Professional Development Webcasts

Stay up-to-date with the Reading Rockets professional development webcast series. Listen, watch, and learn from top experts in the field of reading. Our webcasts are available anytime that's convenient for you.

Featured webcast

Teaching Writing

Dr. Steve Graham dicusses ways you can help a student with writing difficulties in our webcast, Teaching Writing

Each webcast features a 45– or 60–minute video program that you view from the Reading Rockets website. The webcasts also include recommended readings and suggested discussion questions. Some webcasts include the presenters' PowerPoint slides.

You can use the webcasts as the centerpiece of staff development workshops or watch them for your own professional development whenever you have time. All you need is a good Internet connection.

Use our webcasts in your teacher education courses

These one-hour webcasts can easily be integrated into your teaching curriculum across a wide range of literacy courses. You can find a list of university reading courses matched to our webcasts here.

You may also want to see our Parent Engagement Webinar Series, sponsored by the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading.

The Role of RTI in LD Identification

National experts Don DeshlerJack Fletcher, and Rick Wagner provide information and answer questions about using Response to Intervention (RTI) to help students with learning disabilities.

Implementing Response to Intervention in Early Childhood Settings

Featuring Virginia Buysse, Lydia Carlis, Charles R. Greenwood, and Jim Lesko in a discussion about the role Response to Intervention (RTI) can play in child development through high-quality instruction and targeted interventions matched to children's learning needs.

Preschool for ELLs

Early education expert Dr. Rebecca Palacios and offers information on the following components of a PreK ELL program: language instruction, curriculum, professional development, and family outreach.

Educational Media: Screen Time and Literacy

With televisions, computers, video games, and cell phones, modern culture makes it difficult to escape time in front of a screen, especially for our newest generation of kids. Deb Linebarger, Lisa Guernsey, and Marnie Lewis discuss what the growing exposure to media means for children's literacy development.

Talking Tutoring

Experts Marcia Invernizzi, Carole Prest, and Anne Hoover discuss tutoring programs, tutor training, what the latest research tells us, and the different forms tutoring can take.

Academic Language and English Language Learners

In this webcast, Dr. Robin Scarcella provides an overview of academic language instruction for English language learners, as well as teaching strategies, activity ideas, and recommended resources.

Summer Reading

Ron Fairchild and Dr. Loriene Roy — nationally recognized experts on reading and summer learning — address how to make the most out of the summer months. Taking advantage of high-quality programs and accessing community resources can turn potential summer loss into summer gain.

Teaching Writing

Three renowned reading and writing experts —​ Dr. Steven GrahamDr. Louisa Moats, and Dr. Susan Neuman — address why writing is important, what the latest research tells us, and what educators and parents can do to support our children's development as writers.

English Language Learners with Learning Disabilities

Bilingual speech-language pathologist Dr. Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan discusses effective assessment and instruction strategies for English language learners with learning disabilities, as well as ways to help encourage the active involvement of parents of ELLs with LD in their children's schools.

Assessment: On Track for Reading Success

How can teachers make sure that each student is not only being taught, but is actually learning? In this webcast, Dr. Roland Good, Dr. Mary Ruth Coleman, and Dr. Michael C. McKenna talk about how assessment can be used to lead students to reading success.

Establishing an Effective Reading Program

Following the passage of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law in 2002, schools around the country faced the challenge of changing their reading programs to comply with the law. In this webcast, literacy experts G. Reid Lyon, Timothy Shanahan, and Charlotte Parker talk about research-based reading instruction and discuss how schools and districts can choose the best reading programs.

In December 2015, Congress passed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) to replace NCLB.

Reading to Learn: ELLs in Grades 4-6

Many students encounter difficulty as they transition from “learning to read” to “reading to learn” in fourth grade, and this difficulty can be even more pronounced for English language learners. Featuring Dr. Nonie Lesaux, this webcast explores effective strategies for instruction and assessment that can help teachers support their ELL students.

Making Parents Partners

When parents play a part in their child's academic career, students have better school attendance, make greater achievement gains, and have fewer behavior problems. Featuring Karen L. Mapp, Susan Hall, and Tom Bowman.

Make Reading Count

This webcast features Isabel Beck, Nanci Bell, and Sharon Walpole discussing the components for developing good reading comprehension skills, identifying potential stumbling blocks, and offering strategies teachers can use in the classroom.

Teaching English Language Learners to Read

In classrooms around the country, teachers need to teach reading to children who don't speak English, and they haven't been trained. Experts Diane August, Margarita Calderón, and Fred Genesee discuss the best research-based practices for teaching English language learners.

Comprehension: Helping English Language Learners Grasp the Full Picture

ELL experts Dr. Cynthia Lundgren and Kristina Robertson discussing effective reading comprehension strategies for teaching English language learner students.

Assessment of English Language Learners

Dr. Lorraine Valdez Pierce offers an in-depth introduction to assessment for teachers of English language learners — including performance-based standardized assessments, assessment as a tool for informing instruction, use of assessment to reinforce reading comprehension, and student self-assessment and self-monitoring.

From Babbling to Books: Building Pre-Reading Skills

In this webcast, Todd R. Risley, Sharon Landesman Ramey, and Julie Washington discuss research-based strategies for developing language and pre-reading skills in young children.

Differentiated Reading Instruction

In this webcast, Carol Ann TomlinsonG. Michael Pressley, and Louise Spear-Swerling outline the most effective strategies teachers can use to address the many different needs of each of their students — so that all kids get the chance to learn to read.

"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." — Groucho Marx