Book Club Project Presentation:

1. Book Club Project Presentation: Best Practices in Literacy Instruction, 3rd Edition Presenters: Frances Mosley, Kimberly Hartland, & Toria Avigliano PowerPoint Slides Prepared by: Toria Avigliano Course EDC321 Bloomfield College March 25, 2011 Instructor Kenneth Kunz

2. Introduction “By keeping a clear vision in mind, we hope this volume will encourage and empower teachers to evaluate, choose and orchestrate those practices that will aid in fulfilling that vision for their students-and, with it, sufficient evidence-based support to justify their practices.” • Teachers can be most effective when they are informed decision makers with a vision that will guide them in incorporating the newest research-based information as well as valid traditional ideas about literacy instruction. • The chapters in this book provide practical classroom-based strategies and techniques as well as principles to assist in evaluating and orchestrating best practices for effective instructional decision making. Introduction Presented by Frances Mosley

3. 1 – Evidence-Based Best Practices for Comprehensive Literacy Instruction “Simply being able to decode and answer low-level literal questions about a piece of text is no longer sufficient. Becoming fully literate has come to mean, among many things, using strategies independently to construct meaning from text, using text information to build conceptual understanding, effectively communicating ideas orally and in writing, and developing the intrinsic desire to read and write (Braunger & Lewis, 2006; Biancarose & Snow, 2004).” Chapter 1 Presented by Frances Mosley

4. 1 – Evidence-Based Best Practices for Comprehensive Literacy Instruction Comprehensive Literacy Instruction: • A balanced approach • Incorporates evidence-based best practices • Builds on the knowledge that students bring to school • Acknowledges that reading and writing are reciprocal processes • Recognizes that comprehension is the ultimate goal of literacy instruction • Emphasizes meaning construction through literacy tasks and activities that require critical thinking • Offers opportunities for students to apply literacy strategies in the context of meaningful tasks • Provides for differentiated instruction in accordance with the diverse strengths and needs of students (i.e., struggling readers, second language learners) Chapter 1 Presented by Frances Mosley

5. 2 – Balance in Comprehensive Literacy Instruction: Then and Now • Whole Language perspective • Early code emphasis reading comprehension = decoding x listening comprehension Chapter 2 Presented by Frances Mosley

6. 2 – Balance in Comprehensive Literacy Instruction: Then and Now Evolving Conceptions of Balance Reading Wars: Skills (phonics) vs. holistic (whole –language) approaches to teaching reading. Or Literacy as a set of cognitive skills vs. a set of cultural practices that, in turn, shape and influence cognitive and identities. • As a result of the Reading Wars, it has helped educators and researchers see the problems of a single-dimension either-or approach. The ideal approach is a conception of balance that responds to the complex and challenging settings that characterize today’s literacy teaching and learning. • Achieving balance is a complex process that requires flexibility and artful orchestration of literacy’s various contextual and conceptual aspects. Re-conceptualizing balance requires attention to the wide array of the components at work, to their interconnectedness and to the contextual elements that influence how balance manifests itself in today’s classroom. Chapter 2 Presented by Frances Mosley

7. 3 – Best Practices in Early Literacy Development in Preschool, Kindergarten, and First Grade The National Early Literacy Panel studied research to identify abilities of children from birth through five that predict later achievement in literacy: Oral language development: expressive and receptive vocabulary Alphabetic code: alphabet knowledge, phonological/phonemic awareness, invented spelling. Print knowledge: environmental print, concepts about print. Rapid naming of letters and numbers. Visual memory and visual perceptual abilities. Chapter 3 Presented by Frances Mosley

8. 4 – Best Practices for Struggling Readers • Struggling readers need a steady supply of essential strategy lessons accompanied by extensive opportunities to independently practice and apply those strategies in high-success reading materials. • The necessary first step is ensuring that children have access to high quality classroom instruction regardless of their label or participation in a special program. • Some struggling readers will need particularized instruction-an emphasis on hearing sounds in words as well as special support teachers and personnel who provide the intensive and personalized instruction that those few children need in order to thrive in school. • A huge numbers of paraprofessional s are employed in remedial and special education programs. However, there is substantial evidence that students gain little academic benefit when paraprofessionals deliver intervention instruction. Chapter 4 Presented by Frances Mosley

9. 5 – Best Practices for Literacy Instruction for English-Language Learners • There are approximately 4.7 Million students who meet the criteria for ELL designation in US schools. • Modifications necessary to fully meet the needs of ELL students: • Word Choice • First Language Resources • Oral Modality • Frequency and Quality of Exposure • To read with comprehension, ELLs need to be able to link phonological representation that has been accessed via decoding of the orthographic pattern to syntactic and semantic information about words reliably and efficiently • Learning to read in a language one does not command orally can present multiple challenges for a child. • Properly scaffolding reading instruction can become an additional source of language input, and well-chosen print materials can, by virtue of the modality, afford opportunities to revisit, reexamine, and contrast that input in a matter that is conducive to language learning. • Phonological awareness is often defined as awareness that words • are made of smaller units of sound that can be manipulated and • changed. This awareness is fundamental to learning to read in • languages that employ an alphabetical writing system. Chapter 5 Presented by Frances Mosley

10. 6 - Best Practices in Adolescent Literacy Instruction No common pattern for instruction in content literacy in upper levels. Chapter 6 Presented by Kimberly Hartland

11. 7- Best Practices in Teaching Phonological Awareness and Phonics • Phonemic awareness is one of the best predictors of success in learning to read • According to the NRP, explicit and systematic phonics is superior to nonsystematic or no phonics but there is no significant difference in effectiveness among the kinds of systematic phonics instruction • Effective phonics instruction should include a variety of approaches. Chapter 7 Presented by Kimberly Hartland

12. 8- Best Practices in Vocabulary Instruction Guidelines for Effective Vocabulary Instruction • Build a word-rich environment • Help students develop as independent word learners • Use instructional strategies and model good word learning behaviors • Provide explicit instruction for important content and concept vocabulary, drawing on multiple sources of meaning • Use assessments that match the goal of instruction Creating a positive environment for word learning involves having activities, games, materials, and other resources that allow students to play with words. Chapter 8 Presented by Kimberly Hartland

13. 9- Best Practices in Fluency Instruction • Fluency serves as a bridge between decoding and comprehension • Fluency has two components: • Accurate, automatic word recognition • Prosody • Four principles for effective fluency instruction: • Model fluent reading • Provide oral support while the students are reading themselves • Practice repeated readings of a given text • Focus attention on reading syntactically appropriate and meaningful phrases Chapter 9 Presented by Kimberly Hartland

14. 10- Best Practices in Teaching Comprehension • Comprehension is the “essence of reading” and the ultimate goal of successful literacy. • Without highly effective fluency, word recognition, vocabulary, and fluent word recognition instruction, comprehension will be compromised. • Self-guided (metacognitively aware) Comprehension – ability to actively engage in reading • Comprehension processes must be employed in real-time, and the best evidence of their use is students’ responses as they read, NOT in response to questions afterwards. Chapter 10 Presented by Kimberly Hartland

15. 11- Best Practices in Teaching Writing Writing is a complex interaction of cognitive and physical factors and requires one make connections and construct meaning. Three areas that should be included in effective writing instruction: An effective writing program should aim to develop writers who enjoy and learn from writing well in a range of forms and for a variety of purposes and audiences. Context for writing Intentional writing instruction Writing assessment Chapter 11 Presented by Kimberly Hartland

16. 12- Best Practices in Literacy Assessment “Teacher accountability is related to identifying students' zones of proximal development and teaching in these zones, then the centrality of classroom-based assessment becomes evident.” ZPD is: • What a child is capable of now. • Not capable of now but in the future. • What a child can do with adult guidance. Chapter 12 Presented by Toria Avigliano

17. 13– Instructional Resources in the Classroom Deepening Understanding through Interactions with Multiple Texts and Media Why an integrated approach? “1) makes the most of limited instructional time; (2) supports students in exploring concepts and themes in more depth; (3) creates a context in which multiple texts and multiple media can be used; (4) encourages diverse products and performances, thus providing greater opportunities for addressing the special needs of a diverse student population; and (5) allows teachers to engage students in the kinds of authentic tasks that they will encounter in the world beyond the classroom (Barton & Smith, 2000).” “Current notions recognize that texts can also be semiotic, including films, music, architecture, and cuisine. Digital and multimedia resources in hypermedia environments are texts as well (Reinking, 1998).” Chapter 13 Presented by Toria Avigliano

18. 14– Organizing Effective Literacy Instruction: Differentiating Instruction to Meet the Needs of All Children “Differentiating literacy instruction implies at least two moral imperatives. First, teachers need to recognize that the process of becoming literate follows a developmental path from the simple to the complex, from the unconventional to the conventional, from the cradle to the grave. Second, the tendency of some schools is to create a "one size fits all" curriculum will not reach all of the children (Raphael et al., 2003; Tyner, 2004).” Chapter 14 Presented by Toria Avigliano

19. 15– Effective Use of Technology in Literacy Instruction • Examples of Technology in Literacy: • full listening version of a text • digitized pronunciations of difficult words • recourse to glossary entries, prose simplifications, digitized video & clips • ========== • Comprehension will also benefit from accessing linked resources such as: • graphic organizers • Databases • electronic encyclopedias “progress in second-language proficiency and gain content -area knowledge. Some electronic books have the option of listening to the story in Spanish or another language.” Chapter 15 Presented by Toria Avigliano

20. 16- Best Practices in Professional Development Professional Development Professional development should focus on the subject matter teachers will be teaching. Teachers' learning opportunities should be aligned with real work experiences, using actual curriculum materials and assessments. Adequate time for professional development should be provided: there should be extended opportunities to learn, with an emphasis on observing and analyzing students' understanding of the subject matter. School districts should have reliable systems for evaluating the impact of professional development on teachers' practices and student learning. Teacher Study Groups Online Courses Chapter 16 Presented by Toria Avigliano

21. 17– Achieving Best Practices “One "best practice" that did not get its own chapter but was referenced repeatedly was the commitment to children and teachers learning together.” Chapter 17 Presented by Toria Avigliano