Sunday, January 28 & Monday, January 29

Creating Conscious Classrooms: Using Diverse Books for Anti-Racist Teaching 

Allison Briceño

In this session we will center the lived experiences of diverse students to support language, literacy, and identity development. Justice-oriented literacy practices will be used to practice integrating language and literacy with social justice. Diverse text selection and use in today’s contested climate will be addressed. 

Allison Briceno

is an author and Associate Professor in the Department of Teacher Education at San José State University, where she coordinates the Multilingual and Multicultural Literacy Education MA program. 

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Sunday, January 28 & Monday, January 29

Paul Thomas

is author of How to End the Reading War and Serve the Literacy Needs of All Students: A Primer for Parents, Policy Makers, and People Who Care.

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Where Are We Going, Where Have We Been?: Prioritizing Teacher Autonomy in the SOR Era 

Paul Thomas

Over the last decade, states have passed new or revised reading legislation, often grounded in the “science of reading” (SOR) movement. The SOR movement has perpetuated many oversimplified and misleading stories that portray teachers negatively. This featured session will prioritize teacher autonomy by exploring the following topics: reading crisis, NAEP reading data, reading programs, teacher training and LETRS, dyslexia, and the complicated full body of reading research. 

Read more of Paul’s work in the Reading Recovery Community blog.

Sunday, January 28 & Monday, January 29

George Hruby

is Executive Director of the University of Kentucky’s Collaborative Center for Literacy Development. His scholarship centers on educational neuroscience, reading comprehension, and literacy development, and has appeared in numerous journals and edited research volumes.

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Dyslexia’s Discontents: Characteristics, Instruction, and Misidentifications to Avoid

George Hruby

Staying afloat on the troubled waters of students’ reading difficulties makes for tough sailing in the era of the Science of Reading, legislative mandates, automated instruction, and “diagnoses on the fly.” Dr. Hruby will present the latest neuro- and genetic research on reading differences, the challenges of determining successful responses for unique student reading profiles, and emphasize the careful matching of needs to methods. Work on crafting the new definition of dyslexia from the International Literacy Association will also be shared.

Monday, January 29 & Tuesday, January 30

Achieving Successful Processing at Higher Levels of Complexity 

Mary Fried

Some Reading Recovery teachers have lamented: ‘I can get them up to level 10 or even 12, but they are still not successful enough! What should I do?’ This session will focus on the teaching and learning shifts that are needed to help the child be more independent and efficient with successful processing ‘on the run’ at higher levels. 

Mary Fried

is a nationally known champion of young, struggling readers. She served as a Trainer at The Ohio State University Reading Recovery Center for over 30 years. 

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Monday, January 29

Jorge Cuevas Antillon

is the District Adviser for Curriculum and Instruction of Dual Language and English Learners for the San Diego Office of Education.

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All in the Family: Comparing English and Spanish Literacy 

Jorge Cuevas Antillón

Successful language arts instruction in Spanish-English biliteracy programs require understanding how each language varies. This session, delivered in English with some occasional explication of Spanish, will explore which items are uniquely important in each language and which can be approached in similar ways. Come have some fun as a few instructional activities for language/literacy learning are simulated. 

Tuesday, January 30

Doing the discipline and reasons to read: Supporting the development of adolescent literacies

Rachael Gabriel

Rachael Gabriel

is Professor of Literacy Education at the University of Connecticut. She is author of more than fifty refereed articles, and author or editor of six books for literacy teachers, leaders, and education researchers.

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Tuesday, January 30

What’s the Deal with the Science of Reading?

Andy Johnson

Science of Reading advocates seem to be putting out a great deal of misinformation about reading instruction. Literacy experts are being ignored in favor of radio journalists. For-profit entities are promoting ideas that serve only to enhance their profit at the expense of our students. This presentation will explain exactly what the science of reading is and isn’t. It will provide a simple understanding of balanced literacy, the three cueing systems, evidence-based practices, eye movement during reading, word identification, word recognition, phonics instruction, phonemic awareness, direct instruction, and educational research.

Andy Johnson

is Professor of Literacy Instruction and Distinguished Faculty Scholar in the Department of Literacy and Elementary Education at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

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Sunday, January 28 & Monday, January 29

Niigaan Sinclair

is an international columnist, media commentator and one of the foremost scholars on Indigenous literacies and literatures in North America.

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Not a Branch but the Tree: Indigenous Literacies and the North American Canon

Niigaan Sinclair

There is no literacy or literature in North America without the foundation contributions of Indigenous intellectual traditions! Explore how — without Indigenous cultures and communities — the literacies in North America would not exist as they are known today.