Bright Futures - Setting Foundations for Literacy (Toronto)

Keynote Address by Dr. Adria Klein, Professor of Reading Education at California State University and Reading Recovery Trainer. The keynote is titled, Oral Language, Reading and Writing: Scaffolding Connections for All Learners by Teaching for Transfer. If we harness the established power of children’s oral language to literacy learning from the beginning, so that literacy knowledge and oral language processing power move forward together, linked and patterned from the start, that will surely be more powerful.

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Marie Clay states that “children who come to school speaking any language or dialect will have preparation for literacy learning that is to be valued, whatever that prior language is. Research has shown that most children can add a second language at this age with relative ease in quite a short time”. At this session, student work samples and video clips will be used to investigate the barriers facing English language learners and teaching strategies to promote and support accelerated learning.

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I've taken and scored a Running Record - what now? This session will support teachers to look beyond the numbers and give practical suggestions for Reading Recovery and classroom teachers to design instruction using information gleaned about readers. A great session for teachers who are experienced and new to Running Records.

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Do you have students in your school who seem to be "stuck" at the Emergent Stage of Literacy? Come and hear how the Halton District School Board has engaged Kindergarten and Grade 1 educators in a research project designed to develop a variety of instructional strategies and approaches that meet each student where they are and moves them forward. Educators explored ways to help students understand that "What I say, I can write" and "What I write, I can read" (Clay). School teams included both OCTs and DECEs, from Kindergarten and Grade 1 classrooms. They focused on students of concern and developed learner profiles, explored ways to support oral language development, small group shared reading, interactive and guided writing, phonological awareness, along with a sample way to "jumpstart" a reader's processing system if they seem to have lots of item knowledge but are unsure what to do in non-patterned texts. Educators tracked learner progress over the course of a year and observed some amazing growth in student achievement, seeing many meet and exceed end of year grade level targets. The inquiry was grounded in the work of Marie Clay, Irene Fountas and Gay Sue Pinnell, Miriam Trehearne, First Steps Literacy and supported by our board speech and language pathologists.

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Oral language is the first self-extending system (Clay, 1991). In this session, we will explore ways to scaffold English Learners to access increasingly complex language structures in reading and writing by analyzing patterns in running records.

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In this session, we will examine how to help children who seem ‘stuck’ at Levels 0-2 move into reading Level 3 and beyond using tips and tricks from Reading Recovery! We’ll deepen our awareness of foundational learning necessary to help children look at print and consider what might make this learning challenging for some students. The opportunities and limitations of Level 1-2 patterned texts will be explored and we’ll learn practical ways to design small group instruction to support children to access Level 3 texts. Text choice, book introductions and how to scaffold teaching for successful problem solving while reading will be a focus of this session. We’ll reflect upon ways to personalize our teaching interactions based on our knowledge of the child’s strengths, interests and experiences. We will also consider additional factors that can help us best respond to the diversity of learners in our classrooms.

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A series of Reading Recovery lessons that takes into account the child's very basic English competencies will need to be designed. The journey of two students, an English Language Learner and a child on the autism spectrum, will be examined.

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In this talk, notwithstanding, that race is a social construct, Dr. James will explore the significance of giving consideration to the racial identity of literacy leaners in terms of learning materials, curriculum, pedagogy, and program with the understanding that learning can best be attained when children feel engaged and affirmed. Hence, a teaching-learning environment in which racial identities and related social and cultural capital of students and families are acknowledged as critical components of learning.

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