8 with 8

Dr. Fierro is back to help us improve our effectiveness in teaching literacy to students who are simultaneously learning the English language. This can seem like a daunting task, but it is absolutely doable. In our last episode, Dr. Fierro shared four considerations for supporting literacy development in English language learners. If you missed that episode, we encourage you to go back and listen now to the first half of Dr. Fierro’s conversation with SST8 literacy leads Kim Nagy and Pam Kennedy. Today, we’ll pick up where we left off and hear four more ideas that will take you and your students even farther!

Co-Hosts: Pam Kennedy, SST8 Regional Early Literacy Specialist, and Kim Nagy, SST8 Urban Literacy Specialist

About Our Guest

Antonio A. Fierro is a former Texas State Teacher of the Year and currently a member of the national LETRS® (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling) cohort of literacy consultants led by Dr. Louisa Moats. He also is a visiting professor working with university and college professors throughout Mississippi. Dr. Fierro has more than 25 years of experience in the field of education and has contributed to several literacy curricula focusing on instruction for the English learner. He is a co-author of Kid Lips®, a curriculum that teaches the phonetics of English to young children. His areas of interest include early childhood education, all aspects of phonology, and research that impacts students’ learning of English as a second language. Dr. Fierro has a personal interest in advancing the knowledge base and understanding of dyslexia and other reading disabilities because he has a child living with dyslexia.

Additional Resources

Educator Accountability: Preparing for the Tough Literacy Challenges Faced by English Language Learners (podcast)

Best Practices in English Learner Instruction: The LETRS Gold Standard (webinar)

Over the last ten years, Ohio’s percentage of EL students has doubled to approximately 60,000 students. Spanish is the home language of almost 40% of Ohio’s English learners, along with 90 other home languages. How are we teaching these students to read WHILE we teach them to speak English?

We are thrilled to welcome to the podcast Dr. Antonio Fierro, an award-winning educator and one of our very favorite LETRS trainers. We’ve asked him to share the 8 critical considerations for teaching reading to students who are simultaneously learning the English language. Our conversation with him was so rich that we had to break it up into two episodes. Today, Dr. Fierro will share the first four tips - and we’ll bring you the final four next week.

Co-Hosts: Pam Kennedy, SST8 Regional Early Literacy Specialist, and Kim Nagy, SST8 Urban Literacy Specialist

About Our Guest

Antonio A. Fierro is a former Texas State Teacher of the Year and currently a member of the national LETRS® (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling) cohort of literacy consultants led by Dr. Louisa Moats. He also is a visiting professor working with university and college professors throughout Mississippi. Dr. Fierro has more than 25 years of experience in the field of education and has contributed to several literacy curricula focusing on instruction for the English learner. He is a co-author of Kid Lips®, a curriculum that teaches the phonetics of English to young children. His areas of interest include early childhood education, all aspects of phonology, and research that impacts students’ learning of English as a second language. Dr. Fierro has a personal interest in advancing the knowledge base and understanding of dyslexia and other reading disabilities because he has a child living with dyslexia.

Additional Resources

Educator Accountability: Preparing for the Tough Literacy Challenges Faced by English Language Learners (podcast)

Best Practices in English Learner Instruction: The LETRS Gold Standard (webinar)

Raising literacy achievement is one of our top priorities at SST8, and we bet it's one of yours too. But it's not the only priority! How can design our instruction in one area of learning so that it supports learning in other areas of development? Today, two of our team members will discuss resources and strategies for helping some of our youngest learners build social-emotional competencies while also developing critical emergent literacy skills. Research shows that when we tackle these important learnings together, we don't just get two for the price of one - we might get even more than that.

Co-Hosts: Pam Kennedy, SST8 Regional Early Literacy Specialist and Stacey Smith, SST8 Educational Consultant

Additional Resources

Stick and Stone

Big Feelings / Book That Celebrates Diversity (A Great Book For Kids)

The Rabbit Listened

The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes

Bringing Words to Life, Second Edition: Robust Vocabulary Instruction

Ohio’s K-12 Social and Emotional Learning Standards

Ohio’s Early Learning & Development Standards: Birth to Kindergarten Entry; Domain: Social and Emotional

We’re expanding our view of literacy by delving into the world of writing - emergent writing in particular. We are joined by another outstanding guest: researcher and author Dr. Lucy Hart Paulson. In the space of just 30 minutes, Lucy will have our listeners looking up the science of WRITING, searching for golf pencils and art easels, and maybe rethinking how and when we introduce keyboarding for young writers. Intrigued? You should be!

Co-Hosts: Pam Kennedy, SST8 Regional Early Literacy Specialist and Kim Nagy, SST8 Urban Literacy Specialist

About Our Guest

Lucy Hart Paulson, M.S., Ed.D., is a speech-language pathologist and literacy specialist with years of experience working with young children and their families and teachers in public school, Head Start, private, and university settings. She has a unique and broad- based perspective blending areas of language, literacy, and social communication together, resulting in effective and engaging learning opportunities for children and valuable foundations for teachers. She is the lead author of Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS) for Early Childhood Educators, Second Edition (Voyager Sopris Learning, 2018); Building Early Literacy and Language Skills (Sopris West, 2001), a resource and activity guide for young children; and Good Talking Words (Sopris West, 1998), a social communication skills program for preschool and kindergarten. In addition, Dr. Paulson served on the faculty of the Communicative Sciences and Disorders Department at the University of Montana, sharing responsibilities for teaching, supervising, research, and service.

Additional Resources

From Scribbles to Writing: Early Literacy Foundations for Print Knowledge (slide deck)

Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) are experts in language, by definition - but they may be an untapped source of professional learning for colleagues, as well as a support for developing readers and writers. What role can SLPs play in supporting literacy development in our schools? SST8’s Tracy Mail recently attended a conference called Reading, Writing and the SLP: Preschool to High School, sponsored by the American Speech and Hearing Association, and she talks with our own Kim Nagy about what she learned - and how buildings and districts can put this learning to use.

Co-Hosts: Tracy Mail, SST8 Educational Consultant and Kim Nagy, SST8 Urban Literacy Specialist

Additional Resources

Register now for ASHA's 2022 Reading, Writing and the SLP: Preschool to High School conference - Feb 2-14, 2022

Research indicates that, with effective instruction, over 90% of all students CAN read at grade level. Join us for our first episode of our 8 Great Literacy Learning season of 8 With 8, and you’ll leave with the stepping stones needed to move your instruction into that effective realm. Our very special guest, Dr. Carol Tolman, shares 8 ways to make this happen for each child in your classroom, building, and district using an approach called structured literacy. Dr. Carol Tolman, reading expert, international speaker, and co-author of Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS) joins us to share her thoughts on the most important steps for employing what science tells us works for teaching all students to read.

Co-Hosts: Pam Kennedy, SST8 Regional Early Literacy Specialist, and Kim Nagy, SST8 Urban Literacy Specialist

About our Guest: Dr. Carol Tolman

In addition to spearheading many successful, long-term literacy initiatives throughout the country, Dr. Tolman has published Working Smarter, Not Harder: What Teachers of Reading Need to Know and Be Able to Do and The Relationship between Teacher Knowledge and Effective RtI: When we Know Better, we Do Better (IDA Perspectives). Carol is co-author of LETRS (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling) Presenter’s Kits, co-author of LETRS Modules 1, 2nd Edition, co-author of LETRS Module 10, 2nd Edition, and co-author with Dr. Louisa Moats of the LETRS 3rd Edition series of text and on-line supports for teachers of reading and spelling. Dr. Tolman has presided over the LETRS Leadership Board, created LETRS On-Line, and provides LETRS Trainer of Trainer (TOT) workshops to prepare others for the rigorous study involved in becoming a Certified Local LETRS Trainer. Dr. Tolman has presented internationally in China and Australia and is passionate about the importance of empowering teachers with the knowledge necessary to impact change for all children. Learn more about her work at https://drcaroltolman.com/ and find her on Twitter at @drcaroltolman1. 

Additional Resources

The Science of Reading (webinar series by Dr. Tolman and Voyager-Sopris)

Phonological Awareness, Reading, and Writing: What Teachers Need to Know (webinar by Dr. Tolman, June 2020)

We are back with a fifth season we are calling 8 Great Literacy Learnings. We’ll be sharing the eight topics that have most significantly shaped how we are thinking about literacy instruction, and that we think have the power to dramatically impact the way we go about teaching reading, writing, and language in our schools. In this thought-provoking season, we’ll tackle topics both big and small, including

And more!

Get ready for 8 Great Literacy Learnings, starting this Friday, December 10th.

As we wrap up season 4, we have spent the last seven episodes shifting our thinking about so many important considerations for supporting students with disabilities: our mindsets in general, curriculum, assessment, family engagement, and so much more. But there’s an overarching theme that we haven’t touched on yet, and that is the topic of equity in education. The word equity has become a bit of a buzzword lately, but what do we really mean by equity?  Does it mean that everyone gets the same thing? Does it mean we are lowering our standards? What does it have to do with special education? In just the last few weeks, our team at SST8 been talking with ODE about some thought-provoking ways to think about and apply equity in our work, and how we can leverage these ideas in our work with students with disabilities. This week on 8 with 8, we'll hear from two key leaders at the Ohio Department of Education: JoHannah Ward, Director of the Office for Exceptional Children (OEC), and Joe Petrarca, Associate Director of OEC, about how we can better think about equity to make a meaningful difference for students with disabilities. 

Co-Hosts: Jenine Sansosti, SST8 Director, and Rachel Undercoffer, SST8 Educational Consultant

Additional Resources

Each Child Our Future - Ohio’s Strategic Plan for Education

Each Child Means Each Child - Ohio’s Plan to Improve Learning Experiences and Outcomes for Students with Disabilities

Today, we’ll be taking a look at career/technical education, also known as CTE. This is an avenue of education that has really grown and thrived in Ohio over the last decade or more, and we know that all students can benefit from the opportunity to learn job-specific skills from experts in their chosen field. For students with disabilities, CTE is a particularly exciting option because it offers additional opportunities for highly motivating, engaging learning tied to students’ transition goals. What should career centers be thinking about when working with students with disabilities? Join us in this quick listen as we share 8 best practices for supporting students with disabilities in a career-technical education environment.

Co-hosts: Mike Kaschak and Helen Brophy, SST8 Educational Consultants

This season, we have been reflecting on ways to reset/restart the year, with a focus on students with disabilities and eye toward getting back on track after the pandemic. We know that one of the biggest keys to the success of our students is the involvement and support of their parents. This is especially true for students with disabilities. In this episode, SST8's Helen Brophy talks with Marianne Lesko, herself a parent of a student with a disability, about a wonderful resource that SST8 offers to support parents of students with disabilities in their critical role.

Co-Host: Helen Brophy, SST8 Educational Consultant

About our Guest: Marianne Lesko is SST8's Parent Access Collaborative (PAC) liaison. She is the parent of a 21 year old son with Down Syndrome and a 19 year old son who attends Ohio State University. She also works for the Twinsburg City School District as a secretary for the Pupil Services department. She has a lot of experience dealing with parents of special needs students and can personally relate to their challenges and the complicated world of special services. She loves being involved with PAC because she continues to learn about so many things that impact her son's life and how she can help him make the most of it.

Want to join the PAC mailing list? Sign up by emailing Marianne at [email protected]

SST8 Parent Access Collaborative Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/SST8PAC

PAC Schedule/Registration links (all meetings start at 9:30am and generally run 2-3 hours, allowing time for networking and discussion)

September 29, 2021 (lunch provided)

October 20, 2021

November 10, 2021

February 9, 2022

April 13, 2022 (lunch provided)