Literacy Institute: Making Complex Text Accessible for all Learners, Monday, July 14 – Thursday, July 17, 9:00 a.m. -11:30 a.m. ET, Hybrid, 4 Mornings

Workshop One: Analyzing and Planning to Teach Complex Texts

Date: Monday, July 14
Teaching complex texts requires intentional planning. This session provides educators with frameworks for analyzing and integrating complex texts into instruction, ensuring accessibility for all students. Participants will explore strategies for leveraging background knowledge, emphasizing key vocabulary, and using linked text sets to build comprehension.

Key Learning Objectives:

• Understand the factors that contribute to text complexity and learn to analyze text to plan for responsive instruction.

• Identify text complexity elements specific to literary and informational passages and leverage text structures and features to support comprehension.

• Recognize the crucial role that vocabulary and background knowledge play in complex text comprehension and apply high-leverage techniques for activating and strengthening students’ semantic networks.

• Learn frameworks for developing linked text sets that support decoding, comprehension, and sustained learning on a topic.

• Integrate multimedia resources to enhance engagement with complex texts and deepen comprehension.

Workshop Two: Scaffolding Complex Text – Before, During, and After Reading Strategies

Date: Tuesday, July 15

Effective instruction ensures that all students, regardless of reading ability, can engage meaningfully with complex texts. This session introduces evidence-based before-, during-, and after-reading strategies that build comprehension, maintain rigor, and develop critical thinking skills.

Key Learning Objectives:

• Implement pre-reading strategies to activate prior knowledge, set reading goals, and prepare students for active reading.

• Use during-reading strategies, including structured annotation, graphic organizers, and questioning techniques, to deepen comprehension.

• Design after-reading activities that promote synthesis, critical thinking, and text-based discussions.

• Explore the role of teacher modeling and explicit strategy instruction in comprehension development.

• Understand the role of comprehension monitoring and learn fix-up strategies to support struggling readers.

Workshop Three: Close Reading Strategies for Complex Text and Linked Writing Activities

Date: Wednesday, July 16
Close reading is a powerful tool for developing deep comprehension and analytical thinking. This session focuses on research-based strategies for structuring close reading lessons and integrating writing to strengthen understanding. Participants will explore techniques for guiding students through multiple readings with distinct purposes and fostering critical discussions.

Key Learning Objectives:

• Define close reading and its role in fostering deep comprehension and analytical thinking.

• Introduce annotation strategies for both expository and narrative texts.

• Develop structured response sheets to support targeted close reading activities across content areas.

• Examine techniques for collaborative close reading activities.

• Explore structured writing activities that support close reading objectives and reinforce the reading-writing connection.

Workshop Four: AI Powered Literacy Instruction: Engaging All Students with Complex Texts

Date: Thursday, July 17

Instructor: Dr. Joan McGettigan, Director of Educational Technology
AI is a powerful tool for analyzing text complexity, planning for instruction, and creating classroom-ready materials and activities that support all students in engaging meaningfully with complex, grade-level content. This session will explore how AI-powered tools such as Brisk, SchoolAI, MagicSchool AI, and Microsoft CoPilot can support unit and lesson planning, generate customized resources, and develop activities that promote skilled reading of complex texts.

Key Learning Objectives:

• Use AI tools to analyze texts and inform instructional planning.

• Develop before-, during-, and after-reading materials and activities to support comprehension and engagement.

• Leverage AI to build multimedia text sets and interactive learning experiences that deepen understanding across content areas.

• Gain hands-on experience with Brisk, SchoolAI, MagicSchool AI, and Microsoft CoPilot to generate customized instructional materials.

• Identify best practices for integrating AI-driven materials into classroom instruction and independent student work.