1. Engaging Learners in Literacy First Literacy and High School Completion Developed by ERLC/ARPDC as a result of a grant from Alberta Education to support implementation with Siobhan Murphy & Karla Holt

2. Where are you? Use the clip art tool to place an icon on the map.

3. Place an icon that best describes your role in your school division. TeacherConsultantAdministratorOther

4. Goals:  To explore literacy as a factor in high school completion rates  To become familiar with the key themes in Literacy First and how they relate to increasing literacy across in all subject and grade levels.  To investigate key strategies to embed the teaching of literacy skills across the curriculum.

5. Literacy and High School Completion What do you know? What do you want to know? What did you learn?

6. Literacy First: What is it?

7. Literacy First – Key Themes 1.What is Literacy? 2. Building literacy skills in all subjects and all grades 3. Literacy as a factor in high school completion rates 4. More literacy support for all learners 5. Literacy professional learning for all K-12 teachers 6. Literacy is a shared responsibility

8. Literacy is acquiring, creating, connecting and communicating meaning in a wide variety of contexts. Literacy First: A Plan for Action (p.3) Alberta Education 2010 Literacy Defined…

9. Literacy Literacy and high school completion is like…because… a carthe ocean

10. Agree or Disagree Alberta's completion rate has been steadily increasing and has levelled off 79.2% of students completing high school within five years of starting Grade 10. The Alberta government wants to see this increase to 81% by 2012/2013 and to 90% long-term. Can this be done? VOTE http://education.alberta.ca/admin/highschoolcompletion/a lbertacompletionrate.aspx

11. Literacy & High School Completion http://dsp-psd.pwgsc.gc.ca/Collection/Statcan/81-595-MIE/81-595-MIE2006043.pdf (Tamara Knighton and Patrick Bussière, 2006)

12. Connect to the Action Plan “One commonly cited reason for non- completion of high school is that student do not have the literacy skills to keep up with the high school curriculum, which has become increasingly complex” (Biancarosa and Snow 2006, Literacy First: A Plan for Action, p.5).

13. Connect to the Action Plan “One commonly cited reason for non- completion of high school is that student do not have the literacy skills to keep up with the high school curriculum, which has become increasingly complex” (Biancarosa and Snow 2006, Literacy First: A Plan for Action, p.5).

14. Consider How can we ensure Alberta’s students have the literacy skills to keep pace in an increasingly more complex curriculum? 81% by 2012

15. Michael O'Gorman Literacy and School Completion  What key points stand out for you?  What are possible implications of O’Gorman’s challenge to make the implicit explicit? http://erlc.ca/resources/resources/cmec/video5.php

16. “[A]ll teachers are teachers of literacy.” (Literacy First: A Plan for Action, p. 6) Connect to the Action Plan

17. How can you embed the teaching of literacy in all subjects and all grades? Break-out Room

18. Break out rooms Literacy Strategies

19. Break out rooms

25.  Sharing ideas  KWL chart

26. Connect to the Action Plan (Literacy First: A Plan for Action, p. 6)

27. Moving Forward  What skills do you need to be able to teach literacy skills in your subject area?  What training do you need?  www.erlc.ca www.erlc.ca

28. Moving Forward http://ideas.education.alberta.ca/hsc.aspx

29. Closing Remarks Literacy is about learning to learn, solving problems and communicating. Literacy requires a teaching and learning process (including assessment) that is focused on making meaning; “rather than merely reproducing uncritically what they have been taught, learners should be able to make sense of the world and develop their own perspectives” (Lonsdale and McCurry, 2004, p.11)

30. Consider How can we ensure Alberta’s students have the literacy skills to keep pace in an increasingly more complex curriculum? 81% by 2012