Pre-Conference Session Descriptions

The Art of Storytelling: Engaging Families as Literacy Partners
Gloria Jimenez, Family Literacy Resource Teacher
This two part workshop will focus on teaching strategies that promote sequencing, imagery, and language skills that help emergent readers express themselves through reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Techniques that can be easily applied to storytelling will be shared and participants will learn how to engage the parents in their programs using similar strategies. Participants will also learn how to create interactive activities that are drawn around children's books and family stories that can be integrated into an early childhood classroom and at home.

8:00am-4:00pm

When Life Interferes with Literacy: Supporting Parents and Children with Mental Health Issues and Challenging Behaviors
Bruce Fogas, PhD, Director of Therapeutic Services, Volunteers of America, Dakotas
This preconference workshop will focus on stresses and problems inherent in families served in literacy programs. Highlights of the workshop include parental stresses and mental health issues, children's challenging behaviors and how these issues interact to reduce success. Participants will increase their understanding of these issues and their ability to implement strategies and/or make appropriate referrals which will result in the increased likelihood of success.

Family Literacy Program Leadership
Susan Henry, Chair, NESA Board of Directors and Sandra Howe, member, NESA Board of Directors
This is a full day, interactive workshop for program leaders who want to power up a new program or increase the power and better define a mature program. Participants will review the program requirements from the Statue and Non-regulatory guidance to understand the uniqueness of the Even Start model of family literacy and examine the required program elements that are intrinsic to program quality. The goal of this session is to provide strategies that will assist programs to become a high quality Even Start Family Literacy Program. Participants will walk away with personally developed action plans for their individual programs.

Administration of the Denver II Developmental Screening Instrument
Even Start Element 2 is to provide screening and preparation of Even Start parents and children to participate fully in Even Start activities. Prior to enrolling in Even Start, many parents have not had access to early childhood information to determine if their child is developmentally on level. The Denver II can be used to determine if a child's development is within the normal range. Early identification allows family literacy programs to make an appropriate referral, if necessary, and to inform instruction for the parenting education and interactive literacy components of their programs. This session prepares participants to implement the Denver II Developmental Screening Instrument in their local programs. The instrument can be administered in English or Spanish.