This session explores expanding our understanding of student learning, moving beyond the traditional classroom to embrace the rich learning environments within our schools and communities. We begin by recognizing that children thrive when connected to their communities, fostering connectivity, positive development, and essential life skills. Every adult in a school, from nutrition staff to bus drivers, plays a vital role in a student's life, often serving as mentors and coaches. Deep partnerships with students, families, community leaders, and other stakeholders are crucial for achieving our shared educational goals. This requires a broader vision of the school community, one that embraces the various adults within and surrounding our schools.
Participants will explore strategies for expanding the concept of student educators in helping to create optimal learning environments. These strategies are critical for creating strong instructional communities that fully wraparound students and build upon their assets and connections. We will also explore how to provide non-instructional staff with relevant professional development and support. Learning opportunities on topics like student development and strategies for connecting to students can equip these individuals to support students effectively, bridging the gap between classroom learning and the broader school experience. This approach reinforces that everyone contributes to student growth.
This session, presented virtually, will bring the most experienced Bookworms leadership team in the whole country to you! Bookworms author Sharon Walpole will host the meeting, but the Seaford Leadership Team will take the stage. They will share their strategies for initial teacher training, building principal understanding, and providing ongoing coaching for teachers and leaders. And the proof is in the pudding – they will show their student achievement data over time. After they share their story, they will take your questions.
In this interactive session, we will explore strategies for seamlessly integrating grammar instruction into the respond together component, text connections, written responses, and genre-based writing to create a cohesive and effective writing experience. Participants will learn how to weave together these essential components, ensuring that grammar lessons not only support writing skills but also enrich students' ability to respond thoughtfully to texts and express their ideas clearly. By blending explicit grammar instruction with collaborative respond-together activities and independent writing tasks, educators will gain practical tools for fostering student engagement and improving writing proficiency across all stages of the writing process.
Join us for an inspiring discussion on how to build a comprehensive approach that supports both language mechanics and creative expression in the classroom.
