Conference Resources & Follow-ups
If you would like to register for an upcoming conference, please click here.
Workshop Evaluation & Clock Hours
In order to accommodate the changes to the new clock hours system from the state of Illinois, we will have a new system in place for conferences to distribute clock hours -
* After each conference, we will send a list of participants to IRC. You will now need to provide your IEIN number at registration as we are required to include that on the list we send to the IRC.
* IRC will send participants an electronic evaluation form. (You will need your IEIN number in order to complete it.)
* Once you complete your evaluation and submit it to IRC, they will send your clock hour from directly to you.
* After each conference, we will send a list of participants to IRC. You will now need to provide your IEIN number at registration as we are required to include that on the list we send to the IRC.
* IRC will send participants an electronic evaluation form. (You will need your IEIN number in order to complete it.)
* Once you complete your evaluation and submit it to IRC, they will send your clock hour from directly to you.
Below is a list of our previous conferences, divided by school year.
If the presenter provided a handout, we have placed a copy here.
If the presenter provided a handout, we have placed a copy here.
2020-2021 Conferences
Spring 2021 - Liz Kleinrock - April 21, 2021
Winter 2021 - Dr. Gilo Kwesi Logan - February 24, 2021
Fall 2020 - Dr. Sonja Cherry-Paul - October 29, 2020
Winter 2021 - Dr. Gilo Kwesi Logan - February 24, 2021
Fall 2020 - Dr. Sonja Cherry-Paul - October 29, 2020
2019-2020 Conferences
Winter 2020-Maria Nichols-January 25, 2020
Fall 2019-Carl Anderson-September 25, 2019
2018-2019 Conferences
Summer 2019-Jan Burins & Kim Yaris-June 21, 2019
Winter 2019 - Pernille Ripp - January 26, 2019
2017-2018 Conferences
Summer Conference-Cris Tovani-June 14, 2018
Click here for the handout from the conference.
Click here for the handout from the conference.
Winter Conference-Jane Fleming-February 22, 2018
Click here for the handout from the conference.
Click here for the handout from the conference.
Fall Conference-Harvey "Smokey" Daniels-September 27, 2017
2016-2017 Conferences
Summer Conference - Jen Serravallo - June 16, 2017
Winter Conference - Nancy Steineke - February 1, 2017
Click here for the handout from the conference.
Click here for the handout from the conference.
Fall Conference - Lindsey Moses-October 27, 2016
Here are the handouts from the conference:
Part 1
Part 2
Here are the handouts from the conference:
Part 1
Part 2
2015-2016 Conferences
Summer Conference-Chris Lehman & Kate Roberts-
June 23 & 24, 2016
SCIRA's summer conference was enlightening for all who attended. Chris Lehman and Kate Roberts reminded us that we need to not only close read texts, but also life in today's information-overloaded world. They defined close reading as when a reader independently stops at moments in a text (or media or life) to reread and observe the choices an author has made. He or she reflects on those observations to reach for new understandings that can color the way the rest of the book is read (or song heard or life lived) and thought about.
Kate and Chris showed ways of making close reading, an often mundane task, more engaging. Examples include close reading "Blank Spaces," a Taylor Swift song or finding what is "not said" in commercials. We learned that we need to give students different lenses to focus on as they reread. Students should look at the structure of a text, then focus on patterns found throughout the text and develop new understandings based on these patterns.
Throughout their presentation, we all fell in love with close reading.
Kate and Chris showed ways of making close reading, an often mundane task, more engaging. Examples include close reading "Blank Spaces," a Taylor Swift song or finding what is "not said" in commercials. We learned that we need to give students different lenses to focus on as they reread. Students should look at the structure of a text, then focus on patterns found throughout the text and develop new understandings based on these patterns.
Throughout their presentation, we all fell in love with close reading.
Winter Conference-Dr. Blachowicz & Dr. Cobb Vocabulary- February 23, 2016
Thank you to everyone who joined us for a WORDY evening with Dr. Blachowicz and Dr. Cobb.
We hope your classrooms are filled with logophiles (lovers of words)!
Click below for 2 additional hand-outs.
Post-Conference Handout
Blachowicz & Cobb Handout
We hope your classrooms are filled with logophiles (lovers of words)!
Click below for 2 additional hand-outs.
Post-Conference Handout
Blachowicz & Cobb Handout
Fall Conference-Georgia Heard-October 28th, 2015
Thank you to everyone who joined us for an inspiring evening
with Georgia Heard!
We hope you learned a lot, discussed with colleagues, and maybe even went back to work and tried something new.
To continue to learn with Georgia Heard, click here to visit her website.
with Georgia Heard!
We hope you learned a lot, discussed with colleagues, and maybe even went back to work and tried something new.
To continue to learn with Georgia Heard, click here to visit her website.
2014-2015 Conferences
Summer Conference-Lester Laminack & Kelly Gallagher-
June 18th & 19th, 2015
We hope you were inspired by everything you learned from
Lester Laminack & Kelly Gallagher -
Both speakers reminded us about the importance of selecting mentor texts that provide strong models of the kinds of real-world reading and writing we want to share with all our students. We heard new ideas that complemented things we knew, and we walked away truly renewed to to what is best for kids in the next school year.
If you learned something new or can't wait to try out a text or strategy, please share it on our blog or tweet it out over the summer!
If you would like to learn more about Dr. Laminack's work, click here to visit his website.
To learn more about Kelly Gallagher, click here.
Lester Laminack & Kelly Gallagher -
Both speakers reminded us about the importance of selecting mentor texts that provide strong models of the kinds of real-world reading and writing we want to share with all our students. We heard new ideas that complemented things we knew, and we walked away truly renewed to to what is best for kids in the next school year.
If you learned something new or can't wait to try out a text or strategy, please share it on our blog or tweet it out over the summer!
If you would like to learn more about Dr. Laminack's work, click here to visit his website.
To learn more about Kelly Gallagher, click here.
Winter Conference-Troy Hicks-January 27th, 2015
Dr.Troy Hicks, a former middle school teacher, continues to collaborate with K-12 colleagues to explore how they implement new literacies in their classrooms. Dr. Hicks is an Associate Professor of English at Central Michigan University. His work focuses on the teaching of writing, literacy and technology, teacher education and professional development. He directs CMU's Chippewa River Writing Project, a site of the National Writing Project, and conducts professional development workshops related to writing and technology. In March 2011, he was honored with CMU's Provost's Award for junior faculty for demonstrating outstanding achievement in research and creative activity. His publications include Crafting Digital Writing (Heinemann, 2013), The Digital Writing Workshop (Heinemann, 2009), and co-author of Because Digital Writing Matters (Jossey-Bass, 2010) and Create, Compose, Connect! (Routledge/Eye on Education, 2014). To learn about the fascinating work that Dr. Hicks is implementing in writing with new literacies visit his blog at Digital Writing, Digital Teaching.
Fall Conference-Ralph Fletcher-September 29th, 2014
Ralph Fletcher has been a mentor to teachers and young writers everywhere. Ralph's latest Heinemann books continue this tradition. What a Writer Needs, Second Edition mentors teachers and writers in the elements and craft of writing. Mentor Author, Mentor Texts brings inspiration to teachers and students by sharing Ralph's own writing across numerous genres plus writer's notes that reveal his thinking.
Ralph frequently works with young writers in schools, and speaks at education conferences in the U.S. and abroad, helping teachers find wiser ways of teaching writing. Ralph is the beloved author of many bestselling teacher professional books including Writing Workshop: The Essential Guide; Craft Lessons; and Breathing In, Breathing Out as well as the author of firsthand classroom materials such as Teaching the Qualities of Writing and Lessons for the Writer’s Notebook. Students know Ralph as the award-winning author of more than 20 books for children and young adults, including Fig Pudding, Twilight Comes Twice, The Writer’s Notebook,and Marshfield Dreams: When I Was a Kid.
To learn more about Ralph Fletcher, click here to visit his website.
Ralph frequently works with young writers in schools, and speaks at education conferences in the U.S. and abroad, helping teachers find wiser ways of teaching writing. Ralph is the beloved author of many bestselling teacher professional books including Writing Workshop: The Essential Guide; Craft Lessons; and Breathing In, Breathing Out as well as the author of firsthand classroom materials such as Teaching the Qualities of Writing and Lessons for the Writer’s Notebook. Students know Ralph as the award-winning author of more than 20 books for children and young adults, including Fig Pudding, Twilight Comes Twice, The Writer’s Notebook,and Marshfield Dreams: When I Was a Kid.
To learn more about Ralph Fletcher, click here to visit his website.
2013-2014 Conferences
Summer Conference-Ellin Oliver Keene & Dan Feigelson-
June 19 & 20, 2014
June 19th with Ellin Oliver Keene
Topic - Talk About Understanding: Rethinking Classroom Talk to Enhance Comprehension
Ellin Oliver Keene has been a classroom teacher, staff developer and adjunct professor of reading and writing. For sixteen years she directed staff development initiatives at the Denver-based Public Education & Business Coalition. She served as Deputy Director and Director of Literacy and Staff Development for the Cornerstone Project at the University of Pennsylvania for 4 years and now consults with schools and districts around the country.
Ellin is author of Talk About Understanding (Heinemann, 2012), co-author of Comprehension Going Forward ( To Understand (Heinemann, 2008), co-author of Mosaic of Thought (2nd Edition, 2007), and Assessing Comprehension Thinking Strategies (Shell, 2006) and has chapters in Adolescent Literacy (Heinemann, 2007) and Improving Comprehension Instruction (Jossey Bass/IRA, 2002) among others as well as numerous articles in journals such as Educational Leadership and The Reading Teacher.
Click here to visit Ellin's website, Mosaic Literacy.
June 20th with Dan Feigelson
Topic - Writing Workshop and the Common Core Standards: What We Need to Know About Teaching (and Assessing) Qualities of Writing in an Age of New Rigor
Daniel Feigelson is a literacy consultant who has worked extensively in NYC schools and around the country. One of the original members of Lucy Calkins' Teachers College Writing Project, he went on to become one of the most highly regarded elementary reading and writing workshop teachers in New York City at Brooklyn’s P.S. 321, and a staff developer in District 15. As a fellow at the University of Pittsburgh’s Institute for Learning, he was one of the groups who put together literacy standards for New York and other cities and was featured on several instructional videos and web materials. A co-director of the Office of Research, Development and Dissemination at the NYCBOE, Dan produced curriculum and staff development materials used around the country. After a five year stint as principal of New York City’s highly regarded P.S. 6 (where he was singled out as a “model literacy principal”), he currently works as a Local Instructional Superintendent in New York City’s Region 9. Dan is the author of Practical Punctuation Lessons on Rule Making and Rule Breaking in Elementary Writing published by Heinemann.
Click here to see photos from this summer's conference!
Topic - Talk About Understanding: Rethinking Classroom Talk to Enhance Comprehension
Ellin Oliver Keene has been a classroom teacher, staff developer and adjunct professor of reading and writing. For sixteen years she directed staff development initiatives at the Denver-based Public Education & Business Coalition. She served as Deputy Director and Director of Literacy and Staff Development for the Cornerstone Project at the University of Pennsylvania for 4 years and now consults with schools and districts around the country.
Ellin is author of Talk About Understanding (Heinemann, 2012), co-author of Comprehension Going Forward ( To Understand (Heinemann, 2008), co-author of Mosaic of Thought (2nd Edition, 2007), and Assessing Comprehension Thinking Strategies (Shell, 2006) and has chapters in Adolescent Literacy (Heinemann, 2007) and Improving Comprehension Instruction (Jossey Bass/IRA, 2002) among others as well as numerous articles in journals such as Educational Leadership and The Reading Teacher.
Click here to visit Ellin's website, Mosaic Literacy.
June 20th with Dan Feigelson
Topic - Writing Workshop and the Common Core Standards: What We Need to Know About Teaching (and Assessing) Qualities of Writing in an Age of New Rigor
Daniel Feigelson is a literacy consultant who has worked extensively in NYC schools and around the country. One of the original members of Lucy Calkins' Teachers College Writing Project, he went on to become one of the most highly regarded elementary reading and writing workshop teachers in New York City at Brooklyn’s P.S. 321, and a staff developer in District 15. As a fellow at the University of Pittsburgh’s Institute for Learning, he was one of the groups who put together literacy standards for New York and other cities and was featured on several instructional videos and web materials. A co-director of the Office of Research, Development and Dissemination at the NYCBOE, Dan produced curriculum and staff development materials used around the country. After a five year stint as principal of New York City’s highly regarded P.S. 6 (where he was singled out as a “model literacy principal”), he currently works as a Local Instructional Superintendent in New York City’s Region 9. Dan is the author of Practical Punctuation Lessons on Rule Making and Rule Breaking in Elementary Writing published by Heinemann.
Click here to see photos from this summer's conference!
Winter-Tim Shanahan-January 29, 2014
Topic - Meeting the Challenges of the Common Core Standards - Close Reading
To visit his website, go to http://www.shanahanonliteracy.com
To see the PowerPoint presentation from the conference, click here
To visit his website, go to http://www.shanahanonliteracy.com
To see the PowerPoint presentation from the conference, click here
Dr. Tim Shanahan's article about close reading
Close Reading & Classroom Discussion
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CCSS & Text Complexity
Research Foundations for the CCSS
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Fall 2013-Sunday Cummins
Topic - Close Reading in Informational Text
Close Reading of Informational Texts: Assessment Driven Instruction in Grades 3-8 (The Guilford Press, 2013)
Click here to visit Sunday Cummins' website.
Close Reading of Informational Texts: Assessment Driven Instruction in Grades 3-8 (The Guilford Press, 2013)
Click here to visit Sunday Cummins' website.
2012-2013 Conferences
Summer 2013-Doug Fisher
Topic - Close Reading, Text Complexity, and Text-Dependent Questions
Click here to visit Doug Fisher's website.
Click here to visit Doug Fisher's website.
Winter 2013-Kristin Ziemke
Topic - Using iPads for Literacy Learning
Fall 2012-Junko Yokota
Topic - Digital Literacy