Kathy, a consultant and master teacher, is an accomplished author and former classroom teacher with more than twenty-five years of experience in education. Invested in increasing educators’ capacity to hone their craft, she guides teachers to translate the information she provides into effective classroom practice. Recognized for her expertise in curriculum and instruction, Kathy provides professional development services to K-12 educators in differentiated instruction, literacy with an emphasis on decoding complex text and writing instruction, instructional strategies and teaching methods, assessments, curriculum mapping, backward planning approach for unit and lesson design, and related areas. As a dynamic, hands-on trainer, participants can immediately implement what they learn and produce to improve student achievement. She is a member of the International Literacy Association, the National Council of Teachers of English, the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, and Learning Forward. Kathy earned a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University (Bloomington) and a master’s degree in education from San Francisco State University. Originally a midwesterner, she now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
To pinpoint educators’ specific needs in a quest to improve student achievement, first download and complete the Needs Assessment individually or work together with colleagues and compare responses. This exercise will serve as a guide for choosing professional development topics.
After identifying your needs (see “Needs Assessment”), download and review the professional development (PD) document with a selection of topics. Combine any descriptions and sample objectives to tailor your PD experience. Each session is practical and hands-on to directly apply what is learned to improve classroom practice.
Create a curriculum map that reflects what is taught in each grade and content area throughout the year. It includes a chronological listing and timeframe of each unit of study that accounts for standards, resources, interdisciplinary connections, skills, guiding questions, and more. This project can prevent curriculum overlap that results in redundancy of what is taught and how it will be assessed as well as avoid gaps, which reflect inadvertent omissions. Educators share their maps within and across grade levels to ensure horizontal and vertical alignment. Sample Participant Objectives:
Learn how to design, redesign, or critique meaningful standards-based units of instruction that raise the bar for students and build teachers’ capacity. To do so, understand the rationale and stages in a backward planning approach to curriculum design. Access the provided templates, tools, and examples to develop a unit map that teachers use to design quality-driven lessons. Sample Participant Objectives:
Learn the components of an instructional model for teaching a new skill, strategy or process—the gradual release of responsibility (GRR). This approach provides students with a continuum of support whereby teachers initially assume control and eventually give students ownership to apply the new learning independently. Teachers can implement this model when designing lessons during classes of varying lengths. This offering includes modeling of engaging instructional strategies and teaching methods, plus myriad assessments to embed within lessons to address learning outcomes. Sample Participant Objectives:
Learn about myriad instructional strategies for various grouping configurations that engage students in the learning process. Identify the purpose for employing specific strategies to effectively and intentionally address standards-based outcomes. Additionally, distinguish between the types and purposes of assessments (pre-, formative, self, culminating) and design those that address learning outcomes. Sample Participant Objectives:
Learn a straightforward, user-friendly definition of differentiated instruction (DI) with concrete examples for direct application across content areas. Explore many practical DI tools, strategies, and assessments applicable to all levels of learners. Also, learn ways teachers can introduce students and parents to the notion of differentiation. Sample Participant Objectives:
What are components to consider when teaching complex text? How can educators design learning experiences with engaging strategies to aid students in managing, interpreting, and grasping challenging material? Learn an inventory of sound instructional methods, including questioning strategies, for teaching complex text across content areas. Create lessons around complex text to deepen students’ understanding. Sample Participant Objectives: Complex Text
Vocabulary acquisition is critical for students to become more adept readers and proficient writers. Learn how to support students to build an inventory of new words and terms across content areas so they can deepen their understanding of complex text, write more effectively and precisely, and participate in discussion more articulately. Sample Participant Objectives:
Students write not only to exhibit understanding of the characteristics of a specific text type or genre, but also to extend and cement what they read and learn across content areas. Learn a process, strategies, tools, and resources to plan or redesign a comprehensive, engaging, and rigorous writing unit. This offering can be geared to a specific text type—narrative, informational/explanatory, persuasive—or for a specific genre within a text type or poetry. Kathy will guide participants in developing writing units (or lessons) or revising existing ones. Sample Participant Objectives: Writing Instruction
Effective rubrics provide both students and teachers with descriptions of quality student work and an indication of progress towards achievement of standards. Learn how to design (or revise) genre-specific writing rubrics and incorporate them into instruction. Sample Participant Objectives:
Participate in a presenter-led calibration session among colleagues to discuss and ensure consistency in interpreting each level of a common rubric. During these sessions, teachers determine anchor papers. This exercise prepares teachers to apply the rubric uniformly so they can score students’ papers with more confidence and reliability. Teachers collect and review data from students’ work to identify strengths and weaknesses. Using what they learn, Kathy guides participants in devising lessons to improve areas needing attention to increase achievement. Sample Participant Objectives:
A combination of on-site and virtual services can equip educators with a robust professional learning experience. Download and review options through the lens of what can impact student achievement based on your site’s identified needs.
Kathy offers three continuing education classes that teachers can take online to improve their professional capacity. These self-guided courses can be taken anywhere and at any time to accommodate your schedule.
Learn mapping and curriculum design skills necessary to develop relevant, comprehensive targeted units of instruction that incorporate ELA Common Core Standards and other related teaching standards. Use a unique backward planning process to easily reach course objectives. The course text, companion website, pertinent examples, templates, rubrics, student checklists and handouts available for download will help in developing your mapping and curriculum design. Applying the mapping and curriculum design techniques learned in this course to pilot a comprehensive 4-6 week unit of instruction is an encouraged expectation. REGISTER NOW
Learn mapping and curriculum design skills necessary to develop relevant, comprehensive targeted units of instruction that incorporate ELA Common Core Standards and other related teaching standards. Use a unique backward planning process to easily reach course objectives. The course text, companion website, pertinent examples, templates, rubrics, student checklists and handouts available for download will help in developing your mapping and curriculum design. Applying the mapping and curriculum design techniques learned in this course to pilot a comprehensive 4-6 week unit of instruction is an encouraged expectation. REGISTER NOW
It is important to provide opportunities for students to read a wide variety of texts across content areas for different purposes and along a spectrum of difficulty and length. In this course, learn concrete ways to help students become highly skilled readers to meet the goal of comprehensively grasping complex text. REGISTER NOW
Effective educators must artfully incorporate a variety of strategies and assessments in their classrooms. This resource provides teachers with more than 100 research-based instructional strategies across grade levels and subject areas for writing and reading.
Prepare students to take on any writing challenge, including district- and state-mandated literacy tests. Perfect for teachers, curriculum designers, and literary coaches, this title provides guidance for designing new writing units and revising existing ones across content areas for grades 5–12. You’ll discover practical strategies and best practices for teaching skills in drafting, editing, revising, feedback, assessment, and student collaboration.
Writing plays a crucial part in all education disciplines, helping students to communicate their ideas to different audiences and extend their content knowledge. This user-friendly guide offers practical recommendations, strategies, and tips for establishing argumentation units of instruction that empower students to artfully and logically present and convince others of their position.
Teaching writing is a powerful and effective means for learning across all grade levels and disciplines. This user-friendly resource provides practical recommendations, strategies, and assessments for designing units of study that center on teaching narrative fiction and nonfiction. Readers from fifth grade to high school complete exercises that equip them to create a comprehensive narrative unit that is ready to pilot.
To meet the goal of comprehensively grasping complex text, students must have concrete tools to help them become highly skilled readers. This resources provides teachers, curriculum designers, and literacy coaches with strategies, activities, and assessments that target students’ ability to comprehend complex text— traditional written text or multimedia formats—in grades 5–10. You’ll learn:
Designed for teachers of grades 4–5 (and applicable for middle school, as well), this book fully prepares individuals and collaborative PLC teams to establish a rich and robust plan for quality literacy instruction, assessment, and intervention.
—Brandy Sprattling
Teacher, Alvina Charter Elementary School
—Anne Campbell
Former Superintendent, Portola Valley School District
—Nancy Hendry
Former Principal, Laurel School, Menlo Park City School District
—Ruth Goldhammer
Director, Peninsula Administrative Leadership and Support (PALP)
—W. Frederick
Classroom Teacher, Portola Valley School District
—A. Pulliam
Resource Specialist Teacher, Hillsborough School District
—L. Townsend
Classroom Teacher, Hillsborough School District