SUMMER 2026
VIRTUAL WORKSHOP SERIES
Help us plan! We’re putting together a series of professional development sessions to address some of the most common concerns we’ve heard during the past school year. These workshops will be on zoom so you can attend from wherever you are, and they’ll be live - not recorded - so you’ll have plenty of opportunity to interact with the presenter. Click the button below and let us know which PD sessions you might be interested in attending. (No obligation, we’re just gauging interest.) Thanks!
Too Many Initiatives, Not Enough Impact? A Smarter Way to Lead Change
Dr. Jenny French | Recommended audience: Administrators and School Leaders
When everything is a priority, nothing is. In this hands-on session, school leaders will learn how to audit initiatives, eliminate overload, and lead focused, sustainable change—without burning out teachers.
Participants will map every major initiative from the past year and the year ahead, prioritize high-impact work while remaining compliant with district and state requirements, create a clear, manageable rollout plan for the new school year, receive actionable feedback on your plan so you can start strong, and leave with a practical roadmap that protects teacher capacity, strengthens implementation, and ensures your initiatives actually stick
Workshops under consideration
AI-Powered Literacy: Tools & Tactics That Actually Work in Class
Dr. Diana Bierne | Recommended audience: Teachers, Instructional Coaches and Curriculum Directors
Focus: Practical ways to integrate generative AI for reading, writing, and feedback.
Takeaway: Responsible AI use for summarizing texts, modeling writing, and building student independence..
Vocabulary That Sticks: Word Learning Strategies for the Secondary Classroom
Dr. Jenny French | Recommended audience: Grade 4-12 Teachers, Instructional Coaches and Curriculum Directors
Explore research-aligned vocabulary instruction grounded in the Science of Reading. This session focuses on both direct and indirect approaches to teaching vocabulary, with practical strategies that help students deeply understand and retain new words over time. Participants will leave with a ready-to-use morphology routine, strategies for effective word walls, and framework for selecting high-impact vocabulary
Writing Across the Day: Embedding Purposeful Writing in All Subjects
Dr. Diana Bierne | Recommended audience: Teachers, Instructional Coaches and Curriculum Directors
Focus: Strengthening literacy through authentic writing tasks in ELA, science, history, and more.
Takeaway: Sentence stems, discipline-specific rubrics, and short writing routines.
Designing an Intervention Program that Actually Works
Dr. Jenny French | Recommended audience: Teachers, Instructional Coaches. Curriculum Directors and School Leaders
Building a strong reading intervention program at the secondary level requires more than a curriculum - it requires clarity, systems, and strategic design. In this workshop for school leaders, interventionists, and instructional coaches, participants will learn how to create a targeted, sustainable intervention model aligned to the science of reading and the unique needs of adolescent learners. Identify meaningful student data, structures for scheduling, staffing, designing instructional components that address decoding, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Leave with a customized intervention plan in hand-ready for fall implementation.
Don't Resign! Redesign.
Dr. Jenny French | Recommended audience: All educators including Teachers, Instructional Coaches. Curriculum Directors and School Leaders
If you’re tired, overwhelmed, or quietly wondering if you can keep doing this for another year—this workshop is for you. Whether you’re considering a career shift, craving better balance, or simply unsure of your next move, we’ll guide you through a structured process to evaluate your options and design a path forward, whether that's staying, shifting, or starting over. The life and career you want won’t happen by accident—it requires intention and planning.
In this session, you will: assess where you are and why it feels unsustainable, explore new directions inside or outside of education identify practical steps toward change, and create a personal action plan you can actually follow. You’ll leave with clarity, momentum, and a completed workbook to support your next steps.
Multilingual Learners & Literacy: Strategies for Immediate Classroom Impact
Dr. Diana Bierne | Recommended audience: Teachers, Instructional Coaches and Curriculum Directors
Focus: High-leverage literacy practices that support language development and content access.
Takeaway: Scaffolding, vocabulary routines, and culturally responsive texts for MLLs.
What the Science of Reading Looks like for Middle and High School Students Content Area Teachers
Dr. Katie McKnight & Dr. Jenny French | Recommended audience: Grade 4-12 Teachers, Instructional Coaches and Curriculum Directors
There are tons of PD opportunities and resources available on the science of reading for elementary teachers, but the science of reading also applies to middle and high school students! Secondary teachers are experts of their content, but are frustrated by the lack of knowledge and resources to support students who still need to master decoding and fluency. In this session, participants will explore the science of reading and its application to older students. Whether you're a classroom teacher, literacy coach, or administrator, this workshop offers valuable insights, resources, and tools to enhance your teaching practice and empower your secondary students to become confident and proficient readers.
Reimagining Small Group Instruction for Older Students
Dr. Katie McKnight | Recommended audience: Grade 4-12 Teachers, Instructional Coaches and Curriculum Directors
Elementary classrooms have long implemented learning centers and rotations with great success. However, these strategies are often underutilized in middle and high school settings due to unique challenges posed by older learners. This session brings a fresh perspective to small group instruction for grades 4-12. Drawing on years of research and real-world application, this presentation explores the innovative Literacy & Learning Center model, a dynamic framework designed specifically for older students. Participants will uncover how to implement engaging, personalized small group instruction that addresses the diverse learrning needs of older students while fostering independence and accountability.
Do This, Not That to Develop Reading Comprehension in the Content Areas
Dr. Katie McKnight | Recommended audience: Grade 4-12 Teachers, Instructional Coaches and Curriculum Directors
We will examine the do's and don'ts of building reading comprehension skills for middle and high school students. Educators will progress at this stage. This session will focus on actionable, research-backed methods to improve classroom instruction with tangible outcomes in mind. Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of which strategies support reading comprehension and which approaches may hinder student
Registration will open soon.
If you sign up for the newsletter, we’ll let you know when the schedule is finalized and registration is open.
