Institute on the Coaching of Writing, in the World of 2021

Sunday, January 24, to Wednesday, January 27, 2021
Institute will be offered virtually through Zoom.

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Grade: K-8
Hours: 11am-5pm Eastern Standard Time
Featuring: Rebecca Cronin, Christine Holley, Kristin Smith, Lizzie VanTassel, Anna Sheehan, Katie Lindner, Emily Strang-Campbell
Payment: Purchase orders for this institute can be made out to: Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, 525 W 120th Street, Box 77, New York, NY 10027

This institute has always been one of the crown jewels of TCRWP’s calendar. Certainly, it has been our most sought-after mini-institute and the one that most revolutionizes peoples’ practice. This year’s institute promises to be all that, times two (or ten). After all, the world of literacy instruction has been revolutionized, as has the job of being a coach. At this institute, senior TCRWP leaders will bring coaches (and school leaders who see themselves as teacher-educators) behind the curtain to reimagine the way writing instruction can look, sound, and feel like in the world of 2021. As we write this blurb, we can’t see around the bend to know what that world will be like, but surely, it will involve a great deal of digital literacy, and with that, new challenges and new opportunities. Your job in the new world may involve coaching teachers and families and kids with virtual writing workshops. It will certainly involve trauma- informed work and efforts to accelerate kids’ progress.

This particular coaching institute will not only support participants to help teachers use the Units of Study in Writing but also help you think about how coaching can take place under any circumstance, be it in person or virtually. You’ll learn about how to best use and support teachers as they teach the Units of Study. The institute will help you to hone your demonstration teaching. You’ll learn to deliver efficient and engaging minilessons and small group lessons and to research and teach writers in one-on-one conferences. You’ll consider ways to bring all that you and your teachers have learned about digital teaching to the classroom to enhance writing experiences for your students, and ways to bring all your teachers know from teaching in physical classrooms to digital spaces. After the institute, participants will be able to lead professional development using powerful methods of staff development that not only meet the diverse needs of teachers, students, and families but can shift with changing circumstances.

Now, more than ever, we need to accelerate kids’ progress forward, so a large part of the institute will be devoted to studying student writing in order to find predictable patterns and needs and to ensure that students are progressing dramatically as writers within and across years. You’ll also learn from the presenters about ways to better understand the writing process within the Units of Study and to support students’ independent decision making as writers. You’ll also learn how to help teachers provide individualized, responsive instruction to their writers, both in person and when learning online. You’ll also explore what powerful feedback looks like, especially when kids are learning online.

Participants will include literacy coaches, principals, lead teachers, and literacy leaders from schools across the country and overseas. Those who join us will work in either first-year or advanced sections. Advanced sections are based not on skill level, but on prior attendance at a previous coaching institute. The vast majority of participants will attend first-year sections.

Cost

$800/$700 NYC DOE

Where

This institute will be offered online, in real-time via Zoom, and will not be recorded for later distribution. We will accept attendees until the institute has reached capacity.