Units of Study: Implementing Rigorous, Coherent Writing Curriculum (3-5) One-Day Conference
WHO SHOULD ATTEND? Teachers (3-5), coaches, administrators, curriculum coordinators, state and regional leaders. DATE & LOCATION Thursday, November 13, 2014 Renaissance Hotel 2222 N Stemmons Freeway Dallas, TX 75207 TIME 8:30 A.M.-3:00 P.M. TUITION The cost of this workshop is $165.00 per person. HOW TO REGISTER To register for this event or to see the full schedule of professional development offered by the Reading and Writing Project, go to www.readingandwritingproject.com
Presented by Lucy Calkins and Mary Ehrenworth In this day-long seminar, Lucy Calkins and Mary Ehrenworth, co-authors of titles within Units of Study in Opinion, Information, and Narrative Writing, and co-authors of the best-selling book, Pathways to the Common Core, will help you understand the implications of the Common Core State Standards for writing. They’ll guide you as you align your writing instruction to the CCSS. The Common Core State Standards focus the nation on students’ proficiency as writers. In this workshop, teachers and administrators will learn overarching plans and precise details that can help students reach and exceed the high expectations of the Common Core. As part of this, you’ll learn about the Units of Study grade-by-grade curricula that Lucy and her colleagues authored. You’ll also learn about high leverage teaching processes that can accelerate your students’ growth towards the Common Core. You'll hear about the importance of teaching a spiral curriculum in information, narrative and opinion writing, one in which children are taught to write reviews, essays, information books, research reports, stories: the works. Lucy and Mary will open up their tool box and show you the most powerful techniques they have for helping every child become a powerful, resourceful writer. The emphasis will be on whole school reform and grades 3-5. Lucy and Mary will set you up to teach using these techniques, and also to work with colleagues to raise the level of writing across your school by creating a cohesive approach to writing. You’ll also learn how assessment can accelerate students' progress. Lucy and Mary will suggest that when you have a clear sense of the trajectory along which
writers develop, that knowledge can make teaching more purposeful and powerful. An understanding of learning progressions can help you provide more powerful feedback. All of this can be interwoven into cycles of ever more challenging whole-class work in ways that engine students’ progress. Perhaps more than anything, however, you'll be reminded that old fashioned values—respect, honesty and responsive teaching—are at the heart of powerful writing instruction. LUCY CALKINS is the founding director of the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project and the Richard Robinson Professor of Children’s Literature at Teachers College, Columbia University. The Project has been widely regarded as the world's preeminent source of knowledge on the teaching of writing. As the leader of this organization, Lucy works closely with superintendents, district leaders, principals, and teachers to re-imagine what is possible. She and her colleagues at the TCRWP help teachers become exemplary, creating best practices in the teaching of reading and writing. MARY EHRENWORTH is Deputy Director for Middle Schools at the Reading and Writing Project, Teachers College, Columbia University. She is also co-author of many books and articles, including Pathways to the Common Core, The Research-Based Argument Essay (Heinemann 2013), The Research-Based Argument Essay and Position Papers: Research and Argument (Heinemann 2014).