Professional Development Opportunities 2020-2021
Summer Conference: Teaching Literacy During Turbulent Times at Widener University
Featuring local presenters
Date: August 19 6:30 - 8:15 PM
Location: Virtual Conference
This workshop aims to share practical ideas with current practitioners about how to utilize effective teaching practices when teaching in a virtual or hybrid classroom setting. Participants will gain a deeper understanding of how to teach phonics, conduct running records, and more when using various technology platforms and tools as well as learning management systems.
An SEL Toolkit for Educators: Strategies to Cultivate the Social, Emotional, and Well-Being of All Learners
Cindy Kruse
Thursday, October 8, 2020
Virtual-ZOOM
4:30-5:30 p.m.
Act 48 Hours: 1
Click here to attend this event.
Now, more than ever before, educators are seeing the need to develop the social and emotional skills of all learners. Research has shown that students are in the best position to learn when they feel a sense of safety and belonging in a positive learning environment. Due to current pandemic, both students and educators are feeling increased anxiety and stress. How can we best meet the needs of our students when learning is virtual, or they are required to social distance in the classroom? This session will empower educators by providing a toolkit that includes best practices, strategies and resources as they proactively plan to support all learners in the coming year whether in-person or virtual.
A KSLA Brandywine Valley Forge virtual event - Click here for more information.
Teach to Reach Conference: The POWer of Graphic Novels!
Dates: November 7, 12,& 19, 2020
Location: Virtual Conference
Act 48 Hours: 3*
Graphic novels have the power to entice, entertain, and educate. Teachers are finding ways to harness this power for effective literacy instruction at all levels. These three stand-alone workshops aim to provide participants with insights to the value of this unique literary format. They will also offer practical instructional strategies for developing visual literacy and essential reading skills which are transferable to traditional texts across disciplines. An award-winning graphic novelist will give a detailed look at their creative process.
*This will occur across three Thursday evenings in November from 7:00 - 8:00 pm. Each session will focus on a specific element about graphic novels - elementary, secondary, and author.
A KSLA Delaware Valley virtual event.
Winter Online Book Club: Teaching in a Digital Age
Featuring KSLA Delaware Valley members
Date: January 2021
Location: Twitter
Thinking about teaching in the digital age is more important than ever and requires thoughtful practice. While this book club will not feature a print-based book, members will be encouraged to participate in Twitter chats each week about recently published articles or blog posts. Participants will be able to expand their thinking about teaching in the digital age through friendly collaboration on Twitter.
A KSLA Delaware Valley virtual event.
Text Dependent Analysis: Strategic Ways to Approach TDAs
Beth Madarang and Lauren Winter
Thursday, January 21, 2021
Virtual-ZOOM
4:30-6:00 p.m.
Act 48 Hours: 1.5
Learn tried and true tips on instructing students how to approach TDAs. Lauren and Beth will share strategies for dissecting the prompt, finding intent with inferencing, addressing why in the analysis, and sprinkling you (the student) throughout. They offer high interest related lessons to grow the skills students need to succeed with TDAs including becoming an expert on text with help from Beers and Probst’s Notice and Note.
A KSLA Brandywine Valley Forge virtual event - Click here for more information.
Murph Crawford Conference: Raising Social Awareness
Featuring authors Mwenyewe Dawan, Aileen Hower, Renee Jacobs, and Lynne Dorfman
Date: February 27, 2021 from 9:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Location: Virtual Conference
Act 48 Hours: 2.5
Raising social awareness is a critical topic in education today. During this presentation, these authors will share how to increase students’ social awareness through using children’s literature.
A KSLA Delaware Valley virtual event.
Author Panel: The Power of Story
Matthew Landis, Jennifer Hansen Rolli, Dianne K. Salerni, Pamela M. Tuck
Saturday, March 13, 2021
Virtual-ZOOM or CCIU (if permissible)
9:00-11:00 a.m.
Act 48 Hours: 2
Middle school teacher and middle grade/YA author, Matthew Landis; picture book author/illustrator, Jennifer Hansen Rolli; middle grade and YA author, Dianne K. Salerni; and picture book author, Pamela M. Tuck will answer questions about their processes as authors and engage in conversations with the audience about the power of story to motivate and inspire readers and writers of all ages.
A KSLA Brandywine Valley Forge virtual event - Click here for more information.
Spring Conference: Putting Research into Practice
Featuring Dr. Dr. Kim Lewinski, Dr. Meganlyn Norris, Dr. Kelly Doyle, an current practitioners and researchers
Date: April 17, 2021 from
9:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Location: Virtual Conference
Act 48 Hours: 2.5
Education continues to improve and grow through the expansion of studies conducted by researchers determining new ways to instruct students in order to improve the quality of instruction. However, finding the time to read these studies can be challenging for educators. This conference will provide practitioners with pertinent information related to hot topics in literacy research and ideas from current teachers for putting that research into practice in the classroom and beyond.
A KSLA Delaware Valley virtual event.
A Celebration of Books
Saturday, April 24, 2021
Virtual-ZOOM or CCIU (if permissible)
9:00-11:00 a.m.
Act 48 Hours: 2
New Titles from the Keystone to Reading Elementary Book Awards
Rose Cappelli and Glendia Kennedy, co-chairs of the Keystone to Reading Elementary Book Awards, will present the titles on the 2021-2022 Preschool, Primary, and Intermediate lists. Learn how participation in the Keystone to Reading Elementary Book Award program can help make a difference in the reading lives of your students.
An Author’s View
Author Frank Murphy will read from his two most recent picture books, A Girl Like You and A Boy Like You. He will also talk about A Teacher Like You, co-authored with his wife, Carla Murphy. Frank will give a behind the scenes peek into the process that went into why he wrote these books and the marriage between illustration and text.
A KSLA Brandywine Valley Forge virtual event - Click here for more information.
Featuring local presenters
Date: August 19 6:30 - 8:15 PM
Location: Virtual Conference
This workshop aims to share practical ideas with current practitioners about how to utilize effective teaching practices when teaching in a virtual or hybrid classroom setting. Participants will gain a deeper understanding of how to teach phonics, conduct running records, and more when using various technology platforms and tools as well as learning management systems.
An SEL Toolkit for Educators: Strategies to Cultivate the Social, Emotional, and Well-Being of All Learners
Cindy Kruse
Thursday, October 8, 2020
Virtual-ZOOM
4:30-5:30 p.m.
Act 48 Hours: 1
Click here to attend this event.
Now, more than ever before, educators are seeing the need to develop the social and emotional skills of all learners. Research has shown that students are in the best position to learn when they feel a sense of safety and belonging in a positive learning environment. Due to current pandemic, both students and educators are feeling increased anxiety and stress. How can we best meet the needs of our students when learning is virtual, or they are required to social distance in the classroom? This session will empower educators by providing a toolkit that includes best practices, strategies and resources as they proactively plan to support all learners in the coming year whether in-person or virtual.
A KSLA Brandywine Valley Forge virtual event - Click here for more information.
Teach to Reach Conference: The POWer of Graphic Novels!
Dates: November 7, 12,& 19, 2020
Location: Virtual Conference
Act 48 Hours: 3*
Graphic novels have the power to entice, entertain, and educate. Teachers are finding ways to harness this power for effective literacy instruction at all levels. These three stand-alone workshops aim to provide participants with insights to the value of this unique literary format. They will also offer practical instructional strategies for developing visual literacy and essential reading skills which are transferable to traditional texts across disciplines. An award-winning graphic novelist will give a detailed look at their creative process.
*This will occur across three Thursday evenings in November from 7:00 - 8:00 pm. Each session will focus on a specific element about graphic novels - elementary, secondary, and author.
A KSLA Delaware Valley virtual event.
Winter Online Book Club: Teaching in a Digital Age
Featuring KSLA Delaware Valley members
Date: January 2021
Location: Twitter
Thinking about teaching in the digital age is more important than ever and requires thoughtful practice. While this book club will not feature a print-based book, members will be encouraged to participate in Twitter chats each week about recently published articles or blog posts. Participants will be able to expand their thinking about teaching in the digital age through friendly collaboration on Twitter.
A KSLA Delaware Valley virtual event.
Text Dependent Analysis: Strategic Ways to Approach TDAs
Beth Madarang and Lauren Winter
Thursday, January 21, 2021
Virtual-ZOOM
4:30-6:00 p.m.
Act 48 Hours: 1.5
Learn tried and true tips on instructing students how to approach TDAs. Lauren and Beth will share strategies for dissecting the prompt, finding intent with inferencing, addressing why in the analysis, and sprinkling you (the student) throughout. They offer high interest related lessons to grow the skills students need to succeed with TDAs including becoming an expert on text with help from Beers and Probst’s Notice and Note.
A KSLA Brandywine Valley Forge virtual event - Click here for more information.
Murph Crawford Conference: Raising Social Awareness
Featuring authors Mwenyewe Dawan, Aileen Hower, Renee Jacobs, and Lynne Dorfman
Date: February 27, 2021 from 9:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Location: Virtual Conference
Act 48 Hours: 2.5
Raising social awareness is a critical topic in education today. During this presentation, these authors will share how to increase students’ social awareness through using children’s literature.
A KSLA Delaware Valley virtual event.
Author Panel: The Power of Story
Matthew Landis, Jennifer Hansen Rolli, Dianne K. Salerni, Pamela M. Tuck
Saturday, March 13, 2021
Virtual-ZOOM or CCIU (if permissible)
9:00-11:00 a.m.
Act 48 Hours: 2
Middle school teacher and middle grade/YA author, Matthew Landis; picture book author/illustrator, Jennifer Hansen Rolli; middle grade and YA author, Dianne K. Salerni; and picture book author, Pamela M. Tuck will answer questions about their processes as authors and engage in conversations with the audience about the power of story to motivate and inspire readers and writers of all ages.
A KSLA Brandywine Valley Forge virtual event - Click here for more information.
Spring Conference: Putting Research into Practice
Featuring Dr. Dr. Kim Lewinski, Dr. Meganlyn Norris, Dr. Kelly Doyle, an current practitioners and researchers
Date: April 17, 2021 from
9:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Location: Virtual Conference
Act 48 Hours: 2.5
Education continues to improve and grow through the expansion of studies conducted by researchers determining new ways to instruct students in order to improve the quality of instruction. However, finding the time to read these studies can be challenging for educators. This conference will provide practitioners with pertinent information related to hot topics in literacy research and ideas from current teachers for putting that research into practice in the classroom and beyond.
A KSLA Delaware Valley virtual event.
A Celebration of Books
Saturday, April 24, 2021
Virtual-ZOOM or CCIU (if permissible)
9:00-11:00 a.m.
Act 48 Hours: 2
New Titles from the Keystone to Reading Elementary Book Awards
Rose Cappelli and Glendia Kennedy, co-chairs of the Keystone to Reading Elementary Book Awards, will present the titles on the 2021-2022 Preschool, Primary, and Intermediate lists. Learn how participation in the Keystone to Reading Elementary Book Award program can help make a difference in the reading lives of your students.
An Author’s View
Author Frank Murphy will read from his two most recent picture books, A Girl Like You and A Boy Like You. He will also talk about A Teacher Like You, co-authored with his wife, Carla Murphy. Frank will give a behind the scenes peek into the process that went into why he wrote these books and the marriage between illustration and text.
A KSLA Brandywine Valley Forge virtual event - Click here for more information.
Board/Advisory Meetings
- September 12, 2020
- November 10, 2020
- January 12, 2021
- March 9, 2021
- May 18, 2021