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Strategies for Supporting Writing at the Word, Sentence, and Paragraph Levels: A Theme-Centered Structured Literacy Approach

Wednesday, February 5, 2025 @ 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm EST

Strategies for Supporting Writing at the Word, Sentence, and Paragraph Levels: A Theme-Centered Structured Literacy Approach

Presented by Charles Haynes, Ed.D., CCC-SLP, Professor Emeritus for the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at MGH Institute of Health Professions
Moderated by Pam Austin, Director of Instructional Technology, Voyager Sopris Learning

Sponsored by Voyager Sopris Learning

Learn more about viewing the live presentation and the recording, earning your CE certificate, and using our new accessibility features.

In this second edWebinar in The Science of Writing Lunch and Learn Week, respected author, literacy expert, and speaker Dr. Charles Haynes shares his insight and expertise on research-based writing instruction.

In this hands-on, interactive session, Dr. Haynes illustrates how topical vocabulary and concepts can be tapped to support structured literacy techniques for teaching writing. Emphases is placed on leveraging semantic feature analysis and developing “micro-discourse” skills for developing cohesion and elaboration of the personal sequence narrative (PSN) and expository text forms. Viewers see how PSN techniques help to bridge narrative and expository discourse skills.

He shares cutting-edge, research-based tools to help your students get the words out and down on paper while also enhancing their oral and written language comprehension. Dr. Haynes has helped thousands of professionals working with elementary, middle, and high school-aged students who have challenges such as dyslexia and related language learning disabilities. Viewers learn to:

  • Describe theme-centered strategies for supporting students’ understanding and use of topical vocabulary
  • Outline systematic, topic-centered methods for supporting sentence comprehension and production
  • Summarize content-based micro-discourse techniques for supporting text-level elaboration as well as inter-sentence cohesion
  • Explain how word-, sentence-, and micro-discourse teaching strategies are essential for supporting students’ comprehension and writing of narrative and expository texts

This recorded edWebinar is of interest to elementary through high school teachers, school leaders, and district leaders.

This edWebinar is part of Voyager Sopris Learning’s Science of Writing Week.

Charles Haynes, Ed.D., CCC-SLP

About the Presenter

Charles Haynes, Ed.D., CCC-SLP, is a Professor Emeritus for the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at MGH Institute of Health Professions. Dr. Haynes designed and taught courses in spoken and written language disorders for the Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology program and the Certificate of Advanced Study (CAS) program for Reading Specialists. He continues to conduct research, mentors thesis students, and is a popular invited lecturer in CSD Department courses.

In October of 2024, Dr. Haynes received the prestigious Legacy Award, the International Dyslexia Association’s highest accolade for his commitment to advancing dyslexia awareness and support worldwide, fostering collaboration and innovation across international boundaries. In June 2013, Dr. Haynes was inducted into the International Academy of Researchers in Learning Disabilities, and in 2012 received the Nancy T. Watts Award for Excellence in Teaching—the highest prize given to a faculty member at the MGH Institute. He was inducted into the International Dyslexia Association’s Hall of Honor in 2009 and received IDA’s Margaret Rawson Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014.

Dr. Haynes served as a teacher, Research Coordinator, and Director of Speech-Language Services at the Landmark School from 1979-1991, where he and colleagues developed one of the nation’s first language-based curricula for children with dyslexia and expressive language impairments. He has chaired or co-chaired several international conferences for the International Dyslexia Association (IDA) and currently serves as Senior Advisor on the Global Partners Committee of IDA’s Board of Directors. He serves as an invited reviewer for many national and international reading and speech-language journals.

Pam Austin

About the Moderator

Pam Austin, Director of Instructional Technology for Voyager Sopris Learning, has over 35 years of experience as an educator. She has worked as a Professional Learning Facilitator Manager with over 17 years of experience in training and supporting districts in various literacy and numeracy interventions for Voyager Sopris Learning in addition to delivering LETRS professional development sessions. She has also shared her love of proven VSL solutions as a Product Marketing Manager when she began her role as an EDVIEW360 podcast host in 2019 and continues to this day. Her goal is to aid teachers in changing the lives of students so that they not only become proficient and successful learners, but also, individuals confident in pursuing personal and professional life goals. She previously held the role of Literacy Specialist at the Center for Development and Learning (CDL) now the Center for Literacy and Learning. As an educator in the New Orleans Public Schools for 14 years, she served as an elementary teacher, a reading interventionist, a school-based reading coach, and a central office field literacy facilitator. These varying roles allowed her to gain a myriad of experiences that has enhanced her ability to work in collaboration with other educators, schools, and districts for impactful professional learning. Pam’s first steps into a lifelong career as an educator began as a fourth-grade teacher in a small school in the Archdiocese of New Orleans. And the journey continues…

Learn more about viewing the live presentation and the recording, earning your CE certificate, and using our new accessibility features.

Join the Teaching Reading and Writing community to network with educators, participate in online discussions, receive invitations to upcoming edWebinars, and view recordings of previous programs to earn CE certificates.


Voyager Sopris Learning

Voyager Sopris Learning® is the specialist in reading, writing, and math intervention. Fully focused on intervention, we have established four decades of results that demonstrate the efficacy of our solutions. Providing a holistic offering of reading, writing, and math interventions and assessments, our solutions help educators create strong, sustainable foundations to ensure academic success for all students.


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