Nellie Edge Professional Development Workshops and Online Seminars are committed to helping all children including English Language Learners (ELLs) achieve the rigor of the Common Core State Standards through joyful pathways to learning. Our workshops, presented by outstanding teacher-researchers, are designed to integrate current research and state-of-the-art literacy practices that are meaning-centered and in harmony with how the young child’s brain learns best.

Our action-research has documented that joyful writing-to-read strategies within a comprehensive literacy framework accelerate literacy and produce unexpectedly high outcomes. Our purpose is to share “best practices” and to inspire reflection, collaboration, and intentional teaching. How can I do an even better job reaching every child? and How do I create a classroom community that recognizes the social nature of learning, the importance of the mentor-apprentice relationship, and the vital role of the educational arts? When teachers truly understand the writing and reading process and the power of multisensory teaching, they can more easily and effectively create responsive environments that embrace the diverse learning styles and gifts that our children bring to school. Rigorous standards are reached when children are deeply engaged in authentic literacy experiences and challenged to become ambitious readers, writers, and thinkers.

Bruno Bettleheim’s research reminds us that how children perceive themselves in the act of learning to read generalizes to their whole self-concept. With this in mind, we are committed, through our professional development programs and literacy resources, to assist teachers in creating challenging and caring learning environments that will provide all children with the foundations they need to build on success. We believe learning to read and write must be a meaning-centered, engaging process. Our expectation is that every child can and will develop high levels of literacy skills while building belief systems of competence, belonging, and the motivation to do their best.

Our workshops and resources support our commitment to excellence in literacy, the honoring of childhood, and our belief that educators can and must positively influence the lives of children and the future of our democratic society.

Our vision is… creating schools worthy of our children:
joyful and rigorous learning communities!

Study Questions for Professional Learning Communities
You will see this symbol in our resource materials. This symbol is for reflection: With our hearts, we know how to apply “best practices” research while we reach for the stars with the lives of our children.