Looking at Literacy
What BAISD teachers need to know today (Nov. 2018)
Coaching Matters. Here's Why.
What can literacy coaches do with their time in elementary buildings to ensure the kind of measurable, research-supported outcomes listed above? While there are 7 Essential Coaching Practices for Elementary Literacy, included in the document linked below, I hope to draw your attention to Coaching Essential #6: "When coaching individual teachers, effective literacy coaches employ a core set of coaching activities that are predictors of student literacy growth at one or more grade levels." These activities are the game-changers. These are the ways, as coaches, we need to be spending our time in order to impact student achievement as highlighted above. Here are the highlights:
- Conferencing with teachers, for a variety of specific purposes, including goal setting, analyzing instruction, selecting texts for given instructional goals, analyzing assessments to plan instruction, and more
- Modeling for a variety of reasons, including demonstrating a practice with a teacher's own students/resources, to allow teachers to watch students as learners without distraction, and more
- Observing students and/or teachers for the purposes of future planning, providing desired supports, examining practice across a building, etc.
- Co-Planning to build collaborative relationships, ensure planning utilizes key components, and to pull in assessment results to meet student needs, among others
"Coaching is a profession of love. You can't coach people unless you love them."
-Eddie Robinson
Essential Coaching Practices for Elementary Literacy
Michigan Department of Education Early Literacy Coaching Model

From the Coach's Bookshelf: For Students
Bunny's Book Club This sweet story written by Annie Silvestro came to my mailbox for my 3 year old daughter, thanks to the Dolly Parton Imagination Library program. This book will capture the hearts of library and book lovers and the animals' enthusiasm for reading great books is sure to be contagious in your classroom. Who knows...maybe your students will even start a book club after you share this one with the class! | I Say Ooh, You Say Ahh If you and your students love to laugh, then John Kane's I Say OOH You Say AAH is a book you must get in your collection. This interactive story will leave you with plenty of opportunities for silly actions, rhyming practice, punctuation experiences, and so much more. Just released in January of 2018, I anticipate this title will be one of your new favorites for the younger grades. | Amelia Who Could Fly Who doesn't love a book with positive messaging of perseverance and chasing your dreams? In Amelia Who Could Fly, author Mara Del Corso makes Amelia Earhart's story accessible to very young readers. With beautiful illustrations and an uplifting message, your students will love reading about this mighty girl again and again. |
Bunny's Book Club
I Say Ooh, You Say Ahh
Amelia Who Could Fly
Take Away the A Recommended by Dr. Nell Duke during a four day institute on the Literacy Essentials, and as a mom of a young 5s student and preschooler, I needed a copy of this book. Author Michael Escoffier doesn't disappoint. This humorous books makes it very clear how important each and every letter is, in the most humorous of ways. After all, "Without the W, the witch has an itch!" | Finding Winnie Finding Winnie is the kind of story that kids will fall in love with because it is true. In addition to celebrating the very interesting true story of Winnie the Pooh, students will find joy in the illustrations as well. This title is part of the 2019 March Book Madness Picture Book List, where this year's theme is "The Characters' Journey." It is my estimation that this book will go far in the competition! | Last Stop on Market Street I first heard of this title a few years back when author Matt De La Pena was a featured speaker at the MRA conference. I fell in love with this book and its message. The blurb on the back cover reads "CJ and his grandma take a bus ride together, discovering the beauty and wonder of their vibrant neighborhood". This story makes a great springboard for teachers across the elementary grades. |
Take Away the A
Finding Winnie
Last Stop on Market Street
Essential Instructional Practice #2: Read Alouds
Statements I have heard educators say around read alouds:
"I just can't seem to find the time to read aloud to them every day."
"We usually read aloud once a day, right after recess, and they just relax and listen."
"I don't see the value with my students. I get it in kindergarten and first grade, but..."
My favorite Dr. Nell Duke quote that helped me grasp the magnitude of the body of research supporting read alouds in elementary literacy instruction is "If you don't read aloud every day in K, 1, 2, and 3, that's malpractice." That is the thing that is beautiful about the presentation of the Literacy Essentials-they are presented in terms of a minimum standard of care, as in medicine, that use research to show us exactly what practices to use in all of our classrooms every day.
A few key points to remember is that read alouds as supported by research:
- Are organized into text sets that are linked by concept and/or theme
- Are beyond the independent level of your students
- Involve modeling fluency (all components)
- Involve vocabulary teaching using child-friendly explanations (see video below...it is a fantastic example of an intentionally planned read aloud focused on vocabulary)
- Involve higher-order discussion among students along the way, before, during, and after reading
- Involve teaching and modeling instructional strategies based on the grade level and student needs (strategies related to developing print concepts, word recognition strategies, text structures, text features, comprehension strategies, and vocabulary in context strategies)
Remember to find out more, or enroll in the free modules to dig deeper into the essentials, by visiting the website linked below:
http://literacyessentials.org