Professional Development Offerings

Training designed to support literacy instruction by K-12 educators.

Keys to Literacy Professional Development: Onsite, Online Learning that Lasts

With offerings tailored for grades K-3, elementary, middle and high school, our instructional practices and practical training methods ensure that schools improve literacy levels as their students improve their literacy skills. Download a summary of the research supporting our instructional practices.

View our variety of topics below. Download a one-page list of topics.

Topic:

Grade Level:

The Key Comprehension Routine

This routine teaches all students a foundational set of comprehension strategies that are used consistently across grade levels and embedded in all subjects. The strategies are taught using existing content reading and instructional materials. The routine includes: main idea skills, text structure, top-down topic webs, two-column notes, summary, and question generation. (Note: Alternative versions are available for Students with Learning Disabilities or SEI and English as a Second Language.)
Comprehension | Elementary, Middle School, High School
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The Key Comprehension Routine – Primary Grades

This version teaches basic comprehension to students in K-3. Teachers learn to use oral language, visuals, and read-aloud to provide comprehension instruction that is embedded in core reading and subject-area instruction. The routine includes categorizing and main ideas, text structure, top-down topic webs, two-column notes, retell and summary, and question generation. (Note: Alternative versions are available for Students with Learning Disabilities or SEI and English as a Second Language.)
Comprehension | Primary
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Keys to Close Reading

Participants learn how to plan and conduct a close reading lesson for students in grades 2-12. Training topics include: definition of close reading; characteristics of a close reading lesson; how to select and prepare text, including generating text-dependent questions; stages and delivery of a close reading lesson; and scaffolds for struggling readers.
Comprehension | Primary, Elementary, Middle School, High School
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The Key Vocabulary Routine

This instructional routine embeds vocabulary instruction for all students in all content areas, using existing reading and instructional material. The routine includes previewing vocabulary, activities for teaching related words, selecting words to teach in-depth, using context and words parts, and promoting word consciousness. (Note: Alternative versions are available for Students with Learning Disabilities or SEI and English as a Second Language.)
Vocabulary | Primary, Elementary, Middle School, High School
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Keys to Phonics and Letterland

Keys to Literacy offers professional development for phonemic awareness and phonics instruction in Pre-K through Grade 3. Keys to Literacy also provides program materials, product demonstration, and professional development to support the Letterland phonics program.
Phonics | Primary
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Keys to Content Writing: Grades 3-6

This professional development provides instructional practices for teaching students how to write in all subject areas using strategies that are aligned with state literacy standards. This two-day training focuses on how to teach specific writing skills, and how to use writing to learn content. Suggestions are provided for differentiation and scaffolds to meet the needs of struggling writers.
Writing | Elementary, Middle School
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Keys to Content Writing: Grades 6-12

This professional development provides instructional practices for teaching students how to write in all subject areas using strategies that are aligned with state literacy standards.
Writing | Middle School, High School
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Keys to Early Writing

This instructional routine trains teachers to introduce basic oral and written expression skills. Participants learn instructional practices that address the K-3 writing requirements of the Common Core. The routine includes: introduction to the writing process, engaging a community of writers, daily pre-writing and quick writes, basic text structures, and writing scaffolds.
Writing | Primary
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The ANSWER Writing Routine

This professional development addresses written responses to question prompts based on text and non-text sources. This kind of combined comprehension-writing task is often found on writing assessments such as standardized state tests, high-school SAT’s, and benchmark on-demand classroom writing. Teachers learn how to prepare students to independently complete these kinds of tasks by teaching a specific routine for writing from sources that is practiced throughout the school year using subject area text.
Writing | Elementary, Middle School, High School
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Keys to Argument Writing

This professional development extends the information about opinion/argument writing that is presented in Keys to Content Writing. Aligned to the Common Core argument writing standards, this training includes: components of an argument (claim, reason, evidence, counterclaim, rebuttal), basic text structures (introduction, transitions, conclusion), and gathering information from sources.
Writing | Elementary, Middle School, High School
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Writing: Additional Training Topics

We can custom-design a writing professional development plan that combines our standard training topics with several choices of additional writing topics.
Writing | Elementary, Middle School, High School
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School/District Literacy Planning

Keys to Literacy consultants can help your school or district develop a long-term literacy plan aligned with a Multi-Tiered System of Support model. Our process addresses these literacy planning components: assessment and data use, Tier I core instruction, Tiers II and III intervention instruction, professional development planning, scheduling and grouping, and literacy resources.
Literacy Planning | Primary, Elementary, Middle School, High School
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