RETHINK REIGNITE Elevate

Literacy Leadership Retreat 2025

🌴 June 22 - June 25 | Beachfront Location 🏝️

Join us for a transformative, all-inclusive retreat designed to help educators and school leaders rethink, reignite, and elevate their approach to literacy through the integration of cutting-edge AI tools, the Science of Reading, and high-impact coaching practices.

This immersive experience will empower you to accelerate student achievement and lead instructional growth with clarity and purpose.

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🌍 This Year’s Theme: “Working Smarter with AI Tools”

Through expert-led, hands-on sessions, you'll explore:

• Research-based strategies aligned with the Science of Reading

• Practical AI tools to personalize literacy instruction and support data-driven planning

• Coaching frameworks that build instructional capacity and deepen campus-wide impact

Whether you’re a district leader, principal, coach, or instructional specialist, this retreat is your opportunity to lead smarter—and climb higher—with purpose, innovation, and evidence-based practices.

🌟 Retreat Highlights

✅ All-Inclusive Experience: Your registration covers lodging, all meals, snacks, materials, and excursions, ensuring a worry-free experience.

✅ Morning Wellness Activities: Start each day with meditation, yoga, or a Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) session at the top of the hotel, overlooking the stunning beach. These sessions promote relaxation, clarity, and intentionality—favorites among both teachers and leaders.

✅ Comprehensive Professional Learning: Engaging sessions from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM focus on integrating AI tools in literacy instruction, data-driven teaching strategies, and leadership development.

✅ Evening Networking & Excursions: After dinner, enjoy carefully curated excursions, designed to foster professional connections, cultural enrichment, and relaxation.

 

📅 Tentative Agenda

🗓️ Day 1- Sunday: Arrival & Orientation

• 3:00 PM: Check-In

• 5:00 PM: Retreat Officially Starts-

  • Welcome

  • Retreat Bingo

• 6:30 PM: Dinner & Meet & Greet

• Rest and Get Ready for the Fun

You will receive your retreat shirt and overview of the schedule. 

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🗓️ Day 2- Monday: Foundations & AI in Literacy- Wear Retreat Shirt

• 7:00 AM: Sunrise Meditation/Yoga on the Terrace

• 8:00 AM: Breakfast 🍽️

• 9:00 AM: Opening Session: Welcome- “Climbing with Purpose”- Ingrid Haynes, Ph.D.

  • Activity 1: Step Up, Speak Out – Speed Networking

  • Build Your Legacy Tower

• 12:00 PM: Lunch

• 1:00 PM: Session B

  • Water or Quicksand- Your Role as A Literacy Coach

Are you building momentum or sinking under pressure? Explore the mindsets, moves, and models that define effective literacy coaching. Discover how your leadership can either accelerate growth—or stall it—depending on the depth of your coaching foundation.

• Where are we with Literacy Development

A reflective look at what’s working—and what’s missing. This session examines national, district, and campus-level literacy data to help leaders identify instructional gaps and growth areas. Come ready to analyze trends, reflect on your current practices, and reimagine what’s possible.

• The Science of Reading: Bridging Research & Practice

• Key concepts and research behind the Science of Reading.

 

Turning theory into transformative instruction. Dive into the foundational research behind the Science of Reading and explore how to apply it meaningfully in classrooms and coaching. This session connects evidence-based reading components with real-world school contexts.

Unpacking the pillars of skilled reading. Learn the essential frameworks—including phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension—and how they interact to support early and advanced literacy development.

 

• Understanding how reading develops in the brain.

Understanding the neuroscience of reading acquisition. This session explores what happens in the brain when students learn to read and how instruction can support cognitive pathways for decoding, word recognition, and language comprehension.

• 2:30 PM: Session C: "Personalizing Student Learning with AI"- Dr. Delilah Gonzales

• 4:00 PM: Wrap-Up & Reflection

• 6:00 PM: Dinner 🍽️

• 7:30 PM: Evening Excursion: Painting with a Twist

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🗓️ Day 3- Tuesday: Deep Dives & Collaboration- Wear your NLI Shirt

• 7:00 AM: Yoga & Mindfulness Session 🌅🧘‍♂️

• 8:00 AM: Breakfast

• 9:00 AM: Keynote Session:  SOR- The Big Five- Dr. Delilah Gonzales

• 12:00 PM: Lunch

1:30 PM- 2:15 PM: Session D: Let’s Get Small Group Collaboration WORK BEST in 2025-  Melissa Leach

• 2:30 PM: Session E: Building a School Culture: Strategies for Success- Dr. Shannon Parish  

  • Transformative Leadership and Teaching with AI

• 3:30 PM: Peer Sharing & Feedback

• 4:00 PM: Close of Day

• 6:00 PM: Dinner

• 7:30 PM: Hit the Water Waves

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🗓️ Day 4- Wednesday: Reflection & Vision Planning- Wear your school spirit shirt

• 8:00 AM: Breakfast

• 9:00 AM: Session F: "Leading with Love: Compassionate Leadership in Schools" ❤️

• Closing Circle

• 12:00 PM: Lunch

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Bus Departs at 1:30pm