Workshops

Project Read

Presented by Jill Pompi, Ed.S. and Nancy Raskind, M.Ed.
Teaching of Writing: Feb. 12, 13, Mar. 12, 13, Apr. 9, 11, 2010 (6 Days)
Reading Comprehension: July 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, 15, 2010 (6 Days)
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Project Read Courses

Written Expression (K-12)
Instructor: Jill Pompi, Ed.S.
This course will present an overview of research and theories which relate to the teaching of writing. This course is designed to provide educators with the information necessary to teach all students, Grades K-adult to K-12, a process for organizing and expressing thoughts, feelings, and ideas in written language. Educators will learn an alternate method to teach students about sentence structure and paragraph development. They will learn the importance of diagramming a sentence for understanding. As a direct result of this course, educators will understand the benefit of direct teaching of concepts and skills, presented in dependent order and delivered through multisensory strategies, materials and activities. Methods for incorporating the arts into writing will be presented. Educators will view a number of assessments, both formal and informal, authentic and standardized, that can be used to assess writing.


Reading Comprehension (Report Form, Story Form/Story Form, Literature Connection) K-12
Instructor: Nancy Raskind, M.Ed.
This course presents the reading comprehension strand of the Project Read program. The focus of the Report Form curriculum is to prepare teachers to teach students how to collect, organize, and analyze information from expository text. Report Form provides children with comprehension strategies so they can recall information, respond to questions at both the literal and interpretive levels, and study for tests. The course emphasizes the Madeleine Hunter lesson plan design in the teacher’s guide. As a result of this course, students will have an understanding of how to plan a lesson using Hunter’s elements of effective instruction that elicit active participation, time on task, and learning and retention.

The Story Form Literature Connection curriculum presents the underlying structure and format of narrative text. The curriculum teaches a process of analyzing a story by identifying the elements of plot. This process enables learners to organize important information from a story so they can think about the story at an evaluative level, discuss the story with others, and write about the story. As a result of this course, students will have an understanding of how classroom teachers and teachers of reading can integrate speaking, reading, and writing to improve communication skills for all. The concepts and skills embodied in both curricula are taught directly in their dependent order using multisensory strategies, materials, and activities. Students learn a set of study skills that assist in higher- level thinking and test taking. We will review current research on vocabulary development and text comprehension through articles and chapters from texts.

The Presenters:
Jill Pompi, Ed.S.
Jill Pompi earned her B.S. in Elementary Education from North Adams State College, her M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction from MCLA, her reading specialist certification from MCLA, and her Ed.S. degree in Language and Literacy from Simmons College. She worked as a classroom teacher for 12 years and as literacy coordinator/reading specialist for 7 years. Currently she is serving as a reading consultant for two districts. In addition, Jill has taught both graduate and undergraduate courses in education at MCLA and Simmons College. She co-wrote an article that was published in the Journal of Research in Education and has given presentations about Action Research in the Classroom, The Three Tier Model, and the Five Components of Reading Instruction. Jill is Wilson Level 1 certified and is a National Trainer for Language Circle/Project Read and trains in all strands of the program. Jill is the Reading Coach at St. Stanislaus Kostka School, Adams, MA where she oversees the school’s literacy initiative.

Nancy Raskind, M.Ed.
Nancy Raskind earned her B.S. in Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh, her M.Ed. in Elementary Education from Boston University and her certification in Orton Gillingham from Massachusetts General Hospital Language Clinic. She worked as a classroom teacher in public schools for five years and after receiving her O.G. Certification at The Carroll School, a school for learning disabled children, for twenty one years where she taught reading, language arts, and social studies at both the elementary and middle school levels. Currently, she is serving as a consultant to two school districts in MA and RI. In this capacity, she does demonstration teaching with special education students, teacher observation and coaching. In addition, Nancy has taught graduate courses in education at Simmons College. Recently, she teaches a course in Project Read Comprehension for students in the Reading Specialist Licensure program at The Reading Institute. Nancy is a national trainer for Project Read and she continues to present the three components of this program to school districts across the country. She was a past member of the Board of Directors of the New England Branch of the International Dyslexia Association.