
Heartland AEA Literacy Newsletter
April 2022
“In order to save our kids and to get them competitive in the information age, they have to be able to access information. And so we’ve got to focus on literacy.” Kareem Weaver
Click the button above to listen to the podcast.
"For more information about intensifying interventions, check out our website, www.intensiveintervention.org. Before adapting or intensifying an intervention, always consider whether the current intervention program has been implemented with fidelity and for a sufficient amount of time."
Watch this short video produced by the Iowa Reading Research Center. Scaffolding gives students access to the work of the day, so that over time the scaffolds can be removed leading to greater independence with tasks.

10 Key Policies and Practices for Explicit Instruciton
10 Key Practices for incorporating explicit instruction into your daily practice. According to the Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk, these practices come from strong evidence of effectiveness from high quality research.

10 Key Reading Practices for All Elementary Schools
There are 10 key reading practices that every elementary school can incorporate that align with structured literacy instruction. This document also includes grade level descriptions of what students should know and be able to do.

10 Key Reading Practices for All Middle and High Schools
There are 10 key reading practices that impact student achievement for adolescent readers. This document includes selected grade level descriptions of what students should know and be able to do.
"Giving students more frequent opportunities to be responsible for “doing the thinking” not only helps them build the knowledge and skills they need to deeply understand the content, but can also build students’ motivation in school and lead to deeper engagement in their learning."
Motivating Students

Daring Classrooms
Brene Brown - "A daring classroom is a place where both teachers and students commit to choosing courage over comfort, choosing what is right over what is fun, fast or easy and practicing values rather than professing them."

How to motivate middle schoolers: Kamilah Simpson
Motivating adolescent students can be hard at any time, but especially during the spring semester. Kmilah Simpson speaks from her own experiences on how she motivated middle school students. Take a listen to her recent engaging podcast on Amplify.