Dates: Monday, July 28 - Thursday, July 31, 2025
Time: 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM ET
Location: Virtual
For: Grades 6-12 teachers, coaches, and administrators
Cost: $850
Join us for a 4-day virtual institute designed to enhance your literacy instruction for middle and high school students. This institute focuses on both nonfiction reading and writing, providing practical tools, strategies, and insights to elevate your teaching and support adolescent learners in developing critical literacy skills. This institute is designed for first-time and returning participants as it will reinforce the foundations of the teaching of reading and writing as well as share The Reading & Writing Project’s latest thinking and research. The institute will serve the needs of English teachers as well as content area teachers.
Engage Students in Meaningful Literacy Work
Adolescents need literacy instruction that challenges and inspires them to think critically, engage deeply with texts, and express themselves powerfully through writing. In this institute, you’ll explore strategies to close gaps in reading and writing skills, while fostering a classroom environment where students are motivated to read and write with purpose.
Practical Classroom Moves to Make Nonfiction Literacy Come Alive
Walk away with concrete strategies you can use right away to teach nonfiction reading and writing in engaging, purposeful ways. You’ll learn methods for conferring and leading small groups, ways to push students beyond formulaic responses, and tools for addressing the most common challenges students face when reading and writing about nonfiction topics.
Equip Students for Academic and Personal Growth
Learn how to integrate reading and writing in ways that support students’ academic progress and personal growth. You’ll explore how to teach writing that helps students articulate their ideas clearly, whether they’re crafting analytical essays, short written responses, creative projects, or research papers. On the reading side, you’ll discover how to guide students through complex texts, encouraging them to think critically, synthesize information, and engage in meaningful discussions.
Topics Covered
Integrating reading and writing instruction to enhance student engagement and skill development
Supporting adolescent readers with complex texts and fostering critical thinking
Teaching a range of analytical and research-based writing
Using formative assessments to track progress and inform instruction
Leveraging mentor texts to model both reading comprehension and writing craft
Guiding students in synthesizing information across multiple texts
Teaching with social justice in mind, encouraging students to engage with texts that challenge their thinking and prompt meaningful discussions
Making Vocabulary Instruction Practical, Powerful, and Playful, All Across the Day 
Tackle the Hard Parts of Independent Reading: Giving Specific Feedback When You Don’t Know the Book, Holding Readers Accountable, Raising Reading Levels, Igniting Enthusiasm
What Matters Most in the Science of Reading Comprehension? Amping up Comprehension By Boosting Oral Language, Listening Comprehension, Knowledge Development, and Vocabulary
Reading Test Prep Workshop: Preparing for the Demands of High-Stakes ELA Tests Across the Country
February Heinemann Office Hours Featuring Units of Study
Writing Test Prep Workshop: Preparing for the Demands of High-Stakes ELA Tests Across the Country
Saturday Reunion: A Day of Free Virtual Professional Development
March Heinemann Office Hours Featuring Units of Study
Ensuring Access for Your Multilingual Writers
Coaching Institute on the Teaching of Writing
