Conferring in Writing

·         Concentrated professional development for Beginning and Advanced Writing Workshop Teachers.  Beginning Workshop Teachers will learn about the basics of a “Research-Decide-Compliment-Teach” Conference.  Teachers will also learn how to name and teach the qualities of good writing.  Advanced Workshop Teachers will sharpen their conferring skills with an emphasis on conferences that lift the level of students’ work at all stages of the writing process. 

Launching and Sustaining Reading and Writing Workshop

·         Comprehensive professional development, in classrooms, for teachers new to the Workshop Model. Teachers will learn about the structure of minilessons, routines to implement, and management tips for creating Reading and Writing Workshops that will enable students to become productive and strategic readers and writers.  Curriculum development assistance is also available.

Improving the Quality of Narrative Writing Through the Narrative Process

·         Robust professional development for Beginning Workshop Teachers will concentrate on the stages of the writing process with a focus on narrative writing.  Through targeted minilesson, small group strategy lessons, and one-to-one conferences, teachers will learn how to differentiate this unit of study for all of the writers in their classroom. 

Reading and Writing Poetry Isn’t Just for April!

·         Purposeful training to assist teachers with ways to infuse their classrooms with poetry.   Beginning Workshop Teachers will learn how to create a meaningful Poetry Unit of Study.  Advanced Workshop Teachers will discover ways to create a poetry-rich classroom, which honors multiple learning styles, throughout the school year.

Teaching Students to Write Literary and Personal Essays

·         Targeted curriculum development for Beginning and Advanced Workshop Teachers that will support teachers through the implementation and development of non-narrative units of study.  Graphic organizers, note-taking devices, and researching techniques will be offered as a means to support the needs of all writers.

·         Substantial training for Advanced Workshop Teachers will focus on using mentor texts to lift the level of student writing.  Teachers will learn how to analyze a text, using the qualities of good writing as a guide, in order to create teaching points that can be used in small group strategy lessons and one-to-one conferences to help students raise the quality of their writing, regardless of the genre.

Writing Alongside Your Students

·         External study group for Beginning and Advanced Workshop Teachers that concentrates on the importance of the teacher being the living, breathing writer in the room.  Teachers will challenge themselves to write daily and share their writing with other teachers.  They’ll confer with one another and will see a piece through all of the stages of the writing process so they have several of their own texts to use as mentor texts with their students.

Writing in a Web 2.0 World

·         Small group or one-to-one professional development for Beginning and Advanced Workshop Teachers on using Web 2.0 Technology in the Writing Workshop.  Teachers will learn about wikis, blogs, and a host of other online tools that will enhance their teaching of 21^st Century Literacies.