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Literacy For All

Reading Recovery Institute

Monday, November 17–Tuesday, November 18, 2008

The Reading Recovery Institute promotes a greater understanding and facilitates better teaching practices for Reading Recovery professionals. In addition, you'll be able to attend a variety of special events and visit the exhibit hall with the latest children's and professional books. 


If you are attending the Reading Recovery Institute, please be sure to bring with you the following books:

  • An Observation Survey of Early Literacy Achievement
  • Literacy Lessons Designed for Individuals, Part One and Part Two


Keynote Sessions | Reading Recovery A-D Sessions | Registration

Click here for K-8 Literacy Conference and Middle School Strand Sessions

 

Keynotes (For All Participants)

Tony Stead (Monday Morning, 8:30 am–10:00 am)
Improving Competencies in Literacy through the Power of Nonfiction

In this dynamic and impacting presentation, Tony will share how students' competencies as readers and writers can be raised, when nonfiction is used as the basis for literacy instruction.

Gail Gibbons (Monday Afternoon, 1:30 pm–3:00 pm)
Information, Please!

Gail will discuss how she began writing nonfiction and will demonstrate, through slides, how she writes a book from beginning to end.

Keynote (For Reading Recovery)

Carol Lyons (Tuesday Morning, 10:30 am–12:00 pm)
Learning and Becoming Literate: Myths, Facts, and Recommendations
In this presentation, commonly held myths and misconceptions about the brain and learning are discussed and applied to teaching struggling readers. The talk will help teachers identify the changes they can make in themselves to create educational environments in which both they and their students will thrive.

Click here for more information on all keynote and featured speakers.
 

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READING RECOVERY SESSIONS

A Sessions | B Sessions | C Sessions | D Sessions

A SESSIONS

Monday, November 17, 2008
10:30 am-12:00 pm

RRA-1 - Featured Speaker
Carefully Planned Encounters

Ann Ballantyne, Reading Recovery Trainer, New York University       
Learning to look at print is critical, especially in early lessons.  Explore procedures in Literacy Lessons designed to ensure that children experience a consistent build up of successful encounters with print. (Repeated RRC-1)

RRA-2
- Featured Speaker 
Facilitating Change Over Time in Writing

Janet Behrend, Reading Recovery Trainer, University of Arkansas at Little Rock   
Examine changes in writing development in early, middle, and late lessons and the teacher’s role in facilitating these changes. (Repeated RRD-1)

RRA-3
- Featured Speaker
Extending Our Understandings of Roaming Around the Known: Exploring Theory and Practice   
Mary Anne Doyle, Trainer and Professor, University of Connecticut   
A child’s success in Reading Recovery builds from the first day in Roaming Around the Known. This session will explore theoretical understandings that inform our practices. Discussion will focus on the importance of careful observations, and we will examine one teacher’s decisions and interactions with her student in Roaming Around the Known sessions. (Repeated RRD-2)

RRA-4
- Featured Speaker
What Goes Wrong? Getting Students to Discontinuing!  
 
Sharan Gibson, Reading Recovery Trainer, San Diego State University, CA   
This session will improve Reading Recovery teachers’ ability to analyze lesson records, identify missing strategies in a student’s repertoire, and improve their teaching for individual children. (Repeated RRB-1)

RRA-5
- Featured Speaker 
Evaluating Oneself: Using Records to Inform Instruction   

Irene Huggins, Reading Recovery Trainer, Western Canadian Institute of Reading Recovery, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Effective Reading Recovery teachers consistently reflect on the quality of the teaching decisions made during lessons.  They review their lesson records and their teaching regularly to evaluate the progress of the students and their teaching decisions.  In this session, examples of lessons will be examined to determine how teachers use this information to improve their teaching decisions. (Repeated RRB-3)

RRA-6
- Featured Speaker 
A Comprehensive Literacy Model as a Response to Early Intervention

Clifford Johnson, Reading Recovery Trainer, Georgia State University, Atlanta   
Participants will discuss how schools can implement a comprehensive literacy plan that provides classroom teaching and early intervention as a Response to Intervention (RTI) approach.  The session will provide information on the role of Reading Recovery as an effective early literacy intervention in a school's RTI plan. Administrators' Institute

RRA-7   
Beating the Clock

Debbie Clemence, Reading Recovery Teacher Leader, Dennis-Yarmouth Public Schools, MA   
Participants will explore the challenges of fitting a 30-minute lesson into 30 minutes! Why is it important? Where do we lose time? How can we ensure that we are teaching powerfully throughout the half hour? We will think about the practical issues of organization and procedures as well as the theoretical base that supports our teaching.    

RRA-8   
Designing Individual Lessons for Children with Low Item Knowledge   

Wendy Mattson, Reading Recovery Teacher Leader, Governor Wentworth Regional School District, NH
This session will explore how Reading Recovery teachers can work with students who come in with low item knowledge. The focus will be on building upon students' strengths and designing individual literacy lessons.

B SESSIONS

Monday, November 17, 2008
3:30 pm-5:00 pm

RRB-1 - Featured Speaker
What Goes Wrong? Getting Students to Discontinuing!

Sharan Gibson, Reading Recovery Trainer, San Diego State University, CA    
This session will improve Reading Recovery teachers’ ability to analyze lesson records, identify missing strategies in a student’s repertoire, and improve their teaching for individual children. (Repeated RRA-4)

RRB-2
- Featured Speaker
Predictions of Progress – New Insights    
Ellen Hauser, Reading Recovery Trainer, New York University        
After the Observation Survey Summary has been written, most Reading Recovery teachers are anxious to start instruction as soon as possible. Predictions of progress can be a valuable tool that makes our lessons focused and responsive to each individual child. The process of writing predictions of progress takes the teacher on a journey that takes into account a student’s limitations and the areas a teacher needs to think about across the lesson. This workshop will concentrate on making the writing of predictions of progress simple and worthwhile. It will discuss the new format outlined in Literacy Lessons Part One. Please bring Part One to the session. This session is more advanced to meet the needs of experienced educators. (Repeated RRD-3)

RRB-3
- Featured Speaker
Evaluating Oneself: Using Records to Inform Instruction     

Irene Huggins, Reading Recovery Trainer, Western Canadian Institute of Reading Recovery, Winnipeg, Manitoba    
Effective Reading Recovery teachers consistently reflect on the quality of the teaching decisions made during lessons.  They review their lesson records and their teaching regularly to evaluate the progress of the students and their teaching decisions.  In this session, examples of lessons will be examined to determine how teachers use this information to improve their teaching decisions. (Repeated RRA-5)

RRB-4
- Featured Speaker
Teaching Children to Think Within, Beyond, and About the Text
Clifford Johnson, Reading Recovery Trainer, Georgia State University, Atlanta
Literacy Lessons Part Two states that the orientation to the story before reading means “aligning of oneself or one’s ideas to the surroundings or circumstances” of the new book. Learn to provide improved book introductions for early literacy lessons. (Repeated RRC-3)

RRB-5 - Featured Speaker 
Can We Say it That Way? The Role of Structure in Learning to Read    

Eva Konstantellou, Reading Recovery Trainer, Lesley University, MA
The teacher’s attention to language structure supports the child’s efforts of pulling together different kinds of information when reading and writing continuous text.  Video clips of children’s reading as well as an exploration of text selection and book introductions will highlight the role of this “invisible” source of information in learning to read.    

RRB-6- Featured Speaker   
Reading Recovery for English Language Learners: What Do We Need to Know?

Yvonne Rodríguez, Reading Recovery Trainer, Texas Woman’s University    
School systems are confronted with the need to immerse their English language learners in English instruction due to lack of bilingual resources.  Many of these students are at risk of literacy failure in subsequent years.  Share language acquisition issues and instructional considerations that impact literacy attainment for ELL students. (Repeated RRD-4)
 
RRB-7    
Solving Words on the Run

Michele Dufresne, Reading Recovery Teacher Leader, Hampshire Educational Collaborative, MA and Title 1 Director, Amherst Public Schools, MA
Jackie Duane, Reading Recovery Teacher Leader, Amherst Public Schools, MA
“There are many sources of information in text that can help the reader to ‘read’ a new word at the first encounter. However, sometimes the child will need to do some extensive solving work at the word level to discover what the new word is.” (Literacy Lessons Designed for Individuals, Part Two, p. 122). In this session, the presenters will consider helpful ways to encourage visual analysis of words both in reading and in writing. Video clips will be used to illustrate teaching and learning for students across their series of lessons. (Repeated RRD-6)

RRB-8
A New Look at Roaming Around the Known

Patti Starnes, Reading Recovery Teacher Leader and Regional Trainer, Southern Rhode Island Collaborative    
Over the past three years, teacher leaders and teachers in Rhode Island have been working on getting more power out of Roaming Around the Known sessions. Marie Clay’s ideas and directions in Literacy Lessons, Part One inform our work with children during this critical time in the child’s lesson. We are finding that children’s learning is enhanced by our efforts and invite you to consider our work.

C SESSIONS

Tuesday, November 18, 2008
8:30 am-10:00 am

RRC-1 - Featured Speaker
Carefully Planned Encounters

Ann Ballantyne, Reading Recovery Trainer, New York University
Learning to look at print is critical, especially in early lessons.  Explore procedures in Literacy Lessons designed to ensure that children experience a consistent build up of successful encounters with print. (Repeated RRA-1)

RRC-2
- Featured Speaker 
Analyzing Running Records for Strategic Activity   

Janet Behrend, Reading Recovery Trainer, University of Arkansas at Little Rock   
The analysis of running records should include inferences about the strategic activity inside the child’s head as he or she reads.  This session presents a framework for such analysis.   

RRC-3
- Featured Speaker
Teaching Children to Think Within, Beyond, and About the Text
Clifford Johnson, Reading Recovery Trainer, Georgia State University, Atlanta
Literacy Lessons, Part Two states that the orientation to the story before reading means “aligning of oneself or one’s ideas to the surroundings or circumstances” of the new book. Learn to provide improved book introductions for early literacy lessons. (Repeated RRB-4)

RRC-4
- Featured Speaker  
Fluency and Fluent Responding: Essential for Literacy Development  
 
Yvonne Rodríguez, Reading Recovery Trainer, Texas Woman’s University   
Explore the facets that allow children to become efficient and effective processors of print; thus achieving fluency.  We will discuss the means of assessing a student’s level of control over time and how teachers can use that information to determine their teaching moves.

RRC-5
- Featured Speaker  
Discontinuing Decisions and the Transition into the Classroom   

Mary Rosser, Reading Recovery Trainer, University of Maine   
This session provides participants with the opportunity to engage in in-depth explorations of the questions, issues, and challenges of discontinuing decisions and the transition into the classroom at the end of a student’s series of lessons in Reading Recovery. Video clips will support the discussion of ideas throughout this session. (Repeated RRD-5)

RRC-6
Reading Recovery and Response to Intervention  
 
Ellen Reiling, Reading Recovery Teacher Leader, Rutland Southwest Supervisory Union, VT
Ann Deveney, Senior Program Director for English Language Arts, Boston Public Schools, MA
This presentation will focus on Reading Recovery as an Early Intervening Service. It will provide an overview of how Reading Recovery, by nature of its very design, incorporates all the required components of Response to Intervention.  Administrators' Institute

RRC-7   
Write On!   

Maureen Gray, Reading Recovery Teacher Leader, Haverhill Public Schools, MA
Erin Twombly, Reading Recovery Teacher Leader, Haverhill Public Schools, MA
How can we get the most out of the writing portion of the lesson? Using videotapes of student/teacher interactions and samples of students’ writing, we will explore teacher decision-making that fosters strategic activity in writing, and helps to create a love of writing.

RRC-8
Decisions, Decisions, Decisions: What to Do and When to Do It   

Patricia A. Martin, Reading Recovery Teacher Leader, Boston Public Schools, MA
Reading Recovery teachers must balance some seemingly conflicting ideas: developing a child’s oral language vs. using an economy of language, intervening vs. allowing time for problem solving, etc., as they make innumerable “highly skilled decisions” based on each child's competencies. This session will explore the ins and outs of the expert decision-making process required for Reading Recovery lessons.

D SESSIONS

Tuesday, November 18, 2008
1:00 pm-2:30 pm

RRD-1- Featured Speaker
Facilitating Change Over Time in Writing
Janet Behrend, Reading Recovery Trainer, University of Arkansas at Little Rock   
Examine changes in writing development in early, middle, and late lessons and the teacher’s role in facilitating these changes. (Repeated RRA-2)   

RRD-2
- Featured Speaker  
Extending Our Understandings of Roaming Around the Known: Exploring Theory and Practice   

Mary Anne Doyle, Trainer and Professor, University of Connecticut    
A child’s success in Reading Recovery builds from the first day in Roaming Around the Known. This session will explore theoretical understandings that inform our practices. Discussion will focus on the importance of careful observations, and we will examine one teacher’s decisions and interactions with her student in Roaming Around the Known sessions.
(Repeated RRA-3)

RRD-3
- Featured Speaker  
Predictions of Progress – New Insights

Ellen Hauser, Reading Recovery Trainer, New York University       
After the Observation Survey Summary has been written, most Reading Recovery teachers are anxious to start instruction as soon as possible. Predictions of progress can be a valuable tool that makes our lessons focused and responsive to each individual child. The process of writing predictions of progress takes the teacher on a journey that takes into account a student’s limitations and the areas a teacher needs to think about across the lesson. This workshop will concentrate on making the writing of predictions of progress simple and worthwhile. It will discuss the new format outlined in Literacy Lessons, Part One. Please bring Part One to the session. This session is more advanced to meet the needs of experienced educators. (Repeated RRB-2)

RRD-4
- Featured Speaker 
Reading Recovery for English Language Learners: What Do We Need to Know?

Yvonne Rodriguez, Reading Recovery Trainer, Texas Woman’s University   
School systems are confronted with the need to immerse their English language learners in English instruction due to lack of bilingual resources.  Many of these students are at risk of literacy failure in subsequent years.  Share language acquisition issues and instructional considerations that impact literacy attainment for ELL students. (Repeated RRB-6)   

RRD-5
- Featured Speaker  
Discontinuing Decisions and the Transition into the Classroom

Mary Rosser, Reading Recovery Trainer, University of Maine       
This session provides participants with the opportunity to engage in in-depth explorations of the questions, issues, and challenges of discontinuing decisions and the transition into the classroom at the end of a student’s series of lessons in Reading Recovery. Video clips will support the discussion of ideas throughout this session. (Repeated RRC-5)

RRD-6   
Solving Words on the Run

Michele Dufresne, Reading Recovery Teacher Leader, Hampshire Educational Collaborative, MA and
Title 1 Director, Amherst Public Schools, MA
Jackie Duane, Reading Recovery Teacher Leader, Amherst Public Schools, MA
“There are many sources of information in text that can help the reader to ‘read’ a new word at the first encounter. However, sometimes the child will need to do some extensive solving work at the word level to discover what the new word is.” (Literacy Lessons Designed for Individuals, Part Two, p.122). In this session, the presenters will consider helpful ways to encourage visual analysis of words both in reading and in writing. Video clips will be used to illustrate teaching and learning for students across their series of lessons. (Repeated RRB-7)

RRD-7   
Conversation: A Valuable Context for Literacy Learning   

Lisa E. O’Connell, Reading Recovery Teacher Leader, Fall River Public Schools, MA
A teacher must observe, listen to, and tune into a learner. The teacher creates opportunities for the child to talk.  Any child with limited language skills needs to talk and talk more (Clay, LL1). The Reading Recovery lessons, beginning in Roaming Around the Known, provide the opportunity for conversational exchanges between the teacher and child as they focus on literacy learning.    

RRD-8       
It’s All about Processing   

Dorothy Portalla, Reading Recovery Teacher Leader, Concord Public Schools, NH
Working one on one, we strive to have the child become a constructive, strategic learner. With the support of Literacy Lessons Designed For Individuals, Part One and Part Two, we will use our observations of lesson segments to guide our discussions.

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Registration

Registration Information

Register online using our secure system! Session descriptions are also programmed into the online registration system.

Download a paper registration form (to mail or fax)

updated 04/14/08 | 11:06 AM
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