NM PED 2026 Literacy and Humanities Summer Conference

Rejuvenate your spirit in this experiential workshop that introduces simple, accessible art-making practices grounded in mindfulness. You will engage in creative activities designed to restore focus, reduce stress, and cultivate presence for both yourself and your students. Because the emphasis is entirely on process and reflection, no prior artistic experience is required.

During the session, you will have the opportunity to participate in several mindfulness art activities, including drawing, beading, and sculpting. You will also be invited to engage in guided reflection and mindful movement. You will leave this workshop with a personal sense of calm and a variety of creative tools to help foster a mindful, focused atmosphere in your own classroom.

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This session offers a professional development opportunity that puts more than a “creative twist” on restorative circles. Participants will learn the basics of restorative practices integrated with arts and mindfulness to create heartfelt, student-centered connections within the classroom community.

Because relationships are at the center of all restorative practices, this experiential workshop models safe, inclusive, and creative strategies for both staff and students. This highly interactive session is full of opportunities to learn, practice, and reflect, providing educators with actionable tools to foster a more connected and supportive learning environment.

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As New Mexico districts work to strengthen literacy outcomes statewide, you are increasingly called upon to move beyond simple adoption toward coherent, sustainable implementation. While you may have already made significant investments in evidence-based literacy materials and professional learning, the challenge often lies in translating those tools into consistent, high-quality classroom practice.

In this session, you will focus on the specific leadership actions that support coherent literacy implementation and sustained improvement. You will explore how alignment among curriculum, professional learning, coaching, and assessment directly influences instructional quality and student outcomes. Drawing on classroom, district, and national implementation experience, you will identify common challenges that emerge during literacy shifts and the leadership moves necessary to address them. You will leave with a practical framework for assessing implementation coherence and identifying high-leverage strategies that strengthen literacy systems across your schools.

Despite decades of reading research, a persistent gap remains between what the science of reading tells us and what happens in classrooms every day. While you may want to shift your practice toward evidence-based instruction, you might feel uncertain about where to start, what skills to prioritize, or how to teach those skills effectively. Reading Universe, a free online platform, directly addresses this challenge by serving simultaneously as a research library, a professional learning pathway, and a classroom-ready resource bank.

In this session, you will explore Reading Universe as a tool organized around three essential questions every literacy educator faces: What do I need to teach, why does it matter, and how do I teach it well? Through hands-on navigation of the platform, video analysis, and collaborative reflection, you will leave with both a deeper understanding of structured literacy and a concrete, accessible resource to support your ongoing professional growth.

In this interactive session, you will learn specific strategies to support students as they navigate multisyllabic words within grade-level texts. You will review essential syllable types and practice instructional routines designed to help older readers break down and read longer, more complex words with confidence.

Taught in a classroom style, this session allows you to actively practice these routines in small groups with the direct support of the presenter and your peers. By engaging in this hands-on work, you will gain a deep understanding of how to bridge the gap for students who struggle with word length and complexity. You will leave with practical, classroom-tested methods to help your students decode advanced vocabulary, ensuring they can access and understand the rigorous content required in the upper grades.