STRUCTURED LITERACY SERIES FOR TIER 1 INSTRUCTION
These one-day workshops focus on covering the core components of comprehensive literacy shown in our Reading Wheel. They offer teachers background knowledge needed for effective reading instruction, as well as assessment tools and hands-on activities to use with students, and are aligned to the Literacy How Professional Learning Series books.
Our Mentors deliver evidence-based content that is targeted primarily for PreK-5 general education and special education teachers.
Literacy How Professional Learning Series
The Literacy How Professional Learning Series translates the latest reading research into how-to instruction. The Knowledge to Practice book Series—Phonemic Awareness and Phonics, Syntax, Vocabulary, and Comprehension—is based on the current and comprehensive Literacy How reading model. It draws upon the authors’ decades of expertise and experience working with thousands of general and special education teachers. The Series emphasizes Pre-K-3rd grade conceptual and skill development. Teachers of older emerging or struggling readers will also find these tools useful.
Phonemic Awareness: What It Is and How to Teach It
Learn why phonemic awareness is a necessary prerequisite for learning to read. Understand the developmental sequence of phonological awareness, become comfortable producing the sounds of English, practice segmenting, blending and manipultating sounds in words. Learn how to engage children in key instructional strategies and activities that teach this critical skill to mastery utilizing our new Phonemic Awareness and Phonics book.
Know the Code: Explicit, Systematic, Differentiated Phonics Instruction
Gain a basic understanding of the history and origins of English and learn about the research supporting phonics instruction. Become familiar with tools for phonics, including words sorts, phoneme/grapheme mapping, syllable types, and the purpose and power of decodable text. Learn songs, games, and activities to engage students in word study for differentiated small group instruction utilizing our new Phonemic Awareness and Phonics book.
Advanced Code Instruction and Morphology
Learn the rationale behind instruction in the study of affixes (prefixes and suffixes) and Latin roots and Greek combining forms to build students’ vocabulary and improve their spelling. Gain a basic understanding of the history and origins of English and learn about the research supporting phonics instruction. Learn how and why to incorporate morphology instruction into your language arts instruction—whether you teach K-1st or 2nd grade and beyond.
Juicy Vocabulary: Making Words Stick
Vocabulary encompasses several critical dimensions in the area of literacy including word relationships, multiple meaning words, and morphological elements. Learn about the essential components of robust vocabulary instruction and its relationship to reading comprehension. Find out how to select, extend, and maintain words in order to tackle the “30 million word gap” utilizing our new Vocabulary book.
SYNTAX INSTRUCTION: THE BRIDGE BETWEEN READING FLUENCY AND COMPREHENSION
In order to read fluently and comprehend connected text, students must understand a variety of sentence structures. Learn how to support students’ reading fluency and comprehension by teaching phrasing and sentence structure with a focus on oral language. Find out ways to incorporate grammar and syntax into your language arts block. This workshop will set the stage for the following workshop on written expression utilizing our new Syntax book.
WRITING IS NOT A SEPARATE SUBJECT: EXPLICIT WRITING INSTRUCTION AND THE WRITING PROCESS
This workshop will build on the Syntax Instruction workshop as you identify and recognize the various skills that are necessary for proficient writing. Learn how to identify students’ developmental stages of writing and the strategies and interventions that support writing at the sentence and discourse levels. Learn how to integrate this systematic and explicit writing instruction into your curriculum using your existing writing program.
ORAL LANGUAGE AT THE CORE: PREPARING STUDENTS TO ENGAGE IN CLOSE READING
Speaking and listening are the foundation of literacy. Learn about oral language development and its relationship to language comprehension and reading comprehension. Learn what makes reading comprehension challenging for many students and what students must be able to know and do in order to read text “closely.” Participants will also learn how to analyze the text and the task to ensure that students develop reading proficiency.
READING COMPREHENSION: WHY AND HOW TO TEACH INFORMATIONAL TEXT
The Common Core State Standards emphasize the importance of expository/informational texts. Understand expository text structures, the role of background knowledge, and the importance of syntactic structures in text comprehension. Gain an awareness of the types of comprehension problems your students may be having related to text and sentence structure. Understand the literate language requirements of expository text and learn methods and activities that will support students in their comprehension of expository text.
READING COMPREHENSION: UNDERSTANDING NARRATIVE TEXT
How do the elements of story structure relate to the Common Core State Standards? Learn about the relationship between macrostructure and microstructure, the two levels of narrative structure. Practice analyzing literature to identify key story grammar elements. Learn effective classroom instructional practices designed to promote comprehension of narratives.
ASSESSMENT:WHY AND HOW TO DIG DEEPER TO DRIVE INSTRUCTION
Learn to use and analyze “dig deeper” diagnostic assessments to drive your instruction. This workshop focuses on the how and why of informal assessments for each of the areas studied over the course of this professional development series. Gain experience with the administration and analysis of quick and easy diagnostic assessments to inform your instruction.