conferences & events
Click the PDF icon to download handouts for my workshop.
Click the Workshop Leader's name for the Workshop's location in the Convocation Center and for the Workshop's handouts.
Author, teacher, coach, and speaker, Laura Robb has completed more than 43 years of teaching in grades 4-8. She presently coaches teachers in grades K to 8 in Virginia and Pennsylvania. Robb always works with those students who need the most support from teachers.
Laura Robb has written more than 25 books for teachers. In 2016, two new books were published: The Reading Intervention Toolkit, by Shell Education in April 2016 and Read Talk Write: 35 Lessons That Teach Students to Analyze Fiction and Nonfiction .published by Corwin Literacy in October 2016. Corwin Literacy also published Robb’s Vocabulary Is Comprehension: Getting to the Root of Complex Texts was available in September 2014. Her newest for Heinemann is a First Hand Curriculum: Smart Writing: Practical Units For Teaching Middle School Writers and a book, and a professional book, Teaching Middle School Writers: What Every English Teacher Needs to Know. For Scholastic, Robb has completed Unlocking Complex Texts; the book provides teachers with detailed reading and writing about reading lessons. Robb has designed classroom libraries for Scholastic for grades 3 to 9. She developed, with Jeff Wilhelm, XBOOKS for middle school readers: nonfiction print texts with an online curriculum organized by themes such as forensics, tyrants, war, medicine, and strange.
Robb is a keynote and featured speaker at conferences and leads workshops all over the country and in Canada. She writes articles for education journals. Her blog for MiddleWeb, “Our # 1 Reading Problem: Persistent Inequalities” was published in April 2014, another MiddleWeb Blog was published in March 2016, “Ten Motivators to Promote Playful Learning.” Look for her new blog to be published by MiddleWeb the end of December 2016: “ Democracy Needs a Nation of Readers & Thinkers.”
Her article on motivation and engagement was published in the fall, 2015 issue of Literacy Today. Robb has a new article that appeared in the May 2017 Voices From the Middle: “ Read Write think: Developing 21st Century Skills.”
KRYSTIA NORA, PhD
One of the co-founders and co-chairs of the English Education Collaborative, Krystia is an expert in writing and composition studies, and she regularly presents at national conferences on these topics.
Dr. Nora's workshop is titled:
Peer Review Strategies That Demonstrate Key Reading and Writing Objectives
This workshop will review several of the presenter’s peer review strategies, have the group practice on sample papers, and then have the group discuss how and why this activity meets many English Education learning objectives.
​
KEAT MURRAY, PhD
Dr. Keat Murray specializes in early American and nineteenth-century American literature, with particular interest in James Fenimore Cooper and Native American studies. In addition to his scholarship in these areas, Dr. Murray has directed numerous undergraduate projects at Cal U in digital archiving for regional and international communities. Before joining Cal U’s Department of English in 2013, Murray taught high school English in a Pennsylvania public school for twenty-one years and college English for five years.
​
Dr. Murray's Workshop is titled:
Integrating Fiction Study and Creative Writing.
Workshop Description: Adaptable to most classrooms, this workshop models learning activities for integrating the development of reading, writing, and thinking skills in summary, analysis, and critical questioning. In a concentrated study of short fiction and brief creative writing exercises, the workshop emphasizes participation, sharing, and the vitality of succinct expression.
​
Dr. Brent House is a native of Hancock County, Miss., where, prior to his years in higher education, he was a farmer who raised cattle and watermelons on his family farm. His father, John Bunyon House, was an avid reader when he was away from the fields, and, as a result, Dr. House was influenced to begin a career in English Studies. He still misses his life on the farm, and he will return to farming when he retires from his teaching life, but, until then, he finds that farming and teaching are similar crafts, and he enjoys planting knowledge in the minds of his students at Cal U.
Ink Off The Page; Responding to Traditional and 21st Century Poetry
​
Workshop Description:
How students can use poetry in today's classrooms. How and why to teach it. How to relate traditional and 21st Century poetry, How it can be successfully assessed as personal expression and experience.
​
Target Group:
​
Secondary Teachers, Secondary Teacher Candidates
​
Kelly Curtis is a graduate of the Pennsylvania State University, with a B.A. in English Literature. Ms. Curtis has completed post-graduate coursework in both English and Education at the University of South Carolina and Bucknell University. Ms. Curtis also attended California University of Pennsylvania, where she completed coursework for her teaching certification as a secondary English teacher. Ms. Curtis has been teaching 7th and 8th grade ELA for the past 11 years at West Greene Middle School.
Richard Koch, PhD, is Professor of English Emeritus of Adrian College (MI) where his lead specialization has been Teaching Writing. He has worked with the National Writing Project for over 25 years. He was Director of the Southeast Michigan Writing Project and also of the statewide network of Michigan Writing Projects. He currently works with the Western Pennsylvania Writing Project of the University of Pittsburgh. He is co-author of The Portfolio Guidebook and Director of the website Michigan Portfolios, intended to help teachers with writing assessment. He has been a consultant on teaching writing to schools and K-12 school districts in Iowa, Michigan, and Pennsylvania..
JESSICA HATHAWAY
​
Jessica Hathaway is a secondary teacher at Carmichaels Area School District. Though she has taught a variety of subjects throughout her six years of teaching, she currently teaches all levels of ELA 9, Adv. ELA 10, and Broadcasting. Through the district, she also instructs English and reading cyber courses both during the regular school year, as well as credit recovery courses in the summer. Extracurricularly, Miss Hathaway is also the assistant director of the high school marching band. Prior to the start of her teaching career, she received a Master’s in the Art of Teaching (English and Communications) degree and Bachelor of Arts (Journalism and Literature, minor in drawing) degree from California University of PA (2011 and 2009, respectively).
​
Matthew Cross is an English Language Arts teacher at West Greene Middle School. He has a degree in English Education 6-12. He is currently working on his Master's thesis paper at SNHU and will finish with a degree in English Creative Writing with an emphasis in Fiction Literature. He taught for a year in Sumter, South Carolina working with a highly diverse group of students before returning back home to Pennsylvania to continue teaching English.
I
Close Reading and Text Dependent Analysis for Writers
​
Workshop Description:
​
Text Dependent Analysis is student writing focused on close analysis of a text. Elementary and middle school students are expected to complete this type of writing on PSSA tests, while high school students are expected to do the same on Keystone tests. This workshop will focus on how to lead students in analyzing a text closely and using the RACES writing process to create a well organized written response. Examples of student work will be provided during the workshop, for analysis and discussion.
​
​
​
​
Laura Roop, director of the Western Pennsylvania Writing Project and faculty member at the University of Pittsburgh School of Education, is new to the region. She directed the Oakland (MI) Writing Project for eighteen years in separate stints, and served as director of outreach at University of Michigan School of Education. She began her professional career as a high school English teacher, and eventually worked as an intermediate school district consultant in two counties and as a professional development facilitator for the Michigan English Language Arts Framework Project, a federally-funded state standards effort. From 2009-2012, she followed a cohort of students assessed in the bottom quartile from ninth grade through college, designing summer programs and organizing trips and presentations under the auspices of the Algebra Project, a national network founded by civil rights organizer and mathematician Bob Moses. On July 23, Dr. Roop was featured in the University of Pittsburgh Times (photo here credited to this article). See more about the WPWP at https://www.wpwp.pitt.edu/.
SUSAN RUTLEDGE, PhD
B.A.: History and Political Science, University of South Dakota
M.A.: English, University of South Dakota
Ph.D.: Curriculum and Instruction in TESOL, University of Mississippi. Dissertation: Mississippi Teachers' Attitudes and Peceptions Toward English Language Learner Inclusion
​Dr. Morris-Rutledge is interested in studying teacher attitudes and perceptions of English Language Learners (ELL), in mainstreaming ELL students, and in professional and curriculum development in ELL student issues.
CONNIE MONROE, PhD
Chair of Graduate Education at Cal U, Dr. Monroe is an expert in English education, a member of the boards of the English Education Collaborative and Scholastic Art and Writing of Southwestern PA.
​
​
JP STASZEL, PhD
John Paul Staszel is a doctoral candidate at Bowling Green State University finishing his dissertation in the field of theatre and performance studies. JP holds a MA in Theatre from Bowling Green State University, as well as a MS in Business from California University of Pennsylvania. He also completed his undergraduate studies at Cal U earning a BA in theatre and BS in business finance. JP has trained with various renowned theatre companies including Pilobolus, Inlet Dance Theatre, and NACL (North American Cultural Laboratory). He is excited to be returning to this alma mater to teach and engage all things performance. His personal goals for his students are to challenge them to think of theatre and performance in a broader scope and find ways to see all aspects of life as a performance.
​
Dr. Yonek is the Reading and Curriculum Coordinator for the Allegheny Intermediate Unit’s (AIU3) Reading Achievement Center. In this role she supports teachers and administrators in Allegheny County by providing targeted literacy support to schools in the form of on-site coaching, curriculum writing, facilitation of learning labs and professional development sessions. At the IU, Dr. Yonek works with other members of the Reading Achievement Center in teaching year - long literacy courses to teachers in Allegheny County. Prior to working at the Allegheny Intermediate Unit, Dr. Yonek was the reading curriculum supervisor at Pittsburgh Public Schools. She obtained her doctorate in reading from the University of Pittsburgh where she studied under Dr. Isabel Beck. Dr. Yonek is also a graduate of California University of Pennsylvania.
​
​
​
LAUREN SPANG
​
Lauren Spang teaches fifth grade English Language Arts at Rostraver Elementary School in the Belle Vernon Area School District. As an alumna of Belle Vernon Area, she has enjoyed teaching ELA for the past four years at the elementary school in which she attended. Prior to teaching at Belle Vernon, she taught one year of third grade in the Elizabeth Forward School District. She received her B.S. in Elementary Instruction and Early Childhood Education from Saint Vincent College in May, 2012. From there, she graduated with her M.Ed. in Special Education from California University of Pennsylvania in 2013. Over the summer of 2016, Lauren attended the Western Pennsylvania Writing Project’s Summer Institute for Teachers at the University of Pittsburgh and grew immensely as at teacher and writer. In her free time, Lauren enjoys long-distance running, reading and writing for enjoyment, and researching new ideas to improve her classroom.
​
CAROL FROW
​
Carol Aten Frow is in her thirtieth year as a seventh and eighth grade ELA instructor at Belle Vernon Area Middle School. Annually she coaches students in two reading competitions, WIRC and Englishfest. In addition, Mrs. Frow is the director for both the fall drama and spring musical, sponsors the yearbook, and leads the literary magazine staff, which produces a magazine that has been ranked by N.C.T.E. for sixteen years. A 2014 finalist for Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year, Mrs. Frow now serves on their Executive Board as the Awards Chair. She also serves on the Executive Board of the Western Pennsylvania Council of Teachers of English. Now a teacher consultant for the Western Pennsylvania Writing Project, Mrs. Frow attended the 2016 WPWP’s Summer Institute for Teachers. Her professional writing piece at the institute developed into an article co-written with a former student and was published in the November 2017 issue of English Journal.
It was at the 2014 WPWP Summer Institute that Mrs. Frow and Miss Spang began to develop professional development programs for their school. This session was an offshoot of their work together.
Mrs. Frow is a two time graduate of California of University of PA. In 1988, she earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Education with certifications in both Secondary English and Elementary Education. In 1993, she earned her Master of Arts with a degree in English.
​
