Structured Literacy 2
Series for Tier 2/3 & specialized instruction

Learn from the Literacy How experts in this 30-hour course developed by Dr. Margie Gillis, a Certified Academic Language Therapist and President of Literacy How.

Literacy How’s Structured Literacy course is an accredited teacher training program by the International Dyslexia Association (IDA). Educators who complete the entire Structured Literacy course will be prepared to take the KPEERI exam and earn IDA’s CERI certification.

Course Description

In this six-day (30 hour) course teachers will learn how to explicitly and systematically teach word recognition skills (i.e., phonemic awareness, decoding, and encoding) along with comprehension-related methods of instruction (i.e., reading comprehension, vocabulary development, and written expression) to students with SLD/Dyslexia and other language-based learning disabilities.

This course will empower teachers with knowledge to enhance their tiered intervention or special education specialized instruction. The instructional strategies and techniques that teachers will learn may be used with an existing program or as part of a Structured Literacy approach.

(includes 4 LiteracyHow Professional Learning Series books & Structured Literacy Planner).

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“This is the best and most helpful PD I have had in MANY years.
The videos were great and definitely backed up the learning points as well as broke up the presentation … the visuals were helpful and will give me something I can refer to later on. Excellent presenter! Her humor and expertise kept me totally engaged.” 

-Participant, Structured Literacy Series

“I benefited from seeing some lessons in action, and lesson plan structures in order to see how all components of structured literacy can be applied in a 30-40 minute session. I plan to use these observations as I begin to structure my lesson plans the same way.”

-Participant, Structured Literacy Series

“Awesome reminder and knowledge about the importance of a systematic approach to teaching literacy. I will be using the syllable house, word ladders and many more things to help my struggling readers.”

-Participant, Structured Literacy Series

“I liked the socrative quizzes—especially how the Mentor would explain the answers immediately so I understood why I got an answer wrong. I also appreciated the way she dabbled in models of lessons along with the powerpoint presentations. It broke things up a little. I liked the books she pitched, too!”

-Participant, Structured Literacy Series

“This series has empowered our team to take a fresh look at our curriculum, to be more diagnostic, and to adjust our instruction based on our observations of student performance in each of the areas of structured literacy.

We leave each session armed with ready-to-use materials, including informal assessments, instructional activities, and research publications to sharpen our understanding. What a valuable experience this has been!”

Candice LaConti, Reading/Language Arts Specialist
K-5, Lyme-Old Lyme Public Schools

Structured Literacy 2 is offered across 6 full day sessions and customized for teachers based on their grade level

our course will include the following topics

1. The Science of Reading, Structured Literacy and Their Importance for Students with Dyslexia AND

This session will provide the background for the series by describing what the Science of Reading is and how Structured Literacy is based on the research. Learn the importance of oral language (at the core), the difference between evidence-based and research-based instruction, a program and an approach, and the what (content) and how (pedagogy) of Structured Literacy – that is, how literacy instruction should be taught and what it should include. The session will also explain why Structured Literacy is essential for students with dyslexia and other language-based learning disabilities. Recognize the warning signs and the role that assessment plays to identify and understand your students’ phonological processing difficulties. Learn about commonly co-occurring cognitive difficulties including executive functioning, processing speed, and attention deficit.

2. The Relationship Between Phonology and Orthography and Its Importance

Students who struggle with word recognition often have difficulty with phonemic awareness, decoding, encoding and reading fluency. As a result, their reading is labored and error prone. Key to providing targeted instruction is diagnostic assessment. Understand how to link assessment data to reading material selection and learn how to engage children in key instructional strategies and activities that teach these essential skills. Participants will also learn how to integrate handwriting into foundational skill instruction as they apply their new learning to lesson planning.

3. Advanced Phonics, Spelling, and Morphology Instruction: Linking Sounds, Symbols, and Meaning

Once basic phonics skills are mastered, students learn how to identify six syllable/vowel patterns in order to read and spell multisyllabic words including those that are comprised of more than one unit of meaning. Morphology – the study of base/root words and affixes – helps readers decode and unlock the meanings of complex words. Learn how to teach these advanced skills, including morphology, in engaging and meaningful ways, and how to incorporate the skills into your lesson plans.

4. Semantics: Strengthening Vocabulary and Text Comprehension

Semantics refers to meaning conveyed by words and sentences that help make sense of the world. Reading comprehension depends on knowing what words and sentences mean in context. Students with dyslexia and other language-based learning disabilities have difficulty with this important element of language. Learn how to incorporate explicit vocabulary instruction into your reading comprehension lessons, building on the first three workshops in the series.

5. Grammar and Syntax: The Building Blocks of Comprehending and Writing Sentences

Many children with comprehension problems have difficulty understanding sentences. Students must learn the function of the words in sentences and how their arrangement changes meaning. Learn engaging ways to improve students’ ability to speak, read, and write different types of sentences with a variety of structures. Participants will also learn techniques to support their students’ ability to comprehend sentences and write coherent, interesting, and complex sentences.

6. Reading Comprehension and Written Expression: Reciprocal Skills

The organization of spoken and written communication is referred to as discourse. Students’ proficiency in understanding text at oral and written levels predicts reading comprehension and writing proficiency. Learn about the relationship between language comprehension and reading comprehension, how to assess each, and importantly, how to support students’ development of a mental model while listening to and or reading complex text. Participants will learn a variety of activities to teach text structure and build students’ background knowledge, inferencing, and metacognitive skills to support comprehension.