#PCTELA23 Conference Schedule
Best Western Premier The Central Hotel & Conference Center
Friday, October 20, 2023
7:45 a.m. - 8:30 a.m.: Registration/Breakfast
8:30 a.m. - 8:40 a.m.: Welcome
8:40 a.m. - 9:25 a.m.: Featured Speakers: Gregg Behr and Ryan Rydzewski
9:25 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.: Book Signings, Vendor Presentations, Vendor Hall
10:00 a.m. - 10:50 a.m.: Concurrent Session A
11:00 a.m. - 11:50 a.m.: Concurrent Session B
12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.: Lunch & Membership Meeting
1:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.: Featured Speaker: Christine Kendall
1:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.: Book Signings, Explorations, Vendor Hall (reminder about mentoring survey)
2:10 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.: Concurrent Session C
3:10 p.m. - 4:10 p.m.: Future is Now Roundtables
4:10 p.m. - 4:15 p.m.: Wrap Up, Vendor Hall, and Giveaways
4:15 p.m.-5:00 p.m.: Exploration Stations
5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.: Social Hour and Swag
Saturday, October 21, 2023
7:45 a.m. - 8:30 a.m.: Registration/Breakfast
8:30 a.m. - 8:40 a.m.: Opening & Welcome
8:40 a.m. - 9:25 a.m.: Featured Speaker: Arvin Ahmadi
9:25 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.: Book Signings, Explorations, Vendor Hall
10:00 a.m. - 10:50 a.m.: Concurrent Session D
11:00 a.m. - 11:50 a.m.: Concurrent Session E
12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.: Lunch
1:00p.m. - 2:00 p.m.: IGNITE #PAProudEducator Panel
2:10 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.: Concurrent Session F
3:10 p.m. - 3:40 p.m.: Featured Speaker: Kim Collazo (virtual)
3:40 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.: Giveaways, Vendor Hall, & Final Closing
Friday
SESSION A: 10:00-10:50
Mrs. Cindy Michelini
Wishing for Wonder: Remake Learning by Way of Integration and Creativity
K-5
Wishing for Wonder: Remake Learning by Way of Integration and Creativity will offer educators a fresh perspective on teaching and learning in our 21st century classrooms. We long for connections and meaning-making for students, something standards can’t do alone.This session offers strategies for student engagement, tips for integrating topics for project-based learning, connecting it all using creativity. The wonders of literacy, when partnered with the wonders of other subjects, have powerful possibilities and our classrooms are the best catalyst for exploration. It’s time to bridge the gap between the art and science of teaching. The world of wonder awaits!
Mr. Tim Smyth
Teaching With Comics
All
Comics serve as powerful tools for student engagement and literacy across all levels and subjects. This session will showcase tested lesson plans that can be used in your classroom during your very next class. Tim Smyth, classroom teacher and reading specialist of over 20 years, has found great success integrating comics and other forms of pop culture in his classroom. This presentation will include tips on obtaining classroom comic resources, information on online comics teacher communities, and common core connections to help win over parents and administrators to what we already know- that comics open doors to learning!
Dr. John Phillips
Reimagined Standards for Beyond the Classroom
6-8
Presenters will focus on how present language arts standards and assessments are deeply flawed and result in systematic teaching of reading at the risk of student exploration and wonder. Instead, the language arts classroom can become a place for students to venture on an exploratory quest of themselves, others, and our world through literature. In order for this to occur, education needs revised standards and a reimagining of the purpose for teaching literature. The session starts with present flaws in the language arts standards, and moves to examining a reimagined purpose of the language arts classroom.
Dr. Katie Caprino
Interdisciplinary Wonder Writing: A World of Wonders Experience
6-8, 9-12
In this interactive and mindful session, you will explore your connection to nature as it relates to the stories of your life. Pulling from the literature on mindfulness, awe, and joy; the beauty and significance of the natural world; and interdisciplinary writing instruction, this engaging session will leave you with a sense of wonder - and a new writing exercise to share with your students tomorrow! Let’s engage in interdisciplinary wonder writing together!
Mr. Michael Breslin
Dorri Herrmann
The "Write" Strategies - Ways to Engage, Grow and Empower Writing in the ELA Classroom
6-8, 9-12
Writing is an essential skill. Yet, many students struggle with writing. Even still more teachers cut writing from their instruction because of time constraints or other needs. Dedicating intentional instructional time to writing is essential for today’s students if they are to be prepared for the real world. This session will focus on daily and weekly writing strategies that ultimately will improve students’ skills, stamina, and self-efficacy through engagement and intention. Participants will have an opportunity to discuss and practice these strategies with their peers.
Friday
SESSION B: 11:00-11:50
Mrs. Kristine Barnes
STEM + Literacy = R.E.C. PACs
K-5, 6-8,9-12
Many students love STEM and want more. Combine STEM and quality children's literature and you create a memorable, portable learning experience to go. You will be provided with everything needed to get more books and STEM opportunities into the hands of your students. Explore materials, set-up, management, and more.
Ms. Hannah Lewis
Mrs. Abby Weller-Hall
ChatGPT: "We're [not] Doomed!"
6-8, 9-12, college
In January of 2023, Hannah was in the grading trenches, scoring essays about American Romanticism when she noticed something strange–a surprising number of students were drawing comparisons to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (who, we all likely know, is neither American nor a Romantic). The culprit: Chat GPT. Upon discovery, she immediately sent a text to her 11th grade English teammate, Abby, who generated an essay about The American Dream in The Great Gatsby as a test and, upon reading the AI-generated response, texted back “We’re doomed.” But are we? Find out in this session, which explores the role of AI in changing Writing instruction
Dr. Tim Oldakowski
"I made that!": A no-tech, multimodal approach to analyzing literature
6-8, 9-12, college
This session will introduce participants to over 20 multimodal tasks or assignments that can be completed in response to literature that do not require technology. These “no-tech” assignments and activities require students to use more than language to respond to literature, but do not require any technology but they can be a springboard to more advanced projects when the teacher is ready to use technology.
Mr. Nicholas A Emmanuele
Designing Inclusive Literacy Experiences for All Secondary Students
6-8, 9-12
Join us as we differentiate between “adaptations” for students with disabilities and “Universal Design for Learning” to make our content accessible. This interactive session will ask you to write, reflect, and turn-and-talk as we discuss disability labels and teaching all students. You’ll experience how Nick organizes his ninth and tenth grade English classes in reading and writing by providing choice, direct instruction, modeling, and independent practice. We’ll be checking out texts by Featured Speakers Arvin Ahmadi and Christine Kendall as well!
Dr. Aileen Hower
Addressing Bias in Literacy Assessment
All
Let's talk about the types of bias that can be found in current literacy assessments and learn strategies to mitigate them so that all students can show their actual skills without the results being clouded by bias. This session will present examples of bias in literacy assessments and strategies and resources for addressing them with students. Participants will share their own perceptions and experiences and discuss ways they can apply these ideas with their students.
Friday
SESSION C: 2:10-3:00
Mr. Tien Pham
Mr. Paolo Tolomeo
Gamified ELA 2.0
K-5, 6-8, 9-12
Imagine a classroom where students are extending their learning as part of a greater story! Join two seasoned ELA teachers to experience how gamification is used in their classrooms to level up their teaching and students’ learning. Attendees will receive takeaway tips and tools to begin gamifying their next units of study.
Mrs. Carol Frow
Reading Like a Writer. - Being Extra Crafty!
K-5, 6-8
Do your students write in a formulaic test appropriate fashion but never seem to move to the advanced level? Join this session to learn how to read like a writer so as to develop craft lessons which improve your students writing style!
Dr. Nanci Werner-Burke
Toward an Anti-Racist/Anti-Bias Pedagogy: Teaching for Social Justice and Civic Literacy
6-8, 9-12, college
The 2021 NCTE Standards place heavy emphasis on anti-racist/antibias instruction and inclusivity. What steps can we take in our current roles as ELA teachers to create spaces where all learners feel connected and valued? One answer is to take a hybrid approach that mixes the six English Language Arts and the thematic strands of social studies – a model of teaching for social justice and civic literacy. This session will use interactive methods to facilitate discussion and reflection among participants and provide examples of classroom activities and practices that promote an antiracist/antibias approach to teaching and fostering inclusivity.
Dr. Tara Burke Johnston
Integrating Content Areas into Literacy Instruction through Conceptually Meaningful Vocabulary Instruction
K-5, 6-8
This session will focus on integrating the content areas into literacy instruction through conceptually meaningful vocabulary instruction. Teachers can use content area instruction in either science or social studies that is connected to a text or set of texts. This session will also include best vocabulary integration practices for Multilingual Learners and students with disabilities and reading difficulties. These practices require collaboration across teams of teachers and content areas and require that teachers have agency and flexibility in choosing their texts and content for lessons. The session will conclude with a suggested instructional routine ease of planning for teachers.
Mr. Brett Vogelsinger
How To Plan a Poetry Pause for Any Writing Unit
6-8, 9-12
Poems can be held up to the light and examined from different angles, fostering our sense of exploratory wonder and affording us valuable insights and practice that elevates our students’ work in any genre. Learn how to embed an experience with a poem into a writing unit you already teach, giving your students further practice in essential skills, enlivening their writing with poetic craft moves, and nourishing their hearts as only poetry can. Leave with a concrete plan for a poetry pause in your classroom next week.
Saturday
SESSION D: 10:00-10:50
Dr. Jennifer Toney
Writing Composition at the Elementary Level: Journeying Across Writing Wonderland
K-5
Writing is tough! This is especially true for young elementary level writers. This presentation shares ways to motivate and engage learners to become writers in a playful and purposeful way. This example offers one way educators can guide their students to believe in themselves, even when the task is challenging.
Ms. Melissa Ann Pero
Designing for Accessibility
All
Join me to shed light on effective features of digital design that allows all learners equal accessibility to instruction. The workshop will discuss features including effective color and text design, alternate text for images, graphics and movement, and accessibility features to help learners access
Ms. Amy Bouch
Poetry Playground: Explore Writing Poetry
All
Poetry is everywhere. Visit the Poetry Playground to discover various activities to write and share poetry. Participate by writing poems and creating products. Look forward to zines, buttons, contests, and more. This session will be self-guided with presenter support.
Mr. Brett Vogelsinger
How To Plan a Poetry Pause for Any Writing Unit
6-8, 9-12
Poems can be held up to the light and examined from different angles, fostering our sense of exploratory wonder and affording us valuable insights and practice that elevates our students’ work in any genre. Learn how to embed an experience with a poem into a writing unit you already teach, giving your students further practice in essential skills, enlivening their writing with poetic craft moves, and nourishing their hearts as only poetry can. Leave with a concrete plan for a poetry pause in your classroom next week.
Mrs. Amy Nyeholt
Katie Batting
No One Is an Island: Cultivating Strategies to Support Professional Connections
6-8, 9-12
In this presentation, our goal is to share with teachers and literacy leaders how we make relevant connections starting from one-to-one partnerships and leading to intentional schoolwide interactions to support student and staff learning. We need meaningful and diverse connections in order to stand up, speak out, teach well, understand one another, bridge gaps, recognize challenges, and face them.
Saturday
SESSION E: 11:00-11:50
Dr. Lynne Dorfman
Brenda Krupp
Raising Student Voices Through Book Talks and Book Clubs
K-5, 6-8
The presenters will discuss their work with book clubs and book talks in K-8 classrooms to offer students choice in reading material and give them an opportunity to raise their voices. Key strategies and procedures through narrated classroom snapshots, video clips, and teacher and student samples will be described. Links to SEL practices will be highlighted. Community-building practices that invite all students to become engaged in classroom learning will be explored. Participants will have a chance to share questions and comments with the facilitators and PCTELA community created during this workshop.
Mrs. Memory D'Agostino
EduProtocols + EMC2Learning = Student AND Teacher Engagement
K-5, 6-8, 9-12
Engagement. This term is often associated with students, but teacher engagement is just as important for staying energized and motivated, even with material that has been taught for years. This interactive session will introduce participants to multiple activities that have increased student engagement in the ELA classroom as well as teacher motivation in planning the activities.
Dr. Jennifer Toney
When You Wonder: Inviting the FrED Method into your School
All
This session offers authentic examples of what two elementary educators discovered after they were inspired by Gregg Behr and Ryan Rydzewski’s book ‘When You Wonder, You’re Learning”. They will share how they recognized some of the six elements of the “The Fred Method" already operating in their schools and how they facilitated the missing elements while simultaneously working to bring all six into their community. In addition to sharing examples, this will be an interactive discussion about the core elements of Mr. Rogers' blueprint for making learning an active and engaging experience so attendees can leave with ideas for how they can invite “The Fred Method” into their schools and communities too.
Mx. Sarah Wilt
Flip The Script: Considerations on Empowering Student-Focused Learning
9-12, College
Widespread apathy mixed with post-pandemic learning gaps has left educators searching for new ways to engage and personalize learning. This session will outline techniques currently being utilized in the presenter’s high school virtual learning classroom regarding student self exploration, goal setting and self-reflection, and flipped classroom teaching methods to evaluate their uses in increasing student engagement in secondary level classes. Focus will be on David Kolb’s experiential and holistic learning theories that encourage active learning from students, pushing away from in-class teacher mini-lesson or lecture. Discussion between other attendees and presenter, centered around guided questions, will occur throughout the session.
Dr. Pauline Schmidt
Dr. Jen Greene, Ms. Kelly Virgin
The Writing Project Adventure: Explore a Mini Writing Marathon with WCWP
All
Have you always wondered what happens at a local Writing Project Site? Did you know that Pennsylvania has seven such magical places? Three leaders from the West Chester Writing Project want to share the JOY of an adapted activity that happens at all sites: The Writing Marathon. Join us for a fun-filled writing session and get all the answers to the questions you have about Writing Project Sites!
Saturday
SESSION F: 2:10-3:00
Dr. Thomas Crochunis
Catherine Crochunis-Brown, Lewis Minor, Julie DiNaples, Ellen Achey
Should We Take This Outside? Reading S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders with Contemporary Students
6-8, 9-12
S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders, published in 1967, remains a commonly taught young adult novel today. Despite the book’s being situated in a world of class-based, predominantly white teenage conflict in an era over 50 years in the past, teachers find themselves working with the book with students who may have more contemporary perspectives on socioeconomics, race and ethnicity, and gender.
In this session, four teachers—two just beginning their careers and two experienced veterans—share strategies and talk about negotiating the book’s issues with students in varied settings outside the predominantly white, late-teenage world of the book’s characters and story.
Mrs. Heather Boltz
Connection, Readiness, and Accountability: 20ish Ways to Foster All Three Traits in Your Classroom
K-5, 6-8, 9-12
From soft-starts and one-pagers to goal setting and reflection opportunities, the strategies and ideas in this hands-on session are bound to inspire educators of multiple grade levels.
Divided into three parts, this presentation guides participants through a variety of activators, summarizers, teaching strategies, and assessments that can be used in the classroom to build connection, readiness, and accountability.
Mrs. Caroline Shearer
Renee Owens
Unleashing Wonder: Activate and Create with Canva
6-8
Explore Canva as a tool to support and unleash teacher and student wonder with middle school teachers Caroline Shearer and Renee Owens. They will model ways to use Canva to reimagine your lessons and support students. Explore project management and self-reflection tools designed to help all students access inquiry opportunities. Walk away with templates to spark your creativity and adapt for your classroom as well as support for your students’ executive functioning needs. Included will be time for participants to explore project ideas and adapt materials for their students at the end of the session with help from presenters.
Dr. William Visco
Exploring a Collaborative Model of Student Teaching - How Collaboration can be the key to preparing future teachers.
9-12, college
Helping prepare our next generation of future teachers is more important than ever. In a joint partnership with an underserved school district, The University of Akron ELA Education students are getting hands on experiences helping them not only be prepared, but succeed in their future careers. Come learn how your University or high school might begin explore the benefits for students on both sides of this collaboration while better preparing our next generation of successful educators.