Reading First and Adolescent Literacy Professional Development Summer Institute
In June 2007, the New York Comprehensive Center (NYCC) Adolescent Literacy staff delivered a keynote address and presented a series of workshops at the Reading First and Adolescent Literacy Professional Development Summer Institute 2007 held at the St. John's University campus in Oakdale, Long Island. The Summer Institute was a collaboration among the NYSED Reading First Office, the Long Island Regional School Support Center, and St. John's University.
The NYCC keynote address, From Reading First to What's Next: Reading and Writing in Middle and High School, focused on today's adolescents and the literacy strengths and challenges that they face in the 21st Century. It addressed three key questions:
- What are the literacy demands of today's adolescents?
- What does research tell us about best practices?
- How do we effectively use our resources to build a school-wide culture of literacy?
NYCC staff introduced research summarized in several key documents including: Academic Literacy Instruction for Adolescents: A Guidance Document from the Center on Instruction (Torgesen, et al., 2007); Reading Next: A Vision for Action and Research in Middle and High School Literacy (2nd ed.) (Biancarosa & Snow, 2004); Writing Next: Effective Strategies to Improve Writing of Adolescents in Middle & High schools (Graham & Perin, 2007); and Reading to Achieve: A Governor's Guide to Adolescent Literacy (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, 2005).
NYCC Workshop Presentations at the Summer Institute:
Engaging with Middle-School ELLs in Content-Area Classes
Using the Center on Instruction's (COI's) Practical Guidelines for the Education of English Language Learners: Research-Based Recommendations for Serving Adolescent Newcomers as a framework, participants explored practices that successful content-area teachers use in their instruction to support the development of language, literacy skills, and knowledge for ELLs. The presenter focused on explicit strategies for building vocabulary, comprehending text, and engaging in academic discussion. Participants left the session with an overview of research-based recommendations, modeled strategies they can use in their classrooms, and suggested resources for further information.
Meeting the Needs of Struggling Adolescent Readers
Participants learned how to address the diverse characteristics of older struggling readers in a school-wide reading program. Specifically, they learned how to use the results of diagnostic assessments to establish instructional profiles that can inform teaching. In addition, in small groups, they brainstormed some of the challenges of scheduling, staffing, and ongoing professional development and solutions for meeting these challenges in schools and districts.
Reading Next and Writing Next: Implications for Schoolwide Literacy Plans
Participants reviewed the major concepts articulated in the Alliance for Excellence in Education's publications—Reading Next: A Vision for Action and Research in Middle and High School Literacy and Writing Next: Effective Strategies to Improve Writing of Adolescents in Middle and High School. Participants focused on how school principals, leadership teams, and literacy/instructional coaches can work collaboratively to plan and implement a schoolwide literacy plan to improve student outcomes. Participants shared current activities and discussed strategies that they could take back to their respective faculties.
Supporting the Adolescent Reader in the 21st Century
Participants received an overview of the research supporting the recommendations in Reading Next and Writing Next. Discussion centered on the need to integrate literacy skills into content area teaching and the implications for teachers. Specifically, the participants discussed the statement, "Reading is a different task when we read literature, science texts, historical analyses, newspapers, tax forms. This is why teaching students how to read the texts of academic disciplines is a key part of teaching them these disciplines" (Key Ideas of the Strategic Literacy Initiative, 2001). Using sample text from state assessments, participants brainstormed about the literacy strategies students need in order to achieve success in science, social studies, and mathematics. Participants then discussed ways to embed these literacy strategies into content area instruction.