Program Overview

SDP's Reading Professional Development Program is designed to assist reading educators gain the skills to ensure all students become successful readers. It provides staff development built on the scientifically based research essential components of effective reading instruction that lead to student achievement. Proven principles of effective reading instruction are integrated throughout the program, giving teachers access to the industry’s most relevant scientifically based research. The program is comprised of face-to-face, hands-on workshops, online learning and onsite support and mentoring.
 

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FACE-TO-FACE WORKSHOPS

Educator Reading is an online approach to professional development that offers interactive courses in the five essential reading components. Participants will also learn how Connected Educator helps educators meet federal reading requirements of No Child Left Behind’s Reading First initiative while providing practical information, tips and tools that can be directly applied in the classroom. During this workshop, targeted instructional strategies that CE-R offers will be demonstrated. These strategies will help teachers become better reading teachers, which in turn will help to ensure that all students become successful readers. 

Objectives:

• Activate the Connected Educator Reading subscription.
• Understand the features and components of CE-R.
  • My Records
  • Course Catalog
  • Resource Library
• Understand how to navigate in CE-R and in an online course.
• Enroll in an online course.
• Differentiate between a social discussion and a session discussion.
• Participate in a threaded discussion within a course. 
• Learn best practices in becoming successful in an online course.
• Explore how to apply newly-acquired reading strategies and skills in a classroom setting.
• Search for online educational resources via Resource Library.
• Explore model activities, teaching references and videos.
• Understand the benefits of online learning in reading.

Activities: May include demonstrations, guided discussion, sharing experiences, brainstorming and collaborating and hands-on experiences.
 

In this workshop participants will learn proven research-based strategies and techniques to improve their students' reading comprehension and critical thinking skills. Strategies will be presented for helping students to identify the narrative elements of stories, and to identify and analyze relationships between ideas in nonfiction selections. A wide range of reading comprehension strategies: self-monitoring for understanding, using graphic organizers, asking and answering questions, recognizing key points, and identifying organizational text structure will also be presented.

Objectives:

• Describe what research says about text comprehension its importance in literacy development.

• Explore and define comprehension monitoring and metacognition.

• Discuss strategies to use with expository text, including: graphic and semantic organizers, answering questions, and generating questions.

• Develop observable indications that the reader has constructed meaning from their interaction with the text.

• Discuss strategies to use with narrative text, including; story structure, summarizing, and using multiple-comprehension strategies.

• Discuss the need for formal and informal assessments of text comprehension and how it can be used to inform instruction.

 Activities:  Include demonstrations, guided discussion, modeling, sharing, small group and large group work, collegial interaction through brainstorming and collaborating, creating checklists, action-planning and applications tasks, and summative review of workshop concepts.

Resources:  Each participant will receive a comprehensive workbook of essential resources specifically designed for this workshop, including classroom activity materials, step-by-step instructions for student activities, worksheets, reproducible templates, checklists, assessment tools, rubrics, glossary, literature recommendations, benchmark guidelines, reflect and apply worksheets, and web resources.
 

In this workshop, participants will be exposed to the scientifically research-based essential components of effective reading instruction that lead to student achievement. This workshop covers the teaching of phonics and phonemic awareness in kindergarten and first grade. It also focuses on the research behind current instructional models, how to turn research into sound classroom practice, and how to use assessment and intervention strategies.

Objectives:

• Distinguish between phonemic awareness and phonics and become familiar with each of their attributes.

• Define phonemic awareness and explain its importance in literacy development.

• Explore language development difficulty and recognize the lack of phonemic awareness.

• Show the components of phonics instruction and provide a suggested sequence of instruction.

• Provide alternatives for children with auditory discrimination deficiencies.

• Explore methods of teaching phonics within a meaningful context.

• Give teachers a set of practice strategies, and a knowledge of materials, that will help their students master phonics principles.

• Remind teachers that the ultimate goal of phonics instruction is fluent reading and good comprehension.

• Diagnose each of the areas of reading difficulties and apply appropriate instructional strategies to improve student achievement.

Activities:  Include demonstrations, guided discussion, modeling, sharing, small group and large group work, collegial interaction through brainstorming and collaborating, creating checklists, action-planning and applications tasks, and summative review of workshop concepts.

Resources:  Each participant will receive a comprehensive workbook of essential resources specifically designed for this workshop, including classroom activity materials, step-by-step instructions for student activities, worksheets, reproducible templates, checklists, assessment tools, rubrics, glossary, literature recommendations, benchmark guidelines, reflect and apply worksheets, and web resources.
 

Strategies for Struggling Readers

This workshop will expose participants to research-based procedures for teaching students decoding, fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension strategies that can be applied across all grade levels.  Each strategy will be introduced, modeled and practiced during the workshop.  We will also look at a variety of Internet resources that will support reading instruction.

Objectives:

• Discuss ways to assess students’ reading skills and identify struggling readers.

• Learn ways to provide struggling readers with skills they need.

• Develop small group instructional strategies. 

• Create ways to increase students’ reading skills using a variety of strategies.

• Discuss ways to use schema in order to activate prior knowledge and increase reading comprehension.

• Define the role of metacognition in the reading process.

• Determine ways to encourage students to reflect on their reading for comprehension and retention.

• Explore purpose-setting activities that will generate student interest in the text.

• Discuss the role of graphic organizers to enhance reading comprehension.

• Determine the benefits of the Internet and technology for improving reading instruction.

• Explore ways to effectively use online resources that correlate with state and national curriculum standards.

• Learn how to design reading lessons that make the best use of Internet resources.

 Activities:  May include demonstrations, guided discussion, modeling, sharing, small group and large group work, collegial interaction through brainstorming and collaborating, creating checklists, action-planning and applications tasks.

ONLINE LEARNING

This online product provides six courses in scientifically-based reading instruction methods.  All courses are aligned with the National Reading Panel’s recommendations regarding the fundamental components of reading instruction that lead to increased student achievement.

      Course titles: 

• Phonemic Awareness and Beginning Phonics (Grades K,1)

Phonemic Awareness and Beginning Phonics covers the teaching of phonics and phonemic awareness in kindergarten. Part 1 focuses on the research behind current instructional models. Parts 2 and 3 focus on how to turn research into sound classroom practice. Part 4 addresses assessment and intervention.

• Building Basic Phonics Skills (Grades 1,2)

Building Basic Phonics Skills covers the teaching of phonics and decoding in first grade. This course has four parts. Part 1 focuses on the research behind current instructional models. Parts 2 and 3 focus on how to turn research into sound classroom practice. Part 4 addresses assessment and intervention.

• Introducing Text Comprehension (Grades 2,3)

In this course, you'll learn about comprehension strategies your students can use to solve problems independently and build a deeper understanding of texts. You'll also learn how to support your students as they practice using these strategies.

• Expanding Text Comprehension (Grades 4,5,6 +)

This course identifies eight comprehension strategies, or procedures, that a classroom teacher can use to enhance students' reading comprehension. Each session includes interactive activities that can be used to practice the strategies and a video in which a master teacher demonstrates a strategy.

• Phonics Intervention (Grades 4,5,6 +)

Phonics Intervention covers the teaching of phonics for struggling readers in grades 4 and up. This course has four parts. Part 1 focuses on the research behind current instructional models. Part 2 examines diagnosis and classroom intervention strategies. Part 3 covers teaching phonics to older students. Part 4 addresses vocabulary and comprehension as well as how to address phonics in the different subject areas.

• Building Fluency (Grades 1,2,3)

Learn how to improve your students' fluency in this interactive course. Designed to help you implement research-based practices in your classroom, this course covers the key components of fluent reading—speed, accuracy, and expression—and strategies that are proven to promote fluency. You'll learn about effective repeated reading practices, activities that build automaticity, assessment procedures that will help you monitor your students' progress, and more

ONSITE SUPPORT AND MENTORING

• helping teachers understand how to use Connected Educator Reading and other online learning opportunities to acquire necessary skills and strategies in reading.
• helping teachers understand how CER skills and strategies can influence reading instruction in the classroom.
• bringing awareness to the various online resources and tools in reading.
• providing instructional support in lesson design and delivery in reading.
• observing classroom lessons in an effort to provide teacher feedback and support in instruction.