We made it! We survived our first year with the Virginia Literacy Act! We learned a lot and are ready to tackle next year! When we move into the 2025-2026 school year, we are including 4th-8th grade! Please read about plans below!
Friday, June 13, 2025
Wednesday, June 4, 2025
Saturday, May 10, 2025
myView Reflection
Wednesday, May 7, 2025
Monday, April 7, 2025
MyView Learning Letter #29-Explicit Instruction - How well I teach = How well they learn!
Uffda. That is big responsibility. How well I teach = How well they learn. Sometimes it’s hard to accept that the way we are teaching isn’t working for our students. Don’t feel discouraged if this is the case for you.
Instead, work on improving how explicit you are with your instruction. Explicit instruction is "systematic method of teaching, proceeding in small steps, checking for student understanding, and achieving active participation by all." It's using the gradual release method of I Do, We Do, You Do.
Teach first, then ask the questions. Be clear with your instruction.
Or, work on improving the organization of your lessons to achieve higher levels of engagement. Be intentional with your instruction and don’t be afraid to adjust your approach when needed. Ask your literacy coach for ideas. Check out the engagement page on our website.
No matter what, don't just stay in the land of students not learning. You have the power to control what you do and the impact of that will be outstanding! We are the adults. If kids aren't learning, we can't blame them. I leave you with this quote...
Friday, April 4, 2025
Resistance and Acceptance
I am a learner. It's my top strength. Because I love to learn, I also love to read. While reading this morning, I read a statement that made me stop and reflect on the Virginia Literacy Act. To summarize, "resistance causes excess stress so it's better to accept things. However, acceptance does not mean approval." So I went on a deep dive of thinking and research on definitions.
- 1.the refusal to accept or comply with something; the attempt to prevent something by action or argument."she put up no resistance to being led away"
- 1.the action of consenting to receive or undertake something offered."charges involving the acceptance of bribes"
- 1. permission for something to happen or agreement to do something.
- 1. the action of approving something."the road plans have been given approval"
- 2) the belief that someone or something is good or acceptable.
Friday, February 21, 2025
Thursday, February 20, 2025
Family Support for Literacy
My family means the world to me and even just typing that is an understatement. I love and value my family first. A close second is the families I serve. Because family is so important to me personally, I am always trying to reflect and think of our student's families.
It may not look like it or seem like it, but I truly believe our school families are sending us the best student they can. I might be overgeneralizing here, but I feel...
* Most families just don't know how the school system works like we do because we are on the "inside".
* Most families don't know what they don't know and therefore, don't ask for help because they don't know to. They trust that we will tell them.
* Most families want to help their student, but they don't want to seem silly or stupid by asking.
* Most families are wore out doing the best they can to provide for their families.
...and I feel this way because I have been "that family". My child went to a new school system where I didn't know how it worked, didn't know what I didn't know about high school, didn't want to ask because I felt stupid because I do work in a school district, and I was tired working my butt off in the 9 to 5.
While all that is true, I know better so I did better. I asked the questions and did what I could to help her. This experience taught me that we have to be clear and kind with our families. We have to presume positive intent and give them the resources they would need to be the parent who helps their student succeed. True, some may not use it. However, that doesn't mean we don't for the few, hopefully many, that will.
That is why I have put together our Literacy Help for Families website.
https://sites.google.com/iwcs.k12.va.us/literacyhelpcenter/myview
Here are some new things I have added to help our families. Please join me in spreading the word and providing feedback about what else I should add.
* Handwriting worksheets for manuscript and cursive - For those students really struggling with handwriting, print these and send home for families. Have the student circle their BEST letter!
* Fluency Progress Graphs and Kid Friendly Fluency Rubric - You could send home the cold read weekly in grades 1-5 in order to help with this. Another idea would be to send home the weekly foldable decodable texts.
* Writing Rubrics by grade level - You could print one and send them home to each family at the beginning of the unit. Have kids write at home and bring a writing in for extra credit.
Tuesday, February 18, 2025
MyView Learning Letter #27-Engagement, Again!
Sunday, February 16, 2025
IWCS Vision & Goals-Updated January 2025
In order to support families and be clear and kind about our intentions, we have a Literacy webpage on the Isle of Wight County Schools site. Families would get to it by clicking Departments, Instruction, and then Literacy K-5 on the right. This is the direct link to share: https://www.iwcs.k12.va.us/apps/pages/literacy
Find this section to learn where we are with our goals and how we have been progress monitoring them.
Thursday, December 12, 2024
Trust the Process
Friday, December 6, 2024
MyView Learning Letter #26-Engagement
Thursday, December 5, 2024
MyView Learning Letter #25 -Scaffolding Instruction
I know we have ALL felt how rigorous our new literacy curriculum is. The end result is going to be AMAZING for our students, but uffda. It's a lot right now in the messy middle. Here is a fantastic blog post from Timothy Shanahan on how to teach above a student's reading level. May it offer you some helpful tips as you scaffold for your students to help them achieve great things!
In the meantime, let's talk about what scaffolding is. Scaffolding is what teachers do FIRST to help students.
Scaffolds don't stay forever. They are only there as long as a student needs them and the goal is for them to do things on their own.
Scaffolds also aren't complicated. Here are some quick ways to scaffold for student success.
1) Model EXACTLY what kids need to do.
2) Talk about what kids know about the topic BEFORE they learn it.
3) Provide talk time. HAVE KIDS TURN AND TALK ABOUT WHAT THEY ARE LEARNING.
4) Pre-teach the vocabulary. Thankfully, MyView does this for us. However, make sure you have images and time to talk about the word.
5) Create anchor charts WITH the kids, otherwise it is just a poster and won't be as meaningful.
6) Give kids wait time. Let them think.
What scaffold are you going to try first? Which ones do you already use?
Stay tuned for more information and tips on how to scaffold for student success as the year goes on.