Literacy News You Can Use - November 2017

Literacy News You Can Use

November 2017

RESEARCH

What Works Clearinghouse: Teaching Academic Content and Literacy to English Learners in Elementary and Middle School 
Provides four recommendations that address what works for English learners during reading and content area instruction and extensive examples of activities that can be used to support students as they build the language and literacy skills needed to be successful in school, including examples of how the recommendations align with Common Core and other contemporary state standards.

INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICE AND RESOURCES

Iowa Core Advocate Network (ELA)
Over 200 educators from across the state signed up to participate in the Iowa Core Advocate Network (ELA)! We completed the third webinar last week and would like to invite all Iowa educators to visit the Iowa Core Advocate website to view the archived webinar videos and access correspomaterials. Follow @iacoreadvocates on Twitter.

General Education Leadership Network: Essential Practices in Early and Elementary Literacy 
Explore a compilation document of the Essential Practices in Early Literacy developed by the Early Literacy Task Force, a sub-committee of the Michigan Association of School Administrators (MAISA) General Education Leadership Network (GELN). The task force led an effort to create early literacy resources to support Michigan educators in improving literacy skills of all students. The link above will direct you to the site where the individual documents within the compilation live.

ColorinColorado.org: Using Graphic Organizers with ELLS
Visual illustrations allow ELLs to better understand the material while learning important vocabulary. Article explains that graphic organizers are most useful to ELLs when presented in small group activities.

Iowa Reading Research Center - Developing Writers in the Classroom: Fluency With Writing Mechanics and an Engaged Community of Writers
Without a strong grasp of the mechanics of writing, getting ideas down on paper will be difficult for young writers. It is important to teach and allow for the practice of skills such as handwriting or word processing.

Developing Students’ Ability to Give and Take Effective Feedback
California middle-school teacher Emerie Lukas describes how she is helping students give and take feedback in her science, technology, engineering and math courses. She has introduced several feedback strategies to train students to give effective critiques to their peers and approach problems methodically. Information is applicable to all content areas.

UnboundEd.org: ELA Content Guide
Addresses what college- and career-ready ELA/literacy standards are asking of you, your materials, and your students. The UnboundEd grade-by-grade Content Guides, which focus on fluency, answer your questions, help you zero in on what's important, and provide plenty of examples you can apply to your own classroom.

EdReports.org: Making the Most of Your Materials
Step-by-step guides to evaluate the alignment of your current instructional materials to the standards.

Shanahan on Literacy
Literacy expert, Tim Shanahan, shares a wealth of information for any teacher supporting literacy instruction. It features research-backed articles on the latest practices and classroom strategies.

Achievement Network
Covers a broad range of topics from school leadership, to lesson planning, to instructional materials.

From Achievethecore.org: 
High-Impact Strategies for Teaching Writing with Evidence at the High School Level
An interdisciplinary PLC develops common strategies and rubrics to support student writing.

Book Baskets: Optimizing Your Classroom Library Grades K-8
In this free webinar, learn how to organize your classroom library to:
Increase student choice, engagement, and motivation during independent reading time
Remove artificial barriers that limit students to "just-right" texts
Create topic-based book baskets that build knowledge and vocabulary

NEWS

Attention Literacy Teachers: 2018 Letters About Literature Student Reading/Writing Competition
The Iowa Center for the Book is a program of the State Library of Iowa and an affiliate of the Library of Congress Center for the Book. Founded in 2002, their mission is to stimulate public interest in books, reading, literacy, and libraries. Letters About Literature is a national reading and writing competition sponsored by the Library of Congress. Students in grades 4 through 12 write a letter to an author explaining how that author’s work changed their way of thinking about the world or themselves. Letters are being accepted now and must be postmarked by January 12, 2018. Sign up to receive occasional updates and reminders from the Iowa Center for the Book.

The Telegraph: Children Who Struggle to Read or Write May Actually Have Hearing Problems, Study Finds 
A reminder to rule out hearing loss when children struggle with reading.

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES

Student Achievement Partners: Core Advocate Mini-Course - K-2 Foundational Skills
Dig deep into the building blocks of teaching reading-foundational skills with Student Achievement literacy experts David Liben and Carey Swanson! There are some definitive practices that research shows are levers to support teaching our youngest children to read. This course will dive into the content of K-2 foundational skills, with an emphasis on phonological awareness, phonics, and how they connect to early reading. Experts will also explore instructional guidelines and concrete recommendations for teacher practice. Gather a team of colleagues to join the course with you. Sign up to become a national Core Advocate.

Standards Institute (ELA) - Los Angeles, CA - January 29 - February 2, 2018
The Standards Institute is a unique and transformative five-day professional development experience that encourages greater understanding of the research behind the standards, and also delivers the practical, day-to-day strategies that can improve instructional practice and leadership in your school.

Plain Talk About Literacy and Learning - New Orleans, LA - February 26-28, 2018
Heralded as the nation’s premier literacy Institute, which gained its reputation because of its clear focus on providing evidence-based reading research and strategies for those who teach at all ages and grade levels. From the nation’s leading researchers, you will learn the current findings on reading instruction, reading difficulties and reading intervention.

MORE

Archived Literacy News You Can Use Updates
Literacy Resources Subject Pages on IowaCore.gov
Voice From the Field Monthly Blog

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Destiny Eldridge
Education Consultant (Literacy)
Iowa Department of Education
400 E 14th St
Des Moines, IA 50319
515-822-2554 
destiny.eldridge@iowa.gov

Literacy on www.EducateIowa.gov
Literacy Resources on www.IowaCore.gov
ELA/Literacy Standards