Literacy Now

Every educator knows the reality of the summer slide. Once school is out, many students don’t continue with academic ventures during the summer months, and they return from summer vacation having forgotten some of the things they worked so hard to learn the previous year.

For reluctant readers, summer is a time when many forget about reading and writing. Some don’t even pick up a book because they are not motivated to read something that’s not assigned.

Parents and teachers may struggle to help students continue to learn over the summer. As a former Title I teacher, I have seen many students make great gains during the school year but return in the fall having lost a lot of progress.

On the other hand, there are students who look forward to summer because it affords them extra time to dive into the growing stack of books by their bedside.

One way to ensure that students have access to summer reading material is by participating in programs such as LitPick Student Book Reviews, which provides books to students in exchange for their honest reviews. The reviews are posted on LitPick’s website, and students receive valuable feedback on their writing.

Students have said that LitPick has helped improve their reading and writing, develop close reading and comprehension skills, and discover new genres that they enjoy.  

Here’s what a few students had to say:

• “Since joining LitPick, I can read much faster than I used to. I find that my imagination has expanded as well, which helps when writing.”
• “LitPick has helped my writing a lot. Writing is hard for me. I have been in the United States for about three years. In Nigeria, I learned and spoke British English, but I really learned a lot when I came here. I really like to read. Fantasy is my favorite type of book. I like to tell others about the books I read and hope my friends will like the same books. With LitPick, I can tell everyone about the books I read. I can work on my writing too. People say I have strong opinions. This is a good way to share them.”
• “LitPick has helped me grow as a reader by further developing my close reading skills and introducing me to new genres/writing styles. Through LitPick, I have read and enjoyed different genres of books that I wouldn't have picked up before. LitPick has helped me grow as a writer by causing me to pay more attention to what makes a book good or bad, which I can now apply to my own writing.”

Teachers and parents are always looking for ways to keep students reading without it feeling laborious or like an assignment. Both children and adolescents need breaks in order to be refreshed, but during the long summer months they also need to be engaged in activities that promote learning and exercise the skills they’ve worked so hard to acquire.

As a teacher, I have witnessed firsthand the relationship between choice and reading motivation. LitPick allows students to choose from a selection of available books. By providing students with choice as well as an outlet to share their thoughts, the program helps foster an authentic love of reading and demonstrates the power of words.

Most U.S. schools have a month before school starts up again—it’s not too late for students to polish their reading and writing skills in time for September. 

Tynea Lewis is a site administrator at LitPick Student Book Reviews. A graduate of Millersville University of Pennsylvania’s elementary education program (with an added certification in K–12 library science), Lewis is a former teacher and an ILA 2016 30 Under 30 honoree. 

Catching young readers before they stumble is one of the most important actions literacy educators can take. As world-renowned educational expert Avis Glaze often says, “The children cannot wait!”

When it comes to learning to read, they certainly can’t.

Solid foundational reading skills are key to future success and prosperity, yet too many teachers around the world feel helpless as they watch small reading gaps among their students widen into long-term reading challenges. This is an unfortunate reality given what contemporary research says about the vital importance of early literacy interventions via frameworks such as Response to Intervention (RTI).

The good news is, no matter the position you hold in your current system, there are six professional attributes you can adopt that will allow you to begin the change process and move your school toward an effective implementation of a reading intervention framework.

With these attributes, the gears of change will begin to turn. As educators, we cannot wait for senior administrators to set the vision, nor can we sit by as readers struggle to gain access to the supports they require.

After two years of applying a new intervention program here in the Cayman Islands, the verdict is in: RTI frameworks and reading interventions are essential aspects of any high-performing school.

1. Vision

In 2012, the need for early reading intervention in the Cayman Islands was obvious, as too many capable students were missing small, basic early literacy skills. At the time, I was working with a few schools as a literacy coach for the Ministry of Education, which wasn’t a particularly influential role. I watched as the majority of teachers worked diligently to meet the varying needs of students in their classrooms, but it wasn’t enough to close the gaps. The system had diagnostic reading assessments and even some intervention resources, but they weren’t being used effectively, if at all.

We needed a vision if we were to see future success.

2. Research

Around the same time, educational psychologist Monty Larrew was advocating for the introduction of an RTI framework as a research-informed method of addressing the kinds of inefficiencies I’d been noticing. Through well-researched presentations and dialogue, Larrew began to advocate for an RTI approach, and after a few conversations, we decided to work together to implement an RTI pilot project that would use the research-based assessments and interventions we already had in place.

No new money, staff, or assessments; we were just looking to work smarter with what we already had.

3. Planning

A research-based vision was in place, and we knew we needed to get buy-in from teachers and administrators. We developed a sellable plan that required minimal new workloads with the opportunity for maximum results. We required the gathering of Developmental Reading Assessment data, the use of resources that were already in the system (namely Jolly Phonics and Leveled Literacy Intervention), regular progress monitoring using the formative assessment methods internal to the programs, a commitment to six- to eight-week data review meetings, and a minor restructuring of one assistant teacher’s timetable to allow the interventions to take place regularly.

We pitched the research-based plan and received permission to run a pilot in two kindergarten classrooms in two of our smallest schools. It was a major step forward.

4. Patience

There were challenges during the early days of the program, such as obtaining and maintaining participants’ fidelity to the intervention and its schedule and facilitating training around basic early literacy skills, but for the first time we had a dataset that showed increases in student achievement. We knew we needed to be resilient in the face of frustration and patient enough to let our plan take root.

5. Community

With positive results in hand, improving the breadth and depth of the interventions was vital, and we knew that expanding the framework across the system required a community effort. We needed administrators, literacy coaches, and special education teachers to take on key roles that would allow the expansion of programming and the implementation of a formal screening assessment like DIBELS. From two small schools, we grew the RTI framework to include all Cayman Islands Government schools across two-year grade spans and eventually involved dozens of staff members.

Developing a community beyond the system was also essential to RTI’s success. Private partners, including Rotary and local nonprofit Literacy Is For Everyone, donated thousands of dollars to purchase reading interventions based on the identified needs arising from system data. In addition to monetary support, our private partners also provided encouragement and accountability.

6. Resilience

What started as two professionals with an idea has grown into the successful implementation of five researched-informed reading interventions across two-year groups, teams working together to identify problems of practice, the inclusion of our special education experts in testing and support, and best of all, an upward trajectory in student achievement.

For example, after developing consistency of methods across the school system, incorporating 90 minutes of literacy teaching a day for Year 1 students and regular screening along with small-group and one-on-one intervention as necessary, 86% of Year 1 students in our public school system met the expected literacy level for their age group last school year, which was the first full year of our program. At one school, Edna Moyle Primary School, students achieved 100% proficiency.

The road is still being traveled and we still have challenges, but because of our team’s resilience, we have overcome major obstacles and are eager to tackle what’s to come.

The Cayman Islands is small, but it has big lessons to share. The six attributes discussed have been essential to the successful development of our RTI framework. No matter your role in education, the adoption of these attributes can start the change process within your system.

As Dr. Glaze says, “The children cannot wait!”

Brad Wilson is currently the literacy specialist with the Ministry of Education in the Cayman Islands. He also worked as a literacy coach in the Cayman Islands and started his educational career as a teacher in Canada.

This article first appeared in the March/April issue of Literacy Today, ILA’s member magazine.

Like many of our middle school students, Alex’s life is in turmoil. His parents are in the midst of a very expensive divorce and his college fund is quickly depleting as lawyers battle over his time. Compounding that, Alex’s dad has moved in with his third-grade teacher and his mom has started dating. He has had enough. So Alex gets drunk, takes the keys to his mom’s car, and heads out to give his dad a piece of his mind.

Of course, things do not go as planned. Alex finds himself in police custody having decapitated a neighbor’s garden gnome. His actions land him with a strict grounding at home, teasing at school, and assigned community service at a local nursing home with a notoriously cantankerous patient.

The beautifully composed story perfectly blends poignant moments with the humor that typically follows the lives of early adolescent students. Readers easily connect with Alex’s plight while seeing his character develop as he becomes less self-centered and learns how to serve others.

Cross-curricular Connections: English language arts, social studies/history

Ideas for Classroom Use:

This book lends itself to several different types of activities to support all of our diverse learners.

Cause and Effect

Notes From The Midnight Driver provides students with many opportunities to evaluate cause and effect relationships. Students can discuss and reflect on Alex’s choices and answer questions like What could have been done differently? What would have been a different outcome? In addition to having large and small group discussions, blogging is a great platform for students to share their thoughts. Unlike oral discussions, blogging gives students more time to contemplate, form their own ideas, and then share them with their peers. Through blog commenting, students can hold ongoing conversations outside of the classroom

Character development

In our classroom, we will use a “plot mountain” graphic organizer to study how Alex’s character develops and to analyze how Sonnenblick creates a character that the audience can identify with. Students will use that as a model and create a character for their own narratives.

Letter writing

Although we live in the age where digital mediums reign our interpersonal communication, Alex uses letters to communicate with the judge on his progress. This lends itself to a discussion about communication mediums, audience, and impact. Students can select a topic, such as the dress code or the equitable use of physical education equipment, and determine how that would be communicated to a friend, a kindergartner, a parent, a grandparent, or a superintendent. Students can then compose their message for different audiences using different tools. They have to ask themselves, Would I text message, e-mail, Tweet, or write a letter explaining my argument? This is an authentic opportunity for students to practice communicating their message across different mediums for different audiences.

Living history

This book inspires readers to learn from the wisdom and experiences of older generations in their communities. Students can interview persons of interest, record their stories and then publish them to share with future generations. Some of my students favorite ways to publish are through video (iMovie or We Video), digital picture books (Mystorybook or Storyjumper), graphic novels, blog posts (KidBlog), and animation (StikBots or PowToon).

Service learning projects

Students want to know that what they are learning in school is relevant to their lives and empowering them to make a difference in the world. Although Alex is assigned community service, he eventually becomes invested in providing the residents at the nursing home, especially his assigned patient, with a jazz concert. This sets an example for students to really examine their communities, identify an area that may be underserved, and use their own talents to provide a service that positively impact the lives of others.

Through many of these learning experiences, students will develop empathy for others while promoting social justice in their own communities.

Additional Resources:

Jordan Sonnenblick's official website links to Sonnenblick’s full list of books, his calendar, blog, and other resources.

"Service-Learning: The Time is Now" is an article explaining why service learning projects are powerful for our students. The article provides several examples of successful projects as well as steps for classroom implementation.

Julie D. Ramsay is a National Board Certified Teacher and the author of Can We Skip Lunch and Keep Writing? She teaches ELA to sixth graders at Rock Quarry Middle School in Tuscaloosa, AL. She also travels the country to speak, present, and facilitate workshops in applying technology to support authentic learning. Read her blog, eduflections.

When I want to relax after a long day of teaching, I often choose to watch a television show. With my “teacher eyes,” I frequently end up thinking about how the show flashing across my screen might relate to the content of an English language arts class.

For example, when watching an episode of Black-ish, I wonder how the show’s underlying commentary on race in America might help students understand a complex social issue related to an assigned text. I ask myself, How can this television show foster critical thought? What questions can I ask my students to help them develop their critical literacy skills?

As a teacher educator, I wonder how I can help current and future teachers address these questions in their own practice. 

In my experience as a high school English language arts teacher, my courses generally focused on one core text—a piece of fiction that I used as the foundation of a unit. However, I did my best to incorporate popular culture artifacts that were tied to central themes, conflicts, or ideas within the core text. I wanted my students to see the connections between their fictional text and the world in which we live. Moreover, I wanted students to grow into critical beings who questioned the world around them.

Teachers can integrate popular culture into their class curriculum as an avenue for students to explore themes from their assigned fictional readings. Increasingly, more popular culture artifacts address sociopolitical issues in a variety of mediums. For example, Black-ish and Fresh Off the Boat offer rich storylines that openly address critical issues such as race, class, immigration, and gender.

Students’ understanding of sociopolitical issues can be deepened by connecting the issues to current events. Teachers can think of the core text as a starting place. Perhaps the teacher then connects a theme from the core text to a popular culture television show. However, students’ emerging understanding can be extended.

How can this be accomplished? The news is a good place to start. News events and political movements offer rich opportunities for students to critically examine dominant narratives in our society. Additionally, popular culture artifacts allow teachers to meet the needs of mandated initiatives that require nonfiction readings be included in class curriculum. Teachers can integrate nonfiction into their course by pairing texts with news articles that address themes and topics from a selected episode.

Popular cultural artifacts can bring complex issues to life. After all, the more perspectives students are offered, the more nuanced their understandings become. Consider the ways in which you might integrate popular culture artifacts with contemporary issues in your own courses.

Kathleen Colantonio-Yurko is currently an assistant professor of literacy at The College at Brockport, State University of New York.

Kathleen Colantonio-Yurko will present multiple sessions including “All TV Shows Are Political?!: Fostering Critical Literacy Through Popular Culture in English Language Arts” at the ILA 2017 Conference & Exhibits, held in Orlando, FL, July 15–17.

In Taiwan, there is a great demand for effective strategies to teach English literacy skills. English textbooks used in elementary schools contain mostly short dialogues, and vocabulary and sentence exercises are usually controlled and graded linearly. These materials often don’t deliver meaningful, interesting, and effective literacy learning experiences.

In 2013, I worked with a group of elementary school English teachers to develop theme-based English reading and writing lessons to partially replace textbooks. Each theme consisted of children’s books of various genres, poetry, songs, or videos. We chose topics that were interesting and relevant to students’ lives, such as dentist visits, pet care, traveling, and cooking.

Reading materials were selected based on a few criteria: First, they had to be interesting and connect to students’ life experiences. Next, they had to be authentic materials that were not modified for the purpose of language teaching. Last, the language needed to be appropriate and not-too-challenging.

Writing is usually the aspect of language learning that second and foreign language learners find most frustrating. In our theme-based, meaning-focused teaching, we made sure that writing activities always came as a natural extension of reading activities. Students always wrote to express personal meaning. In the writing activities we designed, there was never a “correct answer.” Unlike writing activities recommended by textbooks, we never asked students to write copy or practice patterns. High achieving students were free to share what they wanted to say, and low achieving students practiced guided writing such as fill-in-the-blank prompts or sentence completion supported with word banks.

We were very curious about the effectiveness of this theme-based and meaning-based literacy teaching endeavor, so we conducted quasi-experimental research and invited another school of a similar size and parent socioeconomic status background in the same city to be the control group. Students from both schools received English reading and writing proficiency pre- and post-test. It was a delight to see that our students performed significantly better after receiving only one semester (four months) of this theme- and meaning-based literacy instruction. Interviews with students also revealed that they preferred the experimental instruction and wanted it to continue.

We put meaning and student interest at the forefront of what we chose and organized for students to read and to write. All educational and learning theories say that meaning and student motivation is important. What we learned is that while all English teaching theories and classroom research are important, the “meaning first” truth goes a long way. When meaning and student interests become the priority, everything else comes naturally in helping students to learn a new language.

Yueh-Nu Hung is an associate professor in the Department of English at the National Taichung University of Education in Taiwan. She is the director of the Center for Research on Elementary English Teaching, a project funded by the Ministry of Education of Taiwan that works on preservice and inservice elementary school English teacher training.

Yueh-Nu Hung will present a session titled “Finding Meaning in Literacy Learning: Classroom Strategies in Second and Foreign Language Literacy Instruction” at the ILA 2017 Conference & Exhibits, held in Orlando, FL, July 15–17.