literacy in the secondary schools 2006 - 2007 "would you tell me please," asked alice,...

Literacy in the Secondary Schools2006 - 2007

"Would you tell me please," asked Alice, "where I ought to go from here?""That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," replied the Cat.

-Lewis Carroll 

Half Hollow Hills Central School District

Literacy in the Secondary Schools

GOALS• To continue the initiatives started

last year around data driven assessments and instruction

• To use the State ELA Core Curriculum as a guide in vertically aligning our own curriculum

• To foster collaboration among faculty in order to share best practices, and maintain a venue for discussion and application of professional learning methodologies.

Literacy in the Secondary Schools

Where are we now?• Focus on Using

Assessment to Drive Instruction– Standardized Data (Reading

Assessments, ELA, Regents, PSAT, SAT, AP Exams)

– Student Work (Essays and Portfolio Pieces)

– Baseline, Midyear, Formative, and Summative Assessments

Literacy in the Secondary Schools

Where are we now?• Focus on Curriculum and

Planning Processes– UBD (Understanding by

Design for planning and assessing student work)

– Planning around text choices and literary elements and techniques

Literacy in the Secondary Schools

Where are we now?• Focus on Instructional

Techniques and Strategies– Differentiation– Dialectical Journals– Cooperative Learning – Silent Sustained Reading

Literacy in the Secondary Schools

Where are we going?• Assessments

– Using the State ELA Exam as the baseline for each grade in middle school

– Offering a reading level assessment (such as the Gates-MacGinitie) to incoming ninth graders

Literacy in the Secondary Schools

Where are we going?• Curriculum

– Curriculum Mapping– Units of Study planned

around thematic connections between texts of various genres

– Thematic Compliments to Social Studies

Literacy in the Secondary Schools

Where are we going?• Instruction

– Modeling– Mentor Texts– Student Centered Learning– Year-long Independent

Reading

Literacy in the Secondary Schools

Instruction

Assessment

Curriculum

Literacy in the Secondary Schools

Final Thoughts

We want to “get to” a place where curriculum, assessment, and instruction are in constant motion; each an integral factor in the creation of the other.

Literacy in the Secondary Schools

Comments/Questions?