Empowering Children to Lead Literate Lives
July 13-17, 2009; LANG 7709-53336
2009 Featured Speakers
Ellin Oliver Keene
Monday, July 13
Ellin Oliver Keene has been a classroom teacher, staff developer, and adjunct professor of reading and writing. She is the author of To Understand (2008) and coauthor of Mosaic of Thought (2007). For sixteen years Ellin directed staff development initiatives at the Denver-based Public Education & Business Coalition. She has supervised literacy and professional learning for teachers in high-poverty schools throughout the nation.
To Understand: Putting the Dimensions and Outcomes of Understanding to Work
What are the behaviors, actions and outcomes most associated with children who understand deeply, and retain and reapply what they learn? Based on observations in hundreds of classrooms, a clear pattern emerges and can be described, taught and internalized by students. We can teach children to understand more deeply and lastingly through modeling and discussing what it looks, sounds and feels like to comprehend.
Patricia Edwards
Tuesday, July 14
Patricia Edwards is a Professor of Language and Literacy and a Senior Researcher at the National Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement at Michigan State University. She is currently serving on the Board of Directors of the International Reading Association. Patricia’s research has contributed to the development of world policy on family literacy.
Beyond the Basic Needs: From Food, Clothing, Shelter to Home Literacy Practices
One of the richest resources for understanding a child’s learning experiences – parents – is quite often the most frequently overlooked. Patricia’s book, A Path to Follow: Learning to Listen to Parents, suggests that parent “stories” can be a highly effective, collaborative tool for accessing knowledge that may not be obvious, but would obviously be of benefit. Through a discussion of the terms “mainstream literacy,” “schooled literacy,” and “official literacy” Patricia will explore the cultural contexts of students home literacy practices.
Linda Hoyt
Wednesday, July 15
Linda Hoyt has many years of experience teaching in elementary classrooms. She has worked as a reading specialist, a staff developer, a curriculum specialist, and a Title I Coordinator. Her special love is creating environments where children engage as active participants in the learning process. She is the author of five powerful professional books and four video programs. Her energetic presentation style and practical strategies have made her one of the most requested literacy speakers in the United States.
Interactive Literacy: Reading, Thinking, Taking a More Active Stance
Traditional interactions between teachers and children focus on teacher talk punctuated by individual learners raising hands to share ideas. When those patterns are recast to focus on powerful moments of partner conversation, oral language and literacy flourish while achievement is elevated. Linda will present a rich array of strategies that can be implemented immediately in language arts and content area studies to increase learner engagement and elevate comprehension.
Peter Johnston
Thursday, July 16
Peter Johnston grew up and taught elementary school in New Zealand before coming to the United States to earn his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois’ Center for the Study of Reading. His research and writing spring from his fascination with children's learning and teachers' teaching. In Peter’s most recent book, Choice Words, he demonstrates how language and learning work together moment to moment in the classroom.
The Threads of Learning: Critical Literacy and Democracy in Classroom Talk
When children leave school, they need to have acquired particular kinds of literacy to function in the workplace and in society. The language we use in the classroom affects the literacies they acquire. It affects the way they learn independently and collaboratively. Peter will show how to develop productive literacy learning communities and engaged learners who comprehend, and take control of their own development.
Carmen Agra Deedy
Friday, July 17
Carmen Agra Deedy has been traveling around the world, writing and telling stories for almost twenty years. This award-winning storyteller and author of numerous best-selling books for children was born in Havana, Cuba and emigrated with her family during the Cuban Revolution to Decatur, Georgia. Carmen shares her unique, dual heritage in heartfelt and animated performances that ring hilariously true.
Love in the Library
Love in the Library is a grand recollection of Carmen’s early library memories as she grew up in Decatur, Georgia. Carmen’s descriptions of the library staff, her sister, and her mother are vivid and brilliant. Come along on the adventure as Carmen learns all about the magic of reading in the library and under the covers with a flashlight!
Notable Children’s Authors
Debra Frasier has published several books for children including, On the Day You Were Born, Out of the Ocean, and Miss Alaineus: A Vocabulary Disaster.
David LaRochelle is author of several books for children and young adults, including The End, The Best Pet of All, and Absolutely, Positively Not.
