(Past Event) WestEd’s Leading Together Series: Cultivating Classroom Community Through Literacy

Join us for WestEd’s Leading Together Series: 30-Minute Virtual Learning Webinars, where experts share research and evidence-based practices that help bridge opportunity gaps, support positive outcomes for children and adults, and build thriving communities.

Session: Cultivating Classroom Community Through Literacy

This webinar is designed to empower educators with practical ideas for cultivating a sense of community within their classrooms and through authentically engaging students in literacy activities.

Heather Howlett and Linda Friedrich will discuss practical ways to create an inclusive learning environment where every student feels valued, heard, and motivated to read and learn. Participants will leave the webinar with ideas and techniques to implement immediately in their classrooms. The strategies discussed will be applicable across various educational settings.

Session Topics:

• Establishing a Welcoming Classroom Culture: Learn how to create an atmosphere that celebrates diversity, encourages open communication, and builds trust. Speakers will discuss setting classroom community agreements collaboratively and bringing students’ backgrounds and interests into literacy-based activities.
• Building Relationships Through Personal Connection: Discover ways to connect with students on an individual level, understanding their unique strengths and challenges. Explore the power of investigating personal reading histories.
• Interactive and Collaborative Literacy: Gain insights into the design and implementation of interactive reading experiences that promote collaboration and peer-to-peer learning. Learn how to create opportunities for students to notice and share their thinking and reading processes in authentic ways.
• Building Agency, Confidence, and Dispositions for Learning: Find out how to offer support for developing key dispositions for approaching and engaging in challenging texts. With such support, students can develop the dispositions to be interested and critical learners.

Who Should Attend?

• K–12 Educators
• School Administrators
• Instructional Coaches
• All interested in enhancing student engagement and community in the classroom

Registration is required. Recordings will be available following the live events.

Featured Speakers

Heather Howlett is the Director of Professional Learning for WestEd’s Literacy team, which has a proven track record in improving disciplinary literacy in middle school, high school, and college. Howlett leads and manages project staff and over 90 consultants, ensuring the quality and impact of implementation of professional learning programs. She designs, develops, and facilitates face-to-face and digital professional learning experiences for the agency.

Linda Friedrich is the Director of Literacy at WestEd and leads the agency’s Reading Apprenticeship team. For nearly three decades, Friedrich has worked at the intersection of practice and research to engage teachers in collaboratively improving teaching and learning, with a strong focus on literacy.