Nationally recognized author and educator to keynote Early Literacy Conference at Rice

Amy Hodges
713-348-6777
amy.hodges@rice.edu

HOUSTON – (Jan. 18, 2013) – More than 350 educators from public, private and charter schools in the Greater Houston area will gather at Rice University’s 14th annual Early Literacy Conference to discuss critical issues impacting the development of literacy among young children.

Patsy Cooper, founding director of the Susanne M. Glasscock School of Continuing Studies’ School Literacy and Culture Project (SLC) and a nationally recognized author and educator, will deliver the keynote address, “The Baby and the Bathwater: A Critical Look at Early Childhood Education in the 21st Century,” followed by breakout sessions focusing on literacy issues among young children.

“Early childhood educators know so much about how young children think and learn, yet our current educational system often requires teachers to work in ways that narrow children’s learning opportunities,” said Karen Capo, director of the School Literacy and Culture Project. “The School Literacy and Culture Project is proud to provide a forum in which novice and experienced teachers of young children explore innovative, research-based approaches to early education.”

Conference sessions will include practical suggestions for differentiating instruction, promoting creative thought and applying cutting-edge approaches to second-language learning being developed with prekindergarteners at the Rice Oral Language and Literacy Laboratory in HISD.

The event is hosted by the SLC, an early childhood teacher education outreach organization at Rice.

What: Rice University’s 14th annual Early Literacy Conference, sponsored by the Glasscock School of Continuing Studies’ School Literacy and Culture Project.

When: 8 a.m.-2:45 p.m. Jan. 19.

Where: Duncan Hall, located on the campus of Rice University at 6100 Main St.

For more than 20 years the Glasscock School’s SLC has promoted effective teaching through rigorous professional educational initiatives that emphasize early literacy, child development, writing and culture. For more information, visit http://literacy.rice.edu.

Members of the media are welcome to attend the event and interview the presenters, but must RSVP to Amy Hodges, senior media relations specialist at Rice, at 713-348-6777 or amy.hodges@rice.edu.

For a map of Rice University’s campus, go to http://www.rice.edu/maps/maps.html.

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Related materials:

Early Literacy Conference website: http://centerforeducation.rice.edu/slc/jan.html

Glasscock School of Continuing Studies website: http://glasscock.rice.edu/GSCSHome.aspx

School Literacy and Culture Project website: http://literacy.rice.edu

Interview with teachers at the Rice Oral Language and Literacy Laboratory: http://houstonisdtx.swagit.com/play/05142012-506

Patsy Cooper bio: http://centerforeducation.rice.edu/research/cooper.html

Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,708 undergraduates and 2,374 graduate students, Rice’s undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice has been ranked No. 1 for best quality of life multiple times by the Princeton Review and No. 2 for “best value” among private universities by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance. To read “What they’re saying about Rice,” go to http://tinyurl.com/AboutRice.

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