
What's the Word?
Literacy Team Newsletter, Volume 2, Issue 1 September 2015
Greetings Educators!
Summer may seem like a distant memory given the busy opening weeks we know you're having. We hope the start of the year has been exciting and inspiring--we know it's been a lot of work. Hopefully some of the news and resources in this edition of the newsletter will help as you embark on this year's academic journey. Please get in touch if you have questions or seek support for the important work you do.
Jill Jessen, AARI Consultant
For more about Jill, visit her website page! You can reach Jill at Jill.Jessen@oakland.k12.mi.us
Suzanne Toohey, ESL Consultant
Suzanne is excited to join Oakland Schools as the new ESL/Title III Consultant. Previously, she taught English Learners for seventeen years in diverse contexts in Michigan, Arizona, and Central America. She became fascinated with second language acquisition while teaching computer science as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Belize. Through Northern Arizona University she earned a Master’s degree in Bilingual/Multicultural Education. Suzanne has held Advisory and Executive Board positions in the Michigan Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages organization and is an alumnus of the Galileo Leadership Consortium.
You can reach Suzanne at Suzanne.Toohey@oakland.k12.mi.us
New Reading and Writing Units for Grades 3-5
New immersion packets for grades K-5 writing are now available under the resource section in each unit. This packet supports teachers with various immersion strategies and provides sample immersion lessons.
Grades 3-5 can now access the new writing units of study. These new units are tightly aligned to the K-2 writing units of study and use Writing Pathways as the primary assessment tool. There are three new units per grades 3-5 and three more units will be available in the fall of 2016.
Reading units of study for grades 3-5 will be completed this fall. Be sure to keep checking atlas for the remaining units beginning in November, 2015.
MAISA Unit Student Artifacts
Research Writing Resources
The MME in 11th grade will consist of 1) the SAT with Essay, 2) ACT WorkKeys, and 3) the online M-STEP Science and Social Studies. There will no longer be an M-STEP English language arts and mathematics component.
For the M-STEP in grades 3–8, the Performance Task portion of the English language arts assessment will only be administered once in elementary school (grade 5) and once in middle school (grade 8). This reduces testing time by 2.5 hours in each of the 3rd, 4th, 6th, and 7th grades!
Supporting Struggling Readers in the Content Area
Grades 3-5 Begins: September 28
Grades 6-12 Begins: October 5
Description: This workshop will help general and special educators understand struggling readers in content area texts in new, dynamic ways and give them better tools to support these students. Teachers will learn strategies to use immediately in their classrooms and they will have the opportunity to practice those strategies with their colleagues and in their content area during the workshop.
Presenter(s):
Dalyce Beegle, Susan Golab, Les Howard and Jill Jessen, Oakland Schools Consultants
LEARN MORE:
Writing Growth & Progress: Basics and Beyond
Begins: September 25
Description: This workshop shares research on writing development and strategies across the age span (preschool-12th grade) for all teachers of writing. Content includes evidence-based instructional practices, specialized instruction for intervention, and specialized core instruction for students with IEPs taught to alternate standards.
Presenter(s): Dr. Janet Sturm and Dr. Gary Troia
Assessing Writing in Grades 6-12
Begins: September 29
Facilitator: Susan Wilson-Golab, Oakland Schools Secondary Literacy Consultant and guest Writing Project Teacher Consultants
Guest Speaker: Dr. Jeff Grabill, MSU Writing in Digital Environments (WIDE) Research Senior Fellow
4T Virtual Conference on Digital Writing
Begins: Sunday, October 11 - Wednesday, October 14
Description: Sponsored by the University of Michigan School of Education, Oakland Schools and four Michigan Writing Project sites, the 4T Virtual Conference on Digital Writing will focus on the research, pedagogy, and tools of teaching digital writing in the K-12 classroom. Connect and collaborate with other K-16 educators. FREE REGISTRATION & SCECHs.
Format: 16 interactive webinars over 4 days
Consultant Contact: Delia DeCourcy, secondary literacy consultant
LIteracy Webinar Series: Revision - the Heart of Writing
Begins: October 22
Description: Each of these 7 webinars focuses on revision and features a published expert (Penny Kittle, Troy Hicks, Jennifer Fletcher and Nell Duke, to name a few). We recommend participants read his or her corresponding book before the virtual session to deepen learning and offer greater opportunity for conversation in the second hour of the webinar. FREE REGISTRATION
Format: Webinars run from 7-9pm. The first hour is an interactive presentation and the second hour is a discussion between presenter and participants. Register for all, some or one of the offerings.
Consultant Contact: Delia DeCourcy, secondary literacy consultant
SCECH's available!
Teacher Consultants Engaging in National Networks
Oakland Writing Project Teacher Consultants have been busy--including attending the Advanced Summer Institute at Oakland Schools. Read all the OWP news here.
Review of Connected Reading
West Bloomfield Teacher, Jianna Taylor shares her review of Connected Reading, written by Kristen Hawley Turner & Troy Hicks. Read Jianna's blog HERE.
Camp ALEC 2015
Special Education Consultant, Colleen Meszler shares her experience at Camp Alec. Read about it now!
Review of the Reading Strategies Book
Jianna Taylor shares her summer read, Reading Strategies, by Jennifer Serravallo. See Jianna's review HERE.
Oakland Schools AAC Moodle
Oakland Schools Augmentative/Alternative Communication (AAC) Team supports local district teams servicing students who are in need of communication support through augmentative or alternative means. Learn More
PrAACtical AAC website
PrAACtical AAC's mission: To improve the level of AAC services available to individuals with significant communication challenges by supporting speech-language pathologists and other interested stakeholders. Learn More
Center for Literacy and Disability Studies
A website devoted to addressing the literacy learning needs of persons with disabilities of all ages. This website contains articles, Deaf/Blind resources, and core vocabulary information for students with complex communication needs. Links to Tarheel reader and Exemplary Text supports also live on this site.
DLM Professional Development site.
A collection of self-directed modules for understanding the Common Core State Standards and their application to students with significant cognitive disabilities.These modules are full of specific examples, children's work samples, video samples, and teaching ideas. Visit Website
Read&Write for Google
Read&Write for Google is a Chrome extension that provides comprehensive reading and writing supports for Google Docs and the Web as well as PDFs, ePubs, and KES files stored in Google Drive. It can be a powerful support for struggling readers and writers. And the best part is: it's free!
These supports include:
- Read Aloud with dual-color highlighting
- Word Prediction
- Translator
- Talking and Picture Dictionaries
- Fact Finder
- Highlighters and ability to collect highlights
- Vocabulary Builder to easily create a list of words with text definitions and images
- Annotations (PDF and ePub)
- Navigational tools (PDF and ePub)
- Voice notes
Delia DeCourcy, Secondary Literacy Consultant
Michele Farah, Elementary Literacy Consultant
Susan Golab, Secondary Literacy Consultant
Les Howard, Elementary Literacy Consultant
Jill Jessen, AARI Consultant
Diane Katakowski, Speech and Language Consultant
Colleen Meszler, Special Education Consultant
Deb O'Neill, Special Education Supervisor
Suzanne Toohey, ESL Consultant
Oakland Schools
Kimberly Adragna
2111 Pontiac Lake RoadWaterford, MI 48328
(248) 209.2195