PAF’s professional development focuses on multisensory techniques for teaching reading, spelling, and handwriting in the primary grades. Topics include research-based instructional practices on developing accurate decoding and fluent reading through direct explicit instruction, building vocabulary and comprehension, lesson planning, and assessments.

Courses are taught and support is given by Master Teachers with years of experience teaching PAF in public and independent schools. 

For individual teachers seeking professional development in the PAF Reading Program or for new staff hired by districts or schools already implementing PAF, we offer a 16-hour course delivered through a synchronous platform.

The PAF Professional Development for Teachers consists of two parts:

Course (12 hours) will cover:

• An overview of research-based multisensory techniques for teaching reading, spelling, and handwriting
• Components of a PAF lesson at various levels in the sequence
• Planning a PAF lesson
• Instructional practices for developing accuracy, fluency, and comprehension
• Administering and analyzing PAF’s curriculum-based assessments

Ongoing Support (4.5 hours) will include:

• Assessments
• Pacing of instruction
• Differentiating instruction
• Instructional language
• Question and answer sessions

This summer, there are four opportunities to attend the PAF Professional Development for Teachers. Please choose one of the following sessions:

• Session recordings cannot be viewed after the scheduled training session.
• A certificate of completion of PAF professional development will be delivered to each participant provided that proof of attendance is delivered to the PAF team by the school or district. PAF will not be responsible for taking attendance. 

Teachers can also attend one of the Multisensory Reading Instruction Courses, PAF Part I or Part II, offered at the Windward Institute. Please contact wi@thewindwardschool.org for information and to sign up.

During the 2024-25 school year, all teachers teaching PAF can attend our Office Hours the first Wednesday of every month from 3-4 pm ET/12-1 pm PT by clicking on this Zoom link. Our Master Teachers will be available to answer questions that come up during implementation. No prior registration is required.

PAF Office Hours Dates for the 2024 – 2025 School Year

• September 04
• October 02
• November 06
• December 04
• January 08 (2nd Wednesday!)
• February 05
• March 05
• April 02
• May 07
• June 04

PAF Office Hours Zoom Link

PAF Proficiency Tests

In this two-hour workshop, participants will learn how to administer and analyze the PAF Proficiency Tests. In addition, Master Teachers  will explain how to use the qualitative information from this assessment to inform classroom instruction and establish instructional goals for your students.

Syllabication and Spelling Rules

In this two-hour workshop, participants will learn how to teach the six syllable types and four rules for dividing words into syllables to help students read multisyllabic words of increasing length. Students will find it much easier to read longer words by breaking them into shorter segments.

The second part of the workshop, Spelling Rules, will focus on the explicit instruction of the rules taught in PAF that focus on short vowels needing an extra letter and rules that govern adding suffixes to root words.