Growing Community and Family Collaborations All Year Long
Reaching All Learners Speaker Series
Join Nawal Qarooni, a holistic literacy educator who designs family literacy programming in schools, for a day-long workshop to grow community and family collaborations all year long. Nawal will share a collective care framework developed over decades of research and her parenting of four multi-ethnic children.
- Classroom Teachers PreK–8
- Interventionists/Specialists
- Literacy Coaches/Teacher Leaders
- School & District Leaders
- Individual Speaker ($199)
- Seminar Bundle ($350)
- Discounts available for groups. Email CRRLC@lesley.edu to inquire.
Thursday, January 16, 2025
Growing Community and Family Collaborations All Year Long
Join Nawal Qarooni, a holistic literacy educator who designs family literacy programming in schools, for a day-long seminar to grow community and family collaborations all year long. Nawal will share a collective care framework developed over decades of research and her parenting of four multi-ethnic children.
In this seminar, we will work together to:
- Determine what family engagement is and is not.
- Unpack how understanding what constitutes family and engagement affects our communication methods with the students in our care.
- Elevate the multitude of ways that all families grow their children’s literacy lives – in authentic traditions and rituals- and think through our responsibilities as teachers and leaders of literacy.
- Explore how classroom teaching of English language arts sparks and extends curiosity into students’ home lives, unearthing a deep appreciation for the rich nuance of human experience.
- Discuss where the family intersects with our curricular work, and how we can communicate best with families about how to strengthen and continue their rich literacy legacies.
This day-long workshop will be interactive, discussion-based, and tailored to participant input. Teachers and school / instructional leaders will leave with ideas to explore for their communities and schools to draw closer together in partnership to collaborate and support student literacy development. Classroom teachers will return to their classroom with text titles, suggested modes of connecting directly with families, and ways that all their students can see themselves and their fellow community members in the literature.
Registered participants will receive a copy of the professional text, Nourishing Caregiver Collaborations: Elevating Home Experiences and Classroom Practices for Collective Care.
This full-day workshop will be recorded. Registered individuals will have through April 12, 2025, to access this recording. Instructions to access the recording will be sent about 1-2 weeks following the session.
Nawal Qarooni 
Nawal Qarooni is a Jersey City-based educator, writer and adjunct professor who supports a holistic approach to literacy instruction and family experiences in schools across the country. Drawing on her work as an inquiry-based leader, mother, and proud daughter of immigrants, Nawal’s pedagogy is centered in the rich and authentic learning all families gift their children every day. She and her team of coaches at NQC Literacy work with schools and districts to collectively grow teacher practice and children’s literacy lives.
Nourishing Caregiver Collaborations: Elevating Home Experiences and Classroom Practices for Collective Care is Nawal’s first book. Prior to her work in education, Nawal was an award-winning journalist.
Cultivate your expertise in reaching and responding to the diverse strengths and needs of every one of your students. You may register for this individual workshop or the three-part series.
Reaching All Learners Speaker Series
Thursday, October 24, 2024, with Patricia Paugh
Learning to be Literate: How to Connect the Current Conversations About Literacy Productively to Your Own Students
Thursday, January 16, 2025, with Nawal Qarooni
Growing Community and Family Collaborations All Year Long
Wednesday, March 12, 2025, with Melanie Meehan
Extending Pathways and Possibilities for Writers
Click here for information about the complete 2024-2025 Reaching All Learners Speaker Series
Independent Learning Policy & Recordings
Each full-day workshop will be recorded. Registered individuals will have through April 12, 2025, to access a recording. Instructions to access the recording will be sent about 1-2 weeks following the session.
While series recordings will be available to those who have registered, attending in person will bring added value. Live attendance provides the opportunity to directly interact with speakers, ask questions based on your classroom, school, and community to explore specific implementation directions for moving forward.
Registration Deadline
We highly recommend registering at least five business days before the event to allow the minimum amount of time to ship the professional texts.
Cancellation Deadline & Refund Policies
Cancellation Policy: There is a $75 cancellation fee. We request any books sent prior to cancellation to be returned.
For Complete Bundle attendees, the cancellation deadline is October 17, 2024.
For Individual Seminar attendees, the cancellation deadlines are:
- Patricia Paugh – October 17, 2024
- Nawal Qarooni – January 9, 2025
- Melanie Meehan – March 5, 2025
If you request a cancellation after the above date deadlines, you will not be issued a refund.
Cancellations must be submitted in writing. Substitution requests are acceptable. Please e-mail CRRLC@lesley.edu.
Requirements for Participation
In order to receive your certificate of attendance, you will be asked to complete a digital one-page insight form. We will provide more information about this process after each session. Please allow our team 2-3 weeks to process your certificate.
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