Monday, July 14
Georgia Heard will show how to weave
poetry into the fabric of every school day.
She will remind us that children are natural
poets who speak poetry all day long. They say wonderful poetic gems that
surprise and delight while looking at the world in new ways. Georgia will show how to tap into
this natural inclination and demonstrate how reading and writing poetry can
support and extend young children's language and literacy development.
Georgia Heard, internationally acclaimed writer, keynote
speaker and educational consultant, is the author of several books on teaching
poetry and writing including her most recent in collaboration with Lester
Laminack, Climb Inside a Poem: Reading and Writing Poetry Across the Year.
Some of Georgia’s
other publications include: The
Revision Toolbox: Teaching Techniques That Work; Awakening the Heart: Exploring Poetry in Elementary and Middle
School; and Writing Towards Home:
Tales and Lessons to Find Your Way. She is also the author of three children's
poetry books: Creatures of Earth, Sea and Sky; Songs of Myself: An Anthology of Poetry and Art; and This Place I Know: Poems of Comfort.
Tuesday, July 15
Cathy Collins Block will highlight the new
directions that literacy instruction is taking in the most successful schools
across the country. Based on research
that has been completed since the National Reading Panel Report (2001), participants
will learn several new, research‑based, brain‑based methods of teaching reading
that they can implement in their classrooms immediately. These new methods have already demonstrated that
they can significantly increase students' literacy achievement, regardless of
ethnic backgrounds or socio‑economic backgrounds.
Cathy
Collins Block, Professor of Education
at Texas Christian University, has taught every grade level from preschool to graduate school. She was elected to serve on the Board of
Directors of the International Reading Association from 2002-2005 and presently serves on the Editorial Boards for
the Journal of Educational Psychology, Reading Research Quarterly, The Reading Teacher, National Reading
Conference Yearbook, and America
Tomorrow.
Cathy has written more than 30 books and 80 research-based articles related
to literacy instruction and teacher education.
She has also served as a
consultant to numerous school districts in the United
States, Canada,
Germany, Hungary, Russia,
and Finland.
Wednesday, July 16
Ralph Fletcher will draw upon his years
of experience as a staff developer, children’s book author, and father of four
boys to initiate a thorough discussion about engaging boy writers. Evidence suggests that, as a group, boys are
struggling in our writing classrooms. Why is this so? Ralph will show how to create “boy-friendly”
writing classrooms, challenge us to imagine our teaching from a boy’s
perspective, and consider the specific steps that we can take to reach out to
boy writers.
Ralph Fletcher, a nationally known educational consultant and speaker, is
the author of What A Writer Needs, Walking Trees: Teaching Teachers
in the New York City Schools, and Breathing In, Breathing Out: Keeping a
Writer's Notebook, all from Heinemann. His short stories and articles have
appeared in Redbook, People, Cosmopolitan, and the Wall
Street Journal, and he has published his third book of poetry, I Am
Wings. Ralph has worked with teachers and children across the United States, in Europe, and in the Middle East. He spent three years as a senior member of
the Teachers College Writing Project in New
York City involved with staff development. Ralph has tremendous respect for the
difficult, important job teachers have in helping students find their voices
for the writing that will shape their lives.
Thursday, July 17
Nell Duke’s research has focused on
early literacy development, particularly among children living in poverty. Her
specific areas of expertise include development of informational literacies in
young children, comprehension teaching and learning in early schooling,
approaches to addressing the needs of struggling reader-writers, and issues of
equity in literacy education.
Nell
K. Duke is associate professor of teacher education and educational psychology
and associate director of the Literacy Achievement Research Center (LARC) at Michigan State University. She is the recipient of the International
Reading Association Outstanding Dissertation Award, the National Council of
Teachers of English Promising Researcher Award, the International Reading
Association Dina Feitelson Research Award, and the National Reading Conference
Early Career Achievement Award. She is
co-author of the books Reading and Writing Informational Text in the Primary
Grades: Research-Based Practices and Literacy and the Youngest Learner: Best
Practices for Educators of Children from Birth to Five and co-editor of the
book Literacy Research Methodologies.
Friday, July 18
Patricia Reilly Giff, our featured author at
the 2008 Summer Literacy Institute, will speak to us about her books, and about
life as a writer. "I always start
each day by writing. That's like breathing to me," says Patricia. In fact, this bestselling author admits:
"I wanted to write from the first time I picked up a book and read. I
thought it must be the most marvelous thing to make people dance across the
pages." Giff explains, "I want
the children to bubble up with laughter, or to cry over my books. I want to
picture them under a cherry tree or at the library with my book in their hands.
But more, I want to see them reading in the classroom. I want to see children
in solitude at their desks, reading, absorbing, lost in a book."
Patricia Reilly Giff has received the
Newbery Honor for Pictures of
Hollis Woods and Lily's Crossing, which is also a Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor Book. Nory Ryan's Song was named an ALA Best Book for Young
Adults and an ALA
Notable Book. She and her husband reside
in Weston, Connecticut. Giff combined her two greatest
loves--children's books and her family--and, with her husband and her children,
opened The Dinosaur's Paw, a children's bookstore named after one of her Kids
of the Polk Street School
novels. This store is part of Giff's quest to bring children and books
together. She and her family are trying to "share our love of children's
books and writing and to help others explore the whole world of children's
books."
NOTABLE CHILDREN’S AUTHORS
Rick Chrustowski
has published several picture books for children, including Turtle Crossing, Blue Sky Bluebird, Hop
Frog, Bright Beetle and Army Ant
Parade.
Lauren Stringer is
the author and illustrator of numerous books for young readers, including Winter is the Warmest Season, Mud, Fold Me a
Poem and Red Rubber Book Day.
