Literacy Association of Tennessee Annual Conference

Research show that children learn better when they are engaged in hands-on activities. This study explores how the children's early literacy development is impacted by the hands-on activities and smart using of materials. Latour’s Actor Network Theory was used to frame a discussion about how the hands-on activities and teaching materials influence teachers’ practices, students’ literacy learning, and the interaction between teachers and students. Many lessons the teachers reflected on were undermined by difficulties they ran into with the materials they employed in the classroom. The uncertain and unpredictable characteristics of classrooms require the teachers to develop the ability to make quick decisions, allocating attention to multiple tasks, designing attractive activities, smart using of manipulatives, and adjusting quickly to the changing circumstances.

One of the strongest predictors of high school graduation is proficient reading by the end of third grade! Far too many students enter classrooms ill-prepared to meet the literacy demands of the texts in the upper grades. During this session, participants will strengthen their knowledge of basic early literacy skills and engage in four key strategies for decoding and reading multisyllabic words.

In addition to fostering a love of reading, read alouds promote passion, enthusiasm and a curiosity for pictures and words. Participants will identify picture books with a lens for “heartprint books” that can be layered with conversations to contribute to caring classroom communities. Explore read alouds to promote more reading-writing connections, complement existing units of study, encourage student led-conversations, or foster stand alone lessons that strengthen caring, responsive, inclusive communities. Participants will leave with an abundance of resources and a framework for choosing and selecting texts (heartprint books) to connect literacy and social-emotional learning to reach and teach the whole child. Explore titles, tools, and tips to adopt or adapt for any classroom.

THIS SESSION WILL BE OFFERED AGAIN: Monday, 11:00-11:50

In addition to fostering a love of reading, read alouds promote passion, enthusiasm and a curiosity for pictures and words. Participants will identify picture books with a lens for “heartprint books” that can be layered with conversations to contribute to caring classroom communities. Explore read alouds to promote more reading-writing connections, complement existing units of study, encourage student led-conversations, or foster stand alone lessons that strengthen caring, responsive, inclusive communities. Participants will leave with an abundance of resources and a framework for choosing and selecting texts (heartprint books) to connect literacy and social-emotional learning to reach and teach the whole child. Explore titles, tools, and tips to adopt or adapt for any classroom.

THIS IS A REPEAT OF THE 10:00-10:50 SESSION

Whether you are questioning or confirming your foundational literacy instruction practices, there is always room for growth in knowledge and skills based on the science of reading. Decades of reading research has clearly defined features of effective literacy instruction and intervention, and we are compelled to respond and teach accordingly. Explicit and systematic phonics instruction benefits all of our learners: it serves as a preventative for many in early elementary general education and as a necessary approach for many who are being supported in the tiers or special education settings, such as students with characteristics of dyslexia, English learners, and adolescents struggling to acquire basic literacy skills. We will not only define the terms associated with explicit and systematic instruction (also known as Structured Literacy), we will also explore examples and non-examples in context. This provides an opportunity for reflection and recommitment to embedding best practices in your literacy instruction to support all your students.

This session offers participants practical approaches to systematic and explicit phonics instruction. Essential research based activities and strategies will provide educators with hands on opportunities they can utilize immediately in their learning environments. The practices shared in this session are guaranteed to address and promote multiple learning styles of students in grades kindergarten, first, and second.

There is a saying that goes, “The heart of the matter is a matter of the heart.” The connection between this saying and the challenges faced by teachers dealing with students from different linguistic (and cultural) backgrounds will be the center of this presentation. At the beginning of the session, participants will take on the position of “the other” and evaluate their attitudes and dispositions related to working with English Language Learners. This will be followed by presentation of research-based information on these group of learners in today’s classrooms in the US, which will be supported by real-life stories. Specific strategies will also be discussed and/or modeled throughout the session. Towards the end, participants will collaboratively generate different measures to effectively open the magic of, and through, literacy for the ELLs.

Whether you’re rousing a new chapter, reactivating an inactive chapter, or revitalizing an existing chapter of LAT, we’ve got the session for you! Come be schooled in strategies for successful chapters with state and local leadership!

This session will focus on the importance of language development in young children and how it relates to reading. Phonological awareness will be discussed along with activities to help support and build it. Reading disabilities (specifically dyslexia) will be defined and warning signs identified.

Kindergarten has become increasingly more focused on academic studies and less on exploration, social skill development, and play. This dramatic change in kindergarten is due to the “push-down effect” (aka the accountability shove-down) as academic content in all grades is being ramped up, making preschool the new kindergarten, kindergarten the new first grade, and so on. This has broad and oftentimes negative implications on the traditional kindergarten model that may create failure and anxiety in young children. This presentation will highlight the traditional kindergarten philosophy, the present state of kindergarten and the pressures on schools, teachers, parents and students to prepare children for mastery of literacy curriculums that do not match their cognitive and emotional levels of development. The presentation concludes with strategies teachers can implement to counter these changes