NEW ONLINE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT RESOURCE!
Professional Learning Series
A multi-session, interactive experience to prepare educators to implement WordGen
About the Online Professional Learning Series
This professional learning series provides opportunities for teachers and coaches to explore WordGen practices and skills. This series includes extended introductory sessions for WordGen Elementary and WordGen Weekly, as well as additional sessions that specifically focus on discussion, argumentation, academic language, and perspective-taking skills. The series can be used by individual teachers (self-paced) or by teacher teams. Sessions include videos, readings, hands-on activities, and more.
Scheduling
This series is designed to fit into professional development structures that are already in place. Therefore, the training is organized into sessions to be completed prior to the start of the school year (during time typically allocated for summer institutes or PD days) and over the course of the year during time allocated for teacher team meetings or individual lesson planning.
We estimate that the WordGen Professional Learning Series will take approximately
15-20 hours, with about 7 hours intended for completion before implementation begins (Sessions 1-4) and the remainder spread across the school year (estimated 1-2 hours/month).
Course Content
The program orientation sessions provide background on why and how Word Generation was developed and what challenges it was designed to address. There are ongoing opportunities to reflect on the themes and theoretical underpinnings of the curriculum as teachers become familiar with program activities through the lens of a sample unit. Finally, planning considerations are raised, and helpful resources for launching Word Generation are provided.
Beyond the program orientation sessions, there are additional sessions that take a deeper dive into key WordGen skills and practices. These deeper learning sessions are designed to be used as modules throughout the year and can be revisited at any time.
The sessions on
discussion and norms focus on:
- introducing academically productive talk
- goals for productive discussions
- establishing norms for productive discussions
- using talk moves to support student discussion
The sessions on academic language focus on:
- what academic language is and is not
- how Word Generation builds academic language
- why academic language is important
- academic language use in the classroom using talk moves
The sessions on argumentation focus on: 
- claims and evidence
- strengthening arguments with warrants
- counterarguments and rebuttals
- developing students' written arguments
- building students' argumentation skills using talk moves
The sessions on
perspective taking focus on:
- the components of perspective taking
- identifying perspective-taking skills in writing and discussion
- building students' perspective-taking skills using talk moves
Completion certificates automatically generated upon completion of activities throughout the series. Mastery is not assessed.
Recommended Pacing Guide
Summer
Session 1 • 30 minutes
Setting the Context
Session 2a • 2 hours
Intro to WordGen Elementary
Session 2b • 2 hours
Intro to WordGen Weekly
Session 3 • 1.5 hours
Intro to Discussion and Norms
Session 4 • 1 hour
Using Talk Moves
September
Session 5 • 1 hour
Contributors to Comprehending Content-Area Texts
Session 6 • 1 hour
Argumentation Part I
Claims, Evidence, and Reasons
October
Session 7 • 1 hour
Argumentation Part II
Warrants, Counterarguments, and Rebuttals
November
Session 8 • 1 hour
Argumentation Part III
Written Arguments
December
Session 9 • 1 hour
Academic Language Part I
Forms of Academic Language
January
Session 10 • 1 hour
Academic Language Part II
Academic Vocabulary
February
Session 11 • 1 hour
Academic Language Part III
Supporting Academic Language Use
March
Session 12 • 1 hour
Perspective Taking Part I
The Role of Perspective Taking
April
Session 13 • 1 hour
Perspective Taking Part II
Identifying Perspective Taking
May
Session 14 • 1 hour
End-of-Year Debrief, Reflection, and Planning
Download PDF of pacing guide.
Accessing the Professional Learning Series
Purchase Teacher License(s)
This license is for a self-paced version of the online series to complete independently or with a small group of colleagues.
A single license to access the online materials is
$375. Quantity discounts apply.
See all prices.
License duration: 1 year
These costs do not include costs for printed WordGen curriculum materials, etc. The WordGen curriculum materials are downloadable online for free, or printed copies can be purchased from SERP’s print-on-demand service provider.
Development of Word Generation was led by Catherine Snow (Harvard University) and Suzanne Donovan (SERP). Major SERP contributors to program development include: Claire White, Alyse Krantz, Halley Wheeless, Matt Ellinger, David Dudley, and Patrick Hurley. Boston Public Schools and other districts in Massachusetts and Maryland collaborated with SERP develop Word Generation.
Support for Word Generation was provided by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Noyce Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, the Leon Lowenstein Foundation and the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education through grant numbers R305A090555 and R305F100026. The information provided does not represent views of the funders.
