Professional Development to Go
PD2Go is our master class in professional development for literacy leaders, bringing together our best videos for professional development with the tools to use them with colleagues. If you are delivering PD2Go remotely, check out our new guide with tips and templates.
Heather Rader teaches a fourth-grade class, using the analogy of a sponge to explain how summaries work. In this video, the students review the four rules used for nonfiction summaries and corresponding kinesthetic movements and brainstorm a list of “what’s important to know about summaries.”
Karen Terlecky leads students through a sentence study routine in her 5th grade classroom.
In this video, Kincaid shares a complex system of recording beloved fantasy books and characters. Even though it wasn’t planned, Heather and Kincaid end up discussing reviews as a potential way to inform and explain the fantasy reading.
Franki Sibberson works with her 3rd and 4th graders to use comics in the literacy workshop. Students study a variety of comics and list common attributes in small- and whole-group settings.
In this read-aloud lesson from Katie DiCesare's first-grade classroom, Katie demonstrates the importance of picture reading using the picture book The Zoo by Suzy Lee. Because the students need the pictures to help understand the characters, setting and events, they are able to see how pictures help us “think in the story” and “figure out the words.”
Clare Landrigan meets with a group of four 5th graders to talk about goal setting in reading workshop. Each student leaves with a specific goal for their reading.
This video from Katie DiCesare's first-grade classroom demonstrates a range of conferring in the midst of writing workshop -- from quick on the fly conferences, to small group brainstorming of ideas, to more sustained instruction of individual letter sounds and concepts.
Word study and nonfiction reading are combined in Franki Sibberson's whole-group nonfiction word hunt activity. Each child shares which word he or she found, where it was found, and reflects on what the discoveries mean to the community of word learners.
Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan have ideas to assess and refresh logs in the classroom. In this video excerpt, Clare uses the analogy of how runners use logs to chart progress and set goals and encourages the students to come up with a log that will help them as readers.
Tammy Mulligan works with two seven-year-olds to teach them strategies for building reading stamina. After discussing the “take a break” strategy, she introduces them to the “make a plan” strategy and has them practice.
What's in a name? For kindergartner Maria, it's the start of learning how letters and sounds work. In this coaching session, Joan Moser of "The Sisters" helps Daniel understand how to use a child's name as a beginning point for teaching letters and sounds.
Heather Rader confers with second grader Myia over the “About the Author” piece she’s started on her own. Together they study mentor texts and generate attributes of good author biographies to lift the quality of Myia’s writing.
In this video, Sean Moore confers with Conner who is working on reading accurately. When he bumps into an unknown word, Sean reminds him of the kinesthetic motions for Does it look right? Does it sound right? Does it make sense?
Preschool teacher Melissa Kolb works one-on-one with Daniela on the letters and sounds in her brother's name.
In this whole-group minilesson, sixth-grade teacher Katie Doherty uses the book Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge to have the students listen and chart their clues, schema and resulting inference.
In this video from Katie DiCesare's first-grade classroom, Katie uses the strategy of rereading to help students look more closely at words - in this case, rhymes and word parts.
In this final video in a three-part series, Jennifer Morgan discusses what was learned during a science observation and writing activity in her grades 3 and 4 classroom. She charts and inquires while students share out what they learned.
In this video, two boys share other books beyond the writing of Matt Christopher that might interest their three classmates. The boys report on the books and describe components that are important to them.
While demonstrating this lesson in front of teachers, Clare Landrigan uses the students’ previous work with inferring about author’s message to have them infer with unknown words they encounter in text.
Sean Moore engages his second graders in a read aloud of the book Plants That Eat Animals. Sean varies the ways the students respond to the read aloud. He also chooses to read the text without showing any visual supports when he wants the students to create mental images, focus on vocabulary, or make connections between the text and their experiences.
Katie Doherty explains the options for response as students finish their books in book clubs. She meets with the readers of Sahara Special by Esme Raji Codell and discusses their plan for response.
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