What's Up With Reading & Writing?

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Every month, MCESA links you to solutions for some of education's toughest challenges throughout our newsletter. This month we are addressing current issues with Language Arts. Questions or comments should be directed to laurie.king@mcesa.maricopa.gov.

March 2015


The Challenge

21% of third graders in Maricopa County did not pass the 2014 AIMS reading assessment.

According to Arizona Ready Report Card

We all know that effective teachers and leaders are the largest in-school contributors to student learning and achievement. No initiative, program or strategy will be successful without highly effective teachers and school leaders.

Some Solutions

Attract: 

Spotlight Schools Work to Recruit Top Talent

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Schools need to be clear about what they want in an educator and what interesting incentives they can offer. As budgets continue to erode, creative solutions become more necessary. Some ideas don't cost any money at all, some are nominal and very worth it. 

Let's take a look at some options to attract top talent.

A recent MCESA blog post lists a number of ways to help use your website to attract the talent you want. Some school districts are taking web-based recruitment very seriously. Check out Phoenix Elementary's employment website. The site clearly states what they want in a teacher, what they can offer their educators and how they will help support new hires to do what they do best: teach.

Show possible new teachers and new hires that you not only want them to come into your school, but that you value keeping them there.

Several school districts involved in the Rewarding Excellence in Instruction and Leadership- The Next Generation (REIL-TNG) program are using "Spotlight Schools" to recruit effective educators to high needs schools.

Educators who transfer to spotlight schools will receive a competitive base salary structure, a yearly stipend, a possible multi-year contract and the possibility of Highly Effective and Effective status protection for three years. Effective REIL-TNG educators also have the opportunity to reach higher salary tiers earlier in their careers than traditional salary scales.

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Retain: 

School Leadership Cited as Major Reason Teachers Stay / Leave A School

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Adrian Walker, Principal of Phoenix Elementary Magnet Traditional School

Several recent studies have highlighted how teachers aren’t leaving schools because of low pay or the stress of the job, but because of a lack of effective leadership at their schools. Even a non-education-focused publication, The Atlantic, has explored this trend in its article, “Why Do So Many Teachers Quit Their Jobs? Because They Hate Their Bosses.”

“The researchers found that the most important factor influencing commitment was the beginning teacher's perception of how well the school principal worked with the teaching staff as a whole,” The Atlantic piece states.

Adrian Walker has embraced his role as principal and been recognized for his work by the National Center for Urban School Transformation.

While nearly impossible to summarize all the qualities of an effective school leader, Walker suggested that the first steps to building a successful learning community are to “know your students and be adequately prepared.”

Read more about how Principal Walker leads a school focused on achievement, by clicking the "Read More" box below.

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Support: 

Teaching Teachers to Cultivate Student Writers

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“Writing is easy: All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead” is attributed to journalist Gene Fowler, although many others have expressed such sentiments.  As teachers and administrators, we know cultivating student writers is a difficult endeavor—and no panacea is available.  However, steps can be taken to empower students to improve their writing. 

1.      Language-Rich Environment.  Celebrating the wonder of words, filling every nook and cranny with books, showing enthusiasm about discovering how authors communicate and create pictures, supplying varied writing tools, investing in word games like Scrabble, Apples to Apples, or Balderdash, playing with and manipulating words and language—all motivate students and lessen the intimidation factor of writing. 

2.      Prewriting.  If brainstorming or outlining is your prewriting definition, expand it.  Anything done before writing to prepare students to write is prewriting: close reading, discussing, drawing, watching a movie clip, using graphic organizers, thinking, researching.  The fifth of the Six Pedagogical Shifts in ELA/Literacy, requires writing based on text; this requires prewriting activities to understand the text.  Weaving multiple prewriting strategies together creates a multi-layered prewriting experience sure to strengthen writing. 

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Upcoming Language Arts Opportunities

March 24: AZCCRS ELA Phase 2: Sentence Construction and Fluency Participants will learn engaging strategies for teaching students how to construct strong sentences. Topics include sentence types, structures, beginnings, phrases and clauses, as well as sentence deconstructing and combining.

March 25: AZCCRS ELA Phase 2: Writing Essays: Persuasive and Argument Participants will employ the writing process and elements of argument to write persuasive/arguments texts. Topics will include the differences between persuasion and argument, argument protocol, and strategies for engaging students in argument writing.

April 7: AZCCRS ELA Phase 2: Anchoring Reading Practices in AZCCRS Participants will learn how to plan and implement strong reading instruction to meet the demands of AZCCRS. Topics include a deeper understanding of instruction for reading to learn and resources to engage and empower students as independent readers. Additionally, An Integrated Model of Instruction will be introduced.

April 8: AZCCRS ELA Phase 2: Using Mentor Texts to Improve Student Writing Participants will read and analyze rich, complex texts, and then use them as models to enrich their own writing.  Also, participants will create plans to implement mentor texts in their classrooms.  Topics include the qualities of rich text, connecting Close Reading to improved student writing, and finding mentor texts for your classroom.


Celebrate Innovation in Our Schools: 

STEM Night with the Suns

Suns

Join MCESA in celebrating science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) with the Phoenix Suns! 

Come out and celebrate Maricopa County STEM teachers, students and the STEM Professionals that support them as they are recognized during the game on March 29.

A portion of every ticket sold through this program will be donated back to support STEM in Maricopa County schools.

Tickets are only $17.00 for Maricopa County educators, students, and their friends and families!

To purchase your tickets Visit: suns.com/groupmatics Enter code: STEM

Download the flyer to spread the news about this great opportunity!