Atkinson School was bustling with 115 district administrators, teachers and teaching assistants, as they geared up for the 2019-2020 school year and participated in the annual Summer Literacy Institute.
Led by Director of English Language Arts Glori Engel, this is the third year the district hosted this daylong professional development program, with award-winning educator and author Kylene Beers and author Bob Probst as the keynote speakers.
The program kicked off with a warm welcome by Superintendent of Schools Dr. Kishore Kuncham, who expressed his appreciation of those who attended.
"I am so proud to see over 100 teachers here today to make a difference in the lives of our students by taking this journey of continuous growth," he said. "It's great what you do for Freeport students and we are going to continue to take the next giant leap for 2019-2020."
Teachers heard from the keynote speakers, who discussed the significance for educators to focus on teaching all students how to be lifelong learners and lifelong thinkers. Following the presentation, teachers separated into groups to participate in several workshops including "Digital Storytelling," "Raz-Plus: Your Classroom Partner for RTI," "CommonLit," "Reading A-Z: What's new for Grades 2-4," "Patterns of Power," "Reely Good Strategies to Hook Readers," "Digital Reading Groups" and "Noodle Tools."
While several workshops were led by Freeport teachers, Kylene and Bob also hosted a workshop that highlighted strategies that create engagement and build comprehension with fiction and nonfiction.
