✔️ Discovering Depth: Strategies for Teaching Main Idea and Key Details in Fiction

Understanding the heart of a story goes beyond retelling events. This session helps educators teach students how to:

• Identify the central message, theme, or moral of a story.

• Distinguish key details that support or reveal the main idea.

• Analyze how characters, events, and dialogue contribute to meaning.

• Use evidence-based discussion to express understanding.

Participants will learn to model and scaffold analytical thinking, helping students move from surface-level comprehension to deep literary insight.

✔️ Building Strong Readers: Teaching Characterization with Purpose

Character study is a powerful lens for developing empathy and critical thinking. In this workshop, we focus on:

• Teaching students to analyze characters’ traits, motivations, and changes over time.

• Helping readers connect characters’ actions to broader themes.

• Using dialogue, narration, and behavior as evidence for inference.

• Integrating character maps, discussion protocols, and journal writing.

Educators gain tools to guide students toward thoughtful interpretations of characters — not just what they do, but why they do it.

✔️ Setting the Scene: Strengthening Comprehension Through Plot and Setting

Plot and setting are more than just background; they shape and drive the narrative. In this session, educators will explore:

• How setting influences character actions and mood.

• Teaching the elements of plot (exposition, conflict, climax, resolution) using story arcs and visual tools.

• Designing activities where students track story structure and key events.

• Strategies for helping students visualize and make sense of narrative flow.

Educators leave with practical ways to strengthen comprehension by anchoring it in story structure and context.

✔️ The Power of Prediction: Boosting Engagement and Understanding

Prediction fuels curiosity and active reading. This workshop helps teachers cultivate students' ability to:

• Use text clues and prior knowledge to make logical predictions.

• Revise and refine predictions as they read.

• Engage in reflective thinking about how and why predictions change.

• Use anticipation strategies to deepen comprehension and interest.

Participants learn how to implement mini-lessons and anchor charts that turn prediction into a habit of mind that supports comprehension across genres.

✔️ Making Connections: Helping Students Infer Meaning in Fiction

Inference is where comprehension meets critical thinking. This advanced session supports educators in teaching students to:

• Read between the lines to understand implied meaning.

• Use textual evidence to support inferences about theme, character, and author’s intent.

• Explore how personal experiences, world knowledge, and emotional insight enhance understanding.

• Structure classroom talk and writing that encourages inferential reasoning.

Educators will leave with tools to help students become thoughtful, independent readers who confidently interpret text beyond the literal.

Format Options:

• Available as in-person or virtual sessions

• Half-day, full-day, or series formats

• Differentiated for grade bands: K–2, 3–5, and 6–8