Russ has been the recipient of the Literacy Award from the Manhattan Council of the International Reading Association and two Merit Awards from Glassboro State College. Last year, one of the schools in his current district, was honored by the International Reading Association for having an “Exemplary Reading Program.”

For the past 25 years, Russ has presented workshops for thousands of teachers at local, regional, national and international conferences. Last year, he presented a workshop at the World Congress of Reading in Edinburgh, Scotland. His presentations have been praised for being engaging, research based and practical. Teachers walk away from his presentations with ideas for activities they can do in the classroom and an understanding of why they are doing it.

Workshop Topics - All can be ½ or full day except as noted

The Writer’s Workshop: Bringing Your Life to Writing and Your Writing to Life (Grades 2-6)

This workshop lays out the basics of a process oriented writer’s workshop including establishing routines and organizing for instruction and then moves on to helping students develop topics, revise drafts and add voice and craft to their writing.

Guided Reading in the Primary Classroom (Grades K-3)

This workshop introduces teachers to a new way of grouping for reading instruction. Teachers learn how to form dynamic, flexible groups by basing their grouping on regular reading assessments, how to choose books for instruction and how to conduct lessons that focus on reading for meaning, building decoding strategies and fluent processing of text.

Concept Based Literature Circles: From Role Sheets to Grand Conversations (Grades 3-8)

This workshop is a comprehensive introduction to Literature Circles as an instructional strategy in the classroom. Teachers will learn how to organize for instruction, how to foster true conversations and how to use student self-assessment to move literature circles beyond rote exercises to deep explorations of text.

Developing Reading Fluency through Poetry (Grades 1-3) ½ day only

In this workshop, teachers are learn an instructional design that develops and reinforces fluent reading. Participants receive a packet of humorous and engaging poems that can be used for the instruction. Activities such as shared reading, choral reading, echo reading and radio reading are demonstrated. A variety of reinforcement and follow-up strategies will be shared.

Connecting with Text: Developing Reading Comprehension in the Elementary Classroom (Grades K-5)

Building on the work of Ellin Keene, Debbie Miller, P. David Pearson, as well as the recent National Reading Panel report, this workshop shares a variety of instructional designs that allow teachers to focus on the key comprehension strategies of connecting, predicting, summarizing, clarifying, asking questions and visualizing . Comprehension instruction will be explored through read alouds, shared reading, guided reading, literature circles and independent reading.

Strategies for Building Vocabulary: A Concept Approach (Grades K-6)

Research has shown that the most effective way to build vocabulary is to build word knowledge around concepts. This workshop will share a variety of strategies that help students build vocabulary by expanding on concepts already in place. The workshop will also focus on deciding what vocabulary to teach.

Strategies for Struggling Writers (Grades 3-6)

Despite our best efforts in the writing workshop, some students remain resistant to writing and demonstrate limited growth. This workshop shows the teacher how to focus on what the student can do, to build power, confidence and competence in writing. A variety of practical classroom strategies will be shared.

Navigating Non-Fiction Text (Can be tailored to any grade level through high school)

Recent research has confirmed what teachers have long known – reading content rich text is a very different activity from reading story. This workshop will explore those differences and provide teachers with many practical instructional strategies for bringing students and informational text together.