Webinars

Keep up with the latest ed trends with a webinar, and bring your team!

Our webinars address timely and relevant topics like new education standards, high-stakes testing, closing the achievement gap, and how to choose the right accommodations for your students.

Live Webinars

Our live webinars are always free to attend—you just need to register!

More (new!) webinars are coming your way in 2019!
Dyslexia—New Opportunities Using Data to Close the Reading Gap

“Everybody is smart in different ways. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its life believing it is stupid.” 

 

Dyslexia is not related to an intelligence deficit, yet reading barriers can prevent these students from realizing their true potential. Simply having the right data showing how students read best (whether through a read aloud accommodation or independent reading) can make the difference between accessing modified materials and accessing grade-level text.

 

In this webinar, Dr. Denise DeCoste will show you how to use data to identify which accommodations will help students with dyslexia launch their success.


About the Presenter:

 Dr. Denise DeCoste is the co-author of PAR and uPAR, the transformative assessment that shows which students can benefit from a reading accommodation. Denise is an occupational therapist and a special educator with 30+ years of experience in the field of assistive technology with her doctorate focusing on using assistive technology to improve the spelling and writing development of students with severe speech and physical disabilities.


August 28, 2019
12:00 pm to 12:30 pm


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On-Demand Webinars

Our on-demand webinars are always free to view—you just need to sign up!

Dyslexia: Which Students Will Pass the State Assessments?

Students with disabilities have to pass the state assessment test.  What if you could know which students could comprehend at grade level or above with read aloud accommodations?

Request an on-demand webinar (30 minutes) to see:

  1. How uPAR can show the ways students can read best
  2. Improved implementation of read aloud accommodations
  3. How to get a free trial


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Dyslexia: How to Better Support Writing

The word, “dyslexia” is becoming commonly known. But, how to best support students with dyslexia in the classroom can be a mystery.

 

Students with print disabilities may be shutting down at writing time due to: 

  • -Lack of writing mechanics
  • -Fear of making mistakes
  • -Errors that make work unreadable

Still, you know your students better than anyone—and you know they have potential.  How will you bridge the gap between independent writing levels and true capabilities?

Join us for a short webinar (30 minutes) to see how Co:Writer supports students with print disabilities including dyslexia.


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Reading Instruction: What Works for Older Emergent and Non-Readers?

Often, special education and autism classrooms have a range of students from non-readers to emergent readers and even some conventional readers.  With such skill diversity, instruction can be challenging, but with the right resources and strategies, we can make real progress.

Come see what effective reading instruction looks like. Hint: It’s vibrant, relevant, age-respectful, and includes leveled materials so readers and non-readers share and learn together. It’s what works.
You’ll see how:

  • • Thematic Units form the foundation of reading instruction across ELA, social studies, and science
    • Video and Leveled Graphic Novels connect students to topics and stories they love
    • Informational Texts stretch understanding to build confidence in reading
    • Math connects thematic units to quantitative skills


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Note-taking Texas Style with Snap&Read and Co:Writer for Google

Taking notes while reading is a required skill according to the Texas Essential Knowledge & Skills (TEKS). How does technology help students in the Lone Star State gain confidence and mastery in note-taking—so they are more active in their own learning? Find out at our new webinar.

 

Join Bob Keller for a live webinar on June 12th to hear how students in Texas “Go Big” with Snap&Read and Co:Writer for

  1. Highlighting and emphasizing
  2. Making written notes
  3. Reviewing and revising notes
  4. Organizing notes

He will also share examples from Burleson ISD, Texas where English Learners had success using Snap&Read and Co:Writer for Google.


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Kickstarting the Writer Inside with Co:Writer for Google

Technology-based writing supports for Google are helping students lead their own learning. Word Prediction helps them write at higher levels with improved spelling, grammar, and word recall. Translation is a game changer for ELLs. Self-edit tools help students save time and gain confidence in their writing.

 

Join Michele Christensen for a live webinar on June 5th. See real-life applications for supporting students in high school, middle school, and elementary school with Co:Writer’s core features including Neuron Word Prediction™, Translation, Speech Recognition and more.


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Quick Accessible Quizzes Through Google Forms and Quizbot™

For better or worse, quizzes are an educational staple. They help us understand what students understand so we can adjust instruction and help students grow.

But if a quiz is inaccessible to a student, it doesn’t serve its purpose. The results may be confounded by the inaccessibility rather than being built so that the student could “show what they know.”

Through Google Forms, we can make accessible quizzes. They have so much potential for teachers, but overall, teachers aren’t using them

Quizbot™ makes it easier for teachers to get started, because it does the heavy lifting—it creates an accessible quiz automatically and loads it into Google Forms (complete with answers).

Join us for a live Quizbot™ webinar and

  1. Learn how to build a quiz
  2. Differentiate quizzes for students
  3. Customize questions in Google Forms
  4. Add videos and images to quizzes


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Readtopia Math Preview

Teachers love Readtopia’s Thematic Units and how they form the foundation of learning across ELA, social studies, and science. Now we’re working to add Math to each thematic unit.

Readtopia Math® uses experiential learning to help explore the math inside age-respectful literature. They are meaningful and relevant—connecting students to the stories and topics they love.

Join us for a short (15 minute) webinar with Readtopia Specialist Allison Dennis to see what’s included in the New Readtopia Math!

  1. Thematic Units within Readtopia provide familiar context to math lessons
  2. Math Domains cover standardized test skills (Expressions and Equations, Geometry, Money, Multiplication, Division, Number Sense, Statistics and Probability, Time)
  3. Instructional Strategies include Videos, Hands-on Applications, and Independent Practice
  4. Activities for Whole Groups, Small Groups, and Individuals
  5. Math at Six Levels of instruction
  6. Unit Assessments with written text and visual support


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The Secret to Finding the Right Reading Accommodations

Does your district really have a handle on deciding which students can benefit from a reading accommodation? Is your process data-driven?

Attend a live webinar about uPAR—a protocol that shows educators what kind of reading accommodations each student needs (read aloud or independent reading without an accommodation) to give the best access to the curriculum possible.

  • See how uPAR assesses multiple students at once.
    Watch student reactions to seeing their own data.
    Learn how to explain uPAR to your team so they can make the right decisions on reading accommodations


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How Access to Complex Text Improved Elementary Reading Scores

We have long known that the most important factor in student learning is excellent instruction, but this goal is made more complex by the varying needs of students. The principles of Universal Design for Learning have pushed us to see accommodations such as text-to-speech (TTS), which we formerly considered appropriate for only a small subset of students, as useful for a broader range of students with reading challenges. Tools such as the Protocol for Accommodations in Reading (PAR) and uPAR can help us identify which students will benefit from TTS. In this session, we’ll share:

  1. how we used uPAR to screen kids for reading accommodations.
  2. how using Snap&Read made it possible to give students access to complex text—regardless of independent reading level.
  3. how we used Bookshare to provide qualified students with access to rich reading material.
  4. data showing gains in students’ unaided reading scores after only one semester.

And we’ll offer some tips to help teachers incorporate these strategies in their classrooms.


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