Pre-Conference Workshops
Las palabras vuelan, lo escrito queda: Motivating Spanish-Speaking Bilingual Students to Read and Write ~ Brenda Avila from Edinburg ISD
PW-1: Looking for ways to inspire your bilingual students to produce writing that matters? Inspire them to write what they know by spotlighting their heritage and culture through dichos. Learn practical and creative strategies to help motivate your struggling readers and writers to make personal connections to culturally diverse literature, enhancing their written work.
The Brain, Pop-Culture, and Literacy: How to Integrate Your Students’ Needs with Academic and TAKS Expectations ~ Arcelia Leon Aldine ISD
PW-2: This interactive workshop will explore brain-based research and the link between pop culture and literacy. Learn how to build positive, long-lasting experiences in your classroom that can improve the developing brain and increase depth of understanding. Explore a variety of ways to motivate reluctant readers and a fresh approach towards vocabulary building and compre- hension. Comics and graphic novels provide an important link between students’ personal and academic lives. What better way to strengthen communication and help our students reach a deeper level of comprehension? Enhance your students’ learning potential through brain-based strategies that support the importance of visual representations of language and the world around us.
ALL ABOARD! A Trip Designed Just for Primary ~ Jole Ray White Oak ISD
PW-3: Primary writers are exceptional travelers and love company as they indulge in this never-ending trip we call writing and reading. This trip is packed with fabulous tours and excursions. I will be your tour guide as we watch primary writers explore the writing process, dive into NJWPT strategies, soar through author studies, swim with voice, and share their experiences.
The Drama Queens Take a Curtain Call ~ Mona Robinson - Pasadena ISD and Shirley Blanton - Pasadena ISD
PW-4: Mona Robinson will show you a way to help your students analyze for Pre-AP and AP work and at the same time address a TAKS skill in the reading portion of the test. Shirley Blanton will demonstrate two techniques to help students add detail, dialogue, voice, and verve to their TAKS essay or to any writing requiring excellence in composition.
From Strivers to Thrivers: Helping Struggling Readers and Writers Succeed
PW-5: This workshop will explore specific ways to help struggling readers and writers become strivers and thrivers in today’s classrooms. Using Why Jane and John Couldn’t Read and How They Learned by Rosalind Fink as philosophical groundwork, the participants will review the foundational blocks of good reading instruction. The blue print of the workshop is grounded in student engagement, student interest, instructional strategies, and peer support. Before, during, and after reading strategies will be demonstrated. Discussion will share how these approaches deepen comprehension of texts and complement the writing process. Writing strategies will come from various sources. We’ll have fun constructing our own literary habitat for humanity. Your toolkit will include new book titles and over twenty invitational ideas to improve writing and thinking.
