2026 GOCSD Innovation Summit

“I don’t like reading” is a phrase teachers hear all too often. But, what if reading did not mean sitting in silence? Active literacy strategies like reader’s theater transform reading into a social and engaging activity that builds fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Once seen as only for the elementary grades, research now shows that reader’s theater also empowers secondary students. This session will share practical strategies — including reader’s theater, interactive fiction, and word games — that turn reluctant readers into confident participants.

Learning to read is the primary work of K-2 classrooms. That work includes learning letters, sounds, and lots of words...mostly one or two syllables with blends, digraphs, and vowel teams. All of that is needed...but so is learning to read multisyllabic words. If little readers don't learn to read big words, then the shift from "learning to read" in K-2 classrooms to "reading to learn" in 3-5 classrooms is going to be difficult. At the end of this presentation, participants will be able to enhance the work they are already doing to include bigger words in reading and writing!

Many PLC teams collect data, but struggle to turn it into timely instructional action. This session shares how Carthage High School built a centralized PLC Data Hub that organizes SMART goals, common assessment results, intervention notes, and meeting artifacts into one transparent system. Participants will explore the Hub structure, examine sample workflows, and identify essential components needed to replicate the process in their own setting. Attendees will leave with a planning template and practical strategies to strengthen collaborative decision-making, increase accountability, and ensure PLC conversations consistently connect student data to instructional next steps.