Summer Leadership Institute

1. Summer Leadership Institute Oral Language Development: Closing the Gap to Meet the Demands of the Common Core Standards Jackie Atkinson and Stacy Williams August 9-10, 2012

2. Common Board Configuration • Date:August 9, 2012 • Bell Ringer: List the ways your school currently implements oral language development. • Learning Goal: Learners will understand that Oral Language is essential for the mastery of a range of skills and applications throughout the Common Core Standards. • Standard: Given the Common Core Standards learners will identify instructional implications for Oral Language Development. • Objective:By the end of this session the participant will be able to answer the following questions: • What is oral language development? • What does research tell us about oral language development? • What are the components of oral language that will facilitate mastery of the Common Core Standards? • What is the role of oral language instruction in the classroom? • Essential Question: What does my school need to do to ensure a greater emphasis on Oral Language Development as it pertains to the Common Core Standards and classroom instruction? • Vocabulary: High Effect Indicators, 21st Century Skills, Dialogic Reading, World Knowledge, Word Knowledge • Agenda:Gradual Release • I Do: Presenting definition, research findings and components of Oral Language Development. • We Do: Examining Common Core Standards as it pertains to Oral Language Skills. • You Do: Instructional Leader’s Responsibilities Scale. • Summarizing Activity: • Essential Question Reflection • Participant Scale- Ticket Out • Homework: Complete and reflect on the High Effect Indicators Planning sheet.

3. Lake County Schools Vision Statement • A dynamic, progressive and collaborative learning community embracing change and diversity where every student will graduate with the skills needed to succeed in postsecondary education and the workplace. Mission Statement • The mission of the Lake County Schools is to provide every student with individual opportunities to excel. • Lake County Schools is committed to excellence in all curricular opportunities and instructional best practices. This focus area addresses closing the achievement gap, increased graduation rate, decreased dropout rate, increase in Level 3 and above scores on the FCAT, achieving an increase in the number of students enrolled in advanced placement and dual enrollment opportunities and implementing the best practices in instructional methodology.

4. 21st Century Skills Tony Wagner, The Global Achievement Gap Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Collaboration and Leadership Agility and Adaptability Initiative and Entrepreneurialism Effective Oral and Written Communication Accessing and Analyzing Information Curiosity and Imagination

5. High Effect Size Indicators “The Department’s identified set of indicators on high effect size instructional and leadership strategies with a causal relationship to student learning growth constitute priority issues for deliberate practice and faculty development.” -Florida Department of Education, 2012

6. Classroom TeacherHigh Effect Indicators School LeadershipHigh Effect Indicators • Learning Goal with Scales • Tracking Student Progress • Established Content Standards • Multi-tiered System of Supports • Clear Goals • Text Complexity • ESOL Students • Feedback Practices • Facilitating Professional Learning • Clear Goals and Expectations • Instructional Resources • High Effect Size Strategies • Instructional Initiatives • Monitoring Text Complexity • Interventions • Instructional Adaptations • ESOL Strategies

7. Discussion How will you in your current position ensure that the 21st Century Skills and the High Effect Size Indicators are embedded in the learning environment? Discuss with your elbow partner. Summer Leadership Institute

8. What do you see? • What is this about? Summer Leadership Institute

9. What do we know about the importance of Oral Language Development?

10. What is Language? The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) defines language as “ . . . A code made up of rules that include what words mean, how to make words, how to put them together, and what word combinations are best in what situations. Speech is the oral form of language.” www.asha.org/public/speech/development Summer Leadership Institute

11. Defining Oral Language Development Expressive Language The Duality of Learning Language Receptive Language The ability to understand spoken language (By age of 4 children understand between 6000-8000 words) The ability to use words to convey meaning (By age of 4 children use around 1500 words) Summer Leadership Institute

12. Defining Oral Language Development Vocabulary is made up primarily of two elements: • World Knowledge: the experiences on has in his/her life that one learns from that develops vocabulary. • Word Knowledge: the mental dictionary/thesaurus, the words in your head that you use to figure out what’s going on in the world.

13. Oral Language is…. • The foundation for reading and writing. • If they can’t talk about it, they can’t write about it or comprehend it. Summer Leadership Institute

14. Children’s speaking and listening skills lead the way for their reading and writing skills, and together these language skills are the primary tools of the mind for all future learning. Roskos, Tabors, & Lenhart, 2005, p. v. Summer Leadership Institute

15. Jerome Bruner (1983) Proficiency in oral language provides children with a vital tool for thought. Without fluent and structured oral language, children will find it very difficult to think. Summer Leadership Institute

16. Talking Environments are Learning Environments Talk is the means through which children’s use of language occurs. Through talk with others, children build their practical knowledge of language – the verbal system. They learn to talk by talking. This is how they learn new words and gain mastery of language rules. Children’s language knowledge, gained through talking, becomes the basis for developing essential reading and writing skills. Roskos, Tabors, & Lenhart (2004). p. 9. Summer Leadership Institute

17. Hart & Risley Study By age three, the observed cumulative vocabulary for children in the professional families was about 1,100, for the working class families it was about 750, and for the welfare families it was just above 500. Summer Leadership Institute

18. Hart & Risley Study In professional families, children heard an average of 2153 words per hour; in working class families 1,251 words per hour and in welfare families only 616 words per hour. Summer Leadership Institute

19. Hart & Risley study show that over time: Extrapolating these figures to cover 4 years of experience would give 11 million words heard by a child in a professional family, 6 million for a child in working class family and 3 million for a child in a welfare family. Summer Leadership Institute

20. Further Research: • If literacy levels are to improve Oral Language skills must be taught in a purposeful and systematic way. • Listening and speaking are necessary prerequisites of reading and writing. • Must start in the earliest grades and continue to build throughout the grades. (Fromkin, Rodman, & Hyams, 2006; Julit, Haward, & Fahey, 2010; Pence & Justice, 2007; Stuart, Wright, Grigor, &Howey, 2002) Summer Leadership Institute

21. Is it possible for teachers to design instruction that will close the language experience gap? YES! • Teachers can be instrumental in closing the language experience gap through daily incorporation. • Students who struggle with a language deficit will need many language-rich experiences, as well as systematic and explicit instruction to help them catch up to their more verbal peers! Summer Leadership Institute

22. Closing the Gap: Oral Language Activities • The Common Core Standards rose from the ashes of long standing research validating the importance of Oral language development. • CCSS incorporated speaking and listening skills that students must master across the grade levels to ensure strong readers and writers in the 21st century. Summer Leadership Institute

23. Research to Practice Activity: Examine the Speaking and Listening Common Core State Standards Across Grade Levels Focal Points: • What are students being asked to do? • What are the commonalities across grade levels? • What instructional changes will need to occur to ensure mastery? Summer Leadership Institute

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25. Creating a Language Centered Learning Environment • Physical Environment • Social Environment • Emotional Environment • Cognitive Environment Summer Leadership Institute

26. Developing Listening Skills: Guidelines for Teachers • Explicitly teach children how to be good listeners. • Model good listening skills (genuinely listen to your students). • Promote active listening to solve conflicts. • Schedule quiet, listening time as part of the school day. • Provide interesting “nooks” in the classroom that encourage conversation and attentive listening. Talking Classrooms (2001) Early Literacy Fundamentals. (2005) Summer Leadership Institute

27. Games and Activities to Promote Good Listening Skills • Listening Walk • Recognize familiar sounds (prepare tape) • Matching sounds (sound cans) • Echo activities • Repeat clapping patterns • Game: Guess who is speaking! • Game: Simon Says • Game: Whisper Down the Line Summer Leadership Institute

28. Teaching Conversational Skill: Guidelines for Teachers Explicitly teach students: • “School Talk” (extended discourse and decontextualized language) • Conversational reciprocity (turn taking) • Eye contact when speaking and listening • Awareness of non-verbal communication • How to sustain conversations Talking Classrooms (2001) Early Literacy Fundamentals. (2005) Summer Leadership Institute

29. Building Conversational Skills Engage in conversations with students….. • Target students most in need (as students arrive, recess, activity centers, lunch time, etc.) • Model conversational skills and provide guided practice at Circle Time • Conduct interactive Read Alouds • Use role-playing to teach and reinforce good conversational skills Summer Leadership Institute

30. Building Auditory Memory:Guidelines for Teachers • Explicitly teach children to be conscious of remembering important concepts, skills, and strategies: Metacognitive strategies such as “Think Alouds” • Play memory games • Model strategies that promote memory: Visual cues Mnemonics Sound bites Rhythm, Rhyme and Song • Teach poems, songs, and fingerplays. • Provide organizational tools to assist memory. Graphic organizers Visual organizers: color coding, pictures and photographs Talking Classrooms (2001); Early Literacy Fundamentals. (2005) Summer Leadership Institute

31. Expanding Conceptual Knowledge and Vocabulary: Guidelines for Teachers Expand Conceptual Knowledge: • Provide a learning environment that encourages curiosity and imagination. • Plan authentic experiences- visits to the zoo, fire house, farm, museum, etc. • Use a multisensory approach Build Vocabulary: • Explicitly teach vocabulary words that are selected from Read Alouds, content themes or other classroom activities. • Practice and reinforce use of targeted words in student conversations. Bringing Words to Life (2002); Talking Classrooms (2001); Early Literacy Fundamentals (2005) Summer Leadership Institute

32. Instructional Routines that Support Oral Language Development(Conceptual Knowledge and Vocabulary) • Systematic and Explicit High Quality Classroom Language • Read Alouds • Dialogic Reading (Shared Reading) • Storytelling and Puppetry • Systematic and Explicit Vocabulary Instruction • Language Scaffolding (conversation stretching) • Socio-Dramatic Play • Language Experience Approach • Music and Rhythm Activities (singing, marching, playing instruments) • Activity Centers/Guided Play

33. From age 3 onward [a child] should build a vocabulary store of at least 2,500 words per year. [He/she] should encounter and explore at least 2 new words each day. Roskos, Tabors, & Lenhart (2004), p. 1. Summer Leadership Institute

34. Dialogic Reading is……. • Effective strategy that is used with books to enhance and promote vocabulary and oral language skills. • The book becomes a shared visual and verbal context in which you and your children can learn new words. • A method of increasing the size and diversity of children’s knowledge about the world and the words we use to describe it.

35. Word Consciousness To increase word consciousness, teachers should: • Emphasize learning new words – using elaborate and extended language throughout the day • Draw attention to specific words, their meanings, and their use • Read-aloud good literature – EVERY DAY! • Communicate their own appreciation and love of words • Have fun with words and language (word play) Summer Leadership Institute

36. Word Play • Provides opportunities for children to have fun with language. • Word play activities include: Summer Leadership Institute

37. Poetry and Rhymes Autumn Cornflake leaves Beneath the trees- Are they a breakfast For the breeze? Thelma Ireland Summer Leadership Institute

38. Tongue Twisters Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, Where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked? Summer Leadership Institute

39. Riddles What letter makes honey? Sometimes it is short. Sometimes it is tall. Sometimes you can not See it at all. What is it? Summer Leadership Institute

40. Idioms Are you feeling blue? It’s raining cats and dogs. Quick as a wink! Put on your thinking cap! Who let the cat out of the bag? Don’t lose your head! Summer Leadership Institute

41. Analogies is to as is to Summer Leadership Institute

42. How can we ACCELERATE Oral Language Skills? • Recognize the URGENCY of accelerating language growth, especially among children with poverty or with learning issues. • Create language rich learning environments. • Use systematic, explicit, and scaffolded instruction. • Increase the intensity of instruction for struggling learners. • Provide learning experiences that actively engage all students Summer Leadership Institute

43. How can Instructional Leaders Support Systematic and Explicit Oral Language Instruction? Summer Leadership Institute

44. Instructional Leader’s Responsibilities • Provide suggestions and ideas to assist teachers in establishing and maintain language rich learning environments. • Provide suggestions for instructional practice that promotes oral language development. • Support instructional practice that promotes oral language development. • Model effective language skills. • Take the time to genuinely listen to teachers and children. • Model talking with children, limiting “Teacher Talk” or “Principal Talk”. Summer Leadership Institute

45. Instructional Leader’s Responsibilities (cont.)… • Demonstrate sensitivity to language and cultural differences. • Monitor instructional practices for systematic and explicit instruction that build oral language development. • Highlight positive classroom practices that promote oral language skills. • Build a language-rich school community. • Plan differentiated professional development to assist teachers in establishing and maintaining language rich learning environments.

46. Instructional Leader’s Responsibilities Scale How do you rate? Summer Leadership Institute

47. Common Board Configuration • Date:August 9, 2012 • Bell Ringer: List the ways your school currently implements oral language development. • Learning Goal: Learners will understand that Oral Language is essential for the mastery of a range of skills and applications throughout the Common Core Standards. • Standard: Given the Common Core Standards learners will identify instructional implications for Oral Language Development. • Objective:By the end of this session the participant will be able to answer the following questions: • What is oral language development? • What does research tell us about oral language development? • What are the components of oral language that will facilitate mastery of the Common Core Standards? • What is the role of oral language instruction in the classroom? • Essential Question: What does my school need to do to ensure a greater emphasis on Oral Language Development as it pertains to the Common Core Standards and classroom instruction? • Vocabulary: High Effect Indicators, 21st Century Skills, Dialogic Reading, World Knowledge, Word Knowledge • Agenda:Gradual Release • I Do: Presenting definition, research findings and components of Oral Language Development. • We Do: Examining Common Core Standards as it pertains to Oral Language Skills. • You Do: Instructional Leader’s Responsibilities Scale. • Summarizing Activity: • Essential Question Reflection • Participant Scale- Ticket Out • Homework: Complete and reflect on the High Effect Indicators Planning sheet.

48. Participant Scale and Reflection(Please complete and turn in)

49. We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee. Marian Wright Edelman