MARCH

Review of February 22nd Professional Development

Grades 7-12:

Comprehension Strategy Instruction

Some of the strategies we practiced on Feb. 22 come from Cris Tovani's text I Read It, but I Don't Get It. See her talking about what is important to get students to comprehend content area text.

CCSS

Don't forget, in your Literacy Binder, you also have a copy of the Common Core State Standards, which sets requirements for literacy in content areas. You can check out the CCSS website as well.

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READING STREET : DOWNLOAD AND PRINT FIRST STOPS AND MANUALS

Have you checked out the Reading Street sample website?
Log in with username: michiganreadingstreet
and password michiganreadingstreet

***You can download any First Stops and Teachers Manuals that you'd like copies of!

Training: If you go to this site, "myPearsonTraining.com" and choose your grade level and program (Reading Street), you'll find tutorials and sheets on how to use the Reading Street core reading program.


Wikispace:

The Ingham ISD also developed a Reading Street Wiki for ALL users of Reading Street in Ingham County. This is a great place to connect with teachers in other districts!


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The Big Five

Early literacy:

• phonemic awareness


• phonics


• fluency


• vocabulary


• text comprehension

Illustration from http://reading.uoregon.edu/


See Put Reading First, a document from the National Reading Panel that explains The Big Five. You can download it here for free.

Adolescent literacy:

• Explicit vocabulary instruction


• Explicit comprehension strategy instruction


• Extended discussion of text


• Motivation and engagement with literature


• Interventions for struggling readers
  

You can read more about them in the document mentioned in the February newsletter below: Improving Adolescent Literacy: Effective Classroom and Intervention Practices

and watch a webcast on AdLit.org


*I plan to continue professional development around these topics at all grade levels.
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Share Your Strategies!

Many of you have mentioned that you use reading strategies with your students. Andy Wells and Mary Lou Turnbull thought that it might be nice to get a collection of these to share with all staff. So, send me your strategies and I'll compile them to share out with the whole district!

You can send me an electronic copy at yip_ma@elps.k12.mi.us or a paper copy via inter-school mail to MacDonald Middle School.

Companion Wiki

There is now a Companion Wikispace for the ELPS Literacy Newsletter. On the Wiki, you'll find documents from professional development sessions, research on reading and writing instruction, and documents shared by staff members.