Empowering Gen Z... Leading and Learning in the 21st Century

  Systematic and Explicit Phonics Instruction The most recent report from our National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP, 2019) showed that nationwide 66% of our 4th students scored below proficient in reading. The highest-performing state showed 55% below proficiency. We know from decades of research how students learn to read, how to assess to identify those at risk, and what and how to teach so that the majority of our students can be successful, and systematic and explicit phonics instruction is a critical part of building literacy .  Phonological awareness is the foundation for orthographic mapping, which in turn is critical to meaningful reading. “ Orthographic mapping is the brain’s process of linking sounds to letter sequences that establishes a memory of printed words, turning unfamiliar words into familiar words.” Students must “learn to read” before they can “read to learn” and need explicit and systematic teaching. ” Unfortunately, many of our students do no...

  Who knew early literacy was this detailed.....? Elementary Understanding print awareness, phonological awareness, and alphabet knowledge is critical in understanding the development of early literacy skills. We have learned so much in this course.  The instructional strategies discussed in these tutorials address younger students, K-2.  What was your biggest takeaway? Middle School( and anyone else that felt these concepts were not applicable) Please read this 11-minute article addressing the concerns of literacy gaps in older students.  What are your biggest takeaways?  We look forward to reading your thoughts! Next up..... Systematic and Expicit Phonics:) Schedule Rebecca Minerd and Monelle Dalman

  Phonemic Awareness is our goal......... (Middle School): Please read Phonological Awareness and Intervention and Phonological Instruction for Older Students .  (Elementary): Please view Cox Academy’s Early Literacy: Lessons 1-4. Then, both (Middle School) and  (Elementary) please respond to the following prompt: “Mastery of every skill on a phonological awareness continuum is not the goal; phonemic awareness is. Even if you have to scale back to teaching larger sound units, never stop teaching phonemes. Instead, do both simultaneously.” - (Cox Academy) What are you currently doing for phonemic awareness instruction in your classroom [to promote reading and vocabulary skills]? Based on what you’ve learned so far, will you be making any changes? Why or why not?   Rebecca Minerd and Monelle Dalman

  So How Do We Incorporate Oral Language into our Digital Day? Cox Campus Lessons 7-8 (Elementary): Given that there are many critical components of oral language  (phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, social communication) that must be developed, it is essential to incorporate as many of those components as possible into one activity that can be used in daily lessons. Which of the following activities could you incorporate into your lessons that would be most effective and how would you go about doing so? (Prove It; This or That?; Notice & Wonder; and, Morning Meeting.)   (Middle School): Given that there are many critical components of oral language  (phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, social communication) that must be developed, it is essential to incorporate as many of those components as possible into one activity that can be used in daily lessons. This week’s Cox Academy provided the following activities that incorporate several components : Pr...

 Choosing Words to Teach....... Teaching with Oral Language Blog Prompt Cox Academy Lessons 4-6 (Elementary) and Choosing Words to Teach (Middle School): Given that "researchers" estimate that a reader must know the meaning of at least 90% of words in a text to comprehend it:, we know that vocabulary is critical to reading comprehension. What is the biggest takeaway you received in Lessons 4-6 of Oral Language or Choosing Words to Teach ? What have been your key takeaways, challenges, and successes in strengthening oral language skills in your classroom through morphology, syntax, and semantics? Rebecca Minerd and Monelle Dalman

  Oral Language is really important..... Are we focusing enough on it? As we navigate our literacy journey together we can all agree on one thing.... Literacy impacts all subject areas...... and WE ALL should be focusing on it. Yes, we were supposed to be focusing on creativity and critical thinking... and we will.... but our focus for this blog will be literacy:) We have two groups here..... 1. Group One- Elementary teachers who will be completing the Cox Campus literacy training. 2. Group Two- Everyone else:) We are a team.  Thank you for coming together on this topic and supporting each other as we learn about structured literacy together! Group One A) What is the biggest take-away you received in Lessons 1-3 of Oral Language? What have been your key takeaways, challenges, and successes in strengthening oral language skills in your classroom? B) Given PIECE; the TALK Ladder with Safety Nets; HABLA; and/or the overview of phonology, Discuss and provide examples of classroo...

  Creative Thinking..... We say we foster it.... but what is it exactly? " Creative Thinking, in its simplest form, is the ability to make something new....." "The mental process of thinking creatively requires students to draw on their imagination, using their skills to combine, change, and reshape, refine, or improve ideas and solutions"  The Thinking Classroom by Alice Vigors Creative thinking is a way of thinking that leads to the generation of valuable and original ideas.  It is the ability to problem-solve. Creative thinking students ( and adults) use a variety of approaches to solve problems, analyze multiple viewpoints, adapt ideas, and arrive at innovative solutions.   People who can think creatively can generate and apply new ideas to specific contexts, see existing situations in a new way, identify alternative explanations, and see or make new links that generate positive results.   Creative Teaching and Teaching Creatively: How to Foster Cr...

  What does it mean to learn?  What does it mean to be a learner in our classrooms?  A 21st-century classroom...... This podcast really spoke to me.  It's an interview with John Hattie.  Please listen to the first 20 minutes.  The Learning Scientist Podcast: An Interview with John Hattie ( click on title) At Empower, we focus on student production........, And a lot of thoughts in the podcast have been around for a while... BUT .... Have these concepts TRULY been implemented?  What does this look like in our virtual setting?  What is one thing you could change tomorrow to move students from knowledge consumers to knowledge producers?  Just one:) Write your one change below. Rebecca Minerd

 What exactly is a sight word anyway?  Don't we teach those in primary grades and then don't visit them anymore?   Well..... not exactly. Dr. Linnea Ehri defines sight words as: "All words that are sufficiently practiced, not just high-frequency words or irregularly spelled words become sight words when read from memory." That means the words" sit" and "situational" are both sight words when you can automatically recognize them.  Is there a process to learn words?  Actually, there is a systematic approach to teaching new words.  It involves the science of  Orthographic Mapping.   - click here Read Dr. Linnea Ehri's instructional guide for a better explanation.   Click here -  Dr. Linnea Ehri's List of Instructional Guidelines for Enhancing Orthographic Mapping and word Learning What do you think about the six-step process?  How can it be implemented at your GL?  Rebecca Minerd and Elizabeth Treadwell

Let's Chat About Background Knowledge.... I think we all agree that we are not "throwing out skills instruction".... I also think we all agree with the importance that background knowledge plays in reading comprehension..... and just maybe..... we need to pay more attention to that.   But how do we incorporate that into our daily instruction without "adding" more to our already busy days?   The below article shares six easy strategies to increase background knowledge.  How to build background knowledge ( click on the title to access) And of course, there is a podcast i f you are interested .  It is 40 minutes but it is good. Deconstructing the Rope: Background knowledge with Susan Neuman   ( click on the title to access) So how are you going to increase background knowledge logically and fidelity at your instructional level?   Can't wait to read your ideas! Rebecca Minerd

  Let's Reflect..... We have learned A LOT in the last few weeks.  Let's take a week to reflect and answer the following questions. Of all that I have learned,  What can be implemented tomorrow?   What do I need support in to implement moving forward?   Be honest..... We will learn and support each other through our responses:) Rebecca Minerd

  Well.... this is opening a "can of worms".... but we have been doing that for a few weeks now:) We have visited the Simple View of Reading and the 5 Pillars.. Let's spend a bit of time on the last one, comprehension.(  Don't worry, we will come back to all 5 pillars eventually....) There is some buzz in some educational communities that question the importance of teaching reading skills vs the importance of background knowledge in order to increase comprehension.  It is the "current buzz" within this reading pendulum shift. The article below gives a general explanation along with the schools that are shifting their instruction. It is an interesting article.... Link to the article Better yet...  Listen to the first 21 minutes of this podcast ( the entire postcast is really good)  with Dr. Tim Shanahan as he gives his opinion on skills and strategy instruction and where it should be incorporated within our ultimate goal.... for students to understand the tex...

  Repeat...... Repeat....... Repeat.....  There is growing evidence of the importance of fluency within the 5 literacy pillars.   What do you think of the below information? Why repetition is important in reading instruction ( click on the title for access) Check out  minutes 32-40  on Melissa and Lori Love Literacy Podcast with Angie Hanlin (   click on the title to access) The number of repetitions needed when students are learning foundational reading skills: 1-4 repetitions for a gifted student 4-14 repetitions for a typical student 14-40 repetitions for a struggling student 40-200 repetitions for a student with dyslexia or learning disability Wait.... could this apply to remembering vocabulary as well??? How can we apply repetitions in Tier I instruction?  There is a way.... Looking forward to reading your options below!   ( remember to post with your name) Rebecca Minerd

  Nationally Only 32% of 4th graders are reading on Grade Level….. It gets worse…. Only 29% of 8th graders are considered proficient in reading….. Check out the NAEP report if you want to fact check…  ( click on the report for the link) What does current research and science say about reading and how we should be teaching it? There are LOTS of research out there but here are the basics… What is the Science of Reading  (  click on the article title for the link) Learning to read is not a natural process… The NRP gave us five key concepts that should be included in reading instruction.. We have to teach these concepts explicitly, systematically, and cumulatively     LOCALLY What does the Coweta County School System think?? Reading Instruction/ CCSS   ( click on  the title for link) Big Difference between this and Balanced Literacy with the 3 cueing methods….. Do we even try to blend the two…..? But what now…. Do we believe this?  If so, wh...

Wow..... Just Wow..... We have all listened to it..... ( If you haven't,  don't worry, it's linked below) Sold A Story Podcast ( click on Title to gain access) If we know better we do better.... What are your thoughts? 1...2.....3   GO!                                                                                              Rebecca Minerd

  Another reading war..... Really??  Doesn't the pendulum shift back and forth all the time?  This war may be different..... There is science involved in this one! Let's begin our PL journey of discovering the Science of Reading with this article Four things you need to know about the new reading wars ( click on the article title to access the article) What are your thoughts?  How could this impact your instruction? Share below.   Rebecca Minerd