If you have struggled to find a way to teach vocabulary, this session is for you.  Janet Allen will share four components of comprehensive vocabulary programs: developing word consciousness for content learning; teaching individual words; modeling strategies for independent word learning; and, increasing volume and diversity of students’ reading.  Instructional strategies will be modeled using a wide variety of nonfiction and fiction texts.  Join us as explore effective instructional strategies for helping our students learn the “insider” vocabulary they need for reading, writing and communication.  

As a result of attending this workshop, participants will:

1.    know how to develop a comprehensive vocabulary program;
2.  know several instructional strategies for increasing vocabulary through building background knowledge;
3.  know how to teach individual words to support students' comprehension;
4.  know how to teach students strategies for learning words independently;
5.      know how to increase volume and diversity of reading to support students learning content-specific and specialized vocabulary;
6.  know multiple ways to assess students' understanding of and ability to use specific and appropriate language to communicate; and,
7.   know the research base to extend their knowledge of effective vocabulary instruction.

Janet Allen is an international consultant recognized for her literacy work with at-risk students. Janet taught high school reading and English in northern Maine from 1972 until 1992 when she relocated to Florida to teach English and reading education courses at the University of Central Florida.  During her tenure at UCF, she directed the Central Florida Writing Project and assisted in the creation of the Orange County Literacy Project. Dr. Allen has received several teaching awards including the Milken Foundation's National Educator Award.

She is the author of numerous professional books:  Inside Words: Tools for Teaching Academic Vocabulary; Tools for Teaching Content Literacy; On the Same Page: Shared Reading Beyond the Primary Grades; Yellow Brick Roads: Shared and Guided Paths to Independent Reading; and, Words, Words, Words: Teaching Vocabulary in Grades 4-12 (Stenhouse Publishers); It's Never Too Late: Leading Adolescents to Lifelong Literacy (Heinemann); and co-author of There's Room for Me Here: Literacy Workshop in the Middle School (Stenhouse); The Scholastic Read-Aloud Anthology (Scholastic); and, Reading History (Oxford University Press). 

She is editor of the collection, Using Literature to Help Troubled Teenagers Cope with End-of-Life Issues (Greenwood). 

Janet recently published her first picture book, Best Little Wingman (Boyds Mills Press).  Her forthcoming books are titled Testing 1, 2 3. . . Bridging Best Practice and High-Stakes Assessment and Jump-Start the Brain! Thinking into and through Content Learning (Stenhouse). Keynotes from Janet's four-day It's Never Too Late literacy institutes have been recorded in a collection entitled Re-Imagining Reading (Stenhouse Publishers).  She has also written numerous professional articles and chapters in texts related to young adult literature, teaching reading and writing, and vocabulary instruction.  For three years, she was the editor of a continuing column in Voices from the Middle, "The Word Market."

In addition to the professional resources above, she has recently authored a complete audio-assisted literacy workshop program, Plugged-in to Reading, for Recorded Books.  The program encompasses three grade level clusters (5-7, 7-9, 9-12) and is comprised of books, audio and teaching resources for direct instruction through core novels; peer-assisted learning through literature circles; and, guided practice through independent reading.  Each level of the program focuses on instruction in reading, literary analysis, writing, word study, research, communication and test-taking.  The first level of Plugged-in to Reading Nonfiction will be published in November, 2007.

Janet is a senior program consultant for McDougal Littell's 2008 Literature program for grades 6-12.  She is currently spending her time researching, writing, speaking, and conducting customized seminars and content literacy institutes across the country.