Heartland AEA Literacy Newsletter

March 2022

Comprehension

Do This Not That Comprehension - This document is from The Reading League that shares several strategies to teaching comprehension that supports the science of reading. It highlights highly effective practices for you reflect on what you are currently doing in the classroom.

Vocabulary

Do This, Not This Vocabulary - This, also from the Reading League, highlights the importance of using grade level, complex texts with students and effective ways to implement those, that also support the science of reading research.

Monitoring for Meaning

Monitoring for Meaning for Purposeful Practice and Evidence Base - What is purposeful practice? Purposeful practice is more than repetition. Purposeful practice has distinct components that distinguish it from merely repetitive practice. After reading Do This Not That, try out this practice to support student learning.

Science of Reading: Defining Guide (click here)

The Science of Reading: Defining Guide provides a firm definition of what the science of reading is, what it is not, and how all stakeholders can understand its potential to transform reading instruction. Provided by The Reading League to download.

Using Progress Monitoring Data to Evaluate Interventions

From Panorama Academy

With only about 12 weeks left of school we thought a review around progress monitoring and the importance of using that data to make instructional decisions was appropriate this month. The information below is from Panorama Student Success and more information can be found in the Panorama Academy.

Progress monitoring is all about monitoring progress. That may seem a foolish statement, but collecting the weekly data is not the important thing - it’s USING that data to keep an eye on the student’s growth that makes a difference. The person responsible for delivering the intervention or monitoring its delivery should check the data regularly, focusing on the student’s rate of progress relative to the goal line. Is the gap closing? Is it closing fast enough to reach the benchmark by the end of the year? Or is the gap constant, where the student is growing, but not quickly enough? Or, worst-case scenario, is the gap widening over time? Researchers don’t always agree on whether there must be a certain number of data points in the graph, but they all agree that when a student’s trend is not heading in the right direction, it’s a powerful sign that something needs to change. If the trend is widening the gap, and if there are at least 4-6 progress monitoring (PM) data points showing that trend, that’s a good indication of a problem with the way things are going.

Evaluating Intervention Effectiveness at the System Level

If progress monitoring goals are set correctly, data are regularly collected, and teachers use the pre-selected interventions (directions), there are reporting tools that can help identify which interventions get better results and those that may not be as effective.

The intervention summary view on the Students tab gathers data for all students in each intervention and aggregates information about the rate of improvement of each child participating in the intervention (On track) and whether the most recent progress update falls within the expected monitoring frequency on the plan.

For assistance with navigating these reports in Panorama or just more information, reach out to your literacy consultant for support.

Read Across America

eRead Across America Day happens on March 2nd but to promote literacy we thought we'd share some audiobook ideas this month as well.

If you use Spotify, you can access tons of free audiobooks in the public domain, such as: The Secret Garden, Peter Pan, and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Yes, it was a book first).

Harper Kids is presented by Harper Collins Children's Books and is a You Tube channel where you can find all there favorite picture books. Check out their Story time Read Aloud Playlist.

To encourage family engagement and a love of reading at home, PBS KIDS offers families a place to come together and read along with fan-favorites on YouTube.

And don't forget about Heartland AEA's online access to the following resources for ebooks and audio books.

Consider sending these to parents at conferences as well to keep reading at home.

Audio books:

Tales2Go includes over 10,000 audiobooks for all grades. It also includes Spanish and French language titles and music for younger children. Tales2Go is an award-winning product that streams thousands of titles from leading publishers and storytellers. All have professional narration. You can access titles from AEA Scout, Tales2Go and Mackin VIA. While Tales2Go has a robust search engine, we thought you might also like a spreadsheet of titles you can sort and share with other educators and students. Visit the Tales2Go website, click “Resources” then “Catalog Download.”

Ebook Sites

eBook Reading Guides

Ch oose Your Adventure! (Elementary)
It’s a Mystery! (Elementary)
Graphic Novels (Middle School)
Sports and Recreation #1 (Middle School)
Sports and Recreation #2 (Middle School)

Literacy Tips for Parents - Share at Conferences launch

At Home Literacy Tips

There are a few things at home that parents and guardians can do at home to improve their literacy skills. Share these with parents and guardians through email or print out and share at conferences to support literacy at home.

Comprehension & Fluency

This document can be shared with parents and guardians to help support comprehension and fluency. These are available in both English and Spanish. Bookmarks are available through Heartland AEA Creative Services for about $8.00 fo 200 bookmarks to send home and pin on the fridge as well.

Questioning

These read aloud literacy questions can be utilized when reading with students to support understanding before, during, and after reading. Available for both literacy and informational text. Pamphlets are available through Heartland AEA Creative Services for print. Go to teacher and family resources on the creative services page.

Bit by Bit - Scaffolding Up

Classes

An Academy for Elementary Schools, Middle Schools & High Schools: MTSS

#182253 HL - An Academy for Elementary Schools: MTSS June 15 and June 16, 2022

#181277 HL - An Academy for Middle Schools and High Schools: Multi-Tiered Systems of Supports June 13 and June 14, 2022

Are you seeking clarity on how to be more efficient and effective in building a system of supports for all
students and staff? The Academy is designed to provide leadership teams with the knowledge and resources to improve academic and behavior outcomes for ALL students. You will develop a common understanding of the Five Essential Components of a Multi-tiered System of Supports. In an era of accountability, Iowa schools need a school improvement framework to guide this work. Teams will focus on developing action plans to fully implement MTSS at the building level. Ongoing supports will be provided.

Structured Literacy Framework in the Primary Grades (K-2)

HL Structured Literacy Framework in the Primary Grades Course #180279

June 13 and June 20, 2022

The purpose of this course is to share a structured literacy framework to support foundational reading and writing knowledge and skills that includes instruction and learning in phonology, orthography, semantics, syntax and morphology (POSSuM). Instructional routines and strategies that explicitly teach now the English language works will be modeled and practiced. Specific attention will be made to highlight aspects of the routines and strategies that are critical for struggling students including students with dyslexia. Educators will learn the big ideas in spelling and decoding, teaching accuracy and automaticity of high frequency words, how to use syntax to teach comprehension and writing of sentences.

Conventional Literacy Strategies for Students on Alternate Assessment

#182326 HL

This class is for students with significant cognitive disabilities, K-12, who take the alternate assessment and are beginning readers and writers. This class is not appropriate for students with dyslexia or other learning disabilities. In this course, teachers will learn about specially designed instruction and the comprehensive literacy framework as developed by Karen Erickson and David Koppenhaver. Content will include principles of effective literacy instruction, the importance of communication and core vocabulary, a brief overview of reading theory, and literacy routines (comprehension instruction, word identification, independent reading, spelling, and writing). Included in the class is a copy of the book Comprehensive Literacy for All, 2020, by Karen Erickson and David Koppenhaver. This class is designed for teachers and assumes instructional knowledge, but it may also be appropriate for paraeducators

April 4 – May 19