This STAAR® Institute will provide educators of grades 3-10 with strategies to teach the short and extended constructed responses, both literary and nonliterary.
Each step in the JSWP® training process is aligned with grade level Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, Assessed Curriculum, and Blueprints. The training also reviews TEA’s recently released Scoring Guidelines and provides strategies for revising and editing. In addition to writing, teachers will learn how close reading contributes to both reading and writing on the exam.
Title: The JSWP® Methodology and Related TEKS for RLA Teachers
Date: January 15, 2024
Time: 9:00 A.M. – 4:00 P.M.; CPE 6 Hours
Participants: Reading and Language Arts Teachers (Grades 6-12)
This professional development day is devoted to teachers learning the official JSWP® methodology to lay a solid foundation and to build teacher confidence throughout the week. Teachers will learn how to teach their students the JSWP® terminology and color-coding through student interactive activities. Teachers will also learn and practice the successful JSWP step-by-step writing process that has been a staple in English language arts classrooms across the nation and abroad for almost four decades. Teachers will understand how each graphic organizer in the full set that accompanies the JSWP method addresses multiple TEKS and experience the interconnectedness among close reading, writing, editing, and revising. Educators will leave this workshop not only prepared for the remainder of the STAAR® institute, but also qualified to teach close reading and writing beyond STAAR.
Title: Informational Writing (LITERARY) for RLA Teachers
Date: January 16, 2024
Time: 9:00 A.M. – 4:00 P.M.; CPE 6 Hours
Participants: Reading and Language Arts Teachers (Grades 6-12)
This professional development day focuses on preparing students for success in analyzing LITERARY WORKS to facilitate the students’ abilities and skills to read closely and to annotate, plan, organize, and develop logical and insightful short and extended constructed responses. Focusing on poetry, since it is the genre that tends to pose the greatest challenge to young readers and writers, teachers will learn strategies to help their students deconstruct poetry and communicate in writing their analysis. Teachers tell us that this day reminds them of why they wanted to become an English teacher! Teachers are asked to bring literary works, such as novels, dramas, short stories, and poetry, that they plan to teach during the school year.
Title: Informational Writing (NONLITERARY) for RLA Teachers
Date: January 17, 2024
Time: 9:00 A.M. – 4:00 P.M.; CPE 6 Hours
Participants: Reading and Language Arts Teachers (Grades 6-12)
This professional development day is devoted to providing RLA teachers with strategies to guide their students in the close reading, prewriting, and development of short and extended constructed responses for NONLITERARY WORKS. Participants who attend both January 16 (LITERARY) and this workshop will have the added benefit of understanding and teaching the scaffolding of reading and writing skills for students to respond successfully to a prompt, whether that prompt requires a student to analyze a single passage and write a short constructed response or compare/contrast two passages in order to write an extended constructed response.
Title: ARGUMENTATIVE Writing for RLA Teachers
Date: January 18, 2024
Time: 9:00 A.M. – 4:00 P.M.; CPE 6 Hours
Participants: Reading and Language Arts Teachers (Grades 6-12)
Being able to develop an effective argument is an important skill for students in a controversial world. Argumentation builds upon informational writing; and, therefore, the culmination of this institute focuses on the argumentative essay or correspondence required on the STAAR as well as advanced courses. Teachers will learn and practice strategies for teaching the argument, including a thesis statement, concession, counterargument, and refutation. Also, participants will learn key argumentative concepts, such as ethos, logos, pathos, audience, purpose, and occasion.
Title: The Short Constructed Response (SCR) for SCIENCE Teachers
Date: January 19, 2024
Time: 8:00 A.M. – 12:00 P.M.; CPE 4 Hours
Participants: Science Educators
Grades: Grade 8, Biology
In this four-hour training, science teachers in Grade 8, and Biology will learn the Jane Schaffer® Methodology and how it applies to writing in the science classroom. Science teachers will (1) learn strategies for teaching students how to compose well-constructed sentences related to the science curriculum with specific, appropriate, and relevant evidence; (2) practice the JSWP® method with grade specific TEKS; and (3) design STAAR® writing prompts to integrate into the science curriculum without altering the scope and sequence during the school year. Teachers are asked to bring their textbooks and laptops.
Title: The Short Constructed Response (SCR) for SOCIAL STUDIES Teachers
Date: January 19, 2024
Time: 12:00 – 4:00 P.M.; CPE 4 Hours
Participants: Social Studies Educators
Grades: Grade 8, U.S. History
In this four-hour training, social studies teachers in Grade 8 and U.S. History will learn the Jane Schaffer® Methodology and how it applies to writing in the social studies classroom. Social studies teachers will (1) learn strategies for teaching students how to compose well-constructed sentences related to the social studies curriculum with specific, relevant, and appropriate evidence; (2) practice the JSWP® method with grade specific TEKS; and (3) design STAAR® writing prompts to integrate into the social studies curriculum without altering the scope and sequence during the school year. Teachers are asked to bring their textbooks and laptops.
STAAR® Institute Refund Policy:
Refunds, less the non-refundable deposit of $150, will be issued for cancellations received in writing up to five working days before the beginning of the institute. No refunds will be issued after that date. Substitutions from the same school or school district will be allowed five working days before the beginning of the institute with a completed registration form for each substitute. Please contact Louis Educational Concepts (LEC) at 214-946-3385 for more information. The office is open Monday-Friday, 8am–5pm.
Cancellation Policy:
LEC reserves the right to cancel classes when required minimum enrollment is not met. Instructor illness or extreme weather may also cause the interruption of scheduled classes.
