A Conversation with CDE
Olivia Gillespie, Colorado Department of Education
This interactive session with the Office of Standards and Instructional Support will focus on changes to the Colorado Academic Standards and resources created to support professional development and standards literacy of Colorado educators.
Effective Voice: Teaching All Students How to be Well Spoken
Erik Palmer, Stenhouse & HMH author
The future demands verbal literacy. Learn how to teach students to master digital tools that showcase speaking. Get specific lessons to make students competent oral communicators.
LGBTQ+ Inclusion
Dominic Rossi, Overland Trail Middle School
Learn to better represent tomorrow’s voices by including LGBTQ+ themes and texts into your curriculum and by creating safe spaces for diverse discourse.
Raising Student Voice through an Inaugural Journalism Class in an Age of Anti-Media Rhetoric
Jamie Hedlun, Mead High School
Fostering critical thought is often only truly possible by nurturing student voices. This session will discuss the media literacy and communication landscape my students have learned to navigate in our current political climate.
Building Engagement with Shakespeare: What to do in the First Week
Jacqueline Smilack, Denver Public Schools
Worried about teaching Shakespeare? Your kids CAN do it! We'll use Folger Shakespeare Library's protocols to build students’ confidence and set your classes up for success.
How to Leverage your Community to Build Authentic Learning in the Classroom
Andrea Nieto, Westgate Community School
Bring community members and organizations into your classroom through Project Based Learning opportunities. These authentic learning experiences help students build real-world skills that can't be learned any other way.
Giving Students Voice Through Young Adult Literature
Karen Hartman and Sheila Kaehny, Colorado Writing Project
YAL is not only engaging and motivating for our young readers; it also helps them find their voice in a world that is becoming more and more difficult for them to navigate.
Sustainable Teaching: Finding a Way to Stay
Molly Robbins, Cherokee Trail High School and Colorado Writing Project, and Cindy O'Donnell-Allen, Colorado State University
In this session, presenters will share an emergent theory of change they developed called “sustainable teaching,” which is shaping the way they view their work with students, their relationships with themselves, and the professional constraints that sometimes guide and other times thwart teachers’ work.
Identity Based Education: Empowering Diversity, Educating All
Tim Hernández and Jeraldine Kraver, University of Northern Colorado
Identity Based Education reconceives education across lines of difference to celebrate all forms of diversity in the spirit of understanding and empathy.
Empowering Students through Choice Books
Lisa Lane, John Mall High School and Sarah Anderson, Aurora West College Prep
Inspired by Penny Kittle’s Book Love, Sarah Anderson and Lisa Lane created differentiated, standards-based units to empower their students through choice and group/independent study.
Rethinking the Literary Analysis Essay
Ross Holland, Colorado Academy
Building on the work of Rejan and Blau, this workshop investigates writing exercises that push students beyond a structural approach to literary analysis.
Raising Your Voice with Slam Poetry
Sue Spengler, Manitou Springs Middle School
Explore the world of slam poetry by listening to and analyzing two mentor texts. Write your own poem, and share out with the class!
Do Not Take Me for Granted
Haley Jacks and Ricki Ginsberg, Colorado State University
Participants will consider portrayals of mental health and self-harm in YA literature. Discussion will include strategies and benefits for inclusion of this literature in classrooms.
Storytelling to Ignite Change
Jaclyn Maria Fowler
Through narrative, learners can use emerging voices to explore society’s cultural and political divisiveness in a way that validates their experiences, but builds momentum towards understanding and, ultimately, change. Participants will learn and use strategies for introducing narrative-based writing and creating safe spaces for presentation and critique.
Move it or Lose it: Using Kinesthetic Learning to Assist in Writing
Blaine Miller, Palmer High School
The sit and get model is fine. What about kids who move to learn? Come see how kinesthetic learning can be used in your classroom.
Writing Prompts: How to Make Them More Meaningful for Students
Jennifer Dunbar, Skyline High School and Denver Writing Project
Struggling to find engaging prompts? These simple strategies will have you creating prompts students will want to think about, write about, and share with others.