Literacy According to Lisa » Uncategorized

It’s Time for School!! What will you do with your data?

lisa2003 — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:26:40 +0000

Well, it’s been a while…honestly I feel like I have been on a world tour this summer (ok, maybe just a central kentucky tour ) I have been busy with trainings and have had the opportunity to meet a lot of new people in the area and visit many of your schools. One of the things I have concluded after my summer tour is that Kentucky Schools are Data Rich but often Information Poor. Most schools have more data than they could ever analyze…GRADE, GMADE, KCCT, ThinkLink, MAP, Learning Checks, ORQ, Portfolios, Running Records, DRA, Interest Inventories, CTBS, Unit Assessments WHEW, just to name a few!!!

So what do you do with all this assessment data? How do you begin to sort through it all and what data is most valuable to analyze. Consider the following:

Assessment should drive your instruction. What data will help you make the best teaching decisions?
Ask yourself, “What do I need to know in order to teach my students?” Then ask, ” What data will best help me teach them? That’s the data to analyze more deeply.
Know what your assessments are designed to do, some are predictive and others are diagnostic, some measure content knowledg other measure skills.
Do a data inventory. List what data sources you have, what subjects you have data for, dates of data collection, grade levels assessed, how you use the data and then could you use it more effectively.
When looking at data, look past the surface. Ask yourself “Why?” If a child is novice on ThinkLink in reading, ask why? Is it a content issue or a reading issue?
Standardized test results are a good place to beginbut rarely all we need to know in order to improve acheivement.

Many schools never move to asking “Why?” They do a good job stating a problem but need to go deeper.

OMG!!! It’s testing time!

lisa2003 — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 19:53:11 +0000

Yes, spring is a great time to be in Kentucky: Keenland opens, the redbuds begin to bloom and the testing window begins!!! Portfolios are due! Oh, yes, it’s great to be in Kentucky. For teachers and students alike this time of year brings anxiety and stress. As our government representatives debate KCCT and CTBS, we test and test and test. But take a deep breath, this too shall pass. In an effort to help you survive the season, I’ve posted some test taking strategies and ideas for relieving anxiety on our web page. Take a look at www.cksec.org.

Outstanding Literacy Sites for Adolescents

lisa2003 — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 14:24:05 +0000

Teenreads.com
Teenink.com
adlit.org
literacymatters.org

Check these out! Teenreads is full of book reviews which really get teens interested. Teen Ink has things written by teenagers and all different genre. Great if you need sample articles, editorials, persuasive pieces, ect.

Literacy Matters and Adlit are great resources for teachers!

Fluency and Comprehension

lisa2003 — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 19:44:22 +0000

If you have not read this book you need to check it out: 7 Highly Strategies of Highly Effective Readers by Elain K. McEwan. She discusses the three prerequisites for comprehension instruction: readers must be fluent, have vocabulary already in place and background knowledge. Reading accurately is essential for comprehension but not adequate. So many struggling readers are so slow with problem solving at the word level that comprehension is greatly compromised. So often we work at the text level, but if students are having extreme difficulty with fluency, I suggest you check their letter/sound fluency and sight word vocabulary. They have to have automaticity with letters, sounds and words to decode in a fast and efficient way. Sometimes, we have to back up to the letter and word level, even with older students.

Some activities to increase fluency:

repeated oral reading of a text at instructional level
work with letters and words for fast sound and word recognition
Reader’s Theater
Paired and Choral Reading
Listening to stories on tape prior to reading

What other ideas do you have for increasing fluency? Send them to me and I will post them.

So Many Books, So Little Time: Great books for new teachers

lisa2003 — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 20:06:48 +0000

Check out an article that I have written at our website; www.cksec.org. Click on downloads and then click on Literacy. This article will be published in the Bulletin’s next edition, a publication put out by the Kentucky Teacher of English and Language Art! Yeah, me!

Literacy Downloads

lisa2003 — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 16:15:03 +0000

Check out my most recent documents for literacy at our website www.cksec.org. Click on downloads, then Literacy. Just posted docments include Writing Benchmarks and PERKS Literacy Document.

Awesome Websites for Primary Literacy

lisa2003 — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 15:17:39 +0000

CHECK THESE OUT!

www.primarygames.com games in Language Arts and all subjects and best of all it is free!

www.jmeacham.com My absolute fav for early primary! Loaded with lesson plans and practical ideas.

www.brainpopjr.com educational movies and homework help. Select a topic and students have the option of watching movie, playing games, word wall activities, writing activities,ect. Has suggestions for parents and teachers. FUN!

www.fcrr.org great site for finding center activities, research on best practice.

Great Resources for Primary Reading Assesssment and Small Group Instruction

lisa2003 — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 14:46:42 +0000

Listed below are some of my favorite resource materials and books for assessment and small group instruction:

Assessment

“Literacy Lessons 1 and 2″ by Marie Clay; ”Observation Survey of Early Literacy Acheivement” by Marie Clay; “Ready to Use Reading Assessments and Intervention Strategies K-2″ by Brenda Weaver; Developmental Reading Assessmentby Joetta Beaver published by Pearson Learning; Rigby’s PM Ultra Benchmark Kit

Small Group Instruction

By Debbie Diller: “Making the Most of Small Group Instruction”; “Literacy Workstations”; “Practice With Purpose”

By Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinell: “Guided Reading”, ” Word Matters”; “Continuim of Literacy K-8″; “Matching Books to Readers”