In an effort to un-trap language, Dr. Mercuri and Dr. Pratts share ways to replace instructional practices, instead of adding practices, in an effort to build bilingualism within our classrooms. They discuss three ways to facilitate biliteracy development; integrated curriculum, Preview-View-Review structure, and Cross Linguistic Connections. They share some misconceptions around CLC and address a process to help teachers and teacher leaders plan for and teach content and language. This is a complex process, but Mercuri and Pratts leave us with applicable and transferable action items that we can do to make language accessible for students as well as showcasing the beauty, music, and movement behind language.

Join Dr. Robin Griffith and I as we talk about teachers as THE decision makers in the classroom. Teachers are tasked with making many decisions when teaching, and those decisions must translate into action around moving students to growth. Utilizing small group instruction enables teachers to take the decisions they've made concerning students and put them into a purposeful plan pointed at individual success. Teachers: Let's take back the power a bit for ourselves as professionals.

on Twitter @Griffith4R

Robin's book!

Teachers as Decision Makers Responsive Guided Reading Instruction

It started with a question: How do we meet the needs of all kiddos?

Just like Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs starts with physiological needs needing to be met before one can attend to other higher needs. Amy and I talk, and may argue, that students must be engaged before they can become successful readers, writers, or students. Thanks to Jennifer Serravallo's hierarchy outlined in the front of her book, Reading Strategies 2.0, where engagement is the second level, Amy has found a tool to support teachers in their engagement endeavor. Through intentionality, focus, clear communication, and professional development Amy and her team work to support teachers as they work to meet students where they are, provide what they need, and grow them on their educational journey.

Resources mentioned:

Reading Strategies 2.0 by Jennifer Serravallo

Atomic Habits by James Clear

Plodding through essay after essay of the same exact structure can get old. In her classroom, Gretchen knew that there had to be some alternative to the traditional five paragraph essay. Through her work in the classroom to her work with teachers and creating and deciphering text structures she has students do exactly that: Take an essay; break it down into steps; then write one sentence for each step; boom, kernel essay. Then, students choose a kernel essay to expand into a full essay. Giving students dedicated time to practice, choice, control, and the ability to attack any genre by knowing a few structures is key to taking that writing from mundane to fabulous. Teaching text structures allows students and teachers to live in all kinds of genres all year long.

Gretchen's website: Trail of Breadcrumbs

Check out her books!

Upcoming Saturday writing retreats

Thomas Newkirk

Metacognition is the awareness of your own learning or thinking process. Accomplished readers are metacognitive. So, how do we make metacognition a part of our classrooms and learning community? Join me and Alison Rison, PreK-5 Director of Literacy, as we dig into what this looks like in the elementary classroom. We hit on what's already installed in their K-5 classrooms, as well as what's next.

Find Alison on Twitter @AlisonRison

Resources mentioned:

Teaching Readers (not Reading) by Dr. Peter Afflerbach

Keep Sharp Build a Better Brain at Any Age by Dr. Sanjay Gupta

"I can't do everything, but I can do one thing." A quote to live by when it comes to making a change. Join Director of Literacy and Instruction for Canyon ISD, Lisa Hill and I as we talk through what supporting teachers from kinder through high school looks like. The evaluation system in Texas (TTESS) is student centered; workshop, specifically focusing on the gradual release model, gives teachers the opportunity to let students apply their learning constantly. From the Professional Development design, to the implementation plan, to the support along the way Canyon is working to explicitly and systematically grow readers and writers through their instruction.

Lesson template, model, advice? Email [email protected] (title: Podcast- workshop information).

Books mentioned:

• Literacy Continuum by Irene Fountas & Gay Su Pinnell
• The Shallows by Nicholas Carr
• Think Again by Adam Grant

Researcher John Hattie contends that, “knowing the four core strategies-when to use them and how to develop them-is essential to be an excellent teacher.”  (From the foreword Oczkus, 2018) Join Lori and I as we dig into reciprocal teaching, a discussion strategy, and how the Fab4 (predict, question, clarify, summarize) can increase reading comprehension in your classroom. We know when we teach the "good readers" strategies and model them through a gradual release model all students do well.

Resources mentioned and how to find Lori:

The Science of Reading Comprehension Instruction (Duke, Ward, Pearson)

www.lorioczkus.com

@LoriOczkus on Twitter

Reciprocal Teaching at Work: Powerful Strategies and Lessons for Improving Reading Comprehension: 3rd Edition foreword John Hattie (Oczkus,2018) ASCD/ILA

Close Reading with Paired Texts by Lori Oczkus & Timothy Rasinski Shell education. 

Article ILA Blog/You Tube examples of close reading 

warreninpd.com/workshops (Reading Rescue)

Serving different districts in different roles, and thinking back on her own education, has provided Kelley a wide lens with which she looks through when supporting teachers. As a current Reading Academies Cohort Leader she's been tasked with helping teachers implement the 12 modules they go through to prepare themselves for classroom instruction. We dig into how important it is in her role to:

• Create concrete tasks, activities, materials, and instructional routines for teachers.
• Provide training for teachers that follows an "I do", "we do", "you do" model so they can learn the routines while seeing how to implement them.
• Use professional learning communities (PLCs) to help teachers plan with intentionality around the standards.
• Emphasize how important accountability is at the campus level.

"All the other things" don't stop when we work to build foundational skills. Students still need response to reading, cross-curricular work, and reading and writing instruction. So providing access to everything teachers need to be efficient and effective with their instruction is key.

Dr. Paul Thomas touches on his experiences and findings as a young teacher, a tenured professor, and a consumer of research. Over the years his belief and work hasn't changed, and has two goals: goal one is to serve individual needs of every student, and goal two is to support teacher autonomy. We specifically dig into the science of teaching reading and how it (body of research that is decades old) has spanned into a multiverse (movement, branding/marketing, research), which has become jumbled and weaponized, doing more than identifying an area of need for students.

Find and follow Paul Thomas!

@plthomasEdD

Website: https://radicalscholarship.com/about/

Episode mentions:

How to End the Reading War and Serve the Literacy Needs to All Students: A Primer for Parents, Policy Makers, and People Who Care

NEPC Policy Brief

TEST SCORES REFLECT MEDIA, POLITICAL AGENDAS, NOT STUDENT OR EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT [UPDATED] (Blog post about NAEP)

In this episode Licensed Dyslexia Therapist Jamie Kenny and I dig into what to look for and how to support dyslexic students in a balanced literacy classroom. From the beginning of her career in education, Jamie's passion was around differentiating for students and working with them 1:1. As she journeyed to her current position, the trainings and certifications acquired enabled her to equip, empower, and encourage her students to be successful and confident in a general education classroom. With 1 in 5 students having some type of dyslexic tendencies it's important and necessary to incorporate explicit and systematic phonics instruction, but it is just as important to create a complete classroom where we balance phonics with reading and writing instruction. Action items: identify red flags early (she shared them!), create small group time, space, and routines so we can prescribe skills like a doctor prescribes medicine; specific to what each student needs, when they need it.

Resources mentioned:

Read Naturally

University of Florida Literacy Institute (UFLI)