Invited presentations

• Las Vegas, Nevada, SDE Differentiated Instruction Conference, From Workbook to Working Book: Using Daybooks in the Classroom; Sustain Daybooks in All Content Areas to Improve Comprehension and Recall, Creating Reading-Writing Projects; producer/organizer Kate Maggs; July 2009.
• University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va.; UVA Summer Institute on Academic Diversity, Your Ticket to Literate Conversation is Your Question, founder Carol Tomlinson; March 2005.
• University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va.; Best Practices Institute; Differentiation and Reading; Reading is Greek to Me, and Modeling Questions To Improve Thinking; founder Carol Tomlinson; summer 2005.
• National Sun Yat-Sen University, Kaohsiung and Taipei, Taiwan; Team Leader, Summer Reading Institutes for Teachers and Students; Directors Drs. Boyd Davis and Lilian Brannon; July 2004.
• Kaplan Summer Institute, Nathaniel Alexander Elementary site, Charlotte, NC, Literacy Consultant for Teacher and Student Writing Labs, organizer Catherine Brighton, 1998.

Presentations at international and national conferences, 2000-10

• NCTE Literacies for All Institute, co-presented with Dr. Leslie Cook, Authentic Writing Projects, Charlotte, 2006.
• 21st Southeast IRA Regional Conference, Supporting Intermediate Struggling Readers, Hilton Head, S.C., Nov. 2001.
• International Reading Association Southeast Regional Conference, The Growing Place: Integrating Reading and Science Skills, April 2001.
• NCTE Convention, Co-Presenter of daylong workshop, Engaging Students as Readers and Writers: A Holistic Approach to Critical Literacy in a K-12 Language Arts Continuum, Nodghia Fesperman, chair, November 2000.
• NCTE and the National Writing Project Conference, Fluid Revision Circles, Milwaukee, 2000.

Presentations at state and regional conferences, 2000-2010

• North Carolina Association of Elementary Educators, Featured Presenter, From Workbooks to Working Books, Michelle Weaver and Kathy Kennedy (program co-chairs), October 2007.
• North Carolina Association of Independent Schools, Presenter, Your Question Is Your Ticket to Literate Conversation, Colleen Gourard, Program Chair, Ravencroft School, Raleigh, NC, November 2008.
• North Carolina Association of Elementary Educators, Presenter, Have Fun in a High-Stakes-Assessment State (and Students Reap the Rewards), Michelle Weaver and Kathy Kennedy (program co-chairs), Raleigh, NC, October 2008.
• South Carolina Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Workshop Presenter, Small Writing Moments = BIG GAINS in Math, Charleston, S.C., Elaine Raferty, Program Chair, October 2008.
• North Carolina English Teachers Association, Preconference 3-hour workshop, Improving Comprehension by Questioning the Author, Amy Sheridan, conference co-chair, Nov. 2007.
• Writing Across the Curriculum Conference with Tom Romano, NWP at NC State, Examining and Creating Nonfiction Texts, Apr. 16, 2005.
• NCASCD Conference, Co-Presenter, Direct Instruction and Mosaic of Thought: A Title I School’s Approach to Literacy, with Bernice Winkler and Dr. Katherine Propst, Pinehurst, February 2004.
• NCETA 35th Annual Fall Conference, Working With English Language Learners Mainstreamed In Classrooms, Hilton Head, Oct. 1, 2004.
• Summer Leadership Conference, Forget Title I Pullout: Blitz and Scramble, with Dr. Kelly Propst and Ingle Baran, Grovepark Inn, 2003.
• Southwest Education Alliance. Presenter, Mosaic of Thought: Teaching Comprehension in a Reader’s Workshop, Beverly Kellar, chairperson, Nov. 2003.

Presentations at conferences in the Charlotte, N.C., region, 2000-2010

• Southwestern Education Alliance, Tame the Mechanics Dragon, Dr. Linda O’Neal, Executive Director, December 8, 2008.
• UNC Charlotte Spring Writing Conference with Katie Wood Ray, What’s a Detail? April 2007.
• Greater Cabarrus Reading Association Keynote, Modeling Questions To Improve Thinking, 2004; Using Daybooks to Think and Remember, Cannon School, Feb. 26, 06.
• UNC Charlotte Writing Project, Summer Seminar Series: Spelling Investigations, Assessing Readers, June 2007.
• UNC Charlotte Writing Project Saturday Seminar Series: Talk About Reading! Overview, Fix-Up Strategies, Connections, Questioning, Visualization, Inferring, Determining Importance, Synthesis, 2004-2007.
• Meeting of Elementary Education Directors, Southwest Education Alliance, Oral Drafting: Tape-Recorded Writing, UNC Charlotte, Jan. 2006,
• UNC Charlotte Spring Writing Conference with Ralph Fletcher, A Writer’s Notebook Isn’t a Diary, A Writer’s Notebook Helps Me Learn, May 5, 2006.
• UNC Charlotte Fall Conference with Cindy Urbanski, Creating a Nonfiction Page, Fall 2006.
• UNC Charlotte Spring Writing Conference with Harvey Daniels, Modeling Questions To Improve Thinking, 2005.
• Cabarrus County Assistant Camp, Director, three 1-week sessions, Irvin Elementary site, Cox Mills Elementary site, summers 2003-05.
• UNC Charlotte Fall Conference with David Joe Miller, ELL Students Gain From Instruction in the Regular Classroom, Dr. Lilian Brannon, conference chair, October 2004.
• Cabarrus County, 3-5 Teachers, Talk Yourself Into Comprehension, Jackie Whitfield, Elementary Director, Aug. 4-5, 2003.
• 2002 Spring Writing Conference with Constance Weaver, Grammar Matters, UNC Charlotte, March 2002.
• 2001 Fall Writing Conference, Vary the Modes of Writing for Best Test Results, UNC Charlotte, Sept. 2001.
• Charlotte Reading Association, Building Comprehension, 2001.
• 2000 Fall Writing Conference, Keynote Speaker, Fluid Conference Circle: A Hybrid of the One-on-One Conference Circle and the Writing Group, UNC Charlotte, Sept. 2000.
• 2000 Fall Writing Conference, Co-Presenter with Diane Wildman, Teaching Proficient Reading Strategies: Helping Struggling Readers and Writers Score Well, UNC Charlotte, Sept. 2000.

A resource for people passionate about helping students write well, compiled by Karen Haag

Home | About | In your school | Other resources | Contact | Learner log-in

Classroom-ready ideas

I truly enjoyed your presentations. Thank you for sharing so many helpful ideas that I have been able to implement in my classes. My students are grateful for the lessons, too.

---middle school teacher