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Tina Withorn has served in education for 16 years with 11 years as a middle school Language Arts teacher and 5 years in literacy support at the district-level.  In addition to a Master's degree, she is certified  as Supervisor of Instruction and in Gifted and Talented.  Additionally, she is a National Board Certified Teacher in Adolescent English Language Arts.  She has completed  National Institute for School Leadership (NISL) and KY Reading Academies - Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS). She has trained school leaders and teachers with professional learning in strong instructional practices, curriculum implementation, and in effective literacy practice.  Tina is passionate about  Structured Literacy Practices and  in helping teachers gain clarity  in KY Academic Standards for Reading and Writing to improve student proficiency.  

BCS Core Values for Literacy Instruction

Core Action 1: Align each task on high-quality text(s)  

• A majority of the class time is spent reading, writing, or discussing text(s).

• The anchor text(s) are at or above the complexity level expected for the grade-level

Core Action 2: Align questioning and tasks with grade level expectations

• Are the majority of the questions and tasks text-dependent and/or text-specific, requiring students to read closely and/or go back to the text?

• Does the task give students an opportunity to engage with grade-level standard(s) to the depth and rigor intended?  

Core Action 3: Provide all students with authentic opportunities to engage in the work of the lesson.

• Do the students do the majority of the reading, writing, thinking, and discussing?

• Does the assignment give students authentic opportunity to connect academic standards to real-word issues and/or contexts?