Susie Wilde offers a range of reading-writing professional development opportunities for K-8 professionals. Though they can vary in subject and time, here’s what they have in common:

No boredom! These workshops allow you to discover:

• new children’s books for classroom use

• unique techniques you can use immediately

• strategies to excite and engage students

• hands-on activities that are easy to use in classrooms

These workshops support teachers in meeting curriculum goals such as Common Core State Standards, Differentiation, Balanced Framework for Literacy, the reading-writing connection, student-centered learning. At the same time they provide a relaxed and restorative environment full of:

• meaty discussions with colleagues

• meaningful brainstorming

• opportunities to ask questions and share insights

Within each workshop participants develop a collaborative resource that captures the experience and collective wisdom of the participants, and there will be free books for all attendees.

Longer Workshops

• 10 hour / 1 credit CEU
• approximately $100/participant

Uncommon Reading Methods to Explore Common Core

What do trade books have to offer teachers who want to deliver the quality education that the Common Core Standards encourage? During this hands-on workshop Susie shows how to examine newly arrived children’s book to see how they aid in the teaching of literacy skills such as inference, sequencing, main idea, key details, cause and effect and more!

 

Reading Methods to Encourage Courage, Good Judgment, Integrity, and Kindness

How do you make character education meaningful for children? This class focuses on picture book heroes who model behaviors and changes in courage, good judgment, integrity and kindness. These recent picture books become departure points for discussion, evaluation and strategies for sharing them with children.

Reading Methods to Support Imaginative Narrative Writing

This class provides step-by-step, hands-on experience with picture books to examine ways to develop meaningful characters, strong motivations, compelling conflicts, and satisfying resolutions.

Playful Methods of Reading Analysis

How do you get children beyond their typical description: “it was a good book?” Current picture books for all ages can help. Book reviewer Susie Wilde will spend the pre-class month collecting envelopes and boxes of books that come daily to her home. These will serve as a focus as the instructor  models intriguing methods to engage students. The class includes student-centered rubrics and resources.

Methods of Early Reading and Writing

How do you teach young children to read, write and understand the connection between reading and writing? Playful, interactive methods help teachers examine different facets of reading.

Reading Methods Reach Across Curriculum

Start with a pile of current fiction and nonfiction books. Organize teachers in teams of “specialists” to examine and evaluate these books in terms of art, social studies, science, language arts curriculum. Together these teams will develop a useful bibliography that crosses the curriculum.

Shorter Workshops

• 1 1/2 hours to 3 hours
• offered on-site
• approximately $500, depending on travel and expenses
  

Good Book, Bad Book

Susie Wilde shares books from her celebrated collection of truly terrible “bad books” as well as some of her favorites. Workshop participants are invited to examine recent picture books and their evaluations will lead to the development of a criteria list of what makes good children’s book writing succeed.

Think, Wonder, Risk: Methods to Hook Students on Books and Set the Tone for a Literature-Linked Classroom”

In classrooms across the country, children struggle to think, wonder and risk. This workshop combines examining current books with two easy, instantly applicable activities that take students directly into higher order thinking.

Supporting Details: Show Don’t Tell

What makes stories come alive? Supporting details in stories invite readers to become part of the story. All students know the term “supporting details,” but can they find and create them? They certainly can once they learn to Slurp Horrible Fish Juice! This mnemonic helps students enter a scene so that they see, hear, feel and find juicy words the author uses to make scenes dynamic. Using picture books, workshop participants come to understand the power of this technique and how children can learn to apply the learning gained from reading in their writing.