WSRA Johnston Institute

Choice Worlds: Helping children build literate worlds worth living in

Featuring Peter Johnston

A WSRA Institute

Saturday, April 5, 2008
Marriott
Racine, Wisconsin

The language we use when talking with children affects who they think they are, how they think about and treat others, and what they think they are doing as literate learners. We help children construct the literate worlds in which they live at school. For them to become independent, they need to be able to do this for themselves. This talk shows us about helping children to build productive literacy learning communities that foster engagement, understanding and development.

“Democracy is neither a possession nor a guaranteed achievement. It is forever in the making; it might be thought of as a possibility—moral and imaginative possibility. For surely it has to do with the way person attend to one another, care for one another, and interact with one another. It has to do with choices and alternatives with the capacity to look at things as though they could be otherwise.”
—Maxine Greene quoted in Johnston’s Choice Words

Dr. Peter Johnston is a professor in the Reading Department at the University at Albany-SUNY. He has worked as an elementary classroom teacher and as a reading teacher and has published eight books and numerous articles. His most recent books are Choice Words: How Language Affects Children’s Learning (2004 Stenhouse) and Critical Literacy/Critical Teaching: Tools for Preparing Responsive Teachers (2005, Teachers College Press). Dr. Johnston chaired the International Reading Association and National Council of Teachers of English Joint Task Force on Assessment of Reading and Writing. His current work investigates literacy assessment, the consequences of teaching practices for the kind of literacy children acquire, how teachers and students build productive learning communities, and the process of building critical inquiry into literacy teacher education.

Schedule

8:00 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. Registration
8:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Institute

Fees

Location

Marriott
7111 Washington Ave.
Racine, WI 53406

Lodging

College Credit

Standards

Wisconsin Teacher Standards T2, T5, T6

Forms

Now you can pay instantly for your registration with PayPal! Just look for the logo and payment instructions at the bottom of the registration receipt.

Individuals - Registration Form
Districts - Invoice