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The Director's Corner

Dear Participants, Facilitators, and Newsletter Subscribers:

Can you believe the spring courses have been completed? For me, the spring semester has flown by very quickly. If you are a participant who completed a spring course, you will receive your certificate of completion very shortly, if you haven't already received it. Those participants in the mid-spring sections, your courses will be coming to an end very shortly. Make sure you are completing all assignments by their due dates.

This month our Literacy Newsletter focuses on vocabulary. In a review of research on vocabulary instruction, Baumann, Kameenui, and Ash (as cited in Ivey & Fisher, 2006) suggested a comprehensive vocabulary curriculum with at least three objectives:

• Teach students to learn words independently.
• Teach students the meanings of specific words.
• Help students develop an appreciation for words and to experience enjoyment and satisfaction with their use.

One instructional strategy that can be used in all classrooms is word sorts. Word sorts require that students use or create categories and then align words into those categories. A word sort requires students to think critically about words, their meaning, and their relationships to other words.  I hope that you take the time to review the information and resources provided on this instructional strategy.

We welcome your feedback on how we can better support you and help you grow professionally. Thank you again, for all of your work. Please feel free to contact me in case you have any questions or comments.

Best wishes and continued success,
Catherine Glass
Director, FOR-PD
cglass@mail.ucf.edu

References

Ivey, G. & Fisher, D. (2006). Creating literacy-rich schools for adolescents. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

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Florida Teens Read Winner Announced!

The Florida Teens Read Award committee announced that high school students in Florida have cast their votes for the 2006-2007 Florida Teen Read Award. Chosen as this year's winner is Twilight by Stephenie Meyer.

Stephenie Meyer graduated from Brigham Young University with a bachelor's degree in English. She lives with her husband and three young sons in Phoenix, Arizona. After the publication of her first novel, Twilight, booksellers chose Stephenie Meyer as one of the "most promising new authors of 2005" (Publishers Weekly).

The Florida Teens Read Award will be presented to Meyer during the FAME Conference held in Orlando in October 2007.

 

 

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Commissioner Blomberg Announces 2007 FCAT Scores For Third and 12th Grade Math & Reading

From the CORE, 5/4/07: Education Commissioner Jeanine Blomberg recently announced the third and 12th grade results for the mathematics and reading portions of the 2007 FCAT. Florida’s third graders made academic gains in mathematics, with 74 percent of students demonstrating mathematics skills at or above grade level, a two percentage-point gain over the previous year. This improvement shows a long-term mathematics skills gain of 22 percentage points since 2001.

Florida has also experienced long-term reading progress. Since 2001, the percentage of third graders reading at or above grade level has grown 12 percentage points. However, the percentage of third graders reading at or above grade level this year declined from 75 percent in 2006 to 69 percent this year.

“We are encouraged that the percentage of third graders reading at or above grade level this year was higher than in 2005. Further, we are pleased to see that when you compare student performance from 2001 to today, Florida is maintaining a positive trend upward,” said Commissioner Blomberg. “When data are tracked over time, some fluctuation in performance from year to year is expected. Nothing has changed in the test, and an analysis of test results from 2004 through 2007 has demonstrated the scores of last year’s third graders were unusually high.”

For full details on the FCAT scores, visit http://fcat.fldoe.org or http://www.fldoe.org

 

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FCRR Webcast: Overview of Academic Literacy Instruction for Adolescents

Joseph Torgerson describes the knowledge and skills that teachers must assist their adolescent students with in order to prepare them to read text that often is at an advanced level and continues to be increasingly difficult as students move from 4th to 12th grade. Academic vocabulary, sight vocabulary, conceptual knowledge on specific content topics, the ability to think and reason, use of strategies, and motivation and interest are each important to adolescents' academic reading achievement. Torgerson reflects on five areas of improvement that schools should focus on to provide quality literacy instruction.

1. Provide explicit instruction and supportive practice in the use of effective comprehension strategies throughout the school day.
2. Increase the amount and quality of open, sustained discussion of reading content.
3. Set and maintain high standards for text, conversation, questions, and vocabulary.
4. Increase students’ motivation and engagement with reading.
5. Teach essential content knowledge so that all students master critical concepts.

To view the entire webcast please visit the Florida Center for Reading Reserach (FCRR) webiste.

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Florida Middle School Students Break World Record

Education Commissioner Jeanine Blomberg recently announced Guinness World Records™ confirmed that Florida middle school students successfully broke the record for the "Most People Reading Aloud Simultaneously in Multiple Locations." The event, Breaking a World Record: Reading Aloud!, overseen by the Just Read, Florida! office, highlighted the importance of reading to middle school students. The record attempt aired via a live public broadcast and Web cast from Disney-MGM Studios at 11:25 a.m. on September 28, 2006, when 186,054 middle school students statewide read an excerpt from the book Peter and the Starcatchers written by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson.

Florida students broke the previous record of 155,528 students throughout the United Kingdom who read William Wordsworth’s poem "Daffodils," on March 19, 2004. Guinness World Records™ is currently considering the record for entry in its annual book.

 

May's Reading Strategy of the Month focuses on how to develop word sorts in both language arts and content area classrooms. Word sorts provide students a way to categorize words based on their own personal experience and prior knowledge (Gillet & Kita, 1979). Similar to the list-group-label strategy initiated by Taba (1967), the word sort promotes students’ critical thinking and enables them to consider how words are related to each other. Word sorting is an active strategy that will give students the ability to think about words on a variety of levels and contexts.

Try this strategy in your classroom and then email us and tell us how it worked (forpd@mail.ucf.edu). Also, don't forget to share the strategy with your colleagues. Other strategies that you may want to look at regarding vocabulary development include:

FOR-PD's January 2007 Reading Strategy of the Month: Etymology
FOR-PD's October 2006 Reading Strategy of the Month: Semantic Feature Analysis
FOR-PD's August 2004 Reading Strategy of the Month: Word Builder
FOR-PD's December 2004 Reading Strategy of the Month: Vocabulary Word Box

Each month we feature an effective reading strategy, explain the rationale behind the strategy, give directions on how to use the strategy with students, present ideas for adapting the strategy to different content areas, present ideas for assessing the strategy, and of course provide a printable PDF version of the strategy. Check out our Reading Strategy Archive to see past Reading Strategies of the Month.

 

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Books for Students

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Professional Book Recommendations

 

Strategies That Work, Second Edition
Teaching Comprehension for Understanding and Engagement
by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis

Book Description: Since its publication in 2000, Strategies That Work has become an indispensable resource for teachers who want to explicitly teach thinking strategies so that students become engaged, thoughtful, independent readers. In this revised and expanded edition, Stephanie and Anne have added twenty completely new comprehension lessons, extending the scope of the book and exploring the central role that activating background knowledge plays in understanding. Another major addition is the inclusion of a section on content literacy which describes how to apply comprehension strategies flexibly across the curriculum. The new edition is organized around four sections:

• Part I highlights what comprehension is and how to teach it, including the principles that guide practice, a review of recent research, and a new section on assessment. A new chapter, Tools for Active Literacy: The Nuts and Bolts of Comprehension Instruction, describes ways to engage students in purposeful talk through interactive read alouds, guided discussion and written response.
  
• Part II contains lessons and practices for teaching comprehension. A new first chapter emphasizes the importance of teaching students to monitor their understanding before focusing on specific strategies. Five lessons on monitoring provide a sound basis for launching comprehension instruction. At the end of each strategy chapter, the authors outline learning goals and ways to assess students' thinking, sharing examples of student work, and offering suggestions for differentiating instruction.
  
• Part III, Comprehension Across the Curriculum is new. Comprehension strategies are essential for content-area reading, where information can be challenging, and presented in unfamiliar formats. This section includes chapters on social studies and science reading, topic study research, textbook reading and the genre of test reading.
  
• Part IV shows that kids need books they can sink their teeth into and the updated appendix section recommends a rich diet of fiction and nonfiction, short text, kid's magazines, websites and journals that will assist teachers as they plan and design comprehension instruction

Through its focus on instruction that is responsive to kids' interests and learning needs, the first edition of Strategies That Work helped transform comprehension instruction for teachers across the country. For them, this new edition will be a welcome extension of that work. Those coming to it for the first time will find a current and essential resource. When readers use these strategies, they enjoy a more complete, thoughtful reading experience. Engagement is the goal. When kids are engaged in their reading they enhance their understanding, acquire knowledge, and learn from and remember what they read. And best yet, they will want to read more!

Mosaic of Thought, Second Edition
The Power of Comprehension Strategy Instruction
by Ellin Oliver Keene and Susan Zimmermann

From the Publisher: When it published ten years ago, Mosaic of Thought became a runaway bestseller as the first book to explicitly describe the use and benefits of strategy-based comprehension instruction. Since then comprehension strategy instruction has exploded, leading to numerous inspiring variations on Mosaic’s instructional principles, as well as a widening of the comprehension research base. Now, Ellin Oliver Keene and Susan Zimmermann have returned with a second edition of their classic that offers up-to-the-minute insight for classroom teachers, literacy coaches, and school leaders everywhere, and reminds everyone of precisely what effective, long-lasting comprehension teaching looks like.

Mosaic of Thought, Second Edition, has been carefully revised and contains more than 70 percent new material. It reflects Keene and Zimmermann’s latest thinking and is designed to help teachers implement practical, thoughtful ideas for teaching comprehension in contemporary classrooms through the seven core strategies that successful readers use to engage with texts. Packed with new classroom examples, grounded in the latest research, and written in the same accessible tone as the first edition, Mosaic of Thought reaffirms the essential elements of powerful comprehension teaching introduced in the first edition while adding and updating features, including:

• Key Ideas sections for each strategy that describe crucial comprehension concepts
• new classroom examples that show comprehension strategies put into action in dynamic, literature-rich, current classrooms
• new opening vignettes that illustrate the concepts students will learn through explorations of the thinking used by proficient adult readers
• new tools to help teachers create effective reader’s workshops
• innovations from teachers around the country for fine tuning think-alouds and conferring practices
• new advice on long-term instructional planning.

Keene and Zimmermann have also created an invaluable Q-and-A section with smart, informed responses to the questions that today's teachers most frequently ask about strategy-based teaching.

Whether you are just now joining the hundreds of thousands of teachers who have made Keene and Zimmermann their central resource for comprehension teaching, or whether you’ve relied on their advice for years, Mosaic of Thought, Second Edition, will change your literacy instruction--and possibly your own reading--forever. It’s filled with vital, new information, new research, and proven practices. Read it today and give your students strategies for connecting with texts that will last a lifetime.

 

English-Only Teachers in Mixed-Language Classrooms
A Survival Guide
by Joanne Yatvin

From the Publisher: Today English language learners aren’t just popping up in California, Arizona, New Mexico, or Texas. The fastest growing populations are in states and districts that have historically taught few students who don’t speak English. If you teach where English language learners are a new phenomenon, you may feel underprepared to meet their needs and wonder if you can even teach them at all. You can, and English-Only Teachers in Mixed-Language Classrooms: A Survival Guide will lead you to success every step of the way.

English-Only Teachers in Mixed-Language Classrooms: A Survival Guide is just that: a brief, practical primer for your first ELL experience--and a warm, comforting companion on the journey into confident teaching. Written for teachers in grades K-6 with little or no expertise in second language teaching, it shows the essentials of helping nonnative speakers succeed--even when you don’t speak your students’ home language. Joanne Yatvin explains what types of strategies build students' confidence, competence, and fluency in English while helping them understand and retain vital content. She covers ESL teaching for the most crucial aspects of instruction:

• organization and planning
• teaching beginning English
• reading and writing instruction
• content-area learning
• fostering classroom community.

Best of all, Yatvin zeroes in on smart ways to use classroom partnerships to invite English speakers and ELLs to support one another's learning through child-to-child mentorships and peer tutoring.

Sharing insight into helping ELL students adjust to their new classroom emotionally and academically while paying special attention to the importance of developing strong connections to their families, Joanne Yatvin gives you a map for navigating the uncertain terrain of your first encounter with English learners. Read English-Only Teachers in Mixed-Language Classrooms: A Survival Guide and discover that teaching second language learners is not only less scary than you might have thought, but that there’s nothing quite like the satisfaction of helping children take their first steps into a new language.

 

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Literacy Coaches' Corner

Do’s and Don’ts for Literacy Coaches: Advice from the Field

Rita Bean, University of Pittsburgh, and Diane DeFord, University of South Carolina, provide insight from research on what coaches should and shouldn't do in order to be effective in their school. Included in their document are the following suggestions:

Do's Introduce yourself and your role as a coach. Work with all teachers .Work first to establish a relationship of trust. Work with your administrator. Recognize and appreciate the differences in teachers and how they teach. Recognize your own beliefs and attitudes about teaching and learning. Establish priorities. Let the data lead. Be a learner. Document your work.	Don'ts Don't evaluate teachers. Don't act like an "expert". Don't expect immediate change. Don't be invisible. Don't avoid the tough issues. Don't sweat the small stuff.

 

For more specific information on these do's and don'ts, visit the following link to the document, "Do’s and Don'ts for Literacy Coaches".

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May's Text Set

As described in the February 2006 FOR-PD Reading Strategy of the Month, text sets can be considered a collection of books related to a common element, topic, theme, or type of text. They provide readers with a medley of text and other materials, including non-fiction, websites, photos, pictures, primary source documents, and fiction, that will support the growing need for students to obtain quality information from a variety of sources.

This month Nancy Case and Jean Salamon will be sharing with us some wonderful books on food chains. Below is a sampling of texts to use in the elementary-high school classroom. Remember, before making any book or resource available, be sure to check out if it is appropriate for your students.

FOR-PD is looking for ideas for future text sets. If you have an idea, please feel free to email us at forpd@mail.ucf.edu.

"Food Chains " Text Set

Books and Resources for Elementary Students Australian Outback Food Chains by Bobbie Kalman. Provides an introduction to the Australian outback, explains what food chains are, follows the food chain in the outback from the sun, to plants, to herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, and scavengers, examines an outback food web, and looks at threats to the region. K-3 Black Rhino:  Habitats, Life Cycle, Food Chains, Threats by Malcolm Penny. Photographs and text follow a rhino calf as it takes its first steps in the African bush. Gr. 3-6 A Break In the Chain by Chris D’Lacey.  A terrible oil spill in the Arctic, a lesson about food chains, and a computer game featuring a polar bear turn into a magical adventure for Billy, whose class uses email and a fund-raiser to help rescue the Arctic animals. Gr. 3-6 Carnivores in the Food Chain by Alice McGinty. Explains what carnivores are, discusses the role of the meat eaters in the food chain, and introduces different types of carnivores. Gr. 3-6 Coral Reef Food Chains by Kelley MacAulay.   Presents a children’s studyof the life and cycles of a variety of plants and animals that inhabit the coral reefs, and examines where coral reefs exist and how they form, the various animals that feed off of the reefs, and the different levels of the food chain. K-3 Dory Story by Jerry Pallotta. While taking a bath with his new red toy dory, a boy imagines himself alone on the ocean getting a first-hand look at the ocean's food chain. K-3 Food Chains and You by Bobbi Kalman.  Presents an introduction to the concept of the food chain, in simple text with illustrations, and explains why all living things need food, describes the energy pyramid, and examines the cycle of how food is produced and consumed. K-3 Food Found All Around You by Janine Scott.  Photographs and text portray a variety of the world's food chains.  K-3

Books and Resources for Middle School Students Herbivores in the Food Chain by Alice B. McGinty. Explains what herbivores are, discusses the role of the plant eaters in the food chain, and introduces different types of herbivores. Omnivores in the Food Chain by Alice B. McGinty. Explains what an omnivore is and how they adapt to change and find food, describing omnivorous mammals, fish, birds, and insects. Decomposers in the Food Chain by Alice B. McGinty. A color-illustrated look at the decomposer's role in the food chain, which describes what shredders and saprobes, including bacteria, fungi, and slime molds, do to break down dead plants and animals. Animals and Plants created and written by John Bonnett Wexo ; chief artist, Walter Stuart. Text and pictures discuss the evolution of plants and animals and compare some of today's animals with prehistoric ones. Killer Whale : Habitats, Life Cycles, Food Chains, Threats by Mark Carwardine. Introduces the behavior of killer whales from birth to old age, describing their feeding and mating habits, social structure, threats, and more. Giant Panda: Habitats, Life Cycles, Food Chains, Threats by Malcolm Penny. Describes the habits and behavior of giant pandas at different stages of their lives, as well as threats to their continued survival. The Missing 'Gator of Gumbo Limbo: an Eco Mystery by Jean Craighead George. Sixth-grader Liza Poole searches for Dajun, an alligator that helps to control the ecosystem of the Gumbo Limbo area of the Florida Everglades, against state officials who want to destroy it. Food Chains and Webs by Holly Wallace. A variety of insects and animals are shown eating one another, showing links between predator and prey. Shark Snacks by Louise Spilsbury.  Presents a study of the food chain and describes the feeding habits of the Great White shark. Gr. 3-6 Staying Alive, the Story of a Food Chain by Jacqui Bailey.  Simple text and illustrations describe the food chain and how plants and animals are connected through it.  Gr. 3-6 Wolf: Habitats, Life Cycles, food Chains, Threats by Michael Leach.  Describes the physical characteristics, behavior, habitat, and life cycle of wolves, as well as the threats they face and efforts to protect them. Gr. 3-6

Books and Resources for High School Students Food Chains, the Unending Cycle by Margaret Anderson.  Explores the concept of food chains and discusses their importance in nutrient cycles and in the maintenance of ecological balance. YA Ecology by Time Life. Questions and answers present information about the distribution of plants and animals, the relationships among living things, and the food chain. YA Between Pacific Tides by Edward Ricketts et. al. Describes the habits and habitats of the animals that live along the rocky shores and in the tide pools of the Pacific Coast of the United States. YA Bumblebee Economics by Bernd Heinrich.  Explores the ecology of Bumblebees.  YA California, Vanishing Habitat and Wildlife by Moose Peterson.  Environmental documentary of California's habitats and endangered species with full color photographs. YA Habitats of the World by Marshall Cavendish Publishers.  Presents a collection of alphabetically arranged entries covering a wide range of topics related to the various habitats of the world, including wildlife diversity, geography, environmental issues, ecosystem dynamics, and human impact. Multi-volume. YA Into the Amazon, The Struggle for the Rainforest by Augusta Dwyer.   Records a vanish way of life in the rain forests of the Amazon River Region in the struggle between tradition and progress. YA Jungle Rescue: Saving the New World Tropical Rain Forests by Christina Miller and Louise Berry.  In order to avoid a global ecological crisis the alarming destruction of the tropical rain forests of Central and South America must be reversed. YA The Kids Environment Book, What’s Awry and Why by Anne Pedersen.  Examines our environmental problems, humankind's historic relationship with the earth and its living species, how industrialization has dramatically changed our planet, and what must be done to repair the damage. YA Krakatau:The Destruction and Reassembly of an Island Ecosystem by Ian Thornton.  Covers the eruption and the ecological recovery of Krakatau. YA Lakes, Ponds and Temporary Pools by David Josephs.  Explains the importance of preserving and protecting slow-moving water habitats and provides instructions for related projects and activities.YA Lessons of the Rainforest by Suzanne Head.  Covers the rainforest ecology and how we as humans have impacted it. YA Life at the Limits;Organisms in Extreme Environments by David Wharton.  Describes how different organisms manage to survive in a variety of extreme conditions and major stresses, such as high and low temperatures and desiccation.  YA Life Connections: Pioneers in Ecology by Linda Leuzzi.  Profiles eight scientists whose work shaped the development of ecology as a field of study, including Alexander von Humboldt, E. Lucy Braun, Aldo Leopold, and Sherry Rowland. YA A Life Without Light: A Journey to Earth’s Dark Ecosystems by Melissa Stewart.  Explores some of the world's most unusual ecosystems found in caves, the deep sea, hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor, underground aquifers, and rock deep below earth's surface. YA The Open Ocean by Pam Walker and Elaine Wood. This book is an examination of life in the farthest regions of the sea, well past shallow coastal zones and familiar continental shelves, including information on unique deep-sea environments, the history of deep-sea research, simple and complex ocean invertebrates, and food chains. U-X-L Encyclopedia of Biomes. Contains entries that provide overviews of twelve of Earth's major biomes, providing information about the formation, climate, elevation, growing season, plants, animals and endangered species, food webs, human culture, and economy of each ecological community. Habitats and Ecosystems: Encyclopedia of Endangered America by Mark Crawford. Traces the history of conservation in the United States; features a state-by-state roster of sites that possess special or unique natural resource values; and includes a glossary of selected terms, and listings of related state and federal agencies.

Audio/Video All About Food Chains [video] Explains how energy is transferred from link to link in a food chain, starting with the sun; presents a hands-on demonstration, examining owl pellets to determine an owl's role in its food chain; and visits a research vessel to investigate plankton's place in the marine food chain. K-3 Ecology:  Organisms in Their Environments [video] United Learning,  Examines interactions between organisms in their environments, introducing the topics of ecosystems, food chains and webs, pyramids of energy and numbers, the carbon cycle, and populations, habitats, and niches. Gr. 5-8 The Food Chain Mystery [video or DVD] 100% Educational Videos.   An introduction to the food chain, following the flow of energy through the food chain, and examining the concepts of photosynthesis, predator-prey relationships, herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores. K-3 or 3-6 Food Chain [video] AIMS Multimedia.  Using whimsical characterizations of the single-celled algae, filamentous algae, protozoa, water flea, damselfly nymph, and crayfish intercut with microscopic views, shows how energy is passed from one link in the food chain to another. Gr. 3-6

Nancy Case is married with two children and two grandchildren. She is currently the Media Supervisor for Alachua County Schools and a professional storyteller. She has previously worked as a middle school media specialist for many years in both Pasco and Alachua counties. She is proud of her role in story telling and was a former president of the Florida Storytelling Association. She has facilitated sixteen FOR-PD classes to date and loves to read, travel, and create stories for telling.

Jean Salamon has been in the education field for 32 years. She has had experience as a Kindergarten teacher, second grade teacher, third grade teacher, and as a Parent Involvement/Learning Resource Specialist for the Title 1 program. She has been the Educational Library Media Specialist for the past 7 years at Astatula Elementary School for the Arts in Lake County, Florida and is Nationally Board Certified in Library Media PreK-Young Adult. She has been facilitating FOR-PD since Jan. 2003. She also teaches Early Literacy classes for UCF at the South Lake Campus in Clermont. She lives with her husband (also a teacher) in Tavares, FL. She has two daughters and two granddaughters. In her spare time she likes to spend time with her family, read, walk, and go out to eat.

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Feeling frustrated? Can't figure it out? Don't forget the FOR-PD Help Desk is available.

Help Desk hours are:
Monday through Friday 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM EST and 6:00 PM - 10:00 PM EST
Saturday 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM EST

The phone number is 1-866-863-READ (7323) toll free, Florida calls only. For non-Florida calls only 407-249-4702. Technical support is also available through AOL Instant Messenger, screen name "forpdhelp."

If you need technical support beyond that which your facilitator or school technology coordinator can offer, please contact the FOR-PD Technical Support Help Desk. Please fill out the Tech Help Form or call the Help Desk. Describe your problem as completely as possible, leave your name and return phone number, and someone will get back to you.

Chat Live with the Help Desk using the Chatango feature on our website. http://www.forpd.ucf.edu/about/technicalsupport.html.

Don't forget to check out the Tutorials and Troubleshooting Guide. Both of these resources provide a wealth of information on the tools used in the course and specific technology problems past participants have had along with solutions to these problems.

FOR-PD Mid-Spring Course	March 12 - June 19, 2007
FOR-PD Summer Course	June 4-September 10, 2007
2007 ALA Annual Conference Washington D.C.	June 21-27
28th Annual National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) Atlanta, Georgia	June 24-27
National Staff Development Council Conference Denver, CO	July 15-18
2007 Just Read, Florida! K-12 Leadership Conference Rosen Shingle Creek Resort, Orlando	August 5-8, 2007
Florida Reading Association Annual Conference Rosen Shingle Creek Resort, Orlando, FL	September 6-9, 2007

 

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