Building Your First ELA Unit with Structured Writing Activities – Virtual Morning

Adaptable to your schedule! Join us for all three mornings or a single session.

Date: August 10 -August 12; 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Presenters: Alison Leveque, PhD; Kinjal Nicholls, MA; Dana Carr-Ford, MA, MsEd; Betsy Duffy MsEd
Grades: 3-9
Location: Virtual
Credits: NYCTLE credits – 3 hours per full-day workshop

Description:

This three-day institute guides educators through the process of designing a coherent, standards-aligned ELA unit from the ground up — one that intentionally connects reading, discussion, and writing to build the deep literacy skills students need to think critically, write confidently, and engage meaningfully with complex texts.

Day 1: Laying the Foundation for a Coherent ELA Unit

Day 1 establishes the blueprint for a strong ELA unit by helping educators set clear learning goals, develop essential questions, and select meaningful texts that anchor instruction and build student knowledge from the start. Educators will explore how to plan scaffolds that support students before, during, and after instruction — ensuring every learner has access to the curriculum from day one. In the afternoon, participants begin drafting their own ELA unit by identifying priority standards, defining learning goals, and selecting the central text or text set that will drive their instructional sequence.

Key Learning Objectives

• explain the core components of an effective ELA unit, including learning goals, essential questions, and scaffolds to support student success
• analyze students’ prior knowledge and identify opportunities to build background knowledge while addressing potential misconceptions
• align unit planning with foundational skills programs, writing curricula, and standards-aligned texts
• plan text analysis routines that incorporate reading, discussion, and writing tasks to support comprehension and meaning-making
• begin drafting a coherent ELA unit by defining learning goals, creating essential questions, and choosing central texts or text sets

Day 2: The Heart of the Matter: Integrating Writing and Deep Comprehension

Building on Day 1’s unit framework, Day 2 shifts to the practical, day-to-day work of moving students beyond surface-level reading and into critical analysis — using the powerful connection between reading and writing as the engine for deeper thinking. Educators will design scaffolded reading experiences that build skills progressively, craft text-dependent writing prompts that challenge students to synthesize and reflect, and develop graphic organizers and templates that help all learners organize their thinking and express ideas with clarity. You’ll learn scaffolds to deepen student understanding, foster higher-order thinking, and create a learning environment where reading and writing meaningfully inform one another. In the afternoon, participants continue drafting their unit with ready-to-use scaffolds and tools that support every student on the path from teacher-led modeling to independent application.

Key Learning Objectives:

• learn strategies for using the writing process as a tool to process complex texts and check for understanding
• create “Close Reading” sequences that move students from literal comprehension to inferential analysis
• develop scaffolds to transition from teacher-led modeling to collaborative practice and independent application
• craft an “Essential Question” and a “Culminating Task” that drive the unit’s instructional path
• identify and select diverse texts and supplementary materials based to supports the unit’s end goal
• develop text-dependent writing prompts that demonstrate their learning

 Day 3: Authentic Assessment & Reflective Practice

With a fully drafted unit in hand, Day 3 focuses on closing the loop — equipping educators with the assessment tools and reflective practices needed to measure student growth, respond to real-time data, and continuously strengthen instruction. Participants will develop rigorous summative assessments, student-friendly rubrics, and a bank of formative quick-checks that keep every student’s progress visible and actionable. Educators leave with a complete, ready-to-implement ELA unit — including assessments, scaffolds, and a structured reflection protocol — so students are set up for success from the very first day of school.

Key Learning Objectives:

• understand summative assessments that demonstrate mastery
• explore how graphic organizers and other writing scaffolds promote deep comprehension and learning
• create a toolkit with quick, actionable ways to pivot instruction based on real-time student data
• develop clear, student-friendly rubrics that streamline grading and maximize growth
• design a summative performance task that directly connects with the learning goals
• create a rubric and a bank of formative assessment “quick-checks” to monitor student progress in real-time
• develop a post-instructional reflection protocol to evaluate the overall effectiveness of any unit