Welcome Educators of LiteracyDeanne Opatosky
Developed by Deanne Opatosky
• Establishing a Professional Learning Community
• Examining our Practices and Challenging our Beliefs
• Identifying Characteristics and Instructional Practices of Effective Literacy Teachers
• Defining Balanced Literacy
• Organizing a Balanced Literacy Program
Agenda
Developed by Deanne Opatosky
Establishing a Professional Learning Community
Record some key words and phrases as you watch the video.
Developed by Deanne Opatosky
Ice Breaker• Choose a partner and stand facing each other.
• Examine the appearance and physical traits of your partner.
• Stand back to back and change three things about your own appearance.
• Try to identify your partner’s changes.
• Repeat the process.
Developed by Deanne Opatosky
Ice Breaker Reflection
How does the experience relate to educational change?
• Past Practice
• Adding and Eliminating Material
• Interdependence & Collaboration
Developed by Deanne Opatosky
Essential Elements Elementary Literacy Program
Goal –• Establish a common language for literacy
across the district by building a shared understanding of balanced literacy and its role in effective literacy instruction
• Identify best practices in literacy which focus on strategy acquisition
Developed by Deanne Opatosky
Reflect upon your current literacy instruction…• Describe your current literacy related programs,
approaches, techniques, and methodologies?• How would you describe the general reading abilities of
your students? (strengths/weaknesses) How do you assess their abilities?
• How do you decide what to teach? When to teach it? Who to teach it to?
Reflect upon your background knowledge about balanced literacy…
• What do you already know about balanced literacy?• What do you want to learn about balanced literacy?
Examining our Practices and Challenging our BeliefsGoal – What do we do?
Developed by Deanne Opatosky
Possible Daily ScheduleMon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri.
Developed by Deanne Opatosky
Possible Daily ScheduleMon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri.
SSR/DEARCan be done before/after lunch
SSR/DEARCan be done before/after lunch
SSR/DEARCan be done before/after lunch
SSR/DEARCan be done before/after lunch
SSR/DEARCan be done before/after lunch
15 min Direct TeachingShared InteractiveCore books/anthology
60 min Direct TeachingShared InteractiveCore books/anthology
15 min Direct TeachingShared InteractiveCore books/anthology
60 minDirect Teaching
Shared InteractiveCore books/anthology
15 min Direct TeachingShared InteractiveCore books/anthology
45 minGuided reading
45 minGuided reading
45 minGuided reading
Modeled Reading (Read Aloud) Can be done before/after lunch
Modeled Reading (Read Aloud) Can be done before/after lunch
Modeled Reading (Read Aloud) Can be done before/after lunch
Modeled Reading (Read Aloud)Can be done
before/after lunch
Modeled Reading (Read Aloud) Can be done before/after lunch
30 minShared/Modeled WritingGrammar/Spelling
30 minWriters Workshop
30 minShared/Modeled WritingGrammar/Spelling
30 minWriters Workshop
30 minShared/Modeled WritingGrammar/Spelling
Examining our Practices and Challenging our BeliefsGoal – What do we want?
Collaborate
Respectful of differences
Gain knowledge
about reading strategies
Read to learnResearchers
Comprehension
Fluency Choice
Challenges
Successful
Strategic Motivated
Socially conscious
Knowledgeable
Word analysis
Decoding
Engaged Readers
Concept knowledge
National Reading Panel Report
Developed by Deanne Opatosky
Defining Balanced Literacy
A combination of authentic reading and writingexperiences to create lifelong literacy learners
Ten components that gradually release dependency on teacher and increase student independence by varying level of instruction
The levels of support are easily thought of as:
Read/Write to…Read/Write with…Read/Write by
Developed by Deanne Opatosky
READING• Read aloud - Modeled
reading• Shared reading• Interactive reading• Small group instruction
Guided reading/Lit circle• Independent reading
WRITING• Write aloud - Modeled
writing• Shared writing• Interactive writing• Guided writing-Lit response• Independent writing-
Writers Workshop
Developed by Deanne Opatosky
Reading Components
• Modeled Reading - Read aloudModel strategy
• Shared Reading Explicit instruction + think aloud strategy
• Small group instruction –Facilitate, support, & assess application of
strategy in guided reading/literature circles
• Independent ReadingAssess independent application of strategy
Developed by Deanne Opatosky
TEACH THE READER
NOT THE STORY
Developed by Deanne Opatosky
GuidedReading
Description of Approach Advantages for Students
Modeled reading
Shared reading
Guided reading
Literature circles
Independent Reading
Reading Components
• Modeled Reading - Read aloudModel strategy
• Shared Reading Explicit instruction + think aloud strategy
• Small group instruction –Facilitate, support, & assess application of
strategy in guided reading/literature circles
• Independent ReadingAssess independent application of strategy
Developed by Deanne Opatosky
Decoding
•Picture Clues•Context Clues•Stretch and sounds•Syllabication•Chunking •Find smaller words•Substitution•Rereading•Word Patterns/Families•Root words/Prefixes/Suffixes
Model Lessons Emphasize Strategy Acquisition
Developed by Deanne Opatosky
Comprehension
•Make predictions•Make connections•Use self-questioning•Determine importance•Summarize•Infer•Visualize
BEFORE AFTER
______ ______ Students are heterogeneously grouped
______ ______ Guided reading should occur one hour per day
______ ______ Guided reading is an assessment tool
______ ______ The children read orally during guided reading
______ ______ The grade level of a book is not as important as where the students are in their development of the reading process
______ ______ Guided reading lessons are to teach decoding strategies
______ ______ Guided reading lessons are to teach comprehension strategies
______ ______ There is always a word study component of a guided reading lesson
______ ______ The groups are flexible
______ ______ The goal/objective of the lessons for each group is the same on one day, just presented at a different level depending on the students’ abilities
______ ______ You must level your classroom library when you are implementing guided reading
Developed by Deanne Opatosky
……
• Students homogeneously grouped
• An instructional and assessment tool
• A group of students reading a book at their instructional level(90-94% accuracy) in a whisper voice
• A tool to teach and support the application of decoding strategies
• A tool to teach and support the application of comprehension strategies
• An opportunity to provide word study
• Flexible groups
• Providing differentiated instruction to your proficient readers in a small group setting at least 3X per week and to your struggling readers at least 4X per week.
Developed by Deanne Opatosky
……
• A new program to replace your existing “program”
• Teacher providing direct instruction “imparting knowledge”
• All of the students reading the same book/anthology in a small group setting
• NEVER round robin reading (30)
• A time for students not in groups to do “busy work”Developed by Deanne Opatosky
Developed by Deanne Opatosky
4. How do you organize lessons, materials and assessment
Reflection1. Learnings (1 idea to bring back to
your classroom?
2. Changes from current practices/philosophy
3. Needs – future PD, coaching
4. Comforts -Developed by Deanne Opatosky