Critically acclaimed author to speak at Bill Martin Jr. symposium

The fourth annual Bill Martin Jr. Symposium will be held May 2 in the Sam Rayburn Memorial Student Center. About twenty faculty or staff members of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction have been involved in planning and hosting the event this year. Activities are scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. and wrap up around 3 p.m. that afternoon.”I think the Bill Martin Jr. Symposium committee has made the event better each year. We continue to learn and evolve and hopefully improve the experience for each participant as well,” Nicole Wilkins, administrative secretary for the department of curriculum and instruction said. Serving as the keynote speaker for this year’s event is author, Gloria Houston. Houston is the critically acclaimed author of the book, “How Writing Works: Imposing Organization Structure Within the Writing Process.””Our keynote speaker, Gloria Houston, plans to talk about writing and teaching writing, using her text, How Writing Works, and many of her other books, such as ‘The Perfect Christmas Tree and My Great Aunt Arizona,'” Wilkins said.Breakout sessions planned throughout the six-hour symposium will feature more than 3- dozen classroom experts discussing critical topics in education. The topics of the sessions include, “Integrating Art Throughout the Curriculum” led by Lydia Powers, art education specialist at McNeese State University, “Integrating Science and Literacy” headed up by Holly Grance, kindergarten teacher, Frisco ISD and “Self Regulation Strategies to Improve Writing” taught by Ferne Farkas, doctoral student with Texas A&M University-Commerce.As of April 20, there was 425 people register to be a part of the annual event.”Final date for registration is May 1, however, our seats are filling fast. We’d like everyone to be able to participate, so sign up as soon as possible to take part in this wonderful event,” Wilkins said.