The Focus of America's Choice Literacy Professional Development:
Literacy Offerings:
Overview
The America’s Choice literacy/English language arts program is built upon a comprehensive approach to balanced literacy using readers and writers workshop that is consistent with the New York City core curriculum.
Our literacy program is aimed at developing a teacher’s understanding and effectiveness in delivering a complete research-based model of reading, writing, and skills development. It provides teachers with strategies and techniques to ensure that all students are reading and writing fluently at their grade level. This program addresses the necessary balance between reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills. Presented in a workshop format and aligned with New York ELA and New York City Performance Standards, America’s Choice creates structure and provides the instructional components for teachers to support students who are learning to read and write in the earlier grades, and to consolidate and extend that learning in the later grades.
Readers Workshop
The Readers Workshop focuses on oral language development, vocabulary development, the application of phonemic awareness and phonics, comprehension, and the development of fluency in reading. Students learn effective strategies for comprehending text and how to study literature. The workshop routines include reading to children, shared reading or choral reading, and direct instruction to small and large groups, as well as partner reading and independent reading with guidance and feedback. Schools are able to incorporate their core reading program into Readers Workshop.
Writers Workshop
In Writers Workshop, students are engaged in writing daily, learning a process that includes planning, drafting, revising, editing, polishing, and publishing their work. Students are engaged in analyzing text structures in a variety of genres, organizational patterns, writing strategies, and authors’ styles of writing. Students study models of proficient writing and mentor themselves to good texts and good writers. The Writers Workshop is also where students become proficient at proofreading and editing their own writing, and understand the appropriate mechanics of making writing readable to others.
English Language Arts
The literacy program is supported with standards-based curriculum, incorporating author and genre studies designed for grades K-10. The workshop structures are designed to support students’ development of the knowledge and skills they need to meet the expectations of the standards, with a balance of whole-class, small- group and individual instruction, and independent work. This process is supported by standards-driven curriculum units that guide teachers in providing students with a scaffolded sequence of learning experiences in which they study the literary techniques and writing styles of leading authors and learn to write proficiently in selected genres. These studies also provide instructional models from which teachers may develop their own curriculum units. Strategies to meet the needs of English language learners are also addressed.
Literacy Offerings:
Coaching Institute
Literacy Coaches
Coaching is an art; it entails developing expertise in the content area and the ability to work with peers to deepen practice. In this course participants will explore the heart of coaching, including:
• The language of coaching
• Understanding the process of change in instructional practice
• Adult learning styles
• Strategies for working with teachers
• Feedback to teachers
• Analyzing data on student progress and using data to inform instructional planning
A combination of seminar, workshop, and practicum, the course is spaced over 3 one-day sessions to provide time for application between sessions.
Session 1: The coaching framework – September 29, 2009
Session 2: Changing practice – December 11, 2009
Session 3: Using data and feedback processes – April 29, 2010
Materials: Coaching Handbook
Price: $750
Vendor Number: AME141000
Contract Number: QC43901
Differentiating Instruction—Guided Reading
Teachers of Literacy / English language arts
This course will explore the structure and process of the guided reading lesson. Using current research on practice and videos of classroom instruction, participants will:
• Review appropriate materials and discuss strategies taught in a guided reading lesson
• Explore how the Zone of Proximal Development informs guided reading instruction
• Evaluate video presentation of guided reading lessons
A combination of seminar, workshop. and practicum, this course is spaced over 3 one-day sessions to provide time for application between sessions.
Session 1: Guided Reading—Differentiating Instruction – October 23, 2009
Session 2: The Zone of Proximal Development and strategies to meet student needs – December 7, 2009
Session 3: Monitoring for results – March 8, 2010
Materials: Guided Reading Monograph, handouts
Price: $750
Vendor Number: AME141000
Contract Number: QC43901J
Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension
Teachers of literacy/English language arts
This course will explore reading comprehension at the word, sentence, and text level. We will review the research on reading comprehension beginning with the research on the strategies used by effective readers and continuing with other models of comprehension. We will discuss and practice applying a core of strategies for developing comprehension including: • The cognitive research base of the Construction-Integration Model of Comprehension
• Strategies for applying this model of comprehension in instruction
• Planning lessons that incorporate comprehension instruction
A combination of seminar, workshop and practicum, this course is spaced over 2 one-day sessions to provide time for application between
sessions
Session 1: Comprehension Models – October 19, 2009
Session 2: Instructional Planning for Comprehension – November 10, 2009
Materials: Professional Book—Reading and
Writing with Comprehension, handouts
Price: $500
Vendor Number: AME141000
Contract Number: QR328BJ
Writing Genres and Text Structures I—Elementary
Teachers of literacy/English language arts
Participants will review the components and structure of the literacy block and clarify the relationship between rituals, routines, and artifacts of the Readers and Writers workshop. We will discuss:
• Creating a classroom environment to facilitate types of work that will engage students while teachers are providing focused, differentiated instruction
• Grade specific lessons for the first 30 days of Writers and Readers Workshop to facilitate development of a Reading and Writing Workshop
A combination of seminar, workshop and practicum, this course is spaced over 3 one-day sessions to provide time for application between sessions.
Session 1: The Writers Workshop – August 17, 2009, September 15, 2009
Session 2: The Readers Workshop – August 18, 2009, September 16, 2009
Session 3: Analyzing and deepening practice – October 2, 2009
Materials: Literacy Handbook; Monograph: Routines, Rituals and Artifacts—Readers Workshop; Monograph: Routines, Rituals, and Artifacts—Writers Workshop—The First Thirty Days
Price: $750
Vendor Number: AME 141000
Contract Number: QR328BJ
Writing Genres and Text Structures II—Elementary
Participants will explore the rationale for genre study and how it relates to writing and reading. Lessons at each grade level will be provided that use touchstone texts as models for writing to develop student understanding and proficiency in a specific genre in reading and writing. This is an upgrade to our previous genre studies and includes a pre-assessment and post assessment. Participants will explore:
• The cognitive research base regarding the role of knowledge of genre and text structure supports reading and writing
• Features of writing genres
• Types of text structures
• Strategies for teaching features of genres and types of text structures into reading and writing instruction
• Scaffolding for language development and support for English language learners
• Vocabulary
• How knowledge of genre and text structure support students’ achieving the New York State Learning Standards.
A combination of seminar, workshop, and practicum, this course is spaced over 3 one-day sessions to provide time for application between sessions.
Session 1: Introduction to Genre Studies
Session 2: Informing instruction through student work
Session 3: Creating a genre study
Materials: appropriate Grade Level genre study (K-5), Vocabulary Lessons
Price: $750
Vendor Number: AME141000
Contract Number: QR328BJ
Dates: October 20, 2009; November 9, 2009; December 8, 2009
Writing Genres: Author Studies and Text Structures III—Elementary
Participants will explore the rationale for author study and how it relates to writing and reading. Lessons at each grade level will be provided that use touchstone texts as models for reading and writing to develop student understanding and proficiency in a specific genre in reading and writing. Participants will explore:
• The cognitive research base regarding the role of knowledge of genre and text structure supports reading and writing
• Features of author studies
• Types of text structures
• Strategies for teaching features of genres and types of text structures into reading and writing instruction
• Vocabulary
• How knowledge of genre and text structure support students’ achieving the New York State
Learning Standards.
A combination of seminar, workshop, and
practicum, this course is spaced over 3 one-day
sessions to provide time for application between
sessions.
Session 1: Introduction to Author Studies
Session 2: Informing instruction through student work
Session 3: Creating an author study
Materials: appropriate Grade Level author study (K-5), Vocabulary Lessons
Price: $750
Vendor Number: AME141000
Contract Number: QR328BJ
Dates: March 9, 2010; April 27, 2010; May 27, 2010
Writing Genres and Text Structures I—Secondary
Teachers of literacy/English language arts Participants will review the components and structure of the literacy block and clarify the relationship between rituals, routines, and artifacts of the Readers and Writers workshop through the use of secondary genre studies that embed the workshop structure and support students for success on the New York State assessments. We will discuss:
• Developing a classroom environment to facilitate the types of work that will engage students in writing and text while teachers are able to provide focused, differentiated instruction
• Grade specific genre lessons (Narrative— grades 6/7/8; Expository—grades 9/10) to facilitate development of a Reading and Writing Workshop.
A combination of seminar, workshop, and practicum, this course is spaced over 3 one-day sessions to provide time for application between sessions.
Session 1: The Writers Workshop
Session 2: The Readers Workshop
Session 3: Analyzing and deepening practice
Materials: appropriate genre study—Narrative (middle school) or Expository (high school)
Price: $750
Vendor Number: AME141000
Contract Number: QR328BJ
Dates: September 21, 2009; October 5, 2009;
October 19, 2009
Writing Genres and Text Structures II—Secondary
Participants will explore the rationale for genre study and how it relates to writing and reading. Lessons at each grade level will be provided that use touchstone texts as models for writing to develop student understanding and proficiency in a specific genre in reading and writing (Middle School—proposal, problem/solution, and journalistic feature; High School—response to literature and reflective essay). Participants will explore:
• The cognitive research base regarding the role knowledge of genre and text structure and how they support reading and writing
• Features of writing genres
• Types of text structures
• Strategies for teaching features of genres and types of text structures into reading and writing instruction
• How knowledge of genre and text structure support students’ achieving the New York State Learning Standards
A combination of seminar, workshop, and practicum, this course is spaced over 3 one-day sessions spaced to provide time for application between sessions.
Session 1: Introduction to Genre Studies
Session 2: Informing instruction through student work
Session 3: Creating a genre study
Date: November 30, 2009; December 8, 2009;
February 8, 2010
Materials: Appropriate grade level Genre Study
(6—proposal; 7—problem/solution; 8—journalistic
feature; — response to literature: poetry; 10—
reflective essay)
Price: $750
Vendor Number: AME141000
Contract Number: QR328BJ
Writing Genres: Author Studies and Text Structures III—Secondary
Participants will explore the rationale for author study and how it relates to writing and reading. Lessons at each grade level will be provided that use touchstone texts as models for reading and writing to develop student understanding and proficiency in a specific genre in reading and writing. Participants will explore:
• The cognitive research base regarding the role of knowledge of genre and text structure supports reading and writing
• Features of author
• Types of text structures
• Strategies for teaching features of genres and types of text structures into reading and writing instruction
• Vocabulary
• How knowledge of genre and text structure support students’ achieving the New York State Learning Standards.
A combination of seminar, workshop, and practicum, this course is spaced over 3 one-day sessions to provide time for application between sessions.
Session 1: Introduction to Author Studies
Session 2: Informing instruction through student work
Session 3: Creating a author study
Materials: appropriate Grade Level author study, Vocabulary
Price: $750
Vendor Number: AME141000
Contract Number: QR328BJ
Dates: March 15, 2010; March 22, 2010; April 28,
2010
Building E-Reading into the Curriculum
Participants will learn the differences between e-reading and traditional reading of hardcopy texts and the particular demands posed by e-reading. Participants will explore: • Strategies to help students read electronic text efficiently and effectively
• The decisions and processes involved in selecting appropriate text from the often overwhelming options provided by the Internet, understanding and navigating the screen formats of Internet sites, selecting and reading the graphics provided in this medium, and selecting, logging, and synthesizing information from multiple related sources of information
• The protocols to support student’s e-reading, implement these protocols and reflect on their experience and their implications for ongoing practice
A combination of workshop and practicum, this course is spaced over 2 one-day sessions to provide time for application between sessions.
Session 1: Introduction E-Reading, Strategies for Teaching E-Reading
Session 2: E-Reading and Student Work
Materials: Handouts
Price: $500
Vendor Number: AME141000
Contract Number: QR328BJ
Dates: May 10, 2010; May 17, 2010
Building Students’ Vocabularies
Participants will review the role of vocabulary development in learning and effective methods for expanding students’ vocabularies. Participants will examine:
• Incorporating vocabulary development into instruction as a deliberate and contextualized curriculum component
• Backward mapping from curriculum to the design requirements for effective vocabulary instruction
• Developing vocabulary instruction that reflects the research on learning and effective methods for incorporating these learning experiences into instruction
• Making effective use of word walls to support students’ vocabulary learning
• Experience modeling, in a workshop setting, deliberate, contextualized vocabulary
instruction and reflection on the construction of the learning experience
• Implement a unit of literacy instruction that incorporates contextualized vocabulary
instruction
• Plan vocabulary instruction for incorporation into existing curriculum, assess students’ vocabulary growth, and reflect on these outcomes with reference to the research base
A combination of seminar, workshop, and practicum, this course is spaced over 3 one-day sessions to provide time for application between sessions.
Session 1: Vocabulary within the curriculum
Session 2: Contextualized vocabulary instruction
Session 3: Strategies for deepening vocabulary in the classroom
Materials: Bringing Words to Life by Isabel Beck and Margaret McKeown, Linda Kucan
Price: $750
Vendor Number: AME141000
Contract Number: QR328BJ
Dates: September 30, 2009; October 21, 2009; April 28, 2009
Speaking and Listening
Literacy Teachers and Coaches
Oral language development supports all students to become successful in English language arts. In this session, participants will explore the role of oral language in developing literacy and how to plan effectively to incorporate oral language into classroom practice, including:
• Building Accountable Talk
• Pedagogical strategies that bring oral language into practice—Author’s Chair, Literature Circles, Response Groups
A combination of workshop and practicum, this course is spaced over 4 one-day sessions to provide time for application between sessions.
Session 1: Speaking and Listening—research and practice
Session 2: Building Accountable Talk
Session 3: Pedagogical strategies and instructional planning
Session 4: Pedagogical strategies and instructional planning
Materials: Speaking and Listening Standards;
Monographs: Fluency and Comprehension, Response Groups, Author’s Chair
Price: $1,000
Vendor Number: AME141000
Contract Number: QR328BJ
Dates: October 22, 2009; December 10, 2009; April 26, 2010; May 25, 2010
Analyzing Student Work, Kindergarten to Grade 3
Teachers and school leaders
Participants will explore how we translate the expectations for a unit of study into data-based instruction. The workshop guides participants through a process of studying student work with reference to standards; it models approaches for using student work samples to scaffold students’ learning; develops participants’ facility with the use of different protocols to support collaborative study of student work.
Participants will:
• Analyze student work with reference to standards
• Use student work exemplars and anchors to develop a shared understanding of the characteristics of student work that meets standards
• Identify patterns of learning in collections of student work and analyzing instructional needs
• Use of a range of protocols for analysis of student work and explore their differing uses
• Use student work samples to provide effective feedback
A combination of seminar, workshop, and practicum, this course is spaced over 3 one-day sessions to provide time for application between sessions.
Session 1: Analyzing Student Work
Session 2: Feedback and Commentary
Session 3: Instructional Planning and Student Work
Materials: Monographs: Editing and Revising; Reading and Writing Grade by Grade
Price: $750
Vendor Number: AME141000
Contract Number: QR328BJ
Dates: November 13, 2009; March 11, 2010; May 28, 2010
Analyzing Student Work, Grades 4 to 8
Teachers and school leaders
Participants will explore how we translate the expectations for a unit of study into data based instruction. The workshop guides participants through a process of studying student work with reference to standards; it models approaches for using student work samples to scaffold students’ learning; develops participants’ facility with the use of different protocols to support collaborative study of student work.
Participants will:
• Analyze student work with reference to standards
• Use student work exemplars and anchors to develop a shared understanding of the characteristics of student work that meets standards
• Identify patterns of learning in collections of student work and analyzing instructional needs
• Use of a range of protocols for analysis of student work and explore their differing uses
• Use student work samples to provide effective feedback
A combination of seminar, workshop, and practicum, this course is spaced over 3 one-day sessions to provide time for application between sessions.
Materials: Monographs: Editing and Revising, Reading and Writing With Understanding
Price: $750
Vendor Number: AME141000
Contract Number: QR328BJ
Dates: November 12, 2009; March 10, 2010; May 26, 2010
Developing Rubrics to Support Student Learning
Teachers of literacy / English language arts Participants will explore and develop how rubrics inform instruction by establishing clear expectations of what work that meets standards and how use of rubrics set the stage for effective feedback mechanisms that helps students recognize and improve their own work. The workshops guide participants through a study of different kinds of rubrics and the characteristics that affect their value for teaching and assessment purposes. The workshops also model the process of co-constructing rubrics with students. Participants try out these practices in their own classrooms and reflect on the experience. Finally, faculty co-construct guidelines for effective rubrics to provide for consistency in their use of rubrics with students.
Participants will develop an understanding of the:
• Purposes of rubrics, for teaching and for assessment
• Developing of teaching and assessment rubrics
• Co-constructing of teaching and assessment rubrics with students
• Use of rubrics to improve instruction and learning
A combination of seminar, workshop, and practicum, this course is spread over 2 one-day sessions to provide time for application between sessions.
Session 1: Using and Developing Rubrics
Session 2: Rubrics and Instructional planning
Materials: Using Rubrics to Improve Student Writing
Price: $500
Vendor Number: AME141000
Contract Number: QR328BJ
Dates: October 1, 2009; December 9, 2009
