SMALL GROUP SESSIONS

Below is a chart with the titles of the small group sessions and their presenters. For more information about each session, look at the detailed list below the chart.The sessions are listed in the same order. For a printable version (pdf) of these sessions or for information about keynote and featured speakers, click on one of the links at the top or bottom of the page. You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed to download a PDF.

SMALL GROUP SESSIONS: Friday, February 9th

10:15 - 11:15	11:30 - 12:30
Karen Antikajian, Consultant Comprehension at the Primary Level, What Do YOU Think it Means? K-3 and Title I Room: Three Sisters	Dr. Anita Archer, Featured Speaker Advanced Decoding and Fluency Instruction for Older Struggling Readers Upper Elementary, MS, HS, Title I Room: Mt. Hood
Dr. Anita Archer, National Consultant Advanced Decoding and Fluency Instruction for Older Struggling Readers Upper Elementary, MS, HS, Title I Room: Mt. Hood	Debra Franciosi, McMinnville School District Dealing with Demons: Preparing Students for State Reading Tests Elementary, MS, Secondary Room: Ross Island
Dr. Jane Braunger, National Consultant , What Does Research Say About Designing Quality Literacy Instruction? All Levels Room: Oregon	Claire Hiscox, Consultant Making a Difference with Informational Text Primary, Elementary, Title I Room: Three Sisters
Jan George, Consultant Questions, Questions, Questions, Traditional Questions, Authentic Questions, and Question-Answer-Relationships Light the Way to Student Independence Elementary, MS, HS Room: Ross Island	Mary McDonald, Consultant Razzle, Dazzle Reading Strategies Primary and Elementary Room: Oregon
Karen Gomez, Eastern Oregon University Content Area Literacy Strategies for Upper Elementary and Middle School Students Upper Elementary and MS Room: Alaska	Teresa A. Morrison, Consultant Listening Comprehension and Reading Aloud to Students: What's the Big Deal? All Levels Room: Morrison
Alice Greiner, Adams State College Closing the Achievement Gap for At-Risk Writers Primary, Elementary and MS Room: Sellwood	Eric Ode, Songwriter (www.ericode.com) "Hey, It Could Be Verse!" - Intermediate Intermediate Room: Broadway
Lloyd Hardesty, IRA Board Member Nurturing a Passion for Children's Literature All Levels Room: Idaho	Penny Plavala, School Improvement Specialist Vocabulary: A Vital Key to Comprehension Middle School and High School Room: Mt. Bachelor
Donna L. Knoell, Consultant Comprehension—the Essence of Reading: Helping All Students Understand What They Read Primary, Elem, MS, Secondary, Title I Room: Mt. Bachelor	Dr. Rosemary Siring, Eastern Oregon University with Michelle Lucus, Leesa Trimble, and Nai Saelee How Diverse is Diversity? All Levels Room: Hawthorne
Jo Margeson, Grants Pass SD Goose to Seuss . . . Taking Time to Make a Rhyme! Early Childhood, Primary, Title I Room: St. Helens	Dr. Jill Schwimmer, Northwest Christian College Helping Struggling Readers Become Wonderful Readers and Nothing Less! Elementary and Middle School Room: St. Helens for more info: www.score4reading.com
Diantha Mollahan, Albany SD Why is She Wearing That Hat? Classroom Management Techniques That Make Every Moment Count Primary and Elementary Room: Broadway	Peter Thacker, University of Portland "I Am From . . ." Teaching Literacy Elementary, MS, Secondary, Title I, and Staff Developers Room: Alaska
Dr. Michael Tanner, Warner Pacific College and Dr. Steven Grubaugh, University of Nevada-Las Vegas Inference and Metacognitive Strategies That Are Beacons Through the Fog for Secondary Readers Elementary, MS, HS, Title I, ESL, and Special Education Room: Hawthorne	Sarah Womble, IRA Regional Coordinator Administrators: The Instructional Leaders in Today's Schools District and Building-level Administrators (K-8), Teacher Leaders Room: Idaho
Sue Wilder, Developmental Studies Center Strategies That Build Reading Comprehension and Classroom Community in Grades K-8 Primary, Elementary and MS Room: Morrison	Terrell A. Young, Washington State University Vocabulary Strategies for Engaging Students with Informational Text Elementary and Middle School Room: Sellwood

SMALL GROUP SESSIONS: Friday, February 9th — 10:15 - 11:15

Title: "Comprehension Instruction at the Primary Level: What Do YOU Think it Means?"
Presenter: Karen Antikajian, Consultant
Audience: Primary, Title I
Room: Three Sisters
What role does comprehension instruction have in teaching reading to K-2 students? Come to this session to learn what the experts have to say and to get practical strategies and activities for teaching it. We will use Keith Baker's More Mr. and Mrs. Green to demonstrate strategies that also work well for struggling third graders and Title 1 students. Handouts include Keith's book and a teaching guide.

Title: "Advanced Decoding and Fluency Instruction for Older Struggling Readers"
Presenter: Dr. Anita Archer, National Consultant and Featured Speaker
Audience: Upper Elementary, MS, HS, Title I
Room: Mt. Hood
Do you work with struggling readers who have difficulty reading longer words? Reading fluently? Does the lack of decoding proficiency and reading fluency deter their reading comprehension, work completion, and enjoyment of reading? Dr. Archer will introduce a research-validated flexible decoding strategy that students can use to decode three to eight part words commonly. In addition, research on how to increase students’ reading rate will be presented. 

Title:  "What Does Research Say About Designing Quality Literacy Instruction?"
Presenter: Dr. Jane Braunger, National Consultant and Featured Speaker
Audience: All Levels
Room: Oregon
Participants will deepen their knowledge of the latest research on literacy teaching and learning, with an emphasis on reading as a process, the teaching of reading, and professional development to support literacy learning K-12. The session will provide an overview of the updated 13 core understandings about reading (Braunger and Lewis, Building a Knowledge Base in Reading, 2nd edition, IRA/NCTE, 2006). Participants will engage in a discussion of literacy vignettes, using the core understandings to inform instructional decision-making.

Title: "Questions, Questions, Questions, Traditional Questions, Authentic Questions, and Question-Answer Relationships Light the Way to Student Independence.
Presenter: Jan George, Consultant
Audience: Elementary, MS, HS
Room: Ross Island
Participants will be taught through modeling and interactive lessons, principles of directing students to ask their own questions and become active learners. Strategies presented will enable students to lead their own discussions, develop higher level thinking skills and become more engaged in-group activities.

Title: "Content Area Literacy Strategies for Upper Elementary and Middle School Students"
Presenter: Karyn Gomez, Eastern Oregon University
Audience: Upper Elementary and Middle School
Room: Alaska
This workshop will provide teachers with multiple examples of literacy strategies for use in the classroom to increase content knowledge and critical thinking skills. Black line masters will be furnished as a handout to participants, and information will be shared regarding how to evaluate trade publications for classroom use.

Title: "Closing the Achievement Gap for At-Risk Writers"
Presenter: Alice Greiner, Adams State College
Audience: Primary, Elementary, MS
Room: Sellwood
All students need strong written communication skills. Writing has been the skill many at-risk students struggle with most. This highly interactive session will provide teachers a hands-on approach for sentence building, prewriting organization, and paragraph writing. These strategies are compatible with the 6+ 1 Traits of Writing and have deliberate connections to reading.

Title: "Nurturing a Passion For Children's Literature"
Presenter: Lloyd Hardesty, IRA Board Member
Audience:  All levels
Room: Idaho
Rekindle your passion for teaching using effective and engaging teaching strategies as it influences reading, writing, listening and speaking instruction while using quality children's literature. Also learn how to use content area literature to explore and connect with children's life experiences and use as a tool for quality writing instruction and oral communication.

Title: "Comprehension—The Essence of Reading: Helping All Students Understand What They Read"
Presenter: Donna L. Knoell, Consultant
Audience: Primary, Elementary, Middle School, Secondary, Title I
Room: Mt. Bachelor
Presenter will offer strategies, ideas and activities to help students successfully comprehend what they read. She will discuss specific skills that are needed to understand both narrative and informational texts. Handouts will be provided.

Title:  "Goose to Seuss . . . Taking Time to Make a Rhyme!"
Presenter: Jo Margeson, Grants Pass School District
Audience:  Early Childhood, Primary, Title I
Room: St. Helens
Discover techniques and activities to ncorporate phonemic awareness through rhyme and rhythm for your emergent and beginning readers. Help your readers develop the ability o segment and manipulate the sounds of oral language building a solid foundation for becoming a reader. Research has shown taat a child's awareness of hhe sounds of spoken words is a strong predictor of his or her later success in learning to read. Nursery rhymes, songs, poems, and read-aloud book ideas will be presented for teaches to take back to their classrooms and use!

Title:  "Why Is She Wearing That Hat? Classroom Management Techniques That Make Each Moment Count."
Presenter: Diantha Mollahan, Albany School District
Audience:  Primary and Elementary
Room: Broadway
Every minute counts with classroom management skills that make clever use of daily routines such as passing out materials or moving from one task to the next. Learn to make props to motivate students, as well as techniques for purposeful transitions in your literacy block and beyond!

Title: "Inference and Metacognitive Strategies That Are Beacons Through the Fog for Secondary Readers"
Presenters: Dr. Michael Tanner, Warner Pacific College and Dr. Steven Grubaugh, University of Nevada—Las Vegas
Audience:  Elementary, MS, HS, Title I, ESL, and Special Education
Room: Hawthorne
This presentation will model the use of effective strategies to use with secondary readers that teach state standards of inference and critical thinking. Presenters will model strategies for detecting inferences, model critical thinking processes, and then lead metacognitive discussions on their usefulness and impact with students.

Title: "Strategies That Build Reading Comprehension and Classroom Community in Grades K-8"
Presenter: Sue Wilder, Developmental Studies Center
Audience: Primary, Elementary, and Middle School
Room: Morrison
Participants explore reading comprehension curriculum that teaches students comprehension strategies directly using fiction and expository text while exposing students to the joys of reading. Through video and other examples of students' thinking from the classroom, participants explore the importance of talk and responsibility, the value of cooperative structures in learning, comprehension strategies, and ways to foster prosocial development.

SMALL GROUP SESSIONS: Friday, February 9th — 11:30 - 12:30

Title: "Advanced Decoding and Fluency Instruction for Older Struggling Readers"
Presenter: Dr. Anita Archer, National Consultant and Featured Speaker
Audience: Upper Elementary, MS, HS, Title I
Room: Mt. Hood
Do you work with struggling readers who have difficulty reading longer words?  Reading fluently? Does the lack of decoding proficiency and reading fluency deter their reading comprehension, work completion, and enjoyment of reading? Dr. Archer will introduce a research-validated flexible decoding strategy that students can use to decode three to eight part words commonly. In addition, research on how to increase students’ reading rate will be presented. 

Title: "Dealing with Demons: Preparing Students for State Reading Tests"
Presenter: Debra Franciosi, McMinnville School District
Audience: Elementary, Middle School, Secondary
Room: Ross Island
While never fun, preparing students for state tests in a thoughtful manner can yield great results. Learn about a test preparation program implemented 6-12, but appropriate for upper elementary as well, that combines quick hits in the classroom and short-term small groups pull-outs to demystify reading tests.

Title: "Making a Difference with Informational Text"
Presenter: Claire Hiscox, Consultant
Audience: Elementary and Title I
Room: Three Sisters
This session will focus on the importance of using informational text to propel student learning. Strategies and activities will be shared that teachers can take directly to their classrooms to pretest, teach, or assess skills. When informational text is utilized, students are more engaged, comprehension increases, and test scores go up!

Title: "Razzle, Dazzle Reading Strategies"
Presenter: Mary McDonald, Consultant
Audience: Primary and Elementary
Room: Oregon
This fast paced workshop will present strategies for vocabulary and comprehension. The Oregon Standards in reading will be used as a baseline to focus on those areas that present a challenge for struggling readers. Targeted strategies will be highlighted. This presentation will help teachers discover ways for helping readers make connection across the curriculum. Comprehension strategies will focus on all content areas and what to do before, during, and after reading. In addition, how to motivate students, ways of developing critical thinking, and rubrics for writing will be part of the multiple ways of enhancing reading comprehension.

Title: "Listening Comprehension and Reading Aloud to Students: What's the Big Deal?
Presenter: Teresa A. Morrison, Consultant
Audience: All Levels
Room: Morrison
"The single most important activity for building the knowledge for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children." (Becoming a Nation of Readers) That's the BIG deal!!! Modeling fluent and proficient reading helps to build rich listening and speaking vocabularies which are naturally transferred to other academic areas, Through the read-aloud process, listening comprehension skills are strengthened and an array of literacy objectives are achieved.
This session will underscore the benefits and significance of reading aloud to students at any age. Participants will learn effective read-aloud techniques and instructional strategies that will foster within students a love of and necessity for reading and being literate—creating life long learners and readers!

Title: "Hey, It Could Be Verse!"
Presenter: Eric Ode, Songwriter (www.ericode.com)
Audience: Intermediate
Room: Broadway
Widely published poet and Parents' Choice Award winning singer/songwriter, Eric Ode, will share exciting ideas for encouraging literacy through poetry and song.  A former elementary teacher of 12 years with a Masters Degree in Educational Technology, Eric has been bringing music and poetry programs to schools throughout the Pacific Northwest. This presentation will prepare teachers with many new ideas and activities for inviting music and poetry into their classrooms. Lesson plans and other resources will be provided for the attendees.

Title: "Vocabulary: A Vital Key to Comprehension"
Presenter: Penny Plavala, School Improvement Specialist
Audience: Middle School and High School
Room: Mt Bachelor
Improving the vocabulary skills of adolescent readers (grades 6-12) is an important key to understanding reading materials from any content area. What then are the best practices for teaching vocabulary to secondary students? This engaging and practical session will review research-based strategies to strengthen word meaning and reading comprehension in grades 6-12.

Title: "How Diverse is Diversity?"
Presenter: Dr. Rosemany Siring, Eastern Oregon University with Michelle Lucus, Leesa Trimble, and Nai Saelee
Audience: All Levels
Room: Hawthorne
Using our definition of diversity, books are categorized in the following heading: Social Conditions and Situations, Physical Conditions, and Culture. Picture books, adolescent books, and young adult books are presented as well as ways teachers can nourish the understanding of diversity through literature. Extensive book lists are provided.

Title:  "Helping Struggling Readers Become Wonderful Readers and Nothing Less!
Presenter: Dr. Jill Schwimmer, Northwest Christian College
Audience: Elementary and Middle School
Room: St. Helens
Let's focus on the "why" (theory) and the "what" (methodology) of helping struggling readers. Knowing why there is a struggle and what to do about it allows for creating a "how to" that makes sense. A one-to-one tutoring process and a small group application will be presented that includes accuracy, fluency, and comprehension in a constructivist approach based upon reading theory and process learning theory. For more info: www.score4reading.com.

Title: "I Am From . . ." Teaching Literacy
Presenter: Peter Thacker, University of Portland
Audience: Elementary, Middle School, Secondary, Title I, and Staff Developers
Room: Alaska
Participants will write "I Am From" poems that describe their journey to becoming literacy teachers. These poems will become models for both "I Am From" poems that students might write and for introducing faculties to a way to creatively explore our reasons for becoming teachers.

Title: "Administrators: The Instructional Leader in Today's Schools"
Presenter: Sarah Womble, IRA REgional Coordinator
Audience: District and Building-level Administrators (K-8), Teacher Leaders
Room: Idaho
Instructional leadership is required to meet the demands facing administrators, their schools, and their teachers in today’s current educational climate.   This session will focus on the role of the administrator as an instructional leader in literacy. Current research-based strategies for improving student education will be discussed. 

Title: "Vocabulary Strategies for Engaging Students with Informational Text"
Presenter: Terrell A. Young, Washington State University
Audience: Elementary and Middle School
Room: Sellwood
Increasing evidence suggests that interactive vocabulary instruction aids students in comprehending and learning with informational texts. This session will involve participants in hands-on interactive vocabulary strategies to help students access, process, and remember information from informational texts.

SMALL GROUP SESSIONS: Saturday, February 10th

10:15 - 11:15	11:30 - 12:30
Julie Adams, Shasta Union High School Effective Content Area Reading Strategies for the Mixed-Ability Classroom Elementary, MS, Secondary, Title I Room: St. Helens	Meghan Anderson and Rebecca Ramsey, Mead SD, Spokane, WA Integrating Reading Strategies with Informational Text Elementary and Middle School Room: Hawthorne
Keith Baker, Featured Author & Illustrator and Luncheon Speaker (www.keithbakerbooks.com) A Conversation with Keith Early Childhood, Primary, Elementary and Title I Room: Mt. Bachelor	Carol Brown, Oregon State University It's Black History Month Elementary and Middle School Room: Alaska
Ray Brown, Eastern Oregon University and Allen Evans, Eastern Oregon University Canyons, Floods, and Homesteads: Teaching Oregon Through the Eyes of Walt Morey Elementary and Middle School Room: Hawthorne	Sharon Draper, Featured Author and Luncheon Speaker (www.sharondraper.com) Glue Them to a Chair and Read—Connecting Adolescents to Books Upper Elementary, MS, HS Room: Mt. Bachelor
Bruce Hansen, Author and Teacher Literature Based Writing Elementary, MS, Secondary, Title I Room: Ross Island	Pam Elges, Eastern Oregon University The Emerging Reader: Playing with Sounds to Develop Phonological Awareness Primary and Elementary Room: St. Helens
Calamity Jan, Author Mining Treasures in Your Calamity Jans and Joes Elementary (3-5) and Middle School Room: Sellwood	Dr. Nancy Johnson, Featured Speaker Choosing Books: Literature with Meat on its Bones All Levels Room: Oregon
Dr. Susan Lenski, Portland State University Reading Logically: Helping Students Read Informational Text Middle School, Secondary, Title I Room: Mt. Hood	Mindy Legard Larson, Linfield College and Donna Kalmbach Phillips, George Fox University Teacher-Driven Action Research: Taking Back Literacy Instruction All Levels Room: Sellwood
Dr. Margaret McKeown, Featured Speaker Making Vocabulary Instruction Effective and Fun All Levels Room: Three Sisters	Kathy Moran, Salem-Keizer SD Great Reads, Great Writes! Primary, Elementary, Middle School Room: Broadway
Eric Ode, Songwriter (www.ericode.com) "Hey, It Could Be Verse!"" - Primary Early Childhood and Primary Room: Oregon	Saurra Olesen, Albany School District and Brittany Farrer, Roseburg School District Using Prop Boxes to Increase Literacy Early Childhood, Primary, Elem, Title I Room: Morrison
Sharon Olson, North Wasco SD and Diane Walworth, Private Consultant "I've learned to read and now I'm ready to read to learn": Supporting Content Area Reading in Middle School Middle School and Secondary Room: Broadway	Laurie Skiba, EMC Publishing Supporting Struggling Readers in the English Classroom Elementary, MS, Secondary, Title I Room: Three Sisters
Portland Council Reading Coaches Literacy Coaches' Forum All Levels Room: Morrison	Tracy Smiles, Western Oregon University with Heather Anderson, Marika Conrad, Natalie Nielsen-Lambert and Cheryl Kloptenstein Curriculum as Empowerment: Transforming Teaching and Learning Through Constructing Curricular Frameworks Primary, Elementary, MS, Title I Room: Idaho
Martha Twitchell, Developmental Studies Center Building Word Recognition and Fluency for K-12 Intervention All Levels Room: Idaho	Deborah White, Dallas SD Making the Most of Classroom Assistants and Volunteers Primary, Elementary, Title I Room: Ross Island
Barbara Wolfe, Oregon Department of Education Re-establishing of the Achievement Scores on the Statewide Assessments—New Cut Scores All Levels Room: Alaska	Allison Williams, Consultant Vocabulary: The Bridge to Close the Gap Middle School, Secondary, Title I Room: Mt. Hood

SMALL GROUP SESSIONS: Saturday, February 10th — 10:15 - 11:15

Title: "Effective Content Area Reading Strategies for the Mixed-Ability Classroom"
Presenter: Julie Adams, Shasta Union High School
Audience: Elementary, Middle School, Secondary, Title I
Room: St. Helens
Is it difficult to engage your students in expository reading? Observe and practice effective frontloading, during, and post-reading strategies that will improve the comprehension of content-area reading in your mixed-ability classes!

Title: "A Conversation with Keith"
Presenter: Keith Baker, Featured Author and Illustrator - Saturday's Luncheon Speaker
(www.keithbakerbooks.com)
Audience: All Levels
Room: Mt. Bachelor
What makes a good picture book and what are 'early readers' (books that make the bridge to independent reading)? Much confusion exists about exactly what 'early readers' are. Let's examine what makes them special and different from picture books.

Title: "Canyons, Floods, and Homesteads: Teaching Oregon Through the Eyes of Walt Morey"
Presenters: Ray Brown, Eastern Oregon University and Allen Evans, Eastern Oregon University
Audience: Elementary, Title I, and ELL
Room: Hawthorne
A presentation of three children's young adult novels and the setting/events that formed the books' foundations will be shared. Materials, including potential lessons and ideas for projects will be distributed.

Title: "Literature Based Writing"
Presenter: Bruce Hansen, Author and Teacher
Audience: Elementary, MS, Secondary, Title I
Room: Ross Island
Participants will learn how to employ the literature they use for reading instruction to effectively teach writing skills. Topics include: Organization: the 7 ways to begin a nonfiction essay, Sentence Fluency: when to use long sentences and when to use fragments, Conventions: teaching student writers to use paragraph breaks, and more.

Title: "Mining Treasures in Your Calamity Jans and Joes"
Presenter: Calamity Jan, Author (www.calamityjan.com)
Audience:  Elementary (3-5) and Middle School
Room: Sellwood
I propose the life journey of an author and the lessons learned from my own calamities—lessons that have been invaluable as I write for children. Using the metaphors of ghost towns and historical legends, I offer practical ways to engage students in multi-sensory presentations and writing so that each will be more likely to process the information through his or her unique cognitive profile. I suggest that our greatest success will be the extent to which we have tapped our own hidden gold, for only then are we truly equipped to recognize and mine it in the adults of tomorrow.

Title: "Reading Logically: Helping Students Read Informational Text"
Presenter: Dr. Susan Lenski, Portland State University
Audience: Middle School, Secondary, Title I
Room: Mt. Hood
This session presents a new strategy for reading informational texts called Logic Maps. Logic Maps were designed to help novice readers identify ideas in science and social studies texts. Participants will learn how Logic Maps are used to read informational texts and how to develop them for classroom use.

Title: "Making Vocabulary Instruction Effective and Fun"
Presenter: Dr. Margaret McKeown, Featured Speaker
Audience: All Levels
Room: Three Sisters
The presentation will focus on principles of vocabulary learning and their implications for instruction, including practices that develop students' vocabulary most effectively. Topics include selecting words to teach, introducing word meanings, and developing lively, engaging ways for students to interact with word meanings so that they come to own the words.

Title: "Hey, It Could Be Verse!"
Presenter: Eric Ode, Songwriter (www.ericode.com)
Audience: Early Childhood, Primary
Room: Oregon
Widely published poet and Parents' Choice Award winning singer/songwriter, Eric Ode, will share exciting ideas for encouraging literacy through poetry and song.  A former elementary teacher of 12 years with a Masters Degree in Educational Technology, Eric has been bringing music and poetry programs to schools throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Title: "I've learned to read and now I'm ready to read to learn: Supporting Content Area Reading in Middle School"
Presenters: Sharon Olson, North Wasco SD and Diane Walworth, Private Consultant
Audience: Middle School and Secondary
Room: Broadway
Teachers often don't have choices about textbooks in content area classes, and frequently they are difficult to read. We will present strategies to make textbooks more accessible and increase comprehension of the content.

Title: "Literacy Coaches' Forum"
Presenter: Portland Council Reading Coaches
Audience: All Levels
Room: Morrison
As a panel, literacy coaches from all grade levels will share their expertise in a question/answer format. Are you finding your new role as a reading coach daunting? Would you like to talk to those who have been doing it for a while? This is your chance!

Title: "Building Word Recognition and Fluency for K-12 Intervention"
Presenter: Martha Twitchell, Developmental Studies Center
Audience: All Levels
Room: Idaho
This session presents the components of effective intervention. The presenter discusses the role of assessment, a three-level approach to word recognition instruction, fluency, and the characteristics that promote powerful instruction.

Title: "Re-establishing of the Achievement Scores on the Statewide Assessments—New Cut Scores"
Presenter: Barbara Wolfe, Oregon Department of Education
Audience: All Levels
Room: Alaska
This session will present information from the Standards Setting Panels that met in December to recommend the “cut scores” on reading, math, science, and ELPA tests. Learn what scores have been recommended to the State Board, what types of test items represent those score levels, and what the impact will be based on current test results. Input from participants will be collected and reported to the State Board prior to their adoption of Achievement Standards in March.

SMALL GROUP SESSIONS: Saturday, February 10th — 11:30-12:30

Title: "Integrating Reading Strategies with Informational Text"
Presenters: Meghan Anderson and Rebecca Ramsey, Mead School District, Spokane, WA
Audience: Elementary and Middle School
Room: Hawthorne
Teachers integrate curriculum to fit everything in and to increase student understanding. In this session you will learn how to implement reading strategies with nonfiction text using a simple 4-step process. You will walk away with a wealth of information and practical strategies to be immediately applied to your classrom to increase reading comprehension in content areas.

Title: "It's Black History Month"
Presenters: Carol Brown, Oregon State University
Audience: Elementary and Middle School
Room: Alaska
Celebrate Black History month with quality books and engaging literacy activities particularly suited to intermediate and middle school students.  Participants will receive a bibliography of recommended titles and ideas for making Black History study more interesting to students.

Title: "Glue Them to a Chair and Read—Connecting Adolescents to Books"
Presenter: Sharon Draper, Featured Author and Friday Luncheon Speaker
(www.sharondraper.com)
Upper Elementary, MS, and HS
Room: Mt. Bachelor
This presentation will remind us of the magic of books and the ability of words to weave a spell. The power of books still works for kids who swear they "hate to read," as long as you know which books to offer them. Sharon M. Draper will discuss her YA novels and their impact on adolescent readers, as well as a new series for younger, middle-grade readers.

Title: "The Emerging Reader: Playing with Sounds to Develop Phonological Awareness"
Presenter: Pam Elges, Eastern Oregon University
Audience: Primary and Elementary
Room: St. Helens
Phonological awareness includes rhyme, alliteration, and a sense of syllable, phonemic segmentation, and blending. Phonological awareness is critical to reading success. This session is packed with discussion regarding phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, and a variety of activities for your classroom so your students develop strongly in these areas.

Title: Choosing Books: Literature with Meat on its Bones"
Presenter: Dr. Nancy Johnson, Featured Speaker
Audience: All Levels
Room: Oregon
What makes a book worth talking (or writing) about? What literary qualities exist that result in an author’s ability to prompt readers’ responses? This session will consider how to choose books for (and with) children and young adults that respect the response of individual readers as well as invite these readers to “taste” books they may never choose on their own. A book list, professional resources, and websites will be shared.

Title: "Teacher-Driven Action Research: Taking Back Literacy Instruction"
Presenters: Mindy Legard Larson, Linfield College and Donna Kalmbach Phillips, George Fox University
Audience: All Levels
Room: Sellwood
The current NCLB environment has left teachers and schools relying heavily on standardized tests and DIBLELS scores as their primary literacy assessment tools. This presentation seeks to engage teachers to use the authentic literacy data they collect in their daily instruction to not only inform their teaching but to make their findings public.

Title: "Great Reads, Great Writes!"
Presenter: Kathy Moran, Salem-Keizer SD
Audience: Primary, Elementary, Middle School
Room: Broadway
Having an exemplar text as a model is vital when teaching writing to young children. In this session, the attendee will view examples of the qualities of good writing from children's books and learn how to find these rich texts to use when teaching the qualities of writing. This session is based on the work of Donald Graves, Ralph Fletcher, and Joanne Portalupi.

Title: "Using Prop Boxes to Increase Literacy"
Presenters: Saurra Olesen, Albany SD and Brittany Farrer, Roseburg SD
Audience: Early Childhood, Primary, Elementary, Title I
Room: Morrison
Come and see how prop boxes can be use to increase students' reading comprehension. Students will have a greater understanding of books as they create prop boxes to represent characters, main ideas, and comprehension. Prop boxes can be created for picture books, chapter books, and are fun for all ages.

Title: "Supporting Struggling Readers in the English Classroom"
Presenter: Laurie Dkiba, EMC Publishing
Audience: Elementary, Middle School, Secondary, Title I
Room: Three Sisters
This presentation will model how to incorporate comprehension and vocabulary strategies into instruction. The presenter will also demonstrate how language arts teachers can use both traditional literature and real-world reading in their classrooms.

Title: "Curriculum as Empowerment: Transforming Teaching and Learning Through Construction Curricular Frameworks"
Presenter: Tracy Smiles, Western Oregon University, with Heather Anderson, Marika Conrad, Natalie Nielsen-Lambert, and Cheryl Kloptenstein
Audience: Primary, Elementary, Middle School, Title I
Room: Idaho
This session focuses on moving theory into practice through creating organizational frameworks that fit individual teachers' contexts and beliefs. In this session four classroom teachers representing diverse educational contexts will present how they explored their understandings about curriculum. Each of these teachers selected a particular aspect of their literacy curriculum and developed curriculum frameworks that matched their beliefs and teaching situations. They will each share process and content frameworks they created for organizing curriculum that is responsive to the students and communities with which they work.

Title: "Making the Most of Classroom Assistants and Volunteers"
Presenter: Deborah White, Dallas SD
Audience: Primary, Elementary, Title I
Room: Ross Island
Are you lucky enough to have other adults helping your literacy instruction, but feel like you don't always use them effectively? This session features practical strategies to make planning and communication easier, as well as essential routines and tools for your helpers, so they can make a positive difference.

Title: "Vocabulary: The Bridge to Close the Gap"
Presenter: Allison Williams, Consultant
Audience: Middle School, Secondary, Title I
Room: Mt. Hood
Research studies have consistently shown strong relationships between students' comprehension and the size of their vocabulary. In this research-based presentation you will learn strategies to help your students unlock word meaning and take ownership of their new vocabulary. Help all your students build their vocabulary and improve comprehension.

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