Featured Webinar Series

with Jo Boaler and Cathy Williams
Dates: October 13, 20, November 10 and 17 (Thursdays)
Time: 3:45-5:00

Learn how to engage all students through open, in-depth and connected content!

Big Ideas raise individual standards to a higher level so that students can learn mathematics as a meaningful subject of connected ideas. This approach has been shown by research to engage students and increase achievement and is the best approach for teaching heterogeneous groups of students.

In this 4-part webinar series we explore the Big Ideas for this grade level and how to use them to teach students in an engaging way, while covering all relevant mathematical standards. 

Target Audience:  The workshop focuses on Grades 3-5 but is appropriate for any elementary school teacher, leader or administrator.

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Presenters: Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey
Dates: October 11, November 1, 15, 29 (Tuesdays)
All webinars start at 3:45 p.m.
One credit available (Graded)

Every brain needs to be taught to read.  And over the past 100+ years, there have been hundreds of thousands of studies that comprise a science of reading.  During this workshop series, Dr’s Fisher and Frey will unwrap the research around the science of reading, and provide clear and concise plays around strategies that have the highest influence on reading development for young children.

Target Audience: Teachers, Leaders and Coaches- grades K-3 – but anyone  involved in early childhood literacy would  find these sessions beneficial.

Session 1 – What’s New and What’s Enduring in Reading Instruction? (October 11, 2022 with Doug Fisher)

Research in reading dates to 1865 and is the oldest form of educational research. Knowledge of best practices continues to evolve over the last 157 years. In this opening session, we use Hollis Scarborough’s reading rope as the organizer for the playbook as well as the series. We provide an overview and grounding in word recognition and language comprehension and their reciprocal nature. In addition, we focus on newer elements of reading research to build the constrained and unconstrained skills of reading. Doug Fisher, a past president of the International Reading Association, hosts this session.

Session 2 – Word Recognition: The Foundational Skills of Reading (November 1, 2022 with Nancy Frey)

Readers must develop the skills necessary to quickly and accurately recognize words. In this session, we turn our attention to phonological awareness, decoding, and sight recognition. In addition, we expand on the reading rope by adding specific strands on fluency and alphabetics as essential components of word recognition. Nancy Frey, a member of the Literacy Research Panel of ILA, leads this session.

Session 3 – Language Comprehension: Understanding What is Read (November 15 with Nancy Frey)

At the same time that foundational skills are being built, language comprehension instruction must also occur. This session focuses on vocabulary development as well as morphological awareness. This session includes a focus on language structures, in particular the syntactic and semantic dimensions of sentence- and text-level comprehension

Session 4 – Metacognitive Awareness: Becoming Increasingly Strategic and Fluent Readers (November 29 with Doug Fisher)

Effective readers are active and self-aware readers. In this final session, we examine the metacognitive dimensions of the reading rope, with special attention to verbal reasoning and literacy knowledge. As well, we examine the role and development of background knowledge necessary for comprehension of texts. We end with exciting newer research on the role of a theory of mind in reading, and the ways word recognition and language comprehension are braided together to build strategic and fluent readers. 

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Presenters: Kate Barker
Dates: September 28, October 5, 12 and 19 (Wednesdays)
All webinars start at 3:45 p.m.

Do you have students entering school that struggle with socially appropriate behavior? Are you feeling frustrated because you or your staff can’t get through content due to disruptive or non-social behavior?  Are you committed to creating equitable opportunities for all students to thrive and grow?

Join Kate Barker for four practical and energizing sessions on elevating your skills in the area of equity and inclusion for your students by learning and replicating highly effective strategies to help your learners navigate the world of school.  While most of the examples will be for elementary age students, most strategies are easily replicable for any student.

Target Audience:  K-8 educators. While most of the examples will be for elementary age students, most strategies are easily replicable for any student.

Learning Intentions:

The four 90-minutes sessions will consist of sharing research-based and practical strategies which foster both social and academic achievement. Kate will share strategies that can be implemented across various grade levels and environments that benefit all your students. 

Learn how Kate led her diverse community (75% economically disadvantaged and 28 different languages) to strategically structure environments to provide necessary social skills, routines, and supports so that all students successfully accessed their education.

Success Criteria:

• Discover why it is important to be the social architect of your school and learning space.
• Acquire skills on how to create a climate of belonging.
• Learn how to intentionally set up social, emotional and academic systems and structures to boost positive culture and academic achievement.
• Glean practical and inclusive strategies that will fit any setting and support all students.

Session 1 – Create Your Climate
Discover why it is important to be the social architect of your school and learning space.  Acquire skills on how to create a climate of belonging and empathy for all students.  Participants will learn how to intentionally and strategically teach and reinforce social skills as well as infuse connection in their daily lessons that ultimately will lead to equity and inclusion.

Session 2 – The Power of Peers
Learn about the “Power of the Peers” and how to incorporate deliberate student to student coaching. These strategies will not only create a connected and empathetic community but also make your job easier all while setting up students up for success both academically and socially. 

Session 3 –  Scheduling to Create Calm
Acquire the skills on how to embed fun and simple strategies to transform your classrooms from chaotic to calm. Learn how to re-think your daily schedule, transitions and supports for a connected community. 

Session 4 – Supporting Your Students
Fine tune your behavior management systems and supports to proactively (not reactively) support your students.  Learn how to use social connection (not isolation) to create a harmonious culture infused with high expectations.

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Presenters: Lexie Domaradzki and Shelby Skaanes
Dates: October 24, November 7, 14, 21 (Mondays)

For many children, learning to read is a challenging undertaking. This webinar series has been developed to support the Alaska Reads Act, which is designed to improve reading outcomes for Alaskan students.  In this webinar series we will use the Science of Reading to guide our work focused on the lower strands of the Scarborough Rope Model. The Reading Rope, created by Dr. Hollis Scarborough, illustrates the development of skilled reading, and provides a window into understanding the complexity of reading. The lower strand, Word Recognition, consists of phonological awareness, decoding, and word recognition. Throughout each session we will focus on the acquisition of early literacy skills, best practices in reading instruction and strategies to support struggling readers receiving intervention.

Target Audience: Grade K-5 Educators.

Session 1 – The Science of Reading 

Through 40 years of research findings from numerous fields of study, we have a thorough understanding of how the brain works when engaged in the reading process. In this session we will discuss why some students struggle with reading and what factors promote or interfere with children’s progress, we will deepen understanding of the research behind how individuals learn to read, the brain regions involved in reading and we will take a close look at models of skilled reading.

Session 2 – Phonological Awareness

Phonological Awareness includes several skills related to an individual’s understanding of how a spoken language works and the different ways a word can be broken down. Research has shown that students with good phonological awareness are in a great position to become good readers, while students with poor phonological awareness almost always struggle in reading (Kilpatrick, Equipped for Reading Success). In this session we will provide information and modeling of best practices to enhance core instruction and support struggling students in intervention. We will cover basic as well as advanced phonological awareness skills. Participants will have the opportunity to practice and engage in conversations with colleagues from around the state. 

Session 3 – Phonics/Decoding

Decoding requires that a student knows that written letters correspond to speech sounds and that these speech sounds are combined together to make a word. In this session we will provide information about the phoneme-grapheme relationship, we will model explicit instructional routines for core instruction and intervention and introduce phoneme-grapheme mapping activities to support increased proficiency in decoding and encoding. Participants will have the opportunity to practice and engage in conversations with colleagues from around the state.                                                                                  

Session 4 – Word RecognitionSight Recognition is the ability of an individual to look at any word they come across and automatically know what it says. In this session we will clarify the difference between regular and irregular words and model instructional routines to enhance core instruction and support struggling students in intervention.  We will also cover intensifications to use with students who struggle with sight word recognition and discuss the role of decodable text. Participants will have the opportunity to practice and engage in conversations with colleagues from around the state.

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with Dr. Lisa Parady

October 26, November 9, 16 and 30 (Wednesdays)
Time: 3:45-5:15 p.m.

No cost to attend the series for ACSA members and ASDN member districts educators.
Target Audience: Educators (K-12) interested in getting involved in advocacy, especially principals and new school administrators.

Optional one credit available (Pass/Fail) $145

Do you want to make your voice heard in education policy decisions in Alaska? This four-part webinar series will teach you the basics of advocating in the Alaska Legislature from the perspective of an Alaska educator. You’ll learn how to stay updated on bills and the legislative process, the best ways to build relationships with your legislators, and how to communicate your perspective to policymakers and your community.

Expected learning outcomes

• Understand how to engage with legislators during and outside of legislative session
• Explore how to prepare written and oral testimony for bill hearings
• Learn how to research relevant information on bills and hearings using BASIS
• Investigate how to write effective op-eds to engage communities in advocacy discussions

Session One: Education Advocacy in Alaska
This session provides an introduction to Alaska politics and the legislature. We will discuss caucuses, budget and Permanent Fund basics. We will consider the education funding overview, recent legislative focuses and highlight a few bills that we will use throughout the series.

Session Two: During Legislative Session
Learn how to stay engaged during the legislative session using Basis. Explore ways to advocate during session through written or verbal testimony, and through one-on-one meetings with your legislator.

Session Three: Outside of Legislative Session – Building Relationships
Learn how to contact your representatives and introduce yourself as a resource. Investigate ways to build relationships with your legislators and involve them in your school community.

Session Four: Advocacy as a Public School Employee
This session will discuss advocacy in your community and advocacy with other educators across the state.

Dr. Lisa Skiles Parady became the Executive Director of the Alaska Council of School Administrators in 2014 and has brought her energy and passion for education advocacy to the position. The Mission of ACSA is: Leadership, Unity and Advocacy for Public Education. ACSA was created to serve as the umbrella organization for Alaska’s school administrators forty-five years ago. Dr. Parady joined ACSA after six years in Utqiagvik (formerly known as Barrow) as the Acting Superintendent/Assistant Superintendent of the North Slope Borough School District. She led the district’s curriculum and evaluation processes and dealt with the many issues that confront rural districts – educator recruitment and retention, engaging students with curriculum that matters to them, and the day-to-day challenges of school and district administration. Before moving to Alaska, she served as Chief of Staff in the Wyoming Department of Education, as Director of the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services, and as Senior Policy Analyst in the Governor’s office responsible for all K-12 education, higher education, health and social service issues, was an adjunct professor and was managing partner in a general law practice. Dr. Parady holds a Juris Doctorate and a Doctorate in Education Leadership and Administration.

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