Transform Literacy Instruction: Professional Learning
Our professional learning is built on the foundation of The Science of Reading. Recent research and major scientific advancements into literacy acquisition have uncovered a large disconnect between how we are teaching children to read and how children actually learn to read. Only 70% of students leave school with the literacy skills to reach their full potential. We can change this by understanding and teaching the fundamental skills – decoding and language comprehension – that children must acquire to become fluent and efficient readers and the strategies that are most effective in teaching these skills.
This professional learning will:
expand a teachers’ understanding of foundational literacy development based on the Simple View of Reading;
provide them a deeper understanding of the sub-domains of decoding and language skills essential in literacy development;
extend their repertoire of high-yield teaching strategies based on an Active Teaching model;
coach them on how to apply the core strategies of proactive classroom management; and
improve their understanding of how teachers can use literacy data to inform instruction and monitor students’ progress.
Syllabus
Outcome: Educators leave the course with:
- A clearly defined scope and sequence for teaching reading.
- Instructional strategies on phonics, morphology, and reading comprehension.
- Aligned engaging activities, games, and worksheets.
| Module 1. | Why Systematic Reading Instruction | Introduces a unique systematic approach to reading instruction. |
| Module 2. | The Science of Reading | Outlines key concepts of the science underlying systematic phonics and reading instruction. |
| Module 3. | The Science of Teaching | Reviews the principles of the science of teaching and provides practical strategies that can increase the rate at which children learn to read. |
| Module 4. | Phase 1: Becoming a Reader | Introduces the scope for teaching the foundational skills of becoming a reader. Focuses on decoding and the most effective sequence of learning sounds and letters. |
| Module 5. | Strategies and Activities for Phase 1 Instruction | Provides simple, effective strategies and activities that ensure students master foundational reading skills. Outlines practical daily and weekly routines that build students’ confidence. |
| Module 6. | Phase 2: Becoming a Skilled Reader | Defines morphology and explores decoding words with more complex sound-letter relationships to increase students repertoire of words. |
| Module 7. | Strategies and Activities for Phase 2 Instruction | Outlines effective strategies to integrate morphology into instruction to quickly build vocabulary and spelling. Provides aligned activities for learning advanced sound-letter relationships and understanding the structure of words and sentences. |
| Module 8. | Phase 3: Becoming an Expert Reader | Describes the most effective scope and sequence of teaching reading comprehension. Summarises strategies that enable students to acquire conceptual and procedural knowledge embedded in a text, interpret key ideas and concepts, and make inferences. |
| Module 9. | Strategies and Activities for Phase 3 Instruction | Outlines ten strategies for improving reading comprehension, includes subject-based vocabulary and links them to activities related to literature, fine arts, mathematics, science, and land-based knowledge. |
| Module 10. | Summary and Next Steps | Provides a short overview of key learnings and recommendations on the next steps. Upon completion of this course, educators will be confident in their ability to apply the key concepts and strategies of systematic reading instruction |
Outcome: Educators will learn twenty-four teacher ‘competencies’ designed to help them become even more effective in their teaching practices.
| Module 1. | Introduction | Understand the distinction between effective teaching and quality instruction. Learn why teacher self-efficacy and collective efficacy play a key role in student learning. |
| Module 2. | I know the content of my teaching area | Understand how to develop assignments and projects, decide on what materials to use, and employ assessments to evaluate students’ learning. |
| Module 3. | I know my students | Find out how to plan instruction, and develop and modify teaching activities based on students’ learning needs. |
| Module 4. | I know how students learn | Understand the cultural and contextual nature of learning; and develop effective lessons based on the six ways that children learn. |
| Module 5. | I use high-yield teaching strategies | Find out how to set explicit learning goals, plan the scope and sequence of learning activities, and how to use a range of effective teaching strategies. |
| Module 6. | I have a safe and inclusive classroom | Learn how to create a safer and more inclusive classroom using a small set of classroom strategies. |
| Module 7. | I use data to improve student learning | Learn how to select an assessment and interpret data to inform classroom practice. Prepare accurate reports to engage stakeholders. |
| Module 8. | I develop effective partnerships with parents and caregivers | Learn strategies for building effective partnerships with parents, ways to communicate, and information and ideas for how parents and caregivers can further their child’s learning at home. |
| Module 9. | Further reflection | Find out why collective teacher self-efficacy is one of the most powerful influences on students’ achievement and well-being. |
Outcome: Educators will learn how to analyze student, classroom, and school data to inform classroom practice.
| Module 1. | Educational Prosperity | Understand a life course approach to data monitoring and how to identify the key Foundations for Success and Prosperity Outcomes. |
| Module 2. | Data usage | Learn about the various types of data, the process for collecting informative data, and a framework for effective data use. |
| Module 3. | A framework for data usage | Learn the benefits of a data usage framework and key steps in the framework. |
| Module 4. | Use student-level data to support children’s learning | Learn how to use data to support individual learning goals and communicate progress effectively to parents and caregivers. |
| Module 5. | Use classroom-level data to support children’s learning | Learn how to use data to inform instruction and monitor student progress. |
| Module 6. | Use school-level data to build a strong foundation for success | Understand how an aligned and effectively communicated approach to data builds a strong foundation for student success. |
*Course content is subject to change
Equip teachers with the skills they need to impact all students reading proficiency and empower them in supporting all students to thrive.
What Our Clients Say
“Really found the part(s) on decoding helpful and well done. I also found the Structured Literacy interesting and the related readings were great. Lots of new ideas to think about in relation to my context as grade 7-12 literacy coach.”
