To support professional learning for educators at home, we created a round-up of recent, free webinar recordings from top authors, literacy experts, and educators Pam Allyn, Adria Klein, Lester Laminack, and Maria Walther.
In these online presentations, they cover relevant topics ranging from supporting striving readers during small group instruction, to establishing routines of read-aloud experiences, and more. We hope you will find these webinars helpful to your ongoing professional development.
Mark your calendar: Coming up on Monday, March 30th at 4pm EDT, Jan Richardson and Michèle Dufresne will host a webinar exploring how to incorporate short, developmentally appropriate word study activities into guided reading lessons. Register today for this webinar titled “Teaching Systematic and Differentiated Word Study During Guided Reading.”
7 Strengths for These Challenging Times
Presented by Pam Allyn, author, educator, and Senior Vice President, Innovation & Development, Scholastic Education
School and learning routines are deeply important to children and young adults, and the loss of these routines can be extremely disorienting. In this webinar, Pam Allyn dives into how educators can come together to create vibrant, meaningful experiences for these unprecedented times, to support families and their children to keep life as normal as possible and to keep our students learning and growing.
Strategies to Support Striving Readers During Small Group Instruction
Presented by Adria Klein, Ph.D., Professor and Program Director for Early Intervention, Saint Mary’s College of California, and Professor Emerita of Reading Education at CSU San Bernardino
Striving readers are students who are currently reading below grade level and need an extra boost to help them catch up with the rest of their class. This might also include English learners, students affected by the summer slide, and readers who are stagnant at their current reading level and need help building reading confidence. Adria Klein shares how small group instruction can be used to support striving readers, while keeping them in the classroom reading community.
Make Every Read-Aloud Experience Intentional and Instructional
Presented by Lester Laminack, author of The Ultimate Read-Aloud Resource
Establishing a routine of read-aloud experiences provides exposure to the best available texts presented by the most fluent reading voice in the classroom community. Hearing a well-written text in the voice of someone who is both thoroughly familiar with the text and has deep respect for the writing is a rare experience. In this presentation, Lester Laminack discusses the benefits of read-alouds and how read-aloud routines introduce students to a variety of genres, topics, authors, styles, voices, formats, and opinions—allowing them to sample each as they find new interests they may want to pursue independently.
Build Lasting Relationships with Students One Book at a Time
Presented by Maria Walther, Ed.D., author, teacher, and instructional specialist
Small group instruction is key to putting students on the pathway to successful independent reading and deep comprehension. The intimate setting allows teachers to work closely with a group of students reading at approximately the same level to effectively and continuously evaluate reading, diagnose challenges, and support new reading skills and growth. In this webinar, Maria Walther shares strategies to support students during small-group instruction, helping them grow as independent readers.
BONUS: Kylene Beers Office Hours
In case you missed it, Kylene Beers, educator and co-author of Disrupting Thinking, has been hosting a series of digital Office Hours on her Facebook page, including a great conversation with Gholdy Muhammad, Georgia State University associate professor of language and literacy, and director of the Georgia State Urban Literacy Collaborative and Clinic, to talk about Gholdy’s new book Cultivating Genius. Don’t miss Kylene’s other conversations with Jacqueline Woodson, and Lester Laminack!
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