This presentation will offer teachers and curriculum leaders strategies for teaching writing about reading lessons that motivate and engage students of all levels. The focus is on teaching students specific types of language that represent different comprehension skills, thereby offering students tangible next steps rather than abstract goals. Different ability levels of student writing will be shown to demonstrate how this differentiated instruction allows each student to take ownership of strategies taught. Theories of motivation and engagement will also be presented in relation to why specificity in comprehension instruction is beneficial to students’ feelings of autonomy, competence and self-efficacy.

Thursday, February 6: Elizabeth Hale will be signing copies of her book outside room A308, beginning at 1:15pm.