Sessions and Presenters are subject to change. All those registered will receive updates as needed.
Session # 1
Excursion Date: Tuesday, June 01, 2021
Excursion Time: 10:00:00 AM
Excursion Title: Creating Confluence with Classroom Poetry
Description: Confluence can be defined as “an act or process of merging” or a coming together of different rivers. Sharing poetry as classroom practice can create a coming together, as poetry merges a shared literacy with authentic connection, literary analysis, and fluency in expressive writing. In this presentation, participants will learn strategies for sharing and utilizing diverse poetry that will speak to their students and the learning needs of their classrooms.
Topic Band: Best Classroom Strategies
Targeted Grade Band: 5th through 12th
Presenter(s): Shelly K. Unsicker-Durham
Session # 2
Excursion Date: Tuesday, June 01, 2021
Excursion Time: 1:30:00 PM
Excursion Title: Grammar Upside Down
Description: A different, interesting, engaging approach to teaching grammar
Topic Band: 6 Traits of Writing
Targeted Grade Band: 9th-12th
Presenter(s): Terry Phelps
Session # 3
Excursion Date: Friday, June 04, 2021
Excursion Time: 2:30:00 PM
Excursion Title: 6 Traits of writing
Description: A brief lesson on utilizing the 6 traits of writing in the classroom.
Topic Band: 6 Traits of Writing
Targeted Grade Band: 3rd-5th
Presenter(s): Carole Morris
Session # 4
Excursion Date: Tuesday, June 08, 2021
Excursion Time: 10:30:00 AM
Excursion Title: The Magic Sentence
Description: Exploring the cumulative sentence for description, flow and sentence fluency.
Topic Band: 6 Traits of Writing
Targeted Grade Band: 9th-12th
Presenter(s): Terry Phelps
Session # 5
Excursion Date: Wednesday, June 09, 2021
Excursion Time: 10:00:00 AM
Excursion Title: Hooking Readers and Writers with Short Texts, Excerpts, and First Chapters
Description: This presentation focuses on teaching practices that revolve around the concept of creating independent readers and writers. Utilizing short texts, excerpts, and first chapters not only makes it easier to connect with the diverse contexts of our students, but they can serve as mirrors and windows (Bishop, 1990) for readers and writers negotiating the written word, cultures different from their own, and where they may fit in the larger world.
Participants will take part in a conversation about engaging readers and writers with new and favorite YA short texts and excerpts. Presenters will provide a collection of favorite excerpts they’ve used with students, along with ideas for minilessons. Additionally, different strategies for curating collections of short texts will be discussed.
Topic Band: Mentor Texts for Literacy Engagement
Targeted Grade Band: 6th through 12th
Presenter(s): Michelle Waters / Shelly K. Unsicker-Durham
Session # 6
Excursion Date: Thursday, June 10, 2021
Excursion Time: 10:00:00 AM
Excursion Title: I've Got a Feelin--Using reading and Writing to address social emotional learning in the Early Childhood Classroom
Description: Integrating literacy instruction to meet the social and emotional needs of the learners in your early childhood classrooom.
Topic Band: Writing Across the Curriculum
Targeted Grade Band: Prek-2nd
Presenter(s): Heather Pogue
Session # 7
Excursion Date: Friday, June 11, 2021
Excursion Time: 1:00:00 PM
Excursion Title: Dangling the Carrot
Description: Motivating the unmotivated waters in the classroom
Topic Band: Motivating the Unmotivated
Targeted Grade Band: 3rd-5th
Presenter(s): Carole Morris
Session # 8
Excursion Date: Friday, June 11, 2021
Excursion Time: 4:00:00 PM
Excursion Title: Engaging Reluctant Writing Using Mentor Texts
Description: Participants will explore best practices in using mentor texts to teach writing. Participants will leave the session with a rough draft of their own original poem, as well as ideas for more lessons.
Topic Band: Using mentor texts to write poetry
Targeted Grade Band: 6th-8th
Presenter(s): Shelby Blackwood
Session # 9
Excursion Date: Monday, June 14, 2021
Excursion Time: 3:00:00 PM
Excursion Title: Making Writing Compelling and Approachable in World Language Classes
Description: Often writing in the world language class, especially for novice level classes, can be scary and intimidating for both teachers and students. In this session, participants will walk away with activities that they implement immediately into their classroom to make the writing process both fun and approachable.
Topic Band: Writing Across the Curriculum
Targeted Grade Band: 6th-8th
Presenter(s): Katelin Frantz
Session # 10
Excursion Date: Tuesday, June 15, 2021
Excursion Time: 10:00am
Excursion Title: Writing as a Tool for Learning: Strategies for Writer’s Notebooks and Low-Stakes Writing
Description: Ralph Fletcher wrote, “Keeping a notebook is the single best way I know to survive as a writer” (1996). I would add that it’s the single best way to survive as a learner. Creating a space for the consistent habit of writing opens up an inner landscape for students to grapple with their own thinking and to practice expressing and reflecting their own life experiences as they integrate the content of the subjects we teach. Participants will learn strategies for low-stakes writing that engage students in the learning process and take away ideas for creating their own writer’s / learner’s notebooks.
Topic Band: Best Classroom Strategies
Targeted Grade Band: 4th through 12th grades
Presenter(s):
Session # 11
Excursion Date: Thursday, June 17, 2021
Excursion Time: 1:00:00 PM
Excursion Title: Fun Fraction Poetry
Description: Use poetry as a way to sum up your fraction units in Math!! This lesson can easily be modified to fit other Math and non-math lessons.
Topic Band: Writing Across the Curriculum
Targeted Grade Band: All Grades
Presenter(s): Tamee Daniel
Session # 12
Excursion Date: Friday, June 18, 2021
Excursion Time: 2:30:00 PM
Excursion Title: Effective Feedback & Rubrics
Description: Utilizing effective feedback in your classroom, including rubric grading
Topic Band: Providing Feedback
Targeted Grade Band: 3rd-5th
Presenter(s): Carole Morris
Session # 13
Excursion Date: Saturday, June 19, 2021
Excursion Time: 10:00:00 AM
Excursion Title: Jump Starting the School Year with Writing in Early Grades
Description: This session will provide literacy strategies to meet the needs of all young students - whether they are English learners, on an IEP, or gifted and everyone in between.
Topic Band: Writing with Special Learners
Targeted Grade Band: Prek-2nd
Presenter(s): Becca Grimes
Session # 14
Excursion Date: Monday, June 21, 2021
Excursion Time: 2:00 PM
Excursion Title: Discover the Magic To Spark Readers
Description: Learn strategies to excite secondary students with the LOVE of reading ; How to bring the love of books back to young adult readers
Topic Band: Best Classroom Strategies
Targeted Grade Band: 6th-12th
Presenter(s): Claudia Swisher
Session # 15
Excursion Date: Wednesday, June 23, 2021
Excursion Time: 1:00:00 PM
Excursion Title: Revising for Sentence Variety
Description: Learn strategies and obtain resources for helping students analyze their writing and revise sentences for variety in length, beginnings, and structure — all of which increase the likelihood readers stay interested and move through a piece with ease.
Topic Band: 6 Traits of Writing
Targeted Grade Band: 6th-8th
Presenter(s): L. Alicia Lacy-Scott
Session # 16
Excursion Date: Thursday, June 24, 2021
Excursion Time: 3:00 PM
Excursion Title: Writing All the Live Long Day--Adding Rigor to Curriculum Through Writing To Learn
Description: Quick strategies to assess learning through writing activities. Simple tasks that can impact student achievement in your classroom.
Topic Band: Best Classroom Strategies
Targeted Grade Band: Kdg-8th
Presenter(s): Audra Plummer
Session # 17
Excursion Date: Friday, June 25, 2021
Excursion Time: 1:00:00 PM
Excursion Title: Tips & Tricks for Thrilling Testing
Description: Covering beneficial graphic organizers/writing prompt breakdowns for the state writing test.
Topic Band: Best Classroom Strategies
Targeted Grade Band: 3rd-5th
Presenter(s): Carole Morris
Session # 18
Excursion Date: Tuesday, July 06, 2021
Excursion Time: 10:00:00 AM
Excursion Title: Writing Across the Curriculum
Description: Want to spice up your writing activities across the curriculum? This session will give you new ideas on how to use writing in Math, Science, and Social Studies too!
Topic Band: Writing Across the Curriculum
Targeted Grade Band: Prek-2nd
Presenter(s): Patty ODonnell
Session # 19
Excursion Date: Tuesday, July 13, 2021
Excursion Time: 10:00:00 AM
Excursion Title: In and Out. Up and Down. In the Gap: Motivating Strategies that Motivate the Unmotivated
Description: The past two teaching years seem, at times, like a Dr. Suess book written just about teaching. With so much going on, it is no wonder that so many of our students, and faculty, need help to stay in the game. In this session, we will explore some proven foundations for personal, professional relationships and give some specific strategies that will help us engage (and keep engaged) those students who need us most.
Topic Band: Motivating the Unmotivated
Targeted Grade Band: All Grades
Presenter(s): Bonner Slayton
Session # 20
Excursion Date: Thursday, July 15, 2021
Excursion Time: 1:00:00 PM
Excursion Title: Get those Pencils Dancing!!
Description: We’ll share multiple ways to use daily quick writes with in-person and virtual classrooms. We’ll also look how to use the Writing Process to organize your daily writing lessons.
Topic Band: Best Classroom Strategies
Targeted Grade Band: Appropriate for multiple grades
Presenter(s): Tamee Daniel
Session # 21
Excursion Date: Monday, July 19, 2021
Excursion Time: 9:00:00 AM
Excursion Title: Jump Starting the School Year with Writing
Description: This session will give ideas on how to develop writing routines in the classroom as well as helping students develop ideas for writing.
Topic Band: Best Classroom Strategies
Targeted Grade Band: All Grades
Presenter(s): Sandi Hebert
Session # 22
Excursion Date: Wednesday, July 21, 2021
Excursion Time: 1:00:00 PM
Excursion Title: Painting with Participles
Description: Improve student writing and encourage and enhance revision with this practical approach to one of Harry Noden’s “brush strokes” — participial phrases. Use manipulatives, models, and picture prompts to scaffold students through a sequence of strategies developed based on pedagogical recommendations from experts such as Don and Jenny Killgallon, Constance Weaver, and Jim Burke.
Topic Band: 6 Traits of Writing
Targeted Grade Band: 6th-8th
Presenter(s): L. Alicia Lacy-Scott
Session # 23
Excursion Date: Wednesday, July 28, 2021
Excursion Time: 10:00:00 AM
Excursion Title: Helping students discover their voices through personal narrative
Description: Every student has a voice, but not every student has been encouraged to exercise it. This presentation focuses on teaching practices that help students grow as independent writers. Using quickwrites, student-written mentor texts, videos, the recursive writing process (including peer review), young writers learn how to share their experiences through expressive writing. Participants will take part in conversations about how to identify student interests, use mentor print and nonprint mentor texts to inspire students to share their stories, and encourage students to engage in the revision and editing processes with a goal of publishing their work. Presenters will provide a collection of mentor texts and ideas for writing minilessons.
Topic Band: Motivating the Unmotivated
Targeted Grade Band: 9th-12th
Presenter(s): Michelle Waters
