Saturday Schedule
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Time: 8:30 - 8:50
Location: Floor 1, near Auditorium
Info: Coffee and tea will be available
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Time: 9:00 - 10:00
Location: Auditorium
Stories Across Time: The Science of Writing and Human Connection with Hannah Fernweh
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Time: 10:00 - 10:15
Location: Floor 1, near auditorium
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This session will take place in grade-level bands
Time: 10:15 - 11:45
Location:
K-2: HS Library (Floor 3)
3-5: T&L Space (Floor 2)
MS/HS: S15 (Floor 2)
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Time: 12:50 - 12:40
Location: HS Cafeteria
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Time: 12:45 -13:45
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📚From Conversations to Composition: The Power of Oral Language in K–2
Description: Talk fuels writing! In this session, discover how oral language growth sets the stage for confident young writers. Explore the stages of language development and try out simple, powerful practices like Strive for Five conversations, dialogic talk moves, and research-supported vocabulary strategies to stretch student talk, embed grammar naturally, and build stronger sentences. Participants will:
Better understand the links between oral and written language development
Identify opportunities and moves to spark richer student talk with purposeful conversation.
Practice playful routines to boost vocabulary and sentence growth
(Re)consider role of the adage “If they can’t say it, they won’t write it”
Leave with effective, research-based routines that harness the power of spoken language as a bridge to writing success through practical strategies you can confidently bring into your classroom right away.
Facilitator: Miles Madison
Location: HS Library (Floor 3)
Resource:
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📚Inviting Grammar In: Mentor Texts and Practice that Stick
Description: What if grammar lessons felt less like “gotcha” moments and more like open doors to powerful writing? In this session, we’ll explore how to plan and teach grammar in grades 4 and up using an invitational approach that sparks curiosity and builds grammar skills. You’ll see how mentor sentences and texts can inspire lessons that connect directly to students’ own writing.
You’ll leave with a planning framework, lesson ideas you can use tomorrow, and strategies for weaving grammar seamlessly into your literacy block - without losing joy or authenticity.
Facilitator: Jenny Killion
Location: S15 (Floor 2)
Resource:
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📚Write with Joy: Unlocking the Science of Reading & Writing to Grow Student Authors in Grades 3-12, Part 1
الكتابة بمتعة و فعالية : اجعل القراءة والكتابة جواز سفر طلابك إلى الإبداعDescription: n Part 1, we will revisit some of the content and theory from the foundational sessions (in Arabic), go a bit deeper, and share practical classroom take aways. In Part 2, we will walk through the writing process from idea generation to a published piece, grounded in research-based practices. Participants will leave with a ready-to-use toolkit of strategies, activities, and instructional approaches that empower students to write with confidence and purpose.
القراءة والكتابة ليستا مهارتين فَطريّتَين، بل تحتاجان إلى تعليمٍ واعٍ ومُخطَّط له. ونحن كمعلمين نتحمّل مسؤولية أساسية في تَـمكين طلابنا من اكتساب هاتين المهارتين بطريقة أصيلة وهادفة. خلال هذه الجلسة، سنَكتشف معًا العلاقة الوَثيقة بين عِلم القراءة وعِلم الكتابة، وكيف يتكاملان لدَعم تطوّر لغة الطلاب. سنخوض رحلة في عالم الكتابة تبدأ من تَوليد الأفكار وتنتهي بإنتاج نصوص مكتملة وجاهزة للنشر، بالاعتماد على ممارسات قائمة على أُسُس بحثيّة راسخة. وفي ختام الجلسة، سيكون المشاركون قادرين على توظيف مجموعة من الاستراتيجيات والأنشطة والأساليب التدريسية التي تُمكّن طلابهم من الكتابة بثقة ووضوح وانسيابية.
في الجلسة الأولى، سنعرض بعض الأفكار والنظريات من الجلسات التأسيسية (باللغة العربية) وسنقدم أمثلة عملية يمكن استخدامها في الصف. وفي الجلسة الثانية، سنعيش خطوات الكتابة بدءًا من توليد الأفكار وحتى الوصول إلى النص النهائي، معتمدين على أحدث الممارسات القائمة على الأبحاث.
Facilitator: Eman Al Ashqar & Farah Karroum
Location:T89 (Floor 3)
Resource:
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📚From Writing to Performance: Disciplinary Literacy, the Science of Writing, and Student Growth in Secondary School
Description: Writing isn’t just an English teacher’s responsibility - it’s a lever for deeper learning in every discipline. In this session, we’ll explore how disciplinary literacy, research from the Science of Writing, and assessment data can come together to strengthen student performance. You’ll see how high-leverage routines from The Writing Revolution - such as Because–But–So and Appositive Sentences - can be embedded across content areas. Expect practical strategies you can use tomorrow, a roadmap for long-term growth, and clarity on how strong writing instruction lifts not only literacy but achievement across the secondary curriculum.
Facilitator: Tom Harper
Location: T90 (Floor 3)
Resource: Padlet
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📚Reciprocal Roads to Literacy: How Foundational Reading-Writing Connections Enhance Practice and Engage Students
Description: Discover how oral language, phonics, transcription, and language acquisition create powerful feedback loops between reading and writing. This hands-on session explores the reciprocal relationship between the Simple View of Reading (SVR) and Simple View of Writing (SVW), showing how foundational skills strengthen both comprehension and composition.
Participants will learn research-aligned strategies where phonics instruction enhances spelling, oral language builds vocabulary for reading and writing, and transcription practice supports fluency development. Leave with ready-to-use activities that make the reading-writing connection visible across all foundational components and concrete shifts to align your practice with both sciences of literacy.
Perfect for K-5 teachers, literacy coaches, and administrators seeking to integrate foundational reading and writing instruction
Facilitator: Laura Young
Location: T91 (Floor 3)
Resource:
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Time: 13:45- 14:00
Location: Floor 3
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Time: 14:00 - 15:00
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📚Rethinking Rubrics: Tools that Teach, Not Just Score in Grades 3+
Description: Rubrics and checklists aren’t just for grading - they can be powerful teaching tools when they align with what we know about how students learn to write. In this session, we’ll explore how to revise and design tools that:
Reflect the science of writing development
Give students clear, actionable next steps
Support self-assessment and goal setting
Keep teacher feedback focused and efficient
You’ll leave with fresh, student-friendly rubrics and checklists you can put to work immediately, and a process for adapting them for any unit.
Facilitator: Jenny Killlion
Location: S15 (Floor 2)
Resource
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📚More Than Parallel: Connecting Reading & Writing in Unit Design K–10
Description: Reading and writing don’t live in separate silos - they amplify each other when intentionally planned side by side. In this session, we’ll look at how to design literacy units that:
Use texts at the center to fuel stronger writing (and reading!)
Highlight mentor texts as models for craft and structure
Build coherence across skills, genres, and grade levels
Give teachers practical frameworks for weaving the strands together
You’ll leave with planning strategies and a sample unit template that ensure reading and writing work in concert, and don’t just compete for our most limited resource: time.
Facilitator: Hannah Fernweh
Location: T&L Space (Floor 2)
Resource
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📚 Weaving the Writing Rope: UDL Support for the Writing Strands in Grades K-5
Description: Thinking through the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) lens can transform writing instruction, making it accessible for every student. By anticipating high variability and keeping firm goals, we can provide flexible means to build learner agency and create strong writers of all languages. Universal Design for Learning can strengthen each strand of the Writing Rope. We'll explore:
How small tweaks in our approach can have a big impact, providing direct instruction while supporting all learners.
Strategies that foster learner agency
The UDL framework and how it supports critical writing skills.
Walk away with practical scaffolds and strategies that build accessibility for ALL learners.
Facilitator: Karlie Barness
Location: T90 (Floor 3)
Resource: Padlet
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📚Unlocking Writing: A Powerful Tool for Enhancing Knowledge Retention and Reading
Description: Discover how writing can be more than just an end product - it can be a pathway to deeper learning. In this session, we’ll explore how intentional writing practices help students retain knowledge across subjects and strengthen reading comprehension.
You’ll discover ways to:
Use writing as a tool for knowledge retention through retrieval practice and elaborative rehearsal.
Embed quick, powerful writing routines that make thinking visible across content areas.
Reduce cognitive load and strengthen reading comprehension through sentence-level work.
Apply research-based strategies that can be used immediately in your classroom.
Walk away with practical, ready-to-use ideas that make writing a daily driver of student learning.
Facilitator: Katrina Hansen
Location: T91 (Floor 3)
Resource
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📚AI and the Art of Writing: Teaching Thinking in a New Era
Description: As generative AI reshapes how students write, educators have an opportunity to rethink what they value and measure in writing instruction. This session explores how assessment can shift from polished products to visible processes — emphasizing reasoning, decision-making, and growth. Participants will learn research-informed strategies to make thinking assessable, integrate AI as a tool for critique and refinement, and design writing tasks that center authentic learning in an AI-enhanced era.
Facilitator: Emily Thomas
Location: T92 (Floor 3)
Resource
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Optional
Time: 15:00 - 15:30
Location: Meet in foyer
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Sunday Schedule
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This session will take place in grade-level bands
Time: 9:00 - 10:30
Location:
K-2: HS Library (Floor 3)
3-5: T&L Space (Floor 2)
MS/HS: S15 (Floor 2)
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Time: 10:30 - 10:45
Location: Floor 3
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Time: 10:45 - 11:45
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📚 The Write Sentence: Building Sentences that Build Writers K-3
Description: Sentences are the building blocks of all writing. In this session, explore how teaching students to construct sentences - starting with simple and moving to compound and complex - lays the foundation for confident, independent writing. Drawing on practices from ThinkSRSD and The Writing Revolution, you’ll see how oral rehearsal and collaborative sentence construction can be playful, powerful, and purposeful. Participants will:
Practice oral rehearsal routines that help students turn talk into complete sentences.
Try out shared and collaborative writing strategies for constructing simple, compound, and complex sentences.
Learn how to embed grammar and sentence structures into daily literacy instruction in playful, developmentally appropriate ways.
Leave with practical, research-based strategies from ThinkSRSD and The Writing Revolution to make daily sentence practice a joyful habit—and a powerful foundation for future writing success.
Facilitator: Miles Madison
Location: HS Library (Floor 3)
Resource:
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📚 Bridging Languages: Contrasting Syntax As Writers K–10
Description: Multilingual learners bring rich linguistic knowledge to their writing, but they also need explicit support to navigate differences between languages. In this session, we’ll explore how to:
Use contrastive analysis to make syntax visible and teachable
Help students transfer strengths from one language to another
Use multilingualism as a resource to enrich our understanding of language itself
You’ll leave with strategies and sample practices to make syntax instruction accessible, contrastive, and empowering for students across grade levels.
Facilitator: Hannah Fernweh
Location: T&L Space (Floor 2)
Resource
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📚 The Power of Generalizing: Helping Students Understand Why We Do What We Do as Writers
Description: We know students can follow a writing checklist, but do they truly understand why they make the choices they do as writers? In this session, we’ll look at writing through the Erickson & Lanning Structure of Process and see how literacy is a process-driven discipline. You’ll discover how crafting conceptual generalizations helps students connect the “what” and the “why” of their writing which will support building purpose, transfer, and independence in their work. We'll explore practical ways to guide students in articulating these generalizations, so they can take greater ownership of their writing. You’ll leave with strategies you can apply immediately in your classroom so the reasoning behind writing choices becomes clear and transferable across tasks
Facilitator: Nisreen Ibrahim
Location: T90 (Floor 3)
Resource
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📚 Making Writing Doable: Scaffolds That Stick (Grades 3–12)
Description: Writing is hard for students not because they can’t do it, but because we often assume they already know the steps. In this session, we’ll look at how to remove those assumptions by breaking writing down into clear, teachable moves and giving students the tools they need to succeed. Grounded in the Science of Reading and routines from The Writing Revolution, we’ll explore practical ways to scaffold everything from the dreaded introduction to outlining multi-paragraph essays. You’ll leave with strategies you can use right away and a framework for building confident, capable writers across grade levels and content areas.
Facilitator: Catherine Montera
Location: T91 (Floor 3)
Resource
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📚 Write with Joy: Unlocking the Science of Reading & Writing to Grow Student Authors in Grades 3-12, Part 2
الكتابة بمتعة و فعالية : اجعل القراءة والكتابة جواز سفر طلابك إلى الإبداع
Description: Reading and writing are not natural processes; they must be intentionally taught. As educators, we play a vital role in guiding students to develop these skills purposefully and authentically. In this session, we will explore the deep connection between the Science of Reading and the Science of Writing, and how they intersect to support student growth.
In Part 1, we will revisit some of the content and theory from the foundational sessions (in Arabic), go a bit deeper, and share practical classroom take aways. In Part 2, we will walk through the writing process from idea generation to a published piece, grounded in research-based practices. Participants will leave with a ready-to-use toolkit of strategies, activities, and instructional approaches that empower students to write with confidence and purpose.
القراءة والكتابة ليستا مهارتين فَطريّتَين، بل تحتاجان إلى تعليمٍ واعٍ ومُخطَّط له. ونحن كمعلمين نتحمّل مسؤولية أساسية في تَـمكين طلابنا من اكتساب هاتين المهارتين بطريقة أصيلة وهادفة. خلال هذه الجلسة، سنَكتشف معًا العلاقة الوَثيقة بين عِلم القراءة وعِلم الكتابة، وكيف يتكاملان لدَعم تطوّر لغة الطلاب. سنخوض رحلة في عالم الكتابة تبدأ من تَوليد الأفكار وتنتهي بإنتاج نصوص مكتملة وجاهزة للنشر، بالاعتماد على ممارسات قائمة على أُسُس بحثيّة راسخة. وفي ختام الجلسة، سيكون المشاركون قادرين على توظيف مجموعة من الاستراتيجيات والأنشطة والأساليب التدريسية التي تُمكّن طلابهم من الكتابة بثقة ووضوح وانسيابية.
Facilitator: Eman Al Ashqar & Farah Karroum
Location: T89 (Floor 3)
Resource
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Time: 12:00 -12:45
Location: HS Cafeteria
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This session will take place in grade-level bands
Foundations to Practice: Consolidating and Planning for Action
Time: 13:00 - 13:45
Location:
K-2: HS Library (Floor 3)
3-5: T&L Space (Floor 2)
MS/HS: S15 (Floor 2)
Resources:
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Time: 13:45 - 2:00
Location: Floor 1, near auditorium
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The Global Landscape of Literacy
Time: 14:00 - 15:00
Location: Auditorium
Presenter: Erin Kent
FAQs
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In order to ensure a smooth arrival to campus, please note the following:
If arriving by taxi or walking, plan to enter Gate 1.
If driving and parking:
Saturday - Gate 6
Sunday - Gate 5
Plan to show an ID at the security booth and pick up a lanyard to access campus.
Enter the atrium and head towards the auditorium to register and pick up your weekend name tag.
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EKC Online Course
EKC Coffee mugs
EKC Community access for a school division
EKC Text set
Each participant has a ticket in their goody bag, and a ticket to give to an inspirational colleague. Receive another ticket for adding EKC on Instagram or tagging us on LinkedIn. Visit the Giveaway table during the breaks!
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If you’re going straight to the airport after the conference, we will have luggage storage available on Sunday
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Karen Hendren: karen@erinkentconsutling.com
