The Heart of the Matter: Integrating Writing and Deep Comprehension
This workshop is part of a three-day institute, Building Your First ELA Unit with Structured Writing Activities. Join us for this individual workshop, join the full institute or mix and match days and to build a personalized experience.
Explore 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, in-person 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
Date: Tuesday, August 11
Presenters: Alison Leveque, PhD; Kinjal Nicholls, MA; Dana Carr-Ford, MA, MsEd; Betsy Duffy MsEd
Grades: 3-9
NYCTLE credits – 5 hours per full-day workshop, 3 hours per morning workshop
Participate in-person (9 a.m.–3 p.m. ET) on our Westchester Lower School campus or virtually (9 a.m.–12 p.m. ET) Flexible options designed to fit your schedule.
