69th MRA Conference: Full Schedule

Add sessions to your personal schedule to register your attendance (Check-In).

10:30am EST

Room to Wrestle: Teaching with Novels in Verse LIMITED

Saturday March 8, 2025 10:30am - 11:30am EST

Sharing our experiences as educators and authors, we will highlight the power of using novels-in-verse to create space for students to wrestle with identity and complex topics. Participants can expect to engage in examples of hands-on lessons that use excerpts from various verse novels as we experiment and discover together.

Speakers

Kelly J. Baptist

Kelly J. Baptist is the award-winning author of eight books for kids, including Isaiah Dunn Is My Hero, The Electric Slide and Kai, and the NAACP Image Award-nominated Eb & Flow. Kelly was the 2023 Gwen Frostic Award recipient. She lives and writes in Southwest Michigan, where her... Read More →

Dana VanderLugt

Secondary Literacy Consultant, Ottawa Area ISD

Dana VanderLugt is a writer and literacy consultant for the Ottawa Area ISD who has taught reading and writing in middle school, high school, and college classrooms.Her first book, Enemies in the Orchard: A World War 2 Novel in Verse was published by Zonderkidz in September 2023... Read More →

Saturday March 8, 2025 10:30am - 11:30am EST
Grand Gallery A (DeVos Place)

Middle School to Post Secondary (6-12+) Literacy Coaching

Strand(s) Culturally Responsive Instruction, Diverse Literature for Children and Young Adults, Written Expression

1:00pm EST

Building Foundational Literacy Through Interactive Writing: A Collaborative Approach LIMITED

Saturday March 8, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm EST

Grand Gallery A (DeVos Place)

Breath in learning from shared experiences and express it through the collaborative process of Interactive Writing. This process engages students to co-create text, enhancing their phonics, vocabulary, and sentence structure skills in authentic contexts. This session provides practical, hands-on strategies aligned to empower educators with the tools to bolster foundational literacy development. Audience: PreK-2 classroom teachers, literacy coaches, administrators, special education, EL educators.

Speakers

Jill Erfourth

Elementary Literacy Consultant/Coach, Utica Community Schools

Susan Meadows

Elementary Literacy Coach, Utica Community Schools

Saturday March 8, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm EST
Grand Gallery A (DeVos Place)

Elementary (K-5)

Strand(s) Early Language and Literacy, Foundational Reading Skills, Foundational Writing Skills, Writing in the Content Areas, Written Expression

10:30am EDT

Writing Inside the Room: Using the Reading Rope, Content Knowledge, and Shared Experiences to Build Strong Foundational Writing Skills in K-1 LIMITED

Sunday March 9, 2025 10:30am - 11:30am EDT

Grand Gallery A (DeVos Place)

This session will help early elementary teachers learn to simplify the process of teaching foundational writing skills by focusing on the separation of composition and transcription. The presenter will share classroom experience, strategies and resources to take writing from a stand alone subject to an integrated experience across the day.

Speakers

Nicole Cobb

Kindergarten Teacher, Almont Community Schools

Sunday March 9, 2025 10:30am - 11:30am EDT
Grand Gallery A (DeVos Place)

Elementary (K-5)

Strand(s) Foundational Reading Skills, Foundational Writing Skills, Writing in the Content Areas

12:30pm EDT

Going Deeper with GELN’s Essential Practices in Early Literacy LIMITED

Sunday March 9, 2025 12:30pm - 1:30pm EDT

Grand Gallery A (DeVos Place)

In this session, we will explore resources and tools that support the implementation of the GELN’s Essential Instructional Practices for Early Literacy and help the practices to thrive in your school. Come engage with resources designed to take implementation to a new level.

Speakers

Heather Phelps

Early Literacy Professional Learning Coordinator, MAISA

Heather Phelps is an Early Literacy Professional Learning Coordinator at MAISA. Heather’s background includes teaching in elementary and middle school classrooms, coaching teachers in K-12 settings, and serving in multiple leadership roles at the LEA and ISD levels. A highlight... Read More →

Sunday March 9, 2025 12:30pm - 1:30pm EDT
Grand Gallery A (DeVos Place)

Elementary (K-5)

Strand(s) Early Language and Literacy, Literacy Coaching and Leadership

1:45pm EDT

Our Journey to the Science of Reading: How One School Went from Sporadic Literacy to Systematic Literacy LIMITED

Sunday March 9, 2025 1:45pm - 2:45pm EDT

Grand Gallery A (DeVos Place)

Through three different lenses - Literacy Coach & Interventionist, 2nd grade teacher, and 6th grade teacher - participants will get an in-depth look at how the CKLA curriculum + LETRS training + daily dedicated intervention/enrichment time has equipped our teachers to implement the Science of Reading (SoR) in PreK-8th grade classrooms.

Speakers

Strand(s) Foundational Reading Skills, Foundational Writing Skills

69th MRA Conference

10:30am EST

Kelly J. Baptist

Dana VanderLugt

1:00pm EST

Jill Erfourth

Susan Meadows

10:30am EDT

Nicole Cobb

12:30pm EDT

Heather Phelps

1:45pm EDT

Stephanie Howay

Jennifer Smart

Andrea Korotko