MARESA Literacy Monthly: November 2021 Edition

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Spotlight on the Essentials

UNPACKING Small Group & individual Instruction ALL YEAR LONG 

We want to begin this month's MARESA Monthly by acknowledging you and your dedication to teaching and learning! All the time you invest connecting, supporting, and growing in literacy with your colleagues makes a difference for your students! 

Effective professional learning that leads to improvements in student outcomes requires a considerable amount of time and dedication and that is why this year our MARESA Monthly will focus on unpacking Literacy Essential #3, Small Group, and Individual Instruction to support professional learning that is: 

1. Content Focused & Uses Models of Effective Practices

2. Is Sustained in Duration

3. Involves Teacher Collaboration

4. Is Job Embedded and can be accessed in your district at any time (staff meeting, district PD, grade level meetings, or individually).  

5. Offers Feedback & Reflection

This month you will find: 

  • Resources & Recorded Content to Support a Variety of Grouping Strategies
  • How to Use NWEA to Plan Small Group Instruction 
  • Capturing Meaningful Observations with Books Your Students Love!
  • Supporting Literacy at Home with Strategy Support for Families

The MARESA K-5 Teacher Literacy Networks Have Begun! 

Thank you to the 38 educators from across 8 districts that came together for our first 2021-22 K-5 MARESA Teacher Literacy Network Session to connect, support, and grow together around literacy!  



KEY TakeAways from SESSION 

  • We get a lot for our instructional buck with Tier I Small Group and Individualized Instruction (It can help accelerate student learning). 
  • We should avoid grouping students solely on reading level. There are 5 suggested grouping strategies found within the Literacy Essentials: Needs-Based, Interest-Based, Level-Based, Paired, and Random.
  • Targeting children's observed and assessed needs should guide our small group instruction.

Grouping StrategIES & RESOURCES 

During the literacy network sessions, there was interest in additional grouping strategies and resources so we organized our favorite go-to resources for Needs-Based, Interest-Based, Level-Based, Paired, and Random grouping.

Did you miss our first session?  No WOrries--We are here for you! 

If you were not able to join your grade level network session, we totally understand and invite you to access the recorded sessions and resources during your district professional development days, monthly staff meetings, or weekly grade-level meetings.

The magic happens when teachers are able to reflect and collaborate together so we encourage you to view the recordings and resources with your grade level team or as a whole staff. If you view the recordings separately, set aside time to connect together with your colleagues to process how to integrate and apply new learning within your school. 

Session 1: Using a Variety of Flexible Grouping Strategies


Turn Small Reading Groups into Big Wins  

Check out what your MARESA colleagues had to say about the article, Turn Small Reading Groups Into Big Wins on Jamboard. We invite you to keep the conversations going and please add any reflections, questions, or wonderings to your grade level's Jamboard. 


SAVE THE DATE: December 1st & 2nd

At our next MARESA K-5 Teacher Literacy Network Sessions on December 1st & 2nd, we will unpack how to structure small group lessons and the specific strategies to teach in small groups which most impact students' literacy growth. Register here.

For the Love of Reading

Book Levels:  Who were they intended for?

Essential #3 offers 5 strategies for grouping students for small group instruction:  Level-based, needs-based, interest-based, paired, and random.  We are also reminded in the Essential #3 module to use a variety of these strategies and to not only rely on level-based grouping for this form of instruction.  This blog article on the Fountas and Pinnell website offers insight as to who should be aware of book levels and how the misuse of levels can actually have negative effects on children.  

go! Go! Gaby!

Using NWEA data to inform your decisions 

This week I am sharing a series of tips and strategies for those NWEA Reports, they should help you use your students' NWEA data to inform instruction.
You can view the presentation online but be sure to look at the presenter notes, I've shared a lot of resources there! Grab your own copy here!



Managing It all!

Observation & Assessment During everyday learning

Essential #9 calls for ongoing observation and assessment to inform instruction, a direct connection to Essential #3 in which instruction is targeted to children's observed and assessed needs.  What if we shared that some of the time needed to assess and observe students could occur within normal instructional time with no need to pause learning?  Here are a few ideas to grow within your classrooms: 

  • Group Snapshots:  Group snapshots are a tool to collect data through observations.  To use, simply list the targeted skills or standards you expect to see students demonstrating.  As you work with students in small groups, or even within whole group instruction, your observations become intentional.  You begin viewing with the question, "Is _______ consistently able to demonstrate ________?"  If so, a checkmark is entered into the group snapshot table.  From this data, instruction can be planned to move students forward or add additional supports as needed.  Here are two templates to take.  Modify and adjust to meet your individual needs!

  • The Listening to Reading—Watching While Writing Protocol (LTR-WWWP):  This assessment protocol will allow you to collect meaningful literacy development data about individual students while they read or write.  The best part?  This can happen with any book and any piece of writing!  Developed by Dr. Nell Duke, this tool was meant to give teachers meaningful data to inform instructional targets.  Visit Dr. Nell Duke's support site to learn more about this amazing tool, watch teachers use the tool with actual students, and get links for valuable resources.  Recording sheets are below: 

Engaging Families

Literacy STrategies

Upcoming parent-teacher conferences are a great time to share St. Clair RESA’s Student Success Calendar. Each month includes a calendar of activities for each day and a page explaining the literacy focus of the month in family-friendly language and graphics. Making Predictions is the comprehension strategy for November. 

* For additional tools and resources to support making predictions when reading  (e.g. bookmarks, journal prompts, sample videos, etc.), check out the Family Engagement Resources. 


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