ARI Literacy Leadership

Leaders have conversations on a daily basis with many people. Have you ever paused to reflect on the impact of the conversations that you are having with teachers, parents, district leaders, etc.? Are your conversations POWERFUL? A powerful conversation is one where people leave that conversation or meeting with different thinking than when they came. A powerful conversation or meeting will elicit three outcomes:

1. NEW THINKING: a new idea, perspective, solution, motivation, decision, or understanding
2. NEXT ACTION: clearly articulated agreement on next steps and agreed actions
3. NO EXCUSES: barriers to taking that action are explored and mitigated

Are you having powerful conversations about literacy? Data? Science of Reading? Are the local reading specialists in your building encouraging and fostering a growth mind-set through powerful conversations? Powerful conversations lead to a pathway of learning for all! During the month of February, commit to being purposeful about planning and leading powerful conversations. Below is a planning resource that can help you get started in planning your next powerful conversation.

Microsoft Word - Six Step Checklist for Diff Conv.docx (judyringer.com)

Caleb Steward is a nine-year-old motivational speaker who loves to read. He went viral with his motivational speech about reading at just four years old. Caleb had a powerful conversation! Click on the video below to listen to a powerful conversation.

The Art of Powerful Conversation – Doubling your Impact in Half the Time by Michelle Loch

Instructional Focus:

As you reflect on your mid-year data and make adjustments, our focus as leaders should be on the following:

• Tier I Instruction/Science of Reading (SOR): What transfer to practice have you observed in your K-3 classrooms? Do you see specific evidence of the Science of Reading in your student data? SOR Walkthrough Tool https://drive.google.com/file/d/1b_cxqeyjq1kKx5SMVHANC1HOENuYgJud/view?usp=share_link
• Are your Local Reading Specialists coaching teachers in the Science of Reading? Are you in the LETRS Elementary Course? Is your entire faculty and staff trained in Science of Reading? Please see the section on SOR to find out when you can register for the new cohort.
• Explicit and Engaging Instruction
• Formative Assessments

• Student Engagement

Principals, remember to PROTECT the reading block and consistently INSPECT what you EXPECT! What are your instructional expectations for the reading block? Have you communicated these to your teachers? Be Intentional.

February Tasks:

• Schedule and conduct classroom walkthroughs.
  
• Meet with LRS weekly.
• Identify a leadership or cross/departmental leadership team for Summer Reading Camp planning.
• Develop communication protocols to maximize the impact of Summer Reading Camp opportunities.
• Develop/identify training needed for hiring Summer Reading Camp personnel based on the needs of students targeted for support.
• Provide opportunities for collaboration among grade-level PDs.
• Ensure that school and/or after school supplemental, evidence-based reading intervention is delivered by a teacher or tutor with specialized reading training.

Simply defined, dialogue is a conversational exchange between two or more people. John Hattie identifies it as one of ten important mindframes for teachers and distinguishes it from monologue which, he argues, too frequently characterizes teacher talk (Hattie & Zierer, 2017). When teachers commit to dialogue, they invite students to become partners in their learning, rather than objects of instruction. Questions serve as invitations to thinking and sustained speaking which is a hallmark of dialogue. The resulting dialogue can be a source of meaningful feedback for students and teachers alike.

Three types of questions are essential to productive dialogue.

• Focus questions carefully formulated in advance of a lesson (or conference) establish the parameters for a productive conversation. These questions are aligned with learning goals and limited in number, two or three usually adequate for a lesson. Quality focus questions elicit thinking beyond the recall level, are clear and understandable, and fall within the zone of proximal development, or the “sweet spot” for learning.
• Follow-up questions are posed following initial responses to a focus question and asked only after pauses in the form of Think Time 2. They are designed to get behind a speaker’s thinking and to sustain their talking. Follow-up questions are key to productive dialogue and replace common practices including answering our own questions, providing immediate corrective feedback—or praise! —or calling immediately on another student to respond. Because these questions do not always emerge organically during academic conversations, it is important to generate follow-up questions during lesson planning to support each focus question.
• Student questions are potentially the most powerful for learning, yet they seldom emerge in many classrooms. Many students are uncomfortable asking questions, out of fear of exposing their ignorance to teachers or appearing too eager to their peers. Student questions are a mark of a rich, deep dialogue, but we need to encourage and develop students’ skill and will to form and ask them.

Increasing the quality of all three question types is a worthy goal as is increasing the frequency of follow-up and student questions. These two question types can themselves serve as feedback. Think of the benefits of reacting to a student’s incorrect response with a follow-up question intended not only to convey the need for additional thinking but to provide a scaffold for that thinking and possible self-correction. Consider also the value also of following a “correct” response with a question intended to take the learner deeper in their reflection. Now, imagine that we thought of student questions as feedback to us regarding a student’s current understanding of a concept.

References

Hattie, J. & Zierer, K. (2017). 10 Mindframes for Visible Learning: Teaching for Success. New York: Routledge.

Do you have someone in your school who is interested in becoming a Certified Academic Language Therapist (CALT) or a Certified Academic Language Practitioner (CALP)? This two-year commitment would prepare the teacher in implementing the Orton-Gillingham approach while using a multisensory, direct, systematic and sequential, positive and reinforcing, and emotionally sound teaching.

We know that dyslexia affects approximately 1 in 5 people. The good news is that early identification and intervention can reduce the percentage of children reading below basic in 4th grade by 33%. Therapists and practitioners will be equipped to support our students with dyslexia and other struggling readers. These teachers can also be a tremendous asset for collaboration. They can help teachers bring impactful strategies to the general education reading block.

An Ideal Candidate:

• Passionate about literacy for ALL and committed to two years of rigorous training ​

• Have a master's degree or planning to obtain one within five years​

• Able to teach a minimum of one intervention group daily and be open-minded to teaching one before or after school or privately (1-4 students). The GOAL of therapy is to take a student through the curriculum. IT'S LONG TERM!!​

• Not planning to retire within five years​

• Not planning to change school systems for two years, or leave Alabama public schools for three years after receiving certification​

• Continue teaching intervention groups three years after receiving certification

• Not an ARI-funded Local Reading Specialist (The ARI-funded Local Reading Specialist is NOT an ideal candidate.)

● Plan: Set Quality Improvement Goals

● Train: Develop Staff

● Assess: Look for Evidence of Quality Improvements

● Reflect: Review Summer Reading Camp Data and Debrief with Key Stakeholders

Each LEA shall provide Summer Reading Camps to all (FS, LS1 & LS2) K-3 students identified with a reading deficiency as described in the Alabama Literacy Act on p.16.

Planning efforts should now be in full motion. The Regional Leadership Specialists host Summer Reading Camp Administrators Roundtable meetings in each region during the month of February. Please attend a session to learn more information about Summer Reading Camps. The regional staff is also available to attend any planning sessions that you are hosting in your districts/schools. We have the opportunity to close learning gaps for children this summer. START PLANNING NOW!

There are two summer learning opportunities identified in the Alabama Literacy, Summer Reading Camp and Alabama Summer Achievement Program (ASAP). Both summer learning opportunities should provide the following:

• Highly effective teachers of reading providing direct, explicit, and systematic reading intervention and support.
• Scientifically-based reading instruction and intervention.
• Professional learning for teachers in the use of the curriculum (core, intervention, and enrichment).
• Approved pre- and post-assessment of reading with two progress monitoring checks.
• A minimum of 60 hours of intensive reading instruction.

According to the Alabama Literacy Act, Summer Reading Achievement (ASAP) should be available to all students in Kindergarten through 3rd grade in elementary schools (Full Support Schools) that are among the lowest performing five percent of elementary schools. Funds appropriated by the Legislature in support of the Alabama Reading Initiative have been allocated and fund the ASAP (p. 17).

In the Alabama Literacy Act, each LEA shall provide Summer Reading Camps to all K-3 students identified with a reading deficiency. All LS1 and LS2 schools should provide a Summer Reading Camp.

Summer Reading Camps, in conjunction with an existing summer program in the school district, or in partnerships with community-based summer programs, designated as effective by the State Superintendent of Education and the task force are welcomed.

Click the button above to access the 2021 ELA COS Vertical Alignment document.

Lexi’s Law requires cursive handwriting to be taught by the end of third grade in all state schools. Lexi’s Law requires us not only to teach cursive writing but to develop proficient cursive writing among students. Lexi’s law prescribes a standardized method for teaching cursive handwriting and provides classroom instructional plans outlining when and how cursive handwriting is to be taught.

*The Alabama Course of Study requires cursive writing instruction beginning in second grade.

Conference Information

Date: July 17-21, 2023

Location: Mobile Convention Center

1 S Water St., Mobile AL 36602

Click the MEGA graphic to register for the 2023 conference!

MISSED A NEWSLETTER? VISIT THE ARCHIVED ARI LITERACY LEADERS NEWSLETTERS

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1njAGGWSKBhF1c5egKgQ6tqcJ1JtyqAkY3R13fn4rv4k/edit?usp=sharing

We all know how crucial it is to understand the science of reading and the research based strategies and tools needed to build a strong literacy foundation for students. However, there is also another piece of the puzzle to be considered as we are helping our readers grow--instilling a LOVE for reading. Students must be taught the process and skills needed to decode and comprehend text but we also should be very intentional in teaching them to fall in love with books. Here are 7 creative ideas of ways to promote the true joy of reading in your school.

1. Adults should be reading models

Reading needs to be center stage in your classrooms and building. Do your students know that you read? Display books you are reading for students to see. Share teasers of your favorite books. Create a display in a central place in your school where teachers/staff in your building can share their favorite books or why they love reading.

2. Encourage Parental Involvement

There is countless research to back up the benefits of parents reading with their children. The earlier you can get parents involved, the greater impact it will have. Host parent sessions to share the benefits and model what it looks like to read with a child. Utilize social media to share book lists, challenges, and staff favorites. Promote your families visiting the local libraries!

3. Help them find books they'll love

Reluctant readers often haven't discovered the right book. Have students complete an interest survey and as a school, come up with a suggestion list of books at various reading levels for high interest topics. Keep up with newly released books in popular series and written by favorite authors. Share these through broadcast, morning announcements, family newsletters, and social media etc.

4. Raise the profile of reading

Make reading a central focus in your school. Create events that get everyone reading and add them to the school calendar and newsletters. Create a place in the school to showcase these events. Ideas could include: read-a-thons, competitions, games and challenges, author studies, book weeks, and/or read around the room events.

5. Teach them to read fluently

If your students can't decode fluently, it will feel like a chore. Look at how you teach fluency across your school. Identify students with reading deficiencies early and intervene intentionally often. This is where that critical knowledge of how students learn to read comes into play. Teach students what fluent reading is and make sure they have ample opportunities to see it modeled.

6. Make reading enjoyable

Make reading fun and and cozy by having comfortable spaces for them to read. Use bright cushions, create reading corners, or let them make a "reading den" under their table. If they are just sitting in their desks they will probably begin to squirm and fidget as they get uncomfortable.

7. Reading doesn't have to mean books

Create a print rich environment in your building! Have signs, labels, pictures with captions, comics, magazines, ebooks, non-fiction books, and more so students can see the value of reading.

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