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Reading & Literacy Webinar

Improve Reading Comprehension: Three Tools for Working Memory Challenges

Thu., January 15, 2026, 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. ET
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Price: Free
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Many struggling readers are held back by challenges with their working memory. When students cannot retain information long enough to make sense of what they’re reading, comprehension suffers, frustration grows, and teachers may misidentify the root cause.

In this high-impact webinar, you will learn why working memory is critical for reading comprehension and discover practical strategies (working memory workarounds) to make reading more accessible for all learners. You’ll leave with three classroom-ready tools that reduce cognitive load, support deeper thinking, and foster independent comprehension habits.

This session combines the latest cognitive science with actionable classroom strategies, providing concrete examples, flexible scaffolds, and ready-to-use practices that you can implement immediately.

By the end of the webinar, you will be able to:

  1. Explain common working memory challenges and how working memory workarounds can help students succeed.
  2. Apply powerful pre-teaching and priming strategies to reduce cognitive load.
  3. Create chunked, scaffolded reading experiences that support learners with weak working memory.
  4. Guide students through active processing strategies, such as annotating, paraphrasing, asking questions, and visualizing, to strengthen comprehension while reading.
  5. BONUS: Integrate writing-to-learn routines that help students solidify their understanding after reading.
Speaker
LeAnn Nickelsen
Author & Associate Solution Tree
LeAnn Nickelsen, educator, author, and change agent, is an expert on brain research strategies, best practices in literacy, and other high-impact tools that close and prevent gaps in high-poverty schools. With more than 29 years of experience, LeAnn taught classrooms in Kansas, Texas, and Ohio. Driven by her passion for maximizing learning for all students, she delivers presentations nationally and internationally.
Moderator
Prisma Lopez-Marin
Marketing Media Producer Solution Tree
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For all webinars broadcast by Education Week after August 1, 2019, Certificates of Completion are available to all registered live attendees who attend 53 minutes or more of this webinar. Educators can download a PDF certificate verifying 1 hour of Professional Development credit. As with all professional development hours delivered, Education Week recommends each educator verify ahead of the webinar broadcast that the content will qualify for professional development in your school, district, county, or state with your supervisor, human resources professional, and/or principal or superintendent’s office.

Education Week is serving only as the host for this presentation. The content was created by the sponsor. The opinions expressed in this webinar are those of the sponsor and do not reflect the opinion of or constitute an endorsement by Editorial Projects in Education or any of its publications.

A transcript will be available for download from the resource list within five business days after the event.

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