This session explores how teachers can intentionally support oral language development as a foundation for literacy learning. Drawing on research about language systems and adaptive teaching, the presentation invites participants to reflect on their own teaching processes and decision-making. Practical tools and examples will be shared to help teachers recognize and respond to children’s language approximations. Participants will leave with new ways to support rich classroom talk and flexible, responsive instruction.

Since 2013, 39 states have introduced science of reading (SOR) reforms supported by policy networks and educational businesses. Whereas the public debate has been primarily focused on the role of decoding and sound-letter correspondence in reading instruction, the involvement of various policy actors, including funders and donors, has remained overlooked. This presentation will explore how various donors and philanthropists have become involved in reading reforms and how their agendas have shaped approaches to early literacy instruction that inform Act 20 and other legislative mandates. 

Using Clint Smith’s poem, "No More Elegies" participants will discover how to provide poetic pauses, to help students find new ways to look at the world: to see, acknowledge, and take refuge in the moments of connection and celebration. As much as it is a habit to find and interrogate the inequalities and the injustices that we see in the world, it is also a habit to notice and take delight in what brings us joy.

Part of becoming a skilled writer involves mastery of multiple genres and composition of writing products that vary in structure and content. For many, developing a specific strategy based on the demands of the writing task is difficult and some students attempt to attack multiple writing tasks in the same manner. However, depending on the topic, genre, and composition complexity and length, the way in which writers approach different writing tasks varies. In this session, we will focus on the use of quick writes (sprints) to build student confidence and experience before progressing to extended compositions (marathons) that require stamina.

Together, we will brainstorm the beginning, middle, and end of a novel, using a single character as our starting point. This exercise demystifies the writing process and showcases a fun and energetic way to introduce storybuilding into the classroom, even for those who aren't interested in writing.

How do we preserve the joy of authentic reading and writing in an era of artificial intelligence? In this session, two veteran educators and authors of AI in the Writing Workshop: Finding the Write Balance (Heinemann, 2025) share how AI can be ethically integrated into a workshop model that still centers voice, choice, process, and human connection. Participants will explore how AI can act as a thought partner during reading, a research partner during inquiry, and a writing partner during revision, all while keeping students, not machines, at the heart of literacy. Come rethink the balance between challenge and support as we imagine a future where AI expands, rather than erases, what it means to be a joyful reader and writer.

This session focuses on how to honor students' multilingualism in the classroom to support holistic literacy learning. Session participants will explore strategies like translanguaging and multi dialectical supports, as well as interrogating how educators can disrupt notions of 'good' and 'bad' languaging in the literacy learning process.

In the scramble to “fix” reading instruction, many schools tossed out strong, research-aligned practices in favor of mandates, scripts, and shiny new programs. The result? Teachers sidelined. Students mislabeled. Budgets drained. And ironically—less effective instruction. In this session, we’ll talk honestly about what the science of reading movement got right… and what it bulldozed in the process. We’ll reflect on how we got here, what’s been lost along the way, and how we might move forward with both research and professional wisdom in mind. If you’ve ever asked, “Did we really need to tear it all down?”—this session is for you.

Drawing inspiration from, The Bunyip of Berkeley’s Creek, this presentation focuses on the ways mythical characters are perceived and represented in a multimodal picture book. Using critical literacy theories, multimodality, and identity theories to consider this award-winning picture book from a variety of perspectives, this presentation focuses on the relation among the mythical bunyip, the representation of indigenous peoples, and the development of children's identities as literate beings.

This interactive session equips educators with strategies and texts to address challenging topics like social justice, death, and mental health. Many teachers feel unprepared to tackle these complex subjects, yet they reflect students' real-world experiences. Attendees will engage with strategies and explore newer literature that serves as mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors for students. These texts help children interpret life's complexities, process emotional challenges, and understand they're not alone. This session provides a platform for exploring literature that stimulates meaningful discussions. Participants will examine texts and reflect on how to integrate them into their classrooms intentionally.

Tired of watching your students stumble over big words? Morphemes might be the secret sauce you’ve been missing. In this fast-paced, practical session, you’ll discover how 14 “power morphemes” can help students crack open thousands of content-area terms—and actually enjoy doing it. Learn how to turn root word instruction into a vocabulary superpower that boosts comprehension and confidence. You’ll leave with ready-to-use strategies, no-fluff routines, and a whole new way to look at words. Warning: side effects may include spontaneous wordplay and improved test scores.

All teachers know it: children need to practice reading independently to succeed. But how can we help motivate them to actually read? Challenging students to read a large number of books by the end of the year can work in any classroom! By organizing your classroom library, reading what students are interested in, and knowing students’ interests, all teachers can help their students become lifelong readers…and have fun doing it!

This session explores the powerful connection between early writing and systematic phonics instruction through an asset-based lens. Participants will analyze authentic writing samples, identify developmental patterns, and consider instructional moves grounded in children’s meaning-making. Emphasis will be placed on using observational data to guide phonics instruction in ways that are systematic, multisensory, and deeply connected to children’s ideas and identities. Attendees will leave with practical strategies for supporting young writers and phonics learners in responsive, developmentally appropriate ways.

Since 2020, the Council of Chief  State School Officers (CCSSO) along with other education reform organizations has been promoting Science of Reading (SOR) reforms. This presentation traces the connections between CCSSO’s calls for policy action and the introduction of new curricula, testing tools, professional development for teachers, and teacher education reforms. This analysis shows how SOR bills facilitated the spread of privatization, standardization, and centralization of decision-making. SOR reforms also increase reliance on platforms and diminish teacher professionalism, thus paving the way for the erosion of democratic structures and intensifying authoritarian control over educational institutions. 

In many primary grade classrooms, educators express concerns about children's capacities to develop positive social relationships with their peers. In this session, Kathy Collins will share ways to utilize literacy practices to help children develop meaning-making skills and social relationships, which are essential to classroom communities, oral language development, and learning collaborations. This session will focus specifically on children in grades K-2.

Whether you're an administrator stopping teacher turnover, a coach supporting rookies, or a new teacher struggling—this session delivers game-changing solutions. Discover ten field-tested strategies: the "Done is Better Than Perfect" system that reclaims evenings, "Purposeful Entry Practice" that ends classroom chaos, and mentor-building techniques that work without formal programs. Perfect for mixed audiences: administrators learn systematic support for tight budgets, while new teachers gain immediately usable tools for workload management and confidence-building. Schools report 92% retention rates using this approach. Leave with digital resources and concrete next steps.

Is writing something you love to teach or dread? Love it or hate it, writing is a necessity in education, regardless of the subject area. This workshop will explore how writing can be taught effectively through a number of venues including rap music, post it notes, commercials, peacock feathers, props, sports programing and social media. Learn how to effectively teach writing and have fun too!

The edging of SOR policies into the middle grades and beyond is a double-edged sword. On one side, attention to the needs of older students still developing as readers is long past due. On the other side, popular programs offer limited solutions that (a) address comprehensive literacy development; (b) produce sustained, generative effects, and (c) are meaningful to students. We will look at the evidence being used to promote common programs/approaches and consider the degree to which instruction based on that evidence might make a substantial difference (or not). The speaker will suggest a way forward with more immediate and long-term promise for both the reading lives and larger lives of adolescents.

Together, we will brainstorm the beginning, middle, and end of a novel, using a single character as our starting point. This exercise demystifies the writing process and showcases a fun and energetic way to introduce storybuilding into the classroom, even for those who aren't interested in writing.

This session, designed for every educator, introduces research-based strategies to support multilingual learners with practical guidance for designing inclusive instruction. Examples and videos of classroom-tested strategies that foster oral language, decoding skills, reading comprehension, vocabulary development, and writing across the curriculum will be shared. With a focus on asset-based approaches and student-centered practices, this session equips K–8 educators with tools to scaffold instruction, engage learners in meaningful and authentic language use, and create a supportive environment where multilingual students thrive. Participants will leave with a toolkit of ready-to-use ideas for immediate implementation.

This session will help participants understand how to incorporate American Indian Studies (Wisconsin Act 31) into their teaching and learning. To understand and implement Wisconsin Act 31, participants will start by learning about state law, which is the requirement that all Wisconsin public school districts and educator preparation programs provide instruction on the histories, cultures, and tribal sovereignty of the Tribal Nations of Wisconsin. This session is designed to provide participants with the resources, materials, and knowledge to incorporate American Indian Studies into lesson plans, material selections, pedagogical practices, and a district curriculum. Discussions about best practices and model programs will also be shared.

According to National Geographic, “Nearly half of the roughly 7,000 languages spoken on Earth will likely disappear, as communities abandon native tongues in favor of English.” Attendees will learn how my language (Creole), culture, and identity continue to influence my writing. I will take attendees on a journey exploring the importance of language and the effects of censorship while attending government school.

Education practices and policy are often directly and indirectly driven by the stories told in the media, among the public, and by political leaders. This session will explore the Big Lies in the compelling but misleading narratives, including A Nation at Risk/education “crisis,” reading proficiency/NAEP, National Reading Panel, poverty as an excuse, international test rankings and economic competitiveness, grade retention, growth mindset/grit, and word gap.

How can we embrace joy in literacy while advancing student agency and equity? This session explores how culturally responsive, student-centered reading practices—anchored in identity, choice, and inclusive literature—motivate all learners and foster deep engagement. Participants will examine practices that support students as critical thinkers, emotionally grounded individuals, and change agents. We’ll explore tools that bring the joy of literacy to all—sparking collaborative transformation in classrooms and beyond.

How can teachers center their learners and use their expertise about how children learn to read while working within the Act 20 law? This interactive session will explore that question by examining ways to incorporate what research tells us about formative assessment and early intervention in the personal reading plans of the unique needs of our K-3 learners.

Ready to equip students with digital literacy skills? This workshop is based on Jill Puhlmann-Becker's dissertation research, exploring how sixth graders understand digital texts. Discover strategies students use, differences between skilled and less-skilled readers, and how digital device proficiency impacts reading. Learn which student strategies are most effective in supporting deep comprehension, and compare approaches for print vs. digital texts. Gain strategies to enhance students' digital literacy skills and foster critical thinking. Ideal for all teachers seeking to transform teaching for the digital age. Unlock every student's potential for 21st-century success!

In many upper elementary classrooms, educators express concerns about children's capacities to develop positive social relationships with their peers. In this session, Kathy Collins will share ways to utilize literacy practices to help children develop meaning-making skills and social relationships, which are essential to healthy classroom communities, increased engagement, and beneficial learning collaborations. This session will focus specifically on children in grades 3-6.

How is engaged reading connected to students’ reading comprehension, growth, and wellbeing? We will look at the outcomes of research—from hundreds of interviews and years of observations of classroom life—that focused on the experiences of students whose teachers arranged for them to routinely read/talk about compelling books they chose. Students read substantially more, read more strategically-- improving state test scores--and they reported shifts in their social, emotional, and intellectual lives they attributed to reading, to the kinds of books they read, and to the conversations those books provoked. The speaker will connect the dots on how these transformations occur and describe the nature of teaching that helped produce them.

This session, designed for every educator, introduces research-based strategies to support multilingual learners with practical guidance for designing inclusive instruction. Examples and videos of classroom-tested strategies that foster oral language, decoding skills, reading comprehension, vocabulary development, and writing across the curriculum will be shared. With a focus on asset-based approaches and student-centered practices, this session equips K–8 educators with tools to scaffold instruction, engage learners in meaningful and authentic language use, and create a supportive environment where multilingual students thrive. Participants will leave with a toolkit of ready-to-use ideas for immediate implementation.

Stop letting feedback consume your personal time! Learn practical strategies to integrate meaningful feedback into daily instruction while maximizing student growth.

Discover: 

• Quick in-the-moment feedback techniques 

• Efficient student conference structures
• Peer feedback systems that build student skills 

• Impactful written comments with clear next steps 

• Time-saving digital tools and workflows

Through hands-on modeling and planning time, you'll leave with concrete methods that enhance student learning without sacrificing your work-life balance. Transform feedback from exhausting burden to energizing teaching tool! Perfect for teachers, coaches, and instructional leaders looking to build sustainable feedback practices.

This session focuses on students at the intersections of multilingualism and disability. Drawing on theories like disability justice and translanguaging universal design for learning (TrUDL), this session explores the structural barriers and disconnects between multilingual education and special education. Participants will identify strategies to engage multimodal and multilingual communication to support the literacy learning of multilingual children with disabilities.

So much to fit in, so little time! Between foundational skills, reading and writing lessons, and small group instruction, it can feel impossible to fit it all in. Because of the complex nature of literacy instruction and the vast array of student needs, tight time constraints can lead to feelings of frustration and defeat. But it can be done! In this session, you’ll discover the power of a seamless fusion of reading and writing lessons. Not only will this innovative solution save you loads of time and frustration, it will also elevate learning, increase student engagement, and build critical knowledge and skills. Reignite the joy for literacy instruction where efficiency meets empowerment!

This presentation will consider the array of relationships among words and images in contemporary picturebooks and their connections to reading comprehension. Drawing on narrative, semiotic, and literary theory, this presentation will provide literacy educators with ideas, concepts and teaching resources for talking about children's literature with children.

Many educators have complied with ACT 20’s mandate to complete LETRS training, or an approved facsimile, as a measure to ensure students’ reading proficiency. Despite that training, you may be experiencing what scientific studies, the Forward Exam, and NAEP’s results show: that after LETRS, not all your students are proficient readers. Phonics is critical to reading, but after your increased focus on phonics and a new curriculum, some students have not progressed, or worse, regressed. Using student examples and student profiles, this session focuses on why this phenomenon occurs and how you can effectively utilize your valuable resources of time and expertise, including what’s missing from word learning and word solving, to ensure optimal student success as readers and writers, not just for some, but for all.

Discover a variety of high-impact routines designed to support writing about reading in the adolescent classroom. Focused on practical strategies, the session will cover effective note-taking techniques, summarization practices and how to leverage text structures to improve both comprehension and writing skills. Educators will walk away with actionable tools to help students engage more deeply with texts, enhance their understanding, and strengthen their ability to articulate their thoughts through writing. This session will provide invaluable techniques to foster stronger literacy outcomes in the classroom.

Survivor testimonies offer a powerful entry point for teaching the Holocaust and other genocides, helping students connect emotionally while developing historical understanding and critical thinking. This session will explore how to thoughtfully incorporate memoirs, diaries, and oral histories into 6th–12th grade classrooms. Participants will examine age-appropriate texts, digital testimony resources, and strategies for guiding sensitive discussions. Attendees will leave with practical tools to deepen empathy, literacy skills, and engagement through firsthand accounts.

This roundtable session will connect educators with professors of literacy from across Wisconsin. In this session, educators will rotate, in small groups, to learn from professors about literacy skills and strategies rooted in research. Participants will rotate between six to eight tables and will leave each session with different evidence-based practices that can be implemented in their classrooms. This session will support educators in making connections between theory, research, and practice as we navigate the various literacy contexts shaping our practices in Wisconsin. This session is also an opportunity for various educational stakeholders to connect theory and evidence-based practices to the realities of current classroom contexts.