Collaborative Classroom’s staff of experienced educators presents at conferences nationwide, often in partnership with district leaders and our own cadre of professional learning consultants.
If you have questions about a specific conference below, please contact us. To learn about our public institutes, observation days, and webinars, please click here.
September 16–17 • Osage Beach, MO
September 17 • Bakersfield, CA
September 22–23 • Austin, TX
October 2–4 • Chicago, IL
Click here to learn more about the SEL Exchange Conference!
Session: Harnessing the Power of Children’s Literature for Academic and Social Emotional Growth
With a heightened focus at the national, state, and district levels on social and emotional learning, it is increasingly important to equip educators with knowledge and tools that integrate academic and social learning in their literacy block. This session will help educators better understand 1) how children’s literature can be expertly used to build classroom community and 2) how to assist students in connecting with literature as a way to cope with life’s challenges, learning empathy, and inspiring them to be change makers.
Presenter: Kristy Rauch, MA, Collaborative Classroom
October 6–9 • Scottsdale, AZ
October 10–13 • New Orleans, LA
Booth 426
Click here to learn more about ILA 2019!
Session: Literacy in a Collaborative Classroom: Integrating Social, Emotional, and Academic Development for Deep Learning and Meaningful Engagement
This interactive session will share a model for literacy instruction that supports both the academic and social development of students. We will explore how to build learning experiences that enable the deep thinking and meaningful engagement that are foundational in a truly collaborative classroom. The workshop will examine a pedagogy, developed and tested over the past four decades in classrooms nationwide, that places student thinking at the heart of literacy instruction.
Presenter: Peter Brunn, MA, Collaborative Classroom
Session: Equity and Access in a Collaborative Classroom: Creating Independent Learners Through Early Literacy Instruction
This interactive session offers culturally responsive approaches that build our youngest students’ literacy independence and encourage inquiry and collaboration. Equitable access to essential instruction (explicit and systematic phonics, comprehension and vocabulary) supports the literacy development of our youngest readers. We will examine the underlying pedagogy that helps teachers build strong meaningful relationships with and among students so that students can access rigorous literacy content.
Presenter: Marisa Ramirez Stukey, PhD
Session: Redefining Literacy Professional Learning: Evidence for What Works
Professional learning is essential for teachers to shift practice to address the literacy needs of students. Learn the research-based characteristics of powerful literacy professional learning that will support teachers in actually enacting new practices. Consider the ways small shifts in how you think about professional learning can provide maximum impact. Participants will engage in collegial conversations, reflect on current practice and create an action plan for using this information in the setting in which you work.
Presenters: Isabel Sawyer, PhD, and Marisa Ramirez Stukey, PhD, Collaborative Classroom
Session: Building Equity Through Powerful Literacy Instruction
A commitment to access and equity starts with the individual and is enacted daily through interactions between and with our students. Participants who attend this session will utilize discussions, lesson experiences, classroom video and reflection to examine how culturally responsive teaching practices can enhance our literacy instruction and support access and equity for culturally and linguistically diverse students.
Presenter: Claire Riddell, MEd
Session: Facilitating Student Talk, Thinking and Interaction: Strategies to Increase Student Engagement, Build Classroom Community, and Deepen Comprehension
Join us for a rich learning session centered on teaching all students how to access, apply, and make sense of information through facilitating conversation, thinking, and interaction. Participants will explore practical strategies and techniques that support the development of a strong community and support teachers in the use and refinement of facilitation skills, so that classrooms are safe, connected learning communities where students lead the talking, thinking, interaction and learning. Participants will be guided through an interactive learning experience designed to support students’ reading comprehension and build a sense of community while facilitation techniques are demonstrated and experienced.
Presenters: Jolynn Bernard, MA, Collaborative Classroom, and Manuela Motyl, Instructional Coach, Sawgrass Bay Elementary School, Florida
Session: SEL Meets PBL: Building a Community through Authentic Learning and Performance Tasks
We believe the role of social-emotional learning is essential to core literacy instruction. We will examine and experience teaching practices that support the intentional development of social-emotional competencies. These teaching practices will support students’ development as readers, writers, and critical thinkers. We will make deliberate connections to SEL teaching practices and the essential elements of inquiry-based learning to support the social and academic growth of the student. Voice, choice, revision, reflection, in-depth inquiry, authenticity, and more make significant impact when paired with the structures of social-emotional learning.
Presenters: Maria Arnett, MEd and Mary Tavegia, Collaborative Classroom; Peyton Anderson, PBL Specialist, and Lisa Micou, SEL Specialist, Chesterfield County Public Schools
October 17–18 • Long Branch, NJ
Session: Transforming Teacher Practice: The Case for Curriculum as Professional Learning
Developing teacher expertise is intellectually demanding, professional work – it takes study, practice, time, reflection, collaboration, and feedback and requires copious resources from schools and districts. Professional Learning that is separate from classroom practice has very little impact. In this session, we will reconsider the ways that district and school leaders look at curricular resources as a pathway for professional learning.
Presenter: Sue Wilder, Collaborative Classroom
October 23–24 • Birmingham, AL
October 24–26 • Louisville, KY
November 6–8 • Biloxi, MS
November 6–7 • Southbury, CT
November 20–22 • Montgomery, AL
December 7–11 • St. Louis, MO
Session: Partnering with Your Curriculum: A True Learning Center for Adults and Children
Discover how one school district created a new way of shaping schools to impact student achievement. Learn how the district shifted leadership roles, adopted a rich curriculum resource, and offered thoughtful professional learning to its teaching staff. Hear the data gathered to inform their work. Create a plan for supporting curriculum resources with professional learning in your setting.
Presenters: Isabel Sawyer, PhD and Maria Arnett, MEd, Collaborative Classroom; Dr. Kelli Cedo, Hampton City Schools
Wednesday, December 11, 2019 • 8:45–10:45 AM
March 13–16 • Los Angeles, CA
Session: Supporting Latinx Students in Immersion Classrooms: Egypt Lake Elementary
One myth about teaching ELLs is that good teaching alone will meet these students’ linguistic and academic needs, and that they will simply “pick up” the language in the typical classroom context. While “good teaching” (using developmental, research-based instructional strategies) certainly benefits students learning English, it is important to build on each student’s specific academic and linguistic strengths and plan instruction based on his or her needs. Egypt Lake Elementary (Tampa, FL) is discovering the first step in supporting ELL students is to develop an accurate picture of each student’s level of English language proficiency and then provide instruction through research-based curriculum that meets the needs of the whole child.
Presenters: Sheila Veatch, Collaborative Classroom, and Julia Scardino, Principal, Egypt Lake Elementary School