POPEIProvincial Outreach Program for Early Intervention

Balanced K-3 Literacy Program

Friday, October 20, 2017

Lisa Watson & Sasha Žekulin

Afternoon Workshop D: 2.15-3.30

Session Objectives

• practical routines and strategies for designing a comprehensive literacy program

• examining inclusive activities that engage students in meaningful and connected literacy experiences

Why is a Comprehensive Approach to Literacy Instruction Important?

Students develop:

✓an appreciation for literacy through exposure to various forms, methods and genres

✓awareness and enjoyment of language

✓growth as readers, writers & thinkers in a supported environment - leading to independence

✓ language skills and vocabulary leading to an ever-increasing core of skills and words

continued…

Students develop:

✓a variety of reading, writing and word solving skills

✓various thinking processes - through the development of oral language skills

✓ability to make connections to prior knowledge, texts & the world around them

✓skills to communicate ideas, thoughts, feelings & experiences

…continued

Why is a Comprehensive Approach to Literacy Instruction Important?

It is important to consider:

✓students learn by talking

Comprehensive Literacy Instruction Principles

✓students need to process large amounts of written language

Adapted From - The Fountas & Pinnell Literacy Continuum - Fountas & Pinnell

✓reading & comprehension is expanded through talking & writing

✓learning deepens when students are reading, talking, and writing across the curriculum

SnapShots

•we are going to examine various photos & questions

•chat through the questions on the photo cards with your elbow partner(s)

•focus on elaborating on your answers (i.e. not just yes or no)

From - Learning Resources

How do we get there?

Differentiated Instruction

image from here

What Is Differentiated Instruction?

Differentiated Instruction (or DI) focuses on:whom we teach, where we teach, and how we teach.

Its primary goal is ensuring effective learning for varied individuals.

From - Integrating Differentiated Instruction and Understanding By Design- Tomlinson & McTighe

This approach can also be called responsive teaching.

Adapted from -Differentiated Instruction Strategies to Promote Student Learning & Differentiated Instruction in Action - Tomlinson

teachers differentiate:

content process product

based on student:

readiness interests learning profiles

growth motivation success

to increase:

respectful tasks that are:

authentic challenging engaging

✦Learning Environment

✦Learning Activities

✦Presentation

✦Resources and Materials

✦Assignments and Assessment

Differentiated Instruction - Learn Alberta

Planning for Differentiated Instruction

POPEI Prov inc ia l Outreach Program for Ear ly Intervent ion

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Planning Strategies to Consider

Learning Environment The learning environment is the overall layout of the classroom, the way you use that space, and elements such as lighting. Even minor tweaks can help ensure the classroom is supportive and comfortable for all students.

Consider: • Learning can occur anywhere in the classroom• That a well-organized space helps with student independence• Arranging your classroom to support scaffolded instruction (whole-class, small group &

independent learning)• Planning a physical space for any students with special needs to ensure accessibility• Establishing classroom routines & overall environment that make students feel safe &

supported• Allow the students to choose a quiet work area (if they need it)• Use headphones, modified lighting, alternative desks, etc.• Vary seating arrangements based on student need

o Ensure that despite flexible seating arrangements, no students are isolated• Ensure easy access to materials (with icon/image prompts for non-readers)• Vary the environment where learning occurs (outside, laboratory, field trip etc.)

Routines o Establish routines for various ‘transition’ times of the day (including first thing in

the morning)o Establish routines foro Materials Management

§ work in progress – where does it go?§ completed work – where does it go?§ consider assigning classroom jobs – what can the students manage on

their own?§ establish what goes in student’s desks and what doesn’t§ colour-coded work folders§ baskets for each curricular area (icon based for non-readers)§ student portfolios§ filing cabinets

available on our website here

Planning Strategies to Consider    

Learning Activities Learning opportunities should be varied to ensure all students get opportunities to explore concepts in different ways. Time needs to be flexible. Flexible time gives teachers opportunities to address different needs and speeds.

Consider:

• Use a combination of individual, paired, small group and whole class activities & vary how pairings/groups are chosen

• Provide opportunities for a range of skills such as discussion, writing and viewing • Alternate quiet and active times • Plan transitions to ensure a smooth flow from one activity to the next • Allow some students more time to complete assignment • Identify which students require structure, and provide them with detailed schedules and

advanced warning of major changes to routine • Build in time to respond to student needs for re-teaching and/or extension • Consider ways to activate, clarify and extend prior knowledge, and to help students

make connections between what they know and what they will be learning • Consider extension activities that allow students to reinforce, extend and apply their

learning in a variety of contexts • Identify in advance alternative activities to use if students need a change in pace or a

refocusing of attention

Suggestions for Groups & Group Work o Use flexible groupings – students should not remain in the same groups for long periods

of time § Grouping decisions can be based on:

• student learning profile (including readiness to learn) • interest • student need • student choice • random groupings • homogeneous (organizing by ability) • heterogeneous (or multi-level/mixed ability)

§ Managing group work can include: • giving each group their own set of instructions (eliminates the whole group

receiving multiple directions) • record directions for small group work (audio or written) • use task cards to break down directions into smaller chunks • assign/have students volunteer to be helpers for their peers

o students wear “ask me” hats or visors o “expert” of the day o consultants

 

 

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Presentation

How you present information and ideas is vital for differentiation. Presentation styles should be varied to meet the different abilities and learning styles of students in the classroom.

Consider:

• Make use of opportunities for collaboration & co-teaching • Provide material in manageable chunks • Repeat instructions and provide them orally, in writing & with visual supports • Have students repeat instructions • Create a storyboard of words and pictures • Make use of diagrams, illustrations, concrete materials and multimedia technology to

explore and illustrate concepts • Use computer projector to display information, images, videos etc. in large format for

the whole class • Use different colours – pens, chalk, index cards, on flipcharts, on written documents, etc. • Identify key concepts, words and questions and present them in a variety of different

formats • Introduce and reinforce concepts in a varied manner:

o write key concepts/words in large print o display and label important images or diagrams o highlight important words or passages in large print

• Use students in your demonstrations - get them involved!

Planning Strategies to Consider    

Resources and Materials

Vary teaching tools to respond to student needs. This may include varying the formats, the reading level of the materials, or the use of technology.

Consider:

• Allow students to have access to the same materials, just at different reading levels • Use both printed and non-printed materials (audio, video, images, etc.) • Use both teacher resources and resources the students have created • Engage in the use of community resources (library, radio station, fire station, newspaper,

local experts) • Allow for the use of adapted materials, as needed. For example:

o scribe o audio recordings o drawing pictures o enlarged print o computer/mobile device o manipulatives o line indicators, graph paper, adapted lined paper etc. o erasable highlighters or small flashlight for line tracking o adapted worksheets for additional room for ‘thinking space’, colour-coded

directions, highlighted keywords etc. • Allow students to use educational technology

o Computers – with varied applications for word processing, drawing and creating work (video, audio, graphic organizers, online posters, etc.)

o Mobile devices – with varied applications o Audio books or instructions in CD or MP3 format

 

 

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Assignments and Assessment The 'final result' or product can vary when you differentiate assessment. Vary the difficulty and format to allow students to demonstrate their learning. Allow students to choose how they demonstrate their knowledge. It is important to differentiate the type of tasks, not just the quantity.

Consider:

• Provide assignment options - individual or group: o different endings to stories o displays or models o comic-strips o dramatic presentations o visual timelines o puppet shows o trading cards o dioramas o puzzle creator o create a video o create a podcast o letter exchange – pen pals, authors, members of the community

• Provide additional time for work to be completed, as needed • Provide options for demonstrating knowledge and understanding:

o orally o with a scribe o have students answer fewer questions o write questions at varying reading levels o different format (see assignment options above)

• Allow students to complete assignments using technology Adapted from:

• Differentiated Instruction – Learn Alberta • Establishing Routines in a Differentiated Classroom • Differentiating Instruction in the Regular Classroom – Diane Heacox

Images from:

Educlips

Word Work Concepts of Print

Phonological Awareness Letter Knowledge & Sounds

High Frequency Words Vocabulary

Spelling & Word Study

Oral Language

Reading

Active Read Aloud

Shared Reading

Guided Reading

Independent Reading

Writing

Modelled Writing

Shared/Interactive Writing

Guided Writing

Independent Writing

Adapted from - Guided Reading Basics - Jamison Rog & The Fountas & Pinnell Literacy Continuum - Fountas & Pinnell

Comprehensive Literacy Framework

✦all students can be engaged in meaningful literacy activities that are appropriate to their diverse abilities

✦ familiar routines & schedules are easy for students to participate in with increased independence (alone, with a partner, or small group)

Benefits of Literacy Routines

✦while students are engaged in these activities, you can be providing additional support and intervention to those who need it

Classroom routines give our students a sense of calm and stability, knowing there are predictable things they can count on.

Adapted from - Literacy & Learning Lessons from a Longtime Teacher - Routman

Effective Routines for Supporting Literacy Development

Students should have daily experiences:

✓ talking with peers about reading and writing, and orally answering open-ended questions

✓ listening to educators model speaking in complete sentences and reading aloud fluently

✓echo reading and choral reading to help build their own fluency

✓participating in language activities, games, songs, poems, etc. that focus on word play and develop their word solving skills

continued…

Effective Routines for Supporting Literacy Development

Students should have daily experiences:

✓ re-reading books and repeatedly listening to audio books

✓ reading and writing about topics they choose

✓ reading an “easy read” text they can understand and read with accuracy

✓activating prior knowledge and experience to make connections to reading and writing activities

✓exposure to the various aspects of writing: audience, purpose, process, elements, genres and formats

…continued

Balance can be thought of as a multi-vitamin.

The most effective teachers provide all the important

ingredients that go into creating thoughtful, avid readers and

writers.

-Richard Allington

Scaffolded Support

Gradually releasing responsibility to children as they gain expertise, teaching a few strategies of great consequence in depth over time, and giving children the gifts of time,

choice, response, community, and structure.

From - Reading with Meaning: Teaching Comprehension in the Primary Grades - Miller

I do, you watch

I do, you help

You do it together

You do, I help

You do, I watch

Gradual Release of Responsibility: Scaffolded Support

Common Suggestionsschedule to ensure long, uninterrupted blocks of time

literacy blocks should be "safe" blocks - free from other school schedule disruptions

vulnerable students need to be present for core literacy instruction

time in each day for the gradual release of responsibility in reading, writing and word work

Literacy Centres of Today...

✓are for all students - to have meaningful practice in a collaborative group, or independently

✓ incorporate hands-on, targeted activities - to apply & reinforce previously taught literacy skills

✓engage students though differentiated materials & activities to support students with different needs & levels

Adapted from - Florida Center for Reading Research & Literacy Work Stations - Making Centers Work— Diller

✓keep students academically engaged in meaningful activities that reinforce and extend learning

✓are utilized by teachers to provide systematic, explicit, small group practice &/or instruction

Literacy Centres

Adapted from - Florida Center for Reading Research

Centres can help create time for:

teacher

➡small-group instruction/intervention ➡individual instruction/intervention ➡student observation & assessment ➡collaboration

student

➡ choice ➡ practice ➡ engagement ➡ collaboration

•Take one alphabet bean bag per group.

•Start throwing/passing the bean bag while the music plays.

•When the music stops, the person holding the bag names as many things as he/she can that start with the letter on the bag.

Hot Potato

What Effective Routines Did We Just Look At?

✓ talking with peers about reading and writing, and orally answering open-ended questions

✓ listening to educators model speaking in complete sentences and reading aloud fluently

✓participating in language activities, games, songs, poems, etc. that focus on word play and develop their word solving skills

✓activating prior knowledge and experience to make connections to reading and writing activities

@POPEIBC1 pinterest.ca/popeibc

www.popei.ca

Lisa Watson LiWatson@sd38.bc.ca

Sasha Žekulin SZekulin@sd38.bc.ca

Sources Cited

more info links are available on our website

unless otherwise noted, images from:

Posters created with:

Educlips Presenter Media

Poster My Wall

BC Ministry of Education - English Language Arts Curriculum

more videos are available on our website

GraphicStock

10 Best Things About Being a Teacher

Differentiated Instruction Strategies to Promote Student Learning

Differentiated Instruction - Learn Alberta

The Daily Schedule: Promoting Independent Learning

Florida Center for Reading Research

BooksThe Fountas & Pinnell Literacy Continuum - Fountas & Pinnell Integrating Differentiated Instruction and Understanding By Design - Tomlinson & McTighe Differentiated Instruction in Action - Tomlinson Guided Reading Basics - Jamison Rog Reading with Meaning: Teaching Comprehension in the Primary Grades - Miller Literacy Work Stations - Making Centers Work - Diller

Extra Information & Resources

Dramatic Play / Oral Language Centre

Reinforce skills in:• structure of story• planning & creating stories• literary elements and devices• oral language strategies• reading strategies• exploration of oral storytelling processes

useful for improving reading comprehension and fluency

encourages creative expression and social interactions

supports listening, speaking, and thinking skills

Reading CentreReinforce skills in:• concepts of print• print awareness• phonemic and phonological awareness• word recognition• reading strategies• elements of story• literary elements and devices• vocabulary to talk about texts

centre where students can read books and talk about books and write about books

levelling of books is an important element for differentiation

modelling of choosing "just right reads" helps to make this centre successful

Writing CentreReinforce skills in:• elements of story• literary elements and devices• text features• writing processes• sentence structure• conventions• creation of stories and other texts• planning and creation of a variety of communication forms

practicing letter formation & letter-sound correspondence for emergent writers

writing in different formats, and for a variety of purposes

talking about writing with peers

Word Work Centre

Reinforce skills in:• phonemic and phonological awareness• concepts of print• print awareness• letter formation• word patterns, word families

a lot of differentiation needed at this centre to reflect the variety of student strengths and needs

a variety of choices should be available at this centre

careful not to have too many materials or clean up can be a challenge!