Moving student learning beyond practicing strategies and skills to deeper conceptual understandings develops disciplinary expertise and better enables students to transfer complex skills to new situations. In this hands-on workshop, participants will experience Concept-Based Literacy in action while gaining effective tools to design high-quality, conceptual lessons that provoke thinking, facilitate inquiry, keep students engaged, and, ultimately, result in deep, transferable literacy learning.
Designed as a two-day workshop (November and April), we will explore questions such as:
- What does Concept-Based Literacy actually look and feel like?
- Where are concepts drawn from in a literacy classroom?
- How does working with concepts promote student choice, equitable access, and personal relevance?
- What are some practical tips for moving student learning beyond strategies and skills to conceptual understanding and transfer?
- How do we help students become responsible for the thinking, cognitive work, or meaning-making in our lessons?
- What role do familiar instructional techniques play in a Concept-Based Literacy classroom?
This two-day workshop will have one fall and one spring session. Participants will engage in learning in November and will identify one small goal or action to experiment with in their own classrooms. In April, participants will have an opportunity to reflect on the actions taken since November and to ask questions. We will also engage in more new learning, and identify personal goals or next steps. This workshop is designed to be a practical, application-focused professional learning opportunity.
At the heart of my workshop is helping literacy teachers take our current literacy practices one step further. It's about rethinking and refining what we already do. So often, we teach a lesson focused on what students will be able to "do" but we never pause to think about what students will understand and be able to transfer as a result of the instruction. Practicing skills in one context does not necessarily lead to transfer, especially when the new context is unfamiliar or more complex. We see this time and time again in schools. My passion is helping literacy teachers to see how they can take their current literacy practices and give them a conceptual boost so that our lessons develop a deep understanding of literacy processes, cultivate student thinking, promote choice, and ultimately support learning transfer. We are not throwing out what we currently do, we are just pumping it up a bit! My workshop is super practical with an emphasis on clear examples and concrete actions so that teachers feel empowered to immediately weave new ideas into current practices.
Participants register for each session (November and April) separately. The reduced rate in April reflects the book being purchased in November. Participants who can't or don't make the November session are encouraged to pick up a copy of the book and work through it in preparation for the April session.