Summer Literacy Institute | Sessions

Feature Session | Dr. Jonda McNair - Exploring Endpapers in Picturebooks 

Dr. Jonda C. McNair is the Charlotte S. Huck Endowed Professor of Children’s Literature. She specializes in literature intended for youth with an emphasis on books written by and about African Americans. She is a past chair of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee and was a member of the 2019 Randolph Caldecott Award Selection Committee.

Dr. McNair served as chair of the 2021 John Newbery Award Selection Committee and is currently Immediate Past President of the Association for Library Service to Children. She is a former coeditor of the Journal of Children’s Literature and Language Arts, the journal of the Elementary Section of the National Council of Teachers of English.

Her work has appeared in journals such as Review of Educational Research, The Reading Teacher, Language Arts, Young Children, The Journal of Negro Education, and Children's Literature in Education. Dr. McNair is a former elementary school teacher of students in grades K-2.

Fast, Efficient, Smart, and Slightly Misguided: AI as an Instructional Assistant in the Literacy Classroom

AI & Reading
Curby Alexander

Artificial intelligence is fast, efficient, smart, and yes, sometimes slightly misguided. In this beginner-friendly session, we'll address the common forms of AI, demystify how they work, and explore their role as instructional assistants in the literacy classroom.

Participants will be introduced to practical frameworks for analyzing AI-generated content and learn how to craft effective prompts that make these tools more useful and aligned with their instructional goals.

We'll also explore applications of AI-powered tools, including creating leveled texts, offering personalized writing support, and developing engaging instructional materials.

This session will discuss the affordances and the limitations of using AI-generated content, equipping educators with the insight and strategies they need to use these tools thoughtfully, creatively, and ethically.

Embracing Joy in Spanish-Language Learning: Cultivating Lifelong Language Learners (Session en espanol)
Audience: Elementary & Secondary

FWISD: Bilingual/Multicultural/World Languages
Nathan Henderson and Maria Cruz

In this session, Bilingual teachers will be presented with the next steps for students post-5th grade in their Spanish Language learning and learn strategies that will help their students grow communication skills in all 4 modes.

This session will be interactive, with the ultimate objective of helping language educators prepare students to be lifelong language learners with biliteracy in both languages. This session is presented in Spanish. 

Integrating ELAR and Social Studies: Strengthening Vocabulary and Background Knowledge with Visuals

Elementary Social Studies/Reading
Michelle Bauml

Did you know that social studies education can significantly enhance reading achievement in the elementary grades? In this session, you will explore strategies for pairing primary source photographs and other visuals with children's literature to enrich vocabulary development and build essential background knowledge for reading success.

The session will feature informational texts such as award-winning picture books about historical people and events. You will also be invited to consider practical ways to integrate English Language Arts and Reading with social studies using existing curriculum materials. There will be a drawing for free social studies-themed books! 

Keynote Presentation | Carole Boston Weatherford & Jeremy Boston Weatherford – Rap it Up!

The daughter of a printer, Carole Boston Weatherford was practically born with ink in her blood. She began writing at age 6 and soon after saw her poems in print. Her 80-plus books have garnered 2 NAACP Image Awards and 18 American Library Association Youth Media Awards, including a Newbery Honor, Coretta Scott King Award and 4 Caldecott Honors. Her career achievements have been recognized with the ALA Children’s Literature Legacy Award, the North Carolina Award for Literature, and the Nonfiction Award from the Children’s Book Guild. The 2026-2026 Young People’s Poet Laureate and a retired HBCU professor, she lives in Baltimore.

Jeffery Boston Weatherford is an award-winning children's book illustrator and a rapper. His latest book, KIN: Rooted in Hope won a Coretta Scott King Honor and the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award for Poetry. His debut book, You Can Fly: The Tuskegee Airmen, was named an ALSC Notable Book and a best book of the year by National Council for the Social Studies and Kirkus Reviews. Jeffery's art has been exhibited in Washington, DC, Atlanta, Baltimore and North Carolina. Formerly a National Book Foundation teaching artist, he holds an M.F.A. from Howard University where he was a Romare Bearden Scholar.

Feature Session | Carole Boston Weatherford & Jeremy Boston Weatherford – It’s a Family Affair

Using Literacy Data with Students
JoBeth Jimerson and Kim Harmon

Tracking reading and writing data can help students grow‚ but only when it's done thoughtfully, with purpose, and in alignment with evidence-based practices. In this session, we'll explore different ways to help students engage with their own data, matching practices to real goals like improvement, motivation, or self-regulation.

We'll also discuss how to keep students' confidence and agency front and center, regardless of which approach you take to student-involved data use. Key topics will include incorporating student voice, balancing data use with the many other tasks teachers juggle, and ensuring your practices fit into your existing routines.

You'll leave with practical ideas, simple reflection tools, and strategies to support your use of literacy data with students.

"He was brave": Supporting Social and Emotional Learning and Inferential Comprehension with Picture Books

Comprehension
Robin Griffith

Children's literature plays a vital role in fostering young children's social and emotional learning, particularly in enhancing their emotional intelligence.

This sessioin highlights how reading aloud can help young children identify, name, and recognize emotions displayed by characters, thereby boosting their inferential comprehension. 

Integrating ELAR and Social Studies: Strengthening Vocabulary and Background Knowledge with Visuals

Elementary Social Studies/Reading
Michelle Bauml

Did you know that social studies education can significantly enhance reading achievement in the elementary grades? In this session, you will explore strategies for pairing primary source photographs and other visuals with children's literature to enrich vocabulary development and build essential background knowledge for reading success.

The session will feature informational texts such as award-winning picture books about historical people and events. You will also be invited to consider practical ways to integrate English Language Arts and Reading with social studies using existing curriculum materials.

There will be a drawing for free social studies-themed books! 

Rooted in Reading: Research-Based Instructional Strategies (RBIS) That Bridge Math and Literacy
Audience: Elementary & Secondary

FWISD: Research-Based Instructional Strategies
Luz Ruiz & Kimberly Axtell

Keynote Presentation | Dr. Julie Ann Washington – Using Oral Language and Communication to Support Reading in African American Children

Presentation sponsored by TCU Starpoint School.
Dr. Washington is a Professor in the School of Education at the University of California – Irvine (UCI). She is a Speech-Language Pathologist and is a Fellow of the American Speech Language Hearing Association.

Dr. Washington directs the Learning Disabilities Research Innovation Hub funded by the National Institutes of Health, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute on Child Health and Human Development. She is also director of the Dialect, Poverty and Academic Success Lab at UCI.

Currently, Dr. Washington’s research is focused on the intersection of literacy, language variation, and poverty. In particular, her work focuses on understanding the role of cultural dialect in assessment, identification of reading disabilities in school-aged African American children and on disentangling the relationship between language production and comprehension on development of reading and early language skills for children growing up in poverty.

Using Data Literacy with Students

Using Data Literacy with Students
JoBeth Jimerson and Kim Harmon

Tracking reading and writing data can help students grow‚ but only when it's done thoughtfully, with purpose, and in alignment with evidence-based practices.

In this session, we'll explore different ways to help students engage with their own data, matching practices to real goals like improvement, motivation, or self-regulation. We'll also discuss how to keep students' confidence and agency front and center, regardless of which approach you take to student-involved data use.

Key topics will include incorporating student voice, balancing data use with the many other tasks teachers juggle, and ensuring your practices fit into your existing routines.

You'll leave with practical ideas, simple reflection tools, and strategies to support your use of literacy data with students.

Feature Session | Dr. Julie Ann Washington - Separating Opportunity from Ability: The intersection of language, literacy and poverty.

Presentation sponsored by TCU Starpoint School.
Dr. Washington is a Professor in the School of Education at the University of California – Irvine (UCI). She is a Speech-Language Pathologist and is a Fellow of the American Speech Language Hearing Association.

Dr. Washington directs the Learning Disabilities Research Innovation Hub funded by the National Institutes of Health, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute on Child Health and Human Development. She is also director of the Dialect, Poverty and Academic Success Lab at UCI.

Currently, Dr. Washington’s research is focused on the intersection of literacy, language variation, and poverty. In particular, her work focuses on understanding the role of cultural dialect in assessment, identification of reading disabilities in school-aged African American children and on disentangling the relationship between language production and comprehension on development of reading and early language skills for children growing up in poverty.

Using Data with Students: Helping Students Own Their Literacy Journey

Using Data Literacy with Students
Jo Beth Jimerson

Tracking reading and writing data can help students grow‚ but only when it's done thoughtfully, with purpose, and in alignment with evidence-based practices. In this session, we'll explore different ways to help students engage with their own data, matching practices to real goals like improvement, motivation, or self-regulation.

We'll also discuss how to keep students' confidence and agency front and center, regardless of which approach you take to student-involved data use.

Key topics will include incorporating student voice, balancing data use with the many other tasks teachers juggle, and ensuring your practices fit into your existing routines.

You'll leave with practical ideas, simple reflection tools, and strategies to support your use of literacy data with students.

Selecting and using children's literature: Resources for the busy teacher

Children's Literature
Jennifer Smith

Do you find yourself searching for great books to use in the classroom as read alouds, as teaching tools, as supplements to the curriculum, and as options for independent reading? Are you unsure how to use these books effectively once you access them?

This session will focus on providing resources for teachers to address these questions, notable award lists; student choice book awards; cross-curricular activities; and online sites with author videos, discussion questions, and engagement ideas.

Join us for an interactive session designed to support your use of quality children's literature in the classroom!

Teachers as Decision-Makers: Using lesson internalization to make instructional decisions - Cancelled

Science of Reading
Robin Griffith

Teachers make thousands of instructional decisions every day. Do you ever wonder if you are making the most effective ones?

In this session, we will explore a framework to guide your teaching decisions in literacy. We will practice lesson internalization using the Amplify curriculum. 

Rooted in Reading: Research-Based Instructional Strategies (RBIS) That Bridge Math and Literacy
Audience: Elementary & Secondary

FWISD: Research-Based Instructional Strategies
Luz Ruiz & Kimberly Axtell

This session explores how Research-Based Instructional Strategies (RBIS) can transform the math classroom into a space where literacy thrives. Participants will examine how reading comprehension, vocabulary development, and discourse strategies support mathematical thinking and problem-solving.

Through interactive examples and literary connections, attendees will discover how to honor both the precision of mathematics and the depth of language, making math more accessible and meaningful for all learners.

Adopting A Culturally Informed Approach to Reading Comprehension

Special Ed-Reading Intervention
Endia Lindo

Reading comprehension is not just a cognitive task‚ it's a deeply social and cultural one. This presentation introduces the Culturally Informed Model for Reading Comprehension, an asset-based framework grounded in the science of reading, that integrates explicit instruction in foundational skills while actively considering cultural and linguistic assets.

Educators will explore how cultural and linguistic identities shape comprehension, and how to use inclusive strategies and diverse texts to foster engagement, equity, and deeper understanding for all students.

Communicating With Families About Student Literacy Programming: Navigating Challenging Interactions Part 2

Families and Literacy Programming in Early Childhood/Elementary
Kathleen Kyzar

This session explores how teachers understand and respond to emotionally charged interactions with families‚ especially around literacy programming.

Participants will explore how specific emotions arise based on how a situation is interpreted (e.g., whether they feel in control, how much effort is required, or who is responsible). These patterns help explain why some interactions feel more emotionally difficult than others. The session also introduces eight evidence-based coping strategies and guides participants in reflecting on their own habits and tendencies.

Whether or not you attended Part 1, you'll leave with new tools for building trust and communicating more effectively with families when conversations get tough.