This document summarizes key points from a professional learning session on effective literacy practices for inclusive classrooms. It discusses strategies like building background knowledge, using visuals, focusing on meaning over isolated skills, and providing choice and relationships. Specific practices that support struggling readers are highlighted, like one-on-one support and conferencing. Questioning round-robin reading and skills in isolation, it advocates for high expectations, comprehensive instruction, and addressing students' individual needs.

1. Professional Learning Network:
effective learning in inclusive
classrooms
Brighouse
February 14, 2020
Faye Brownlie
slideshare.net/fayebrownlie.Richmond.Feb 2020

2. Questions you left with…
• What would happen if…?
• With whom will you work?
• How will you know if what you are doing is making a difference?
• Something to hang on to…
• Something to let go of…
• Something to try…

3. What did you try? With whom did you work?
What did you notice about the impact on your
learners?
• The story behind the pictures
• 2 x 10
• Writing in front of your students
• Reading and demonstrating your thinking
• Deliberate building of background knowledge before entering a text –
• Word splash, building connections
• Whip around – each contributes
• Categorized webbing as a writing prompt
• More 1:1 reading or writing conferences during quiet reading or writing

4. Every Child, Every Day – Allington & Gabriel
1. Every child reads something he or she chooses.
2. Every child reads accurately.
3. Every child reads something he or she understands.
4. Every child writes about something personally
meaningful.
5. Every child talks with peers about reading and
writing.
6. Every child listens to a fluent adult read aloud.

5. Teachers’ Reflections
• What made a difference for vulnerable learners
(CR4YR, 2012-2013)
• 1:1 support
• Relationship
• Choice
• Focus on meaning

6. Some NOT best practices in literacy
-no research support for decades!
-over-used, under-supportedL
• Teaching grammar in isolation
• Friday spelling lists
• Assigning topics in writing, with no 1:1 no conferencing,
just collecting the work
• Too much teacher-talk
• Fill in the blanks, MC, closed thinking exercises
• Children identifying themselves by their reading level
• Round robin reading – even in guided reading groups!!!
• Lack of consistency in the programming for vulnerable
learners

7. Learning Intentions
• I have a better understanding of effective literacy practices.
• I have a better understanding of what the research says counts for
struggling readers.
• I have a plan for teaching spelling that is more effective than a weekly
spelling list.
• I have a new purposeful, strategy sequence to try.

8. Guided Reading Group: the pattern
• Purpose or goal for the reading
• Connecting with background knowledge
• Word work
• Independent reading
• Oral reading – fluency check and 1:1 conference
• Reading for meaning
• Responding to reading

9. Strategy Sequence
• Connecting
• Building motivation, accessing and building background knowledge, asking
questions, setting a purpose for reading
• Processing
• Making sense of new text, linking old information to new
• Transforming and personalizing
• Showing what you know

10. No round robin reading, even in guided reading
groups! – a more skilled group
• Connecting: What do you remember about the senses? Words
describing the ear and how we hear?
• Eardrum, inner, outer, middle ear, hear, sounds
• Processing - close reading (goal for this group)
• What is a word that means waves?
• Where can sound travel?
• What is the eardrum made of?
• Transforming/Personalizing: Draw and label how we hear
• While I read with each

14. No round robin reading, even in guided reading
groups! – an emerging group
• Connecting: Title – What might they do together? What do you do
with your Grandma or another adult?
• Processing – picture walk (goal: build background knowledge and
hear the language)
• Say the words as you turn the pages, but do not read the text word for word.
• See what words we already know – ‘I can, Just like, Grandma’
• What do they do together? Collect the words.
• Can you find me the word ‘like, boots, pick…’ How did you know?
• Transforming/Personalizing: Reread the book. Write one thing you do
that is ‘Just Like Grandma’.
• While I read with each

18. “...the design of reading lessons differs for
good and poor readers in that poor readers
get more work on skills in isolation, whereas
good readers get assigned more reading
activity.”
(Allington, 1980; 1983; 2002; Allington & McGill-Franzen, 1989; Collins, 1986; Cummins, 2007; Valli &
Chambliss, 2007; Vaughn & Linan-Thompson, 2003).

19. Children Experiencing Reading Difficulties – What
We Know and What We Can Do
Literacy Leadership Brief, ILA, Dec2019/Jan2020
In short, skilled reading is about more than reading the
words correctly. It involves both reading the words
correctly and making sense of the text ideas while
confirming and building knowledge about the world.

20. Appropriate Instruction
• High expectations for ALL students
• Comprehensive reading instruction addressing all dimensions of reading
• Word reading
• Oral language development
• Writing
• Comprehension
• Self-regulation
• Learn, practice and apply these skills and strategies while engaged in meaningful
reading and writing
• Includes a flexible range of instructional tactics
• Teacher-directed and independent work
• In large group and small group settings
• Focuses on strengths and needs of individual students

21. UDL Pyramid – response to instruction
Even more
support
More
support
Universal
Support

22. •Since the early First-Grade Studies of the 1960s, and in
many studies since, we have known that teachers are
likely to make a bigger difference in students’ progress
than any specific program of instruction.

23. •Meanwhile, there is little evidence to support the
effectiveness of one of the most pervasive English
language arts approaches—grouping students based
on reading level for Tier-1 reading instruction
(Shanahan, 2017; Sparks, 2018).
• Cited in ‘A District Leader’s Education in Early Reading’ – Myracle, EL,
Feb 2020, Vol 77, #5

24. Spelling
• Orthographic stages:
• Sound - matching with letters and sounds
• Pattern - matching in words
• Meaning
• From No More Phonics and Spelling Worksheets –
Palmer & Invernizzi. not this, but that – Duke & Keene,
ed., Heinemann

25. Sound - matching with letters and sounds
• Beginning and ending consonants
• Short vowels
• Consonant blends
• CVC, CVCC…
• Digraphs

26. Pattern – in words
• Short vs long vowels
• Common long vowel patterns
• Less common
• complex
• Homophones and homographs
• Syllable patterns
• Plural, past tense

27. Meaning
• Suffixes and prefixes
• Root words
• Greek and Latin roots
• Predictable changes in related words
• Explain – explanation; exclaim - exclamation

28. Practices
• Teach for transfer
• Ask, don’t tell
• Look for linguistic patterns.
• How many letters are right? In what order? Are they stretching out the word?
• Link to reading and writing
• 1:1 writing conferences
• Risk words in your writing
• Work toward fluency and flexibility, self regulation
• Model how you remember how to spell the word
• Consider what the learner needs to hear to move them forward
• Model with content words
• Model with words that come from students’ writing
• Use word walls
• Word sorts
• Sight, sound, meaning
• Use words they can read. NO nonsense words.
• Compare words that do with words that don’t

29. Sort by sound
• fast
• face
• black
• bath
• rain
• ask
• take
• made

30. Sort by pattern
• face
• name
• jail
• made
• came
• take
• rain
• paid

31. What’s the Spelling Question?
Consider what’s the same & different?
pitch teach
scotch pooch
fetch screech
ditch reach

34. Building Accuracy: Whole Class Lessons
Using Big Books
• Work with one or two pages (5-10 Minutes).
• Cover up one or two words.
• Read the sentence together leaving out the missing
word.
• Ask for all of the possibilities for the missing word.
• Record the suggestions.
• Try each word suggested crossing out words that don’t
make sense.
• Notice and name the strategies that were used to
determine the author’s words.

35. • Polar bears have ______ coats of fur to keep them warm in the
_________ winters. They have an ________ layer of long hair over a
_________ layer of underfur.

36. • Polar bears have ______ coats of fur to keep them warm in the
(size)
_________ winters. They have an ________ layer of long hair over a
(place name) (where?)
_________ layer of underfur.
(number)

37. • Polar bears have th______ coats of fur to keep them warm in the
A_________ winters. They have an o________ layer of long hair over
a s_________ layer of underfur.

38. • thick
• Arctic
• outer
• second

39. Strong Readers – Northern Series,
Strong Nations Publishing

40. What strategies did you use?
• Thinking about meaning.
• Thinking about parts of speech.
• Thinking if the word would sound right.
• With the ‘initial’ you now had visual information to add in.
• Meaning
• Syntax and sound
• Visual
• Children who are struggling with reading, often have trouble using all
sources of information and tend to rely on just one…their easiest one!

41. When reading together, coach in THIS ORDER!
M – meaning
Does this make sense?
S – language structure
Does this sound right?
V – visual information
Does this look right?
How did you figure that out?

42. A grade 4 sequence to encourage thinking about
decoding unknown words, building fluency,
deepening understanding, personal le:er wri;ng
Thanks to Janet Smith, teacher librarian
c̓əsqənelə Elementary
Maple Ridge, BC

43. Shooting at
the Stars
A follow-up to
Remembrance Day in
preparation for writing
Christmas cards to our
Canadian Armed Forces
overseas.

44. Plan for Grade 4
• Using 1 page
• Covering 5 words
1. Read it with a partner showing missing words
2. Read it out loud whole class
3. Partners record possible words they can think of
4. Whole group recording of possible words
5. Try each word suggested crossing out words that don’t
make sense.
6. Notice and name the strategies that were used to
determine the author’s words

45. After the sun went down, we decided to
chance a fire outside the _______, but when
we stepped outdoors we heard the sounds
of _______! I looked down the line to find
out who was foolish enough to give away his
_______to the enemy. But the noise wasn't
coming from our ______at all.
As I________stuck my head over the edge of
the trench, I couldn't believe what I saw!

46. After the sun went down, we decided to
chance a fire outside the (thing), but when
we stepped outdoors we heard the sounds
of (action)! I looked down the line to find
out who was foolish enough to give away his
(place) to the enemy. But the noise wasn't
coming from our (thing) at all.
As I (describe) stuck my head over the edge
of the trench, I couldn't believe what I saw!
Give a clue

47. After the sun went down, we decided to
chance a fire outside the b______, but when
we stepped outdoors we heard the sounds
of s_______! I looked down the line to find
out who was foolish enough to give away his
p______to the enemy. But the noise wasn't
coming from our t_____at all.
As I c_______stuck my head over the edge
of the trench, I couldn't believe what I saw!
Add Initial Sound

48. After the sun went down, we decided to
chance a fire outside the bunker, but when
we stepped outdoors we heard the sounds
of singing! I looked down the line to find
out who was foolish enough to give away his
position to the enemy. But the noise wasn't
coming from our trench at all.
As I cautiously stuck my head over the edge
of the trench, I couldn't believe what I saw!

49. Page 13
• Bunker
• Singing
• Position
• Trench
• Cautiously

50. AAS
wePart 2
Intro the
writing
activity:
Focus on what the soldier has
written to his mother
What are soldiers feeling
while they are away? What
would they most like? What
would they most like at
Christmas 9me?
Read the rest of the book
using the document camera

51. Part 3
Write a
Christmas
postcard to
members of
the armed
forces.
Who is in the armed forces?
What are possible roles in the
armed forces
What is peace keeping?
Where are our armed forces
stationed in the world?

53. Deployment injuries 2005

55. Part 3: Wri*ng
• Draft copy
• Conference
• Good copy for the post
• Draw/decorate the front of the
postcard

60. Teacher reflections:
• High student engagement
• Individual conferences were possible, supportive, connection-based
with 2 teachers in the room
• Students who needed more support were easily supported within the
context of rich classroom literacy work

61. •The surest way to improve students' comprehension is
to increase their reading of knowledge-based texts
and their writing about such texts (Steiner et al.,
2019).
• Cited in ‘A District Leader’s Education in Early Reading’ – Myracle, EL,
Feb 2020, Vol 77, #5

62. A Sequence on Global Issues
• Grade 6/7 with Sara Maher, November
• Context:
• Read class novel, The Breadwinner
• Strengths:
• Class as a community
• Reading for information
• Stretches:
• Connecting to reading
• Risk-taking and sharing opinions
• 6 students with an IEP
• Goals:
• All writing
• Make personal connections and share an opinion

65. The books stay hidden as the war rages on.

74. • Connec&ng
• ‘say something’ that you know, think, or wonder about a picture
• Repeat twice, include all voices
• Processing
• Explode the sentence
• “The books stay hidden as they war rages on.”
• Connect this to what you know and to the pictures you saw.
• All voices.
• Transforming and Personalizing
• Quick write by teachers – 90 seconds
• “What did you no&ce?” – create criteria
• Opinion – ‘because’
• Connec&on
• $500 words – in the vaultJ
• Students wrote in response – 5 minutes, then marked up their wri&ng

75. Reflections
• All had an access point and wanted to participate.
• 2 boys who had their hands up the most were those with ‘behaviour
plans’
• Both students with ‘dysgraphia’ wrote, without scribing.
• Students were able to meet the criteria.
• The time flew.

76. Questions to leave with…
• What would happen if…?
• With whom will you work?
• How will you know if what you are doing is making a difference?
• Something to hang on to…
• Something to let go of…
• Something to try…