ILA Next Intermediate Pathway (ages 9-11)

Time may be the most precious commodity in the classroom. From covering all the necessary curriculum and imparting life skills to attending meetings and answering emails, educators are faced with real challenges and there never seems to be enough time to do it all. Although teachers don't have the power to create more minutes in the school day, they do have the power to be effective and efficient with the time given. In this workshop, we will examine our use of time in the classroom in order to make more space for literacy. We will then preview innovative activities designed to optimize instructional time, engage students, and provide literacy-rich transitions. Together, we will outline literacy-rich activities that optimize transitional times and minimize lost instructional minutes—in face-to-face and online formats.

As a result of the COVID-19 slide, many students have fallen behind in reading. In this workshop, participants will explore how to accelerate literacy scores across blended or distance learning platforms in intermediate grades using proven, engaging, high-yield comprehension strategies. When you teach students to comprehend using evidence-based, reciprocal teaching or the "Fab Four" strategies of predict, question, clarify, and summarize, they will begin to make dramatic reading gains of .74 in just a few months. As we work together, we will learn engaging ways to start now during live, hybrid, or remote instruction using informational text, fiction, poetry, close reading, distance and hybrid small groups, and book clubs.

In this workshop, we’ll discuss the importance of bringing joy to learning by centering self, play, and relationships. We’ll work together to make joy-fueled learning a cornerstone of your classroom.

Reimagine the in-person and/or digital classroom walls of your literacy space and learn how to create interactive learning opportunities to drive student engagement, cultivate a “connected” literacy community, and foster confidence in readers using Active Learning Literacy Charts.