Creating Secondary Reading/Writing Workshops: Teaching for Transfer, Transformation, and Authentic Engagement

July 8 – Aug. 2, 2019

In Kelly Gallagher and Penny Kittle’s afterward of 180 Days, they write: “We believe our profession needs just what our students need: less standardization and more teacher creativity. Less common ground and more radical transformations, beginning with the smart thinking and professionalism of each of you. Let us recapture the spirit of innovation that is the central ingredient in great, passionate teaching. Let us make decisions that lead to increased student engagement with reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Let us slow down and go deeper, even if this means the entire curriculum is not covered” (p. 225).

Join us as we critically examine and comment on the scholarship in 180 Days, Berit Gordan’s No More Fake Reading, and Mary E. Styslinger’s Workshopping the Canon in order to radically transform our secondary ELA classrooms into smart, innovative, and inspiring reading/writing workshops. Workshopping the Canon is an NCTE Reads summer book club selection this summer!

After taking this class, participants will form

• a strengthened set of beliefs, daily practices, and the knowledge to transfer “essential reading understandings” (Gordan, p. 18) for Iowa classrooms.
• a guiding philosophy that balances and/or blends independent reading, bookclubs, and core texts.
• a guiding philosophy that teaches a rhythm for teaching writing (narrative, informational, argument) and research (multigenre project).
• an understanding of how the workshop structure allows us to maximize profound connections with our students by providing frequent formative evaluations, supportive interventions, greater teacher clarity, and authentic feedback.

We’ll collaborate, communicate, create, and think together. Join us, enter your heroic zone of proximal development, and walk away with a renewed spirit of innovation and the knowledge to empower and engage your students this fall.

For more information or to enroll, visit AEA Online.