1 / 28

Staff Development in a Pre-K Literacy Project

Join our Pre-K literacy project to create excellence in early childhood centers, preparing children for kindergarten success through literacy-rich environments and family engagement.

avictoria
Download Presentation

Staff Development in a Pre-K Literacy Project

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Staff Development in a Pre-K Literacy Project Belinda Biscoe and Priscilla Griffith (Debra Corey, Susan Kimmel) University of Oklahoma bpbiscoe@ou.edu pgriffith@ou.edu Go Sooners!

  2. United States Department of Education Early Literacy First Grant • Focus: Pre-K 3 and 4 year olds • Purpose: • Create early childhood centers of excellence • Prepare young children to enter kindergarten with necessary skills to ensure school success

  3. GOALS • Create language and literacy rich classroom environments • Integrate curriculum, activities and materials into classrooms and family literacy practices • Assess literacy learning • Build partnerships to support the transition of all children into formal classroom instruction • Support family literacy • Provide research-based sustained professional development

  4. COMPONENTS • Professional Development • Instruction • Child Assessment/Progress Monitoring • Literacy Mentors • Assessment Coordinator (Year 3) • Family Literacy Component • Family Literacy Nights • Family Literacy Resources • Home Visits • Project Evaluation

  5. Project Development • Year One • Physical transformation of classrooms • Initiate literacy classes • Learn to mentor • Year Two • Implement spiral curriculum of literacy classes • Learn to develop portfolios • Year Three • Focus on examining student work to plan instruction

  6. Three C’s of Professional Development • Community • Professional development classes • Examine student learning • Curriculum Content: Assessment and Instruction of Oklahoma ERF Benchmarks • Oral language • Phonological awareness • Print concepts • Alphabet knowledge and writing • Listening comprehension • Coaching • Implementing instructional strategies

  7. Structure of Professional Development Classes • Two groups: certified and non-certified teachers • Classes off campus • Classes two times each month for 3 hours • Literacy instructor • Literacy mentors attend

  8. Content of Professional Development Classes • Portfolios and Assessment • Observations and Anecdotal Notes • Oklahoma PRIDE Literacy Benchmarks • Oral Language • Phonological Awareness • Environment/Classroom Management • At-Risk Child Language Development • Alphabet Knowledge • Comprehension • Concepts of Print • Teacher-Child Interactions • Home Visits • Family Literacy Nights • Doors to Discovery Curriculum

  9. OBSERVATION PLANNING REFLECTION STAFF DEVELOPMENT ASSESSMENT INSTRUCTION The Continuous, Recursive, and Interactive Process of Progress Monitoring

  10. Oklahoma P.R.I.D.E. Progress-Monitoring Plan

  11. Project Evaluation • Classrooms • Before and after photos • Teachers • Concept Maps • ELLCO: Early Language and Literacy Classroom Observation • Focus Groups • Students • PALS: Phonological Assessment Literacy Screening

  12. Changing the Physical Environment

  13. Transforming a disorganized environment

  14. Setting up Centers Dramatic Play Writing Library

  15. Concept Maps Early Literacy

  16. Concept Maps • Voltz, 2004 (Action in Teacher Education, v. 27 # 3) • Rated maps for variation and quantity • Variation = number of categories represented in the map • Quantity = total number of ideas

  17. Early Language and Literacy Classroom Observation • Literacy Environment Checklist • Book Use and Availability - 20 points • Writing Materials and Display – 21 points • Classroom Observation Protocol • General Classroom Environment – 30 points • Language and Literacy Curriculum – 40 points • Literacy Activity Rating Scale • Book reading – 8 points • Writing – 5 points

  18. ELLCO

  19. Focus Groups • Accomplishments – Year 2 • Professional growth • Focus of the program on their roles as professionals – before the program Pre-K teachers were “considered by some to be babysitters but now they were using research-based teaching principles that can be measured and validated” • Provided roadmap for meeting state standards

  20. Accomplishments – Year 3 • Increased familiarity with the curriculum enhanced implementation of the program because teachers are now comfortable using the curriculum and modifying it to suit their classroom needs. • Increased knowledge of literacy principles and application. • Teaching methods have been strengthened, and the program curriculum provided “a wonderful foundation to build upon.” • Family Literacy Night was an important component of the program. It was an avenue for reaching families.

  21. Benefits • Access to resources/research-based, developmentally appropriate instructional strategies • Mentor support • Professional development classes • Progress of children • Credit towards CDA • Interact with other teachers • Peer support • Opportunity to attend professional conferences

  22. Challenges/Concerns • Letting go of old curriculum and ways • Over-emphasizing literacy • Leaving their assistant alone with their class in order to attend professional development classes • Having resources to sustain parent activity component after the ERF grant ends • More modeling of different types of classroom instruction by their mentor

  23. PALS/AMIGOS • Rhyme Awareness • Beginning Sound • Upper-Case Alphabet • Lower-Case Alphabet • Verbal memory • Print Knowledge • Concept of Word • Name Writing

  24. Cohort 2 (Year 2 of the Project) Significant differences between treatment and comparison Rhyme Awareness Cohort 3 (Year 3 of the Project) Significant differences between treatment and comparison Rhyme Awareness Beginning Sounds Upper-Case Alphabet Lower-Case Alphabet Child Data Outcomes

  25. What Have We Learned • Childcare research is very messy. • It has taken three years to see differences in child outcomes. • Mentoring has to be learned. • Early childhood educators with a strong literacy background are difficult to find. • There is a tension among early childhood and literacy educators over DAP and purposeful instruction.

More Related