The 11th Annual Early Childhood Symposium will held on June 15-16 2009 at the Ogden Eccles Conference Center, 2415 Washington Blvd., Ogden, Utah

Reaching and Teaching Every Child: Explicit Instruction in Literacy and Mathematics

For more information and registration materials, please call (435) 797-8629 orsend an email to
eejcenter@cc.usu.edu The cost is $160 or $240 (2 University Credits). View Flyer

Speaker Presentations:
DR. SUSAN P. MILLER
Using Explicit Instruction to Develop Mathematics Competence
This interactive session will describe and demonstrate evidence-based practices that help elementary students develop mathematics competence. Participants will engage in demonstrations and practice a variety of instructional techniques. Emphasis will be places on the use of explicit and strategic instruction designed to help students meet critical standards related to number sense and operations.

Dr. Susan Miller is a Professor of Special Education at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Dr. Miller has extensive experience teaching school-aged students with and without disabilities at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. Her current research interests include mathematics interventions and learning strategy instruction. She serves as a Professional Developer for the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning and has held several leadership positions.

DR. TIMOTHY SHANAHAN
Improving Reading Achievement Among Young Children Put Reading First Booklet (.pdf)
What needs to be done to improve reading achievement? This session will address the key issues in learning and teaching based on current research and presenter experiences as the Director of Reading of Chicago Public Schools.

Dr. Timothy Shanahan is a Professor of Urban Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Director of the UIC Center for Literacy. He has served as Director of Reading for the Chicago Public Schools, and is a former first grade teacher. He served on the National Reading Panel, a group convened by the National Institute of Child Health and Development at the request of Congress to evaluate research on successful methods of teaching reading. He is chair of the National Literacy Panel on Language Minority Children and Youth and the National Early Literacy Panel. Recently, the U.S.
Senate confirmed Shanahan’s appointment to the advisory board to the National Institute for Literacy. He received the Albert J. Harris Award for Outstanding Research on Reading Disability and the Milton D. Jacobson Readability Research Award for the International Reading Association. His research focuses on the relations of reading and writing, assessment of reading ability, family literacy, and school improvement. He has published over 100 articles, chapters, and books on these topics.

Previous Symposiums

2008
Concepts About Print by Ray Reutzel
Assessing and Improving Children’s Vocabulary by Lisa Boyce
Phonological Awareness Alphabetic Principle Assessment & Instruction by Peggy Patterson
Oral Reading Fluency Assessment and Instruction by Brady Donaldson
Phonics Assessment and Instruction by Greg Lewis

2006
Dr. Cathy Collins Block is a professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Texas Christian University, where she serves on the graduate faculty, and teaches graduate and undergraduate courses. She has directed seven nationally funded research studies concerning literacy development, and has served or is serving on the Board of Dirctors for the nternational Reading Association, National Reading Conferences, Nobel Learning Communities, IBM Educational Board of Directors, and many more. She has authored, edited, or co-edited 32 books, with her most recent being Metacognition: Research-based Practice.

Dr. Lori Oczkus is a literacy coach, author, and popular speaker across the United States. Thousands of teachers have attended her motivating, fast-paced workshop. She has extensive experience as a bilingual elementary teacher and intervention specialist working with struggling readers. She works with students every week in classrooms and really knows the challenges that teachers face in teaching students to read! She is the author of the book, The Super Six Comprehension Stategies. These six strategies include predicting/inferring, questioning, monitoring, summarizing, evaluating, and making connections.

Dr. Ray Reutzel is the Emma Eccles Jones Endowed Chair and Distinguished Professor of Early Childhood Education at Utah State University. Dr. Reutzel is the author of more than 135 articles, books, book chapters, and monographs. He has published in Reading Research Quarterly, Journal of Reading Behavior, Journal of Literacy Research, Journal of Educational Research, Reading Psychology, Reading and Writing Quarterly, Reading Research and Instruction, Language Arts, Journal of Reading, The Reading Teacher, and Instructor, among others. Dr. Reutzel received the A.B. Herr Award for Outstanding Research and Published Contributions to Reading Education from the College Reading Association in 1999. Dr. Reutzel is, with his colleague, Judith P. Mitchell, co-editor of the International Reading Association’s journal–The Reading Teacher.

2005
James Christie teaches courses in language, literacy, and early childhood education. His
research interests include early literacy development and children’s play. His publications include
the co-authored books: a) Play, Development, and Early Education; b) Buildling a Foundation for
Preschool Literacy: Effective Instruction for Children’s Reading and Writing Development; c) Teaching
Language and Literacy, 2nd edition; and d) Play and Literacy in Early Education: Research from
Multiple Perspecitves.

Billie Enz is responsible for establishing professional development and induction
programs with local school districts. Dr. Enz is the co-author of serveral books on new
teacher development including: a) Trade Secrets for Primary and Elementary Teachers;
and b) Life Cycle of the Career Teacher.

Sandra Hurley has research and teaching interests that focus on the social and
cultural factors that influence literacy/biliteracy acquisition and achievement. She
has received the El Paso County Reading Council’s Outstanding Teacher of Reading Award, the
College of Education’s Excellence in Teaching Award, and was a finalist in the International Reading
Association’s Dissertation of the Year competition.

2004
Nell Duke
Associate Professor of Teaching, Learning, Technology, & Culture at Michigan State University
Dr. Duke will present a research-tested framework for incorporating informational text into primary grade classrooms. She will share portraits of P-3 classrooms in which informational text plays an important role in literacy instruction and content area learning, and present specific instructional practices for using informational text in classroom activities such as read aloud and group writing. Session participants will have the opportunity to interact with some informational texts for young children and plan classroom activities that incorporate info texts into their integrated curriculum.

Linda Hoyt
Author, Educator, and Consultant of Various Books, Videos, and Articles
Informational texts comprise the bulk of the reading we do as adults, are the focus of instruction at third grade and above, and comprise as much as 80% of contemporary standardized tests. Yet, they have traditionally taken a back seat to literacy instruction in fiction. This session will present instructional strategies which bring info texts to life. You will walk away with ready to use ideas for weaving nonfiction into your read alouds, shared book experiences, guided reading lessons, word study, and fluency and content area studies. Linda will share ideas from Revisit, Reflect Retell, Snapshots, Make It Real: Strategies for Success with Informational Texts, and her newest book Exploring Informational Texts: From Theory to Practice as well as show clips from her new video series: Navigating Informational Texts: Easy and Explicit Strategies K-5. Reading to Learn and Learning to Read...from the beginning.

Barbara Moss
Professor of Literary Education & Teaches Children’s Literature & Content Reading at San Diego State University
Dr. Moss will present on Matters of Fact: Using Literature in Today’s Classroom. This presentation will provide practical strategies for selecting nonfiction, reading nonfiction aloud, and helping students become strategic readers and writers of nonfiction.

Sponsors...
Emma Eccles Jones Center for Early Childhood Education, Sundance/Newbridge Higher Communication Companies, Utah State Office of Education, & Utah State University Continuing Education

2003
The Fifth Annual Emma Eccles Jones Early Childhood Symposium joined with Lt. Governor Olene S. Walker’s Literacy Summit in conjunction with UTAH READS on January 9-10, 2003. Symposium V had an enrollment of nearly 700 participants.

The conference featured Dr. Susan B. Neuman, Assistant Secretary of Elementary and Secondary Education in the U.S. Department of Education; Olene S. Walker, Lt. Governor for the State of Utah; Chieko Okazaki, Member of the Board of Directors of the National Children’s Reading Foundation; Orrin Hatch, State Senator for the State of Utah; Dr. Lesley M. Morrow, President of the International Reading Association; and Dr. Tim Rasinski, Member of Board of Directors of the International Reading Association and former Editor of The Reading Teacher.

What the 2003 Symposium attendees said...

The speakers were excellent.

Tim Rasinski gave such concrete, effective ideas of how to implement what he was teaching so we can make a difference.

This was an excellent conference.

Lesley Morrow - WOW! Best ever! Learned lots!

I understand what our state expects with "Put Reading First." Our problems and concerns are understood better than I thought.

Good information at a reasonable conference fee.

Thanks. I'm sure a lot of work went into putting such great people together for a super conference!

Thanks! I've been motivated and invigorated. Just what I needed to keep on keeping on!

Really enjoyed the Q&A giving us a chance to ask & provide feedback - giving us a voice at an important conference made me feel valuable.