NM PED 2026 Literacy and Humanities Summer Conference

As schools shift toward evidence-based literacy instruction, you are likely balancing high expectations with an already full plate. Meaningful improvements do not come from adding more to your workload; they come from identifying what you can remove to make space for practices that truly support student learning.

In this session, you will learn how to intentionally let go of routines, materials, or programs that aren't supported by research or data. Using the analogy of "pulling weeds and planting flowers," you will explore how clearing away less effective practices allows evidence-based instruction to take root and thrive in your classroom. Together, we will reflect on what is working, what may be crowding your "garden," and how to use student data to guide your next steps. You will leave with practical strategies based on implementation science and reflective tools to help you focus instruction, strengthen classroom practices, and improve student outcomes.h.

Designing instruction to support reading comprehension can be a daunting task. This session introduces a Comprehension Framework designed to support the planning and implementation of instruction that attends to the language strands of Dr. Scarborough’s Reading Rope.

Attendees will utilize a sample text to practice planning and implementing effective comprehension instruction using this structured approach. The framework enables diverse learners across all grades to access grade-level-appropriate text while strengthening vocabulary, background knowledge, syntax, and more. You will leave with a clear process for ensuring your instructional design aligns with the necessary components for skilled reading.

Foundational literacy is often reduced to "cracking the code," yet a child’s oral language proficiency is a strong predictor of long-term reading success. Hulme and Snowling’s recent model, the Reading is Language Model (2025), expands on the Simple View of Reading to demonstrate that language is the primary contributor and the basis of all literacy learning, including both word learning and comprehension. This session explores an expanded definition of foundational skills, positioning oral language, specifically vocabulary depth, syntactic complexity, and frequent peer-to-peer speaking, as the essential building block for later reading comprehension.

In this interactive session, participants will gain an understanding of the role of language as the "glue" for foundational skills. You will discover practical ways to integrate robust oral language development into daily foundational routines, ensuring students are not just decoding words, but are building the linguistic wealth necessary for true comprehension.

TBA