Drawing from Jen's bestselling resources Connecting with Students Online, The Reading Strategies Book and The Writing Strategies Book, this webinar series will help you pinpoint goals for your readers and writers and support them over time as they work toward those goals in online or brick-and-mortar classrooms.
You'll first learn what makes an effective strategy and how to craft your own by noticing your own processes and exploring possibilities from mentor texts. Next, you'll focus on how to know which strategies to teach to whom and when. For writing, you'll explore a hierarchy of ten possible writing goals, considering writing genres and modes, writing process, behaviors, skills, and qualities of good writing. You'll look at student writing to practice making quick decisions. Then, for reading, you'll learn about a thirteen-goal hierarchy and techniques to assess quickly, whether you're in-person or assessing through a screen.
The rest of the series will be spent seeing how these strategies can come to life in whole class, small group, and individual instruction. Jen will share unit planning advice specific to teaching in this time, and will offer tips for planning and recording engaging microlessons. Then, you'll shift to exploring conferring, group instruction, and peer groups--from management tips to structuring lessons-- and will watch several video examples filmed in in-person classrooms and through Zoom during remote instruction in the spring of 2020. The emphasis with these lesson types is on helping teachers connect with students, and helping students connect with each other, all while leading meaningful, joyful, engaging instruction that will help children grow.
The series will be filled with live presentation, interactive activities, demonstrations of a variety of technology tools, and small group breakout room conversations with co-participants. The engaging videos and Jen's ability to break down complex concepts into actionable, doable steps will equip participants to be able to try out the ideas right away, whether you're teaching in person, online, or in a hybrid model.
Learning Objectives
Participants will:
- Learn how to craft strategies
- Study student work to determine goals using hierarchies in reading and writing
- Consider unit planning, mentor text selection, and whole class lesson structures
- Strategically choose technology tools to maximize engagement and learning time
- Learn practical ways to differentiate instruction through conferences and small groups, in both in-person classrooms and with online instruction
- Explore essential and practical organization, management, and note-taking options whether working with students in-person or virtually