Read Vermont Professional Learning Facilitated Workshop Series

Course description

The workshops will be recorded for registered participant viewing, but live participation is required to earn a certificate of completion.

All workshops take place from 3:30-5:30 pm EST.

Join live for the opportunity to ask questions of the facilitators, practice some of the instructional strategies that relate to your role, and be in conversation with educators and leaders across the state.

Please contact Emily Lesh at the Vermont Agency of Education by email at Emily.Lesh@Vermont.gov or by phone at 802-828-7163 with questions about Read Vermont or the Workshop series.

NOTE: Participating live is required to earn a certificate of completion. Can’t attend live? Following the live presentation, a recording will be available through the Google Classroom and the Vermont Agency of Education.

• Please sign up for the Google Classroom by entering this code on the main Google Classroom page: zp5kxh3.
• If you’d like a brief overview of how to join, use the classroom, and more, please watch this video.
• If you have questions or encounter technical issues, please email Leigh Buettler from the Stern Center at lbuettler@sterncenter.org.

Session 3:
Literacy Assessments: What Works, What Doesn’t, and Why?

Wednesday, January 8th, 2025
3:30-5:30 pm EST

Assessing students with the right tools can be one of our most powerful ways to gather data and target our instructional responses. But which literacy assessments should we use and when? What measures work and why? This two-hour interactive virtual workshop will help educators teaching Pre-K–12 and beyond and administrators in a variety of roles understand:

• the different types of assessments;
• when to use different types of assessments;
• how we can use the gathered data as a springboard for systematic, targeted instruction to support all students.

Join live for the opportunity to ask questions of the facilitators, practice some of the instructional strategies that relate to your role, and be in conversation with educators and leaders across the state.

NOTE: Participating live is required to earn a certificate of completion.

Session 4:
Explicit Vocabulary Instruction

February 12th, 2025
3:30-5:30 pm EST

This workshop focuses on vocabulary instruction, equipping educators and leaders PK-12 and beyond with evidence-based strategies to teach vocabulary effectively. Participants will learn:

• evidence-based methods to teach new words
• how to determine which new words to teach
• practical techniques for integrating vocabulary instruction across subjects and grade levels

Attendees will leave with strategies and tools to intentionally and explicitly teach vocabulary with the goal of increasing students’ reading comprehension.

Session 5:
Phonemic Awareness & Reading and Spelling Development

March 12th, 2025 
3:30-5:30 pm EST

This workshop focuses on the critical connections among phonemic awareness, reading, and spelling instruction. This workshop focuses on skills that are the underlying foundation to all other learning. Participants will learn:

• how phonemic awareness skills directly support word recognition and spelling accuracy
• stages students move through in reading and spelling development, and how to help them progress through the stages, whether in early elementary or even well beyond.

Attendees will explore practical strategies and tools to improve student outcomes in reading and writing.

Session 6:
Motivating Adolescent Readers

March 26th, 2025 
Facilitated by Monica Crumback
3:30-5:30 pm EST

This workshop is designed to empower educators and leaders in supporting adolescent students who are striving readers across grades and into adulthood. We’ll explore the causes and impacts of reading challenges, unpack instructional practices that address them, and reflect on how educator beliefs can shape student outcomes. Participants will learn:

• effective teaching strategies that foster critical thinking and engagement
• best practices for creating a classroom culture that encourages student trust, goal-setting and buy-in.

Attendees will gain actionable insights and tools to help striving adolescent readers thrive.

Session 7:
Phonics 

April 9th, 2025
3:30-5:30 pm EST

This workshop is designed to help educators and leaders PK-12 and beyond learn about the importance of phonics instruction, or the relationships between sounds in spoken language to letters and letter patterns in written language. Understanding phonics can help educators and leaders effectively support students and make instructional decisions. Attendees will be able to explore phonics-related resources in facilitated, role-specific breakout rooms that will help them in their roles. Participants will:

• learn about the importance of sound-symbol relationships and their role in supporting students’ literacy development
• understand the importance of using decodable text
• explore practical strategies and tools

Attendees will gain actionable insights, tools, and strategies to help improve student outcomes.