Registration, refreshments, vendor displays

Welcome and Introductions: Dr. Connie Briggs

Keynote Address:  Peter Johnston
Talking Kids into Literacy
The language we use in the classroom affects children's learning in fundamental ways. It affects the ways they interact with and value each other and their diversity, the kinds of literacies they develop, and who they become as literate individuals. This talk describes subtle ways in which we develop and undermine student learning, and how we can use our language to develop caring successful learners.

Break - Book signings, refreshments, vendors, transition to next session

Breakout Session I

Building Resilient and Critical Literacy Learners
Speaker: Peter Johnston
Location: Colonial Ballroom

All Day Kindergarten
Speakers: Karla Fisher and Kaylee Myers
Location: Flint Hills Room

Why read?
Speaker: Jane Kurtz
Location: Greek Room

Change Over Time: For Children and for Teachers
Speaker: Billie Askew
Location: Kanza Room

Lunch in Webb Lecture Hall

Breakout Session II

Fluency, Comprehension & Problem Solving: Why one "working system" is not enough
Speaker: Bob Schwartz
Location: Colonial Ballroom

Update on Children’s Literature
Speaker: Gary and Barbara Bleeker
Location: Flint Hills Room

My Snail is Wake Upping; The Role of Language Structure in Learning to Read
Speaker: Blair Koefoed
Location: Kanza Room

From a Passive Learner to an Active One!
Speaker: Billie Askew
Location: Greek Room

Break - refreshments, vendors, transition to next session

Breakout Session III

Self-Monitoring and Self-Management: Developing Power for Independent Learning
Speaker: Bob Schwartz
Location: Colonial Ballroom

The Daily 5
Speakers: Erin Pittenger and Brooke Habbert
Location: Flint Hills Room

The Reading/Writing Connection
Speaker: Jane Kurtz
Location: Greek Room

A Line of Sight: The Work of the Eyes on Learning to Read
Speaker: Blair Koefoed
Location: Kanza Room

Keynote speaker

Peter Johnston is a professor at the University at Albany-SUNY. He researches the consequences of teaching and assessment practices for the literate lives of children and teachers. His recent books are: Choice Words: How Our Language Affects Children's Learning (2004) and Critical Literacy/Critical Teaching: Tools for Preparing Responsive Teachers (2005). He was recently elected to the Reading Hall of Fame.

Dr. Johnston's sessions at this conference include:

Talking Kids into Literacy
The language we use in the classroom affects children's learning in fundamental ways. It affects the ways they interact with and value each other and their diversity, the kinds of literacies they develop, and who they become as literate individuals. This talk describes subtle ways in which we develop and undermine student learning, and how we can use our language to develop caring successful learners.

Building Resilient and Critical Literacy Learners
We want our children to become critically literate and to be flexible and persistent problem solvers. Happily, these goals are accomplished in related ways, and not at the expense of more immediate goals of achievement that will show up on tests. Indeed, focusing on the tests has some serious pitfalls.

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All Day Kindergarten by Karla Fisher and Kaylee Myers
This presentation focuses on developing a center-based developmentally appropriate full-day kindergarten integrating reading, writing, social studies, math, and science throughout instruction. Examples of literature-based teaching, lesson tips, and more will be highlighted.

Karla Fisher and Kaylee Myers have over 20 years of kindergarten teaching experience.

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Why read? by Jane Kurtz
Award-winning children’s book author Jane Kurtz talks about the whys that must accompany the hows of reading, including ways books changed her own parents’ lives, widening their worlds and giving them hope and dreams. She will show how the power of books, words, and stories then changed her and some of the students she has worked with.

The Reading/Writing Connection by Jane Kurtz
Understanding what readers do helps writers. Understanding what writers do helps readers. Children’s book author Jane Kurtz will share examples, ideas, and strategies she has learned as a lifelong reader, writer, and educator to help teachers understand the connections between reading and writing.

Jane Kurtz has published 23 books for teachers and young readers. Six years ago, she was one of 14 authors invited to Laura Bush Celebrates America’s Authors Day to talk about the power of books and reading. Her books for k-3 students include Rain Romp, Do Kangaroos Wear Seatbelts? Johnny Appleseed, Mr. Bones: Dinosaur Hunter and Water Hole Waiting.

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Change Over Time: For Children and for Teachers by Billie Askew
Participants will explore changes in children that must occur for accelerated progress across the lessons. We will also examine the necessary changes in our behaviors as teachers across the lessons. Relying on the new procedures and the rationales behind them, we will focus on our decisions and teaching moves for a successful and short-term intervention for each child.

From a Passive Learner to an Active One! by Billie Askew
Have you worked with children who wait for you to be the active one? Do they wait for you to take the lead throughout the lesson? In this session, we will discuss ways to get Reading Recovery children to be active from the very beginning of lessons. Using new procedures and the rationales behind them, we will focus on ways to support children as active learners who continue to learn on their own.

Billie Askew is professor emerita at the college of professional education, department of reading at Texas Woman's University. She is also a trainer of Reading Recovery teacher leaders and directs the Reading Recovery Center at the university. She has served as president of the Reading Recovery Council of North America and as president of the North American Trainers Group. She is co-editor with Jan Gaffney of Stirring the Waters: The Influence of Marie Clay.

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Fluency, Comprehension & Problem Solving: Why one "working system" is not enough by Bob Schwartz
We will discuss "working systems" as a way to understand literacy processing, the types of working systems that support young children to read fluently, comprehend text and problem solve in reading and writing, and how to help children develop these systems in Reading Recovery lessons.

Self-Monitoring and Self-Management: Developing Power for Independent Learning by Bob Schwartz
Our goal for each child is a self-extending system of literacy strategies. We will explore how fostering self-monitoring and self-management promote both independence and acceleration.

Robert M. Schwartz is a professor in the department of reading and language arts at Oakland University. He is a Reading Recovery university trainer and president-elect of the Reading Recovery Council of North America. His research interests include self-monitoring in beginning reading, early literacy intervention, and professional development for literacy teachers. He has recent publication on these topics in Reading Research Quarterly, Journal of Educational Psychology and The Reading Teacher.

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My Snail is Wake Upping: The Role of Language Structure in Learning to Read by Blair Koefoed
In this presentation we will discuss the relationship between the language children use and the language of the books they are expected to learn to read with. The question of what the teacher can do to bridge the gap between these two is addressed.

A Line of Sight: The Work of the Eyes on Learning to Read by Blair Koefoed
In this presentation we will look into how a child's visual working system must be adjusted to accommodate this whole new task of learning to read. There are many new ways of looking that are required for a child to become a competent text processor.

Blair Koefoed is a Reading Recovery Trainer from The University of Auckland. Specializing in early literacy and literacy interventions, over the past 14 years he has worked extensively with many Reading Recovery colleagues and literacy educators throughout New Zealand and other parts of the world. In particular, in 1992-93 he spent one year in the United Kingdom helping with the establishment of the implementation of Reading Recovery in England, and is a regular speaker and consultant in both literacy and Reading Recovery throughout Australia, Bermuda and the United States.

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The Daily 5 by Erin Pittenger and Brooke Habbert
Based on the book by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser, this presentation provides insight for professional educators in setting up and fostering:

• independent literacy centers in the elementary classroom
• meeting the needs of students in small group instruction
• helping students develop productive daily habits in reading, writing, and working with words.

There will be examples of "The Daily 5" in action and support to teachers interested in implementing this highly effective literacy model for their classrooms.

Erin Pittenger and Brooke Habbert are primary teachers in USD 383 Manhattan-Ogden.

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