NM PED 2026 Literacy and Humanities Summer Conference

This engaging session bridges the gap between spelling assessment and high-impact instruction that leads to lasting student learning. You will explore how to use screening, diagnostic, and formative assessments to uncover student spelling strengths, analyze errors, and plan targeted instruction.

The session features real classroom examples demonstrating how to move from data analysis to informing your instructional decisions. You will discover strategies for creating a responsive instructional cycle where ongoing assessment informs your daily teaching and accelerates student progress. You will walk away with research-backed practices that ensure spelling instruction sticks with your students, transforming assessment from a periodic task into a powerful tool for academic success.

If you are ready to rediscover the joy of writing and make daily practice feel meaningful and manageable, this session is for you. In this session, you will explore practical and easy-to-use writing strategies designed to make writing across the curriculum clear, consistent, and meaningful in every subject area.

You will learn about a specific framework that aligns naturally with DOK levels, supports deeper comprehension, and elevates journal writing so it becomes a powerful part of learning rather than a task students rush through. This system is designed to be set up once and used all year long to provide you with a dependable structure from start to finish. You will also discover how this strategy makes it simple to pull small guided writing groups, target specific skills, and gather quick, authentic formative assessments that help you adjust instruction with confidence. You will leave with a writing tool that strengthens literacy, boosts student thinking, and makes daily writing a natural and joyful part of your classroom all year long.

You can empower your students’ academic language development by using morphology to support skilled reading comprehension. Vocabulary depth, breadth, and precision are essential components of the language strand in the Reading Rope, and in this session, you will learn to apply structural analysis using common affixes and Greek and Latin bases to expand student vocabulary.

You will explore how explicit and systematic instruction of morphemes enables students to accurately and automatically analyze academic vocabulary in grade-level texts. To help students prepare for sophisticated reading and standardized assessments, you will focus on the three layers of the English language: Anglo-Saxon, Latin, and Greek. The session emphasizes the use of semantic clusters, which are groups of words that share a common base or characteristic. As your students progress to upper grades and encounter increasingly complex multisyllabic words, you will be equipped with the tools to teach them how every word part aids in analysis, comprehension, and spelling.

Successful structured literacy implementation requires more than adding evidence-aligned practices; it demands the intentional removal of practices that dilute clarity and coherence. In this interactive session, you will examine de-implementation as a core leadership responsibility within your Science of Reading initiatives. As a district or building leader, you will explore how to identify misaligned literacy practices and anticipate the adaptive resistance that often accompanies change.

Through guided reflection and the use of practical planning tools, you will develop a strategic phase-out plan aligned to your district’s specific priorities. You will leave with actionable tools and the precise language needed to reduce initiative overload, strengthen system coherence, and create the necessary conditions for structured literacy to thrive. By focusing on streamlining your instructional efforts, you will gain the ability to protect your staff's time and ensure that your literacy goals lead to lasting student success.