Day 1 of 3 day series. What counts in effective literacy instruction? How does this match the BC Ministry Definition of Literacy? What does this look like in the classroom? What do you want to hold on to, what to let go of? 2 keynotes, with breakout sessions.
1. Professional Learning
Network: effective learning in
inclusive classrooms
Brighouse
November 22, 2019
Faye Brownlie
slideshare.net/fayebrownlie.Richmond.nov.2019
2. Shape of the Day
• 8:30-10:10 – Keynote
• 10:20-11:05 - Break out #1
• 11:15 - 12:00 - Break out #2
• 12:00 - 12:30 – Nutrition Break
• 12:30 - 1:30 Keynote
3. Learning Intentions
• I am more convinced that I know enough, especially when working with
others, to teach all the students in my care.
• I have a better idea of ‘what counts’ in effective literacy instruction.
• Every Child, Every Day
• CR4YR
• The Relationship between Teacher Support and Student Control
• I have a plan to try something new to me.
• I have a question to continue to ponder.
• I have a practice that I will let go of.
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10. Curriculum Design and Instructional
Strategies:
Strategic Planning
• Who is doing the cognitive work?
• Is there an access point for all learners?
• Is there an opportunity for growth for all learners?
• Does the task the student is engaged in grow competency and
thinking?
11. Curriculum Design and Instructional
Strategies:
Strategic Planning
• Start with your end in mind
• Consider your learners’ strengths and stretches
• What will you do to mediate their learning? i.e., choose your
strategies
• How will you incrementally remove supports to enable the learners to
use the thinking behind the strategies independently?
12. The Story behind the Picture
• Look closely at the pictures, silently, thinking about:
• What do you think is happening?
• What happened before?
• What might happen next?
• How are they connected?
• In partners, share your thinking.
• Did your thinking grow when you heard from your partner?
• What do you think is the story behind these pictures?
• Quick write: 2/3 minutes. Begin the story.
• Choose a word or a phrase that you particularly like from your quick write. If you can’t decide,
read your first 3 words
• Whip around, listening to each.
• What do you notice about these words and phrases? (This is the first step in building criteria.)
• Add on background information about the picture sequence.
• With this new information, add on to your writing or begin again – 5 minutes. Feel free to use
anything you heard that sparked your thinking!
14. Collective Teacher Efficacy –
John Hattie, Collaborative Impact Conference, 2017
• …the collective belief of teachers in their ability to
positively affect students
• Effect size of d=1.57
• New #1 influence related to student achievement
• It is more than just belief; it is a collaborative
conversation based on evidence.
15. Big Ideas
• Teaching counts!
• Our instructional choices impact significantly on student
learning
• We teach responsively
• We need a mental model of ‘what works’ to guide our
teaching
• All kids can learn and we know enough collectively to
teach all kids!
• An unwavering belief that everyone has the right to be
included socially, emotionally, and intellectually
16. Big Ideas
• Reading and writing
• ‘float on a sea of talk’ – James Britton
• Are apprenticeships – Frank Smith
• Engage the learners!
• If you are not engaged, you can’t be learning
• Thinking is the basis of all our learning
• Provide access for all!
• Low floor, high ceiling
• Work tirelessly to keep students within the community of the
classroom
17. Ministry of Education’s Definition of Literacy
Literacy is the ability and willingness to make meaning from
text and express oneself in a variety of modes and for a
variety of purposes.
Literacy includes making connections, analyzing critically,
comprehending, creating, and communicating.
B.C. Ministry of Education, 2017
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24. • Island Literacy Net Book Catalogue – SD 71
• Easy, affordable books for Vancouver Island readers
25. 3. Every child reads something he or she understands.
-at least 2/3 of time spent reading and rereading NOT
doing isolated skill practice or worksheets
-build background knowledge before entering the text
-read with questions in mind
26. • Recycled
• 5 cents a pound
• Garbage trucks
• 1500 tons each day
• Paraguay
27.
28. 4. Every child writes about something personally meaningful.
-connected to text
-connected to themselves
-real purpose, real audience
29. Writers’ Workshop – Student Diversity 3rd
ed
• The foundation of your literacy programming
• Establish this first!!!!
• K/1 – begin with interactive writing, writing/drawing/creating
text in front of your learners, representing thinking with
drawing, adding letters and sounds
• 2-7 – write in front of your students, at least 2 whole class
writing in response to experiences, read alouds, classroom
inquiries each week
30. •When students write, they generate deeper
thinking in any content area.
• Kelly Gallagher “The Writing Journey” EL, Feb 17
31. •Improvement in writing is grounded in
practice, in getting words on the page –
lots of them. There are no shortcuts.
• Gallagher & Kittle, EL, April 18
32. • Focus on ideas
• Do not focus on transcription – punctuation,
capitalization, spacing, spelling, handwriting,
high-frequency words
• “…compositional skills develop, and are
mastered, long before transcription skills”
(Flower & Hayes, 1981; Ray & Glover,2008;
Roberts & Wibens, 2010)
• Auguste, “The Balancing Act of Kindergarten Writing Instruction”, EL,
April 2018
33. The Water Cycle: Water is essential to all
living things and it cycles through the
environment
• Grade 2 with Andrea Vanderkruyk – September 17
• Strengths:
• Excited and want to learn
• Chatty and love to share
• Practicing read to self
• Stretches:
• Hesitant to write
• Listening to each other
• Staying focused
• Several generally don’t make it through a class and need to leave the room
34. Previously…
• Brainstormed questions about water
• Examined images of water in different forms
• Brainstormed what they knew about water
• Had been on a field trip to Kootenay Lake the previous day
35. This class:
• Whip around
• Write in response:
• Know about water
• Are curious about water
• What you are becoming expert on
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41. 5. Every child talks with peers about reading and writing.
42. 6. Every child listens to a fluent adult read aloud.
-different kinds of text
-with some commentary
43. 1. Every child reads something he or she chooses.
2. Every child reads accurately.
3. Every child reads something he or she understands.
4. Every child writes about something personally
meaningful.
5. Every child talks with peers about reading and
writing.
6. Every child listens to a fluent adult read aloud.
44. Some NOT best practices in
literacy
-no research support for decades!
-over-used, under-supported
• Teaching grammar in isolation
• Friday spelling lists
• Assigning topics in writing, with no 1:1 no conferencing,
just collecting the work
• Too much teacher-talk
• Fill in the blanks, MC, closed thinking exercises
• Children identifying themselves by their reading level
• Round robin reading – even in guided reading groups!!!
• Lack of consistency in the programming for vulnerable
learners
45. Questions to leave with…
• What would happen if…?
• With whom will you work?
• How will you know if what you are doing is making a difference?
• Something to hang on to…
• Something to let go of…
• Something to try…
Notes de l'éditeur
Knowing what counts and doing what counts
Noticing your impact by always keeping your eyes on the students and their changes
In order to explore and understand the constructs of Numeracy and Literacy , a pan-Canadian and limited international review was completed to determine how these constructs are defined and assessed in leading jurisdictions
The definitions of the constructs of Numeracy and Literacy emerged from this research and through shaping it via consultations with educators and academics
Here is the Literacy definition
Some subjects are more text heavy than others … for example, there is less actual text in a PE class, but making meaning still has a place
Home Ec there is less text than a SS class, but those texts are very important!! Less room for error
-literacy across discplines as supported by the new literacy assessment
Show a few books and market them. Help kids choose a just right book. Note the different kinds of text. Can be guided choice, but also need some time of free-er choice. Colleen’s story of taking the guided reading group to the bookroom and every child choosing the book or 2 they he wanted to read in their group next. Then voting on which to read first. All for her most reluctant reader. While they are reading, we conference. Those who are needing more support and read with every day – by teacher, resource teacher, para…who reinforces the skills that were introduced and taught in the group lessons.
Robo-Rex, Flags, Kay McKeever – p.1, Special Tricks – blue-tailed lizard
No point in being left in too hard text. Lisa image here…repeated readings
Could be class names, reading together, rereading books from GR group, echo reading, poems, songs…
Give example of building BK …
In whole group and small group. Introduce how to talk about what you know with a buddy before you begin independent or partner reading. What do you know? How does it connect? What does it remind you of? Why did you choose this book? What do you wonder about?
NOT a journal about what you did on the weekend.
Tied to content, tied to books you are reading, experiences you are having – often shared because this builds up the background knowledge.
Not about copying my words after I have scribed! Not about tracing and calling it writing. Better to tell a story, draw a picture, build something – and add some letters or sounds – than have it all scribed.
Read from 2-3 different texts – poem, recipe, newspaper, graph, chart
Brussels advertisement and picture book – tea monkeys
98% accuracy
Note text complexity with sentence structure, background knowledge – Jasmine and polar bears as whale predators – just saw first snowflakes
Writes – connected to the learning – and with voice – not a scripted piece
Talks – brainstorm-categorize and circle to rebuild text from clues
Read – different texts
Jess’ every morning journal – 10-15 minutes. Hmmm.
