources

Tuesday, January 17, 2017  7-8pm EST
Dr. Laura Tortorelli, Michigan State University
Cracking the Code of Early Literacy: What Is Phonemic Awareness and Why Does it Matter?
recording, slides, and resources

Tuesday, February 7, 2017  7-8pm EST
Dr. Troy Hicks, Central Michigan University & Jeremy Hyler, Fulton Schools, MI
From Texting to Teaching: Teaching Grammar Beyond the Screen
recording, slides and resources

Tuesday, March 28, 2017  7-8pm EST
Dr. Margaret McKeown, University of Pittsburgh
Cracking the Vocabulary Nut Requires Rich, Interactive Instruction
recording, slides and resources

Thursday, April 20, 2017  7-8pm EST
Dr. Dianna Townsend, University of Nevada – Reno
Who Is Using the Vocabulary?: Engaging Students in Active Practice with New and Important Words
recording, slides and resources

Tuesday, May 9, 2017  7-8pm EST
Sarah Brown Wessling, 2010 Teacher of the Year
Organically Integrating Vocabulary into the Secondary Classroom
recording, slides and resources