Vermont Council on Reading
Spring Conference
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Sheraton, Burlington, Vermont
Igniting a Passion for Reading…
Featuring: Dr. Steven Layne
Teachers know what a difference inspiration and motivation can make to our students….and to ourselves! As the school year winds down, it can be difficult to stir that spark to ignite our passion for teaching, and our students’ passion for learning.
That is one reason VCR invited Dr. Steven Layne, award-winning author of both children’s and professional books, to Vermont. He honors K-12 teachers who are passionate about reading and writing and who celebrate the possibilities for their students. In his newest book, Igniting a Passion for Reading, Dr. Layne shows teachers how to develop readers and writers who are not only motivated to read great books but who also love reading in its own right. His book is packed with practical ways to engage and inspire readers from kindergarten through high school.
Likewise, Dr. Steven Layne will inspire us to think about the people whose contributions altered our life’s direction, smoothed the path ahead, or guided us across treacherous ground. He’ll make us laugh and cry—but most of all, he’ll inspire us with his stories about teachers who make a difference…and how they did it. His warmth, humor, and love of teaching will resonate and energize us right when we may need it the most!
Registration materials:
VCR FlyerSpring2012
We are an organization committed to offering excellent professional development in literacy to the teachers of Vermont. With two or three conferences a year we have brought a host of literacy leaders to Vermont, including Lester Laminack, Katie Wood Ray, Ralph Fletcher, Penny Kittle, Marge Lipson, Barry Lane, Aimee Buckner, Timothy Rasinski, Sara Holbrook, Kathryn Au, Michael Opitz, most recently Donalyn Miller, and many more. We also publish journals throughout the year with articles from our members, sharing ideas tried in our classrooms that have met with success, book reviews, literacy celebrations, and so much more.
This October the council members and other interested parties are joining together to develop a strategic plan for the Vermont Council on Reading. We plan to use the results of the survey below as well as the new Common Core Initiatives to ensure that the work that we do follows best practices in literacy and meets the needs of all schools and teachers of Vermont. The date for this meeting is October 24th, in the Montpelier area. If you would like to participate and would like more information, please contact me at cowen@beschool.org.
There are also presently openings on the board for various positions, including a need for a Journal Editor, Director at Large, and various Regional Directors. If you are interested in filling any of these roles, please contact our State Regional Coordinator, Carol Millett at cmillett@wes-tvms.org.
We will be holding conferences this year, one in the winter in the Bennington area and a second in the Spring with Steve Layne. We look forward to those events and will have more information on this site as these events draw near. Please also visit us on Facebook! We like to see our friend list grow!
Happy Fall!
Carol Royce Owen
Vermont Council on Reading President.
- Help us to make VCR a council that works for you. Take a 5 minute survey to give the VCR board feedback on the future direction of the council. You can find it on this website.
- Think of a person who is making a real difference in literacy in Vermont and nominate them for the John T. Poeton Award. Deadline is June 1st.
- Share the good things you are doing in the classroom with other Vermont educators. Sign up to present a workshop at the spring 2012 conference. This is a great way for those who have never presented to do so!
- We are always looking for articles or student work for the VCR journals. Send the articles to your regional director and they will forward them on.
All the needed information/forms for the above, can be found on our website!
Vermont Council on Reading is proud to present:
The Book Whisperer
Donalyn Miller
Stoweflake Resort, Stowe, Vermont
Spring Conference, Monday, April 4, 2011
donalyn Miller flyer 2011
Donalyn Miller is a 6th grade language arts teacher in Texas who is said to have a “gift”: She can turn even the most reluctant (or, in her words, “dormant”) readers into students who can’t put their books down. Donalyn will share how she’s able to turn non-readers into readers and book loathers into book lovers by matching books to their interests, promoting reading for enjoyment, and ridding the classroom of busy work that gets in the way of real reading. Every year she challenges her students to read 40 books or more and every year that goal is met by most if not all of her students. In her quest to spread reading freedom, Donalyn teaches staff development presentations in campuses and conference rooms across the country.
You can register online at the Spring Conference page!
You won’t want to miss it…
Vermont Council on Reading
Winter Regional Conference
Jan. 29, 2011 (snow date Feb.5, 2011)
Mount Anthony Middle School Bennington, Vermont
Keynote Speaker: Barry Lane
educator and author of books like Revisor’s Toolbox and After THE END
Barry Lane’s Literacy Cabaret: An Inspiring Morning of Singing, Dancing and Clean, Comic Fun that Celebrates Teachers: After years of doing stand-up, karaoke and singing as part of his academic presentations, Barry has finally put it all together to create a genuine night club act for teachers. You will sing, you will dance and you will enjoy laughing at yourself and the world around you. And with catchy numbers like, “Smooth Laminator” and “Homework in the Night”, you may find yourself humming memories of this event for years. (Grades K-12)
For more information:
winter-conference-flyer,2011
The leaves are falling, the rain is pouring down and the gale force winds are upon us – it is truly Fall in Vermont!
This will be the first Fall in over 12 years that the Vermont Council on Reading has not held a Fall Conference at the Stoweflake. It was a tough call, but we had to cancel our “Taste of Vermont” conference due to low participation. We regret having to do this, but knew more money would be lost if we tried to keep it going. The Vermont Council on Reading is a non-profit organization which earns its keep through our conference registrations.
This is a tough time for education in Vermont with Challenges for Change voluntary spending cuts looming out ahead of us. We know that many school districts and supervisory unions are tightening their belt first with professional development money.
Please know that the Vermont Council on Reading is as committed as ever to supporting your journey as a literacy expert. We hope that you will HOLD the DATE for our April 4 Spring Conference with the Book Whisperer, Donalyn Miller! Check back soon to this website for registration materials.
Dear friends,
Welcome to the new web look for the Vermont Council on Reading! VCR is moving into the 21st century…finally. Gone is the powder blue background with the ever so elegant buttons – state of the art back in 1996- when my son and husband created the first VCR website produced by our family!
Our new web design will allow us to be more responsive to the needs of our membership. Look for updates, stories and all the news that is news in the literacy world on our site. We will plan to feature news from our latest journal on a regular basis. We are hoping to add more on-line registration features soon.
Do you have literacy events happening in your school, neighborhood or community? Send in the information with pictures. There is a good chance your information can be featured on the VCR website.
Let us know how the website works for you.
Sincerely,
Ellen
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