Frequently Asked Questions How can I find out more detailed information about professional development sessions for my school or district? Contact Karen Cordon (630-377-6794) to discuss options that best meet the needs of your teachers and students. How can we make sure our professional development has a positive effect on student achievement? The most effective model for institutional growth is to have on-going professional development with time built-in for follow-up sessions, demonstration lessons, and evaluation of curriculum and instruction developed as a result of training. What are the different options for professional development? • Full-day workshops (6 hours) cover the selected topic in depth and provide many hands-on, interactive activities and planning times. • Half-day workshops (3 hours) introduce the selected topic with a number of hands-on, interactive activities. • Sessions (up to 2 hours) provide an introduction to important aspects of a selected topic and time for discussion and hands-on examples. We love the idea of balanced literacy, comprehension instruction, and specific ways to motivate students to grow their vocabulary and improve their fluency. The problem is that we just don’t have enough time to find the texts that support these curriculum advances. What do we do? Gretchen Courtney & Associates reviews extensive amounts of texts from both school and trade publishers. If you haven’t reviewed our grade-level comprehension libraries, follow the Support Materials link on the home page. For help designing instructional classroom and reading room libraries for shared, guided, and independent reading that truly meet the specific needs of your student population, contact us at 630-377-6794 in our St. Charles office.   Self-Questioning Power Help students see how asking questions improves comprehension. Too often, even when we explain our lesson objectives, students do not see how the skills and strategies we teach them help them become better readers. When teaching students specific ways to use self-questioning, try this technique: Read a short passage (1 — 2 paragraphs) out loud, without stopp