Meeting and Exceeding Standards through Effective Literacy Instruction

Looking for Best Practices to Reach the Common Core State Standards? Join us for the 2013 Write to Learn Conference and Learn What Traditional Practices to Keep and How to Tweak Others to Achieve Maximum Learning!

You've probably heard the old saying that "the only constant is change." Well, there’s a lot of truth to that saying. In our rapidly-changing world, we as teachers need to make sure that we stay up to date on the latest research concerning effective instructional practice. We also need to keep up with the ever-changing world of educational technology and make sure we use such technology to help our students achieve high levels of literacy.

On the other hand, there are also a number of “tried and true” teaching practices that we need to hang onto. It is easy to fall into the trap of constantly chasing the newest shiny object out there in the educational world, and this may lead us to abandon traditional practices that work.

It’s all about finding that difficult balance and making good instructional decisions. And that’s what this year’s Write to Learn Conference is designed to help you do. The theme for this year’s conference is “Challenging Conventions, Tweaking Traditions,” and we will bring together some of the top experts in the country on the topic.

This year’s speakers include Jeff Anderson, author of Mechanically Inclined and Everyday Editing, who simultaneously works within the “traditional” areas of grammar, usage, and editing and shows teachers new and more effective approaches for doing so; Cris Tovani, author of I Read It, but I Don't Get It and Do I Really Have to Teach Reading?, who has done as much to revolutionize secondary reading instruction as just about anyone on the planet; Donalyn Miller, author of The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child, who shows teachers how to help their students meet rigorous standards while simultaneously instilling a deep love of reading; Teri Lesesne, author of Making the Match, Naked Reading, and Reading Ladders, who demonstrates how, even in today’s technological world, putting the right book in a student’s hands has transformative power; and performance poets Sara Holbrook and Michael Salinger, who demonstrate how to incorporate poetry into a variety of content areas in order to increase learning within a joyful atmosphere.

In addition to these wonderful “academic” authors, we have two award-winning writers speaking at this year’s conference. Mike Reiss is the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning writer of The Simpsons, who will make the case for expanding our ideas of genre and literacy for today’s students. And Matt de la Pena is an award-winning young adult novelist, author of Ball Don’t Lie, Mexican WhiteBoy, and We Were Here, who will share his moving personal message about the power of words to change lives.

In addition to these experts, we offer a variety of other events, as well as 50 breakout sessions on a wide variety of topics. You won’t want to miss this exciting learning opportunity! So, please join us February 28-March 2, 2013 at the Tan-Tar-A Resort in Osage Beach, Missouri. You’ll be glad you did!

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