Participants will take part in independent reading, responding through writing, verbal sharing, reading with peers, and collaborating through small groups to create an implementation plan. Students read, comprehend, and respond to a range of materials using a variety of strategies for different purposes. Students read, analyze, and respond to literature as a record of life experiences. In addition, they will learn some ways to insure that learning is centered on the process of building and sharing knowledge with their peers. Particular attention is given to student projects.
Students write competently for a variety of purposes and audiences.
Students demonstrate competence in speaking and listening as tools for learning and communicating. The purpose of this session is to allow teachers to experience the writing process and writing conferences and to speculate on ways to incorporate these into classroom instruction. Using six different color index cards, teachers will write an extended paragraph. They will engage in planning, free writing and draft writing, stopping five times for a mini-writing conference with a partner. Through these experiences, teachers will learn conference skills and strategy instruction.