The 2010 February Institute
Upcoming February Institute: February 15-18th, 2011
Over the years, teachers, literacy coaches, and principals from across the nation have convened at Teachers College the third week of February in order to extend your understanding of teaching and learning in workshop based classrooms. This year, the February Institute addresses the critically important topic of content area literacy. New national standards have reminded literacy educators of the critical importance of content area literacy. This institute is designed to help you and your colleagues respond to this call with action, with state-of-the-art ideas.
Participants will learn how students can extend and transfer their reading and writing skills into the content areas. More than this,participating educators will discover that science or social studies can provide a forum for new literacy and for teaching-in-the-frontier. At the institute, participants will be provided with practical help for planning whole and small group lessons, as well as units of study that meet the needs of all students. Topics ranging from experiential learning, vocabulary development, the use of technology in the classroom, writing in response to learning, and the selection and use of teaching materials will be embedded throughout the week. These goals and topics will be enhanced by morning keynote addresses and a variety of afternoon closing workshops.
Participants at the 2010 February Institute on Content Area Literacy spent half of their time in a large group section. The four large group sections were: K-1 and 1-2 grade teachers, led by Amanda Hartman; and 3-5 and 5-8 grade teachers, led by Kathleen Tolan. Throughout the week, The K, 1, and 2 grade groups focused on science and the 3-8 grade teachers focused on social studies. Participants spent the other half of their day in small, interactive groups doing practical work geared toward strengthening their methods for teaching students to be powerful and independent readers, writers and thinkers in the content areas. Then, at the end of the day participants attended closing workshops. A few of the K-8 offerings this year included: Using Interactive Writing as a Tool To Collect, Organize and Synthesize Information; Using Pop Culture, Media and Technology and Increase Literacy Practices in Content Area Classrooms; and Incorporating Fine Art and Music into Your Social Studies Curriculum.