Workshops
Workshop sessions involve extensive interaction between presenters and participants around an idea or hands-on experience of a practice. These sessions may also take the form of a crafted panel, staged conversation, dialogue, or debate – all involving substantial interaction with the audience. [45 min. each]
The Voice of Differentiation: Increasing Comprehensible Output through the Pedagogical Integration of Comprehensible Input
Workshop Presentation Holly Arnold, Robert Weber
To master subject matter content, one thing must occur: the content message must be comprehensible (Krashen, 1982). This session is created to lead teachers through effective and engaging pedagogy that is designed to increase both comprehensible input and output in the classroom. As a whole group, attendees will view and read the passage “A Mardsan Giberter for Farfie.” Written in a gibberish language, this passage is difficult for all learners to read as it is not a real language. Following the reading of this passage, attendees will be divided into small groups of four and will answer five simple questions about the passage. Surprisingly, they will be able to answer the questions, even though the content is unknown. This activity highlights that attendees have the literacy skills to read the passage, but the lack of comprehensible input impedes them from understanding it. (This activity mimics a traditional reading lesson, with assessment.) Finally, the presenter will translate the passage into English, and reveal the content topic. Then, attendees will be guided through five simple strategies that would have created more comprehensible input for linguistically and culturally diverse learners. Examples will include how the presenter could have built background through visual representations, language and literacy strategies, activating prior knowledge prior to reading, cultural differentiation, and linguistic differentiations for comprehensible output when writing and speaking. These strategies can immediately be applied to classrooms for students of all ages or shared with student-teachers at the college level who will be working with English learners.
Read, Talk, Play Every Day: Developing a Community-wide Early Literacy Initiative
Workshop Presentation Peggy D Muehlenkamp
Every child, regardless of their economic status, race or social standing, deserves an equal opportunity to read. Our role in early education is to build the foundation for early literacy skills but we know there are many additional factors that impact our students before they walk into our classrooms. Community support and parent/caregiver education are critical for the success of our littlest learners. The Janesville Early Literacy Task Force is committed to engaging the entire community in preparing children from birth to age four to succeed in school and life by empowering families to read, talk, and play together every day. Attendees will: participate in activities to deepen their understanding of the importance of early literacy and brain development and how to engage their community in supporting this important work. consider potential programs and ideas for measuring the impact of a community-wide early literacy initiative. celebrate successes and learn from challenges we’ve faced along the way. The presentation includes the following engagement strategies designed to deepen understanding, collaborate with peers, reflect on learning and identify an action they will take as a result of the learning. Walkabout: instructional hook & background builder - Participants interact with quotes/statistics to address essential questions Filling the Silence: participants view a brief video clip (sound off), write a script to narrate, share script with a partner, view clip with sound and reflect with whole group AEIOU: reflection/summary of learning strategy A - Adjective E - Emotion I = Interesting O - Oh! U - Um?
