Wyoming — At first glance, reading instruction in Parkview Elementary School teacher Beth Weld-Wallis’ class could easily be mistaken for science.
There’s talk of ligaments, tendons, voluntary and involuntary muscles. Students point to their Achilles tendons, feel the cartilage in their ears and jump up and down using their muscles.
But while the third-graders are learning a lot about anatomy, the main focus is on vocabulary, nouns, verbs, adjectives and text features like the glossary, bold text and diagrams. Part of the lesson is the story of the Greek warrior Achilles and how he was not “invulnerable” — a vocabulary word — due to his mortal heel.
Students tracked sentences with rubber “monster fingers” that they slipped onto their index fingers as they read, identifying the main idea in a paragraph about joints.
Come back another day and a similar lesson might be on the classification of animals or Native American history and culture, taught using Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts, a curriculum adopted this fall for students in pre-kindergarten to fifth grade in all four WPS elementary schools.
‘It exposes students to complex texts that produce robust classroom conversations and curiosities.’
— Beth Weld-Wallis, Parkview Elementary School teacher
Weld-Wallis said she has seen real-life application of the students’ learning.
“My co-teacher and I have seen incredible gains with scholars using the academic vocabulary taught during the lesson.
There was no prouder feeling than being on our trip to the Critter Barn in Zeeland when I heard a student proclaim, ‘This goat is a vertebrate because it has a backbone,’” she said.
Building Strong Foundations
The curriculum follows the science of reading and aligns with Common Core standards, said Jennifer Slanger, Wyoming Public Schools executive director of elementary teaching and learning.
“What CKLA has brought to us is a very comprehensive resource in which there is explicit teaching in phonemic awareness and phonics,” she said. “There is direct, explicit instruction in building background knowledge and vocabulary for scholars.”
Students are being taught to recognize all 44 sounds in words and their 150 spellings in diverse contexts. They are learning vocabulary words and about topics that connect over the grade levels.
While at the third-grade level, skills and topics (vocabulary and body parts, for example) are seamlessly interwoven, kindergarten through second-graders learn phonics and content in separate parts of the lesson.
Students also demonstrate their learning, Weld-Wallis said, meeting goals such as “I can read and answer comprehension questions about joints and muscles, and consider how they interact with other systems in the body.” And “I can correctly change ‘f’ to ‘v’ and add -es in plural nouns” and can create a piece of writing that includes a topic and a concluding sentence.
“Overall,” Weld-Wallis said, “I see it making a huge difference with reading instruction because it exposes students to complex texts that produce robust classroom conversations and curiosities.”
The lively discussions about Greek Gods and tendons that took place in pairs on the classroom carpet affirmed her observations.
Following the Science
So how is instruction different than in the past?
Since the 1990s, popular reading instruction nationwide focused on “balanced literacy.” Instead of sounding out words, students would learn to read words and passages using practice, context and clues such as letters and pictures. Phonics was underemphasized.
However, research has shown that many students need direct instruction on phonics. States including Michigan have passed bills that require instruction to be grounded in the science of reading, a collection of research on how children best learn to read. It is based on phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.
“Knowing what we know now about the science of teaching reading, there are strategies we can teach children to learn how to decode words,” Slanger said. “You have to look at the word. You have to sound out the word. What letters do you recognize? What sounds do those letters make?”
Other local schools and districts have also shifted to curriculum based on the science of reading, including in Grand Rapids and Comstock Park Public Schools.
In choosing a new curriculum, Slanger researched resources, studied reports, and had conversations with other curriculum directors to determine the best new program for the district.
“There were some non-negotiables for me; I was not going to bring resources in front of the team that were not aligned with the Common Core state standards or that weren’t aligned to the science of reading. The other thing I looked at was that they have to have an explicit phonics teaching within them.”
Seventy WPS elementary teachers participated in professional learning led by Leading Educators on the science of reading and providing an equitable experience around literacy for all students.
The district then formed a pilot team last year of 25 educators including classroom teachers, instructional coaches and Slanger that tested two curriculums, ultimately selecting CKLA.
‘Teachers need to be a part of curriculum piloting and implementation processes. … They are the end users along with our scholars. Their voice is hugely important.’
— Jennifer Slanger, executive director of elementary teaching and learning
Slanger said the year of work by the pilot team helped prepare the district for the rollout of the curriculum. Most importantly, it allowed for teachers to buy in.
“I can’t speak enough about the dedicated teachers that we had that were leading and working alongside me in this work. Teachers need to be a part of curriculum piloting and implementation processes. I’m a firm believer in that,” she said. “They are the end users along with our scholars. Their voice is hugely important.”
At Parkview, Weld-Wallis said she’s seeing a sense of community around reading, thanks to ample opportunities for students to read as a class, read with partners and then have discussion. And they are even having conversations about their learning at home.
“At conferences this week, numerous parents and guardians smiled when I told them we were learning about the human body and said, “Oh yes, they have been telling me all about that,’” she said.
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