School-Based Seminars | On Site Professional Development

School-Based Seminars

School-Based Seminars

Examine pressing instructional topics and energize your team in seminars presented at your location.

Our on-site seminars are author-developed. Each course is characterized by a flexible framework designed to address the general learning goals described. Consultants customize course delivery in response to the unique and particular needs of your school and district. The following seminars are designed by our renowned authors and delivered on-site by author-selected, Heinemann-trained consultants.

Comprehension Seminars

Best Practice: Bringing Standards to Life in America's Classrooms

Developed in collaboration with Harvey "Smokey" Daniels , Arthur Hyde , Steven Zemelman
Grades: K - 12th

Best Practice , Fourth Edition, continues to be a cutting-edge guide to teaching excellence. Its framework of seven Best Practice Structures and impactful implementation strategies are proven across the grades and subject areas - including math... more »

Comprehension & Collaboration: Inquiry Circles in Action

Developed in collaboration with Harvey "Smokey" Daniels , Stephanie Harvey
Grades: K - 12th

"Collaborative, relevant, deep, and thoughtful learning does work, at all grade levels. Decades of research confirm that such instruction leads not just to higher student achievement on the customary academic measures, but to better social... more »

Comprehension Connections: Bridges to Strategic Reading

Developed in collaboration with Tanny McGregor
Grades: K - 8th

Inferring, questioning, determining importance. It's not easy to teach these abstract thinking strategies, yet research tells us that by teaching kids to think, we are offering them access to the world. Fortunately, Tanny McGregor has developed... more »

Comprehension Strategy Instruction for K-3 Students

Developed in collaboration with Gretchen Owocki
Grades: K - 3rd

The ultimate goal for teaching comprehension is to support children in fully experiencing the world of text. This seminar guides K–3 teachers through an exploration of the processes involved in comprehending, and through an exploration of... more »

Comprehension Toolkit: Developing Language and Lessons for Active Literacy 3-6

Developed in collaboration with
Grades: 3rd - 6th

The Comprehension Toolkit emphasizes active literacy - reading, writing, talking, listening and investigating - and in this first hand course, your teachers will discover how to use the Toolkit to develop these crucial comprehension... more »

The Power of Comprehension Strategy Instruction

Developed in collaboration with Ellin Oliver Keene , Susan Zimmermann
Grades: K - 12th

This seminar will give teachers the opportunity to delve into some compelling text in order to reflect on their own skills as proficient readers. As teachers pay attention to their own metacognition, we will learn how to best equip our students... more »

Time-Tested Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension

Developed in collaboration with Linda Hoyt
Grades: K - 6th

Based on Linda Hoyt's Revisit, Reflect, Retell , Updated Edition, Time-Tested Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension introduces teachers anew to the most reliable and teacher-friendly resource for helping students experience deeper levels... more »

To Understand

Developed in collaboration with Ellin Oliver Keene
Grades: K - 12th

In this seminar, participants will have an opportunity to explore the outcomes of comprehension strategy instruction and the behavioral dimensions of understanding as described in To Understand . Teachers will learn how to help children explore... more »

Fountas and Pinnell-Developed Seminars

Benchmark Assessment Systems

Developed in collaboration with

This professional learning opportunity provides an overview of the Benchmark Assessment System K-8 . A benchmark is a standard against which to measure something. In this assessment, the standard is set by the Benchmark Assessment books the... more »

Genre Study

Developed in collaboration with Irene Fountas , Gay Su Pinnell
Grades: K - 3rd

In this seminar and in their book Genre Study: Teaching with Fiction and Nonfiction Books , Fountas and Pinnell advocate teaching and learning in which students are actively engaged in developing genre understandings and applying their thinking... more »

Guided Reading

Developed in collaboration with Irene Fountas , Gay Su Pinnell
Grades: K - 6th

Participants will explore the components of a comprehensive literacy system and learn how guided reading fits within this context. In this professional learning opportunity, teachers will explore the reading process and how it is supported... more »

Guided Reading: Fountas and Pinnell Classroom

Developed in collaboration with Irene Fountas , Gay Su Pinnell
Grades: K - 2nd

Guided reading is a powerful small-group instructional context in which a teacher supports each reader's developing system of strategic actions for processing texts at increasingly challenging levels of difficulty. Participants in this seminar... more »

Guiding Readers and Writers

Developed in collaboration with Irene Fountas , Gay Su Pinnell
Grades: 3rd - 6th

An overview of the key principles of reading instruction outlined in Fountas and Pinnell's bestselling Guiding Readers and Writers , this seminar provides teachers with an understanding of all of the elements of an effective literacy program, and... more »

Independent Reading and Conferring: Fountas and Pinnell Classroom

Developed in collaboration with Irene Fountas , Gay Su Pinnell
Grades: K - 2nd

Independent reading offers children the chance to read, write about, talk about, and enjoy self-selected texts. It is nested within an instructional framework of minilessons, conferring, and sharing. Participants in this seminar will explore how... more »

Interactive Read-Aloud: Fountas and Pinnell Classroom

Developed in collaboration with Irene Fountas , Gay Su Pinnell
Grades: K - 2nd

Interactive read-aloud is the foundation for instruction within a literacy rich classroom. Interactive read-aloud promotes the joy of reading, expands children's vocabulary, and increases their ability to think, talk, and write about texts that... more »

Leveled Literacy Intervention Intermediate, Grades 3-12

Developed in collaboration with

The Leveled Literacy Intervention (LLI) Red and Gold Systems are designed for grade 3 and 4 students who are reading below grade level. The LLI Purple System is designed for grade 5 students reading below level. And the LLI Teal System ... more »

Leveled Literacy Intervention Primary, Grades K-2

Developed in collaboration with

The groundbreaking Fountas & Pinnell Leveled Literacy Intervention (LLI) is a research-based, supplementary intervention system designed to help teachers provide powerful, daily, small-group instruction for the lowest-achieving students in the... more »

Literacy Beginnings: Grades PreK-K

Developed in collaboration with Irene Fountas , Gay Su Pinnell
Grades: PreK - K

Play and language are both important learning tools for the prekindergarten child. Through play and language, they learn about their world and about themselves and it is in play that early literacy learning begins. Drawing from Fountas and... more »

Phonics and Word Study Lessons

Developed in collaboration with Irene Fountas , Gay Su Pinnell
Grades: K - 3rd

Fountas and Pinnell's first hand publications Phonics Lessons and Word Study Lessons reflect the most current research on child and language development, and support the kind of instruction that emerging readers need. In this seminar, teachers... more »

Phonics, Spelling and Word Study: Fountas and Pinnell Classroom

Developed in collaboration with Irene Fountas , Gay Su Pinnell
Grades: K - 1st

In an alphabetic language such as English, phonics describes the relationships between the sounds of language and its graphic symbols, i.e., the letters. With knowledge of letter-sound relationships, children add to their ability to derive meaning... more »

Role of the Administrator in the Implementation of Benchmark Assessment

Developed in collaboration with Irene Fountas , Gay Su Pinnell
Grades: K - 8th

Administrators play an important role in determining the success of school initiatives, including the implementation of the Fountas & Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System . In order to support the implementation process and the teachers... more »

Role of the Administrator in the Implementation of Leveled Literacy Intervention

Developed in collaboration with Irene Fountas , Gay Su Pinnell
Grades: K - 2nd

Administrators play an important role in determining the success of school initiatives, including the implementation of the LLI system. In order to support the implementation process and the teachers using the materials, administrators must have... more »

Shared Reading: Fountas and Pinnell Classroom

Developed in collaboration with Irene Fountas , Gay Su Pinnell
Grades: PreK - 3rd

Shared reading is a community experience in which all children look at, read, and discuss the same text together. Through shared reading, children have the opportunity to engage in the reading process with texts that may be beyond their ability to... more »

Sistema de evaluacion de la lectura (SEL) Niveles A-N: Grades K-2

Developed in collaboration with Irene Fountas , Gay Su Pinnell
Grades: K - 2nd

Delivered On-Site by Heinemann-Trained Consultants Sistema de evaluación de la lectura is a highly reliable, research-based resource for: Determining students' Spanish reading levels based on the F&P Text Level... more »

Teaching for Comprehending & Fluency Grades K-8

Developed in collaboration with Irene Fountas , Gay Su Pinnell
Grades: K - 8th

Teachers will examine the critical elements of comprehension involving readers, texts, and teaching as they study Fountas and Pinnell's important resource, Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency . They will gain an understanding of the components... more »

The Fountas and Pinnell Literacy Continuum

Developed in collaboration with Irene Fountas , Gay Su Pinnell
Grades: PreK - 8th

Where other assessment and benchmark systems leave you wondering "Now what?", Fountas and Pinnell provide a link from assessment to instruction via The Fountas & Pinnell Literacy Continuum: A Tool for Assessment, Planning, and Teaching, PreK-8 .... more »

When Readers Struggle

Developed in collaboration with Irene Fountas , Gay Su Pinnell
Grades: K - 3rd

Effective teaching begins with assessment and focuses on the strengths and needs of individual children. All teachers need to learn how to teach the lowest achieving children well, and to learn how to use behavioral evidence to document their... more »

Jennifer Serravallo-Developed Seminars

A Crash Course in Reading and Writing Strategies

Developed in collaboration with Jennifer Serravallo
Grades: K - 8th

Drawing from Jen's bestselling resources The Writing Strategies Book and The Reading Strategies Book , this seminar will help participants understand how to find goals for their readers and writers and how to support them over time as they... more »

Strategies and Structures for Teaching Reading

Developed in collaboration with Jennifer Serravallo
Grades: K - 8th

This seminar draws from Jen's bestselling resource The Reading Strategies Book , as well as her other popular titles about formative assessment, conferring and small group instruction. The day will begin with exploring the hierarchy of... more »

Strategies and Structures for Teaching Writing

Developed in collaboration with Jennifer Serravallo
Grades: K - 8th

Drawing from Serravallo's The Writing Strategies Book , this seminar will help participants to understand a variety of writing genres and modes, writing process, behaviors, skills, and qualities of good writing. Then, participants learn... more »

Math/Science Seminars

Adapting Reading Strategies to Teach Mathematics

Developed in collaboration with Arthur Hyde
Grades: 2nd - 8th

Discover practical ways to improve students' understanding and achievement in mathematics. Help students become more sophisticated math problem solvers and more insightful mathematical thinkers through a powerful new approach that adapts... more »

Content-Focused Coaching: Transforming Mathematics Lessons

Developed in collaboration with Fritz Staub , Lucy West
Grades: K - 8th

Content-Focused Coaching is a long-range professional development practice in which coaches work individually or with groups of classroom teachers to design, implement, and reflect on rigorous, standards-based lessons that promote student learning.... more »

Mastering the Basic Math Facts

Developed in collaboration with Susan O'Connell , John SanGiovanni
Grades: K - 6th

Mastering the Basic Math Facts in Addition and Subtraction Grades K-3 Mastering the Basic Math Facts in Multiplication and Division Grades 2-6 In today's math classroom, we want children to do more than just memorize math facts.... more »

Math Misconceptions: From Misunderstanding to Deep Understanding

Developed in collaboration with Honi J Bamberger , Christine Oberdorf , Karren Schultz-Ferrell
Grades: PreK - 5th

Children enter school filled with all kinds of ideas about numbers, shapes, measuring tools, time, and money - ideas formed from the expressions they hear...the things they see on television... the computer screen... in children's books... all... more »

Putting the Practices Into Action: Implementing the Common Core Standards for Mathematical Practice

Developed in collaboration with Susan O'Connell , John SanGiovanni
Grades: K - 8th

The Standards for Mathematical Practice describe eight "habits of mind" that promise to elevate students' learning of math from knowledge to application and bring rigor to our math classrooms. But how can we incorporate these Practices into our... more »

STEM Lesson Essentials for Grades 3-8

Developed in collaboration with Michael Comer , Cary Sneider , Jo Anne Vasquez
Grades: 3rd - 8th

This seminar provides the tools and strategies you'll need to design integrated, interdisciplinary STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) lessons and units that are relevant and exciting to your students. STEM in itself is not a... more »

Tools and Traits for Highly Effective Science Teaching

Developed in collaboration with Jo Anne Vasquez
Grades: K - 8th

What does top-notch, learning-centered teaching look like in science? To move from competence to excellence, what should teachers know and be able to do? Tools & Traits for Highly Effective Science Teaching, K-8 answers those questions and... more »

Writing About Inquiry Through Science Notebooks

Developed in collaboration with Brian Campbell , Lori Fulton
Grades: 2nd - 6th

Use science notebooks to their full potential. More than just a tool to build literacy, science notebooks can play an important role in the development of scientific concepts and replicating the work of scientists. Science notebooks are tools... more »

Reading Seminars

A Guide to Content Area Reading

Developed in collaboration with Harvey "Smokey" Daniels , Steven Zemelman
Grades: 6th - 12th

A Guide to Content-Area Reading demonstrates how teachers of all students can engage and support students' reading, support comprehension, and match instruction to students' needs. In addition, participants explore techniques for selecting a... more »

Do-Able Differentiation: Varying Groups, Texts, and Support to Reach Readers

Developed in collaboration with Michael P Ford , Michael F Opitz
Grades: K - 8th

Understand how readers differ and what actions teachers can take to reach different readers. Teachers are challenged to reach readers that often present widely different strengths and needs. What teachers bring to these readers in terms of... more »

Flexible Strategies for Small Group Reading Instruction

Developed in collaboration with Michael P Ford , Michael F Opitz
Grades: K - 8th

Through Michael Opitz and Michael Ford's School-Based Seminar, Flexible Strategies for Small Group Reading Instruction, your teachers will explore and expand their ideas about flexible grouping strategies. Considering roles and goals, assessment... more »

Implementing the Reading Workshop

Developed in collaboration with
Grades: 3rd - 5th

Heinemann professional books share the principles, research, and classroom experiences that our expert authors have discovered lead to highly effective reading workshops. This new course will provide the professional understandings teachers need... more »

Making Sense of Informational Texts

Developed in collaboration with Linda Hoyt
Grades: K - 6th

Unlock the treasures of informational texts. Working through ideas and practices described in Linda Hoyt's popular Make It Real , teachers learn how to use a range of reading experiences to equip students with a tool belt of content-area... more »

Mini-Lessons for Literature Circles

Developed in collaboration with Harvey "Smokey" Daniels , Nancy Steineke
Grades: 6th - 12th

Using the adult reading group model, literature circles promote habits of choice, independence, and resourcefulness while putting strategic reading to work. Working from Mini-Lessons for Literature Circles by Harvey Daniels and Nancy Steineke,... more »

Primary Comprehension Toolkit: Language and Lessons for K-2

Developed in collaboration with Anne Goudvis , Stephanie Harvey
Grades: K - 2nd

Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis have adapted the strategy instruction made famous in Strategies That Work and The Comprehension Toolkit to meet the developmental needs of our youngest readers. The Primary Comprehension Toolkit launches... more »

Reading Tips, Tools, and Techniques for Middle and Secondary Teachers

Developed in collaboration with Jim Burke
Grades: 6th - 12th

Ensure that all students inherit a lifelong passion for reading. This School-Based Seminar reveals practical tools, tips, and techniques that develop students' capacity with different types of text in all subject areas. Participants discuss how... more »

Reading Workshop in the Intermediate and Middle Grades: Month-by-Month

Developed in collaboration with Frank Serafini , Suzette Youngs
Grades: 3rd - 8th

This School-Based Seminar, based on Around the Reading Workshop in 180 Days by Frank Serafini and Suzette Youngs, provides teachers with a month-by-month look at the structure, planning, and instructional approaches of the reading... more »

Writing Seminars

Assessing Writers: Planning for Writing Instruction

Developed in collaboration with Carl Anderson
Grades: 3rd - 8th

Assessment is the challenging work of getting to know students as writers and using what we learn about them to help us decide what they need us to teach them next. Assessing students well is essential if we're going to be excellent writing... more »

Content-Area Writing

Developed in collaboration with Harvey "Smokey" Daniels , Nancy Steineke , Steven Zemelman
Grades: 6th - 12th

The Content-Area Writing School-Based Seminar guides teachers strategically through the two major types of writing that every student must know—Writing to Learn and Public Writing. Participants explore and practice various lessons for... more »

Engaging Young Writers

Developed in collaboration with Matt Glover
Grades: PreK - 1st

Children in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade are motivated to write in various ways. Some children are natural storytellers, ready to share their narrative in books. Others are more interested in telling people everything they know about a... more »

Explorations in Nonfiction Writing

Developed in collaboration with Linda Hoyt , Anthony Stead
Grades: K - 5th

Invite a Linda Hoyt-trained consultant to come to your school for an Explorations in Nonfiction Writing professional development day. Learn how to expertly use the Explorations series' components to help students access, interpret, and publish... more »

High Definition: Unforgettable Vocabulary-Building Strategies Across Genres and Subjects: Grades 4-10

Developed in collaboration with Sara Holbrook , Michael Salinger
Grades: 4th - 10th

Any teacher who has challenged a sunny day with the phrase vocabulary lesson only to see a dark cloud descend over the room knows that students can be downright word resistant. Break out of the vocab doldrums once and for all with High... more »

Inside the Teaching of Writing

Developed in collaboration with Donald H Graves , Penny Kittle
Grades: K - 6th

Effective teachers of writing model the craft in front of their students and make explicit the kinds of decisions made by proficient writers. Don Graves and Penny Kittle's Inside the Teaching of Writing seminar helps teachers discover new... more »

Nurturing Writers in Preschool and Kindergarten

Developed in collaboration with Matt Glover , Katie Wood Ray
Grades: PreK - K

A course for teaching professionals who work with young children, Nurturing Writers in Preschool and Kindergarten shows you how to support preschoolers and kindergarteners as writers in ways that help them develop powerful understandings about... more »

Smart Conversations That Move Young Writers Forward

Developed in collaboration with Carl Anderson
Grades: 3rd - 6th

The most powerful way to teach students to be better writers is to sit beside them and confer with them as they write. (Carl Anderson, 2009) This seminar will provide teachers with the tools they need to decide what strategies to teach a... more »

Teaching Revision Techniques

Developed in collaboration with Georgia Heard
Grades: 2nd - 8th

"How can I get my students to revise?" is one of the most frequently asked questions by teachers of writing. The key is to teach specific revision strategies that will enable students to re-see and re-shape their writing on multiple levels. Using... more »

Teaching the Qualities of Writing

Developed in collaboration with Ralph Fletcher , JoAnn Portalupi
Grades: 3rd - 8th

Whether your teachers are novices or veterans, Teaching the Qualities of Writing will increase their confidence and flexibility by focusing on the key characteristics all well-written pieces share. Developed with Ralph Fletcher and Joann... more »

Write Beside Them: Risk, Voice, and Clarity in High School Writing

Developed in collaboration with Penny Kittle
Grades: 6th - 12th

In this new seminar, teachers will learn how to establish a writing workshop for adolescents where students develop voice and craft in all genres. Writing with a purpose, understanding the elements of craft, and carefully analyzing the intentions... more »

Writing to Persuade

Developed in collaboration with Karen Caine
Grades: 3rd - 8th

In this seminar teachers will learn how to teach students to express an opinion, support their ideas with evidence, elaborate, and convince. Whether students are writing personal persuasive letters, editorials, essays, or public service... more »

Writing Tools, Tips, and Techniques for Middle School and Secondary Teachers

Developed in collaboration with Jim Burke
Grades: 6th - 12th

Support writers before, during, and after writing. Few skills contribute more to success than the ability to write clear, effective prose. To push your students in this direction, this School-Based Seminar explores ready-to-implement tools,... more »

Writing Workshop Seminars

A Framework for Planning Units of Study in the Writing Workshop

Developed in collaboration with Katie Wood Ray
Grades: K - 8th

A Framework for Planning Units of Study in the Writing Workshop focuses on how to facilitate close study of text that leads students to a better understanding of the traits of good writing, and motivates them to become more accomplished writers. ... more »

Essentials of the Writing Workshop

Developed in collaboration with Ralph Fletcher , JoAnn Portalupi
Grades: 3rd - 8th

An effective writing workshop is carefully structured to support writers through the writing process, while enabling teachers to observe and assess common and individual needs in order to make instructional decisions about teaching writing. ... more »

In Pictures and In Words

Developed in collaboration with Katie Wood Ray
Grades: PreK - 2nd

Because beginning writers use drawings as well as writing to make meaning as they compose, it's essential that teachers understand the role that illustrating plays in the overall development of literacy. In this one day seminar, teachers will... more »

Writing Workshop With Our Youngest Authors

Developed in collaboration with Lisa B Cleaveland , Katie Wood Ray
Grades: K - 2nd

This seminar shows how primary students can learn from professional writers, work with intention, and think about their own process in a writing workshop that is designed to support learning and respond sensitively to the developmental needs of... more »

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2017-18 Heinemann PD Catalog-Journal

Professional Development Catalog-Journal

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