Starting a New Literacy Filled Year Forsyth County- Balanced Literacy

1. Starting a New Literacy Filled YearForsyth County- Balanced Literacy Session One Discovering Literacy Needs

2. Survey - Ticket InPlease sign in and complete a survey. 2

3. Introductions • Jamie Barnes ~ Mashburn Elementary • Gwen Barnett ~ Big Creek Elementary • Sally Campbell ~ Midway Elementary • Karen Ogline ~ Brookwood Elementary • Daphne Rogers ~ Shiloh Point Elementary

4. Getting To Know You In your groups, consider the following questions: • In literacy, what’s going well in your school? • As a literacy leader at your school, what are your literacy concerns at this time? 4

5. Forsyth County Balanced Literacy Website Where do I find it? Go to school homepage- on right side under Quick Links- Balanced Literacy Framework How can it help me? Quick access to: Forsyth Literacy Plan Glossary Resources Professional development Assessments Grade level specific- GPS, framework documents, rubrics, lessons, resources, assessments http://www.forsythcountyschools.org/balancedliteracy/index.html

6. Website Components

7. Balanced Literacy Continuum Find an electronic copy on spine of book on opening page of Balanced Literacy Website.

8. Identifying School Needs • Survey • Team discussions • Observations from the beginning of school (perhaps assessments such as Fountas and Pinnell, benchmarks, etc.) • Materials available

9. Willing to be Disturbed Article Daphne — Your notations here.

10. Pick a question from the basket and share your comments within your group. Then, large group sharing of your thoughts and comments. Rest room break as needed! Small Group Discussion

11. Large Group Reveal • What stood out most from your reading? • What is going well at your school with Balanced Literacy? • What are your greatest concerns about leading Balanced Literacy at your school? • Why are formative reading assessments and running records so important?

12. How Can I Help My Students Become Better Readers? • Read to them! This increases vocabulary and understanding of the writer’s organization of the text. • Know what level your students can read both independently and instructionally. Know their strategy use. • Provide books at both the instructional and independent levels. This expands skills and strategies, and leads to a “self-extending system” in which the student becomes a better reader through the reading process. (Clay, 1991)

13. What Is a Leveled Book Collection? • A leveled book collection is a large set of books organized in levels of difficulty from the easy books that an emergent reader might begin to the longer, complex books that advanced readers will select. • Having a gradient of texts provides a way to assess children's progress over time. • A book collection is established that does not need to be replaced but is revised and expanded over time. Fountas & Pinnell, (1999)

14. How To Match Texts to Readers • Provide books at the independent reading level for independent reading practice. • Provide books at the instructional level for guided reading groups. These books will provide a slight challenge within the comfort of guided reading groups. • At the intervention level, select texts at the upper end of the independent reading level, according to the needs of the student, and providing small increases or gradients of instruction. • This “change over time” is measured by Running Records and measures incremental progress.

15. Running Records provide a snapshot of information about reading processing. It gives the teacher an understanding of the frustrational, instructional, and independent reading levels of the student; at the same time, miscue analysis indicates strategy use at point of error and deeper insights into student processing and meta-cognition. Independent reading level ~ 96-100% accuracy rate Instructional reading level ~ 90-95% accuracy rate Frustrational reading level ~ Below 90% accuracy rate “Just Right” Texts Start With Running Records 15

16. A Second Level of Analysis: The 3 Level Cueing System (M S V) Text Prior Knowledge Illustrations Story Sense Analogies Natural language Print conventions *directionality *words/spaces *letters *punctuation *beginnings/ endings Knowledge of English Grammatical patterns and language structures Sounds and symbols www1.rcas.org/literacy/pdfs/assessmenthandout.pdf

17. Gradual Release Model 17 Graduated Shifts in Responsibility of Learning 17

18. In some classrooms… Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2008). Better learning through structured teaching: A framework for the gradual release of responsibility. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. 18

19. In some classrooms … TEACHER RESPONSIBILITY “I do it” Focus Lesson “You do it alone” Independent STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2008). Better learning through structured teaching: A framework for the gradual release of responsibility. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

20. Or other classrooms … TEACHER RESPONSIBILITY “You do it alone” Independent STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY Fisher & Frey, 2008

21. And in some classrooms … TEACHER RESPONSIBILITY “I do it” Focus Lesson Guided Instruction “We do it” “You do it alone” Independent STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY Fisher & Frey, 2008

22. TEACHER RESPONSIBILITY “I do it” Focus Lesson Guided Instruction “We do it” “You do it together” Collaborative “You do it alone” Independent STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY A Structure for Instruction that Works 22 Fisher & Frey, 2008

23. Hard teaching/direct teaching Student assistance in task. Teacher scaffolding in task. Student works independently while teacher observes. We need to monitor our awareness of our own thinking processes while reading. Modeling is an essential, inestimable important stop in helping children observe and then use the mental processes used by proficient readers. Keene, E., & Zimmerman, S. (1997). Mosaic of Thought. Heinemann: Portsmouth, NH.

24. How does this work?Known to new…(Prior Knowledge)Strategic promptingand supportive literacy materials…Teacher scaffoldingwith gradual releaseas student’s ability increases… Dorn, Linda. (2011). Changing the Way the Brain Works Through Itervention (Teaching!). Presentation Reading Recovery Conference, 2011. .

26. What does the literacy classroom look like?On any given day or time you will see…. Less Support Language Arts Science More Support Math Social Studies Gradual Release Method- Instructional Support

27. Life Long Learners: Core Curriculum – GPS

28. Ticket Out The Door • Think about the critical literacy needs in your school. • Use the colored dots on the charts to prioritize your response. Red dot- We’re stuck here and cannot move forward! Yellow dot-We need some support. Green dot – We are good to go!

29. References • Blaiklock, R. (2003). A critique of running records. Paper presented at the • New Zealand Association for Research in Education/Australian • Association for Research in Education Conference. • Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2008). Better learning through structured teaching: A • framework for the gradual release of responsibility. Alexandria, VA: • Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.Downloaded • from: http://www.fisherandfrey.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/template-button-2.gif • Clay, Marie M.(1991). Becoming Literate: The construction of inner control. • Auckland, New Zealand: Heinemann Education. • Fountas, Irene, and G.S. Pinnell. (1991).Guided Reading: Good First • Teaching for All Children. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann Educational. • lFountas, Irene, and G.S. Pinnell. (1999). Matching Books to Readers: A • Book List for Guided Reading, K–3. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

30. Thank you for your insights and participation.