Targets and Skills

•

4 P’s—Purpose, Preview,

Prior Knowledge, Predict

•

Theme/Main Idea and

Details

•

Monitor Comp. use Strate-

gies

•

Summarize

•

Connections Text-To-Self

•

Literary Element

Spotlight on Literacy

80% in three years?

Welcome to the first edition of

Spotlight on Literacy.

With each publication we plan to focus on a

literacy team that is making a difference. Our initial spotlight team is Evergreen Middle School’s

Grade 7 team. In the last three years, the 7th-grade team has increased students meeting standard

on the WASL. The percentages rose from 53% in 2006 to 77% in 2007 and 80% in 2008. This was

achieved through concerted effort. This team has combined Writer’s Workshop, writers notebooks,

mini-lessons, and district anchor lessons. The team uses direct writing techniques and tools from

Nancie Atwell, Kelly Gallagher, and Step-Up-to-Writing. They collaborate extensively, creating for-

mative and summative assessments for each unit taught during the year.

Building Student Ownership and Responsibility

The 7

th

Grade team assigns writers notebook four times a week, with students selecting one piece

for teacher feedback. Students choose their topics and genre to write about as well as teacher-

directed topics. All of the classrooms have a print intensive environment with student work posted.

All students have identified their real audience and will publish for their class.

Teachers Model Writing

Every step of the writing process and

writing techniques is modeled by the

teacher using the explicit teaching

model: I Do, We Do, You Do and You

Show. Drafting and revising is con-

stantly modeled by the teacher and

practiced by the students. Each

teacher writes along with the students

as a fellow author to demonstrate the

writing techniques and process.

Teaching Grammar and Mechanics

The team uses a grammar and me-

chanics map. Teachers provide tar-

geted mini-lessons in grammar, and students practice these skills in their writers notebooks. Stu-

dents who have particular struggles with grammar and mechanics are able to get individual instruc-

tion from their teacher.

Making the Classroom Cooperative and Supportive

Active learning strategies are key components of this team’s teaching success. If you walk into any

seventh grade classroom, you will most likely see “Turn and Talk”, “Think-Write-Pair-Share”, use of

whiteboards, visualizing and other cooperative activities. Support is always given to the students to

develop their ability to take risks, build on their background knowledge and experience authentic

learning.

Meaningful Evaluations

Students set goals for themselves at the beginning of each trimester and conference with their

teacher. The teacher provides specific feedback during the on-going, one-on-one conferences.

They collect artifacts of their achievement and reflect on their progress toward their goals. In addi-

tion, the students choose one piece to self-evaluate and have constructive feedback from the

teacher. This team uses common formative assessments (CFAs) and common summative assess-

ments for their units. The data gained drives the instructional decisions of the team. This team uses

the Review of Evidence days to inform instruction and adjust the team’s curriculum maps.

October 2008

EVERETT PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Instructional Facilitators for Literacy

Eric Bush- Jackson

x7012

Patricia Burke-Evergreen

x5763

Pat Collins-North

x4907

Loretta Comfort-Center

x4064

Cindy Foster-Eisenhower

x7518

Tasha Lewis-Center

x4071

Tessa O’Connor-Everett

x4437

Deb Ritchhart-Heatherwood x6483

Monte Schultz-Cascade

x6039

Barbara Tibbits-Gateway

x6712

Before and During

Reading Strategies

•

Monitor Comprehension—

Use Fix-Up Strategies

•

Make Connections—Text

to Self and Text to Text

Targeted Skills

•

Summarize

•

Literary Elements

Volume 1, Issue 1

October 2008

Literacy Leaders

Eric Bush- Jackson HS

x7195

Patricia Burke-Evergreen MS

x5763

Pat Collins-North MS

x4907

Loretta Comfort-Center

x4064

Cindy Foster-Eisenhower MS

x7518

Tasha Lewis-Center

x4071

Tessa O’Connor-Everett HS

x4437

Deb Ritchhart-Heatherwood MS

x6483

Monte Scholz-Cascade HS

x6107

Barbara Tibbits-Gateway MS

x6712

Jeanne Willard—Center

x4059

---

Scoring Writing for 6th—10th Thanks to all the teachers who worked

so hard and spent hours scoring student writing.

OSPI COE training—Everett

Oct. 20-21

Read 180 Day 2 Training

Oct. 20

HS Read 180 PLC

-Eisenhower 3:00-5:00

Oct. 21

MS Read 180 PLC

-Eisenhower 4:00—6:00

Oct. 21

Collection of Evidence PLC -Cascade HS 3:00-5:00 Oct. 27

HS Day 2 – Instructional Connections Workshop Oct. 28

Argumentative Paper PLC

-Cascade HS 3:00-5:00 Oct. 30

Teacher-Librarians Meeting-

Center 8:00-3:30

Oct. 30

HS Lit Leaders/Lit Review—Forest View 7:00-2:30 Nov. 4

MS Benchmark Reading Assessment

Nov. 6-14

Jr. Great Books Training

Nov. 12-13

HS Read 180 PLC—Eisenhower 3:00-5:00

Nov. 18

MS Read 180 PLC-Eisenhower 4:00-6:00

Nov. 18

Page 2

Professional Development

What’s Going On?

Teachers: here is a class you

don’t want to miss!

Writing Techniques based on Kelly Gallagher’s lessons

from

Teaching Adolescent Writers

“This is a course for all those teachers who,

despite the numerous obstacles in their way,

walk into their classrooms everyday dedi-

cated to improving their students’ writing.”

Kelly Gallagher

The class will cover modeling, motivational writing, and revi-

sion strategies that Kelly Gallagher implements in his high

school English classes. The class will consist of four sessions

(two hours each) where teachers get to learn the strategies,

practice the strategies, and share successes of implementa-

tion.

Dates will be available soon.

Eisenhower Middle School

Spotlight on Literacy

Argumentative Paper

Last summer, a dedicated cadre of teachers met several

times to review the Argumentative Paper standards,

requirements, and instructional implementation. Some of

the standards and requirements were revised, and a new

scoring rubric was designed that could be used to give

both formative and summative feedback to students.

Strategies and best practices were researched and

teacher teams formed to develop instructional modules

to assist both teacher and student in building the

necessary skills to be successful in the process. One of

these modules was introduced at the first all district

gathering of Argumentative Paper teachers on

September 30. In an effort to provide ongoing

professional development and support, the District has

arranged for “professionals to learn in community” at

various times throughout the year. These Argumentative

Paper PLCs are an opportunity for teachers to share

instructional methods, explore best practices, and

analyze student work. The next Argumentative Paper

PLC will meet from 3 – 5 PM, at Cascade High School, on

Thursday, October 30. The District will also provide

Argumentative Paper Range-Finding around the revised

Collection of Evidence

Collection of Evidence is an alternate method of meeting the

State WASL requirement for high school students. The tasks

required of students are based on WASL GLEs and can actually

be built into various curriculum areas. Some are on-demand

assignments while others allow adult support. During the

summer, curriculum designs were built for developing collections

in both reading and writing. The COE Team also created a

sufficiency review process and incorporated the success

coordinators in many parts of the COE process: managing data,

organizing forms/signatures, participating in sufficiency reviews,

bird-dogging students every two weeks to help goad progress,

etc. Six PLC’s are planned this year to impart information and

materials, do sufficiency reviews, and allow teachers a place to

discuss happenings and revelations as the classes progress. In

the future, COE sufficient prompts and work samples may be

developed and collected through READ 180 classes, district

reading and writing assessments, state-mandated CBAs in

History and Government, as well as 10

th

, 11

th

, and 12

th

-grade

English courses. The on-demand aspects of COE may be

administered in pullout sessions proctored by IFLs or success

coordinators. If you have any questions about the Collection of

Evidence, please contact your IFL or JoAnne Fabian at x4078.