Writing to Achieve The Early Years Part 2 Debbie Jura Literacy Coach Wilson School, Rm. 22 Ext ,

Welcome to Day 2 Sign in sheets Bathrooms Break Lunch Parking Lot

Goals for the Day 1.To continue to work and grow more comfortable as a Professional Learning Community. 2.To begin to use data to drive instruction and to plan interventions. 3.To refine our teaching for oral language development.

Ice Breaker In the center of the card write your name, school site, grade level, room number and a contact phone number. In the top right corner write the title of the best book or movie you have recently enjoyed. In the top left hand corner write the number of years you have been teaching. In the bottom left corner write your favorite activity outside of work. In the bottom right corner write your biggest challenge in writing this year.

Forming Table Groups Please look at the back of your 5x8 card. There should be a sticky do on it. Please move to the table with that color on it. This will form our morning working groups.

“Teacher learning communities appear to be the most effective, practical method for changing day to day classroom………

“Members of a professional learning community recognize they cannot accomplish their fundamental purpose of high levels of learning for all students unless they work together collaboratively.” –Richard DuFour, Rebecca DuFour, Robert Eaker and Thomas Many

“Good to Great” “Great schools “row as one”; they are quite clearly in the same boat, pulling in the same direction in unison. The best schools we visited were tightly aligned communities marked by a palpable sense of common purpose and shared identity among staff-a clear sense of “we”. -Lickona and Davidson (2005)

Working on Solutions Each of you has written down a challenge you face in writing. Please list those on one color of sticky note. Share those challenges in your group and see if there are any commonalities.

Solutions Let’s share possible solutions to each person’s challenge. List at least one of those solutions on the remain color of sticky note and stick it beside the challenge statement.

“Reading and writing float on a sea of talk.” J. Britton

Study Results A study by Hart and Risley: American Educator, Spring 2003 Total words heard by age 4 Professional Family 45 million Working Class Family 26 million

Poverty Level family 13 million words So, by the age of 4 there is already a 30 million word deficit in the number of words heard.

The Type of Words Heard Professional Family 32 affirmations, 5 prohibitions A ratio of 6 encouragements to 1 discouragement per hour

Working Class Family 12 affirmations to 5 prohibitions per hour A ratio of 2 encouragements to 1 discouragement pre hour

Poverty Level Family 5 affirmations to 11 prohibitions per hour A ratio of 1 encouragement to 2 discouragements per hour

Differences across 1 year Professional family 166,000 affirmations to 26, 000 prohibitions Working Class Family 62,000 affirmations to 36,000 prohibitions Poverty level Family 26,000 affirmations to 57,000 prohibitions

Another thing to consider Vocabulary experts agree that adequate reading comprehension depends on the person already knowing 90-95% of the words in the text.

How do we learn words? A well educated 12 th grader knows between 60,000 and 100,000 words. How did he or she learn them?

Most vocabulary growth results incidentally from massive immersion in the world of language and knowledge.

Using Assessment to Drive Instruction Oral Language Development Assessment and Instruction

Balanced Literacy Writing ListeningSpeaking Reading Thinking

“Since reading and writing are language activities, it is vital for teachers to have a clear understanding of how language develops and to know the most common structures in English and how these structures are acquired by children who are learning to read and write.” –Clay, 1991

5 Mosst Common Sentence Structures Simple sentences. Sentences with a prepositional phrase. Sentences with 2 phrases or clauses linked by a conjunction. Sentences with 2 phrases or clauses linked by a pronoun. Sentences with 2 phrases or clauses linked by an adverb.

Transformed Sentences  Negative statements  Questions  Commands  Exclamations

Assessment Activity Pick up an assessment packet. Find a comfortable spot to test. Get acquainted with the child. Test sentence structures and transformed sentences. Thank the child and escort them back to class. Summarize your results.

Implications for Teaching Slow teacher talk. Target low language students for support. Use more non linguistic representations. Pair students with more proficient language learners. Provide the language structure for them. Repeated practice. Model! Model! Model! Involve them in the conversation. Oral language group vs reading or writing group.

Assessment Activity 2 Because one assessment does not give you a complete picture of what the child controls, we will use 2 other assessments. –4 picture narrative –Story drawing, narration and dictation

4 Picture Narrative You are assessing the child’s ability to listen to and reconstruct or create a logically sequenced story. Allows you the opportunity to measure the child’s independent language production in a meaningful activity.

Picture Drawing with Narration You are establishing a relationship of joint attention to something in the outside world. (the picture) Writing the sentence challenges the child to use what they know about CAP skills as well as what they know about print strategies. (HRSIW’S) Re-reading indicates whether the child understands that the print contains the message and how long they can hold an idea in their head. (storage and retrieval of a message)

Summarize your students strengths and needs What are the implications for instruction and support?

Teaching with the End In Mind

5x5 Activity “ Having the END in mind.” In your working group, work together to define the following: 3-5 essential learning’s that all students should acquire as a result of writing instruction in Kindergarten. 3-5 ways you will know when each student has acquired these essential learning’s.

Analysis of Student Work Here’s what! So What? Now what?

Here’s What! First divide your student work into 2 piles. (High and Low) Next divide those 2 piles into 2 more piles. You now have 4 piles of student work..Adv,Pro, Basic, and Below Basic

Here’s What…continued Looking at each group make some general, factual statements about –What were students able to do. –What do the students need. –Did anything surprise you?

So What? What are the implication of this information? Write factual statements that describe the problem or hypothesize reasons for the problem….” My students don’t…I need to….” Determine the groups top 2-4 areas of greatest need…..please chart these responses.

Now What? Between now and testing what specific actions do you need to address? Please chart those responses. Prepare to share your work with the group.

CELDT Testing How can we use the results to inform our teaching?

Components  Following directions  Teacher Talk  Extended listening comprehension  Rhyming Listening

 Oral vocabulary  Choose and give 2 reasons  Speech Functions  4 picture narrative Speaking

 Word Analysis  Letter name  Sentence and picture matching Reading

 Copying a letter  Copying a word  Label  1 word response  Punctuation Writing

Summing Up! What one thing are you taking away from today’s in-service?

Evaluation Please fill out an evaluation for today. It has been my pleasure to work with you. Let me know if you have questions, concerns, or special needs. –Debbie Jura –Next in-service date 11/5 –Please give your kids a sample dictated sentence and bring that with you. The bus is coming. It will stop here to let me get on.