3t Literacy Group

Providing practical application of research based strategies

 

Literacy Leadership:  Planning and Teaching for Success


All sessions are customized to district and/or school need and include multiple opportunities for hands on activities that provide practical application of research and theory.  3t Literacy Group consultants are independent literacy experts.  3t Literacy Group is not affiliated with any one publisher and can therefore, offer an independent and customized program for your unique setting.


Planning and Evaluation

Response to Instruction/Intervention (RtI)  is new to most states, districts, and schools.  As a result, we may not have the institutional memory to develop comprehensive plans that provide specific guidelines in the “mechanics” of implementing such large scale school reform model.  What we do know is that every district and school is different.  Therefore, a one size fits all model of RtI implementation may not be the right size for you.  The RtI planning sessions provide guidance based on RtI, literacy, and school reform research as well as practical models to enable educators to develop precise plans that suit their unique educational setting. Sessions include but are not limited to:


Logistics of Literacy Intervention Planning Overview:

Overviews provide a half day or full day overview of the planning process for schools and districts considering a Response to Intervention/Instruction model or those seeking to revise an existing plan to maximize staff and student potential.  Sessions are customized to district/school need and address planning issues that occur at elementary, middle and high school.  Topics include:  Determining the priority of RtI, determining need, placement and progress monitoring, schedules, class configuration, content for each tier, choosing and monitoring teachers, and developing procedure and policy to streamline instructional delivery.


RtI Planning Sessions: The Logistics of Literacy Intervention

RtI Planning sessions can range from 2 to 5 days and are customized to meet the needs of individual states, districts and schools.  District or school literacy teams attend sessions with their data and an inventory of their current instructional strategies and materials.  Based on the unique configuration and needs at each district and school, teams develop precise plans for the implementation of effective literacy instruction and intervention. Sessions can include multiple school teams or they can be facilitated at the school site with individual district or school teams. Teams will leave the session with a district or school plan that can be codified into a RtI handbook that will provide continuity and clarity for all stakeholders. Separate sessions are suggested for elementary and secondary levels.


RtI Planning Follow up

Follow up sessions range from 1 to 3 days depending on district/school need.  Implementation plans are shared, reviewed and revised.  District/school teams work to develop exact procedures and policies that free teachers to provide quality instruction and intervention without the worry about peripheral details that often obstruct the RtI process.


Coaching Services

Large-scale intervention is new to most districts and schools.  We cannot expect teachers and administrators to run effective programs without support and practice.  3t Literacy Group provides coaching support for teachers and administrators utilizing a gradual release model. (I do, we do, you do) so that all educational personnel feel supported and efficacious as they move toward an effective RtI system.  The 3t coaching process provides teachers the time and support to become instructional diagnosticians in their classrooms. The consultants at 3t Literacy recommends that coaches visit each school site at least once a month for the first year of implementation.  It is the goal of 3t Literacy Group to develop local capacity so that districts and schools can provide internal support.


Coaching for Coaches and Administrators

Through workshops, meetings, shadow activities and role play, district and school designated personnel learn to become effective coaches in an RtI system.  These sessions are designed for teachers and/or administrators to enable them to become instructional leaders and guides in a school RtI model.

  1. •Observing and supporting a Literacy Based Classroom

  2. •Coaching in a Literacy Based Classroom


Program Evaluation

With over 100 combined years of experience in the field of literacy instruction and intervention, the experts at 3t Literacy Group provide independent program evaluations for each tier of literacy instruction.  The evaluation consists of two to three visits during the school year.  Consultants formally observe classrooms and interview teachers and administrators to determine the effectiveness level of their RtI system.  Feedback is provided through individual meetings with administrators and teachers as well as a formal written report that includes observations and recommendations for improvement.  Each evaluation is customized to district and school need.




Literacy Content Instruction

3t Literacy Group provides practical professional development in the essential skills for literacy from Pre-K to adult at the intensive, strategic and benchmark levels. All sessions are conducted by nationally recognized, independent literacy experts and authors.  Sessions are customized to client need as well as the educational level of students.  Teachers and Administrators will learn and practice literacy strategies that can be immediately applied to their school and/or classroom. 


Sessions include, but are not limited to:


The RtI Classroom.

What does instruction look like in a Scientifically Based RtI classroom?  What are the social and emotional characteristics of struggling students that teachers need to know to effectively instruct their students?  These sessions provide practical application of research-based instruction in each instructional tier with diverse student populations. 

  1. •Instruction in the Benchmark Classroom

  2. •Instruction in the Strategic Classroom

  3. •Instruction in the Intensive Classroom



Research/Data Analysis

The basis for any effective RtI system is the ability to read, analyze and respond to student data.  In addition, we know that we cannot measure the progress of students without measuring the progress of the educators who serve them.  Data sessions are customized to district/school need and include both theoretical and practical application of progress monitoring systems in your unique setting.

  1. •Analyzing and Responding to Student Data for Administrators

  2. •Analyzing and Responding to Student Data for Teachers

  3. •Monitoring Teacher and Administrator Progress in an RtI system

  4. •Literacy Research for K-12 Teachers and Administrators

  5. •Research Based Instruction for Special Education Teachers



Essential Elements of Literacy Instruction

Instruction in reading at any level requires that students develop automatic skills that will enhance their ability to comprehend text and respond to it using higher order thinking skills.  However, teachers and administrators may not have sufficient background knowledge to truly implement the elements essential for significant reading progress.  3tLiteracy Group provides workshops that provide theoretical background information in an easy to understand format while teaching educators how to apply that knowledge with practical, every day classroom activities. 


Topics include but are not limited to:

  1. •Phonemic Awareness and Phonics

  2. •Fluency

  3. •Spelling Rules

  4. •Vocabulary and Morphology

  5. •Grammar and Syntax

  6. •Listening and Comprehending

  7. •Speaking and Writing



Differentiation

Teachers are expected to differentiate instruction for all students.  This can be an overwhelming task in diverse classrooms.  Differentiation sessions are designed to meet the needs of teachers seeking to provide quality instruction for all their students.  Designed for Reading/Language Arts and Content Area teachers, these sessions provide practical solutions and activities for daily instruction.

  1. •Data Based Differentiation

  2. •Differentiation for English Learners

  3. •Differentiation for Academic English Learners

  4. •Accommodating the Special Education student in the General Education Classroom


Content Area Instruction

Content area teachers are expected to instruct their subject matter and simultaneously teach literacy skills to struggling students.  How can content teachers provide literacy instruction that does not cause them to sacrifice their content?  Content area sessions provide practical application of literacy strategies designed to enhance not replace content area instruction.

  1. •Instructional Sequence for Tier 1 and Tier 2 Classes: Teaching Literacy Across Content Areas

  2. •Teaching Reading in the Content Area without Sacrificing Subject Matter



Classroom Management

Effective classroom management provides the vehicle for successful instruction.  In an RtI system, teachers are expected to provide instruction to diverse groups of students who may have developed defensive behaviors to cope with their lack of school success. Teachers may find that the management techniques they have used in the past do not apply to a group of struggling students.  The classroom management sessions assist teachers to develop management systems and procedures that allow them to teach and students to learn.


Cooperative Literacy: Organizing and Instructing a Diverse Group of Learners

Cooperative Literacy is an approach to classroom organization and instruction based on systems thinking. This session will provide teachers with a “hands on” experience that will enhance the creating of literacy environments for middle level students. The Cooperative Literacy approach emphasizes interactive cooperative organizational management structures. Use of this approach enables teachers to make use of students' literate behaviors of reading, writing, thinking, speaking, and listening. Use of this approach allows teachers more options in their instruction by utilizing cooperative structures, or maintaining traditional approaches. Students become more strategic and independent thinkers, and teachers become facilitative managers of literacy as they guide students through the classroom activities.  Participants will understand how Cooperative Literacy facilitates learning with culturally and academically diverse learners, and how the methodology enhances student engagement and literacy in any classroom. Teachers will also learn mediation strategies in order to provide corrective feedback and strategies to students who are experiencing behavioral challenges as well as difficulty with academic rigor. Socializing students to learning benefits both students and teachers as efficacy is heightened. The emphasis of this approach is on individual performance, though group process is utilized to build the community of learners.


Developing Procedure in the Intervention Classroom

Teachers who are recruited to teach intervention classes often find themselves with a classroom of students who have developed defensive behaviors to mask their reading issues.  The classroom management techniques that teachers have previously utilized are no longer effective with a class of struggling readers. This session focuses on the social/emotional characteristics of intervention students and the importance of procedure and structure within the intervention classroom.  Teachers will create procedures for their classes that can be used on Monday morning.






School Dayz: Using Classroom Scenarios with Literacy Embeds to Enhance Classroom Management



“Kids are acting out too much for me to teach them.” “They just don’t want to learn.” They are goofing off too much to learn anything!” “If these kids would just stay home we could get some work don around here!” These quotes are echoed in classrooms all around the country as teachers struggle to maintain classroom control and management.


Teachers may find themselves in a “default” position of having to help “raise kids” today. Most teachers indicate that classroom management is a challenge that is never ending. Using a literacy based strategy sequence to teach classroom management can allow students to approach their behavior through their cognitive learning channels involving reading, discussion, and through writing on the issue at hand. The “School Dayz” vignettes provide a structured means of dealing with classroom issues from the simplest to the most complicated, from not bringing materials, to bullying, from lack of performance to destructive behaviors and vandalism.

   

Participants review some of the already existing vignettes, will learn the process and create a vignette of their own that will be shared. By allowing the creation and development one vignette per person to add to our collection, and we can think about how to bring this process to the school as part of a discipline strategy.