Read for Life

Literacy is the core of all learning. To thrive in the world, one must be well read. A broad knowledge base is essential, but even more important, one must be able to think---to make connections between texts, the world, and oneself. To be a contributing member of society, one must also be able to communicate effectively both in a conversation and in writing. To achieve mastery in reading, speaking, and writing, students need many opportunities to practice in a variety of modes.

GLEs

Washington State has completed the reading grade level expectations and I have been working with grade level teams to complete the first level of alignment. The documents are done and will soon be posted on the PSD website. This has been an enormous undertaking, so I am feeling a great deal of accomplishment as we work to decide how we now move to deep alignment, the next step. It is essential for us to help staff understand the importance of this work.

The writing GLEs are now also complete. So now the work begins anew to align our curriculum to the writing GLEs. This past week I presented at OSPI with my Classroom Based Assessment Group from all around the state. We have developed three modules so far. One is a high school 4 week summer school class based on what students most need to know and be able to do in writing based on WASL results. The second is focused on writing strong introductions and conclusions. The third module is on the critical elaboration piece.

OSPI Writing Presentation

I am so excited to be a part of the OSPI presentation this week. I have been working with the most phenomenal group of women from all around Washington State on the 4 week course designed to improve student writing. It is targeted to address the areas of greatest concern on student performance on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, fondly known as the WASL. This four week course specifically targets high school, but could be adapted for any writers. In fact, we have two other groups that designed a module for elaboration and another on introductions and conclusions that goes deeper than the 4 week course.
I will be working with my district high schools to imbed the writing activities into the current 10th grade English classes. I am also working with two elementaries to adapt the material for younger writers. This is such exciting work.
But now I am being redundant...

Here are some pictures of my team. We are preparing for our presentation and getting ready to share our work.

Accelerated Reader

Recently, we hosted the first ever Accelerated Reader Seminar 501 for elementary school administrators, building learning specialists, and librarians. The response was overwhelmingly positive. Jim Church, The Renaissance Place trainer, did an outstanding job of explaining the proper use of AR in the schools. As we are implementing the 90 minute uninterrupted reading block, many questions about where AR should be used in relationship to the block have arisen.
We have also had inconsistency in library organization, use of the ZPD, and a number of other AR related issues. As such, a steering committee met and developed the district's guidelines for the proper use of AR. We were pleased that Jim's presentation aligned so tightly with our guidelines.
Do you use Accelerated Reader? What do you think of it?