Hours: 3-5
Audience: K-8 teachers implementing new High Quality Instructional Materials (HQIM)
PD Description: Implementing a new curriculum is difficult...but implementing a new curriculum that looks vastly different from what teachers have used before can seem insurmountable! We see teachers struggle with how to implement new materials time and time again, trying to make old practices fit new materials in what we call the "Balanced Literacy Hangover." The reality is, we have to replace those old practices with new ways of thinking, planning, and instruction that better align with research and the HQIM. This PD leads teachers through the planning process "Understanding by Design" or "Backwards by Design," where we center the instructional text and learning goals/standards to drive instruction. This saves teachers valuable instructional and planning time. If your teachers are struggling with the time it takes to plan and implement new literacy curriculum, this PD is for you.
Course Objectives:
Participants will be able to explain what is meant by “understanding by design” and what it means for literacy instruction and planning, including but not limited to: putting text at the center of instruction, setting high expectations for all learners, appropriate scaffolds and differentiation to support all students, and
Participants will be able to design whole and small group targeted literacy lessons that use instructional methodologies based on research and evidence.
Participants will be able to reflect on their own teaching practice and identify areas of growth, including what instructional methods or routines may be replaced with others more supported by research on how humans learn to read in English.
Participants will be able to identify how structured literacy provides equitable access to all students, including those with disabilities and English Learners, as well as identify instructional methods that support diverse learners’ literacy acquisition.