Professional Development Workshops

Available from the Office of Urban Literacy, Abbott Division, 609-663-1726

  1. Overview of Intensive Early Literacy (designed for principals, supervisors, coaches)… Fred Carrigg, Mary Jane Kurabinski, and Keisha Smith-Carrington. This is 1½ or 2 hours covering the key components, requirements, and what administrators and coaches need to look for in classrooms and teacher instruction.

The same workshop can be done for classroom teachers with at least 2 hours, preferably 2½. The difference is the focus shifts to the critical components and classroom management and structures.

  1. Literacy for students in Spanish Bilingual programs (designed for principals, supervisors, coaches)…Fred Carrigg 2½ hours. This one focuses on the research supporting instruction in the native language (Spanish) and ESL literacy pointing out briefly the differences for ELLs and why differentiated instruction is critical.
  2. ESL Reading for Non-English Language Backgroundstudents (designed for principals, supervisors, coaches)…Fred Carrigg 2½ hours. This one focuses on instruction through ESL and ESL literacy only pointing out briefly the difficulties and challenges ELLs face in an English only environment and why differentiated instruction is critical.
  3. Literacy for ELLs…Fred Carrigg, for all audiences, but especially primary teachers, full day, at least 5 hours. This is the in depth training that explores native language, ESL reading and transition to the English only program. Phonemic awareness, graphemic transfer, comprehension are all explored in depth with full audience participation.
  4. Literacy for SPED students…Fred CarriggThis is an overview of IEL (see above) with special attention paid to current SPED research and the four components of the assessment process.

Specific Topics

  1. Curricular Mapping and local school adaptation is intended for curriculum committees, supervisors, principals, central office. It is 1½ hours. …Fred Carrigg, Keisha Smith-Carrington. It explores the 6 elements of a living curriculum and the need to make local decisions and adaptations at the school level.
  2. Process Writing…Mary Jane Kurabinski…intended for classroom teachers. This is usually a series of 2 to 2½ hour workshops over time…The overview and critical components; Pre-writing and 1-3-1, Revising and conferencing, and a final one on Publishing.
  3. Strategies and Techniques…Mary Jane Kurabinski and Keisha Smith-Carrington. This is a 2 hour workshop intended for primary teachers on what really works and what doesn’t.
  4. How to organize the 90 minute block…Keisha Smith-Carrington, all audiences. This 2 to 2½ hour workshop explores the state model for setting up the classroom, dedicating time to different components, strategies and techniques, and working with a co-teacher.
  5. Literacy Coach training….Mary Jane Kurabinski and Keisha Smith Carrington. This is a 2 hour workshop for new literacy coaches on the best ways to work with classroom teachers.
  6. Selection and use of classroom libraries… Mary Jane Kurabinski. This is a 2 to 2½ hour workshop on how to select books, why, how to use them for multipurpose and especially on connecting them to the writing process through reader response.
  7. Word Wall... Keisha Smith Carrington. This is a 2 to 2½ hour workshop on the use of Word Wall, what to include, vocabulary development and how to use them for multipurpose and connecting them to the writing process.
  8. Comprehension…Fred Carrigg, Keisha Smith-Carrington, Mary Jane Kurabinski

This is a 1½ to 2 hour workshop on going beyond the literal questions. Very hands on, interactive with the audience.

  1. Item Analysis... Fred Carrigg, Keisha Smith-Carrington, Mary Jane Kurabinski

This is a 1 ½ to 2 hour workshop based on your district results from the Terra Nova 2ndEdition Plus, this workshop trains critical staff members to look at the items that caused students difficulties and examine the different possible causes embedded in the reading process beyond the obvious stated ones from cluster analysis.

Fred Carrigg

Special Assistant to the Commissioner

for Urban Literacy

Abbott Division

New Jersey Department of Education

PO Box 500

Trenton, New Jersey08625

Tel: (609) 633-1726

Fax: (609) 777 -0967