Strategies for Struggling Readers
Professional Development Opportunities in PWCS
Superintendent: Steven L. Walts
Office: Special Education
Director: Dr. Michelle Roper
Supervisor: Rebecca Yellets
Administrative Coordinator: Jake Fladd
Address: P.O. Box 389, Manassas, VA 20108
Phone number: 703-791-7200
PWCS web address: www.pwcs.edu
Date of publication: 9/1/2020
SPIRE Reading Program
What is SPIRE?
S.P.I.R.E.® is a research-proven reading intervention program for your lowest performing students. It is designed to build reading success through an intensive, structured, and spiraling curriculum that incorporates phonemic awareness, phonics, spelling, vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency in a dynamic 10-Step Lesson plan. At the conclusion of the training participants will receive a SPIRE Kit from the Office of Special Education. Participants will have the opportunity for additional support throughout the school year through the SPIRE collaborative coaching conversations hosted by the Office of Special Education.
Dramatically increase students reading skills through:
• Explicit, Teacher-led Instruction: Lessons are clearly written and keep teachers at the center of instruction.
• Consistent 10-Step Lessons: Systematic, sequentially structured lessons ensure mastery of concepts and allow for easy implementation.
• Multisensory Learning: Auditory, visual, and kinesthetic activities keep students actively engaged.
• Mastery of Concepts: Data-driven instruction with continual practice and review ensure measurable and permanent gains.
Live Training: October 26, 2020 10:00-12:00 Section Number:106738
Live Coaching: November 9, 2020 10:00-11:00 Section Number: 107143
Live Training: November 16, 2020 10:00-12:00 Section Number:107141
Live Coaching: December 7, 2020 10:00-11:00 Section Number: 107144
Live Training: January 11, 2021 10:00-12:00 Section Number:107142
Live Coaching: January 18, 2021 10:00-11:00 Section Number: 107145
Live Coaching: March 8th, 2021 10:00-11:00 Section Number: 107965
Live Training: March 15, 2021 10:00-12:00 Section Number: 107956
Live Coaching: April 5th, 2021 10:00-11:00 Section Number: 107966
DIP Live Training: June 14th Section Number: TBD
DIP Live Training: June 15th Section Number: TBD
DIP Live Training: June 16th Section Number: TBD
Self-Paced on Canvas: 2020-2021 School Year Section Number: 105577
How do I register?
To register for one of the section participants will search PowerSchool using the Section Number above. Participants will only need to take one of the "Live Training" courses to learn about SPIRE. We encourage everyone to join ALL of the "Live Coaching" sessions! During Coaching participants can ask questions and receive immediate feedback from the SPIRE experts. If you should have any further questions, please reach out to Jake Fladd Fladdjd@pwcs.edu
Really Great Reading
Really Great Reading uses a diagnostic tool to help make an instructional recommendation of which program would be best for each student. “Blast” is designed for students in grades 2 through 5. Blast is for early intervention and intensive small-group intervention. Blast provides targeted instruction in phoneme and grapheme fluency and high frequency word fluency. 2nd-5th grade students lacking the skills and knowledge with sound-letter relationship, identifying digraphs, two-sounds blends, and trigraphs will benefit in Blast. “HD Word” is broken into three components (Foundations Grades 2-5th, Essentials Grades 6-8th , and Linguistics Grades 9-12 ). HD Word provides targeted instruction in advanced phonics skills (three sound blends, digraph blends, and multisyllabic words. If you should have any further questions, please reach out to Dawn Gurganious at GurganDM@pwcs.edu .
Really Great Reading for Elementary Teachers
Live Training - November 16 - 2:00pm to 3:00pm - Course ID# 106976
Live Virtual Training (DIP) June 14th and June 15th 12:30-3:30
Live Virtual Training (DIP) June 14th and June 15th 12:30-3:30
Really Great Reading for Secondary Teachers
Live Training - November 16 - 9:00am to 10:00am - Course ID# 106979
Live Virtual Training (DIP) June 14th and June 15th 12:30-3:30- Course ID# TBD
Live Virtual Training (DIP) June 14th and June 15th 12:30-3:30 Course ID# TBD
Read Live
Read Live delivers measurable results for struggling and developing readers of all ages by combining two highly effective instructional programs under one easy to use online platform. “Read Naturally Live” is for any learner reading from a 1st through 8th grade level. The program helps students improve fluency and phonics skills while supporting vocabulary and comprehension development. Read Naturally Live combines an intrinsically motivating system with the best evidence-based practices to deliver results fast. “Word Warm-ups” is for students with beginning phonics needs, skills typically taught in first grade. It is often used with older students who have holes in their phonics knowledge. The program helps build mastery and automaticity in phonics and decoding with systematic phonics instruction that teaches students to decode and encode words easily with Word Warm-ups Live. Audio-supported lessons for teaching phonics allow for individualization and enable students to work independently. If you should have any further questions, please reach out to Dawn Gurganious at GurganDM@pwcs.edu .
Training Opportunity:
Live Training - November 9 - 1:00pm - 2:30pm
Live Training Dec, 7th at 11:00am EST
Live Training January 11th - 12:00pm EST
Live Training February 8th - 2:00pm EST
Lindamood-Bell Phoneme Sequencing Program for Reading, Spelling, and Speech (LiPS)
Course Description: This course includes several different components, including virtual learning, in-person training, and collaborative conversations. The virtual learning for this course is delivered by Lindamood-Bell staff members via the ZOOM platform and covers information needed to use the LiPS program with your students in a virtual or face-to-face setting. The LiPS Program helps students with weak phonemic awareness. This program teaches students to become aware of the oral-motor movements of phonemes to help improve reading, spelling, and speech skills.As a participant in this course, you agree to receive the LiPS materials kit delivered to your home prior to the start of the course. This materials kit is required to participate in the training. The kit is yours to borrow for as long as you work in PWCS and have students to use this program with. Participants are expected to extend their learning after completion of this training by signing up for the FREE one-year membership in the Imagery-Language Connection, offered by the Lindamood-Bell company. Participants will need to complete all three training dates below.
Learning Outcomes: Participants will gain an understanding of the Lindamood-Bell LiPS program and how to use the program with students through virtual or in-person instruction.
Target Audience: Special Education Teacher, General Education Teachers, SLPs****Pre-authorization is required by contacting Leslie Parrott: PARROTTL@pwcs.edu
Training Dates and Times:
Date: December 4, 2020 Time: 8:30-4:00, December 11, 2020 Time: 8:30-4:00, December 18, 2020 Time: 8:30-4:00
Live Training (via Zoom): February 1, 8, & 22, 2020 8:30-4:00 Section Number:106788
Lindamood-Bell Seeing Stars
Course Description: This course includes several different components, including virtual learning, in-person training, and collaborative conversations. The virtual learning for this course is delivered by Lindamood-Bell staff members via the ZOOM platform and covers information needed to use the Seeing Stars program with your students in a virtual or face-to-face setting. The Seeing Stars Program: Symbol Imagery for Phonological and Orthographic Processing in Reading and Spelling helps students who struggle with reading, spelling, recognizing sight words, and sounding out words. This program supports the development of symbol imagery to improve spelling, reading fluency, and the ability to sound out words.
As a participant in this course, you agree to receive the Seeing Stars materials kit delivered to your home prior to the start of the course. This materials kit is required to participate in the training. The kit is yours to borrow for as long as you work in PWCS and have students to use this program with. Participants are expected to extend their learning after completion of this training by signing up for the FREE one-year membership in the Imagery-Language Connection, offered by the Lindamood-Bell company, and completing the Level 2 training opportunities available as part of that membership at no cost.
Learning Outcomes: Participants will gain an understanding of the Lindamood-Bell Seeing Stars program and how to use the program with students through virtual or in-person instruction.
Target Audience: Special Education Teachers, General Education Teachers
****Pre-authorization is required by contacting Leslie Parrott: PARROTTL@pwcs.eduTraining Dates and Times:
Live Training (via Zoom): December 7 & 14, 2020 8:30-4:00 Section Number:106790
Live Virtual Training (DIP) June 14th 12:30-3:30
Live Virtual Training (DIP) June 15th 12:30-3:30
Live Virtual Training (DIP) June 17th 8:30-3:30
Lindamood-Bell Talkies for Oral Language Comprehension
Course Description: This course includes several different components, including virtual learning, in-person training, and collaborative conversations. The virtual learning for this course is delivered by Lindamood-Bell staff members via the ZOOM platform and covers information needed to use the Talkies program with your students in a virtual or face-to-face setting. The Talkies Program for Oral Language Comprehension and Expression helps students develop an imaged gestault, or whole image, connected to language. It is a primer program to the Lindamood-Bell Visualizing & Verbalizing with simpler, smaller instructional steps. This program is ideal for preschool students, students with limited oral vocabulary or limited expressive language, with the goal of improving language comprehension and expression. As a participant in this course, you agree to receive the Talkies materials kit delivered to your home prior to the start of the course. This materials kit is required to participate in the training. The kit is yours to borrow for as long as you work in PWCS and have students to use this program with.
Learning Outcomes: Participants will gain an understanding of the Lindamood-Bell Talkies program and how to use the program with students through virtual or in-person instruction.
Target Audience: Special Education Teachers, General Education Teachers, SLPs
****Pre-authorization is required by contacting Leslie Parrott: PARROTTL@pwcs.edu
Training Dates and Times:
Live Training (via Zoom): December 7 & 14, 2020 8:30-4:00 Section Number: 106789 (full)
Lindamood-Bell Visualizing & Verbalizing
Course Description: This course includes several different components, including virtual learning, in-person training, and collaborative conversations. The virtual learning for this course is delivered by Lindamood-Bell staff members via the ZOOM platform and covers information needed to use the Visualizing & Verbalizing program with your students in a virtual or face-to-face setting. The Visualizing & Verbalizing Program for Cognitive Development, Comprehension, and Thinking helps students develop an imaged gestault, or whole image, connected to language. This program is ideal for students with poor reading and language comprehension skills, with the goal of developing concept imagery to support comprehension and higher order thinking skills. As a participant in this course, you agree to receive the Visualizing & Verbalizing materials kit delivered to your home prior to the start of the course. This materials kit is required to participate in the training. The kit is yours to borrow for as long as you work in PWCS and have students to use this program with. Participants are expected to extend their learning after completion of this training by signing up for the FREE one-year membership in the Imagery-Language Connection, offered by the Lindamood-Bell company, and completing the Level 2 training opportunities available as part of that membership at no cost.
Learning Outcomes: Participants will gain an understanding of the Lindamood-Bell Visualizing & Verbalizing program and how to use the program with students through virtual or in-person instruction.
Target Audience: Special Education Teachers, General Education Teachers
****Pre-authorization is required by contacting Leslie Parrott: PARROTTL@pwcs.eduTraining Dates and Times:
Live Training (via Zoom):
Course #33104 SPE-Lindamood-Bell Visualizing & Verbalizing
Section #107820 March 8th and 15th (course lasts 2 days) from 8:30-4:00
Live Virtual Training (DIP) June 14th 12:30-3:30
Live Virtual Training (DIP) June 15th 12:30-3:30
Live Virtual Training (DIP) June 17th 8:30-3:30
Introduction to Curriculum Based Measurements
Course Description:
Introduction to CBM PD will be self paced online in Canvas.
The outcomes for this session are for participants to develop knowledge of Curriculum-Based Measurements (CBMs) and their use for monitoring student progress. We will also be reviewing and assessing the use of some commonly used CBM programs (Aimsweb Plus, DIBELS, and easyCBM) for both reading and math skills. Lastly, we will be providing an understanding of the importance of standardization and fidelity of the process of administering a CBM in relation to improving student achievement and guidance in decision making for instructional practices. To enroll in the Canvas course participants will use the following link: CBM CANVAS COURSE
Coaching Sessions Course Code #33357:
April 7th 3:30-4:30
May 5th 3:30-4:30
Learning Outcomes:
- Learn the definition of CBMs and how they are delivered
- Learn the importance of progress monitoring students
- Learn about different CBMs programs that are available
- Learn, as an overview, how to administer CBMs
Please contact Charlene Briggs at BriggsCM@pwcs.edu if you have any questions.
Advanced Curriculum-Based Measurements using AimsWebPlus
Course Description:
Aimsweb®Plus screens and monitors the reading and math skills of PreK–12 students. With its robust set of standards-aligned measures, AimswebPlus is proven to uncover learning gaps quickly, identify at-risk students, and assess individual and classroom growth. This professional development self-paced course provides participants with an in-depth and advances knowledge for using the Curriculum-Based Measurements both in reading and mathematics. Participants will learn ways to meet accountability requirements, how to uncover learning gaps faster and more accurately, be able to screen and monitor students in one seamless system, and track student progress for more effective instruction and interventions. Participants are required to also participate in CBM Collaborative Coaching (two sessions) to problem solve and build their capacity for using CBMs to improve student achievement. To enroll in this self-paced course participants will use the following Canvas Link: ADVANCED CBM COURSE
Learning Outcomes:
The participants will become familiar with the origin and purpose of Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) and General Outcome Measure (GOM). They will be able to implement, administer, and score CBMs in reading and apply administration rules with fidelity. Also, access progress monitoring tools to determine the monitoring level to set appropriate goals for student achievement based on normed standards. Lastly, the training will provide information about how to analyze student data for making more informed decisions for instructional practices.
Please contact Charlene Briggs at BriggsCM@pwcs.edu if you have any questions.
Advanced DIBELS® 8th Edition
This is a self-paced, web-based training designed for educators to learn how to utilize DIBELS® 8th Edition, a curriculum-based measurement tool that enables educators to make data-driven decisions about the efficacy of their literacy instruction and programs.
To access this course, participants will email Carla Henderson, Administrative Coordinator, at hendercx@pwcs.edu and Carla will send instructions on how to access DIBELS® 8th Edition training. Once participants complete the web-based training, they will take and pass a quiz to obtain access to the DIBELS® 8th Edition data system. Follow-up coaching will be provided to participants by MTSS Specialists assigned to their school. To enroll in this course participants will use the following Canvas Link: DIBELS CANVAS COURSE
Learning Outcomes:
Educators will learn how to utilize DIBELS® 8th Edition to complete universal screening, obtain benchmark reading scores, and progress monitor students using the DIBELS® 8th Edition curriculum-based measurement. Participants will become familiar with data obtained from DIBELS and utilize it to make data-based decisions about student progress.
Should you have any questions please contact Carla Henderson at hendercx@pwcs.edu
McGraw Hill Reading Programs
Reading Mastery - is a direct instruction program designed to provide explicit, systematic instruction in English language reading. Reading Mastery is used for students who are on a Kindergarten and 1st grade reading level. The program begins by teaching phonemic awareness and sound-letter correspondence and moves into word and passage reading, vocabulary development, comprehension, and building oral reading fluency. Later lessons continue to emphasize accurate and fluent decoding while teaching students the skills necessary to read and comprehend and to learn from expository text. Lessons are designed to be fast-paced and interactive. Students are grouped by similar reading level, based on program placement tests. The program includes placement assessments and a continuous monitoring system. This program is used for students with disabilities, English Language Learners, and students receiving Tier 3 interventions.
Training offered by PWCS in Reading Mastery includes the Introductory course and the Refresher course, which focuses on teaching Reading Mastery in a virtual format.
Corrective Reading - is a direct instruction program designed to promote reading accuracy (decoding), fluency, and comprehension skills of students in second grade or higher who are reading below their grade level. The program has four levels that address students' decoding skills and six levels that address students' comprehension skills. All lessons in the program are sequenced and scripted. Corrective Reading can be implemented in small groups of four to five students or in a whole-class format. Corrective Reading is intended to be taught in 45-minute lessons four to five times a week. This program is used for students with disabilities, English Language Learners, and students receiving Tier 3 interventions.
Training offered by PWCS in Corrective Reading includes the Introductory course and the Refresher course, which focuses on teaching Corrective Reading in a virtual format.
Should you have any questions please contact Carla Henderson at hendercx@pwcs.edu
Training information:
#33256 SPE-Virtual Intervention and Acceleration Professional Development Conference November 11, 2020
Coaching Session Course Code #33450:
May 19th 3:30-4:30
Recorded QA Session 1/26/2020 (Passcode: 8.vDQ6p5)
Orton-Gillingham on Demand
Orton-Gillingham is a language-based, multi-sensory, structured approach to teaching reading and writing to students of all ages with language-based learning difficulties such as dyslexia. Lessons are designed to be explicit, sequential, and cumulative, systematic, diagnostic, and prescriptive and based on the individual needs of the learner. The course is presented by an Orton-Gillingham Academy Fellow in an on-demand, self-paced format that is 30 hours of high-quality explicit instruction of the approach. There are self-checks throughout the course and a certificate of completion at the end. Although this is a self-paced course, it should be completed within 12 weeks from your registration/start date. Participants may register for this course at any time throughout the year. It is session #32937 in the professional learning catalog. Please contact Kim Gardziel at gardzika@pwcs.edu to be enrolled in the 30-hour OG on Demand course.
***Participants who have completed the 30 Hour OG on Demand course are eligible to register for the next level of OG training which is The Orton Gillingham Classroom Educator Practicum. The practicum is a yearlong mentorship with David Katz, a Fellow of the Academy of Orton-Gillingham Practitioners and Educators. The practicum requirements are listed in the professional learning catalog under session # 32936.
NoRedInk
Live Training (via Zoom):
Date: June 14th Time: 12:30-3:30 Course: # TBD
Date: June 15th Time: 12:30-3:30 Course: # TBD
Edmark Reading Program
The Edmark Reading Program is designed for students in K-12 who have not yet mastered beginning reading skills. It is commonly used for students in the Intellectual Disabilities and Autism programs, but it can be used with any student who requires a great deal of repetition and reinforcement. This systematic and explicit reading approach uses a carefully sequenced, highly repetitive, word recognition method combined with errorless learning. It eliminates incorrect responses and helps students view themselves as readers.
Students begin by recognizing and reading a new word in isolation and then in the context of phrases, sentences, and stories. They use their newly learned words in a variety of reading activities to reinforce new learning, ensure automatic word recognition, and facilitate the generalization of their reading skills to new and varied situations.
There are two methods of delivery for this program, the traditional approach with printed teacher's manuals and student readers, and the digital version through an online web-based software program. Edmark Online is provided through individual student seat licenses. Students can access the online program at any time from a variety of devices such as iPads, Tablets, Laptops, and Desktop Computers!
Each student will have access to the full range of Level 1 and Level 2 Core programs and to all the supplements including Spelling, Comprehension, Take-Away Readers, Homework, and Bingo. In Level 1, students learn 150 frequently seen sight words from kindergarten and Grade 1 reading levels and the endings -s, -ed, and -ing. In Level 2, students learn an additional 200 words from Grades 1-3 reading levels.
The print and online versions both have the same lesson structure in the same lesson sequence. We support both versions through the Office of Special Education. If you are interested in this program for your students, please contact Becky Yellets at 434-960-1379 or Yelletra@pwcs.edu.