Fulton Literacy Council Newsletter 

                           

Note from the President I would never have guessed that we would be in this space for as long as we have been with Covid -19.  While we are waiting for our lives to become normal again, let’s remember to check on others, reflect on how good we have it, read a good book, and do some mental exercises.   13 Brain Exercises to Help Keep You Mentally Sharp Try puzzles.Play cards.Build vocabulary.Dance.Use your senses.Learn a new skill.Teach a skill.Listen to music.I can’t wait for us to get together with colleagues again to laugh, learn, and share stories and knowledge. Until then, be safe.

Virtual Learning

According to Edward Roesch, in Education Technology, The COVID-19 pandemic has left 87% of the world’s student population affected by school closures (data source: UNESCO). While schools and colleges are still strategizing over reopening, how are the students responding to the new era of remote learning?

While teachers are focusing on providing engaging eLearning experiences, 55% of students still find the lack of social interactions troubling. They learn better with fellow students, and for 45% of students, this could lead to underperforming in their academics.

Students have a strong desire to return to in-person connections. Not seeing other students and faculty in person is having an impact, and even contributes to anxiety, nervousness, and worry. The abrupt change in lifestyle, not limited to online lessons, has left many students struggling with how to succeed academically.

Most research on remote lessons shows that in-person courses are, on average, more effective. The social environment motivates students to engage and perform better. Students who already struggle in in-person classes are likely to struggle even more with eLearning.

                 

      

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WOW!!     Must Read

Influential literacy expert Lucy Calkins is changing her views

In a major shift, the controversial figure in the fight over how to teach reading now says that beginning readers should focus on sounding out words, according to a document obtained by APM Reports.

October 16, 2020, | by Emily Hanford

First-graders in Oakland, California, practice reading.Hasain Rasheed for APM Reports

The author of an influential and widely used curriculum for teaching reading is beginning to change her views.

The group headed by Lucy Calkins, a leading figure in the long-running fight over how best to teach children to read, is admitting that its materials need to be changed to align with scientific research. In an internal document obtained by APM Reports, the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project at Columbia University, where Calkins has served as founding director for more than 30 years, says it has been poring over the work of reading researchers and has determined that aspects of its approach need “rebalancing.” 

Calkins’ changing views could shift the way millions of children are taught to read. Her curriculum is the third most widely used core reading program in the nation, according to a 2019 Education Week survey. In addition, her group at Columbia works with teachers in at least 30 countries, including Mexico, Singapore, and Japan.

The shift comes amid a national debate about how schools teach reading, prompted in part by APM Reports’ coverage of the topic in the past three years. A spokesperson for Teachers College didn’t respond to a request for comment on Friday. 

The United States has long struggled with teaching kids to read; 65 percent of fourth-graders read at a level considered basic or below, according to the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress. Reading scientists say part of the problem is that popular curriculum materials, including those written by Calkins, rely on a disproven theory about how people read. That theory says people use meaning and sentence structure to predict words as they read when, in fact, decades of cognitive science research show that skilled reading requires an ability to decode, matching the sounds in words with the letters used to spell them. 

The disproven theory, explained in a 2019 APM Reports podcast episode and story, is sometimes referred to as “cueing.” It has led to instructional strategies that prompt beginning readers to guess words using pictures and context instead of first sounding them out. Calkins’ published materials contain lessons and assessments that promote these cueing strategies. Experts say cueing teaches children the habits of struggling readers and can impede the brain’s ability to effectively process and remember written words.  

In the statement obtained by APM Reports, Calkins’ group now says that beginning readers should focus on sounding out words and recommends that all children have access to “decodable” books that contain words with spelling patterns students have been taught in phonics lessons. Calkins, who once minimized the importance of phonics instruction, started selling a phonics program in 2018. But that program retained the cueing strategies. In a statement last November, Calkins lashed out at her critics, calling them “phonics-centric people” and denying that her materials promote cueing. 

The new statement seems to mark a shift in her organization’s understanding of scientific research. In addition to acknowledging problems with cueing, the statement says Calkins’ group has recently become convinced that instruction that benefits students with dyslexia also benefits all students, something reading scientists have long known.

The Arkansas Division of Secondary and Elementary Education announced in October 2019 that any curriculum that utilizes cueing strategies won’t be approved for use in the state, meaning that Calkins’ materials and another popular program, Fountas and Pinnell Classroom, are effectively banned. Colorado released a list of approved core reading curriculum, and Calkins’ programs weren’t on the list. A group outside St. Louis sent a letter signed by 216 parents, students, and taxpayers to the school board asking that Calkins and Fountas and Pinnell be dropped. The Oakland Unified School District, whose use of Calkins’ products was highlighted in the 2019 APM Reports story, announced it was forming a committee to consider adopting a new curriculum. And Student Achievement Partners, a nonprofit consulting group, published a review that concluded Calkins’ curriculum materials are “unlikely to lead to literacy success for all of America’s public school children.” 

Lucy Calkins

Good Read

Through ideas and practices straight from the classrooms of outstanding teachers, this lively resource illustrates writing that makes an impact on a reader, a writer, or a cause–writing that everyone wants to read. The book is rich with student work that shows how writing can make things happen in the world. …

Writing Strategy

Collaboratively Write This is an opportunity for the whole class to get involved.  Instead of having students start writing on their own, first, collaboratively write together as a class.  Have different students share ideas to create a collaborative writing sample.  This demonstrates for struggling writers how to approach the assignment and it provides them with ideas of what to write about.

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You cannot be afraid to speak up and speak out for what you believe, You have to have courage, raw courage. John Lewis