Funded by the Professional Development Support for Nonprofit Adult Literacy Organizations grant from the Texas Workforce Commission, regional symposia provide free professional development for volunteers and staff of nonprofit, community-based organizations.
Your local symposium is an excellent place to learn and network with other literacy providers in your region, and a great source of professional development for volunteer instructors.
QUICK LINKS FOR THE SOUTH TEXAS SYMPOSIUM:
Click on any of the links below to go straight to that section, or simply scroll down the page.
SAVE THE DATE!
BASIC INFORMATION
The 2025 South Texas Literacy Symposium is co-presented by the South Texas Literacy Coalition and Literacy Texas.
The symposium will be held on:
The symposium has the theme “theme theme theme” and will be held on:
Saturday, February 22, 2025
[Day], [month] [day], from 0:00 AM to 0:00 PM (CT).
Check-in for registered participants will open at [check-in time].
This symposium is offered free of charge to Texas nonprofit professionals who work in the fields of adult and family literacy. See Symposium FAQs for more information.
The symposium provides up to X hours of professional development.
LOCATION
Location to be confirmed.
This symposium will be held at [location] [full street address including Google maps link].
Map and directions are coming soon.
REGISTRATION
Registration will open soon – watch this space.
This session has reached capacity and is no longer accepting new registrations
Registration for this session has now closed
REMINDER: CHECK YOUR SPAM
Every online registration will generate an automated email response with further information. If you don’t see it arrive, please check your junk mail!
SYMPOSIUM FAQs
Click on a question to see the answer.
A: Anyone interested in adult and family literacy in Texas is welcome at the symposium. We believe that the people who will gain the most are instructors – very much including volunteer tutors and teachers – at community-based adult and family literacy organizations and nonprofits.
Our regional symposia are designed to reflect the local needs of each region, and to represent a low-to-no cost opportunity to gain quality professional development without needing a large budget for travel or an overnight stay, in the vast majority of cases. We hope that multiple folks from the same organization will be able to come to the symposium – there’s no limit on how many people can attend from one place – something that’s harder to achieve at conferences.
We use the broadest definition of “literacy”, to include all of Adult Foundational Education: adult basic education, English as an additional language, high school equivalency, digital literacy, and workforce readiness, along with other kinds of teaching and learning.
A: Yes! Literacy Texas offers PD credit in conjunction with TCALL.
Certificates of completion will be awarded after the event. Complete the survey after the training is finished to give your details and get your certificate. Surveys will be sent via email in the days following the training.
A: The symposium is free to attend. Literacy Texas will cover the costs of your tuition, any meals and snacks offered, materials, and other resources.
Please be aware that in recent years, between 25% and 40% of registrants are no-shows at our training events. Every one of these costs us money. If you’ve registered for a Literacy Texas event but then find you can no longer attend, PLEASE get in touch to cancel your registration.
SESSIONS & SPEAKERS
Sessions and speakers are pending; details will be added here as they’re confirmed.
[if topics are known but schedule/program not yet set] Planned session topics include:
- xxx
- xxx
- xxx
- xxx
See the schedule outline below; detailed descriptions of the workshops will be linked here when confirmed.
Schedule [A]
Schedule will be kept as current as possible but is subject to change; check back here for updates
8:00 AM – 8:30 AM: CHECK-IN, BREAKFAST
8:30 AM – 8:45 AM: WELCOME, OPENING REMARKS
9:00 AM – 10:30 AM: Session 1 (90 min)
[Title of session] – ([room or other location])
[Name of presenter], [organization]
[Title of session] – ([room or other location])
[Name of presenter], [organization]
10:45 AM – 12:15 PM: Session 2 (90 min)
[Title of session] – ([room or other location])
[Name of presenter], [organization]
[Title of session] – ([room or other location])
[Name of presenter], [organization]
12:30 PM – 1:15 PM: WORKING LUNCH ([room or other location])
1:30 PM – 3:00 PM: Session 3 (90 min)
[Title of session] – ([room or other location])
[Name of presenter], [organization]
[Title of session] – ([room or other location])
[Name of presenter], [organization]
3:00 PM – 3:15 PM: FAREWELL
Schedule [B]
Schedule will be kept as current as possible but is subject to change; check back here for updates
8:00 AM – 8:30 AM: CHECK-IN, BREAKFAST
8:30 AM – 8:45 AM: WELCOME, OPENING REMARKS
9:00 AM – 10:15 AM: Session 1 (75 min)
[Title of session] – ([room or other location])
[Name of presenter], [organization]
[Title of session] – ([room or other location])
[Name of presenter], [organization]
10:30 AM – 11:45 AM: Session 2 (75 min)
[Title of session] – ([room or other location])
[Name of presenter], [organization]
[Title of session] – ([room or other location])
[Name of presenter], [organization]
12:00 PM – 12:45 PM: WORKING LUNCH ([room or other location])
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM: Session 3 (60 min)
[Title of session] – ([room or other location])
[Name of presenter], [organization]
[Title of session] – ([room or other location])
[Name of presenter], [organization]
2:15 PM – 3:15 PM: Session 4 (60 min)
[Title of session] – ([room or other location])
[Name of presenter], [organization]
[Title of session] – ([room or other location])
[Name of presenter], [organization]
3:15 PM – 3:30 PM: FAREWELL & DOOR PRIZES
EXHIBITORS
Information about exhibitors at this symposium is coming soon.
[List of exhibitors with links embedded in their names]
DOWNLOADS
Download a flyer to display at your location or send to others who may be interested in attending the symposium. [link whole sentence to PDF of flyer]
Downloadable PDF flyer for this symposium is coming soon.
Download a printable copy of the symposium program. [link whole sentence to PDF]
Printable PDF copy of the symposium program is coming soon.
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
[presenting partner]
[name of any sponsors or other partners – as many as relevant, new line for each]
The Texas Center for Advancement of Literacy & Learning (TCALL)
The Texas Workforce Commission
INSTRUCTIONS FOR USING THIS TEMPLATE:
Don’t publish this template page or make public, keep private (current status). Duplicate it from main “Events” list for each symposium and edit as needed. Update this template as the format changes or the standard inclusions and layout are improved.
EDIT THE SET-UP PAGE, BEFORE YOU GET TO THE MAIN CONTENT:
- Edit permalink using this format: “YYYY-symposium-region”. Note that you can and should link this longer URL to the standard vanity URL that already exists for each region; you’ll be prompted to do this in the symposium timeline/checklist document.
- Edit visibility – this template is Private but any copies you make for the calendar should be Public.
- Check tags – some basic ones are already selected but check they’re appropriate, and add others if they fit.
- Check event categories.
- Change the Featured image to the specific image for each symposium – Google forms (1200×300).
- When adding the time and date, make the start time the check-in time, and then differentiate between check-in and actual start time in the narrative description.
- When adding presenters, locations, etc always check whether they already exist in the system before creating new ones; add co-presenter first and then Literacy Texas second.
- Create a second page, in Pages (ie not here in the Events section) to link to this page, for the detailed workshop descriptions. Page name should follow the format “YYYY [Region] Literacy Symposium”.
- For in-person events: check whether a page for location and parking already exists – they have been designed for ongoing use and page names all use the format “Map and Parking – [Location]” – ie don’t overtly link these pages to the symposium, so that we can use them in the future for any events held at that location – feel free to update these pages if information has changed but the goal of the map and parking pages is an evergreen page with current info. The best maps include: Street address; how to enter the premises from the street; where to park; parking info (eg, is there a charge, where to park); how to enter the building(s); floorplan. Add instructions about ANYTHING an attendee could find confusing or have questions about.
- Obviously, hide these instructions from the duplicate page and make edits to all the content as needed according to the prompts given.
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Checked/updated: 11/18/24
