Reading Instruction Workshops
Comprehension Workshop, K–6
See session 5 of the Elementary Reading Academy.
Comprehension Workshop, 6–12
See session 5 of the Adolescent Reading Academy.
Differentiated Instruction Workshop
This one-day workshop is designed to facilitate the implementation of a three-tier approach within elementary schools. Content will clarify what is meant by targeted, supplemental assistance and intervention. The session will present the three levels of student need (benchmark, strategic, and intensive) and the elements of instruction that can be differentiated (pace, complexity, and degree of explicitness). Participants will learn effective techniques to manage instruction and receive a 21-day planner. Techniques to support advanced learners will also be covered.
Participant Outcomes:
- Become familiar with the three-tier approach to differentiation.
- Learn which instructional elements can be differentiated.
- Experience and practice techniques for managing differentiated instruction.
Levels: K–6. Audience: K–6 classroom teachers, English-language learner and special education staff, site and district literacy administrators, and literacy coaches. Format: One full day. Materials: Participant Resource Guide.
Differentiated Instruction Workshop: Houghton Mifflin Reading
This workshop covers how differentiated instruction occurs in the Houghton Mifflin Reading program. Participants will become familiar with the three-tier model; understand the Houghton Mifflin components for differentiation, including the assessment components; learn effective ways to differentiate; and have time to begin to lay out a plan. The workshop has two grade-level versions: K–3 and 3–6.
Participant Outcomes:
- Understand what differentiation means.
- Understand the three-tier model and its link to differentiation.
- Know the program components for differentiated instruction and for assessment.
- See an effective classroom in action.
- Know how to use a 21-day planner.
Levels: K–3, 3–6. Audience: Elementary classroom teachers, specialists, coaches, and administrators. Format: One day. Materials: Participant Resource Packet.
Multisyllabic Words and Fluency Workshop, K–6
See session 3 of the Elementary Reading Academy.
Fluency Workshop, 6–12
See session 3 of the Adolescent Reading Academy.
Decoding Instruction for Adolescents
See session 2 of the Adolescent Reading Academy.
Reading Assessment for Effective Instruction
The workshop Reading Assessment for Effective Instruction explains basic principles and terminology of assessments used to plan classroom instruction and provides participants with the knowledge they need to select, administer, score, and interpret the results of assessment measures in each of the main areas of reading instruction. Participants practice administering key assessments and using assessment results to plan instruction. The Teaching Reading Sourcebook, 2nd Edition, and Assessing Reading: Multiple Measures, 2nd Edition, provide the texts for this workshop. This workshop may be joined to the Reading Academy or taken separately.
Participant Outcomes:
- Identify the four major types of assessment and their purposes.
- Become familiar with the content and administration of various assessments in phonemic awareness, decoding and word attack, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.
- Understand how to use assessment as a basis for instructional decision making.
- Understand the role of assessment within a three-tier comprehensive literacy model.
Levels: K–12. Audience: K–6 classroom teachers, 6–12 intervention and reading teachers, English-language learner and special education staff, site and district literacy administrators, and literacy coaches. Format: One full day. Materials: Participant Resource Guide, Teaching Reading Sourcebook, 2nd Edition, and Assessing Reading: Multiple Measures, 2nd Edition.
Selecting Research-Based Materials Workshop
This half-day workshop provides guidance for any reading textbook and materials selection committee as they determine what materials will meet their needs and support the research on teaching reading. After using CORE’s "Consumer's Guide" to making good material purchases, participants leave with criteria to consider and suggested resources. CORE does not recommend a specific program, but rather educates the decision makers so that they can make a truly informed decision based on their own needs.
Participant Outcomes:
- Leave with criteria to consider and suggested resources.
- Efficiently narrow materials search.
Levels: K–6, 6–8, or 9–12 (intervention). Audience: Curriculum and textbook adoption teams and/or school site staff. Format: One-half day per grade-level group. Materials: Selecting Scientifically Based Instructional Materials: Not All Programs Are Created Equal.
Vocabulary Development Workshop, K–6
This one-day workshop provides educators with current research and effective practices to develop vocabulary knowledge in elementary school children.
Participants learn and practice research-proven methods to directly teach important content vocabulary, teach students to figure out unknown words using simple word-learning techniques, and engage in fun and stimulating activities that foster "word consciousness."
Participants receive more than 30 sample lesson models with easy application to any basal reading or literature-based program.
Participant Outcomes:
- Know the current research on vocabulary development.
- Know effective techniques for teaching specific words.
- Know effective strategies for teaching students to figure out unfamiliar words while reading.
- Have a repertoire of active strategies for promoting "word consciousness."
- Be able to apply the techniques and strategies to classroom texts.
- Leave with lessons developed to connect to existing materials.
Levels: K–6. Audience: Administrators, classroom teachers, English-language learner teachers, special education teachers, literacy coaches, and reading specialists. Format: One day. Materials: Vocabulary Handbook and Participant Resource Guide.
Note: Add a site visit for hands-on follow-up and lesson development!
Vocabulary Development Workshop, 6–12
See session 4 of the Adolescent Reading Academy.
Adolescent Literacy Solutions
Combine the Decoding and Fluency workshops for an intensive intervention-focused solution for your teachers of struggling adolescent readers. Combine the Vocabulary and Comprehension workshops to address the needs of all learners.
Intensive Intervention Series—Strand A: Decoding Instruction for Adolescents and Fluency Development
Many middle and high school teachers have not had the preparation needed to teach struggling adolescent readers. This two-day workshop will provide a starting point and foundational information to begin to make informed instructional decisions and address the needs of adolescent struggling readers, and to gain a basic understanding of decoding instruction and fluency development.
Note: Each day may be taken separately, but the two-day series is ideal.
Session 1: Decoding Instruction for Adolescents
Topics covered in this session include basic linguistics, basic phonics, high-frequency words, and multisyllabic word instruction.
Participant Outcomes:
- Understand the concept of phonemic awareness as the underpinning for learning to decode.
- Learn specific ways to teach phonics and why phonics instruction is vital for struggling readers.
- Learn strategies for teaching high-frequency words.
- Practice ways to teach students to recognize multisyllabic words.
Session 2: Fluency Development
This session focuses on instructional methods for teaching students to become fluent readers and spotlights the relationship between fluency and comprehension. Highlights include specific techniques to increase time on text and promote rereading: Reader's Theatre, active learning, and repeat reading.
Participant Outcomes:
- Understand the concept of fluency and its importance to reading achievement.
- Learn methods and tools for fluency assessment.
- Learn strategies for building reading fluency.
Levels: 6–12. Audience: 6–12 intervention teachers, English-language learner teachers, special education teachers, reading teachers, and coaches. Format: Two full days. Materials: Participant Resource Guides, Teaching Reading Sourcebook, 2nd Edition, Assessing Reading: Multiple Measures, 2nd Edition, and Blending Routines DVD.
Academic Literacy Series—Strand B: Vocabulary Development and Comprehension Strategies and Text Structures
This two-day workshop focuses on enhancing vocabulary knowledge for all middle and high school students and on improving content understanding through comprehension strategies that work for both narrative and informational text. These two sessions are appropriate for intervention, English-language learner, and all content educators.
Note: Each day may be taken separately, but the two-day series is ideal.
Session 1: Vocabulary Development
Participants learn and practice research-proven methods to directly teach important content vocabulary, teach students to figure out unknown words using contextual analysis and morphemic analysis skills, and engage in fun and stimulating activities that foster "word consciousness." Participants will receive more than 30 sample lesson models with easy application to classroom text in any academic content area.
Participant Outcomes:
- Know the current research on vocabulary development.
- Know effective techniques for teaching specific words.
- Know effective strategies for teaching students to figure out unfamiliar words while reading.
- Have a repertoire of active strategies for promoting "word consciousness."
- Be prepared to apply the techniques and strategies to classroom text.
- Leave with lessons developed to connect to existing materials.
Session 2: Comprehension Strategies and Text Structures
Participants learn about current, validated research in comprehension instruction and receive an overview of the factors known to positively impact comprehension. Participants receive in-depth instruction in selected instructional techniques that have broad application in both narrative and informational text at all grade levels, including content classes. These techniques encompass the following:
- Teacher interaction with students with an emphasis on question techniques
- Instruction in recognizing informational text structures
- Specific strategies for helping students understand internet sources
- Identifying the main idea, summarizing, and making inferences
Participant Outcomes:
- Understand seminal research on text comprehension.
- Apply a set of strategies to your own text.
- Understand different text structures and their signal words.
- Understand ways to improve instruction in content-area texts.
Levels: 6–12. Audience: 6–12 administrators, academic content-area teachers, English-language learner teachers, special education teachers, reading specialists, and coaches. Format: Two days. Materials: Comprehension Instruction booklet, Participant Resource Guide, and Vocabulary Handbook.