Educator effectively provides analytic phonics instruction to diverse learners so they understand the relationship of sounds to written words.
# Key Method The educator develops and implements a lesson plan that explicitly teaches word analysis strategies and the application of learned patterns to the decoding of new words. # Method Components ### Overview The main focus of early reading instruction is to teach children the foundational skills that allow them to read independently. Analytic phonics programs teach whole-word approaches that encourage students to identify and analyze letter combinations into identifiable, standard phonetic or orthographic (spelling) patterns. The establishment of these patterns allows students to process chunks of words quickly, along with any new parts of a word, to automatically identify the word. Once a child can identify word patterns to read whole words, they can begin to pay attention to the meaning of the word and words within sentence structures, which allows for the development of reading comprehension. ### Components of Analytic Phonics Instruction In order to support young students in becoming independent readers, a systematic approach to moving students from the mechanical task of decoding to automatic word recognition is recommended. The research literature recommends the following for exemplary analytic phonics instruction: 1. **Teach students to identify and analyze parts and patterns within whole words**. A more advanced form of decoding, word analysis skills allow students to condense the sound, symbol, and meaning packaging into larger chunks of a word, as opposed to analyzing letter by letter. This advanced application of decoding mechanics allows greater ease and speed of the reading process for younger readers. 2. **Teach students to apply established orthographic patterns to support memory of whole words**. With repeated practice and exposure to established word parts and patterns, young students will begin to identify both known and new words with greater speed and ease. Additionally, in applying established patterns to known and new words, the brain is freed from the mechanics of decoding, so that it can focus instead on the meaning making of comprehension. 3. **Use memory of whole words to read with automaticity**. Once memory is used to identify whole words, the established meaning assigned to that word is automatically understood when the word is encountered in text. ### Supporting students as they learn through analytic phonics instruction Teach students to analyze letter–sound relations in previously learned words to avoid pronouncing sounds in isolation. This type of phonics instruction is designed to increase accuracy in decoding and word recognition skills, which in turn facilitates comprehension. Automatic application of phonics skills to text is a critical skill that must be taught and learned to maximize oral reading and reading comprehension. While phonics skills are necessary in order to learn to read, they are not sufficient in their own right. Phonics skills must be integrated with the development of phonemic awareness, fluency, and text reading comprehension skills. ### Assessing Mastery of Analytic Phonics Assessing a student’s letter/sound correspondences and their ability to segment and blend letter sounds to form and read words in texts should be systematic to ensure students don’t fall far behind in learning the foundations of reading. Assessments determine whether students are mastering taught skills in phonics and phonemic/phonological awareness. These assessments provide educators with insights into a student’s level of mastery and next steps for instruction. Educators should implement best practices when assessing a student’s phonics skills. However, here are some specifics to guide educators as they are assessing students. * There are two purposes for assessing: 1. Initially, identify students who could potentially be at risk; that is, students having difficulty acquiring beginning reading skills. 2. Consistently progress monitor students who are receiving analytic phonics instruction. * It is recommended that educators use a wide variety of screening assessments. These screening tools should measure specific phonics skills. * When educators use screening measures, they must create decision rules when identifying students needing extra support in phonics instruction. * When educators select assessments that are used to monitor student progress, it is best to choose assessments or tools that are sensitive to growth and require multiple forms of the skill, to ensure a true reflection of the student’s knowledge.
* Achieve the Core. (n.d.) *Foundational skills observation tool*. [https://achievethecore.org/aligned/observing-reading-foundational-skills-instruction/ ](https://achievethecore.org/aligned/observing-reading-foundational-skills-instruction/)This article offers a practical tool for observing and offering feedback around foundational skill instruction in the classroom setting. * Moats, L. C. (2005/06, Winter). How spelling supports reading: And why it is more regular than you think.*American Educator*, 12–43.[](https://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/periodicals/Moats.pdf) <https://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/periodicals/Moats.pdf> This research article addresses the relationship between spelling and reading, purporting that learning to spell both aids and enhances a student’s ability to both read and write. * National Reading Panel (2000). *Phonics instruction*.[](http://www.ldonline.org/article/254/) <http://www.ldonline.org/article/254/> Excerpted from National Reading Panel Report of the National Reading Panel. (April, 2000). Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. * Spycher, P. (2017). *Developing foundational reading skills in the early grades: Teaching decoding skills through small-group lessons*. San Francisco, CA: WestEd.[](https://www.wested.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Developing-Foundational-Reading-Skills-in-the-Early-Grades.pdf) <https://www.wested.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Developing-Foundational-Reading-Skills-in-the-Early-Grades.pdf> This research report addresses the instruction and development of reading skills, focusing on decoding in order to help students become independent readers. * Bear, D. R., Invernizzi, M., Templeton, S., & Johnston, F. (2020). *Words their way: Word study for phonics, vocabulary, and spelling instruction* (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. This text is especially helpful for educators to learn a scope and sequence and a set of routines for teaching word families consistent with research on reading and spelling development. It will also be useful for topics in the next stack.
* Florida Center for Reading Research. (n.d.). Onset and rime slide. Retrieved from: <https://fcrr.org/student-center-activities/kindergarten-and-first-grade> This resource offers ready-made learning activities for students to practice identifying words using onset and rime. * Liepzig, D. H. (n.d.). Word study: Learning word patterns.[](https://www.readingrockets.org/article/word-study-learning-word-patterns) <https://www.readingrockets.org/article/word-study-learning-word-patterns> This article addresses the approach of word study as a means to developing spelling in students and offers practical classroom application to do so. * Reading Rockets. (n.d.). *Onset/rime games*. Retrieved from [https://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/onset\_rime](https://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/onset_rime) This resource offers ready-made learning games for students to practice identifying words using onset and rime. * Reading Rockets. (n.d.) *Phonics and decoding*. Retrieved from <https://www.readingrockets.org/reading-topics/phonics-and-decoding> This website provides a significant number of resources—articles, videos, instructional support strategies—that target the concepts of phonics and decoding. * Reading Rockets. (n.d.). Shanahan on literacy: Which is best? Analytic or synthetic phonics? Retrieved from <https://www.readingrockets.org/blogs/shanahan-literacy/which-best-analytic-or-synthetic-phonics> This blog article from nationally recognized literacy expert Timothy Shanahan offers perspective on the difference between approaching phonics instruction from an integrated model of blending analytic or synthetic stances. * Student Achievement Partners. (January 2018). *Understand foundational skills*.[](about%3Ablank) <https://achievethecore.org/category/1205/understand-foundational-skills> Learn how phonological awareness and phonics connect to early reading through this 7-part mini-course that dives into the content of literacy foundational skills, with an emphasis on phonological awareness, phonics, and how these connect to early reading. Instructional guidelines and concrete recommendations for teacher practice are also explored. * Reading Rockets. (n.d.).*Phonics: Introduction*[](https://www.readingrockets.org/teaching/reading101-course/modules/phonics-introduction) <https://www.readingrockets.org/teaching/reading101-course/modules/phonics-introduction> In this module, educators discover elements of phonics instruction as well as the alphabetic principle. ### ### Synthetic Phonics * The FIVE from FIVE Reading Project. (2019, October 15). *What is systematic synthetic phonics?*[](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuCuND7k5jc) <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuCuND7k5jc> Systematic synthetic phonics teaches children to use the relationships between letters and sounds to decode words and read them accurately and fluently. This video explains how. Created using mysimpleshow. Sign up at <http://www.mysimpleshow.com> and create your own simpleshow video for free. * Shanahan, T. (2018, August 8). *Synthetic phonics or systematic phonics? What does research really say?* [](https://www.readingrockets.org/blogs/shanahan-literacy/synthetic-phonics-or-systematic-phonics-what-does-research-really-say-0) <https://www.readingrockets.org/blogs/shanahan-literacy/synthetic-phonics-or-systematic-phonics-what-does-research-really-say-0> Literacy expert Timothy Shanahan shares best practices for teaching reading and writing. Dr. Shanahan is an internationally recognized professor of urban education and reading researcher who has extensive experience with children in inner-city schools and children with special needs. All posts are reprinted with permission from Shanahan on Literacy, <https://www.shanahanonliteracy.com/> ### Definitions * Diverse learners: Learners who bring a broad array of learning preferences, background knowledge, experiences, identities, and educational variability and may vary linguistically, socio-culturally, racially, ethnically, or economically. * Onset and rime notation: When letters are inside two slashes (/ /), this represents isolating that sound. For example, if the sentence is “Line up if this is your name: /m/att.” The educator would say the “m” sound in isolation (onset); then the educator would say the “att” sound together (rime).
Written responses and artifacts to demonstrate competence
Please share information about your teaching context by providing a description of your classroom, including grade level, class size and demographic information. In addition, if you collaborated with another educator on this micro-credential, please note that you did so. While collaboration is encouraged, the written submission should be unique and reflect your own experience and reflections with the competency.
What activities did you and your students engage with in order to become more proficient with analytic phonics? Please describe the learning activities and strategies, and include information on what classroom data you used to develop the activities.
How do you know your students increased their level of understanding around analytic phonics? What evidence did you collect that demonstrates these learning gains?
To complete the micro-credential, please submit the following evidence: **Artifact 1: Annotated Lesson Plan** Upload your lesson plan used to support student fluency. Annotate the lesson, including where in-class explanations may not be clear to the assessor and accommodations that will be made to support all students. The lesson should include: * Fostering identification and analysis of word parts and patterns * Making meaningful connections between identified word parts, patterns, and whole words to new words * Fostering recognition of whole words to read with automaticity **Artifact 2: Whole Group Instruction** Upload a 10–20 minute annotated video/audio of whole group instruction. The video/audio should include the following annotations: * You guiding students in routines that foster identification and analysis of word parts and patterns * You helping students make meaningful connections between word parts and patterns to the identification of new words * You guiding students in routines that foster automaticity in reading * Student engagement including, but not limited to, responding, focusing attention on the educator, asking questions, or think-pair-share. **Artifact 3: Student Work Samples** Choose a group of 2 or more diverse learners that you supported for the lesson provided in Artifact 1. (See the Resources section for definition of diverse learners.) Submit the following: * Rationale (150-word limit) + Why did you choose this individual student or group of diverse learners? Include narrative on the data you used to make this decision. + What additional supports or accommodations did you make to this lesson to meet the needs of the diverse learner(s)? * Assessment Samples + Upload work samples from two students from the lesson plan provided in Artifact 1. For each student submit assessment examples (writing, audio, images, video, or other products) that demonstrate progress toward increased levels of fluency. Include work samples with your feedback.
Provide a reflection on engaging your students in analytic phonics instruction, using the following questions to guide you: - What was the impact of the instruction that targeted analytic phonics on your students? - How will crafting this lesson affect your practice in the future?
Educator provides a description of their classroom that includes grade level, class size, demographic information, and any other relevant information. If relevant, information is provided on the educator collaborating with a colleague.
Submission does not meet passing requirements.
Educator provides description of activities that students did to gain competencies, including the data used.
Educator provides a description for how this lesson impacted student learning. Description includes evidence collected to determine learning gains. Descriptions are specific, with examples provided when necessary.
Educator reflection is specific and demonstrates how this activity impacted both educator and students, and how it will affect the educator’s future practice.
- Annotated lesson plan is complete and addresses all elements of suggested implementation. - Annotations address the lesson context and how all students will be supported.
- Annotated lesson plan is incomplete, and addresses some elements of suggested implementation. - Annotations may be present but do not clearly address the lesson context and how all students will be supported.
- Annotated lesson plan is incomplete, and addresses one or no elements of suggested implementation. - Annotations are not included.
Artifact 2: Whole Group Instruction Video/Audio
- Video/audio is annotated. - Instruction is 10–20 minutes, shows whole-group instruction and clear expectations. - Student engagement is evident and clear across the majority of students and occurs multiple times.
- Video/audio is annotated. - Instruction may or may not be 10–20 minutes and shows partial class instruction. - Student engagement is minimal, limited to a few students or only occurring a few times.
Video/audio is not annotated and/or evidence of whole group instruction is not evident in the video/audio clip.
- Rationale is clear as to the method for choosing the diverse group of students and provides an explanation of what, if any, modifications and/or accommodations were given. - All original student assessment samples have been uploaded with educator feedback. Feedback is specific, relevant, timely, and appropriate to the phase of learning in the larger lesson.
- A group of students is chosen, but the description is unclear and does not explain the diversity or an explanation of what, if any, modifications and/or accommodations were given. - Some student assessment samples were uploaded, but not all of the samples focused on letter-sound relationships, and feedback from educator was lacking one of the following elements: specific, relevant, timely, or appropriate to the phase of learning.
- Rationale is not addressed. No explanation of supports is provided. - No student writing samples were uploaded, nor feedback supplied.
To earn the micro-credential, you must receive a passing evaluation for Parts 1 and 3, and a “Yes” for each component in Part 2.
Educator demonstrates a strong understanding of planning and instruction of print concepts. Educator effectively provides print awareness instruction to diverse learners, so they understand the concepts of print.
# Key Method The educator designs and implements a print concepts lesson with one or more of the skills explicitly modeled. # Method Components ### Overview Literacy development begins early in a child’s life, and there is a strong correlation with school achievement. Language and literacy experiences for children are usually a good indicator of how a child will read. Early literacy predictors include print knowledge (knowing print has rules, letters are important symbols, letters correspond to sounds, etc.), oral language, and alphabetic code (alphabet knowledge, phonological/phonemic awareness) which is the ability to discriminate sounds in words. In early literacy development, it is crucial for educators to have a mutual respect and support for the diversity of children’s families, cultures, and linguistic backgrounds in order to build foundational literacy skills. To effectively teach print concepts and build literacy skills in young students, it is imperative to include key components of print concepts. ### Components of Print Concepts Experiences that children have with words greatly impact their ability to understand what they read. Since reading requires the comprehension of texts, the skills that children bring influences their understanding and how they make sense of what is read. A child’s experience and exposure to books and other forms of print significantly influences their ability to understand what they read and hear. Some ways that children can experience books and other forms of print include reading with adults, sharing their experiences with siblings or friends, and also viewing books and other printed materials with a partner. ### Print Awareness Print awareness is a child’s understanding about the characteristics of print. This includes print color, background color, font and letter style, letter case, spatial arrangement, embedding, size of print, variation in print features, color of print as compared to pictures, and amount of print as compared to pictures. Teaching print concepts is essentially teaching “how reading works.” It becomes second nature for readers who become fluent readers and writers. However, an absence of print awareness or difficulty in acquiring it is an early indication of a student’s need for more explicit instruction and/or intervention. Teaching concepts of print can be embedded into a lesson or explicitly taught through individual, whole and small group instruction using a variety of strategies. It is important to develop print awareness using research-based methods. Some examples of print concepts are listed below. **Print concepts skills include**: * The front and back of a book * The top and bottom of a book * The relationship between pictures and print * How to properly turn pages * A book is for reading * Where to begin reading in a book and on a page * The difference between print and pictures * What an author is, and what an illustrator is * What a title is ### Supporting Student Development of Print Concepts Demonstrate the organization of books. Make sure students know how books are organized. They should be taught the basics about books – that they are read from left to right and top to bottom, that print may be accompanied by pictures or graphics, that the pages are numbered, and that the purpose of reading is to gain meaning from the text and understand ideas that words convey. * **Read to students**. Read to children from books and other forms of print. Use stories that have predictable words in the text. * **Draw attention to words and letters in books**. Help children notice and learn to recognize words that occur frequently, such as a, the, is, was, and you. Draw attention to letters and punctuation marks within the story. * **Label objects and centers in your classroom**. Use an index card to label objects and centers within the classroom with words and pictures. Use an index card with the word “house” for the house center and draw a picture of a house. Draw students’ attention to these words when showing them the different centers. * **Encourage students to play with print**. They can pretend to write a shopping list, construct a stop sign, write a letter, make a birthday card, etc. * **Help students understand the relationship between spoken and written language**. Encourage students to find, on a page, letters that are in their names: “Look at this word, ‘big.’ It begins with the same letter as the name of someone in this room, ‘Ben.’” * **Reinforce the forms and functions of print**. Point them out in classroom signs, labels, posters, calendars, and so forth. * **Teach and reinforce print conventions**. Discuss print directionality (print is written and read from left to right), word boundaries, capital letters, and end punctuation. ### Assessing Print Concepts Assessing a student’s development of print concept skills will consist of primarily visual and verbal assessments where the student produces a response of the component that the educator is requesting. These assessments provide educators with insight into which skill of print concepts they need to teach the student next, so that the student can continue progressing through each skill. Educators should implement best practices when assessing a student’s print concept skills. However, here are some specifics to guide educators as they are assessing students: * There are two purposes when assessing print concept skills: 1. Initially identify students who could be potentially at risk; i.e., students having difficulty acquiring beginning reading skills 2. Consistently progress monitor students who are receiving print concepts instruction * It is recommended that educators use a wide variety of screening assessments. These screening tools should measure the specific skill. An example might include a student identifying parts of a book (e.g. front cover, title page). * When educators use screening measures, they must create decision rules when identifying students needing extra support in print concepts instruction. * When educators select assessments that are used to monitor student progress, it is best to choose assessments or tools that are sensitive to growth and require multiple forms of the skill, to ensure a true reflection of the student’s knowledge. **Assessment can include**: Giving a student a book and the student showing the educator the following: * The front of the book * The title of the book * Where to begin reading * A letter * A word * The first and last word of a sentence * The first and last word on a page * Punctuation markers * A capital letter * A lowercase letter * The back of the book
* Early Literacy Task Force, Michigan Association of Intermediate School Administrators General Education Leadership Network. (2019). *Essential instructional practices in early literacy grades K–3*. [https://literacyessentials.org/downloads/gelndocs/k-3\_literacy\_essentials.pdf](https://literacyessentials.org/downloads/gelndocs/k-3_literacy_essentials.pdf) This article includes research on how educators can include techniques into their lesson plans to enhance early literacy print concepts. * Kosanovich, M., & Verhagen, C. (2012). *Building the foundation: A suggested progression of sub-skills to achieve the reading standards: Foundational skills in the Common Core State Standards*. Portsmouth, NH: RMC Research Corporation, Center on Instruction. <https://www.centeroninstruction.org/files/Building%20the%20Foundation.pdf> This document includes different charts providing information in the four areas of reading: print concepts, phonological awareness, phonics and word recognition, and fluency in relation to the Common Core State Standards. * Strickland, D. S., & Riley-Ayers, S. (2006). *Early literacy: Policy and practice in the preschool years*. National Institute for Early Education Research. <http://nieer.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/10.pdf> This document highlights the fact that evidence shows that a child’s early learning experiences are linked with many positive factors. * Swanson, E., Vaughn, S., Wanzek, J., Petscher, Y., Heckert, J., Cavanaugh, C., Kraft, G., & Tackett, K. (2011). A synthesis of read-aloud interventions on early reading outcomes among preschool through third graders at risk for reading difficulties. *Journal of Learning Disabilities, 44*(3), 258–275. <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3319370/> This research article provides a synthesis of read-aloud interventions on early reading outcomes. * Texas Education Agency. (n.d.). *Print awareness: Guidelines for instruction*. Retrieved from <https://www.readingrockets.org/article/print-awareness-guidelines-instruction> This website provides valuable insight on specific activities that educators and parents can do with the child to promote print awareness. * Treiman, R., Rosales, N., & Kessler, B. (2016). Characteristics of print in books for preschool children. *Writing Systems Research, 8*(1), 120–132. <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4883673/> The article explains the characteristics of print in books for preschool children. * Liben, D., & Liben, M. (2019). *Know better, do better: Teaching the foundations so every child can read*. West Palm Beach, FL: Literacy Solutions. This book is a quick read with references to empirical work. The first chapters deal specially with letter recognition, alphabet knowledge, concepts of print, and phonological and phonemic awareness. The book will be useful for several different micro-credentials in this stack.
* Kindergarten Teacher Reading Academy. (n.d.). *Print Awareness*. Retrieved from [https://buildingrti.utexas.org/sites/default/files/documents/KTRA\_PrintAwareness.pdf](https://buildingrti.utexas.org/sites/default/files/documents/KTRA_PrintAwareness.pdf) This source includes a sample lesson plan and assessment checklists for print concepts development. * Early Literacy Task Force, Michigan Association of Intermediate School Administrators General Education Leadership Network. (2019). *Self-reflection and planning guide: Essential practices in early literacy K–3*. [https://literacyessentials.org/downloads/literacy\_essentials/essential-practices-in-early-literacy-k-to-3-self-reflection\_3\_13\_19.pdf](https://literacyessentials.org/downloads/literacy_essentials/essential-practices-in-early-literacy-k-to-3-self-reflection_3_13_19.pdf) This resource includes templates that educators can utilize to help track how the strategies are working with their students. * Reading Rockets. (2004). *Concepts of print assessment*. <https://www.readingrockets.org/article/concepts-print-assessment> An informal assessment of the concepts of print, including what the assessment measures, when it should be assessed, examples of questions, and the age or grade at which the assessment should be mastered. * PBS Learning Media. (n.d.). *Print concepts: Grades K-1 introductory video*. <https://whyy.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/194b0a8e-3ad6-4236-8a1a-721ce7cf2c24/print-concepts-grades-k-1/> This module explores the essential elements for teaching print concepts. * Reading Rockets. (2002). *Print awareness: Guidelines for instruction*. <https://www.readingrockets.org/article/print-awareness-guidelines-instruction> These guidelines share an in-depth list for this foundational instruction. ### Definition * Diverse learners: Learners who bring a broad array of learning preferences, background knowledge, experiences, identities, and educational variability and may vary linguistically, socio-culturally, racially, ethnically, or economically. * Onset and rime notation: When letters are inside two slashes (/ /), this represents isolating that sound. For example, if the sentence is “Line up if this is your name: /m/att.” The educator would say the “m” sound in isolation (onset); then the educator would say the “att” sound together (rime).
What print concept learning activities or strategies did you include in your lesson in order to increase print awareness? Be sure to include any planning considerations for the whole group, small group, or individual students in your lesson. Include any strategies or planning considerations for student engagement.
How do you know your students increased their proficiency in the print concepts? What evidence did you collect that demonstrates these learning gains?
To complete the micro-credential, please submit the following artifacts: **Artifact 1: Print Concepts Lesson Plan and Rationale** Upload your print concepts lesson plan used to support student learning. The lesson plan should include educator directions for skill implementation. The lesson should include at least one print concept skills that addressed: * Oral rhymes and alliteration * Words in a sentence * Syllables in words * Onset and rime in words, or individual phonemes in words (depending on your students’ level from prior assessments) The rationale should include the following (150-word limit): * How did you select or develop this particular lesson? * How do you plan to support diverse learners throughout the lesson **Artifact 2: Whole Group Instruction Video** Upload a 10–15 minute annotated video/audio of whole group print concepts instruction. The video/audio should include annotations for the following: * Educator modeling how to produce the targeted skill (e.g. author of a text, title page, etc.) * Educator providing directions for clear student expectations * Students practicing the specific skill and receiving educator feedback * Student engagement including, but not limited to, responding, focusing attention on the educator, asking questions, or think-pair-share. **Artifact 3: Pre/Post Assessments** Choose a small group of diverse learners that you supported for the lesson provided in Artifact 1. (See the Resources section for definition of diverse learners.) Submit the following: * A rationale explaining what information you used from your students’ pre-assessments. + Explain how your pre-and post-assessments helped you to determine where to begin instruction. + Include information you gathered from the post-assessments that you completed when you were assessing your students’ print concepts skills. * Pre-assessments: Upload one pre-assessment from each of your small group students. * Post-assessments: Upload a post-assessment from each of your small group of students to show how the students are progressing through the continuum of print concepts.
Provide a reflection on teaching print concepts using the following questions to guide you: - How does planning for and teaching print awareness in your lesson help monitor student progress in this area? - How will you use students’ progress to shape and inform your instruction in the future?
Educator provides research-backed methods in the lesson plan summary or activity description that connects to improving print concepts skills.
Educator provides a description for how students increased their proficiency in the print concepts. Description includes evidence that demonstrated learning gains. Descriptions are specific, with examples provided when necessary.
Educator reflection is detailed and demonstrates how this activity impacted their students, and how this will affect their future print concepts instruction.
Artifact 1: Print Concepts Lesson Plan and Rationale
The lesson plan is complete and includes one or more print concepts skills. - The rationale clearly explains how the assessment was used to guide further print concept instruction.
The lesson plan is incomplete but addresses one or more print concepts skills. - The rationale requires further explanation describing how the pre-assessment was utilized to guide further print concept instruction.
The lesson plan is incomplete and does not address one or more print concepts skills. The rationale has not been uploaded.
- Video/audio is annotated. Instruction is at least 10 minutes and shows whole group instruction with clear expectations. - Student engagement is evident and clear across most of the students and occurs multiple times. - Engagement is high and the educator is providing specific feedback to student
- Video/audio is annotated. Instruction may or may not be less than 10 minutes and shows minimal instruction. - Student engagement is minimal.
Video/audio is not annotated and/or instruction in print concepts is not evident. Student engagement is minimal.
Rationale is clear as to how the pre- and post-assessments were used to provide additional information. All pre-and post-assessments from students have been uploaded.
Rationale explaining assessments are unclear or vague. Only the pre-or post-assessments from students have been uploaded but not both.
Rationale does not address how pre- and post-assessments were used.
Facilitating Effective Tier 1 Reading Instruction
Educator plans and facilitates an effective reading lesson implementing the key components of Tier 1 instruction.
Meeting the Literacy Instructional Needs of Every Learner
# Key Method The educator will create and deliver a quality Tier 1 reading lesson which includes the major components of effective reading instruction. # Method Components ### Overview Reading is an extremely complex skill. This vital skill fosters academic success and also aids in one’s ability to be a life-long learner. To become a successful reader, students must develop foundational reading skills (print concepts, phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency and oral language development). Additionally, students must receive quality instruction in the areas of vocabulary, reading comprehension and writing. This quality Tier 1 instruction is aligned to grade-level standards and exposes **all students** to grade-level content. ### Components of Effective Tier 1 Reading Instruction When planning a reading lesson that focuses on one or more of the five essential elements of reading identified by the National Reading Panel, include these major components when planning and delivering quality Tier 1 instruction. It is important to determine and include the diverse needs of individual students. Lessons should have opportunities to differentiate and provide targeted instruction to students’ needs. **Component #1: Selecting High-Quality Text and Materials** For teaching Tier 1 reading, planning should begin with choosing high-quality text at the appropriate text complexity level that allows for the teaching of grade-level standards. * Educators should be intentional when selecting such resources as big books, letter tiles, picture cards, etc. * Classroom tools used to teach foundational skills should reflect high-quality, research-based instructional materials. * Appropriate materials allow an educator to teach grade-level appropriate skills such as rhyme, concept of print and letter identification, and address beginning comprehension skills (i.e., character, setting, sequence) using high-quality text. For teaching vocabulary, skills, strategies, and content, high-quality text chosen should allow teaching of grade-level standards and consider appropriate text complexity for students. * Students read texts that are worthy of close reading to gain an in-depth understanding. * Three components of text complexity should be considered during the selection process: *Qualitative* and *quantitative* measures, and reader and task. + *Qualitative* measures address the levels of meaning, structure of text, language conventionality and clarity, and knowledge demands of a text. + *Quantitative* measures are often thought of as the mathematical numbers given to level the difficulty of the book (i.e. Lexile or Flesch-Kincaid), focused on sentence length, and word length and familiarity. + Reader and task analysis should be used to consider what supports each student needs to engage in the work of the reading lesson, provide evidence of their thinking, and have the opportunity for success with the culminating task. **Component #2: Building Background Knowledge** Building background knowledge to teach vocabulary and reading comprehension: * Research indicates that reader’s background knowledge or what readers bring to the text also impacts comprehension. * Think about what the diverse learners in your classroom will need to better access and understand the information. * As you plan the lesson, determine what key vocabulary words might need to be discussed prior to reading the text or when the word is encountered during the reading process. * Decide if the content and/or setting is so unfamiliar that it’s important to build knowledge through advanced organizers, pictures and other visual graphics and/or physical artifacts to support comprehension. We want students to connect to prior knowledge to determine meaning. A teacher’s time is best spent teaching vocabulary and knowledge because prior knowledge plays an important role in reading comprehension. **Component #3: Explicitly Teach Key Vocabulary** Vocabulary, or the understanding of word meanings, is the most substantial predictor of reading comprehension. Vocabulary instruction has become even more necessary as our students encounter more complex text. Thus, it is important to select and teach key vocabulary. What words do you teach? * Select words that are included in the text. * Select words to support background building as educators keep in mind individual students’ needs in the classroom. * Select words that pique your students’ interest. How do you teach these words? * Provide definitions of unknown words. * Give students multiple encounters with newly learned words. * Share illustrations when appropriate. * Teach students strategies for learning new words they encounter as independent readers. **Component #4: Explicit and Systematic Teaching of Grade-Level Foundational Skills to Access Texts** When determining what foundational skill(s) to teach, planning should begin with grade-level standards. Standards are researched-based, developmentally appropriate learning goals created for educators and parents. Key items to remember: * These foundational skills do not represent an endpoint—they are necessary and important components of an effective, comprehensive reading program designed to develop proficient readers who comprehend texts across a range of types and disciplines (CCSS, 2010). * Educators must understand the sub-skills, or prerequisites, students need to achieve each of the Foundational Skills (K–5) in the Common Core State Reading Standards. * The CCSS Reading Foundational Standards follow a developmental sequence. * For any standard, previous standards and sub-skills in the current and earlier grades need to be achieved as a prerequisite to that standard. **Component #5: Application of Key Literacy Skills** Each lesson should have a designated time that students can apply their learning of new skills and strategies. At this time, students have an opportunity to show the educator what they know (Denton, n.d.). Things to remember: * Application of a learned skill can be shown by producing a rhyme, identifying a letter, reading a text, or writing about a cause-and-effect relationship, for instance. * Application of comprehension should include a culminating task that demonstrates understanding of the central ideas of the text under study. * Application of skills can occur in whole group, small group, and/or individually. * Application of newly learned skills should be differentiated when necessary and support individual learners’ needs for accessing grade-level content. **Component #6: Assessment** Assessment, or application of knowledge and skill, provides the educator with student information to inform current and future instruction. With this information, the educator can decide whether students are ready to move on or if reteaching should happen. Assessment should occur before, during, and after a quality Tier 1 reading lesson: * **Before**: Data should be examined *before* a lesson when planning to consider students’ prior knowledge, and to determine what’s needed to build background knowledge, plan for scaffolds, design small group instruction, etc. * **During**: Similarly, *during* the lesson there should be multiple opportunities for the educator to check for understanding. We want to progress monitor throughout a lesson to receive student feedback to evaluate if they understand or adjustments to instruction are needed. * **After**: Lastly, we want to assess at the end or *after* the instruction. This assessment of acquired knowledge from reading and/or application of skill provides the educator with information on next steps for instruction. The educator can decide whether students are ready to move on or if reteaching needs to happen. ### Supporting Students through Quality Tier 1 Reading Instruction Lesson Planning Develop and deliver a quality lesson plan which includes the 6 components. **Setting the Lesson’s Purpose**: * Lesson should begin by introducing the text and what knowledge the students will gain as a result of their reading. The standard(s) being addressed should be indicated in the lesson plan. * Learning needs of the specific student(s) should be addressed and made clear in the lesson plan (why are they engaging with this learning?). **Introduction to the Text**: * Why the text was selected should be communicated to the students (what knowledge they are going to gain as a result of reading it. ) * Text should be appropriate for the grade-level intended to receive the instruction. **Background Building**: * Before and during the reading of the text the educator is intentional about building background knowledge and building on prior knowledge (educator lesson plan reflects sharing of artifacts, asking text-dependent questions, referencing prior learning, bringing in additional texts, etc.) **Text-Dependent Questions, Activities, and Tasks**: * Ask a strategically sequenced series of questions structured to bring the reader to an understanding of the text. * Consider how students will engage with the question or how they will answer the question (e.g. Think, Pair, Share; small group discussion, etc.) **Teaching Vocabulary and Comprehension Strategies**: * Before, during, and after the reading, the educator plans and delivers explicit and direct instruction of pre-selected vocabulary words integral to the understanding of the content of the text. * Additionally, the educator is providing explicit instruction before, during, and after on the necessary comprehension strategies and foundational skills to unlock the meaning of the text. **Assessment**: * Educator shows how they use data to plan for a lesson. * During and after a lesson, the educator plans for multiple opportunities to check for students’ understanding. * Lesson includes formal and informal assessments.
* Baker, S.K., Fien, F., Nelson, N. J., Petscher, Y., Sayko, S., & Turtura, J. (2017). *Learning to read: “The simple view of reading”*. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Office of Special Education Programs, National Center on Improving Literacy. <https://improvingliteracy.org/brief/learning-read-simple-view-reading> This resources provides information on the development of reading and progressing through phonics, fluency and comprehension. * Beck, I., McKeown, M., & Kucan, L. (2002). *Choosing Words to Teach. In Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction (15–30)*. New York, NY: Guilford Press. Retrieved from <https://www.readingrockets.org/article/choosing-words-teach> This resource provides information on the Tiered-approached vocabulary words. The researchers provide guidance on what words should be taught. * Biemiller, A. (2015). Which words are worth teaching? *Perspectives on Language & Literacy, 41*(3), 9–11. <https://app.box.com/s/rw7rvttc3ylq6ct6vc0qofm2cikekq73> This resource also provides selection criteria for vocabulary instruction. * Center on Instruction. (2012). Building the foundation: A suggested progression of sub-skills to achieve the reading standards: Foundational skills in the common core state standards. <https://www.centeroninstruction.org/building-the-foundation---a-suggested-progression-of-sub-skills-to-achieve-the-reading-standards-foundational-skills-in-the-common-core-state-standards> This document is based on an analysis that determined the sub-skills students need to achieve in each of the Foundational Skills (K–5) in the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). It contains five sections, each targeting one grade level in Print Concepts, Phonological Awareness, Phonics and Word Recognition, and Fluency. It also includes instructional examples aligned to the sub-skills, giving teachers samples of activity types that facilitate acquisition of the sub-skills. Each chart includes up to three grade levels to inform instruction for students who are either struggling and need extra support or intervention, or for students performing above grade-level expectations and who require enrichment, to allow a teacher to see which skills should have been mastered in the previous year and what students are preparing for in the upcoming years. * Denton, C. A. (n.d.) *High-quality classroom instruction: Classroom reading instruction that supports struggling readers*. RTI Action Network. <http://www.rtinetwork.org/essential/tieredinstruction/tier1/highquality> This resource outlines key criteria in Tier 1 instruction. The author also focuses on the importance of differentiation and progress monitoring. * International Dyslexia Society. (2015). Perspectives from the field: Educators share what they have learned. *Perspectives on Language & Literacy, 41*(2), 46–50. <https://app.box.com/s/z058t66zo3l92i80g0f63519lqh6punh> This resource examines the CCSS; specifically, the articles explore how the standards were created, how they are assessed, and how these standards are impacting instruction. * Kucan, L. (2012). What is most important to know about vocabulary? *The Reading Teacher, 65*(6), 360–366. Retrieved from <https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/TRTR.01054> This resource highlights the importance of vocabulary instruction and the challenges teachers face with the vocabulary gap. The authors aim to provide strategies to support vocabulary instruction. * Lane, H. (2014). Evidence-based reading instruction for grades K-5 (Document No. IC-12). Retrieved from University of Florida, Collaboration for Effective Educator, Development, Accountability, and Reform Center website: <http://ceedar.education.ufl.edu/tools/innovation-configurations/> * Lent, R. C. (2012). Background knowledge: The glue that makes learning stick. *Overcoming textbook fatigue: 21st-century tools to revitalize teaching and learning*. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. <http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/113005/chapters/Background-Knowledge@-The-Glue-That-Makes-Learning-Stick.aspx> * National Reading Panel. (2000). Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction (National Institute of Health Pub. No. 00-4769). Washington, DC: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Retrieved from <https://www.nichd.nih.gov/sites/default/files/publications/pubs/nrp/Documents/report.pdf> This resource is a comprehensive meta-analysis of scientifically based reading research in the key areas of literacy instruction. This document can be used to find evidence-based key findings for all major aspects of reading and writing.
* Achieve the Core. (n.d.) Lesson Planning Tool. <https://achievethecore.org/lesson-planning-tool/> This lesson planning tool guides teachers through a series of prompts about the lesson content, structure, and activities to ensure the shifts required by college- and career-ready standards are central to the lesson. * Achieve the Core. (n.d.) *Instructional practice guide*. [https://achievethecore.org/content/upload/Instructional%20Practice%20Guide\_ELA\_K-2\_Reading-Listening.pdf](https://achievethecore.org/content/upload/Instructional%20Practice%20Guide_ELA_K-2_Reading-Listening.pdf) This instructional practice guide evaluation tool (K–2) can be used by educators as a self-reflection tool to ensure all of the key components are included. * Achieve the Core. (n.d.) *Instructional practice guide*. [https://achievethecore.org/content/upload/Instructional%20Practice%20Guide\_ELA\_3-12.pdf](https://achievethecore.org/content/upload/Instructional%20Practice%20Guide_ELA_3-12.pdf) This instructional practice guide evaluation tool (3–12) can be used by educators as a self-reflection tool to ensure all of the key components are included. * Achieve the Core. (n.d.) *Text complexity*. <https://achievethecore.org/page/2725/text-complexity> The resource provides information on text complexity and what should be considered when selecting high-quality texts. * Florida Center for Reading Research. (n.d.). *Student Center Activities*. Retrieved from <https://fcrr.org/student-center-activities> This educator-friendly website includes ready-made literacy activities for all of the key areas of literacy instruction. Activities can be used in whole group, small group, or centers. * The IRIS Center. (2006). *RTI (part 3): Reading instruction*. Retrieved from <https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/rti03-reading/> This is a self-paced module (approx. 1.5 hours) focusing on the key components of the Response to Intervention (RTI). * Student Achievement Partners. (April 2018). *Foundational skills guidance documents: Grades K–2*. <https://achievethecore.org/category/1206/ela-literacy-foundational-skills> This guide outlines the essential instructional components to teach early reading skills. It is intended to provide teachers with best practices to support the explicit teaching of foundational skills: print concepts, phonological awareness, phonics and word recognition, and fluency. * Achieve the Core. (April 2017). *Building fluent readers*. <https://achievethecore.org/page/3080/building-fluent-readers-2017-april-webinar> What is meant by reading fluently? What are the characteristics of fluent readers, and what can teachers do to support all students in building fluency? View this webinar to hear from the experts about what works and get ready-to-use ideas for your classroom. * Achieve the Core. (January 2019). *Foundational skills instruction in action*. <https://achievethecore.org/page/3199/foundational-skills-instruction-in-action-2019-january-webinar> This resource highlights best practices for high-quality, aligned foundational skills instruction in Kindergarten through Grade 2. * Achieve the Core. (April 2020). *Reading practice in a time of remote learning*. <https://achievethecore.org/page/3261/reading-practice-in-a-time-of-remote-learning-april-2020-special-edition-webinar> Looking for ways to engage students in reading practice within this time of remote learning? Thinking about equity and access to learning for ALL students? Learn about a 5-day instructional routine that engages all students in reading practice. * Duke, N.K. (May 2020). *Small group literacy instruction at a distance*. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNHImv\_iKEM&feature=youtu.be](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNHImv_iKEM&feature=youtu.be) This video discusses how to provide small group literacy instruction for young children using a video conferencing platform (Zoom). * Duke, N.K. (May 2020). *Word work at a distance*. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFsKu7rf8\_I](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFsKu7rf8_I) This video discusses how to provide phonological awareness, phonics, interactive writing, and vocabulary instruction for young children at a distance. * National Center on Improving Literacy. (2020). *What are the characteristics of effective literacy instruction*? In this “Ask the Expert” series, the video and accompanying transcript outline elements of effective literacy instruction, including Explicit Instruction. ### Definition * Diverse learners: Learners who bring a broad array of learning preferences, background knowledge, experiences, identities, and educational variability and may vary linguistically, socio-culturally, racially, ethnically, or economically.
Describe the activity or lesson you planned. What was included? Why did you choose this lesson? Where does the lesson fit within the overall unit of instruction? How did you determine which of the five essential elements of effective reading instruction to address during this lesson?
How did this lesson impact student learning? Share how you assessed if students gained understanding. How did you determine that the lesson was effective?
To complete the micro-credential, please submit the following evidence: **Artifact 1: Annotated Lesson Plan** Upload your annotated lesson plan that focuses on Tier 1 reading instruction. The annotation should include details about planning that may not be observable during the teaching of the lesson. The lesson plan should include how data was used to make decisions, what standard(s) is being addressed, what scaffolds and accommodations are included, etc. The lesson plan should include: * Setting the lesson’s purpose * Introduction to the text * Building background * Teaching key vocabulary * Teaching comprehension strategies * Text-dependent questions, activities, and tasks * Connecting reading and writing * Explicit and systematic teaching of grade-level foundational skills * Assessments (before, during, and after the instruction) **Artifact 2: Whole Group Tier 1 Instruction** Upload a 20–30 minute annotated video or audio with annotations of the whole group instruction of this lesson. The annotations should include the following: * Educator discussing the purpose of the lesson * Educator introducing the text and building background * Educator explicitly teaching key vocabulary and comprehension strategies * Educator employing text-dependent questions and/or activities * Educator connecting reading and writing * Educator offering supports and/or accommodations to meet the needs of a diverse group of students * Students are engaged and have an opportunity to interact with the educator, text, and classmates * Educator formally and/or informally assessing for understanding before, during, and/or after the lesson **Artifact 3: Student Work Samples** Choose a group of two or more diverse learners that you supported for the lesson provided in Artifact 1. (See the Resources section for definition of diverse learners). Submit the following: * Rationale (150-word limit) + Why did you choose this individual student or group of diverse learners? Include narrative on the data you used to make this decision. + What additional supports or accommodations did you make to this lesson to meet the needs of the diverse learner(s)? * Assessment Samples + Upload work samples from two students from the lesson plan provided in Artifact 1. For each student, submit work examples (writing, audio, images, video, or other products) that demonstrate progress toward the lesson goal. Include work samples with your feedback.
Provide a reflection on your Tier 1 reading lesson. Include the following: - Explain the impact of student learning with the group of diverse learners identified in Artifact 3. - What do you think worked well in this lesson and what would you do differently? - What are your next steps? What will you focus on next with this group of students?
Educator describes activity clearly and includes sufficient detail. Description shares reasoning on why it was included, and how it fits within the overall instructional unit. The teaching strategies are clear and are representative of effective Tier 1 reading instruction.
Educator provides a description of how this lesson impacted student learning. Description includes lesson effectiveness, and how student understanding assessment occurred. Descriptions are specific, with examples provided when necessary.
Educator reflects on the impact of student learning in a small group of diverse learners. Educators explain what they have learned and what they will do differently the next time they teach this lesson. Additionally, the educator explains the next steps of instruction for this diverse group of students.
- Tier 1 reading lesson plan includes all the required components of effective Tier 1 reading instruction. - Lesson plan provides clear annotations.
- Tier 1 reading lesson includes some of the required components of effective Tier 1 reading instruction. - Lesson plan annotations are unclear and/or limited.
- Tier 1 reading lesson includes none of the required components. - Lesson plan does not provide annotation or is limited.
Artifact 2: Whole Group Tier 1 Instruction
- Instruction is 20–30 minutes and includes annotations and evidence of implementation of the required components included in the submitted lesson plan. - There is clear evidence of targeted differentiation throughout the lesson.
- Instruction may or may not be 20–30 minutes in length and includes annotations and evidence of implementation of some required components included in the submitted lesson plan. - There is evidence of differentiation throughout the lesson.
- Instruction may or may not be 20–30 minutes in length and includes annotations and evidence of implementation of few or none of the required components included in the lesson plan. - There is no evidence of differentiation.
- Rationale for the method of choosing the diverse group of students is clear and provides an explanation of what, if any, supports and/or accommodations were given. - Educator uploads work samples from 2 or more students that represents a range of abilities.
- A group of students is chosen, but the description is unclear and does not explain the diversity or an explanation of what, if any supports and/or accommodations were given. - Fewer than 2 samples were uploaded.
Student work samples, description of group, and explanation of any supports and/or accommodations are missing or incomplete.
Educator effectively provides fluency instruction to diverse learners so they understand the relationship of fluency on comprehension.
# Key Method The educator develops and implements a lesson plan that incorporates research-based strategies to directly target fluency as a critical component in the development of reading comprehension. # Method Components ### Overview The process of reading requires the combination of two distinct but dependent skills: word recognition and comprehension. Automatic word recognition has been shown to be a prerequisite to comprehension, which is the ultimate goal of reading. In addition to automatic word recognition, fluency has a direct impact upon the evolving establishment and refinement of comprehension. Fluency is the development and application of appropriate “prosodic features”—intonation, tone, stress, and rhythm—that build word recognition. The development of direct instructional strategies that target automatic word recognition and fluency are critical to supporting developing readers. ### Components of Fluency Development Hook and Jones (2004) identify both word and text-level instructional elements as contributing to the development of fluent readers. At the word level, effective instruction targets automaticity (or the ability to read whole words without decoding), the prerequisite of fluency. When focused on automaticity, instruction guides students to identify, recognize, and establish patterns within words and word parts in order to recognize words by sight, without having to decode letter by letter in order to read the word. Example instructional approaches that target the development of automaticity (and thus foster fluency) include: * “word attack” strategies that highlight the identification of standardized word patterns * sight word practice * identifying six syllable types for application to new words * syllabic accenting to focus on the correct word pronunciation. At the text level, approaches to effective instruction focus on the mechanics of fluency—speed, intonation, phrasing— to guide early readers to the end goal of the meaning making of comprehension. Example instructional approaches that target the development of fluency include focusing on a consistent rate of reading, an explicit focus on punctuation, and phrasing or chunking a text. Crafting a lesson to target fluency in the development of reading comprehension requires the understanding of how to: * measure fluency development * interpret fluency-related data * identify a breakdown in fluency development based upon fluency-related data * systematically select and plan instructional approaches that target distinct elements of fluency * implement and leverage instructional approaches that target distinct elements of fluency through direct instruction * reflect upon the effectiveness of instruction and plan for next steps. ### Supporting students through fluency development Crafting a lesson for teaching high-frequency words to develop fluency requires an understanding of the most recent research-based best practices. * Teacher fluency modeling: Students need to hear what fluent reading sounds like. This is an opportunity for teachers to model fluent reading. * Student oral reading: Explain to students that they can practice and improve their fluency by reading orally or aloud. * Shared and paired repeated readings: Students read a passage silently, then the teacher reads orally and asks students to highlight new vocabulary or confusing phrases and ideas. Students then read orally to each other in pairs. * Repeated reading of familiar text: Students may echo-read after a teacher, students may read with a tape-recorded voice reading the text, students may choral read with entire class, and students may repeat read text independently. * Chunking text: To improve fluency and comprehension, provide readers with text in which meaningful groups or words or phrases are signaled for the reader. * Wide reading: For more able readers, increasing the amount of sustained reading of different texts is beneficial. * Readers’ theater: Students perform a play, but instead of memorizing lines, students read their assigned parts orally for practice and then read them aloud for both expression and meaning to an audience of their peers. * Previewing key vocabulary: Before reading the text, the pronunciation and meaning of vocabulary and new words are taught. Students practice the words in isolation outside of the text. ### Assessing Fluency for Foundational Skills Assessing a student’s automaticity and fluency levels is a valuable part of the instructional planning process. These assessments provide educators with insight into which skills they need to teach the student next, so that the student can continue to make progress in automatic word recognition. Educators should implement best practices when assessing a student’s reading fluency. However, here are some specifics to guide educators as they are assessing students. * There are two purposes when assessing fluency: 1. Initially, identify students who could be potentially at risk; that is, students having difficulty acquiring beginning reading skills. 2. Consistently progress monitor students who are receiving fluency instruction. * It is recommended that educators use a wide variety of screening assessments. These screening tools should measure reading fluency. * When educators use screening measures, they must create decision rules when identifying students needing extra support in fluency instruction. * When educators select assessments that are used to monitor student progress, it is best to choose assessments or tools that are sensitive to growth and require multiple forms of the skill, to ensure a true reflection of the student’s knowledge.
* Hasbrouck, J., & Tindal, G. (2017). *An update to compiled ORF norms* (Technical Report No. 1702). Eugene, OR: Behavioral Research and Teaching, University of Oregon. <https://www.readingrockets.org/article/fluency-norms-chart-2017-update> This article shares the results of a 2017 study on oral reading fluency, including an update of the ORF norms for grades 1–6. * Hook, P. E., & Jones, S. D. (2004). The importance of automaticity and fluency for efficient reading comprehension. *Perspectives*,17–22.[](https://eps.schoolspecialty.com/EPS/media/Site-Resources/downloads/articles/Importance_Automaticity_Fluency.pdf) [https://eps.schoolspecialty.com/EPS/media/Site-Resources/downloads/articles/Importance\_Automaticity\_Fluency.pdf](https://eps.schoolspecialty.com/EPS/media/Site-Resources/downloads/articles/Importance_Automaticity_Fluency.pdf) This article details the relationship among the literacy skills of automaticity, fluency, and comprehension and offers practical approaches to developing the two prerequisite skills in order to develop comprehension. * Kim, Y. S., Al Otaiba, S., Puranik, C., Folsom, J. S., & Gruelich, L. (2014). The contributions of vocabulary and letter writing automaticity to word reading and spelling for kindergartners. *Reading and writing, 27*(2), 237–253. Retrieved from <https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED602453.pdf> This study examines how foundations in vocabulary and letter writing automaticity can be more impactful in the development of word reading and spelling than other, traditionally held, code-based skills. * Wolf, G. M. (2016). Sound reading: Teaching preschool children print-to-sound processing. *Early Childhood Education Journal, 44*(1), 11–19. Retrieved from <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4733470/> This study examined the development of letter sound reading and CVC word decoding in preschool children when provided with specific, research-based decoding interventions. * Kuhn, M. R., & Levy, L. (2015). *Developing fluent readers: Teaching fluency as a foundational skill*. New York, NY: Guilford Press. This text is a readable review of research. It distinguishes between oral reading fluency and the constituent automaticities, and it positions fluency as the result of development of a set of foundational skills.
* Ehri, L.C. (2013). *Orthographic mapping in the acquisition of sight word reading, spelling memory, and vocabulary learning*. Retrieved from <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10888438.2013.819356> This article investigates the relationship among the application of spelling patterns to identify words by sight, pronounce these words, and later incorporate these words into vocabulary memory. * Minnesota Literacy Council. (n.d.).*Reading for fluency strategies*.[](https://www.literacymn.org/sites/default/files/curriculum/routine_2_reading_for_fluency_strategies.pdf) [https://www.literacymn.org/sites/default/files/curriculum/routine\_2\_reading\_for\_fluency\_strategies.pdf](https://www.literacymn.org/sites/default/files/curriculum/routine_2_reading_for_fluency_strategies.pdf) This article provides practical, classroom-based instructional strategies that target the development of both automaticity and fluency in early readers. * National Center on Intensive Intervention. (n.d.). *Literacy strategies to support intensifying interventions*. Retrieved from <https://intensiveintervention.org/intervention-resources/literacy-strategies#fluency> This resource offers a series of lessons designed to target and support students’ fluency development in terms of accuracy and pace. * Pikulski, J. J., & Chard, D.J. (2003). Fluency: The bridge from decoding to reading comprehension. Retrieved from [http://www.eduplace.com/state/author/pik\_chard\_fluency.pdf](http://www.eduplace.com/state/author/pik_chard_fluency.pdf) This article provides both analysis of, and instructional approaches to, linking the process of decoding to comprehension by focusing on fluency development. * Reading Rockets. (n.d.). *Fluency.* Retrieved from <https://www.readingrockets.org/reading-topics/fluency> This website provides a significant number of resources—articles, videos, instructional support strategies—that target the concept of fluency building. * Wolf, G. (2018). Developing reading automaticity and fluency: Revisiting what reading teachers know, putting confirmed research into current practice.*Creative Education, 9*, 838–855.[](https://www.scirp.org/pdf/CE_2018051213565327.pdf) [https://www.scirp.org/pdf/CE\_2018051213565327.pdf](https://www.scirp.org/pdf/CE_2018051213565327.pdf) This research study synthesizes what researchers have discovered to be true about developing a reader’s automaticity and fluency and considers practical, effective approaches to translating research into classroom practice. * PBS Learning Media. (n.d.). Fluency: Grades K-1 introductory video. <https://whyy.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/a341123b-63ab-437c-9525-2a126adaddff/fluency-grades-k-1-introductory-video/> This module explores the essential elements for teaching fluency and engagement. * Reading Rockets. (n.d.). *Fluency: Introduction* <https://www.readingrockets.org/teaching/reading101-course/modules/fluency-introduction> The importance of fluency is defined via this module and accompanying video. * McGraw-Hill PreK–12. (Aug 2, 2017).*Why fluency is a foundational skill, with Dr. Jan Hasbrouck*.[](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xcK3_Wev9Y) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xcK3\_Wev9Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xcK3_Wev9Y) How important is fluency? In this video, Dr. Jan Hasbrouck discusses the critical importance and necessity of fluency: What does fluency really mean? Why is it so important? These questions are discussed to help educators and learning professions make better decisions in the classroom. * Zorfass, J., & Brann A. PowerUp WHAT WORKS. (n.d.).*Building fluency: A fundamental foundational skill*. <https://www.readingrockets.org/article/building-fluency-fundamental-foundational-skill> Learn about specific strategies you can use to differentiate instruction to help your students overcome fluency problems, as well technology tools that can support development of fluency skills. According to Professor Bridget Dalton, a national expert on reading development from the University of Colorado, a reader is fluent when they read with accuracy, speed, and understanding. * Gilfeather, Shannong. (April 2018). *Five ways to help struggling readers build reading fluency*. Reading fluency is the ability to read with sufficient ease, accuracy, and expression, providing a bridge between word recognition and comprehension. This blog offers five best practices for building fluency among struggling readers.[](https://literacyworldwide.org/blog/literacy-now/2018/04/18/five-ways-to-help-struggling-readers-build-reading-fluency) <https://literacyworldwide.org/blog/literacy-now/2018/04/18/five-ways-to-help-struggling-readers-build-reading-fluency> * Wolf, Maryanne. Fluency. <https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/common-questions-about-fluency/> This article addresses common questions about reading fluency * Blau, Lisa. (n.d.).*5 surefire strategies for developing reading fluency*.[](https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/5-surefire-strategies-developing-reading-fluency/) <https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/5-surefire-strategies-developing-reading-fluency/> Give students the practice to read with ease and confidence, and watch accuracy and understanding soar. ### Synthetic Phonics * The FIVE from FIVE Reading Project. (2019, October 15).*What is systematic synthetic phonics?*[](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuCuND7k5jc) <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuCuND7k5jc> Systematic synthetic phonics teaches children to use the relationships between letters and sounds to decode words and read them accurately and fluently. This video explains how. Created using mysimpleshow. Sign up at <http://www.mysimpleshow.com> and create your own simpleshow video for free. * Shanahan, T. (2018, August 8). *Synthetic phonics or systematic phonics? What does research really say?* [](https://www.readingrockets.org/blogs/shanahan-literacy/synthetic-phonics-or-systematic-phonics-what-does-research-really-say-0) <https://www.readingrockets.org/blogs/shanahan-literacy/synthetic-phonics-or-systematic-phonics-what-does-research-really-say-0> Literacy expert Timothy Shanahan shares best practices for teaching reading and writing. Dr. Shanahan is an internationally recognized professor of urban education and reading researcher who has extensive experience with children in inner-city schools and children with special needs. All posts are reprinted with permission from Shanahan on Literacy, <https://www.shanahanonliteracy.com/> ### Letter-Sound Relationships * Reading Rockets. (2016, September 9).[](https://www.readingrockets.org/teaching/reading101-course/toolbox/alphabetic-principle)*Alphabetic principle*. <https://www.readingrockets.org/teaching/reading101-course/toolbox/alphabetic-principle> Children's knowledge of letter names and shapes is a strong predictor of their success in learning to read. Knowing letter names is strongly related to children's ability to remember the forms of written words and their ability to treat words as sequences of letters. * Gibbs, A., Reed, D., & Zimmermann, L. (2018, November 27).*Teaching letter–sound correspondences and syllable types for word identification*. Iowa Reading Research Center.[](https://iowareadingresearch.org/blog/letter-sound-correspondences-syllable-types) <https://iowareadingresearch.org/blog/letter-sound-correspondences-syllable-types> The Iowa Reading Research Center strives to improve the literacy skills of all students. We provide guidance for literacy instruction in schools by conducting research in practical settings to evaluate the effectiveness of literacy practices. * Michigan Virtual. (2018, March 30). *K–3 Essential 5, instruction in letter–sound relationships sample video*. [](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2KVcPpyZ6M) <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2KVcPpyZ6M>. Instruction in letter–sound relationships is verbally precise and involves multiple channels, such as oral and visual or visual and tactile, and is accompanied by opportunities to apply knowledge of the letter–sound relationships taught by reading books or other connected texts that include those relationships. For more information, visit[](https://www.youtube.com/redirect?v=O2KVcPpyZ6M&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbGQtMi1WQW9icXhJNTRjN3RLR2R3Mnl2S0RoUXxBQ3Jtc0tsaXFzOVl3X25jaHd4b0VMdFJGdkdVWjBFcnBJRzFTNjdkNmpkRFEzRWxxRlNxempORExHM3RwZ25ndU9jQ09kMVJ0SG9vYjF4aDVWd1gzSFEzSzRxWEVGR0E1R2lwWUhXaWRnS050TU9OR2lJVy1NZw%3D%3D&event=video_description&q=http%3A%2F%2Fliteracyessentials.org)<http://literacyessentials.org> * Michigan Virtual. (November 13, 2018).*Pre-K Essential 5, bullets 1–5 letter–sound relationships sample video*. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53lwTQrjF38> In these classrooms, children learn about letter–sound relationships by interacting with an alphabet book, fishing for letters, and forming letters in sand. ### Definitions * Diverse learners: Learners who bring a broad array of learning preferences, background knowledge, experiences, identities, and educational variability and may vary linguistically, socio-culturally, racially, ethnically, or economically. * Onset and rime notation: When letters are inside two slashes (/ /), this represents isolating that sound. For example, if the sentence is “Line up if this is your name: /m/att.” The educator would say the “m” sound in isolation (onset); then the educator would say the “att” sound together (rime).
What activities did you and your students engage in to develop greater fluency? Please describe the learning activities and strategies, and include information on what classroom data you used to develop the activities.
How do you know your students increased their level of fluency? What evidence did you collect that demonstrates these learning gains?
To complete the micro-credential, please submit the following evidence: **Artifact 1: Annotated Lesson Plan** Upload your intervention or lesson plan used to support student fluency. Annotate the lesson, including where in-class explanations may not be clear to the assessor and accommodations that will be made to support all students. The lesson should include evidence of approaches that: * Foster automatic word recognition * Make meaningful connections to and among word patterns * Foster elements that contribute to fluent reading **Artifact 2: Whole Group Instruction** Upload a 10–20 annotated minute video/audio of whole group instruction. The video/audio should include the following annotations: * Guiding students in routines that foster automatic word recognition * Helping students make meaningful connections to practice and application of word recognition in reading * Guiding students in routines that foster elements of fluency, including accuracy, rate, intonation, and phrasing * Student engagement, including asking/answering questions or small group interaction **Artifact 3: Student Work Samples** Choose a group of 2 or more diverse learners that you supported for the lesson provided in Artifact 1. (See the Resources section for definition of diverse learners.) Submit the following: * Rationale (150-word limit) + Why did you choose this individual student or group of diverse learners? Include narrative on the data you used to make this decision. + What additional supports or accommodations did you make to this lesson to meet the needs of the diverse learner(s)? * Assessment Samples + Upload work samples from two students from the lesson plan provided in Artifact 1. For each student, submit assessment examples (writing, audio, images, video, or other products) that demonstrate progress toward increased levels of fluency. Include work samples with your feedback.
Provide a reflection on engaging your students in instruction to target fluency, using the following questions to help guide you: - What was the impact of the instruction that targeted fluency on your students? - How will crafting this lesson affect your practice in the future?
Educator provides a description for how they knew students increased their level of fluency. Description includes evidence collected that showed learning gains. Descriptions are specific, with examples provided when necessary.
- Annotated lesson plan is complete and addresses evidence of approaches that develop fluency. - Annotations address the lesson context and how all students will be supported.
- Annotated lesson plan is incomplete, and addresses fewer than four elements of suggested implementation. - Annotations may be present but do not clearly address the lesson context and how all students will be supported.
- Annotated lesson plan is incomplete, and addresses one or no elements of suggested implementation. - Annotations are not included
Video/audio is annotated. Instruction is 10–20 minutes, shows whole-group instruction, and clear expectations. - Student engagement is evident and clear across the majority of students and occurs multiple times.
Video/audio is annotated. Instruction may or may not be 10–20 minutes, and shows only partial class instruction. - Student engagement is minimal, limited to a few students or occurs only a few times.
Video/audio is not annotated, and/or evidence of whole group instruction is not evident in the video/audio clip.
- Rationale is clear as to the method for choosing a student or group of students. It is clear if additional supports or accommodations were used to meet the needs of diverse learners. - All original student assessment samples have been uploaded with educator feedback. Feedback is specific, relevant, timely, and appropriate to the phase of learning in the larger lesson.
- Rationale for the method of choosing a student or group of students is unclear or vague. Explanation of necessary accommodations does not clearly address steps the educator took to support the students. - Some student assessment samples were uploaded, but not all of the samples focused on letter-sound relationships; feedback from educator was lacking one of the following elements: specific, relevant, timely, or appropriate to the phase of learning.
Educator effectively provides alphabetic principle of letter–sound correspondence instruction to diverse learners so they understand the relationship of sounds to written words
# Key Method The educator develops and implements a lesson plan that explicitly teaches the essential components of the alphabetic principle to the decoding of new words. # Method Components ### Overview Connecting letters with their sounds to read and write is called the alphabetic principle. Alphabetic understanding is knowing that visual symbols of the alphabet (letters) represent corresponding speech sounds (phonemes), which is a critical skill for reading words in texts. Mastering the alphabetic principle allows children to become fluent readers. Being a fluent reader frees students from focusing on decoding words in order to place their attention on comprehension of texts, which is the primary purpose of reading. ### Components of the Alphabetic Principle Instruction The alphabetic principle has two parts: 1. Alphabetic understanding is knowing that words are made up of letters that represent the sounds of speech. 2. Phonological recoding is knowing how to translate the letters in printed words into the sounds they make to read and pronounce the words accurately. The alphabetic principle is critical in reading and understanding the meaning of text. In typical reading development, children learn to use the alphabetic principle fluently and automatically. This allows them to focus their attention on understanding the meaning of the text, which is the primary purpose of reading. The research literature recommends the following for exemplary alphabetic principle instruction: 1. **Implementing routines**. This allows for students to gain confidence and comfort with the reading process and move through the process at their own rate. 2. **Fostering alphabetic understanding**. Teaching letters in relationship to what a particular student needs to learn next about letter features, formation, discrimination, and sound correspondences 3. **Applying phonological recoding**. Applying the understanding of letter–sound relationships (e.g., alphabetic understanding) to figure out how to read and spell. In other words, a student applies alphabetic understanding to words they read in text and words they spell when writing. A student recognizes and remembers that “at” makes a specific sound and uses this knowledge to recode other words, like *cat*. ### Supporting students as they learn letter–sound relationships Crafting a lesson for teaching the alphabetic principle requires an understanding of the most recent research-based best practices. * **Daily practice**: Plan time each day for practice of the skill. This gives students regular opportunities for mastery. When planning to teach letter and sound knowledge, use a variety of approaches that encourage generalized understanding from the beginning rather than rote learning, such as: + reading alphabet books + pointing out letters and print in the environment + talking about letters and their sounds when you encounter them in everyday activities + providing opportunities to play with letter shapes and sounds + explicitly referencing letter names and sounds in shared reading and writing activities + using mnemonics and actions + using student names! * **Print-rich environment**: The educator(s) and students interact with print within the learning environment to help students acquire the skill. + A print-rich environment is where a classroom is maintained by providing and encouraging educational cues that complement classroom instruction. Examples of print that are encouraged are signs, labeled centers, mural, pictures, word walls, stories, bulletin boards showing student work, reading and writing cues, etc. * **Fostering letter–sound correspondence** + Teaching letters in isolation should occur in relationship to what a particular student needs to learn next about letter features, formation, discrimination, and sound correspondences. + Encourage students to make connections to known letters, words, and sounds (e.g., K is for *Kathleen*, g for *go*, m for *mom*) and use these connections to support their mastery of the alphabetic principle. + Teach letter–sound correspondence by working with a few sounds at a time—teaching each letter of the alphabet and its corresponding sound. Reading International Literacy Association (2019). * **Supporting letter–sound knowledge and literacy processing during reading**: + Teach for the application of letter–sound knowledge to reading connected texts. Students can begin reading simple books that contain words they can read on their own using the rules of the alphabetic principle. These decodable texts have a high percentage of words that follow common alphabetic principle rules. ### ### Assessing Mastery of Letter–Sound Relationship Assessing a student’s letter–sound correspondences and their ability to segment and blend letter sounds to form and read words in texts should be systematic to ensure students don’t fall far behind in learning the foundations of reading. Assessments determine whether students are mastering taught skills in decoding, phonics and phonemic/phonological awareness. These assessments provide educators with insight into which level of mastery a student has reached and next steps for instruction. Educators should implement best practices when assessing a student’s phonics skills as it relates to letter–sound knowledge. However, here are some specifics to guide educators as they are assessing students. * There are two purposes for assessing: 1. Initially, identify students who could be potentially at risk; that is, students having difficulty acquiring beginning reading skills. 2. Consistently progress monitor students who are receiving letter–sound knowledge instruction. * It is recommended that educators use a wide variety of screening assessments. These screening tools should measure specific decoding and phonics skills. * When educators use screening measures, they must create decision rules when identifying students needing extra support in phonics instruction. When educators select assessments that are used to monitor student progress, it is best to choose assessments or tools that are sensitive to growth.
* Baker, S. K., Santiago, R. T., Masser, J., Nelson, N. J., & Turtura, J. (2018). *The alphabetic principle: From phonological awareness to reading words*. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Office of Special Education Programs, National Center on Improving Literacy. Retrieved from <https://improvingliteracy.org/brief/alphabetic-principle-phonological-awareness-reading-words> This brief explains why the alphabetic principle is a critical skill that involves connecting letters with their sounds to read and write. Authors explain that explicit phonics instruction and extensive practice are important when teaching children to learn the alphabetic principle. * Duke, N. K., & Mesmer, H. A. E. (Win 2018–2019). Phonics faux pas: Avoiding instructional missteps in teaching letter–sound relationships.*American Educator, 42*(4), 12–16.[](https://www.aft.org/ae/winter2018-2019/duke_mesmer) [https://www.aft.org/ae/winter2018-2019/duke\_mesmer](https://www.aft.org/ae/winter2018-2019/duke_mesmer) In this article, the authors focus on seven missteps in early reading instruction that educators should pay attention to when teaching letter–sound relationships. * International Literacy Association. (2019). *Meeting the challenges of early literacy phonics instruction* [Literacy leadership brief]. Newark, DE: Author. <https://www.literacyworldwide.org/docs/default-source/where-we-stand/ila-meeting-challenges-early-literacy-phonics-instruction.pdf> This document describes in detail the instructional components of a systematic and explicit phonics lesson. * Kaye, E. L. & Lose, M. K. ( 2019). As easy as ABC? Teaching and learning about letters in early literacy. *The Reading Teacher, 72*(5), 599–610.[](https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/trtr.1768) <https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/trtr.1768> In this article, the authors argue for the following components of an exemplary literacy lesson: (a) assessment that monitors evolving letter knowledge; (b) instruction that is focused and brief and capitalizes on students’ unique strengths and ways of knowing; and (c) isolated letter work that is balanced with the use of authentic texts. * National Center on Improving Literacy. (n.d.). *What’s the best way to teach the alphabetic principal?* Retrieved from [https://improvingliteracy.org/ask-an-expert/whats-best-way-teach-alphabetic-principl](https://improvingliteracy.org/ask-an-expert/whats-best-way-teach-alphabetic-principle) This article defines the alphabetic principle and then lays out a research-based structure for how to teach letter–sound correspondence.
* ASCD. (2020). *Alphabetic principle and English learners*. Retrieved April 29, 2020, from <http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/108002/chapters/Phonics-and-Word-Study.aspx> This book chapter explains the best approach for teaching phonics to English learners. * Hayes, L., & Flanigan, K. (2014). *Developing word recognition*. New York, NY: Guilford Press. This text shows clearly that automating letter–sound relationships is essential for a child to move from emergent reading to beginning reading. The rationale is clear and the activities recommended are consistent with research. The text approaches letter–sound knowledge within a diet of activities. * Education.com Learning Library. (2020). [https://www.education.com/resources/letter-sounds/ ](https://www.education.com/resources/letter-sounds/)This is a learning library that contains printable worksheets, online games, guided lessons, sample lesson plans and more to help teachers plan their letter–sound relationship lessons. * Newman, S. B. (2020). Early literacy: Connecting letters and sounds. Retrieved July 17, 2020, from [https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/early-literacy-connecting-letters-and-sounds/ ](https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/early-literacy-connecting-letters-and-sounds/)This brief blog introduces some specific activities educators can use to help children learn to make letter–sound correspondences. ### Synthetic Phonics * The FIVE from FIVE Reading Project. (2019, October 15).*What is systematic synthetic phonics?* <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuCuND7k5jc> Systematic synthetic phonics teaches children to use the relationships between letters and sounds to decode words and read them accurately and fluently. This video explains how. Created using mysimpleshow. Sign up at <http://www.mysimpleshow.com> and create your own simpleshow video for free. * Shanahan, T. (2018, August 8). *Synthetic phonics or systematic phonics? What does research really say?* <https://www.readingrockets.org/blogs/shanahan-literacy/synthetic-phonics-or-systematic-phonics-what-does-research-really-say-0> Literacy expert Timothy Shanahan shares best practices for teaching reading and writing. Dr. Shanahan is an internationally recognized professor of urban education and reading researcher who has extensive experience with children in inner-city schools and children with special needs. All posts are reprinted with permission from Shanahan on Literacy, <https://www.shanahanonliteracy.com/> ### Letter-Sound Relationships * Reading Rockets. (2016, September 9).[](https://www.readingrockets.org/teaching/reading101-course/toolbox/alphabetic-principle) *Alphabetic principle*. [https://www.readingrockets.org/teaching/reading101-course/toolbox/alphabetic-principle ](https://www.readingrockets.org/teaching/reading101-course/toolbox/alphabetic-principle)Children’s knowledge of letter names and shapes is a strong predictor of their success in learning to read. Knowing letter names is strongly related to children’s ability to remember the forms of written words and their ability to treat words as sequences of letters. * Gibbs, A., Reed, D., & Zimmermann, L. (2018, November 27). *Teaching letter–sound correspondences and syllable types for word identification*. Iowa Reading Research Center.[](https://iowareadingresearch.org/blog/letter-sound-correspondences-syllable-types) <https://iowareadingresearch.org/blog/letter-sound-correspondences-syllable-types> The Iowa Reading Research Center strives to improve the literacy skills of all students. We provide guidance for literacy instruction in schools by conducting research in practical settings to evaluate the effectiveness of literacy practices. * Michigan Virtual. (2018, March 30). *K–3 essential 5. Instruction in letter-sound relationships sample video*. [](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2KVcPpyZ6M) <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2KVcPpyZ6M>. Instruction in letter–sound relationships is verbally precise and involves multiple channels, such as oral and visual or visual and tactile, and is accompanied by opportunities to apply knowledge of the letter–sound relationships taught by reading books or other connected texts that include those relationships. For more information, visit <http://literacyessentials.org> * *Pre-K essential 5: Bullets 1–5, letter-sound relationships sample video*. Michigan Virtual (Nov 13, 2018) <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53lwTQrjF38> In these classrooms, children learn about letter–sound relationships by interacting with an alphabet book, fishing for letters, and forming letters in sand. ### Definitions * Diverse learners: Learners who bring a broad array of learning preferences, background knowledge, experiences, identities, and educational variability and may vary linguistically, socio-culturally, racially, ethnically, or economically. * Onset and rime notation: When letters are inside two slashes (/ /), this represents isolating that sound. For example, if the sentence is “Line up if this is your name: /m/att.” The educator would say the “m” sound in isolation (onset); then the educator would say the “att” sound together (rime).
What activities did you and your students engage in to become more proficient in letter–sound relationships? Please describe the learning activities and strategies, and include information on what classroom data you used to develop the activities.
How do you know your students increased their proficiency in the alphabetic principle? What evidence did you collect that demonstrates these learning gains?
To complete the micro-credential, please submit the following evidence: **Artifact 1: Annotated Lesson Plan** Upload your lesson plan used to support student learning on letter–sound relationships. Annotate the lesson, including where in-class explanations may not be clear to the assessor and accommodations that will be made to support all students. The lesson should include: * Routines * Meaningful connections * Fostering letter–sound correspondence **Artifact 2: Whole Group Instruction** Upload a 10–20 minute annotated video/audio of whole group instruction. The video/audio should include the following annotations: * You working with a few sounds at a time by teaching each letter of the alphabet and its corresponding sound * You helping students make meaningful connections between new letters they are learning and words or letters they already know * Student engagement including, but not limited to, responding, focusing attention on the educator, asking questions, or think-pair-share. **Artifact 3: Student Work Samples** Choose a group of 2 or more diverse learners that you supported for the lesson provided in Artifact 1. (See the Resources section for definition of diverse learners.) Submit the following: * Rationale (150-word limit) + Why did you choose this individual student or group of diverse learners? Include narrative on the data you used to make this decision. + What additional supports or accommodations did you make to this lesson to meet the needs of the diverse learner(s)? * Assessment Samples + Upload work samples from two students from the lesson plan provided in Artifact 1. For each student submit assessment examples (writing, audio, images, video, or other products) that demonstrate progress toward learning the alphabetic principle. Include work samples with your feedback.
Provide a reflection on teaching the alphabetic principle to your students, using the following questions to guide you: - What was the impact of teaching letter–sound relationships to your students? - How will crafting this lesson affect your practice in the future?
Educator provides a description for how students increased their proficiency in the alphabetic principle. Description includes evidence that demonstrated learning gains. Descriptions are specific, with examples provided when necessary.
- Annotated lesson plan is complete and addresses all four elements of suggested implementation. - Annotations address the lesson context and how all students will be supported.
- Video/audio is annotated. - Instruction is 10–20 minutes, and shows whole-group instruction and clear expectations. - Student engagement is evident and clear across the majority of students and occurs multiple times.
- Video/audio is annotated - Instruction may or may not be 10–20 minutes, and shows only partial class instruction. - Student engagement is minimal, limited to a few students or occurs only a few times.
- A group of students is chosen, but the description is unclear and does not explain the diversity or an explanation of what, if any, modifications and/or accommodations were given. - Some student assessment samples were uploaded, but not all of the samples focused on letter–sound relationships; feedback from educator was lacking one of the following elements: specific, relevant, timely, or appropriate to the phase of learning.
Educator effectively provides phonemic awareness instruction to diverse learners, so they understand the relationship of sounds within the spoken language.
# Key Method The educator designs and implements a phonemic awareness lesson with one or more of the phonemic awareness skills explicitly modeled. # Method Components ### Overview: What is Phonemic Awareness? Phonemic awareness is a subgroup of phonological awareness which focuses only on the smallest unit of speech that can be combined to make words. Some phonemes correspond to letters (each letter in the word bat is a separate phoneme, as in /b/ /a/ /t/), and others, groups of letters (the word day consists of two phonemes, /d/ from d and /ā/ from “ay”). There are 44 phonemes in the English language. These include consonant sounds, as well as the varied short and long vowel sounds (such as the /e/ heard in “edge” versus the /ē/ heard in “be”). In addition, some phonemes consist of digraphs, which are represented by two-, three-, or four-letter combinations that represent one sound (such as “ch,” “tch,” and “eigh”). Phonemic awareness is entirely oral. This means students do not need to know spelling patterns and words but can work entirely on oral discrimination of sound (Student Achievement Partners, 2018). Phonemic awareness is an essential early reading skill. It is a linguistic component that builds a foundation for alphabetic knowledge (sound to letter) for developing readers. Phonemic awareness is a cognitive skill that consists of three pieces: 1. The first piece concerns a linguistic unit, **the phoneme**: the smallest unit of sound within our language system. 2. The second concerns the explicit, **conscious awareness** of that unit: the ability to notice, think about, or manipulate individual phonemes (sounds) in words. It is the ability to understand that sounds in spoken language work together to make words. This term is used to refer to the highest level of phonological awareness—an awareness of individual phonemes in words. 3. The third involves the ability to **explicitly manipulate** such units. Phonemic awareness is thus the ability to consciously manipulate language at the level of phonemes (individual sounds). Eventually, readers will use these skills to decode and comprehend written text. Reading (decoding) in an alphabetic language involves mapping a spatial sequence of letters, ordered left to right, onto a temporal sequence of phonemes, ordered first to last—from print to sound. Spelling (encoding) involves a similar process but in the other direction—from sound to print. Explicit phonemic awareness instruction sets the stage for early reader success with decoding text and other early reading skills. ### Phonemic Awareness Skills Below are examples of phonemic awareness skills. * **Isolation**: the ability to isolate a single sound within a word. Example: Say the first/beginning sound in the word “song”; say the middle sound in the word “hop”; say the last/ending sound in the word “stick.” * **Deletion**: the ability to identify how a word would sound if one sound is omitted. Example: Say the word “pies” without the first/beginning sound. * **Addition**: the ability to add extra sounds to words. Example: Say the word you have when you add the sound /s/ to the beginning of the word “top.” * **Categorization**: the ability to recognize the word, in a set of three or four words, that does not sound like the others. Example: Say the word that does not belong in this group of words: *pig, pack, top, put*. * **Substitution**: the ability to modify, change, or move the individual sounds in a word. Example: Say the word you make when you remove the second sound in the word “stop” and replace it with the first sound in the word “lake.” * **Segmentation**: the ability to break a word into individual sounds. Example: Say all the sounds you hear in the word “build.” * **Blending**: the ability to hear the individual sounds in a word, and say the word that is made when you put the sounds together. Example: Listen to the sounds /m/ /o/ /m/, and put the sounds together to make the word “mom.” ### Supporting Students Phonemic Awareness * Articulating phonemes, paying attention to the features of the sound and the positioning of the mouth. (Example: When we say vowels, we open up our mouth to let the air out. When we say the /l/ sound, the tip of our tongue touches behind our top teeth and our lips are slightly open.) * Identifying sounds orally, and matching the related phoneme. (Example: The middle sound in *bat* makes the /a/ sound.) Blending individual phonemes to make words. (Example: /b/ /a/ /t/ makes what word?) * Segmenting words into their individual phonemes (Example: What sounds do you hear in bat?) * Identifying, isolating, rhyming, and manipulating phonemes (Example: Listen: *bat, back, baby*. What sound do these three words start with? What is the beginning/ending sound in *cab*? What word would you get if you changed the middle sound of *bat* to /i/?) (Student Achievement Partners, April 2018). ### Assessing Phonemic Awareness Assessing a student’s phonemic awareness skills will consist of primarily verbal assessments, where the student produces oral language responses of the component that the educator is requesting. These assessments provide educators with insights into which skill of phonemic awareness they need to teach the student next, so that the student can continue progressing through each skill. Educators should implement best practices when assessing a student’s phonemic awareness skills. However, here are some specifics to guide educators as they are assessing students. * There are two purposes when assessing phonemic awareness: 1. Initially identify students who could be potentially at risk, students having difficulty acquiring beginning reading skills 2. Consistently progress monitor students who are receiving phonemic awareness instruction * It is recommended that educators use a wide variety of screening assessments. These screening tools should measure the specific skill. An example might include a student orally producing specific phonemes within a word. * When educators use screening measures, they must create decision rules when identifying students needing extra support in phonemic awareness instruction. * When educators select assessments that are used to monitor student progress, it is best to choose assessments or tools that are sensitive to growth and require multiple forms of the skill, to ensure a true reflection of the student’s knowledge.
* Student Achievement Partners. (April 2018). Foundational skills guidance documents: Grades K–2. <https://achievethecore.org/category/1206/ela-literacy-foundational-skills> This guide outlines the essential instructional components to teach early reading skills. It is intended to provide teachers with best practices to support the explicit teaching of foundational skills: print concepts, phonological awareness, phonics and word recognition, and fluency. * Florida Center for Reading Research. (n.d.). *Phonemic awareness instructional routines*. [https://fcrr.org/sites/g/files/upcbnu2836/files/media/projects/empowering-teachers/routines/routinesPA\_K1.html](https://fcrr.org/sites/g/files/upcbnu2836/files/media/projects/empowering-teachers/routines/routinesPA_K1.html) This site offers background information on the five components of reading, as well as sound instructional routines for phonemic awareness by grade and target skill. * Hoover, W. A. (2002, December). *The importance of phonemic awareness in learning to read*. *SEDL Letter 14*(3). <http://www.sedl.org/pubs/sedl-letter/v14n03/3.html> This document describes the importance of phonemic awareness in learning to read, and relationships between reading skills and their impact on reading success. * Uhry, J. K. (2013). The role of phonemic awareness in learning to read and spell successfully. *Perspectives on Language & Literacy, 39*(1), 11–16. <https://app.box.com/s/2c3ueir6hasfeg405l5oefk8mcyslbg6> This document provides research on the impact of phonemic awareness instruction as well as suggestions for instructional practices. * University of Oregon. (n.d.). The Continuum of Phonemic Awareness Skills. *Big ideas in beginning reading: Phonemic awareness*. [http://reading.uoregon.edu/big\_ideas/pa/pa\_sequence.php](http://reading.uoregon.edu/big_ideas/pa/pa_sequence.php) This link provides a visual model for the phonemic awareness continuum of skills (easy to difficult). * Moats, L.C. (2020). *Speech to print: Language essentials for teachers*. (2nd ed). Baltimore, MD: Brookes Publishing. This text, recently released in its second edition, is a resource that would assist educators in understanding the connection between phonology and orthography, which is an essential understanding for this stack and for the next one. * NRP, 2000. Ehri et al. 2001. Phonemic awareness instruction helps children learn to read: Evidence from the National Reading Panel's meta‐analysis. *Reading Research Quarterly*. This article evaluates the effects of phonemic awareness instruction and summarizes study data in this area.
* Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis. *Building phonological and phonemic awareness*. <https://iupui-lis.libguides.com/c.php?g=990151> The brief article and video illustrates the differences between phonological and phonemic awareness. * The Florida Center for Reading Research. (2006; revised July 2007). <https://fcrr.org/student-center-activities/second-and-third-grade#sca5> This document provides a number of pre-created lesson materials and visual aids for teaching elements of phonemic awareness. * Excerpt from Murray, B. (2009). *Making friends with phonemes*. The Reading Genie. Auburn University. <https://www.readingrockets.org/article/making-friends-phonemes> This article provides ideas for teaching phonemic awareness. * Reading Rockets: Elkonin Boxes [https://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/elkonin\_boxes](https://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/elkonin_boxes) This resource shows how to use Elkonin Boxes to Segment (Phonemic Awareness). * Equipped for Reading Success: 8/15/19 Phonological Awareness Screening Test <https://www.thepasttest.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/PAST-Forms-A-B-C-and-D-August-2019-update.pdf> – Assessment <https://www.thepasttest.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Chapter-11-Instructions-for-the-PAST.pdf> – Instructions This assessment acts as a screener for the broader Phonological Awareness skills, as well as more specific Phonemic Awareness skills, with specific scripts for assessing. * Bohren, A. (2018, February 7). *Phonemic awareness: The sounds of reading*. Cognifit: Mental, physical health and neuroscience. <https://blog.cognifit.com/phonemic-awareness/> CogniFit is a healthcare company, founded in 1999 by Professor Shlomo Breznitz [1] and oriented to assess and improve cognitive health. * *Advanced phonemic awareness: Webinar*. Kendore Learning/Syllables Learning Center. (2020, March 25). [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqR\_O8WswXo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqR_O8WswXo) Learn effective and interactive advanced phonemic awareness activities that you can conduct with your students online. Leading reading researcher Dr. David Kilpatrick has noted that advanced phonemic awareness instruction provides the biggest impact on the quality of a structured literacy curriculum. * Literacy How. <https://www.literacyhow.org/> Literacy How’s mission is to empower teachers to ensure that every child learns to read by third grade. In July 2009, Margie Gillis, Ed.D., founded Literacy How to bring a decade of knowledge-to-practice research to the classroom. Their vision is to close the achievement gap and raise reading achievement for all students. * *Six layers of phonemic awareness. Really great reading blog*. Really Great Reading. (2019, March 22). <https://www.reallygreatreading.com/content/six-layers-phonemic-awareness-really-great-reading-blog> This research-based article articulates the elements of phonemic awareness and includes definitions, in-classroom strategies, educator resources, and success stories. * *What is phonological awareness*? Understood. (2019, December 20). <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0G6teawxls> How do you recognize the sounds of spoken language? How do we take apart the words that we speak? Learn more about this skill and tips to improve phonological awareness in kids. Phonological awareness is a skill that lets us recognize the sounds of spoken language. In this video, reading expert Margie Gillis breaks down phonological awareness in kids and how you can help your child develop these skills. Phonological awareness is all about how kids learn and hear sounds, according to Margie. You can rhyme words, count syllables, or highlight how sounds can repeat themselves. Watch as Margie walks through how we can break sentences down into words, words into syllables, and syllables into sounds. ### Definitions * Diverse learners: Learners who bring a broad array of learning preferences, background knowledge, experiences, identities, and educational variability and may vary linguistically, socio-culturally, racially, ethnically, or economically. * Onset and rime notation: When letters are inside two slashes (/ /), this represents isolating that sound. For example, if the sentence is “Line up if this is your name: /m/att.” The educator would say the “m” sound in isolation (onset); then the educator would say the “att” sound together (rime).
What learning activities or strategies did you include in your lesson in order to increase phonemic awareness? Be sure to include any planning considerations for the whole group, small group, or individual students in your lesson. Include any strategies or planning considerations for student engagement.
How do you know if students in your classroom are making progress in this area (phonemic awareness) based on your instruction? Consider pre-assessment data, ongoing targeted instruction, and/or any post-assessment data that may show progress over time.
To complete the micro-credential, please submit the following evidence: **Artifact 1: Phonemic Awareness Lesson Plan and Rationale** Upload your phonemic awareness lesson plan used to support student learning. The lesson plan should include educator directions for skill implementation. The lesson should include at least one of the following phonemic awareness skills being addressed: * Isolation * Deletion * Addition * Categorization * Substitution * Segmentation * Blending The rationale should Include the following (150-word limit): * How did you select or develop this particular lesson? * How do you plan to support diverse learners throughout the lesson **Artifact 2: Whole Group Instruction Video** Upload a 10–15 minute annotated video/audio of whole group phonemic awareness instruction. The video/audio should include annotations for the following: * Educator modeling how to produce the targeted skill (e.g., segmenting and blending words, isolating sounds in words, etc.) * Educator providing directions for clear student expectations * Students practicing the specific skill and receiving educator feedback * Student engagement including, but not limited to, responding, focusing attention on the educator, asking questions, or think-pair-share. **Artifact 3: Pre/Post Assessments** Choose a small group of diverse learners that you supported for the lesson provided in Artifact 1. (See the Resource section for definition of diverse learners.) Submit the following: * A rationale explaining what information you used from your students’ pre-assessments. + Explain how your pre- and post-assessments helped you to determine where to begin instruction. + Include information you gathered from the post-assessments that you completed when you were assessing your students’ phonemic awareness skills. * Pre-assessments: Upload one pre-assessment from each of your small group students. * Post-assessments: Upload a post-assessment from each of your small group of students to show how the students are progressing through the continuum of phonemic awareness.
Provide a reflection using the following questions as a guide: - What was the impact of assessing, planning for, and implementing a phonemic awareness lesson with students in your classroom? - How will you use students’ progress to shape and inform your instruction in the future?
Educator provides research-backed methods in the lesson plan summary or activity description that connects to improving phonemic awareness.
Educator provides a description or data that supports student growth in this area and shares details about how the educator knew student skills were enhanced through teaching. Evidence is clear and appropriate for student progression.
Reflections clearly indicate how the activity impacted students, and how student progress will guide the educator’s ongoing instruction in the area of phonemic awareness.
Artifact 1: Phonemic Awareness Lesson Plan and Rationale
The lesson plan is complete and addresses one or more phonemic awareness skills. Lesson rationale is clear and addresses the needs of diverse learners.
The lesson plan is incomplete but addresses one or more phonemic awareness skills. Lesson rationale is clear, but does not address the needs of diverse learners.
The lesson plan is incomplete and does not address one or more phonemic awareness skills. Lesson rationale is not clear and does not address the needs of diverse learners.
- Video/audio is annotated. Instruction is at least 10 minutes, shows whole group instruction and clear expectations. - Student engagement is evident and clear across most of the students and occurs multiple times.
- Video/audio is not annotated and/or evidence of phonemic awareness instruction is not evident in the video/audio clip. - Student engagement is not evident.
Rationale is clear as to how the pre- and post-assessments were used to provide additional information. All pre- and post-assessments from students have been uploaded.
Rationale explaining assessments is unclear or vague. Only the pre- or post-assessments from students have been uploaded but not both.
Rationale does not address how pre- and post-assessments were used. Pre- and post-assessments from students have not been uploaded.
To earn the micro-credential, you must receive a passing evaluation for Parts 1 and 3, and a “Yes” for Part 2.
Educator effectively provides phonological awareness instruction to diverse learners, so they understand the relationship of sounds within the spoken language.
# Key Method The educator develops and implements a phonological awareness lesson with one or more of the phonological awareness skills explicitly modeled. # Method Components ### Overview “Phonological awareness is made up of a group of skills. The most sophisticated—and latest to develop—is called phonemic awareness.” (Johnson, K.) The purpose is to help children notice phonemes (or a unit of sound) in words and then later understand how phonemes in words are related to letters of the alphabet. Phonological awareness is considered to be a multilevel skill that students develop over a length of time. ### Components of Phonological Awareness Phonological awareness is focused on sounds in words and is the basis for later reading, even before print is introduced. When educators are planning to teach phonological awareness, it is important to think about the learning process from simple to more complex skills. (Achieve the Core, 2018) A phoneme is a basic unit of sound in the English language. It is the foundation for decoding and spelling. Letters are used to represent sounds which are in written words. This is known as phonemic awareness. Phonemic awareness along with basic alphabet knowledge enables children to understand how letters and sounds work together to form spoken and written words. As a student is developing phonological awareness skills, it is important to plan instruction based on the student’s needs. The structure below indicates the continuum of skills from simple to more complex as a student progresses. 1. **Oral rhymes and alliteration**—recognizing the beginning and ending sounds of words. * Example: The end of the word match sounds just like batch. These words are rhyming words. 2. **Words in sentences**—listening and counting the number of words that are read or heard. * Example: “The dog jumped up and down.” There are six words in that sentence. 3. **Syllables in words**—breaking words up into chunks; hearing and then counting these separate parts of the word. * Example: I hear two syllables in the word pizza. 4. **Onset and rime in words**—hearing and identifying the onset and the rime. * Example: Cab – onset is /c/; rime is /ab/; skip – onset is /sk/, rime is /ip/. Not all words have onsets. Example: “at.” The words rime and rhyme are not similar by accident. Think of “pit” and “bit,” or “here” and “dear.” The rime provides the rhyme! 5. **Individual phonemes in words**—identifying individual sounds in a word. * Example: There are three sounds in the word, man - /m//a//n/. There are 44 phonemes in the English language: 25 consonants and 19 vowels. Most consonant sounds usually have one phoneme (the /p/ sound in pat is the first phoneme in the word). However, vowels can have more than one phoneme (consider the /i/ in “pin” and the /i/ in “pile”). Also, two or more letters can represent one phoneme (such as the /ch/ sound in check or the /ng/ sound in ring. (Achieve the Core, 2018) ### Supporting Students’ Phonological Awareness Prior to creating a phonological awareness lesson for students, it is imperative that educators assess and gather information regarding students’ current levels. Depending on the need of the students, instruction in one of the five phases of phonological awareness can then begin. * Activities students can participate in to foster phonological awareness skills + Reading or singing poems or rhyming songs + Clapping or counting syllables + Playing with onset and rime * Instruction should begin with simpler tasks and then move on to more difficult tasks * Analytic and synthetic activities should both be included in this instruction + Analytic: requires a student to identify individual sounds in a word + Analytic examples: (“Tell me words that begin with the same sound as cat. What is the first sound in the word, cat?”) + Synthetic: requires a student to blend phonemes that are presented separately + Synthetic examples: (“What word do these sounds make, /b//i//g/?”) * Educators should speak clearly and ensure that they are pronouncing their sounds correctly. Educators are the role models for the students. * Create a wide range of oral language experiences for children to participate in various phonological awareness activities. * Educators should combine alphabet knowledge and phoneme instruction to help children understand the connection between letters and sounds. ### Assessing Phonological Awareness Assessing a student’s phonological awareness skills will consist of primarily verbal assessments, where the students produce the oral language response of the component that the educator is requesting. These assessments provide educators with insight into which level of phonological awareness they need to teach the student next, so that the student can continue progressing through the levels. Educators should implement best practices when assessing a student’s phonological awareness skills. However, here are some specifics to guide educators as they are assessing students. * There are two purposes when assessing phonological awareness: 1. Initially identify students who could be potentially at risk, students having difficulty acquiring beginning reading skills. 2. Consistently progress monitor students who are receiving phonological awareness instruction. * It is recommended that educators use a wide variety of screening assessments. These screening tools should measure specific phonological awareness skills. An example might include a student counting syllables within a word. * When educators use screening measures, they must create decision rules when identifying students needing extra support in phonological awareness instruction. * When educators select assessments that are used to monitor student progress, it is best to choose assessments or tools that are sensitive to growth and require multiple forms of the skill, to ensure a true reflection of the student’s knowledge.
* Achieve the Core. (2018). Foundational skills guidance documents: Grades K–2. <https://achievethecore.org/content/upload/Foundational%20Skills%20Guidance%20Document.pdf> The document explains the phases that a child goes through as they are beginning to read and each step in the process is thoroughly explained in detail and relevant examples are provided. * Anthony, J. L., & Francis, D. J. (2005). Development of phonological awareness. *Current directions in psychological science, 14*(5), 255–259. [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/254081715\_Development\_of\_Phonological\_Awareness](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/254081715_Development_of_Phonological_Awareness) The research explains how children acquire phonological awareness skills over a length of time in multiple stages of learning and development. * International Literacy Association. (2020). *Phonological awareness in early childhood literacy development* [Position statement and research brief]. Newark, DE: Author. [https://www.literacyworldwide.org/docs/default-source/where-we-stand/9457\_Phonological\_Awareness\_1-2020\_Final.pdf](https://www.literacyworldwide.org/docs/default-source/where-we-stand/9457_Phonological_Awareness_1-2020_Final.pdf) The article explains how children develop phonological awareness over a period of time. Also, the author explains how to expose children to a broad range of language experiences and opportunities. * Student Achievement Partners. (n.d.). *Foundational Skills Mini-Course: Module 2 – Phonological Awareness*. Retrieved from: <https://achievethecore.org/page/3142/foundational-skills-mini-course-module-2-phonological-awareness> The author of this resource focuses on explaining how literacy foundational skills impact a student’s phonological awareness abilities. * Torgesen, J. K., & Mathes, P. G. (2002). *Assessment and instruction in phonological awareness*. Florida Department of Education. <http://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/7690/urlt/0070131-phonoman.pdf> The goals of phonological awareness instruction are clearly listed and supporting information is provided that children need to be taught these skills. The author also explains common issues that educators face when teaching phonological awareness to their students. * Wanzek, J., Vaughn, S., Scammacca, N., Gatlin, B., Walker, M. A., & Capin, P. (2016). Meta-analyses of the effects of tier 2 type reading interventions in grades K–3. *Educational Psychology Review, 28*(3), 551–576. Retrieved from <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5007082/> The implementation of multi-tiered service delivery models such as RTI (Response to Intervention) provides an increasing number of students with access to evidence-based instructional practices. * Johnson, K. *Phonological awareness: What you need to know*. Understood.org <https://www.understood.org/en/learning-thinking-differences/child-learning-disabilities/reading-issues/phonological-awareness-what-it-is-and-how-it-works>
* Achieve the Core. (2018). Foundational skills guidance documents: Grades K–2. <https://achievethecore.org/content/upload/Foundational%20Skills%20Guidance%20Document.pdf> Included in this document are resources to help track students’ foundational skills, formative assessments to test a student’s phonological awareness, and a phonological awareness diagnostic tracker. * Baker, S. K., Beattie, T., Nelson, N. J., & Turtura, J. (2018).*How we learn to read: The critical role of phonological awareness*. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Office of Special Education Programs, National Center on Improving Literacy. <https://improvingliteracy.org/brief/how-we-learn-read-critical-role-phonological-awareness> Several methods and strategies are introduced to provide educators with practical ideas of how they can teach phonological awareness to prepare students for early reading. * Chard, D. J., & Dickson, S. V. (1999). Phonological awareness: Instructional and assessment guidelines. *Intervention in School and Clinic, 34*(5),261–270. <http://www.ldonline.org/article/6254/> In the article are many different methods that educators can utilize to assess a student’s phonological awareness using many different tools and a variety of assessments. * Student Achievement Partners. (January 2018). *Understand foundational skills*. <https://achievethecore.org/category/1205/understand-foundational-skills> Learn how phonological awareness and phonics connect to early reading through this 7-part mini-course that dives into the content of literacy foundational skills, with an emphasis on phonological awareness, phonics, and how these connect to early reading. Instructional guidelines and concrete recommendations for teacher practice are also explored. * National Center on Improving Literacy. (2018). *How we learn to read: The critical role of phonological awareness*. <https://improvingliteracy.org/brief/how-we-learn-read-critical-role-phonological-awareness> This article and accompanying infographic explores the different ways to teach phonological awareness in order to prepare early readers. * Reading Rockets. (2013). *Susan Landry: Phonological awareness instruction*. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bg-g5eYIgg> This video describes the developmental continuum of phonological awareness and why it is important to address skills at the highest level of the continuum, including linking letters and sounds. * Sight Words. (2015). *Consonant sounds*. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?time\_continue=79&v=mzjHGpYLi-8&feature=emb\_logo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=79&v=mzjHGpYLi-8&feature=emb_logo) This video models the correct pronunciation of consonant sounds in the English language. * Sight Words. (2015). *Vowel sounds*. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?time\_continue=8&v=B1dU49Zcjro&feature=emb\_logo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=8&v=B1dU49Zcjro&feature=emb_logo) This video models the correct pronunciation of vowel sounds in the English language. * National Center on Improving Literacy. (n.d.) *Phonological and phonemic awareness: Implementation toolkit*. <https://improvingliteracy.org/kit/phonological-phonemic-awareness> This toolkit helps teachers and families understand the difference between phonemic and phonological awareness and how to support a child’s development of these important reading skills. * Reading Rockets. (n.d.) *Phonological and phonemic awareness: Introduction*. <https://www.readingrockets.org/teaching/reading101-course/modules/phonological-and-phonemic-awareness-introduction> In this learning module, educators explore the differences between phonological and phonemic awareness, in addition to phonics. ### Definition * Diverse learners: Learners who bring a broad array of learning preferences, background knowledge, experiences, identities, and educational variability and may vary linguistically, socio-culturally, racially, ethnically, or economically. * Onset and rime notation: When letters are inside two slashes (/ /), this represents isolating that sound. For example, if the sentence is “Line up if this is your name: /m/att.” The educator would say the “m” sound in isolation (onset); then the educator would say the “att” sound together (rime).
What component(s) did your students engage with in your lesson plan to increase their phonological awareness skills? What data was used to assess your students’ readiness for the particular activities?
How do you know if your students’ phonological awareness skills were enhanced through your teaching? What evidence did you collect that demonstrates that your students are progressing?
To complete the micro-credential, please submit the following artifacts: **Artifact 1: Phonological Awareness Lesson Plan and Rationale** Upload your phonological awareness lesson plan used to support student learning. The lesson plan should include educator directions for skill implementation. The lesson should include at least one of the following phonological awareness components: * Oral rhymes and alliteration * Words in a sentence * Syllables in words * Onset and rime in words, or individual phonemes in words (depending on your students’ level from prior assessments) The rationale should include the following (150-word limit): * How did you select or develop this particular lesson? * How do you plan to support diverse learners throughout the lesson **Artifact 2: Whole Group Instruction Video** Upload a 10–15 minute annotated video/audio of whole group phonological awareness instruction. The video/audio should include annotations for the following: * Educator modeling how to produce the targeted skill (e.g., words in a sentence, counting syllables, etc.) * Educator providing directions for clear student expectations * Students practicing the specific skill and receiving educator feedback * Student engagement including, but not limited to, responding, focusing attention on the educator, asking questions, or think-pair-share. **Artifact 3: Pre/Post Assessments** Choose a small group of diverse learners that you supported for the lesson provided in Artifact 1. (See the Resources section for definition of diverse learners.) Submit the following: * A rationale explaining what information you used from your students’ pre-assessments. + Explain how your pre- and post-assessments helped you to determine where to begin instruction. + Include information you gathered from the post-assessments that you completed when you were assessing your students’ phonological awareness skills. * Pre-assessments: Upload one pre-assessment from each of your small group students. * Post-assessments: Upload a post-assessment from each of your small group of students to show how the students are progressing through the continuum of phonological awareness.
Provide a reflection on teaching phonological awareness to your students using the following questions to guide you: - How did teaching your students phonological awareness help them grow as learners? - What strategies can you incorporate into your daily English Language Arts instruction to enhance students’ phonological awareness skills?
Educator provides a description of the component(s) students were engaged in to increase phonological awareness skills. Data is clear and appropriate for activity assessment.
Educator provides a description of students’ phonological awareness skills and shares details about how the educator knew student skills were enhanced through teaching. Evidence is clear and appropriate for student progression.
The educator’s reflection on the topic is thorough and includes specificity. It demonstrates how this activity impacted the educator’s strategy and how it will affect the educator’s future instruction.
Artifact 1: Phonological Awareness Lesson Plan and Rationale
The lesson plan is complete and includes one or more components of suggested implementation. Lesson rationale is clear and addresses the needs of diverse learners.
The lesson plan is incomplete and addresses fewer than four components of suggested implementation. Lesson rationale is clear, but does not address the needs of diverse learners.
The lesson plan is incomplete and addresses one or none of the components of suggested implementation. Lesson rationale is not clear and does not address the needs of diverse learners.
- Video/audio is annotated. Instruction is at least 10 minutes, shows, whole group instruction and clear expectations. - Student engagement is evident and clear across most of the students and occurs multiple times.
- Video/audio is not annotated and/or evidence of phonological awareness instruction is not evident in the video/audio clip. - Student engagement is not evident.
Rationale explaining assessments are unclear or vague. Only the pre- or post-assessments from students have been uploaded but not both.
Educator designs and delivers explicit instruction utilizing the gradual release model to ensure students’ understanding of new skill(s) and concepts.
# Key Method The educator develops a lesson that includes specific learning goal(s), explicit and systematic instruction, modeling and scaffolding, teaching of cognitive and metacognitive strategies, and frequent feedback. # Method Components ### Overview Explicit and systematic instruction is evidenced-based instruction proven to support students’ acquisition of literacy skills. Students are taught how to be aware of their use of cognitive and metacognitive strategies, then use those strategies to self-monitor and self-evaluate their own thinking when learning new skills and concepts. Explicit instruction supports students’ active participation in learning literacy skills by requiring frequent responses followed by additional modeling and corrective feedback. This process, along with many opportunities for purposeful practice, aids in an increased retention rate and depth of understanding of literacy skills being taught. ### Components of Explicit Instruction **Specific learning goals** * Develop a learning goal that focuses on “critical content”, which is defined by skills or concepts that are essential to students’ understanding and academic success. Each lesson’s specific learning goal should be evident to both educator(s) and students. * Create mapping – that is, create a logical sequence of lessons in a unit – to reach the goal. A lesson using explicit instructional strategies is highly structured and breaks learning into more manageable chunks, with the educator presenting small amounts of new information through explaining, modeling, and demonstrating. * Explicit instructional practices include educator scaffolding and opportunities for guided and independent practice. Effective practices do not rely on sharing too much information at once, but focus on small amounts of new material with frequent checks of understanding. **Cognitive and metacognitive strategies** As educators provide explicit instruction, it is important to teach students strategies that support their organization of information, self-monitor their learning, and increase their retention. The goal is to make thinking and learning visible. Educators may use modeling strategies such as think-alouds and graphic organizers to demonstrate their own thinking processes and to share how they organize their thinking. *Modeling is the process that educators use to show and tell the skill(s) being taught*. Students can be active participants in this process through guided and independent practice. As educators provide scaffolds (visual, physical, verbal, or written) and differentiate, students may practice skills in a group or independently, respond to appropriate questions, participate in “turn-n-talks” and other means of engagement. Most importantly, as educators and students engage in this process, checks for understanding should occur frequently. Educators provide multiple opportunities for student feedback, and students are also taught strategies to self-regulate and evaluate their own learning. **Model and Scaffold** Another hallmark of explicit instruction is the use of the “I do, we do, you do” instructional sequence. When appropriate, the educator uses modeling to think aloud, so that students can see and hear how to complete a task, apply a skill, or solve a problem. During this stage of the lesson, it is important for the educator to provide multiple examples to help students get a clear understanding of skill application in various contexts. It is equally important to provide students with non-examples, when appropriate, to help them see the limitations of the concept. Guided practice will take place during the modeling phase of explicit instruction. Students will have the opportunity to practice the target skill or task with educator support and feedback. The most successful educators don’t rush this guided practice time. Students need this time to summarize, rephrase, and elaborate on new learning in order to store the information in their long-term memory and to prepare themselves for independent practice. Throughout this guided practice stage, there may be students that need scaffolded support, which may include the use of verbal, physical, or visual prompts. The goal with scaffolding is to gradually reduce the amount of support as students become more proficient with the skill or concept. **Active Student Engagement** Explicit instruction should move at a pace that keeps students engaged. One way to keep a lesson moving is to plan for multiple opportunities for students to respond and practice in a variety of ways. Examples of strategies to involve all students include turn and talks, writing an answer and holding it up for all to see, and choral responses. In addition, the level of student engagement is increased if educators circulate around the room during instruction and also closely monitor and supervise independent practice. Classroom procedures such as using cooperative learning during explicit instruction has proven to be an effective strategy for increasing student engagement. Allowing students to explain information to their peers, as well as offer and receive peer feedback, promotes active learning and student engagement. **Gradual Release Model** The gradual release model is an effective approach to improving literacy outcomes for all students. In addition, it provides structure for educators to shift from performing the specific task to one where students assume the responsibility for their learning. This model suggests that cognitive work shifts from educator modeling to a shared responsibility between educators and students, and then to independent practice. However, it is not linear; students will shift between guided instruction, collaborative learning, and independent work as they begin to master strategies, skills, and standards. This structure ensures that students are supported as they develop and acquire skills and strategies necessary for academic success. **Progress Monitoring and Providing Frequent Feedback** Students learning new material need frequent opportunities to demonstrate understanding and to get feedback from their educators. This can best be achieved through frequent student responses and active student engagement. * Chunk lessons: One of the benefits of chunking lessons into smaller bits of instruction is the opportunity to identify potential misconceptions early on and take steps to reteach, if needed. * Educator feedback: Feedback from the educator enables students to continue strategies which are correct and support learning, and modify, with support, those which are incorrect. This feedback is most effective when it is linked to student goals for specific learning. For example, ask a student to read aloud to you, and if they miss a word, wait until they finish reading, and ask them to tell you the words they missed. + Point out the missed words if the student doesn't know. + Ask the student, “What do you do when you don’t know how to read a word?” This question allows the student to analyze their own cognition and develop metacognition. + After the student responds, the educator will then show them effective strategies for reading the missed word (e.g., teach the student the decoding skills needed to read the word). ### Supporting Students through Explicit Instruction A lesson using an explicit instruction approach requires careful planning at each stage of the process. Using a set of instructional principles and strategies will help to provide a framework for designing instruction to support student outcomes. * **Lesson Introduction/Hook** + Review related work from previous classroom and homework assignments. + Review related goals and objectives from previous lesson(s). + Build background knowledge on topic or skill being taught. + Build curiosity through anticipatory guides and other before-reading activities. * **Setting the Purpose of the Daily Lesson** + Activate students’ prior knowledge. + Discuss how the day’s lesson connects with previous learning. + Clearly state the day’s learning goal. * **Teach and Support Students Focusing on Skills/Strategies** + Model the skill that needs to be mastered. + Provide examples and non-examples (when appropriate) to support understanding. + Build vocabulary and background knowledge. + Think aloud using concise, clear, and consistent language. + Provide appropriate levels of scaffolding and differentiation. + Provide opportunities for guided practice with immediate corrective feedback. * **Student Engagement** + Provide multiple ways for students to respond to questions related to the lesson. + Keep a brisk, but manageable, pace. + Plan opportunities for cooperative learning. * **Check for Understanding** + Identify multiple ways for students to respond demonstrating understanding related to the day’s learning goals (e.g., white board response, educator check-ins during independent practice, written responses). * **Provide Timely Feedback** + Monitor responses given by students. + Validate correct responses and/or provide immediate corrective feedback students, if needed. * **Assessment** + Use data to plan for lessons. + Plan for multiple opportunities to check for students’ understanding during and after a lesson. + Include formal and informal assessments for lessons.
* Fisher, Douglas. (n.d.). *Effective Use of the Gradual Release of Responsibility Model*. [http://srhscollaborationsuite.weebly.com/uploads/3/8/4/0/38407301/douglas\_fisher.pdf](http://srhscollaborationsuite.weebly.com/uploads/3/8/4/0/38407301/douglas_fisher.pdf) This article highlights the components of the gradual release of responsibility model and how this model can be used. * Kennedy, M. J., Peeples, K. N., Romig, J. E., Mathews, H. M., Rodgers, W. J. (2018). *High-leverage practice #16: Use explicit instruction*. Retrieved from <https://highleveragepractices.org/701-2/>. This video highlights explicit instruction in action in the classroom. * LD@School. (n.d.). *Planning and teaching with explicit instruction*. <https://www.ldatschool.ca/planning-teaching-explicit-instruction/> This research article explains the ways to plan and teach with explicit instruction in the classroom. * National Center on Intensive Intervention. *Intensive Intervention Course Content: Features of Explicit Instruction*. (n.d.). Retrieved from <https://intensiveintervention.org/intensive-intervention-features-explicit-instruction> Presented by the National Center on Intensive Intervention, this course includes four modules centered around the topic of explicit instruction. Specific topics include modeling and practicing to help students reach academic goals; supporting practices – using effective methods to elicit frequent responses; providing immediate specific feedback and maintaining a brisk pace; and use of explicit instruction to support students’ academic needs. * Rosenshine, B. (2012, Spring). Principles of instruction: Research-based strategies that all teachers should know. *American Educator*, 12–39. <https://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/periodicals/Rosenshine.pdf> An article on 10 research-based principles of instruction written for educators. First the article gives an overview and explanation of each principle and then goes on to give specific examples for implementation in the classroom. * Vaughn, S., Wanzek, J., Murray, C. S., Roberts, G. (2012). *Intensive interventions for students struggling in reading and mathematics: A practice guide*. Portsmouth, NH: RMC Research Corporation, Center on Instruction. Retrieved from <https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED531907.pdf> This reference provides specific information on intensifying instruction to support the learning needs of struggling students. Activities and suggestions to accompany the research are provided as well.
* National Center on Intensive Intervention. *Intensive Intervention Course Content: Features of Explicit Instruction*. (n.d.). Retrieved from <https://intensiveintervention.org/intensive-intervention-features-explicit-instruction> Presented by the National Center on Intensive Intervention, this course includes four modules centered around the topic of explicit instruction. Specific topics include modeling and practicing to help students reach academic goals; supporting practices – using effective methods to elicit frequent responses; providing immediate specific feedback and maintaining a brisk pace; and use of explicit instruction to support students’ academic needs. * National Center on Improving Literacy. (2020). What are the characteristics of effective literacy instruction <https://improvingliteracy.org/ask-an-expert/what-are-characteristics-effective-literacy-instruction> In this “Ask the Expert” series, the video and accompanying transcript outline elements of effective literacy instruction, including Explicit Instruction. * Vaughn, S., Wanzek, J., Murray, C. S., Roberts, G. (2012). Intensive interventions for students struggling in reading and mathematics: A practice guide. Portsmouth, NH: RMC Research Corporation, Center on Instruction. Retrieved from <https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED531907.pdf> This reference provides specific information on intensifying instruction to support the learning needs of struggling students. Activities and suggestions to accompany the research are provided as well. * Student Achievement Partners. (April 2018). Foundational Skills Guidance Documents: Grades K–2 <https://achievethecore.org/category/1206/ela-literacy-foundational-skills> This guide outlines the essential instructional components to teach early reading skills. It is intended to provide teachers with best practices to support the explicit teaching of foundational skills: print concepts, phonological awareness, phonics and word recognition, and fluency. * Student Achievement Partner. (April 2018). Foundational Skills Observation Tool <https://achievethecore.org/category/1206/ela-literacy-foundational-skills> This tool is a complement to the Foundational Skills Guidance Documents and should be used along with instructional materials that provide explicit and systematic instruction and practice. * Achieve the Core. (January 2019). Foundational Skills Instruction in Action. <https://achievethecore.org/page/3199/foundational-skills-instruction-in-action-2019-january-webinar> This resource highlights best practices for high-quality, aligned foundational skills instruction in Kindergarten through Grade 2. * Council for Exceptional Children. (2019). HLP #16 Use Explicit Instruction <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESFVNzihOZ0> This video from the Council for Exceptional Children shares the high leverage practice of explicit instruction. ### Definition * Diverse learners: Learners who bring a broad array of learning preferences, background knowledge, experiences, identities, and educational variability and may vary linguistically, socio-culturally, racially, ethnically, or economically.
How did the use of explicit instruction practices impact student learning? How do you know you have effectively used the supporting practices? What evidence did you collect to support this? How did you determine which skills and/or concepts to address during this lesson?
Describe the activity and lesson you planned. What classroom data did you use to develop the learning goal? Provide a description of the strategies you incorporated that are components of explicit instruction.
To complete the micro-credential, please submit the following evidence: **Artifact 1: Lesson Plan** Upload an annotated lesson plan used to support student learning. The lesson should include rationale and explanation for instructional decisions based on student needs and data. The lesson should include the following elements of instructional strategies and practices that are embodied in planning for explicit instruction: * Lesson introduction and hook * Setting the purpose of the daily lesson * Build vocabulary and background knowledge * Teach and support students focusing on skills/strategies * Student engagement * Check for understanding * Provide timely feedback * Assessment **Artifact 2: Whole Class Instruction** Upload a 20–30 minute annotated video or audio with annotations that captures: * Lesson introduction and hook * Clear explanation of the purpose of the lesson * Modeling and guided practice that are reflective of the elements of explicit instruction * Use of scaffolds and differentiation strategies to meet the needs of diverse learners * Opportunities for student engagement – with both the educator and other students * Multiple opportunities to check for understanding and provide student feedback **Artifact 3: Student Work Samples** Choose a group of two or more diverse learners that you supported for the lesson provided in Artifact 1. (See the Resources section for definition of diverse learners.) Submit the following: * Rationale (150-word limit) + Why did you choose this individual student or group of diverse learners? Include narrative on the data you used to make this decision. + What additional supports and/or accommodations did you make to this lesson to meet the needs of the diverse learner(s)? * Assessment Samples + Upload work samples from two students from the lesson plan provided in Artifact 1. For each student, submit work examples (writing, audio, images, video, or other products) that demonstrate progress toward the lesson goal. Include work samples with your feedback.
Explain the impact on student learning with the group of learners identified in Artifact 3. For example, if the lesson was a reteach of a particular skill, compare student work from a previous assessment to the work from this lesson to determine whether the use of explicit instructional strategies improved student understanding. The impact on student learning could also be determined by examining the results of a pre- and post-assessment on the skill that was taught.
- What explicit instruction strategies worked well in this lesson and what would you do differently? - What are your next steps? What will you focus on next with this group of students?
Evaluation provides description of the use of explicit instruction practices and their impact on student learning. Description includes evidence used to support the effective use of supporting practices. The responses provide specific information and examples where necessary.
Educator describes activity description clearly and includes sufficient detail. Description includes narrative of the data used to develop the learning goal. The strategies are clear and are representative of explicit instructional strategies.
Educator reflects on the impact of explicit instruction on a small group of diverse learners. The example provides specific information on the type of evaluation used, with examples where necessary.
Educator explains what they’ve learned and will do differently the next time they teach a lesson using explicit instructional practices with this group of diverse learners. Additionally, the educator will explain the next steps of instruction for this diverse group of students.
- Lesson Plan is complete and addresses all elements of suggested implementation. - Annotations address the lesson context and how all students will be supported.
- Lesson Plan is incomplete, and addresses most elements of suggested implementation. - Annotations may or may not be present and do not clearly address the lesson context and how all students will be supported.
- Lesson Plan is incomplete, and addresses two or fewer elements of suggested implementation. - Annotations may or may not be present.
Instruction is 20–30 minutes and includes annotations. It shows explicit instruction and clear expectations, and student engagement is evident and clear across the majority of students and occurs multiple times.
Instruction may or may not be 20–30 minutes and includes annotations. It shows partial explicit instruction. Student engagement is minimal, limited to a few students or occurs only a few times.
Whole class instruction video does not show annotations of explicit instruction or no video of whole class instruction is uploaded.
- Rationale is clear as to the data used to determine that the chosen group of 2 or more students is diverse. - It is clear if additional supports and/or accommodations were used to meet the needs of diverse learners. - Student work samples from each student in the group are present along with teacher feedback.
- Rationale on the data used to determine a diverse group of students is unclear or not specific. - Explanation on necessary supports and/or accommodations does not clearly address steps the educator took to support diverse learners. - Student work samples may or may not be provided from each student in the group. Teacher feedback is limited.
- Rationale is not addressed and/or no explanation of supports and/or accommodations is provided. - Student work samples may or may not be provided but do not reflect work from each student. Teacher feedback is missing or limited.
To earn this micro-credential, you must receive a passing evaluation for Parts 1 and 3, and a “Yes” for Part 2.
Screening, Diagnostic, and Progress Monitoring Assessment
Educator understands the purpose and use of screening, diagnostic, and progress monitoring assessments and data to plan and make instructional decisions for teaching reading to a diverse group of students in whole group instruction.
# Key Method The educator uses an assessment system to generate useful data in order to plan and make instructional decisions to support and evaluate student progress. # Method Components ### Overview Assessment is an essential element in meeting the needs of all students. Reliable and valid data from screening, diagnostic, and progress monitoring assessments helps an educator make important instructional decisions for levels of student support and the focus of instruction (targeted skill areas) and it provides insight into how students respond to instruction. It is important to have an understanding of the purpose of each assessment and how the assessment process helps to guide reading instruction. ### Components of the Assessment Process Screening, diagnostic, and progress monitoring assessments are considered formative measures of assessment. This assessment process is best viewed as recurring, or cyclical , as educators are frequently planning and adjusting their instruction based on this assessment data. ### Screening Usually the first step in the assessment process is to administer a screener to all students. This is a brief assessment that helps to identify students who may be at risk for reading failure. It is a good first step in helping to identify such students but does not indicate which specific skills to target during instruction. Screeners should be administered at regular intervals. A regular assessment schedule is just as important for those students who meet or exceed benchmarks to help ensure that they continue to show progress in reading. Appropriate universal screening tools should: * be selected to target reading skills such as word recognition, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension * be selected to provide an indication of overall reading achievement * be quick to administer and score * be reliable and valid. ### Diagnostic Assessments A diagnostic assessment is a follow-up tool, based on screening, that educators can use to gather more information about a student’s strengths and needs in a specific area of reading. These assessments break down the specific areas into teachable skills that can be targeted during whole group, small group and/or individual instruction. For example, if screening was administered in word recognition and the data showed that certain students scored below expectations, follow-up testing on specific decoding skills for those students would provide additional information on the specific decoding area to target during instruction. An example of a diagnostic assessment is an informal phonics inventory, which assesses a student’s ability to read lists of words that are grouped by their phonetic pattern. For instance, a student may begin by reading a group of words that use a consonant-vowel-consonant pattern, such as, *cat, hug, beg, and bad*, and then move on to read a list of words that have a consonant-vowel-consonant-e pattern, such as, *huge, bike, blame, and rope*. The assessment may also include nonsense words within each phonetic pattern. A student will progress on the assessment from reading single syllable words to words that are multisyllabic (having more than one syllable). The assessor is looking for specific decoding issues that a student may have. This assessment is considered informal because it is an easy tool that requires very little training to administer. ### Progress Monitoring This assessment is used frequently to evaluate student learning and to provide feedback to the educator and student on whether or not the student has mastered the lesson objective(s). It can also be used to help make decisions on necessary changes to instruction to improve student progress. Progress monitoring measures should be brief, evidence-based, reliable, and aligned with grade level reading skills. Quite often, the reading curriculum used in a district will include grade level progress monitoring measures. An example of a progress monitoring measure is the use of an oral reading fluency passage beginning in mid-first grade. This measure is used to monitor a student’s ability to read aloud grade-level text with accuracy, at an appropriate rate, and with proper phrasing, expression, and intonation. An example of progress monitoring is having a student read aloud a grade-level, unpracticed passage of text for one minute. To calculate the words correct per minute, the assessor will subtract the total number of errors from the total number of words read in a minute. Words substituted, omitted, or mispronounced are considered errors. Every time a word is read incorrectly, it is counted as an error. In this example, the educator is collecting data on the number of words read per minute to measure student fluency progress over time. Sometimes, the progress monitoring measure is the same measure as used for screening. Checking for progress should be done at frequent intervals. ### Progress Monitoring Data After selecting a progress monitoring measure, the educator should be prepared to collect and then document student data. An effective way to do this is with a simple graphical representation to view student data over time in order to evaluate the student’s progress and the effectiveness of instruction. To evaluate a student’s progress over time it is helpful to create a goal line on the graphic. A goal line connects the student’s current level of performance, or baseline, to a mid-year or end-of-year performance goal. Most commercial progress monitoring assessments include mid-year and end-of-year goals that are based on national norms. Evaluating student performance should happen after at least six data points, as too few data points can lead to inaccurately interpreting student performance, while too many could lead to a failure to address instructional needs in a timely manner. ### Supporting Students through Screening, Diagnostic, and Progress Monitoring A plan for supporting the needs of all students is developed based on student data. The educator matches instruction to meet the needs of all students in whole group, small group and/or individual instruction. ### The Feedback Cycle Using the feedback cycle of screening, diagnosis, and progress monitoring requires an understanding of each of the elements as well as their implications for instruction of the assessment data. * Educators administer an initial **screening assessment** prior to instruction or after a small period of instruction to obtain a baseline of student performance at a particular point in time. * Using the results of the screening assessment, educators determine which students to administer **diagnostic assessments** to, for the purpose of further analyzing the students’ strengths and needs. * **A plan for instruction** is developed and implemented in the classroom. * **Progress monitoring** assessments are administered frequently over a period of instructional time. * **Progress monitoring data and graphical representations** are then used to analyze and evaluate student performance and plan for next steps in instruction.
* Center on Response to Intervention. (n.d.). *Screening briefs*. (Archived) Retrieved from <https://bit.ly/2CZUKtU> These four documents will help to develop a deeper understanding of the assessment process. * National Center on Improving Literacy (2019). *Best Practices in universal screening*. Retrieved from <https://improvingliteracy.org/brief/best-practices-universal-screening#body> This document shares best practices when establishing a screening protocol. * Pentimonti, J. M., Walker, M. A., & Edmonds, R. Z. (2017). The selection and use of screening and progress monitoring tools in data-based decision making within an MTSS framework. *Perspectives on Language & Literacy, 43*(3), 34–40. [http://www.onlinedigeditions.com/publication/?i=425075&article\_id=2836414&view=articleBrowser&ver=html5](http://www.onlinedigeditions.com/publication/?i=425075&article_id=2836414&view=articleBrowser&ver=html5) This publication includes information on universal screening tools. * The IRIS Center (2005, Rev. 2019). *Progress monitoring: Reading*. Retrieved from <https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/pmr/> This resource introduces users to progress monitoring and how this assessment can help to inform instruction. * Walpole, Sharon, & McKenna, Michael C. (2017). “Using Assessments to Guide Differentiation”, (pages 19–41). In *How to plan differentiated reading instruction* (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Guilford Press. This chapter offers an approach to an assessment system to help plan targeted instruction tailored to each student’s needs.
* Coyne, M. D., Capozzoli-Oldham, A., Cuticelli, M., & Ware, S. M. (2015). A word selection grid: Choosing vocabulary to teach. *Perspectives on Language & Literacy, 41*(3), 52–56. <https://app.box.com/s/rw7rvttc3ylq6ct6vc0qofm2cikekq73> This article focuses on assessment practices specific to vocabulary instruction or intervention. * Farrall, M. L. (2013). The assessment of written syntax. *Perspectives on Language & Literacy, 39*(3), 31–36. <https://app.box.com/s/6rn9i3zl6blle2qhasudaj84zb9gkvhs> This resource addresses the challenges of using a single assessment to address student needs in written syntax for instruction or remediation. It offers examples of informal assessments of writing skills, and other assessments that could be used to measure aspects of syntax, along with signs and behaviors of children at risk for challenges in writing. * Florida Center of Reading Research. (2006). *Empowering teachers*. Retrieved from <https://fcrr.org/sites/g/files/upcbnu2836/files/media/projects/empowering-teachers/index.html> This resource provides instructional routines to use during small group instruction. * Glaser, Deborah. (2019) *Planning the small group lesson*. Achieve the Core. <https://achievethecore.org/aligned/planning-small-group-reading-lesson/> This resource will explain a small group lesson framework. * National Center on Intensive Intervention. (2018). *Academic Progress Monitoring Tools Chart*. Retrieved from <https://charts.intensiveintervention.org/chart/progress-monitoring> This tools chart presents information about academic progress monitoring tools. * National Center on Improving Literacy. (2019). *Four questions to ask after universal screening*. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Office of Special Education Programs, National Center on Improving Literacy. <https://improvingliteracy.org/brief/four-questions-ask-after-universal-screening> This resource offers a decision-making framework to answer questions after screening. * National Center on Intensive Intervention. (n.d.). *Student Progress Monitoring Tool for Data Collection and Graphing (Excel)*. Retrieved from <https://intensiveintervention.org/resource/student-progress-monitoring-tool-data-collection-and-graphing-excel> This resource provides an Excel tool that can be used to collect progress monitoring data and graph student progress. * The IRIS Center. (2015). *Intensive intervention (part 2): Collecting and analyzing data for data-based individualization*. <https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/dbi2/> This resource will help you to become familiar with methods to collect and analyze progress monitoring and diagnostic assessment data, and offers information on making data-based instructional decisions. * The IRIS Center. (2005, Rev. 2019). *Progress monitoring: Reading*. Retrieved from: <https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/pmr/> This resource provides examples of reading measures, by grade, to assess current reading skills and to monitor reading growth. This resource also provides a table of typical end-of-year benchmarks for common grade-level reading. * Walpole, Sharon, & McKenna, Michael C. (2017). *How to plan differentiated reading instruction* (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Guilford Press. This book is a resource to help plan targeted instruction tailored to each student’s needs. * United States Department of Education. (2017). *Early literacy tools*. <https://www2.ed.gov/about/inits/ed/earlyliteracy/tools.html> Offers key tools for implementing universal screening and progress monitoring for early literacy within an MTSS framework. * Reading Rockets. (2020). *Assessment: In depth*. <https://www.readingrockets.org/teaching/reading101-course/modules/assessment/assessment-depth> * Reading Rockets. (2014). *Assessment: On track for reading success*. <https://www.readingrockets.org/webcasts/2006> * National Center on Intensive Intervention. (n.d.). *Diagnostic and mastery assessment in reading* (*Intensive intervention in reading: Module 5*) <https://intensiveintervention.org/reading-course-diagnostic-mastery-assessment-reading> ### Definition * Diverse learners: Learners who bring a broad array of learning preferences, background knowledge, experiences, identities, and educational variability and may vary linguistically, socio-culturally, racially, ethnically, or economically.
Please share information about your teaching context by providing a description of your classroom, including grade level, class size, and demographic information. In addition, if you collaborated with another educator on this micro-credential, please note that you did so. While collaboration is encouraged, the written submission should be unique and reflect your own experience and reflections with the competency.
Describe your school-wide assessment system, including information about your current screeners, diagnostic assessments, and progress monitoring tools used, and when these assessments take place.
Provide a description of your role in the assessment process, including information about your responsibilities for screening, diagnostic, and progress monitoring assessments.
Provide a description of what happens in your school and classroom after screening and diagnostics assessments are completed. Include information about: - the data used to develop a reading instructional plan - how the data is used to plan for differentiation - how the data aligns to the differentiated reading activities planned for a student or group of students.
Provide a brief description of instructional planning of activities to target students’ needs. How did you know the assessment process was effective?
To complete the micro-credential, please submit the following evidence: **Artifact 1: Assessment Process Graphic** Upload a chart or flowchart that graphically represents the assessment process used in your school. This should include: 1. Assessments used in helping to determine reading instruction, identified as screening, diagnostic, or progress monitoring assessment 2. Steps to represent the flow of the assessment process 3. Relevant questions to be answered to help to identify next steps in the assessment process and to identify the support students need during reading instruction. **Artifact 2: Instructional Plan** Upload an instructional plan for differentiated reading instruction that would be followed as a result of the data generated through the assessment process. Submit the following as part of the instructional plan: * Rationale for the plan + What data you used to make the decision for a differentiated instructional plan. * A description of the instructional plan + The instructional focus for the plan + The instructional strategies used + The progress monitoring assessment used. **Artifact 3: Evaluation of Student Progress** After frequent and regular progress monitoring that results in multiple and reliable data points (at least six data points), upload a progress monitoring graphic of one diverse learner (see Resources section for definition of diverse learner) (name omitted) that has received differentiated instruction. Along with the graphic, provide a narrative that identifies the progress monitoring tool used, what targeted instruction this student was receiving, and what the data tells you about this student’s progress. Include what the next steps in instruction would look like based on this data.
Provide a reflection on how using screening, diagnostic, and progress monitoring assessments has affected your current practice and how attaining this competency might impact your practice in the future.
Educator provides a description of the school-wide assessment process, identifies assessments used, and when they are given.
Educator defines their role during each stage of the assessment process. The activity description is clear with sufficient detail to illustrate what the schoolwide and classroom process looks like after assessments are complete.
The description is clear with sufficient detail to illustrate what the schoolwide and classroom process looks like after assessments are complete. The example provided clearly shows how data aligns to instructional planning of targeted activities.
Educator provides a description of the instructional planning of activities that targets students’ needs. Description shares evaluation of effectiveness of the process. The responses provide specific information and examples where necessary.
Educator’s reflection is specific and demonstrates how this competency has affected current practice and how it might impact future practice.
The graphic is complete and the steps in the assessment process are clear. The assessments are specifically identified. The questions are relevant to the assessment process.
The graphic may or may not be complete, but there are gaps in the assessment process. Some assessments are specifically identified, and there are a few relevant questions.
The graphic is incomplete and there is no evidence that an assessment process is used for the purpose of differentiated reading instruction.
- Rationale for the instructional plan is clear and relates to the data. - The instructional focus is clear, and there is evidence that it is based on data. The instructional strategies chosen relate to the data and the progress monitoring tool relates to the instructional focus. - It accounts for the diverse needs of all students.
- Rationale for the instructional plan is unclear or not specific. - The instructional focus and instructional strategies are unclear or vague. The progress monitoring tool is identified, but the explanation of how it relates to the instructional focus is unclear or not specific. - It accounts for the diverse needs of some students.
Rationale is not addressed, and the instructional plan leaves out one or more of the following: - an instructional focus - instructional strategies - progress monitoring tool - It accounts for the diverse needs of only a few students.
Artifact 3: Evaluation of Student Progress
- The progress monitoring graph has at least 6 data points. - The narrative is clear and includes a description of the targeted instruction, an accurate interpretation of the data, and a description of next steps in instruction that correlates with the graph.
- The progress monitoring graph may or may not have fewer than 6 data points. - The description of the targeted instruction is vague and not specific. The interpretation of the data and the next steps for instruction are both unclear. The relationship between the data and next steps for instruction is not established.
The progress monitoring graph is absent or has insufficient data. The narrative leaves out one or more of the following: - description of the targeted instruction - interpretation of the data - next steps for instruction
To earn this micro-credential, you must receive a passing evaluation for Parts 1 and 3, and a “Yes” for each component in Part 2.
Supporting Families in Student Literacy Development
Educator understands and utilizes effective strategies to support families in their child(ren)’s literacy development.
# Key Method The educator utilizes effective strategies to develop a plan for engaging and supporting families in their child(ren)’s early literacy development. # Method Components ### Overview Development of early literacy skills begins at home. Families help build these skills by talking to their children regularly. When children hear and engage in conversations, through their interactions with speaking and listening to others, they develop good oral language skills, and when children engage in regular discourse with adults and their peers, they are building their cognitive skills, which helps with reading comprehension. Children also develop good oral language and literacy skills when they participate in interactive read-aloud. When children are read to at home and see other family members reading, they begin to understand the purpose of written words. In addition to the use of oral language and interactive read-aloud, families should encourage their child(ren) to write regularly at home. This can be demonstrated by making grocery lists together or writing an email together for a family member. The work of supporting student literacy development is an essential partnership between families and educators and is an important piece of a child’s successful language and literacy development. These areas of literacy and language development can be supported in a variety of ways through the home/school connection. Families may not often know about activities that can be done at home to support language and literacy development. For this reason, it is essential that educators reach out to families to share ideas, activities, and strategies supporting the specific language and literacy development appropriate for the age and developmental level of their child(ren). ### Components of Supporting Families in Student Literacy Development According to Van Voorhis (2013), support for families is most effective when it: * Involves shared experiences such as dialogic reading or family conversations * Is sustained and targeted **Shared literacy experiences** occur when families are interacting. Reading a book or writing a letter together are examples of shared literacy experiences. Children need to participate in interactive and shared literacy activities many times throughout the day, in the classroom and at home. **Oral Language Development** With the understanding that children learn rules of spoken language at an early age through use and modeling without formal instruction, families can support their child(ren)’s oral language development through social interactions in a language-rich environment. Educators can help families sustain oral language development by providing a wide range of ideas, activities, and resources that promote opportunities for children to engage in interactive conversation with adults and other children through listening, questioning, responding, collaborating, and discussing various topics. **Interactive Read-Aloud** Many family members are not aware of specific strategies to build early literacy and language skills. While they may have heard that read-aloud is important, they may not know why or best practices for doing this at home. For example, families should know that when reading aloud to their children, they should avoid times when their children are too tired or distracted. Attention can also focus on the types of books to select when reading aloud—those with high interest topics and/or rhyming patterns to encourage interactive reading are a great start for young readers. **Shared Writing Experience** All children bring experiences to school gained through family life. Families can encourage their children to write about their interests, experiences, and hobbies. Common family activities—like cooking, gardening, music-making, and communicating with faraway relatives—all contain knowledge and know-how that promotes writing experiences at home and in the classroom. Samples of resulting composing activities include writing family histories and crafting related geographic maps, recording recipes and planning and recording a cooking show, and explaining the life cycle of a certain sort of plant (which could lead to composing gardening guidelines). Family members can serve as authoritative discussants, as can children themselves (NCTE, 2018). Supporting families in their child(ren)’s literacy development requires an understanding of the factors which contribute to successful partnerships, as well as meaningful opportunities for family support of literacy development in the home. Some of the factors to support successful partnerships include finding ways to help families feel truly included in the experiences. Schools should use surveys and other data points to help families identify opportunities for family learning. Schools and educators must also consider a variety of partnership methods for success such as use of social media, websites, newsletters, and family nights. ### Determine the Goal(s) to Develop Your Plan for Supporting Families In preparation for these family interactions, the educator should consider the following in developing a plan for support. Determine the purpose of the interaction: Will families be engaging with activities at home? Will they be attending a workshop or activity virtually or at school to build their learning? 1. **Learning activities at home**: This includes home activities that parents engage in to promote literacy, or more general academic activities. They may also occur wherever children learn with their parents, such as in libraries, museums, and family resource centers. 2. **Family involvement at school**: This includes actions and interactions that parents and other family members have while at the school building. For example, it can take place during an open house, parent-teacher conference, while participating in classroom activities, or volunteering. 3. **School outreach to engage families**: Opportunities include strategies and practices that schools and educators use to engage families and make them feel welcome. These activities are usually hosted within the school, but can also include technology. Family literacy nights might be held. Facebook live events could be held and recorded for future sharing on any literacy topic. Some schools even visit the homes of all students in a transitional grade before the start of the school year. 4. **Supportive parenting activities**: This includes activities that parents conduct to support their child(ren’)s development and well-being, including the nature and quality of the parent-child relationship; parenting activities, such as setting rules at home; and caring behaviors that characterize the home environment in general. This is in contrast to parents conducting specific literacy or math activities at home with their children. ### Develop Your Plan for Supporting Families by Focusing on the Goal(s) When developing a plan for supporting families in student literacy development, the educator must first decide the desired goal(s) of the work. With these goals in mind, the educator should work to determine which strategies would best support this engagement with families. **If the goal is to**… 1. **Build family knowledge** on literacy skills for a particular age level: * Develop and share handouts, websites, and/or resources related to the specific literacy topic targeted. * Support dialogic reading in the home. Educators might introduce the topic at Open House. Next, materials might be shared about the steps in dialogic reading in newsletters or an email with links to example videos and websites. Families could then try it out at home. Finally, educators might ask families to share some feedback on implementation. * Share content about literacy topics, the establishment of clear goals, a plan of action, and a method of follow-up makes for stronger communication. 2. **Involve families in school** to promote literacy development: * Plan to build these interactions. Family members coming in and engaging in a read-aloud with the class, or supporting students in one-on-one practice in reading are just a few examples. * Lists for volunteers could be solicited through email, sign-ups at school events, or any other method which allows schools to get a contact list of interested adults. * The coordination of these efforts then occurs, and a schedule supports families to clearly know their times and what to expect. 3. **Provide family outreach and engagement**. Educators and schools will look for ways to help families feel welcome and included in school and at school functions: * Engagement efforts complement other goals, such as printing materials in home languages, as a way to build family comfort in schools. * Incentives like free books and materials, as well as the option of food and childcare, can help make attendance at family engagements even more appealing for families with limited time. Finally, some families will need support in getting ideas for ways to build and maintain structures and routines which will assist in literacy development. These ideas are very similar to those which build family knowledge related to literacy skills and can be shared in a variety of ways. Helping families see the value of routines can provide the space and time for attention for important literacy skills. Overall, an educator’s plan for support and engagement of families should be targeted and clearly outlined. Learning to read and write starts at home, long before children go to school. That path continues throughout a child’s school years.
* Armbruster, B. B., Lehr, F., & Osborn, J. (2006). *A child becomes a reader: Proven ideas from research for parents*. RMC Research Corporation: Portsmouth, NH. <https://www.nichd.nih.gov/sites/default/files/publications/pubs/documents/readingk-3.pdf#search=A-Child-Becomes-a-Reader%3A-Proven-Ideas-from-Research-for-Parents> This resource provides families with a brief summary of the power in supporting literacy development at home, as well as a series of specific activities for families to support children up through third grade. * Genishi, C. (1998). *Young children's oral language development*. ERIC Digest. ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education. This article presents an overview of the process and mechanics of language development, along with implications for practice. * NCTE. (2018). *Parents as partners in promoting writing among children and youth*. Urbana, IL: NCTE. * Van Voorhis, F. L., Maier, M. F., Epstein, J. L., & Lloyd, C. M. (2013). *The impact of family involvement on the education of children ages 3 to 8: A focus on literacy and math achievement outcomes and social-emotional skills*. Retrieved from <https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED545474.pdf> A synthesis of research and activities of proven strategies to support the connection between families and school in math and literacy. * Weiner, J. (2014). Bridging the cultural gap: Communication with families of culturally and linguistically diverse students. *Perspectives on Language & Literacy, 40*(4), 39–43. <https://app.box.com/s/dfveh4gj5evo50bpv3a7wjgnk1nyiiw5> Intended for educators, this article provides ideas for ways to support culturally inclusive classrooms both for children and their families. In addition to the research behind the need for this support, very specific strategies are included.
* Kosanovich, M., Lee, L., & Foorman, B. (2020). *A kindergarten teacher’s guide to supporting family involvement in foundational reading skills* (REL 2020-016). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Regional Educational Laboratory Southeast. Retrieved from <https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/project.asp?projectID=5674> Meant for use by educators, this guide is designed specifically to provide ideas for support to families in kindergarten. Additional guides are being developed to support educators in their work through grade 3 as well. * National Center on Improving Literacy. (2019). *Route to reading: Help your child fuel up*. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Office of Special Education Programs, National Center on Improving Literacy. <https://improvingliteracy.org/brief/route-reading-help-your-child-fuel> A guide for caregivers, written to help families understand the link between speech sounds and literacy development. * Ohio Department of Education. (n.d.). *Partnering with families to improve literacy skills (K–5)*. <https://education.ohio.gov/getattachment/Topics/Other-Resources/Family-and-Community-Engagement/Framework-for-Building-Partnerships-Among-Schools/Literacy.pdf.aspx> A resource guide for educators providing specific steps for partnering with families in support of literacy development in grades 1-3 * Reade, A. (2017). *Supporting your child’s literacy development at home*. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Office of Special Education Programs, National Center on Improving Literacy. <https://improvingliteracy.org/brief/supporting-your-childs-literacy-development-home> A parent’s guide, available in both Spanish and English, explaining ways to support a child’s literacy development at home. * The Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk. (n.d.). *Read aloud routine*. Adapted from: Hickman, P., Pollard-Durodola, S., & Vaughn, S. (2004). Storybook reading: Improving vocabulary and comprehension for English language learners. Reading Teacher, 57(8), 720–730. Retrieved from: [https://www.meadowscenter.org/files/resources/ReadAloud\_Web.pdf](https://www.meadowscenter.org/files/resources/ReadAloud_Web.pdf) A flyer for families with strategies for read-alouds at home. * Achieve the Core. (April 2020). *Reading practice in a time of remote learning*. <https://achievethecore.org/page/3261/reading-practice-in-a-time-of-remote-learning-april-2020-special-edition-webinar> Looking for ways to engage students in reading practice within this time of remote learning? Thinking about equity and access to learning for ALL students? Learn about a 5-day instructional routine that engages all students in reading practice. * Reading Rockets. (2014). *From babbling to books*. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?time\_continue=571&v=m9ImsYpNgbw&feature=emb\_logo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=571&v=m9ImsYpNgbw&feature=emb_logo) This video shares strategies for developing language and pre-reading skills in young children. * Reading Rockets. (2014). *Becoming aware of print*. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1Vk2kLPDi0&list=PLLxDwKxHx1yJFXkqsISvw87LFTvnxM5NB&index=1> Early-literacy support for learning at home for young children. * Center for Parent Information and Resources. (2018). *Partnering with families for early language and literacy development: Research-based strategies for early childhood teachers*. <https://cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/u.osu.edu/dist/8/41057/files/2016/12/LanguageLiteracy-Strategies-for-Teachers-12.12.17-2j291t8.pdf> This document was created for teachers, pre-K through 3rd grade, looking to improve their strategies for partnering with families for children’s language and literacy development. ### Definition * Diverse learners: Learners who bring a broad array of learning preferences, background knowledge, experiences, identities, and educational variability and may vary linguistically, socio-culturally, racially, ethnically, or economically.
Provide a description of at least two family activities you have planned and implemented to support the literacy development of your students. Describe the activities and strategies you used. Include information on what specific classroom or school target group data you used to develop the activities.
Provide a description of how the family support activity was successful. Be sure to include specific information related to how you measured success, such as survey response data, anecdotes or conversations.
To complete the micro-credential, please submit the following evidence: **Artifact 1: Review of Need and Annotated Planning Tool** Identify, review, and summarize the data sources that led you to determining the focus for the workshops or supports. **Artifact 2: Annotated Family Activity** Upload your planning documents (agenda, schedule, overview) for at least two different workshops or supports you provided. The submission should address the following: * Annotate the documents, including explanations and rationale for inclusion of each activity. * Articulate the literacy learning supported by the activities. * Articulate the rationale for the planning of the actual support and the reasons for each activity or element of the workshop/support. * Family engagement opportunities identified: What families will actually be doing with the resource or activity. * The planning documents, which include: + Specific Goals for support for families + Specific Literacy Development areas targeted by the workshop or learning. * Photographs or video clips should accompany the submission highlighting specific goals for support of families and specific literacy development area (for example, a picture of a station from a literacy activity night on fluency would show the type of activity as well as the topic). If the activity is a resource for families, a PDF or image of the resource should be submitted. * Method of data collection for family feedback, such as a survey. Note: Be sure to include photographs or video clips as further evidence. **Artifact 3: Family Workshop or Activity** Survey or follow up responses from participants supporting diverse learners and families. (See the Resources section for definition of diverse learners.) Submit the following: * Rationale (150-word limit) + Why did you choose this group of diverse families for support? Include narrative on the data you used to make this decision. + What additional supports or accommodations did you provide to meet the needs of the diverse families? * Work Samples + Upload artifacts of literacy content support from two different workshops or supports. + Include a comprehensive summary of data.
Provide a reflection on providing families involvement activities and learning to support literacy development. Use the following questions to guide you: - What was the impact of teaching specifics about literacy development strategies to families? - How will crafting these workshops and supports affect your practice in the future?
Educator provides descriptions of at least two types of family support provided including specific demographic information used in planning. Activity and strategy description is clear, with sufficient detail to illustrate what the educator and families did to gain new information, including the data used.
Educator provides a description of the activity and how they determined success. The responses provide specific information and examples where necessary.
Educator reflection is specific and demonstrates how this activity impacted both educator and families, and how it will affect the educator’s future practice.
Artifact 1: Review of Need and Annotated Planning Tool
Annotated planning tool includes all information to identify, review, and summarize data used to determine workshops or supports.
Annotated planning tool includes some information to identify, review, and summarize data used to determine workshops or supports.
Annotated planning tool includes little or no information to identify, review, and summarize data used to determine workshops or supports.
Review of data for at least two workshops and/or family supports is comprehensive, including demographics of families and conclusions of identified need. The link between the two is clearly explained. - Learning plans include sufficient information about the support for families selected as well as the literacy topic of focus. - Annotations are comprehensive and include detailed rationale for inclusion. Planning for family engagement is clear.
Review of data includes demographic information of families and conclusions of identified need are partial – either components are missing or fewer than two are submitted. The link between the data review and the activity is not clear. - Learning plan includes insufficient information about the support for families selected as well as the topic of literacy focus. - Annotations are included but are incomplete. Planning for family engagement is unclear.
There is insufficient or no data review present. Learning plan includes brief or limited information. Annotations are not included or not complete. There is no clear plan for family engagement.
- Rationale for the method for choosing family or group of families is clear. It is clear if additional supports or accommodations were used to meet the needs of diverse learners. - All artifacts of literacy content for workshops and/or family support have been uploaded. - Summary and data analysis are complete.
- Rationale for the method of choosing family or group of families is unclear or not specific. Explanation of necessary accommodations does not clearly address steps the educator took to support the diverse learners. - Some artifacts were uploaded, but not all of the samples for the workshops and/or family support. - Summary and data analysis are incomplete.
- Rationale is not addressed and/or no explanation of supports is provided. - No artifact samples were uploaded for workshops and/or family support. - Summary and data analysis are not provided.
Educator effectively provides synthetic phonics instruction to diverse learners so they understand the relationship of sounds to written words.
# Key Method The educator develops a lesson plan that includes explicit and systematic instruction of letter/sound correspondences and segmenting and blending letter sounds to form and read words in texts. # Method Components ### Overview Learning the relationship between letters and sounds is non-negotiable when learning to read in an alphabetic writing system; this is most successfully achieved through phonics instruction. Synthetic phonics instruction teaches letter–sound correspondences individually and in a specified sequence, and children are taught early to blend (synthesize, hence the termsynthetic) individual phonemes to make words. ### Components of Synthetic Phonics Instruction **Phonological Awareness** Phonological awareness is a broad term used for all things related to the sounds of spoken language. Phonological awareness is entirely oral and forms the building blocks for later reading before print is even introduced. Phonological awareness is a broad skill that includes identifying and manipulating units of oral language—parts such as words, syllables, and onsets and rimes. Phonemic awareness refers to the specific ability to focus on and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words. Phonemes are the smallest unit of sound within words. Phonemic awareness has a direct and significant effect on learning to read and spell. Phonics consists of learning sound and spelling patterns in a distinct sequence that allows students to recognize the sounds letters make in print. ***Phonemic awareness connects directly to phonics***, as students must be able to hear the sounds in order to recognize them in written form. The sound and spelling patterns taught each week build on one another and, in turn, allow students to decode new and more complicated words. While the scope and sequence for teaching phonics can vary from program to program, you must follow a carefully designed progression to ensure that your students are building their knowledge systematically. **Writing and Spelling** In phonics instruction, writing (spelling) and reading go hand in hand. In fact, spelling is also known as encoding, or writing the letters that make the phonics patterns heard inside a word. The process of reading words by identifying sounds the letters make and blending them into words is called decoding. Students must be taught to identify the phoneme (sound) that letters or combinations of letters make. They must also learn the variety of ways that the 44 phonemes in the English language can be written with graphemes. Decoding is the basis for automatic word recognition. Students are able to decode with automaticity when this process happens accurately and exceptionally quickly. **Common Phonics Terms** * Decoding: learning to read words by recognizing and stringing together sounds * Encoding: using letter sounds to write * Automaticity: the act of decoding that is done so rapidly it seems the word has been recognized as a whole * Word recognition: learning words as wholes, recognizing words in the moment of reading * Graphemes: letters or groups of letters that represent sounds * Sound and spelling pattern: the phonics-based skill of focus in a scope and sequence, usually a letter, letter pair, or word part (Achieve the Core. (2018). Foundational skills guidance documents: Grades K–2) ### Supporting students as they learn through synthetic phonics instruction Word boxes are used to help students segment or break apart the individual sounds (phonemes) in a word and represent those sounds with letters (graphemes) that can be blended together again to read the word. A word box is created by dividing a rectangle with vertical lines drawn inside the rectangle. At first, a picture is placed above the divided rectangle, and the number of boxes provided below the picture equals the number of sounds in the word that the picture represents. Later, the number of boxes may remain constant, so that students have to determine the number of sounds for themselves. As students begin to read more complex words, the boxes may be used to represent syllables rather than individual sounds. Use word-building exercises to enhance students’ awareness of how words are composed and how each letter or phoneme in a word contributes to its spelling and pronunciation. For example, provide students with a set of letter tiles or magnetic letters, and have them add or remove letters to create words or to change one word into a different word. It is critical that students connect their phonics instruction to reading. This means practicing decoding within the context of meaningful text. One option for this is to make use of decodable readers. Decodables are controlled texts that feature only words already taught either as whole (sight) words or words containing phonics patterns that were already taught or currently being learned. Decodables can be used for whole-class or small-group work, in centers, or for independent reading. They should be read many times. ### Assessing Mastery of Synthetic Phonics Assessing a student’s letter–sound correspondences and their ability to segment and blend letter sounds to form and read words in texts should be systematic to ensure students don’t fall far behind in learning the foundations of reading. Assessments determine whether students are mastering taught skills in phonics and phonemic/phonological awareness. These assessments provide educators with insight into which level of mastery the student has achieved and next steps for instruction. Educators should implement best practices when assessing a student’s phonics skills. However, here are some specifics to guide educators as they are assessing students. * There are two purposes for assessing: 1. Initially, identify students who could be potentially at risk, students having difficulty acquiring beginning reading skills. 2. Consistently progress monitor students who are receiving synthetic phonics instruction. * It is recommended that educators use a wide variety of screening assessments. These screening tools should measure specific phonics skills. * When educators use screening measures, they must create decision rules when identifying students needing extra support in phonics instruction. * When educators select assessments that are used to monitor student progress, it is best to choose assessments or tools that are sensitive to growth and require multiple forms of the skill, to ensure a true reflection of the student’s knowledge.
* Achieve the Core. (2018). Foundational skills guidance documents: Grades K–2. <https://achievethecore.org/content/upload/Foundational%20Skills%20Guidance%20Document.pdf> This guide outlines essential instructional components to teach early reading skills. This document provides educators of kindergarten, first, and second grades with best practices to support the explicit teaching of foundational skills: print concepts, phonological awareness, phonics and word recognition, and fluency. This document should be used along with instructional materials that provide explicit and systematic instruction and practice. * Castles, A., Rastle, K., & Nation, K. (2018). Ending the reading wars: Reading acquisition from novice to expert. *Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 19*(1), 5–51.[](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1529100618772271) <https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1529100618772271> A review of the research literature about learning to read. It explains why phonics instruction is central to learning in a writing system such as English. * Chard, D. J., & Osborn, J. (1999). Phonics and word recognition instruction in early reading programs: Guidelines for accessibility. *Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 14*(2), 107–117. <http://www.ldonline.org/article/6316/> This article examines the content and instructional plans of phonics and word recognition to be used with children with reading disabilities. Information is provided about the content of effective word-recognition instruction. * Foorman, B., Beyler, N., Borradaile, K., Coyne, M., Denton, C. A., Dimino, J., Furgeson, J., Hayes, L., Henke, J., Justice, L., Keating, B., Lewis, W., Sattar, S., Streke, A., Wagner, R., & Wissel, S. (2016). *Foundational skills to support reading for understanding in kindergarten through 3rd grade*. (NCEE 2016-4008). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance (NCEE), Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from the NCEE website [](https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/PracticeGuide/wwc_foundationalreading_040717.pdf) [https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/PracticeGuide/wwc\_foundationalreading\_040717.pdf](https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/PracticeGuide/wwc_foundationalreading_040717.pdf) This What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) practice guide focuses on the foundational reading skills that enable students to read words (alphabetics), relate those words to their oral language, and read connected text with sufficient accuracy and fluency to understand what they read. This practice guide, developed by a panel of experts comprised of researchers and practitioners, presents four recommendations that educators can use to improve literacy skills in the early grades. * Gibbs, A., Reed, D. K., & Zimmerman, L. (2018, November). *Teaching letter–sound correspondences and syllable types for word identification*. Retrieved from <https://iowareadingresearch.org/blog/letter-sound-correspondences-syllable-types> This article describes an example of a proper sequence for teaching synthetic proper instruction. Then, the authors share the components of an effective elementary and secondary phonics instruction lesson plan. * International Literacy Association. (2018). *Explaining phonics instruction: An educator’s guide* [Literacy leadership brief]. Newark, DE: Author. <https://www.literacyworldwide.org/docs/default-source/where-we-stand/ila-explaining-phonics-instruction-an-educators-guide.pdf> This educator’s guide gives research, definitions, prerequisites and information on how phonics is taught effectively. Additionally, this guide offers educators guidance on how to present information around phonics instruction to families. * O’Connor, R. (2014). *Teaching word recognition: Effective strategies for students with learning difficulties* (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Guilford Press. <https://www.guilford.com/books/Teaching-Word-Recognition/Rollanda-O'Connor/9781462516193> This text is effective for understanding why students who struggle need extra experience with decoding short vowel words in a synthetic fashion without the assistance of word families. * Treiman, R. (2018). What research tells us about reading instruction. *Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 19*(1),1–4.[](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1529100618772272) <https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1529100618772272> This article provides an overview of the importance of phonics instruction based on psychological science. They suggest that children need to be taught explicitly about how their writing system works and how it connects to language. Within this explicit and direct instruction, educators need to have a good understanding of how children learn to read and spell, so that they can apply appropriate guidance and feedback.
* Florida Center for Reading Research. (2007). *Instructional planning guide for grade 1 phonics*. <https://www.fcrr.org/student-center-activities/kindergarten-and-first-grade> An example instructional planning checklist for educators to use when planning a standards-aligned phonics lesson. * Gibbs, A., Reed, D. K., & Zimmerman, L. (2018, November). *Teaching letter–sound correspondences and syllable types for word identification*. Retrieved from <https://iowareadingresearch.org/blog/letter-sound-correspondences-syllable-types> This resource offers educators example lesson plans for phonics instruction. It includes links to supplemental material for educators. * Kosanovich, M., & Verhagen, C. (2012). *Building the foundation: A suggested progression of sub-skills to achieve the reading standards: Foundational skills in the Common Core State Standards*. Portsmouth, NH: RMC Research Corporation, Center on Instruction. <https://www.centeroninstruction.org/files/Building%20the%20Foundation.pdf> This document explains the developmental sequence of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), including phonics. The document is divided into five sections, one for each grade level K–5, with grades 4–5 combined. Within each section, there is information on the standard, sub-skills and instructional examples, along with grade level expectations. * Synthetic Phonics. (n.d.) *The English alphabetic code—with audio*.[](https://syntheticphonics.com/the-english-alphabetic-code-with-audio/) <https://syntheticphonics.com/the-english-alphabetic-code-with-audio/> This chart can be used as a formative assessment tool for educators to assess phoneme knowledge. This webpage also contains “classroom-size” display charts with this information. * Phonics International. (n.d.). *Alphabetic code charts*.[](https://www.alphabeticcodecharts.com/free_charts.html) [https://www.alphabeticcodecharts.com/free\_charts.html](https://www.alphabeticcodecharts.com/free_charts.html) This resource may be helpful for a variety of people and purposes. The charts are all free to download. They can be used with the Phonics International synthetic phonics program, or to complement other basic literacy programs for reading and spelling. * Student Achievement Partners. (January 2018). *Understand foundational skills*.[](about%3Ablank) [https://achievethecore.org/category/1205/understand-foundational-skills ](https://achievethecore.org/category/1205/understand-foundational-skills)Learn how phonological awareness and phonics connect to early reading through this 7-part mini-course that dives into the content of literacy foundational skills, with an emphasis on phonological awareness, phonics, and how these connect to early reading. Instructional guidelines and concrete recommendations for teacher practice are also explored. * Reading Rockets. (n.d.). *Phonics: Introduction*[](https://www.readingrockets.org/teaching/reading101-course/modules/phonics-introduction) <https://www.readingrockets.org/teaching/reading101-course/modules/phonics-introduction> In this module, educators discover elements of phonics instruction as well as the alphabetic principle. ### Synthetic Phonics * The FIVE from FIVE Reading Project. (2019, October 15). *What is systematic synthetic phonics?*[](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuCuND7k5jc) <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuCuND7k5jc> Systematic synthetic phonics teaches children to use the relationships between letters and sounds to decode words and read them accurately and fluently . This video explains how. Created using mysimpleshow. Sign up at <http://www.mysimpleshow.com> and create your own simpleshow video for free. * Shanahan, T. (2018, August 8). *Synthetic phonics or systematic phonics? What does research really say?* <https://www.readingrockets.org/blogs/shanahan-literacy/synthetic-phonics-or-systematic-phonics-what-does-research-really-say-0> Literacy expert Timothy Shanahan shares best practices for teaching reading and writing. Dr. Shanahan is an internationally recognized professor of urban education and reading researcher who has extensive experience with children in inner-city schools and children with special needs. All posts are reprinted with permission from Shanahan on Literacy, <https://www.shanahanonliteracy.com/> ### Letter–Sound Relationships * Reading Rockets. (2016, September 9).[](https://www.readingrockets.org/teaching/reading101-course/toolbox/alphabetic-principle)*Alphabetic principle*. [https://www.readingrockets.org/teaching/reading101-course/toolbox/alphabetic-principle ](https://www.readingrockets.org/teaching/reading101-course/toolbox/alphabetic-principle)Children’s knowledge of letter names and shapes is a strong predictor of their success in learning to read. Knowing letter names is strongly related to children’s ability to remember the forms of written words and their ability to treat words as sequences of letters. * Gibbs, A., Reed, D., & Zimmermann, L. (2018, November 27). *Teaching letter–sound correspondences and syllable types for word identification*. Iowa Reading Research Center.[](https://iowareadingresearch.org/blog/letter-sound-correspondences-syllable-types) [https://iowareadingresearch.org/blog/letter-sound-correspondences-syllable-types ](https://iowareadingresearch.org/blog/letter-sound-correspondences-syllable-types)The Iowa Reading Research Center strives to improve the literacy skills of all students. The center provides guidance for literacy instruction in schools by conducting research in practical settings to evaluate the effectiveness of literacy practices. * Michigan Virtual. (2018, March 30).[](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2KVcPpyZ6M)*K-3 Essential 5: Instruction in letter–sound relationships sample video*. [](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2KVcPpyZ6M) <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2KVcPpyZ6M>. Instruction in letter–sound relationships is verbally precise and involves multiple channels, such as oral and visual or visual and tactile, and is accompanied by opportunities to apply knowledge of the letter–sound relationships taught by reading books or other connected texts that include those relationships. For more information, visit[](https://www.youtube.com/redirect?v=O2KVcPpyZ6M&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbGQtMi1WQW9icXhJNTRjN3RLR2R3Mnl2S0RoUXxBQ3Jtc0tsaXFzOVl3X25jaHd4b0VMdFJGdkdVWjBFcnBJRzFTNjdkNmpkRFEzRWxxRlNxempORExHM3RwZ25ndU9jQ09kMVJ0SG9vYjF4aDVWd1gzSFEzSzRxWEVGR0E1R2lwWUhXaWRnS050TU9OR2lJVy1NZw%3D%3D&event=video_description&q=http%3A%2F%2Fliteracyessentials.org) <http://literacyessentials.org> * Michigan Virtual. (November 13, 2018). Pre-K Essential 5: Bullets 1-5: Letter–sound relationships sample video. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53lwTQrjF38 ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53lwTQrjF38)In these classrooms, children learn about letter–sound relationships by interacting with an alphabet book, fishing for letters, and forming letters in sand. ### Definitions * Diverse learners: Learners who bring a broad array of learning preferences, background knowledge, experiences, identities, and educational variability and may vary linguistically, socio-culturally, racially, ethnically, or economically. * Onset and rime notation: When letters are inside two slashes (/ /), this represents isolating that sound. For example, if the sentence is “Line up if this is your name: /m/att.” The educator would say the “m” sound in isolation (onset); then the educator would say the “att” sound together (rime).
What activities did you and your students engage in to become more proficient in synthetic phonics? Please describe the learning activities and strategies, and include information on what classroom data you used to develop the activities.
How do you know your students increased their proficiency in letter–sound correspondence and blending to read words in text? What evidence did you collect that demonstrates these learning gains?
To complete the micro-credential, please submit the following evidence: **Artifact 1: Annotated Lesson Plan** Upload your lesson plan used to support student learning on synthetic phonics. Annotate the lesson, including where in-class explanations may not be clear to the assessor and accommodations that will be made to support all students. The lesson should include: * Introduction * Modeling * Guided practice * Independent practice **Artifact 2: Whole Group Instruction** Upload a 10–20 minute annotated video/audio of the whole group instruction. The video/audio should include the following annotations: * Giving the lesson objective: to identify sounds in a word and how to represent those sounds with letters, so that they can read the word. * Modelling behavior 4–5 times or until students have an understanding of the procedures. * Providing an opportunity for student engagement, including asking/answering questions or small-group interaction. * Giving students an opportunity for independent practice while providing immediate and specific feedback. * Student engagement including, but not limited to, responding, focusing attention on the educator, asking questions, or think-pair-share. **Artifact 3: Student Work Samples** Choose a group of 2 or more diverse learners that you supported for the lesson provided in Artifact 1. (See the Resources section for definition of diverse learners.) Submit the following: * Rationale (150-word limit) + Why did you choose this individual student or group of diverse learners? Include narrative on the data you used to make this decision. + What additional supports or accommodations did you make to this lesson to meet the needs of the diverse learner(s)? * Assessment Samples + Upload work samples from two students from the lesson plan provided in Artifact 1. For each student, submit assessment examples (writing, audio, images, video, or other products) that demonstrate progress toward learning the synthetic phonics. Include work samples with your feedback.
Provide a reflection on teaching synthetic phonics to your students, using the following questions to guide you: - What was the impact of teaching synthetic phonics to your students? - How will crafting this lesson affect your practice in the future?
Educator provides a description for how students increased their proficiency in the synthetic phonics. Description includes evidence that demonstrated learning gains. Descriptions are specific, with examples provided when necessary.
- Video/audio is annotated. - Instruction is 10–20 minutes, shows whole group instruction and clear expectations, and student engagement is evident and clear across the majority of students and occurs multiple times. - Educator provides immediate and specific feedback to the majority of students.
- Video/audio is annotated. - Instruction may or may not be less than 10 minutes. Student engagement is minimal, limited to a few students or occurs only a few times. - Minimal educator feedback is provided to students.
Educator demonstrates the effective implementation of using graphophonemic knowledge to teach high-frequency words (HFW) in groups of words with similar patterns.
# Key Method The educator develops a lesson plan to teach high-frequency words that includes current research-based strategies to teach these words. # Method Components ### Overview High-Frequency Words (HFW) are commonly referred to as “sight words.” These are words that students encounter frequently in their reading and often have irregular spelling patterns. Teachers commonly teach these words holistically through rote learning. ### Components of High-Frequency Word Instruction Duke and Mesmer (2016) recommend the following for exemplary high-frequency word instruction: 1. **High-frequency words should be taught in conjunction with phonemic awareness, individual letter–sound relationships, and a concept of word** (e.g., Flanagan, 2007). Much of high-frequency word instruction occurs too early—before children have essential literacy components in place. Without a concept of word and an understanding that letters represent sounds which form words’ alphabetic, students may begin to hold the misunderstanding that words are unsystematic, without a predictable relationship between written letters and spoken sounds. High-frequency word instruction should occur at a similar pace as instruction in phonics. 2. **Ask students to use graphophonemic analysis to read high-frequency words** (Ehri, 2005). However, it is important to ensure that instruction matches the children’s developmental stage (e.g., Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton, & Johnston, 2012). For example, if working with an emergent reader who is just beginning to understand consonant sounds, focus them on just the first letter in a high-frequency word. When working with a full alphabetic reader (students who can decode unfamiliar words and store fully analyzed sight words in memory), teach the specific sounds in each word, including words that are not spelled using common letter–sound correspondences. For example, for the word “was”, teach /w/ /u/ /z/. That is, pronounce each sound in isolation in the word. This type of teaching supports learning, as it builds a phonological representation of the word. 3. **Teach high-frequency words in groups that have similar patterns**. For example, teachsome, come, above,andloveat one time, as they all have the silentewith the voweloas the /u/ sound. 4. **Use high-frequency words to help children learn to decode new words**. Children taught words with full graphophonemic analysis are better able earlier on to use analogies from those words to new words; for example, “If I knowlong, then I knowstrong.’’ 5. **Practice reading high-frequency words in sentences and books**. Although it is important that children analyze words individually, they also must read them in the context of sentences, books and other forms of print to fully understand the purpose and importance of sight word reading. ### Supporting students as they learn high-frequency words Crafting a lesson for teaching high-frequency words requires an understanding of the most recent research-based best practices. * **Practice**: Help children strategically understand spellings using: + Decoding (making initial connections between graphemes and phonemes) + Cross-checking (correcting a decoding attempt in context) + Mental marking (mentally flagging unexpected letters in memory; for example, the *w* in *sword*) + Rereading words in context (solidifying the spellings of words) + During shared writing, record the sentence on butcher paper or a whiteboard, highlighting or outlining the high-frequency word. Read the sentence as a class before moving on to the next word. * **Connect lesson to students’ spelling stages** + Children in the pre-alphabetic phase remember a word on visual cues only. + Children in partial alphabetic remember and apply only a few letter–sound matches. + Children in full alphabetic phase are better able to learn irregular words as sight words. + Children in the consolidated alphabetic phase can match onset and rime units and analogies. * **Teach decoding by analogy** + Ask students to segment key words into sounds, compare the sounds to the letters they see, and determine which letter or letters match each sound. * **Teach high-frequency words in combination with phonics** + Teach decoding with more advanced vowel patterns before teaching irregular words. + Hierarchical decoders—those who make use of vowel‐digraphs and silent‐e signals in recognizing spelling patterns in one‐syllable words—proved much more successful in learning irregular words than sequential decoders; that is, those who decode letter by letter in a left‐to‐right sequence. * **Introduce sight words**: + Introduce new words in isolation. + Do not introduce two sight words that are similar or easily confused at the same time (e.g., *will*and *well*). + Provide brief (less than 10 minutes) but frequent sight word instruction. + Offer students numerous opportunities to practice reading and writing words and to receive immediate and specific feedback. * **Connect instruction to reading text** + Introduce new sight words in isolation (i.e., the sight word by itself), but immediately follow this with repeated exposures to the same sight words in books and other text materials. + Immediately encountering the words in a book provides an opportunity to practice reading them, but building the ability to read them with automaticity, or effortlessly upon sight, will take repeated practice. If a child is struggling to remember previously introduced sight words, continue practicing with those before adding new sight words. Sight word instruction is only one part of a comprehensive reading lesson and must be accompanied by instruction in phonics. ### Assessing High-Frequency Words Assessing a student’s high-frequency word vocabulary will consist of reading assessments where the student reads words from a list, in phrases and in text that is presented. These assessments provide educators with insight into which skills they need to teach the student next, so that the student can continue to make progress in automatic word recognition. Educators should implement best practices when assessing a student’s high frequency word vocabulary. However, here are some specifics to guide educators as they are assessing students. * There are two purposes when assessing high frequency word vocabulary: 1. Initially, identify students who could be potentially at risk; that is, students having difficulty acquiring beginning reading skills. 2. Consistently progress monitor students who are receiving high-frequency word instruction. * It is recommended that educators use a wide variety of screening assessments. These screening tools should measure high-frequency word vocabulary. An example might include a student reading HFW words within phrases. * When educators use screening measures, they must create decision rules when identifying students needing extra support in HFW instruction. * When educators select assessments that are used to monitor student progress, it is best to choose assessments or tools that are sensitive to growth and require multiple forms of the skill, to ensure a true reflection of the student’s knowledge.
* Duke, N. K., & Mesmer, H. A. E. (2016, June). Teach “sight words” as you would other words. <https://literacyworldwide.org/blog%2Fliteracy-daily%2F2016%2F06%2F23%2Fteach-ldquo-sight-words-rdquo-as-you-would-other-words> This article recommends teachers approach the teaching of high-frequency words, or “sight words,” in the same manner as the teaching of other words. The authors recommend teaching all words through graphophonemic analysis along with teaching similar patterned words in groups (e.g., love, above, come). * Farrell, L., Hunter, M., & Osenga, T. (2019). A new love, above, come model for teaching high-frequency words. [](https://www.readingrockets.org/article/new-model-teaching-high-frequency-words) <https://www.readingrockets.org/article/new-model-teaching-high-frequency-words> This document offers a new model for teaching high-frequency words and encourages teachers to rethink teaching high-frequency words in ways other than rote memorization. The authors suggest that high-frequency word instruction should be integrated into phonics lessons, as this allows students to use their knowledge of applying spelling patterns to these words. * Gaskins, I. W. (2004). Word detectives. *Educational Leadership, 61*(6), 70–73. This article describes successful word learning at a school for struggling readers. The educators taught decoding by analogy. They asked students to segment words into sounds, compare the sounds to the letters, and then determine which letter or letters make each sound. In doing this, words are analyzed, stored in memory and then easily retrieved when decoding by analogy. * Hinzman, M., & Reed, D. K. (2018).*Teaching sight words as a part of comprehensive reading instruction*. <https://iowareadingresearch.org/blog/teaching-sight-words> This source suggests that sight words should be taught alongside systematic phonics instruction. They also suggest that new sight words should be taught in isolation, with brief but frequent instruction. Further, they suggest that sight words should not be taught with others that are similar or easily confused (e.g., will and well) and that students should receive immediate and specific feedback. * Murray, B. A., McIlwain, M. J., Wang, C., Murray, G., & Finley, S. (2019). How do beginners learn to read irregular words as sight words?*Journal of Research in Reading, 42*(1),123–236. <https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-9817.12250> This study examined how beginning readers learn to read irregular words. They found that learning to recognize spelling patterns in words allows for the knowledge required to make irregular words into sight words. In contrast, they found that sounding out and blending letters in sequence does not prepare children to read these irregular words.
* Lyon, Cheryl. *Sight words: An evidence-based literacy strategy*. <https://www.understood.org/en/school-learning/for-educators/teaching-strategies/how-to-teach-sight-words> Lesson plan to teach high-frequency words aligned with current research. Also, includes a video as a model lesson for teachers. * Foorman, B., Beyler, N., Borradaile, K., Coyne, M., Denton, C. A., Dimino, J., Furgeson, J., Hayes, L., Henke, J., Justice, L., Keating, B., Lewis, W., Sattar, S., Streke, A., Wagner, R., & Wissel, S. (2016). *Foundational skills to support reading for understanding in kindergarten through 3rd grade* (NCEE 2016-4008). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance (NCEE), Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from the NCEE website: <http://whatworks.ed.gov>[](https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/PracticeGuide/wwc_foundationalreading_070516.pdf) [https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/PracticeGuide/wwc\_foundationalreading\_070516.pdf](https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/PracticeGuide/wwc_foundationalreading_070516.pdf) This is a practice guide developed for educators teaching foundational skills to support reading for understanding in grades Kindergarten through Grade 3. This guide provides instructional recommendations that can be implemented in conjunction with existing standards or curricula. Teachers can use the guide when planning instruction to support the development of foundational reading skills among students in diverse contexts. * Hinzman, M., & Reed, D. K. (2018).*Teaching sight words as a part of comprehensive reading instruction*.[](https://iowareadingresearch.org/blog/teaching-sight-words) <https://iowareadingresearch.org/blog/teaching-sight-words> This resource provides a research-based sight word strategy for teacher use. * Duke, N. K., & Mesmer, H. A. (2016). Teach “sight words” as you would other words. <https://www.literacyworldwide.org/blog/literacy-now/2016/06/23/teach-ldquo-sight-words-rdquo-as-you-would-other-words> This article explains the importance of sight words through five research-backed principles. * Duke, N. K. (September 2016). Developing sight word vocabulary. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYLefa3kFYs&feature=youtu.be> Presentation on teaching strategies for sight words, presented during the 2015 Annual Convention of the International Literacy Association. * Sight Words Teaching Strategy. © *2020 Sight Words: Teach Your Child to Read*. Sight words instruction is an excellent supplement to phonics instruction. Use lesson time to introduce up to three new words, and use game time to practice the new words.[](https://sightwords.com/sight-words/lessons/) <https://sightwords.com/sight-words/lessons/> * The Audiopedia. (February 2018).*SIGHT WORD mean? SIGHT WORD meaning – SIGHT WORD definition – SIGHT WORD explanation*.[](http://www.theaudiopedia.com) <http://www.theaudiopedia.com> What is SIGHT WORD? Sight words, often also called high-frequency sight words, are commonly used words that young children are encouraged to memorize as a whole by sight, so that they can automatically recognize these words in print without having to use any strategies to decode.[](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sLoNuwxi7I) <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sLoNuwxi7I> * Invernizzi, Marcia. (September 12, 2016).*Developing sight word vocabulary*. This is a presentation by Marcia Invernizzi, Henderson Professor of Reading Education, Department of Curriculum, Instruction, and Special Education, Curry School of Education, University of Virginia. The presentation was shared at the 2015 (July) Annual Convention of the International Literacy Association in St. Louis, MO, in the session: Meet the bloggers: A conversation with contributors to the IRA literacy research panel blog. It has been posted with Professor Invernizzi's permission.[](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYLefa3kFYs) <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYLefa3kFYs> * Robb, Dr Paul. (May 26, 2016). *Sight Words in Early Reading Instruction*. The sight word assessments included in FastBridge Learning’s early Reading measures are based on the most frequently used English words. The fact that these assessments are strong indicators of early reading success suggests an important role for sight word instruction in kindergarten and first grade. But what role exactly? Where does sight word instruction fit in balanced reading instruction in the early elementary grades?<https://blog.fastbridge.com/blog/2016/05/sight-words-in-early-reading-instruction> ### Definitions * Diverse learners: Learners who bring a broad array of learning preferences, background knowledge, experiences, identities, and educational variability and may vary linguistically, socio-culturally, racially, ethnically, or economically. * Onset and rime notation: When letters are inside two slashes (/ /), this represents isolating that sound. For example, if the sentence is “Line up if this is your name: /m/att.” The educator would say the “m” sound in isolation (onset); then the educator would say the “att” sound together (rime).
What activities did you and your students engage with in order to increase high-frequency word knowledge? Please describe the learning activities and strategies, and include information on what classroom data you used to develop the activities.
How do you know your students increased their high-frequency word knowledge? What evidence did you collect that demonstrates these learning gains?
To complete the micro-credential, please submit the following evidence: **Artifact 1: Annotated Lesson Plan** Upload your lesson plan used to support student learning of high-frequency words. Annotate the lesson, including where in-class explanations may not be clear to the assessor and accommodations that will be made to support all students. The lesson should include: * Introduction of new HFWs * Teaching in combination with phonics and in connection with students’ spelling stages * Practice with spelling and spelling patterns * Connection to text **Artifact 2: Whole Group Instruction** Upload a 10–20 minute annotated video/audio of whole group instruction. The video/audio or transcript should include the following annotations: * You introducing the new HFWs for the day’s lesson * You teaching the lesson in connection with phonics and students’ spelling stages * You guiding students in practice with spelling and spelling patterns while offering immediate and specific feedback * Students engaged in meaningful and connected text with you offering immediate and specific feedback related to HFW instruction * Student engagement including, but not limited to, responding , focusing attention on the educator, asking questions, or think-pair-share. **Artifact 3: Student Work Samples** Choose a group of 2 or more diverse learners that you supported for the lesson provided in Artifact 1. (See the Resources section for definition of diverse learners.) Submit the following: * Rationale (150-word limit) + Why did you choose this individual student or group of diverse learners? Include narrative on the data you used to make this decision. + What additional supports or accommodations did you make to this lesson to meet the needs of the diverse learner(s)? * Assessment Samples + Upload work samples from two students from the lesson plan provided in Artifact 1. For each student submit assessment examples (writing, audio, images, video, or other products) that demonstrate progress toward increased high-frequency word knowledge. Include work samples with your feedback.
Provide a reflection on your high-frequency word instruction, using the following questions to guide you: - What was the impact of the instruction that targeted HFW knowledge on your students? - How will crafting this lesson affect your practice in the future?
Educator provides a description for how students increased their high-frequency word knowledge. Description includes evidence that demonstrated learning gains. Descriptions are specific, with examples provided when necessary.
- Video/audio is annotated Instruction is 10–20 minutes, shows small-group instruction and clear expectations, and specific and immediate teacher feedback is given to the majority of students and occurs multiple times. - Student engagement is evident.
- Video/audio is annotated. Instruction may or may not be 10–20 minutes, and shows only partial class instruction with minimal teacher feedback. - Student engagement is minimal, limited to a few students or occurs only a few times.
Video/audio is not annotated and/or evidence of small group instruction is not evident in the video/audio clip.
- A group of students is chosen, but the description is unclear and does not explain the diversity or an explanation of what, if any, modifications and/or accommodations were given. - Some student assessment samples were uploaded, but feedback from the educator was lacking one of the following elements: specific, relevant, timely, or appropriate to the phase of learning.
- Rationale is not addressed. No explanation of supports provided. - No student writing samples were uploaded, nor feedback supplied.
Educator understands the importance of developing clear and flexible goals and assessments aligned to that goal.
# Key Method The educator shows purposeful planning in developing goals and assessments to support the varied needs in the classroom. The planning shows an understanding of the need to develop clear and flexible goals that are aligned to the standards, as well as the need to develop assessments that are aligned to a learning goal that will accurately measure student progress and alert the educator if modifications to the learning activities are needed. # Method Components ### Overview In his study, Visible Learning, John Hattie determined learning goals to be a specific teaching strategy that has a significant effect on student learning. Couple that with a flexible assessment of that learning goal, and the likelihood that a student masters a learning goal is maximized. ### Clear and Flexible Goals While using the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework to design learning goals in the classroom, it is important to form goals that: * **Separate the means from the ends**: This involves separating the learning goals from the means of achieving them. If goals are too specific, with only one way to achieve the goal, students who cannot achieve the goal in that manner are excluded from the goal. In other cases, the goal is not rigorous enough, and students are not offered an appropriate level of challenge. Learning goals need to be expressed in a flexible way, offer optional paths for achieving the goals, convey success criteria, and allow students to help with determining the goals. An example of this is with a goal that incorporates students being able to “cite evidence from the text.” If we look at the verb “cite,” students can do this in many different ways. Some may choose to highlight the information in the text. Others may choose to include information in a graphic organizer, point to the information, or record themselves explaining the information. * **Challenge all students**: It is important to offer goals that allow all students to be challenged and supported in a way that is appropriate for each individual. Over-challenging or under-challenging students leads to a lack of engagement. * **Actively involve students** in goal setting to help them become self-directed, independent students. Educators should talk with the students about the learning goals and encourage them to provide ideas and feedback as to the way in which the goal can be met. Explicit connections between the goals and other aspects of the curriculum are important. Students should see how the goals connect to assessments, methods, and materials in the classroom setting, making the purpose of each more transparent. **Flexible Assessment** In a UDL environment, effective assessments are essential. These assessments should be flexible and meaningful and should provide information about teaching and learning. While summative assessments are important for evaluating a larger context when used in conjunction with other types of assessments, formative assessments prove to be more significant because they offer the opportunity to improve teaching and learning during the course of instruction. Effective assessments provide both teachers and students with information about the progress towards a learning goal and what the student or teacher needs to do next in order for the student to meet that goal. According to Meyer, Rose and Gordon (2014), effective assessments: * **Are ongoing and focused on student progress**. Ongoing formative assessments provide a comprehensive view of students’ performance. It looks at learning over time and allows the teacher to see growth within their students. It also provides educators feedback about the efficacy of instruction, suggesting where to make adjustments in terms of eliminating instructional barriers to increase the level at which students attain the goal of the lesson or unit of instruction. * **Measure both product and process**. Using product and process measures of assessments helps teachers understand what and how students are learning and examine how students learn best. While gauging how students’ knowledge, skills, and affects change, teachers identify what causes the changes and are able to decide if other means are needed to achieve the goal. * **Are flexible, not fixed**. Flexible assessments are important to gain an accurate depiction of learning. Because learner variability exists in the affective, recognition, and strategic networks of the brain, options for how students are showing what they understand and can do is critical. Assessments should offer multiple opportunities with varied methods to allow students to demonstrate skills and express themselves. * **Are construct relevant and actively inform and involve students**. Assessments should be context relevant; in other words, they should measure the goal or what they are intended to measure. Too often, barriers exist in assessments that interfere with the accuracy with which a student can perform. An example of this is when a student is being assessed on a particular concept and is asked to respond in writing when he or she struggles with writing. The assessor may conclude that the child does not meet the performance criteria because the assessment is left blank when, in reality, the child has mastered the concept and is not able to show it in writing.
### General UDL * Bodrova, E., Leong, D.J., & Akhutina, T.V. (2011). When everything new is well-forgotten old: Vygotsky/Luria insights in the development of executive functions. In R. M. Lerner, J. V. Lerner, E. P. Bowers, S. Lewin-Bizan, S. Gestsdottir, & J.B. Urban (Eds.), *Thriving in childhood and adolescence: The role of self-regulation process: New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 133*, 11–28. [http://luria.ucsd.edu/EverythingNew\_is\_Well-ForgottenOld.pdf](http://luria.ucsd.edu/EverythingNew_is_Well-ForgottenOld.pdf) This article looks at the concept of “extra-cortical organization of higher mental functions'' proposed by Lev Vygotsky and expanded by Alexander Luria. It uses the example of self-regulation in terms of executive functioning and provides data from the Tools of the Mind Project. * Hammond, Z., & Jackson, Y. (2015). Culturally responsive teaching and the brain: Promoting authentic engagement and rigor among culturally and linguistically diverse students. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin. This book discusses neuroscience research to offer an innovative approach for designing and implementing brain-compatible culturally responsive instruction. * Hattie, J. (2018). Hattie ranking: 252 influences on student achievement. Retrieved from <https://visible-learning.org/hattie-ranking-influences-effect-sizes-learning-achievement/> This article looks at how John Hattie developed a way of synthesizing various influences in different meta-analyses according to their effect size. In this study, he ranked 252 influences related to learning outcomes from very positive effects to very negative effects based on the average effect size of 0.40. * Meyer, A., Rose, D. H., & Gordon, D. (2014). Universal design for learning: Theory and practice. Wakefield, MA: CAST Professional Publishing. <http://www.cast.org/our-work/publications/2014/universal-design-learning-theory-practice-udl-meyer.html#.XxBd0JNKj5Y> In this free, downloadable e-book, Meyer, Rose and Gordon discuss the UDL principles and practices since 2002. Included are contributions from CAST’s research and implementation teams, as well as their collaborators in schools, universities, and research settings. * Novak, K. (2016). *UDL now! A teacher’s guide to applying universal design for learning in today’s classrooms*. Wakefield, MA: CAST Professional Publishing. This book provides strategies for helping all students meet high standards using the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework. Novak shows how to use the UDL Guidelines to plan lessons, choose materials, assess learning, and improve instructional practice. * Ralabate, P. (2017, December 11). Universal Design for Learning: Meeting the needs of all students. Retrieved May 1, 2020, from <https://www.readingrockets.org/article/universal-design-learning-meeting-needs-all-students> This article discusses the need for Universal Design for Learning and provides case studies to help with the understanding of how it can be used to meet the needs of all students in the classroom. * Rao, K., & Meo, G. (2016, November 1). Using Universal Design for Learning to design standards-based lessons. Retrieved May 1, 2020, from <https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2158244016680688> This article describes the importance of how teachers should integrate flexible options and supports in the classroom to have all students meet the goals and objectives in the standards-based lessons. ### Goals * Ralabate, P. (2016). *Your UDL lesson planner: The step-by-step guide for teaching all learners*. Baltimore, MD: Brookes Publishing. UDL expert Patti Kelly Ralabate walks teachers through the entire UDL lesson planning process, from developing learning goals to monitoring student progress. * Rose, D. H., Meyer, A., Strangman, N., & Rappolt, G. (2002). Chapter 5. Using UDL to set clear goals. Retrieved May 1, 2020, from <http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/101042/chapters/Using-UDL-to-Set-Clear-Goals.aspx> This chapter will help you set goals for students that are standards-based and address student diversity. ### Assessment * Dolan, R. P., Burling, K., Harms, M., Strain-Seymour, E., Way, W., & Rose, D. H. (2013). *A universal design for learning-based framework for designing accessible technology-enhanced assessments*. (Research report). Iowa City, IA: Pearson Education Measurement. This article discusses the importance of using technology to assess learning, as well as giving specific strategies to use in the classroom. * Rose, D. H., Meyer, A. Strangman, N., & Rappolt, G. (2002). Chapter 7. Using UDL to accurately assess student progress. Retrieved May 1, 2020, from <http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/101042/chapters/Using-UDL-to-Accurately-Assess-Student-Progress.aspx> This chapter will explain how to make assessments fair and accurate.
### General UDL * Hattie, J. (2018, March 28). Hattie effect size list: 256 influences related to achievement. Retrieved May 1, 2020, from [https://visible-learning.org/hattie-ranking-influences-effect-sizes-learning-achievement/](https://visible-learning.org/hattie-ranking-influences-effect-sizes-learning-achievement/https://visible-learning.org/hattie-ranking-influences-effect-sizes-learning-achievement/) John Hattie’s Visible Learning study ranks the 256 most influential effects on education. * Ralabate, P. (2015) *Step-by-step lesson planning using UDL* (Video). YouTube. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ndlhp9xmrUo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ndlhp9xmrUohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ndlhp9xmrUo) This video walks through the steps of lesson planning with UDL, from setting goals to assessment. ### Goals * CAST. (2015). Top 10 UDL tips for developing learning goals. Retrieved January 22, 2019, from <http://castprofessionallearning.org/project/free-top-10-udl-tips-for-developing-learning-goals/>. CAST provides tips for developing learning goals. Only by clarifying what we want students to accomplish can we begin to consider what assessments, methods, and materials will be most effective. * CAST. (2018) UDL Guidepoint: Checkpoint 6.1 Guide to appropriate goal-setting. Retrieved May 1, 2020, from <http://udlguidelines.cast.org/action-expression/executive-functions/goal-setting/goal-setting> Checkpoint 6.1 describes appropriate goal setting in the UDL framework. * Smith, Z. (2015). Using common core standards to support all learners. (Video). YouTube. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBNnYBwTemk&list=PLiEEVaszwWmAS1aa1qYhYfrRYOGGDyX01&index=18&t=0s> This is a recorded presentation from the 2015 Inclusion Collaborative State Conference in Santa Clara, CA. Zach Smith describes how to use the Common Core Standards in a UDL environment. * Streagle, K. (2014, September 26). *UDL goal setting mini lecture* (Video). YouTube. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiTLGSHw7js> This video walks participants through how to write universally designed instructional goals and objectives. ### Assessment * CAST. (2015). Top 10 UDL tips for assessment. Retrieved May 1, 2020, from <http://castprofessionallearning.org/project/top-10-udl-tips-for-assessment/> CAST provides tips to design and reflect on assessments. * Edutopia (2019). *Inviting participation with thumbs-up responses*. (Video). YouTube. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37CTCDTesWA&feature=youtu.be> This video shows an example of “thumbs up” that can be used to assess student responses and increase engagement. * Watson-Bedard, Monica. (2019, February 19). Choice in assessments. *UDL in 15 Minutes*. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G3\_MoQlb9k&feature=youtu.be](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G3_MoQlb9k&feature=youtu.be). This blog discusses how one teacher saw an improvement in student engagement after giving her students choice in assessments. * Wheeler, Camille. (2019, May 8). Making assessments more flexible. *UDL in 15 Minutes*. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zV-aiRt89E&feature=youtu.be>. This blog discusses how one school allowed for student choice to show what they have learned and the effects that had on the students and teachers. ### Definition * Diverse learners: Learners who bring a broad array of learning preferences, background knowledge, experiences, identities, and educational variability and who may vary linguistically, socio-culturally, racially, ethnically, or economically.
Provide a description of the lesson you and your students engaged in that shows evidence of: - Planned lesson with clear and flexible goals aligned to standards - Flexible assessments aligned to goal - How you made the goal clear and flexible to students - How the assessment was flexible to allow for goal mastery in different ways.
To earn this micro-credential, you must submit **two pieces of evidence**. Artifact 1 is required, and you will choose to submit either Artifact 2a or Artifact 2b for your second piece of evidence. **Artifact 1: Annotated Lesson Plan (Required)** Upload a lesson plan that is evidence of planning for clear, flexible, standards-based goals that align to the assessment. The lesson can be in a format of your choosing. Annotations of the lesson (voice recording, written or digital text, etc.) should include explanations about strategies used to support goals and assessments that may not be evident to the assessor. The lesson should include planning in: * Clear and flexible goals * Options for flexible assessment *Choose **one** of the following to submit*: **Artifact 2a: Instruction** Upload a 10–20 minute video/audio of class instruction. The video/audio should include: * Sharing of a clear and flexible goal that is aligned to the standard * Flexible assessment of the learning goal **Artifact 2b: Student Work Samples** Choose a group of three or more diverse learners that you supported for the lesson provided in Artifact 1. (See the Resources section for definition of diverse learners). Submit the following: * Rationale (150-word limit) + Why did you choose this individual student or group of diverse learners? Include narrative on the data you used to make this decision. + What additional supports or accommodations did you make to this lesson to meet the needs of the diverse learner(s)? * Assessment Samples + Upload work samples from three students from the lesson plan provided in Artifact 1. For each student, submit work examples (writing, audio, images, video, or other products) that demonstrate progress toward the lesson goal. Include work samples with your feedback.
Provide a self-reflection of your lesson’s goals and assessment. Be sure to include: - What went well - How your students were able to meet the goal of the lesson - Evidence that demonstrates student mastery of the goal - Barriers that still exist within the lesson - How you would eliminate barriers for the next lesson.
Provide a reflection on the importance of writing clear and flexible goals and options for assessment aligned to that goal in your classroom, using the following questions to guide you: - How did writing clear and flexible goals and assessments aligned to that goal affect how you see your students as expert learners? - How will writing clear and flexible goals and assessments aligned to that goal affect your lesson planning in the future?
Educator provides a description of the lesson that shows evidence of flexible goals aligned to standards, goal-aligned flexible assessments, clear description of how the goal was flexible and understood by students, and description of how the assessment allowed for goal mastery in different ways.
Educator reflection is specific and demonstrates how this lesson went, learning goal attainment and mastery, and barriers and their mitigation. The responses provide specific information and examples where necessary.
Educator provides a description of the importance of writing clear and flexible goals and assessments aligned to that goal in your classroom.
Artifact 1: Annotated Lesson Plan (Required)
- The annotated lesson plan is complete and addresses both elements of the suggested implementation. - Annotations address the lesson context and how the goals and assessment are aligned.
- The annotated lesson plan is incomplete and addresses only one element of suggested implementation. - Annotations may be present but do not clearly address how the goals and assessment are aligned.
- The annotated lesson plan is incomplete and/or addresses no elements of suggested implementation. - Annotations are not included.
Instruction is at least 10 minutes and shows: - Sharing of a clear and flexible goal aligned to a standard - Options for flexible assessment of the learning goal
Instruction may or may not be at least 10 minutes but only shows partial evidence of: - Sharing of a clear and flexible goal aligned to a standard - Options for flexible assessment of the learning goal
- The rationale is clear as to the method for choosing the group of students. - Three student work samples with teacher feedback on the work have been uploaded - The student work samples represent a group of three students that best demonstrate students working on clear and flexible goals and options for assessments aligned to the goal in your classroom.
- The rationale for the method of choosing students or the group of students is unclear or not specific. - Student work samples are uploaded, but there may be fewer than three students represented and/or no educator feedback - The student work does not fully represent students working on clear and flexible goals and options for assessments aligned to that goal.
- The rationale is not addressed. No explanation of supports is provided. - Fewer than three or no student work samples were uploaded, nor feedback supplied.
To earn the micro-credential, you must receive a passing evaluation for Parts 1 and 3, and a “Yes” for each submitted component in Part 2.
UDL: Multiple Means of Action & Expression
Educator understands the importance of developing expert learners who are strategic and goal-directed by offering options for physical action, expression and communication, and executive functions.
# Key Method The educator shows evidence of purposeful planning for variability by providing options for physical action, expression and communication, and executive functions. # Method Components ### Overview The strategic networks located in the frontal lobes of the brain are responsible for the ability to act skillfully and strategically. When one plans, executes, and monitors an action, the strategic networks are being utilized. Executive functions, simple motor movements that develop into elaborate and fluent skills, and simple voluntary motor movements are the core of these networks. Because learners differ in the way they function strategically, it is important to remember to offer a variety of opportunities for students to show what they know. Meyer, Rose, and Gordon (2014) say that it is in this area that educators need to support the development of expertise in executive functions, such as goal setting, monitoring one’s progress and adjusting approaches as needed, strategy development, and managing information and resources. The principle encourages educators to include physical interactions, the use of high- and low-tech tools, and structures that lead to self-management. The Principle of Multiple Means of Action & Expression is centered around three guidelines: * Provide options for physical action * Provide options for executive functions * Provide options for expression and communication ### Providing Option for Physical Action Providing Options for Physical Action allows students to express their knowledge in a variety of ways. Whether students need physical tools due to a disability or communication devices to help them participate in a discussion, this guideline deals with time constraints of a task, how students respond to information, and how they participate within a lesson. The checkpoints that fall under this guideline are varying the methods for response and navigation and optimizing access to tools and assistive technologies. * **Varying the Methods for Response and Navigation** When an educator varies the methods for response and navigation, the student is given options for how to respond and adhere to time requirements. When students are responding, consideration of the hardware needed—whether that be a specialized digital device (e.g., keyboard, single switch, AAC device, joystick, etc.) or a computer—must exist to provide each student with the opportunity to respond or access information. * **Optimizing Access to Tools and Assistive Technologies** When discussing optimizing access to tools and assistive technology, educators should consider the need for alternatives for hardware (e.g., mouse, keyboard, touchpad screen) and the interface used with those hardware options. ### Providing Options for Expression and Communication The guideline of Providing Options for Expression and Communication prompts educators to think about the different ways students can show what they know about a concept or material presented. When provided with only one way to show mastery, students may encounter barriers with the presentation method and are then unable to show what was learned. The educator then makes assumptions about what was or was not learned. Within this guideline are the checkpoints of using multiple media for communication, using multiple tools for construction and composition, and building fluencies with graduated levels of support for practice and performance. * **Using Multiple Media for Communication** Allowing students to use multiple media for communication affords students the responsibility of choosing the best way to communicate their knowledge and progress towards a goal. It also encourages the use of multiple strategies to solve problems and to refine their strategies when problems arise. * **Using Multiple Tools for Construction and Composition** When students are encouraged to choose the supports needed when composing, they are better able to communicate their thoughts and learning. Using spell checkers, word-prediction software or other digital options (e.g., text-to-speech software, graphic calculators) or low-tech options, such as sentence stems, allows students to use specific supports needed for getting thoughts down on paper, screen or other platforms. * **Building Fluencies with Graduated Levels of Support for Practice and Performance** Building fluencies with graduated levels of support for practice and performance provides guidance to educators when developing activities that allow students to work towards mastery. Those activities should allow for different methods of practice and encourage students to use scaffolds, mastery-oriented feedback, exemplars, and educator modeling to work through the process of learning, all while meeting success. That success, in turn, encourages students to work harder and evaluate their progress more frequently. ### Providing Options for Executive Functions Providing Options for Executive Functions strives for students to be strategic and goal-directed, which is the goal of education especially in a post-secondary environment. The checkpoints that fall under this guideline include guiding appropriate goal setting, supporting planning and strategy development, facilitating managing information and resources, and enhancing capacity for monitoring progress. * **Guiding Appropriate Goal Setting** When we teach students to set goals, we are teaching a skill that is necessary for success. With this checkpoint, we must consider variability and know that not all students have the same personal goals. Educators must help students define what they want to achieve and help them with the steps to reach that goal. * **Supporting Planning and Strategy Development** Supporting planning and strategy development emphasizes the use of prompts, coaches, and mentors to help with the planning and strategizing within lessons. The strategy of embedding small, consistent, and meaningful reminders within an activity helps students navigate and reach their goal. Examples of this can include completion of timelines, calendar entries, to-do lists, and embedded reminders, both verbal and written, within activities. * **Facilitating Managing Information and Resources** Facilitating managing information and resources involves educators helping students sift through the multitude of information and resources presented to them each day. The use of graphic organizers, charts, verbal prompts, and notetaking structures helps students navigate, and deem the importance of, the material. * **Enhancing Capacity for Monitoring Progress** Enhancing capacity for monitoring progress aims at teaching students to monitor themselves within a process. This could relate to time and being able to judge how long it will take to complete a task or it could relate to the achievement of a particular goal. Students monitor where they are, where they have to go, and what they need in order to get to a particular goal. The educator holds rich discussions with the students to help them identify strengths and needs and offers mastery-oriented feedback that helps with the attainment of the goal.
### General UDL * CAST: Provide multiple means of Action & Expression. (2018, January 12). Retrieved May 14, 2020, from <http://udlguidelines.cast.org/action-expression> CAST provides an explanation of providing multiple means of action and expression, which allows for learners to differ in the ways that they can navigate a learning environment and express what they know. * McDonald, A., & Campbell, H., (2020). UDL implementation in the math classroom: Practical applications for Monday’s lessons. Retrieved June 18, 2020. [https://docs.google.com/gview?embedded=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.learningdesigned.org%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2FMcDonald\_Campbell\_2017.pdf](https://docs.google.com/gview?embedded=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.learningdesigned.org%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2FMcDonald_Campbell_2017.pdf) This article gives an overview of ways to hit the checkpoints in a math classroom. * Meyer, A., Rose, D.H., & Gordon, D. (2014). Universal design for learning: Theory and practice. Wakefield, MA: CAST Professional Publishing. In this free, downloadable e-book, Meyer, Rose and Gordon discuss the UDL principles and practices since 2002. Included are contributions from CAST's research and implementation teams, as well as their collaborators in schools, universities, and research settings. * *Multiple Means of Action & Expression*. (2015). Retrieved from <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-EsS6Cbkj4> This video gives an overview of the UDL guideline and its checkpoints. * Ralabate, P. (2017, December 11). Universal design for learning: Meeting the needs of all students. Retrieved May 14, 2020, from <https://www.readingrockets.org/article/universal-design-learning-meeting-needs-all-students> The author, a speech pathologist, discusses UDL and how this framework meets the needs of all students. * Redford, K. (2019, February 19). When it comes to universal design for learning, don't wait to be an expert. Retrieved May 14, 2020, from <https://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2018/01/24/when-it-comes-to-universal-design-for.html> This article discusses the importance of following the UDL framework to address variability and each student’s strengths and weaknesses. ### Option for Physical Action * CAST: Provide options for Physical Action. (2018, January 16). Retrieved May 14, 2020, from <http://udlguidelines.cast.org/action-expression/physical-action> CAST describes this guideline and its two checkpoints. * Stanberry, K., & Raskind, M. H. (2019, September 26). Assistive technology for kids with learning disabilities: An overview. Retrieved May 14, 2020, from <https://www.readingrockets.org/article/assistive-technology-kids-learning-disabilities-overview> This article discusses how assistive technology can be helpful to students in the classroom. * UDL for teachers: Physical Action. (2018). Retrieved May 14, 2020, from <https://udlforteachers.com/category/principle-2/guideline-4/> This site gives a video overview of this checkpoint, as well as providing suggestions to provide options for physical action. ### Options for Expression & Communication * Cabell, S. Q., Totorelli, L. S., & Gerde, H. (2019, January 7). How do I write...? Scaffolding preschoolers’ early writing skills. Retrieved May 14, 2020, from <https://www.readingrockets.org/article/how-do-i-write-scaffolding-preschoolers-early-writing-skills> This article gives suggestions for individualizing writing in preschool, so students develop a strong framework for writing skills. * Graham, S. (2019, December 18). Teaching elementary school students to be effective writers. Retrieved May 14, 2020, from <https://www.readingrockets.org/article/teaching-elementary-school-students-be-effective-writers> This article gives four recommendations for educators to improve students’ writing skills. ### Options for Executive Functions * García-Campos, M., Canabal, C., & Alba-Pastor, C. (2020) Executive functions in universal design for learning: Moving towards inclusive education. *International Journal of Inclusive Education*, 24:6, 660–674, DOI: 10.1080/13603116.2018.1474955. Retrieved June 18, 2020 from <https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2018.1474955> This article discusses how UDL implementation improves students’ executive functioning skills. * National Center for Learning Disabilities. Executive function 101. (2013). Retrieved May 14, 2020, from <https://padletuploads.blob.core.windows.net/aws/44679459/0aa332b6486a09758a915bdc7ad6bb333d1ab021/31a75e0ae247ce22799c3532694691e2.pdf> This e-book gives an overview of executive functioning for students and how it impacts students’ lives. * *What's executive function—and why does it matter**?* (2019). Retrieved from <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhbNxXbJ5qw&feature=youtu.be> This video describes the importance of students improving their executive functioning skills in order to perform better in school.
### Options for Physical Action * Nieves, K. (2019, July 30). 10 Student-tested Chrome extensions. Retrieved from <https://www.edutopia.org/article/10-student-tested-chrome-extensions> This article discusses the benefits of using Google Chrome, and it’s easy to customize with these extensions that really benefit students. * Provide options for physical action. (2018, December 11). Retrieved May 14, 2020, from <https://www.inclusive.tki.org.nz/guides/universal-design-for-learning/provide-options-for-physical-action> This website gives suggestions for providing options for perceptions. * Text-to-speech technology: What it is and how it works. (2019, October 16). Retrieved May 14, 2020, from <https://www.readingrockets.org/article/text-speech-technology-what-it-and-how-it-works> This article discusses the benefits of allowing students to use text-to-speech technology to help with reading and writing. * McDonald, A., & Campbell, H. (2020). Building on a firm foundation: Supporting students with more intensive support needs in UDL environments. Retrieved June 18. 2020, from [https://docs.google.com/gview?embedded=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.learningdesigned.org%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2FMcDonald\_Campbell\_2017.pdf](https://docs.google.com/gview?embedded=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.learningdesigned.org%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2FMcDonald_Campbell_2017.pdf). This article gives a case study of a child with intensive support needs in a UDL classroom. ### Options for Expression & Communication * Díaz, P. (2020, January 28). A way to promote student voice—Literally. Retrieved May 14, 2020, from <https://www.edutopia.org/article/way-promote-student-voice-literally> One educator describes how technology allows students to communicate their ideas. * Kaplinsky, R. (2019, December 26). Getting to the heart of what students know in math. Retrieved May 14, 2020, from <https://www.edutopia.org/article/getting-heart-what-students-know-math> This article describes how to give students challenging math problems in order to find where they are having difficulty, help build their conceptual understanding, and encourage great classroom conversations about how different strategies are connected to one another. * Nieves, K. (2019, August 14). 5 Fiction writing tools that spark students’ creativity. Retrieved May 14, 2020, from <https://www.edutopia.org/article/5-fiction-writing-tools-spark-students-creativity> This article gives suggestions on how to improve middle and high school students’ fiction writing. * Provide options for expression and communication. (2019, December 18). Retrieved May 14, 2020, from <https://www.inclusive.tki.org.nz/guides/universal-design-for-learning/provide-options-for-expression-and-communication> This website gives suggestions for providing options for expression and communication. * *The powerful effects of drawing on learning*. (2019). Retrieved from <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hntHGr8JR7o&feature=youtu.be> This video shows how students remember concepts better by drawing, rather than reading and writing. * Walsh, K. (2018, June 21). 8 Engaging ways to use technology in the classroom to create lessons that aren’t boring. Retrieved May 14, 2020, from <https://www.emergingedtech.com/2014/10/technology-create-lessons-that-arent-boring/> This article discusses ways to incorporate technology into your lessons to increase engagement. ### Options for Executive Functions * Kang, E. (2019, April 4). 5 Research-backed studying techniques. Retrieved May 14, 2020, from <https://www.edutopia.org/article/5-research-backed-studying-techniques> This article gives techniques that students should increase sustainable learning and retention when incorporated in students’ daily study habits. * Petty, B. (2019, November 26). Helping students track their learning. Retrieved May 13, 2020, from <https://www.edutopia.org/article/helping-students-track-their-learning> This article discusses how Google Forms and Sheets can be used for students to assess their learning. * Provide options for executive functions. (2019, December 18). Retrieved May 14, 2020, from <https://www.inclusive.tki.org.nz/guides/universal-design-for-learning/provide-options-for-executive-functions> This website gives suggestions for providing options for executive functions. * Reid, A. A. (n.d.). What is the role of executive function in expert learning? Retrieved June 17, 2020, from [https://udl-irn.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Done\_REID.EDIT\_.DH\_.JEG-copy.pdf](https://udl-irn.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Done_REID.EDIT_.DH_.JEG-copy.pdf) This article discusses how developing executive function skills will assist students in becoming expert learners. * Teaching executive functioning skills in middle and high school. (2019). Retrieved from <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ScF0fyHsFU> This video discusses how UDL helps develop executive functioning skills by focusing on the adolescent brain. * Zabala, J. (2020). *Supporting more intensive needs in UDL environments*. Retrieved 18 June 2020, from <https://www.learningdesigned.org/resource/supporting-more-intensive-needs-udl-environments>. This article gives a summary of the importance of aligning UDL in relation to supporting students with more intensive needs. ### Definition * Diverse learners: Learners who bring a broad array of learning preferences, background knowledge, experiences, identities, and educational variability, and who may vary linguistically, socio-culturally, racially, ethnically, or economically.
Provide a description of the lesson in which you and your students engaged that shows evidence of planning for providing Multiple Means of Action & Expression. Please describe: - The learning activities and checkpoints that were incorporated (i.e., options for physical action, expression and communication, and executive functions). - Why you chose these activities and strategies - What barriers you hoped to eliminate by using these activities and strategies.
To earn this micro-credential, you must submit two pieces of evidence. Artifact 1 is required, and you will choose to submit either Artifact 2a or Artifact 2b for your second piece of evidence. **Artifact 1: Annotated Lesson Plan (Required)** Upload a lesson plan that is evidence of planning for providing Multiple Means of Action and Expression to allow for variability in the way students show what they know and navigate the learning environment. The lesson can be in the format of your choosing. Annotations of the lesson (voice recording, written or digital text, etc.) should include explanations about the various strategies used to address variability while allowing for students to express what they have learned that may not be evident to the assessor. The lesson should include planning for Multiple Means of Action and Expression in: * Providing options for physical action * Providing options for expression and communication * Providing options for executive functions *Choose **one** of the following to submit*: **Artifact 2a: Instruction** Upload a 10–20 minute video/audio of class instruction. The video/audio should include strategies used to: * Provide options for physical action * Provide options for expression and communication * Provide options for executive functions **Artifact 2b: Student Work Samples** Choose a group of three or more diverse learners that you supported for the lesson provided in Artifact 1. (See the Resources section for definition of diverse learners). Submit the following: * Rationale (150-word limit) + Why did you choose this individual student or group of diverse learners? Include narrative on the data you used to make this decision. + What additional supports or accommodations did you make to this lesson to meet the needs of the diverse learner(s) * Assessment Samples + Upload work samples from three students from the lesson plan provided in Artifact 1. For each student, submit work examples (writing, audio, images, video, or other products) that demonstrate progress toward the lesson goal. Include work samples with your feedback.
Provide a self-reflection of your lesson and activities. Be sure to include: - What went well - How your students were able to stay engaged throughout the lesson - Evidence collected that demonstrates attainment of the learning goals - Barriers that exist within the lesson - How you would eliminate barriers for the next lesson, being sure to include specific checkpoints related to Multiple Means of Action and Expression.
Provide a reflection on the importance of providing Multiple Means of Action and Expression to reduce barriers among the students you serve, using the following questions to guide you: - How did providing Multiple Means of Action and Expression affect how you see your students as expert students? - How will addressing representation affect your lesson planning in the future?
Educator provides a description of the lesson that shows evidence of Multiple Means of Action and Expression, descriptions of, reasoning for, and barriers mitigated for implementing specific learning activities and checkpoints.
Educator reflection is specific and demonstrates how this lesson went. It describes student engagement, learning goal attainment, and barriers and their mitigation. The responses provide specific information and examples where necessary.
Educator provides a description of the importance of providing Multiple Means of Action and Expressing and reducing barriers in the classroom to meet the needs of all students in the classroom.
- The annotated lesson plan is complete and addresses all three elements of the suggested implementation. - Annotations address the lesson context and how all students will be offered Multiple Means of Action and Expression.
- The annotated lesson plan is incomplete and addresses fewer than three elements of suggested implementation. - Annotations may be present but do not clearly address the lesson context and how all students will be offered Multiple Means of Action and Expression.
- The annotated lesson plan is incomplete and/or addresses only one or no elements of suggested implementation. - Annotations are not included.
Instruction is at least 10 minutes and shows: - Options for physical action - Options for expression and communication - Options for executive function
Instruction may or may not be at least 10 minutes but shows only partial evidence of: - Options for physical action - Options for expression and communication - Options for executive function
- The rationale for the method of choosing the group of students is clear. - Three student work samples with educator feedback have been uploaded. - The student work samples represent how options for physical action, expression and communication, and executive function were provided. - The student work samples demonstrate how the educator planned for providing Multiple Means of Action and Expression.
- The rationale for the method of choosing the group of students is unclear or not specific. - Student work samples are uploaded, but the work of fewer than three students may be represented and/or no educator feedback supplied. - The student work samples do not fully represent how options for physical action, expression and communication, and executive function were provided. - The student work samples do not provide a clear demonstration of how the educator planned for providing Multiple Means of Action and Expression.
Educator understands the importance of developing expert learners who are purposeful and motivated, by offering options for recruiting students’ interest, helping them to sustain effort and persistence, and providing options for their self-regulation.
# Key Method The educator shows evidence of purposeful planning for variability by providing options for recruiting the students' interest, sustaining effort and persistence, as well as self-regulation. # Method Components ### Overview The affective networks, located in the center of the brain, allow us to engage in learning. Often called the “why” of learning, the paths in these networks allow us to evaluate patterns and develop an emotional significance to those patterns. They allow us to monitor our environment to set our priorities, motivate and engage ourselves, and monitor our behavior. The affective networks help students to initiate actions and respond based on feelings about what is perceived, and react based on memories, needs, and emotions. An example of this is when a person smells a certain smell or hears a particular sound and it triggers a memory from their past. This memory could dictate their responses or feelings about the current situation. These networks are closely tied to engagement in the classroom, and designing for the affective networks helps to ensure that students are emotionally connected to the information we are presenting and are able to actively express their knowledge of what was learned. The principle of engagement is organized around three guidelines that are incorporated in the UDL graphic organizer: * Options for recruiting interest * Options for sustaining effort and persistence * Options for self-regulation ### Recruiting Interest Offering options for recruiting interest helps educators gain student interest by tapping into their personal experiences, learning preferences, and interests. Within this guideline, teachers use the three checkpoints to **optimize choice and autonomy**, **optimize relevance and authenticity,** and **minimize threats and distractions**. These guidelines allow students to make choices so they are more likely to become fully engaged in the curriculum. It asks them to find relevance in the goal of the lesson as well as designing a classroom where students feel safe, are willing to take risks, and are able to express knowledge in ways that work best for them. (Novak, 2016) * **Optimizing Choice and Autonomy** Offering choice, whether structured or not, increases engagement within a lesson. That choice can range from classroom management (e.g. choice about flexible seating, types of rewards for positive behavior, or choice of learning strategy or platform) to academics (e.g. choice in how to solve a math problem, which questions to answer or which project to complete for a culminating activity). When students are operating with choice, a sense of freedom ensues and educators can foster that self-determination by having rich discussions about how those choices affected how the student achieved the goal. * **Optimize Relevance and Authenticity** The more students are able to see the relevance of a lesson and how it connects to their lives the more engaged they become. Educators should spend time showing the goal of the lesson by offering real-world examples that allow students to see a bigger picture. * **Minimize Threats and Distractions** Educators must help to minimize threats and distractions to ensure engagement. When a student feels threatened within an environment, learning cannot happen. Threats can come in the form of bullying but also when a student feels insignificant, uninformed, or inadequate. Emotional states are linked to how comfortable a student feels in the classroom; when students are not comfortable or confident, their ability to concentrate diminishes. Distractions can also play a significant role in how comfortable students feel in the classroom. Educators should consider how to minimize distractions (e.g., classroom chatter, amount of light, the position of seats, environmental noise, etc.) through the five senses and offer flexible environments where students can move to areas that meet their learning needs ### Sustaining Effort and Persistence By offering options for sustaining effort and persistence, educators provide students with ways to develop ownership of their learning. Offering **opportunities for students to connect to the goal, receive access to challenging tasks and resources, collaborate with peers,**and**receive specific feedback from the instructor** helps students to become purposeful in their learning and helps to keep students engaged in the learning. * **Connecting to the Goal** When educators help students to see the importance or the salience of goals, they are helping to show the importance of the goal. Prompts, posting of goals, and discussion of goals help to ensure that students understand what they are supposed to learn and do. * **Challenging Tasks and Resources** As teachers vary the demands and resources to offer the correct amount of challenge, they are offering scaffolding to help a student learn a task or a skill. Those scaffolds can vary from verbal prompts and written prompts to digital resources and practice. * **Collaboration** Fostering collaboration and community helps students become effective communicators and collaborators. Students learn important skills such as interdependence, individual accountability, how to have positive interactions, and how to process as a group—skills vital to 21st-century learning. * **Receiving Feedback** With this guideline, students must receive mastery-oriented feedback in order to increase mastery of the goal. Offering feedback on behavior or academic skills helps students to evaluate where they are in terms of the goal, establish where they are going, develop a plan to achieve the goal, and then reflect on the effectiveness of what was done. ### Self-regulation Offering options for self-regulation helps students learn how to push themselves to do their best towards a goal even when the task is difficult, and then self-assess their progress towards that goal. This guideline offers strategies and resources for students to stay motivated and prevent frustration such as working in groups and learning from mentors, or tips for persistence to complete a learning task. It offers students scaffolds, positive reinforcement, breaks, etc., to help them refrain from quitting. The guideline also encourages students to assess their own learning or behavior by using such things as checklists and rubrics. This guideline highlights **promoting expectations and beliefs that optimize motivation, facilitating personal coping skills and strategies**, and **developing self-assessment and reflection**. (Novak, 2016) * **Expectations that Optimize Motivation** When expectations and procedures in the classroom are made clear to students, they are more likely to be met with success. In order to teach these expectations, the UDL framework relies on the teachings of Vygotsky, who stressed the importance of social interactions, regulation by others, recognizing shared behaviors, the use of private talk and using external objects to remind of appropriate behavior (Nelson, 2014). Educators must use this as the basis for explicitly teaching students the expectations and procedures of the classroom. * **Facilitating Personal Coping Skills and Strategies** Coping skills that are appropriate for the classroom should be offered to help with frustrations, anger, phobias, or other situations that may cause students to act in an inappropriate manner. * **Self-assessment and Reflection** Self-assessment and reflection are also important for academics and behavior. Giving students the opportunity to reflect on how they reacted in a positive or challenging situation can help them understand how to better interact with their environment. In terms of academics, any practice that requires students to stop and consider what they have learned or produced helps to teach self-assessment and helps to make the process automatic.
### General UDL * Bodrova, E., Leong, D. J., & Akhutina, T. V. (2011). When everything new is well-forgotten old: Vygotsky/Luria insights in the development of executive functions. In R. M. Lerner, J. V. Lerner, E. P. Bowers, S. Lewin-Bizan, S. Gestsdottir, & J. B. Urban (Eds.), *Thriving in childhood and adolescence: The role of self-regulation process: New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 133*, 11–28. * Learning by Design, LLC. (2013). Barriers to learning. Retrieved May 5, 2020, from <http://easternshoreudl.weebly.com/barriers-to-learning.html> This site gives an overview of planning with UDL in mind, by considering the barriers in the curriculum and then providing ideas for how to eliminate those barriers. * McDonald, A. and Campbell, H., (2020). UDL implementation in the math classroom: Practical applications for Monday’s lessons. Retrieved June 18, 2020. [https://docs.google.com/gview?embedded=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.learningdesigned.org%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2FMcDonald\_Campbell\_2017.pdf](https://docs.google.com/gview?embedded=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.learningdesigned.org%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2FMcDonald_Campbell_2017.pdf) This article gives an overview of ways to hit the checkpoints in a math classroom. * Multiple means of engagement. (n.d.). Retrieved May 12, 2020, from <http://stemteachingtools.org/sp/multiple-means-of-engagement> STEM teaching tools provide an explanation of giving multiple means of engagement in STEM classrooms. * Nelson, L. (2014). *Design and deliver: Planning and teaching using universal design for learning*. Baltimore, MD: Brookes Publishing. This book gives guidance for how to plan and teach your lessons using UDL. * Provide multiple means of engagement. (2018, January 12). Retrieved May 12, 2020, from <http://udlguidelines.cast.org/engagement> CAST provides an overview of this principle with an explanation of each checkpoint. * Top 10 UDL tips for engagement. (2014). Retrieved May 12, 2020, from <http://castprofessionallearning.org/project/top-10-udl-tips-for-engagement/> CAST provides 10 tips for providing multiple means of engagement in the classroom. * Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). *Mind and society: The development of higher mental process*. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. The Russian psychologist discusses brain development and how it affects learning and society. ### Options for Recruiting Interest * Anderson, M. (2016). *Learning to choose, choosing to learn: Chapter 1: The key benefits of choice*. Retrieved May 12, 2020, from <http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/116015/chapters/The-Key-Benefits-of-Choice.aspx> Chapter 1 of the book *Learning to choose, choosing to learn* describes the benefits of giving students choice. * Hammond, Z. (2016, August 8). *Culturally responsive teaching and the brain: Strategies for authentic engagement and rigor*. Retrieved May 12, 2020, from [https://issuu.com/sdterry/docs/crt\_passport\_to\_engagement](https://issuu.com/sdterry/docs/crt_passport_to_engagement) This book outlines strategies for increasing engagement and rigor in the classroom while addressing the cultural diversity in your students. * Nucaro, A. (2017, October 2). Positive words go a long way. Retrieved May 12, 2020, from <https://www.edutopia.org/article/positive-words-go-long-way> This article provides tips on how to speak to students to encourage and empower them. ### Options for Sustaining Effort & Persistence * Dweck, Carol: A study on praise and mindsets. (2014). Retrieved from [https://www.youtube.com/watch?time\_continue=9&v=NWv1VdDeoRY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=9&v=NWv1VdDeoRY) Carol Dweck discusses the importance of giving praise and developing a growth mindset in students. * Dweck, Carol: The effect of praise on mindset. (2010). Retrieved from [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTXrV0\_3UjY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTXrV0_3UjY) Carol Dweck discusses the effect praise has on student success. * Rose, D. H., & Meyer, A. (2002). Teaching every student in the digital age Universal Design for Learning. Place of publication not identified: Distributed by ERIC Clearinghouse. Retrieved from <http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/101042/chapters/Using-UDL-to-Set-Clear-Goals.aspx> In this chapter, you will learn how UDL can help resolve the apparent contradiction between standards and student diversity when setting goals for students. ### Options for Self-Regulation * Desautels, L. (2016, January 7). Brains in pain cannot learn! Retrieved May 5, 2020, from <https://www.edutopia.org/blog/brains-in-pain-cannot-learn-lori-desautels> The author describes what happens to the brain during trauma or anxiety, and gives some strategies to help calm the brain during this time. * Desautels, L. (2020, January 23). Supporting students affected by trauma. Retrieved May 5, 2020, from <https://www.edutopia.org/article/supporting-students-affected-trauma> This article discusses the importance of supporting students in the classroom who have experienced trauma, as well as some accommodations and discipline techniques. * Winner, M. G., & Cook , P. (2020, March 26). Social thinking articles. Retrieved May 12, 2020, from <https://www.socialthinking.com/Articles?name=social-metacognition-using-social-emotional-learning-to-engage-hope> This article discusses how the brain naturally tries to avoid feeling helpless and hopeless.
### Options for Recruiting Interest * Alber, R. (2014, March 31). 5 ways to give your students more voice and choice. Retrieved May 12, 2020, from <https://www.edutopia.org/blog/five-strategies-more-voice-choice-students-rebecca-alber> This article describes strategies to provide student choice in your classroom. * Bogdan, P. (2011, March 29). Student-centered learning environments: How and why. Retrieved May 4, 2020, from <https://www.edutopia.org/blog/student-centered-learning-environments-paul-bogdan> Paul Bogdan was a traditional style teacher and reflects on his change to a more student-centered classroom. * Degner, J. (2020). How Universal Design for Learning creates culturally accessible classrooms. *Education Week Teacher*. Retrieved June 18, 2020, from <https://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2016/11/14/udl-creates-cultural-competency-in-classroom.html>. This article discusses strategies to use UDL as a framework for creating culturally accessible classrooms. * Learner-centered environments. (2015). Retrieved May 4, 2020, from <http://lighthouse.bcps.org/learner-centered-environments.html> Baltimore County Public Schools highlight specific ways in which they make their classrooms student-centered. * Learning environments. (2020). Retrieved May 4, 2020, from <https://www.edutopia.org/topic/learning-environments> This site gives examples of how to make a difference in your classroom learning environment by optimizing seating arrangements, classroom decor, and even building design. * McClaskey, K. (2020). Developing the expert learner through the stages of personalized learning. Retrieved June 18, 2020, from [https://docs.google.com/gview?embedded=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.learningdesigned.org%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2FMcClaskey\_2017.pdf](https://docs.google.com/gview?embedded=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.learningdesigned.org%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2FMcClaskey_2017.pdf). This article discusses the stages a student goes through to take ownership of their learning on their journey to becoming an expert learner. * UDL and culturally responsive practice. (2019). Retrieved from <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woYo4OTAKTY> This video shows how UDL increases access and equity through purposeful planning that leads to meaningful, effective instruction for all students. * UDL Talk: Culturally responsive teaching and the UDL connection. (2018). Retrieved from <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFfqgxTCSG4> Joni Degner discusses the benefits of designing culturally responsive lessons and classrooms within the UDL framework. * Terada, Y. (2019, August 7). 8 Proactive classroom management tips. Retrieved May 12, 2020, from <https://www.edutopia.org/article/8-proactive-classroom-management-tips> This article gives tips on how to stop disruptive behavior before it begins. ### Options for Sustaining Effort and Persistence * Desautels, L. (2016, September 16). Energy and calm: Brain breaks and focused-attention practices. Retrieved May 5, 2020, from <https://www.edutopia.org/blog/brain-breaks-focused-attention-practices-lori-desautels> This article discusses the importance of providing brain breaks during the school day to help students refocus. * *Learning goals success criteria teachers and leaders 2*. (2015). Retrieved from <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yMEiztTuEA> This video shows how students own their learning when they know why they are learning “it” and when they know what success will look like. * Schlechty’s levels of classroom engagement [INFOGRAPHIC]. (2015, January 28). Retrieved May 5, 2020, from <https://mrmck.wordpress.com/2015/01/28/schlechtys-levels-of-classroom-engagement-infographic/> Schlechty’s Levels of Engagement describes five ways students are engaged in the classroom. * *Schlechty's levels of engagement in less than 5 minutes*. (2017). Retrieved from <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=256hluHbp2o> This is a video to visually represent Schlechty’s Levels of Engagement. * Sriram, R. (2020, April 13). The neuroscience behind productive struggle. Retrieved May 12, 2020, from <https://www.edutopia.org/article/neuroscience-behind-productive-struggle> This article describes the brain science of productive struggles and gives suggestions on how to incorporate productive struggle into your lessons. ### Options for Self-Regulation * *Incredibly fun games to teach self-regulation (self-control) | Early Childhood Development*. (2017). Retrieved from [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H\_O1brYwdSY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_O1brYwdSY) This video provides a summary of the importance of teaching students self-regulation skills and shows a few strategies to try in the classroom. * *Demonstrating self-regulation with tone of voice*. (2019). Retrieved from <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCv0G4JEuJY&feature=youtu.be> This video shows a demonstration of how to use your voice to help with self-regulation. * Nucaro, A. (2017, October 2). Positive words go a long way. Retrieved May 12, 2020, from <https://www.edutopia.org/article/positive-words-go-long-way> This article discusses the importance of giving brain breaks in order to help students stay focused. * Vollrath, D. (2020, January 14). A de-escalation exercise for upset students. Retrieved May 5, 2020, from <https://www.edutopia.org/article/de-escalation-exercise-upset-students> This article describes the science of what happens to your body when students get agitated and gives a de-escalation technique to try in your classroom. ### ### Definition * Diverse learners: Learners who bring a broad array of learning preferences, background knowledge, experiences, identities, and educational variability and may vary linguistically, socio-culturally, racially, ethnically, or economically.
Provide a description of the lesson you and your students engaged in that shows evidence of planning for providing Multiple Means of Engagement. Please describe: - The learning activities and checkpoints that were incorporated (i.e., Options for Perception, Sustaining Effort and Persistence, and Self-Regulation) - Why you chose to use these activities and strategies - What barriers you hoped to eliminate through these activities.
To earn this micro-credential, you must submit **three pieces of evidence**. Artifact 1 is required, and you will choose to submit two artifacts from the options of Artifact 2a, Artifact 2b, and Artifact 2c for your second and third pieces of evidence. **Artifact 1: Annotated Lesson Plan (Required)** Upload a lesson plan that is evidence of planning for providing Multiple Means of Engagement. The lesson can be in the format of your choosing. Annotations of the lesson (voice recording, written or digital text, etc.) should include explanations about strategies used to support engagement that may not be evident to the assessor. The lesson should include planning for engagement in: * Providing options for recruiting interest * Providing options for sustaining effort and persistence * Providing options for self-regulation *Choose **two** of the following to submit*: **Artifact 2a: Instruction** Upload a 10–20 minute video/audio of class instruction. The video/audio should include strategies used to: * Provide options for recruiting interest * Provide options for sustaining effort and persistence * Provide options for self-regulation **Artifact 2b: Classroom Environment** Upload a representation of the layout of your classroom that shows consideration in the areas of providing options for recruiting interest, sustaining effort and persistence, and self-regulation. Include explanations about the design’s purpose and how providing the students options for engagement drove the design. Also include a video or images that show the classroom design in action. **Artifact 2c: Student Work Samples** Choose a group of three or more diverse learners that you supported for the lesson provided in Artifact 1. (See the Resources section for definition of diverse learners). Submit the following: * Rationale (150-word limit) + Why did you choose this individual student or group of diverse learners? Include narrative on the data you used to make this decision. + What additional supports or accommodations did you make to this lesson to meet the needs of the diverse learner(s)? * Assessment Samples + Upload work samples from three students from the lesson plan provided in Artifact 1. For each student, submit work examples (writing, audio, images, video, or other products) that demonstrate progress toward the lesson goal. Include work samples with your feedback.
Provide a self-reflection of your lesson and activities to include: - What went well - How your students were able to stay engaged throughout the lesson - Description of evidence you collected that demonstrates attainment of the learning goals - Barriers that still exist within the lesson - How you would eliminate barriers for the next lesson, being sure to include specific checkpoints related to Multiple Means of Engagement.
Provide a reflection on the importance of providing Multiple Means of Engagement to reduce barriers among the students you serve, using the following questions to guide you: - How did providing Multiple Means of Engagement affect how you see your students as expert learners? - How will addressing engagement affect your lesson planning in the future?
Educator provides a description of the lesson that shows evidence of Multiple Means of Engagement, descriptions of, reasoning for, and barriers mitigated by implementing specific learning activities and checkpoints.
Educator reflection is specific and demonstrates how this lesson went. It includes a description of student engagement, learning goal attainment, and barriers and their mitigation. The responses provide specific information and examples where necessary.
Educator provides a description of the importance of providing Multiple Means of Engagement and reducing barriers in the classroom to meet the needs of all students in the classroom.
- The annotated lesson plan is complete and addresses all three elements of the suggested implementation. - Annotations address the lesson context and how all students will be offered Multiple Means of Engagement.
- The annotated lesson plan is incomplete and addresses fewer than three elements of suggested implementation. - Annotations may be present but do not clearly address the lesson context and how all students will be offered Multiple Means of Engagement.
Instruction is at least 10 minutes and shows: - Options for recruiting interest - Options for sustaining effort and persistence - Options for self-regulation
Instruction may or may not be at least 10 minutes but shows only partial evidence of: - Options for recruiting interest - Options for sustaining effort and persistence - Options for self-regulation
- Representation of the layout of the classroom shows consideration in the areas of providing students options for recruiting interest, sustaining effort and persistence, and self-regulation, and includes explanations about the design’s purpose and how providing the students Multiple Means of Engagement drove the design. - A video or images that show the classroom design in action are included.
- Representation of the layout of the classroom shows consideration of one or two areas of providing students options for recruiting interest, sustaining effort and persistence, and self-regulation, and includes partial explanations about the design’s purpose and how providing the students Multiple Means of Engagement drove the design. - A video or images that show the classroom design in action are included.
- Representation of the layout of the classroom shows consideration of only one or two areas of providing students options for recruiting interest, sustaining effort and persistence, and self-regulation, and includes partial explanations about the design’s purpose and how providing the students Multiple Means of Engagement drove the design. - A video or images that show the classroom design in action were not submitted.
- The rationale is clear as to the method for choosing the group of students. - Three student work samples with educator feedback have been supplied. - The student work samples represent providing options for recruiting interest, sustaining effort and persistence, and self-regulation and demonstrate how the teacher planned for providing Multiple Means of Engagement.
- The rationale for the method of choosing the group of students is unclear or vague. - Student work samples are uploaded, but the work of fewer than three students may be represented and/or no teacher feedback supplied. - The student work samples do not fully represent how options for recruiting interest, sustaining effort and persistence, and self-regulation were provided, and/or it is not clear how the teacher planned for providing Multiple Means of Engagement.
- The rationale is not addressed. No explanation of supports provided. - No student writing samples were uploaded, nor feedback supplied.
Educator understands the importance of developing expert learners who are resourceful and knowledgeable by offering options for perception, language and symbols, and comprehension.
# Key Method The educator shows evidence of purposeful planning for variability in the classroom by providing options for perception, language and symbols, and comprehension. # Method Components ### Overview According to Meyer, Rose and Gordon (2014), the recognition networks, the networks in the brain responsible for sensing and perceiving information in the environment and transforming it into usable knowledge, require: * constructing knowledge by perceiving information in the environment * recognizing predictive patterns in that information * understanding and integrating any new information * interpreting and manipulating a wide variety of symbolic representations of information * developing fluency in the skills for assimilating and remembering that information. Learner variability ensures that a student’s ability to perceive, interpret, and understand information is dependent upon individual learning preferences and background experiences. With that in mind, it is important to provide options and support in the recognition processes. Educators must provide students with different experiences so they can receive information that is being presented. The principle of Representation is centered around three broad guidelines: * Providing Options for Perception * Providing Options for Language and Symbols * Providing Options for Comprehension ### Providing Options for Perception Providing Options for Perception encourages educators to think about the variability that exists when taking in information. Not only is our sense of sight and other senses activated, but we also use the visualizations in our mind, feelings based on physical surroundings and previous experiences, intuition, and metacognition to perceive the information. Educators can offer options for perception by incorporating the checkpoints of **offering ways to customize the display of information, offering alternatives for auditory information**, and **offering alternatives for visual information**. * **Customizing Display of Information** When offering ways to customize the display of information, educators should be thinking about the size, shape, speed, color, and brightness of the information being presented. Offering information digitally allows for easy customization of the material, but low-tech options should be included as well, such as highlighting text or the use of different colored ink to emphasize different words or numbers. When you customize the information, you are using the existing text or graphic and altering it. * **Offering Alternatives for Auditory Information** With individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing, other representations, such as closed captioning, American Sign Language, tactile supports, and/or visual representations, should be offered as an alternative to auditory information. These supports can benefit other students who struggle when information is presented verbally. Even with students who are not deaf or hard of hearing will benefit from having the information presented both verbally and visually, so you are improving students’ opportunities to access the information. * **Offering Alternatives for Visual Information** Under alternatives for visual information, the educator is presenting the information in other formats, such as auditory cues and/or physical objects for descriptions. Auditory cues can demonstrate transition times, physical objects can help with the understanding of the material, and written descriptions can tell what is in a picture or explain how or why the picture is important. ### Providing Options for Language and Symbols Providing Options for Language and Symbols takes into consideration that students vary systematically in their ability to recognize or understand different forms of symbolic representation. This guideline helps students make meaning of challenging text, including letters, words, numbers and symbols, **through clarifying vocabulary and symbols; clarifying syntax and structure; supporting decoding of text, mathematical notation, and symbols; promoting understanding across languages; **and** illustrating through multiple media**. * **Clarifying Vocabulary and Symbols** When clarifying vocabulary and symbols, educators are helping students connect and understand important words, groupings of words, and symbols. Pre-teaching of vocabulary or symbols, whether before the lesson or whenever a new concept is introduced, should be done across content areas to ensure understanding. It is also important with this guideline to teach groupings of words that may cause a barrier to learning, such as idioms, figurative language, or specific content-area jargon. * **Clarifying Syntax and Structure** When clarifying syntax and structure, educators are making the rules of language transparent. They are explaining and emphasizing structural relationships and connecting those relationships to previously learned material. Pointing out the text structures (compare/contrast, problem/solution, description, etc.), highlighting sentence structure or clarifying math formulas are important strategies for educators to help students understand important information. * **Supporting Decoding of Text, Mathematical Notation, and Symbols** By supporting the decoding of text, mathematical notation, and symbols (putting words and operations to mathematical symbols), educators are eliminating barriers in how students are accessing information. Additional supports are needed to help with the identification of key concepts to vocal supports. Often text-to-speech or read-aloud supports lessen the cognitive demand needed, and students are able to understand the material better than if they had had to decode independently. Offering text to speech also allows students to access the material, where if they were not offered the support, they would not have the skills to engage with the text. * **Promoting Understanding Across Languages** When promoting understanding across languages, educators are concerned with students for whom English is not their first language. These students need access to translation tools and situation-content-domain specific vocabulary. This can be done in a variety of ways; some include teaching vocabulary through concrete objects, offering visuals, relating words to cognates, and offering translation tools, to name a few. * **Illustrate through Multiple Media** By offering information through multiple media, students are able to access paper-and-pencil information in an alternative form, such as videos, photos, diagrams, movement, etc. By making the connections explicit, students are able to see different representations of the same concept and are able to find the best way to access the information. Often technology can be used to offer multiple representations of a concept to help students’ understanding of the material in order to meet the goal of the lesson. ### Providing Options for Comprehension Providing Options for Comprehension concentrates on students being able to use what they have learned and apply it to other contexts. This guideline relies on the educator **activating or supplying background knowledge; highlighting patterns, critical features, big ideas and relationships; guiding information processing, visualization and manipulation; and maximizing transfer and generalization**. * **Activating or Supplying Background Knowledge** It is important to activate students’ background knowledge, so that they are able to connect new learning to preexisting knowledge. Activating prior knowledge helps students make connections between new information and information they already know. Students who already know something about the topic find it easier to understand related materials. Connections made to the lesson help students to want to engage in the lesson. * **Highlighting Patterns, Critical Features, Big Ideas and Relationships** When educators create and show structures or translate text into other formats to emphasize meaning and opportunities for understanding, students are able to filter out the unimportant information and focus on critical concepts. Educators can offer graphic representations, diagrams, pictures, maps and other visual products to help with understanding the important concepts. * **Guiding Information Processing, Visualization and Manipulation** Educators can offer graphic representations, diagrams, pictures, maps and other visual products to help with understanding the important concepts. Helping students to take new information and organize it through summarizing, prioritizing, categorizing or identifying a context solidifies new learning. * **Maximizing Transfer and Generalization** Taking new learning and transferring it to another situation demonstrates deeper learning of the concept. This checkpoint recognizes that knowledge cannot be retained in isolation and students must be able to apply information to new experiences. When new knowledge is connected to larger concepts, students are better able to understand a concept’s relevancy and acquire a better understanding for longer retention.
### General UDL * CAST: Provide multiple means of Representation. (2018, January 12). Retrieved May 13, 2020, from <http://udlguidelines.cast.org/representation> * McDonald, A., & Campbell, H. (2020). *UDL implementation in the math classroom: Practical applications for Monday’s lessons*. Retrieved June 18, 2020, from [https://docs.google.com/gview?embedded=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.learningdesigned.org%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2FMcDonald\_Campbell\_2017.pdf](https://docs.google.com/gview?embedded=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.learningdesigned.org%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2FMcDonald_Campbell_2017.pdf) This article gives an overview of ways to hit the checkpoints in a math classroom. CAST gives an overview of the guideline “provide multiple means of representation”. * Meyer, A., Rose, D. H., & Gordon, D. (2014). *Universal design for learning: Theory and practice*. Wakefield, MA: CAST Professional Publishing. In this free, downloadable e-book, Meyer, Rose and Gordon discuss the UDL principles and practices since 2002. Included are contributions from CAST’s research and implementation teams, as well as their collaborators in schools, universities, and research settings. * *Multiple Means of Representation (Week 3)*. (2015). Retrieved from <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofOJqdDbUd8> This webinar focuses on how we can provide multiple means of representation to support the variability in learners’ recognition networks. * Rose, D. H., Meyer, A., Strangman, N., & Rappolt, G. (2020). *Education in the digital age*. Chapter 1. Retrieved May 14, 2020, from <http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/101042/chapters/Education-in-the-Digital-Age.aspx> This chapter introduces the concept of Universal Design for Learning, a framework that can help you turn the challenges posed by high standards and increasing learner diversity into opportunities to maximize learning for every student. ### Options for Perception * Robinson, D. H., Robinson, S. L., & Katayama, A. D. (1999). When words are represented in memory like pictures: Evidence for spatial encoding of study materials. *Contemporary Educational Psychology, 24*(1), 38–54. This study explains how graphic organizers and concept maps are effective in helping individuals retrieve information because they include text within a visual format. * Schwan, S., & Riempp, R. (2004). The cognitive benefits of interactive videos: Learning to tie nautical knots. *Learning & Instruction, 14*(3), 293–305. This article compares the effectiveness of non-interactive videos and interactive videos when teaching knot-tying skills. The participants in this study benefited from the ability to rewind, fast forward, slow down, etc. the videos. * UDL for Teachers. (2018). *Perception*. Retrieved May 13, 2020, from <https://udlforteachers.com/category/principle-1/guideline-1/> This site gives a video overview of this checkpoint, as well as providing suggestions to provide options for perception. ### Options for Language and Symbols * Bodemer, D., Ploetzner, R., Bruchmuller, K., & Hacker, S. (2005). Supporting learning with interactive multimedia through active integration of representations. *Instructional Science, 33*(1), 73–95. This article addresses the importance of actively building prior knowledge through a variety of sources. * Englert, C. S., Raphael, T. E., Anderson, L. M., Anthony, H. M., & Stevens, D. D. (1991). Making strategies and self-talk visible: Writing instruction in regular and special education classrooms. *American Educational Research Journal, 28*(2), 337–372. The article explains the effectiveness of dialogic instruction when building expository writing skills. * *Guideline 2: Provide options for language and symbols*. (2011, September 30). Retrieved May 13, 2020, from <https://udlguidelines.wordpress.com/principle-i-provide-multiple-means-of-representation/guideline-2-provide-options-for-language-and-symbols/> This website gives an overview of the checkpoint, as well as examples for increasing accessibility for each checkpoint. * Hamayan, E. V., Marler, B., López, C. S., & Damico, J. (2013). *Special education considerations for English language learners: Delivering a continuum of services*. Philadelphia: Caslon Publishing. This book helps special education specialists learn how to assess the specific nature of an ELL’s challenges, create a continuum of appropriate interventions, and measure the ELL’s response to those interventions. * Kuhn, M., & Schwanenflugel, P. (2006, January 1). *All oral reading practice is not equal or how can I integrate fluency into my classroom**?* Retrieved May 12, 2020, from <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4214377/#!po=0.694444> This text discusses strategies that are proven to assist students improve fluency. * Lopes-Murphy, S. (2012, September 13). *Universal Design for Learning: Preparing secondary education teachers in training to increase academic accessibility of high school english learners*. Retrieved May 13, 2020, from <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00098655.2012.693549> This article gives suggestions on how to incorporate UDL into secondary classrooms, specifically how to make the content accessible to ELLs. * Love, M. S. (2004). Multimodality of learning through anchored instruction. *Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 48*(4), 300–310. This article describes the importance of the use of multimodes (video, internet, etc.) to reinforce connections (knowledge building) during educator instruction and student learning. * Rice Doran, P. (2015) Language accessibility in the classroom: How UDL can promote success for linguistically diverse learners. *Exceptionality Education International, 25*, 1–12. Retrieved from <https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/eei/vol25/iss3/1> This article discusses how UDL is a good framework for addressing the needs of all diverse language speakers. * *UDL for teachers: Language, math expressions, symbols*. (2018). Retrieved May 13, 2020, from <https://udlforteachers.com/category/principle-1/guideline-2/> This site gives a video overview of this checkpoint, as well as providing suggestions to provide options for providing options for language, math expressions, and symbols. ### Options for Comprehension * Anderson, D. R., Fite, K. V., Petrovich, N., & Hirsch, J. (2006). Cortical activation while watching video montage: An fMRI study. *Media Psychology, 8*(1), 7–24. This article explains the connection of comprehending videos and the function of the brain. * Dalton, B., & Strangman, N. (n.d.). *International Handbook of Literacy and Technology*. Improving struggling readers’ comprehension through scaffolded hypertexts and other computer-based literacy programs. This chapter focuses on the roles of computers and digital text in supporting struggling readers’ comprehension. * *UDL for teachers: Comprehension*. (2018). Retrieved May 13, 2020, from <https://udlforteachers.com/category/principle-1/guideline-3/> This site gives a video overview of this checkpoint, as well as providing suggestions to provide options for providing options for comprehension.
### Options for Perception * National Center on Accessible Educational Materials. (2020, May 6). Retrieved May 13, 2020, from <http://aem.cast.org/> This is the homepage of the National Center on Accessible Education Materials, which provides resources on accessible educational materials and accessible technologies. * *Provide options for perception*. (2018, December 11). Retrieved May 13, 2020, from <https://www.inclusive.tki.org.nz/guides/universal-design-for-learning/provide-options-for-perception> This website gives suggestions for providing options for perceptions. * Rosen, P. (2020, April 17). *Classroom accommodations for auditory processing disorder*. Retrieved May 13, 2020, from <https://www.understood.org/en/school-learning/partnering-with-childs-school/instructional-strategies/classroom-accommodations-for-auditory-processing-disorder> This site gives ideas for accommodations for students with auditory processing difficulties. ### Options for Language and Symbols * Otero, A. (2020, January 24). *4 Activities to boost target language vocabulary acquisition*. Retrieved May 13, 2020, from <https://www.edutopia.org/article/4-activities-boost-target-language-vocabulary-acquisition> The author gives four strategies to help students increase their vocabulary. * *Provide options for language, mathematical expressions, and symbols*. (2018, December 11). Retrieved May 13, 2020, from <https://www.inclusive.tki.org.nz/guides/universal-design-for-learning/provide-options-for-language-mathematical-expressions-and-symbols> This section of the website gives suggestions for providing options for language, mathematical expressions, and symbols. * Mundorf, J., Miller, C., Cheveallier, J., & Boehm, S. (2020). *Reaching all learners in secondary English language arts*. Retrieved 18 June 2020, from [https://docs.google.com/gview?embedded=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.learningdesigned.org%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2FMundorf\_Miller\_Cheveallier\_Boehm\_2017.pdf](https://docs.google.com/gview?embedded=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.learningdesigned.org%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2FMundorf_Miller_Cheveallier_Boehm_2017.pdf). This article discusses the importance of making literature accessible to all students by using UDL strategies to enable students to interact with and respond to quality text. ### Options for Comprehension * *Boosting student memory*. (2017). Retrieved from <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iq47-x2EYrE&feature=youtu.be> This video gives tips on improving students’ memory. * Giddings, A. (2016, November 7). *Interrupted reading: Slowing students down to dive deeper into a passage*. Retrieved from <https://aplanghelp.blogspot.com/2016/11/interrupted-reading-slowing-students.html> The author describes a reading strategy called interrupted reading, which aims to slow readers down to improve comprehension. * Parrish, N. (2020, February 3). 5 Ways to support students who struggle with reading comprehension. Retrieved May 13, 2020, from <https://www.edutopia.org/article/5-ways-support-students-who-struggle-reading-comprehension> This article gives suggestions on how to support struggling readers in your classroom. * *Provide options for comprehension*. (2018, December 11). Retrieved May 13, 2020, from <https://www.inclusive.tki.org.nz/guides/universal-design-for-learning/provide-options-for-comprehension> This webpage gives suggestions for providing options for comprehension. * Spathis, E. (2020, May 11). Retrieved May 13, 2020, from <https://www.edutopia.org/article/5-ways-boost-critical-thinking-world-language-classes> This article provides suggestions on how to increase critical thinking in your classroom, specifically when discussing cultures. * Strangman, N., Hall, T., & Meyer, A. (2004).*Background knowledge instruction and the implications for UDL implementation*. Wakefield, MA: National Center on Accessing the General Curriculum. (Links updated 2009). Retrieved May 13, 2020 from <http://aem.cast.org/about/publications/2004/ncac-background-knowledge-udl.html> This article examines the research on instructional approaches to support students’ use of background knowledge. ### Definition * Diverse learners: Learners who bring a broad array of learning preferences, background knowledge, experiences, identities, and educational variability and may vary linguistically, socio-culturally, racially, ethnically, or economically.
Provide a description of the lesson you and your students engaged in that shows evidence of planning for providing Multiple Means of Representation. Please describe: - The learning activities and checkpoints that were incorporated (i.e., Options for Perception, Language and Symbols, and Comprehension). - Why you chose to use these activities and checkpoints - What barriers you hoped to eliminate through these activities and checkpoints.
To earn this micro-credential, you must submit **two pieces of evidence**. Artifact 1 is required, and you will choose to submit either Artifact 2a or Artifact 2b for your second piece of evidence. **Artifact 1: Annotated Lesson Plan (Required)** Upload a lesson plan that is evidence of planning for providing Multiple Means of Representation to allow for the variability in the way students perceive, interpret, and understand information. The lesson can be in the format of your choosing. Annotations of the lesson (voice recording, written or digital text, etc.) should include explanations about the various strategies used to address variability while representing the information that may not be evident to the assessor. The lesson should include planning for Multiple Means of Representation in: * Providing Options for Perception * Providing Options for Language and Symbols * Providing Options for Comprehension *Choose **one** of the following to submit*: **Artifact 2a: Instruction** Upload a 10–20 minute video/audio of class instruction. The video/audio should include strategies used to: * Provide Options for Perception * Provide Options for Language and Symbols * Provide Options for Comprehension **Artifact 2b: Student Work Samples** Choose a group of three or more diverse learners that you supported for the lesson provided in Artifact 1. (See the Resources section for definition of diverse learners). Submit the following: * Rationale (150-word limit) + Why did you choose this individual student or group of diverse learners? Include narrative on the data you used to make this decision. + What additional supports or accommodations did you make to this lesson to meet the needs of the diverse learner(s)? * Assessment Samples + Upload work samples from three students from the lesson plan provided in Artifact 1. For each student, submit work examples (writing, audio, images, video, or other products) that demonstrate progress toward the lesson goal. Include work samples with your feedback.
Provide a self-reflection of your lesson and activities to include: - What went well - How your students were able to stay engaged throughout the lesson - Description of evidence you collected that demonstrates attainment of the learning goals - Barriers that still exist within the lesson - How you would eliminate barriers for the next lesson; include specific checkpoints related to Multiple Means of Representation.
Provide a reflection on the importance of providing Multiple Means of Representation to reduce barriers among the students you serve, using the following questions to help guide you: - How did providing Multiple Means of Representation affect how you see your students as expert learners? - How will addressing representation affect your lesson planning in the future?
Educator provides a description of the lesson that shows evidence of Multiple Means of Representation, descriptions of, reasoning for, and barriers mitigated by implementing specific learning activities and checkpoints.
Educator provides a description of the importance of providing Multiple Means of Representation and reducing barriers in the classroom to meet the needs of all students in the classroom.
- The annotated lesson plan is complete and addresses all three elements of the suggested implementation. - Annotations address the lesson context and how all students will be offered Multiple Means of Representation.
- The annotated lesson plan is incomplete and addresses fewer than three elements of suggested implementation. - Annotations may be present but do not clearly address the lesson context and how all students will be offered Multiple Means of Representation.
- The annotated lesson plan is incomplete and addresses one or no elements of suggested implementation. - Annotations are not included.
Instruction is at least 10 minutes and shows: - Options for Perception - Options for Language and Symbols - Options for Comprehension
Instruction may or may not be at least 10 minutes but shows only partial evidence of: - Provide Options for Perception - Options for Language and Symbols - Options for Comprehension
- The rationale for the method of choosing the groups of students is clear. - Three student artifacts with educator feedback have been uploaded. - The student work samples represent providing options for perception, language and symbols, and comprehension, and demonstrate how the educator planned for providing Multiple Means of Representation.
- The rationale for the method of choosing the group of students is unclear or not specific. - Student work samples are uploaded but may represent the work of fewer than three students and/or no educator feedback is supplied. - The student work samples chosen do not fully represent providing options for perception, language and symbols, and comprehension, and/or it is not clear how the educator planned for providing Multiple Means of Representation.
- The rationale for the method of choosing the groups of students is not addressed. No explanation of supports provided. - No student writing samples were uploaded, nor feedback supplied.
Educator understands the concept of learner variability and its effect on learning in the classroom.
# Key Method The educator shows purposeful planning around goals, methods and materials, and assessment that demonstrates an understanding that average learners do not exist. The educator shows evidence of addressing the importance of learner variability in the classroom and reduces barriers among the students they serve. # Method Components ### Overview Based on learning sciences and cognitive neuroscience, people vary in how they learn. The way one choose to learn depends on their background knowledge, cultural background, experiences, and interests. Not only do we all learn in unique ways, but our abilities continually change in response to the environment in real-time, resulting in variability based on the day, hour, or even minute. In a Universal Design for Learning (UDL) environment, differences in experience, knowledge, and ability are to be expected. The UDL educator embraces variability and thinks of it as a normal and predictable part of teaching a group of students. Differences are celebrated, and the educator consistently anticipates barriers within the curriculum and proactively offers flexibility in the goals, methods and materials, and assessment used in the classroom. ### Goals In a UDL environment, standards-based and flexible learning goals are essential. Goals should be aligned to the grade-appropriate, rigorous state standards for all students—students with and without special education needs. Flexible refers to the means or the verb in the goal, what the students are doing in order to prove mastery of the goal. Students should be able to access and demonstrate their learning of the goal in a variety of ways. An example of this is a goal that incorporates students being able to “cite evidence from the text.” If we look at the verb “cite,” students can do this in many different ways. Some may choose to highlight the information in the text. Others may choose to include information in a graphic organizer, point to the information, or record themselves explaining the information. ### Methods and Materials Traditional materials, those of paper and pencil, no longer meet the needs of the variable learner. The UDL approach encourages educators to use materials and environments that are more flexible and enable them to present concepts in a variety of ways to better meet the needs of a diverse group of learners. The term “environment” refers to both the physical location as well as the resources available to students. The arrangement of the desks or tables and chairs can help with meeting the needs of the students in the classroom. Students that use mobility devices would find it hard to move in a classroom without the appropriate amount of space between furniture. When designing, an educator needs to provide physical access to all students and ensure their inclusion in the larger group. Collaborative groups require a structure that encourages discussion and collaboration. Designated areas for discussion or arranging desks in groups is a way to design for easier access in the classroom. Flexible media can exist in a variety of ways but the most common is digital text, which allows the user to manipulate it (e.g., by increasing the font size, switching on the text-to-speech feature, highlighting text as it is read) to allow for greater accessibility. Just as educators need to present materials in multiple formats, they also need to use a variety of instructional methods, such as collaborative groups, independent or partner tasks, online learning, project-based learning, or traditional paper-and-pencil activities to deliver the content to all students. Traditional instructional methods, where the educator is doing most of the talking and students are passively sitting behind a desk, are not engaging or flexible enough for the variability that exists in classrooms. Students need options for accessing the content, supports and scaffolds to ensure understanding and corrective feedback in order to meet the goal of the lesson. An example of this is during a reading lesson. Some students may be reading independently, some with a partner, and some on computers, while a small group is working with the educator through direct instruction. Students are choosing to achieve the same lesson goal in an instructional manner that fits their needs at that time. ### Assessment To effectively assess students’ learning, educators must identify the knowledge or skill they want the students to learn (i.e., the learning goal). One way to think about this is to ask the question, “How will I know students have met the goal?” Because students have different learning needs or preferences and varied interests, their knowledge should be assessed using a method of their choice. This allows students to show what they know about a concept without the barriers of a particular medium. Students should be able to meet the goals in a variety of ways and be provided scaffolds that eliminate or reduce barriers related to the assessment materials (e.g. spellchecker, text to speech, speech to text, embedded text, prompts for directions, etc.) while receiving formative feedback on the way to mastery.
* An average student does not exist: The myth of average: Todd Rose at TEDxSonomaCounty. (2013). Retrieved from <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eBmyttcfU4&feature=youtu.be> High-school-dropout-turned-Harvard-faculty discusses the idea that average does not exist. * Bodrova, E., Leong, D.J., & Akhutina, T.V. (2011). When everything new is well-forgotten old: Vygotsky/Luria insights in the development of executive functions. In R. M. Lerner, J.V. Lerner, E. P. Bowers, S. Lewin-Bizan, S. Gestsdottir, & J. B. Urban (Eds.), *Thriving in childhood and adolescence: The role of self-regulation process: New directions for child and adolescent development, 133*, 11–28. * ESSA: U.S. Government Publishing Office. (2015). Every Student Succeeds Act. Washington, D.C. Retrieved from <https://www.ed.gov/essa>. Details about the Every Student Succeeds Act. * Fehlandt, Mark. “Flexible classroom design and its effects on student-centered teaching and learning." (2017). School of Education Student Capstone Projects. 6. [https://digitalcommons.hamline.edu/hse\_cp/6](https://digitalcommons.hamline.edu/hse_cp/6) This capstone project presents research, examples, and effects of a flexible classroom design responsible for a more active, student-centered learning environment. * Learner Variability: *Learner Variability*. (2018). Retrieved from <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x76ylvROOq0&feature=youtu.be> This video gives an overview of learner variability. * Meyer, A., Rose, D.H., & Gordon, D. (2014). Universal design for learning: Theory and practice. Wakefield, MA: CAST Professional Publishing. In this free, downloadable e-book, Meyer, Rose and Gordon discuss UDL principles and practices since 2002. Included are contributions from CAST’s research and implementation teams, as well as their collaborators in schools, universities, and research settings. * Nelson, L. (2019). Variability includes poverty: Plan for it. CAST and UDL-IRN. Retrieved June 15, 2020 from <https://learningdesigned.org/resource/variability-includes-poverty-plan-it> This article discusses the importance of acknowledging the overarching experiences of students in poverty and how those experiences affect learning. It then discusses how to utilize the UDL framework to design flexible environments that will eliminate barriers these students face. * Nelson, L. (2014). Design and deliver: Planning and teaching using universal design for learning. Brookes: Baltimore, MD. This book dives into the principles of Universal Design for Learning, discussing what it is, the myths and vocabulary associated with it, and how to put it into practice. * The Science of Learner Variability: UDL and the learning brain. (2018). Retrieved April 27, 2020, from <http://www.cast.org/binaries/content/assets/common/publications/articles/cast-udlandthebrain-20180321.pdf> This article gives background knowledge on the science of the brain and how it impacts learner variability. * Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). *Mind and society: The development of higher mental process*. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
* About Universal Design for Learning: CAST. (2020). About universal design for learning. Retrieved July14, 2020, from <http://www.cast.org/our-work/about-udl.html#.Xw3W-pNKhQI> This website looks into how Universal Design for Learning (UDL) can improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn. It offers research and other resources key to understanding UDL. * Background Knowledge Variability: Literacy 4–6: Factors: Learner variability project. (n.d.). Retrieved April 28, 2020, from <https://lvp.digitalpromiseglobal.org/content-area/literacy-4-6/factors> This website lists factors that affect reading outcomes in grades 4–6, as well as strategies that are helpful. * Planning for Variability: Nelson, Loui Lord. (2014). *Design and deliver: Planning and teaching using Universal Design for Learning*. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing. This UDL guidebook gives educators a practical framework for implementation, with detailed guidelines on lesson planning and meeting the checkpoints. * Top 5 UDL Tips for Learning Environments: CAST. (2016). Top 5 UDL tips for learning environments. Retrieved June 15, 2020, from <http://castprofessionallearning.org/project/top-5-udl-tips-for-learning-environments/>. This website lists the top five hints for designing learning environments in a UDL classroom. * UDL and Cultural Variability: CAST. (2016). UDL and cultural variability webinar. Retrieved July14, 2020, from <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Y7rjGNVOws> * UDL Talk: Culturally Responsive Teaching and the UDL Connection UDL-IRN. (2017). Retrieved July 14, 2020 from <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFfqgxTCSG4> In this UDL talk from the UDL-IRN Summit, Joni Denger discusses the connection between culturally responsive teaching and UDL. * Variability in PK–3: Reading PK–3: Factors: Learner variability project. (n.d.). Retrieved April 28, 2020, from <https://lvp.digitalpromiseglobal.org/content-area/reading-pk-3/factors> This website lists factors that affect reading outcomes in grades PK–3, as well as helpful strategies. * Variability in the Classroom Environment: The IRIS Center. (2009). Universal Design for Learning: Creating a learning environment that challenges and engages all students. Retrieved from <https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/udl/> Online modules address the components of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Includes real-life scenarios to address the variability in classrooms using UDL and provides a list of resources and references. * Vocabulary Variability: Vocabulary. (n.d.). Retrieved April 28, 2020, from <https://lvp.digitalpromiseglobal.org/content-area/literacy-4-6/factors/vocabulary-literacy-4-6/summary> This website lists factors that impact vocabulary development, as well as strategies to improve it. * What is UDL? Novak, K. (2020). What is UDL? Retrieved July14, 2020 from <https://www.novakeducation.com/what-is-udl-infographic/> This infographic provides an alternative version of variability, the goal of UDL, and practical implementation tips. ### Definition * Diverse learners: Learners who bring a broad array of learning preferences, background knowledge, experiences, identities, and educational variability and who may vary linguistically, socio-culturally, racially, ethnically, or economically.
Provide a description of the lesson you and your students engaged in that shows evidence of planning for variability. Please describe: - The learning activities and strategies you used - Why you chose to use these activities and strategies - What barriers you hoped to eliminate through these activities.
To earn this micro-credential, you must submit **three pieces of evidence**. Artifact 1 is required, and you will choose to submit two artifacts from the options of Artifact 2a, Artifact 2b, and Artifact 2c for your second and third pieces of evidence. **Artifact 1: Annotated Lesson Plan (Required)** Upload a lesson plan that is evidence of planning for learner variability. The lesson can be in a format of your choosing. Annotations of the lesson (voice recording, written or digital text, etc.) should include explanations about strategies used to support variability that may not be evident to the assessor. The lesson should include planning for variability in: * Goals * Materials * Assessment *Choose **two** of the following to submit*: **Artifact 2a: Instruction** Upload a 10–20 minute video/audio of class instruction. The video/audio should include: * Sharing of a clear and flexible goal * Activities that allow for variability within students * Flexible assessment of the learning goal **Artifact 2b: Classroom Environment** Upload a representation of the layout of your classroom that shows consideration in the areas of goals, materials, and assessment and that includes explanations about the design’s purpose and how learner variability drove the design. Also include a video or images that show the classroom design in action. **Artifact 2c: Student Work Samples** Choose a group of three or more diverse learners that you supported for the lesson provided in Artifact 1. (See the Resources section for definition of diverse learners). Submit the following: * Rationale (150-word limit) + Why did you choose this individual student or group of diverse learners? Include narrative on the data you used to make this decision. + What additional supports or accommodations did you make to this lesson to meet the needs of the diverse learner(s)? * Assessment Samples + Upload work samples from three students from the lesson plan provided in Artifact 1. For each student, submit work examples (writing, audio, images, video, or other products) that demonstrate progress toward the lesson goal. Include work samples with your feedback.
Provide a self-reflection of your lesson and activities. Be sure to include: - What went well - How your students were able to meet the goal of the lesson - Evidence you collected that demonstrates attainment of the learning goals - Barriers that still exist within the lesson - How you would eliminate barriers for the next lesson.
Provide a reflection on the importance of understanding learner variability and reducing barriers among the students you serve, using the following questions to guide you: - How did addressing variability affect how you see your students as expert learners? - How will addressing variability affect your lesson planning in the future?
Educator provides a description of the lesson that shows evidence of planning for variability, descriptions of, reasoning for, and barriers mitigated by implementing specific learning activities and strategies.
Educator reflection is specific and demonstrates how this lesson went, learning goal attainment, and barriers and their mitigation. The responses provide specific information and examples where necessary.
Educator provides a description of the importance of considering learner variability and reducing barriers in the classroom to meet the needs of all students in the classroom.
- The annotated lesson plan is complete and addresses all three elements of the suggested implementation. - Annotations address the lesson context and how all students will be supported.
- The annotated lesson plan is incomplete and addresses fewer than three elements of suggested implementation. - Annotations may be present but do not clearly address the lesson context and how all students will be supported.
Instruction is at least 10 minutes and shows: - Sharing of a clear and flexible goal - Activities that allow for variability within students - Flexible assessment of the learning goal
Instruction may or may not be at least 10 minutes but shows only partial evidence of: - Sharing of a clear and flexible goal - Activities that allow for variability within students - Flexible assessment of the learning goal
Representation of the layout of the classroom shows consideration in the areas of goals, materials, and assessment, and includes explanations of the design’s purpose and how learner variability drove the design. A video or images that show the classroom design in action are included.
Representation of the layout of the classroom shows consideration of one or two of the areas of goals, materials, and assessment, and includes partial explanations of the design’s purpose and how learner variability drove the design. A video or images that show the classroom design in action are included.
Representation of the layout of the classroom shows consideration of one or two of the areas of goals, materials, and assessment, and includes partial explanations of the design’s purpose and how learner variability drove the design. A video or images that show the classroom design in action were not submitted.
- The rationale is clear as to the method for choosing students or groups of students. - Three student artifacts with educator feedback have been uploaded. - The student work samples represent student variability and demonstrate how the educator planned for that variability.
- The rationale for the method of choosing students or the group of students is unclear or not specific. - Student work samples are uploaded, but the work of fewer than three students may be represented and/or no educator feedback is supplied. - The student work samples do not fully represent student variability and/or it is not clear how the educator planned for variability.
- The rationale is not addressed. No explanation of supports is provided. - No student writing samples were uploaded, nor feedback supplied.
Educator understands and is able to build background knowledge for overall reading comprehension.
# Key Method The educator develops and implements a lesson plan utilizing high-yield strategies to build background knowledge with the intent to support comprehension. # Method Components ### Overview Building background knowledge—establishing a common foundation of understanding around content—is an essential component of lesson instruction; it is also the foundation of all academic study (Lent, 2012) and of reading comprehension (Newman, Kaefer, & Pinkham, n.d.). According to a significant body of research, a student’s background knowledge is one of the strongest indicators of how well they can extract explicit and implicit information from a text, integrate that new information into their schema, and retain new content-based information for future use (Neuman, Kaefer, & Pinkham, n.d.). Without background knowledge, meaning-making breaks down and students’ comprehension can be incomplete—regardless of which “bag of tricks” of comprehension skills a student has been taught (Sedita, 2018). Reading comprehension is not a set of skills or strategies. Instead, reading comprehension is more dependent upon the background knowledge and vocabulary that students bring to learning experiences around a new concept (Sedita, 2018). Without a firm foundation of background knowledge, vital connections among content can be lost and big ideas obscured. Without adequate background knowledge, new content has little chance of being committed to long-term memory, and the goals of reading comprehension are lost. ### Components of Building Background Knowledge Instruction To support students in meaning-making based upon reading, a systematic, deliberate approach to establishing a foundation of background knowledge is recommended. The research literature recommends the following for exemplary background knowledge building instruction: 1. Assessing background knowledge * The first step to any background building instruction is to evaluate what students already know about a new topic. This measure is particularly important because in any given class of students, there can be a wide range of established understanding. Assessing students’ foundations and prior knowledge on a new concept allows educators to understand both the quality and quantity of understanding that students bring to the new content. * Ways to assess background knowledge include activities like anticipation guides, carousel walks, and free discussions. 2. Activating prior knowledge * By assessing background knowledge in an intentional and focused manner, educators are able to activate any prior knowledge that students already have on a new concept. This “awakening” of knowledge stores prepares the brain to make associations and connections, thus being better prepared to receive and organize new learning. * Ways to activate background knowledge include activities like showing video clips, providing short readings, and sharing images and graphics. 3. Building background knowledge * It is often said that teaching is an art; nowhere is that more true than in the case of carefully crafting lessons that allow for the tailored building of background knowledge. This level of differentiation to set the stage for the introduction of new content is nothing that a generic curriculum or textbook can do; it is the craft of a skillful educator that ensures meaning making can be made. * Ways to build background knowledge include activities like textbook scavenger hunts, the use of picture books, virtual experiences, direct instruction in thought processes (like comparison), shared physical experiences, simple pre-reading, organization and assignment of text sets (Lent, 2012). ### Supporting Students as they Learn through Building Background Knowledge Instruction Supporting students as they acquire the skills necessary to understand and apply the learning on developing background knowledge involves delivering literacy instruction that incorporates research-based strategies for building background knowledge. This process requires an understanding of how to: * Appropriately assess prior knowledge that students bring to a new content or concept through the use of + anticipation guides, which provide students with written statements related to the text and helps them set a purpose for learning. + carousel walks, which allow students to move around the room as they share background knowledge. + free discussions, which allow the educator to listen to students talk about a question related to the reading. * Interpret prior knowledge assessment data to identify student need for additional or differentiated instruction and/or intervention. * Explicitly help students connect what they know to what you want them to learn through the use of + visuals offered in textbooks used as a walk-through, prompting students to speak about a graphic or text feature + picture books to build background + background builders accessed through virtual experiences + literacy-rich classrooms + wide reading ### Assessing Mastery of Building Background Knowledge Assessment is a valuable step in the instructional planning process. It can support future lesson design and implementation. Assessing mastery of building background knowledge should follow best practices for assessment, but there are some specifics to keep in mind: * It is difficult to predict a student’s knowledge base without an assessment of prior knowledge. * Assessing prior knowledge allows educators to identify knowledge gaps and then to use this information to design instruction that meets students’ needs. * Students are more likely to remember information on a new topic if it is related to what is already in memory. * Knowledge contributes to comprehension. * An effective approach to measuring student growth as it relates to background knowledge building is to employ the use of an anticipation, or prediction, guide. This tool allows an educator to gauge what a student knows about new content before instruction begins, then serves as a post-measure after instruction around the new content (Lent, 2012).
* Neuman, S., Kaefer, T., & Pinkham, A. (n.d.). *Building background knowledge*. Reading Rockets. <https://www.readingrockets.org/article/building-background-knowledge> This article offers results of research studies that support the importance of building background knowledge along with practical instructional implementation tips. * Scott, C .M., & Balthazar, C. (2013). The role of complex sentence knowledge in children with reading and writing difficulties. *Perspectives on Language & Literacy, 39*(3),18-26. <https://app.box.com/s/6rn9i3zl6blle2qhasudaj84zb9gkvhs> This research article discusses the importance of syntax and grammar to students’ ability to construct meaning at the sentence level. * Sedita, J. (2018). Background knowledge and reading comprehension. Keys to Literacy. <https://keystoliteracy.com/blog/background-knowledge-and-reading-comprehension/> This research article addresses the vital importance of background knowledge over comprehension skills and strategies as a predictor for reading comprehension. * Willingham, D. (2006, Spring). How knowledge helps: It speeds and strengthens reading comprehension, learning—and thinking. [Blog post]. <https://www.aft.org/periodical/american-educator/spring-2006/how-knowledge-helps> This article explores the cognitive psychology behind how background knowledge begets deeper levels of understanding around new learning. * Wexler, N. (2019). *The knowledge gap: The hidden cause of America’s broken education system—and how to fix it*. New York, NY: Avery Publishing. This readable book contextualizes knowledge building within curriculum design. It will help educators to view a lack of background knowledge as a curricular problem rather than a characteristic of students.
* Lent, R. C. (2012). Background knowledge: The glue that makes learning stick. Overcoming textbook fatigue: 21st century tools to revitalize teaching and learning. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. <http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/113005/chapters/Background-Knowledge@-The-Glue-That-Makes-Learning-Stick.aspx> This article offers practical foundations in the importance of building background knowledge and shares activity ideas for classroom implementation. * Student Achievement Partners. (2015). Supplementing your curriculum with knowledge-building text sets. <https://achievethecore.org/aligned/supplementing-your-curriculum-with-knowledge-building-text-sets/> This article offers advice around the implementation of text sets within a curriculum as a means of enhancing and building background knowledge. ### Annotating Text * Annotation Guide [https://www.covcath.org/uploaded/06\_Students/Annotation\_Guide\_AP\_Language.pdf](https://www.covcath.org/uploaded/06_Students/Annotation_Guide_AP_Language.pdf) * Annotating Texts, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill <https://learningcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/annotating-texts/> * What is Annotating and Why Do It? Eastern Washington University [https://research.ewu.edu/writers\_c\_read\_study\_strategies](https://research.ewu.edu/writers_c_read_study_strategies) ### Definitions * Diverse learners: Learners who bring a broad array of learning preferences, background knowledge, experiences, identities, and educational variability and may vary linguistically, socio-culturally, racially, ethnically, or economically.
What instructional steps did you and your students engage with in order to become more proficient with building background knowledge? Please describe the learning activities and strategies, and include information on what classroom data you used to develop the activities.
Provide a description of how you knew that your students’ proficiency in making sense of new ideas increased, and describe what evidence you collected that demonstrates these learning gains.
To complete this micro-credential, please submit the following evidence: **Artifact 1: Annotated Lesson Plan** Upload your lesson plan which focuses on building background knowledge. Annotate the lesson, including where in-class explanations may not be clear to the assessor and accommodations that will be made to support all students. The lesson should include evidence of: * assessing students’ background knowledge * activating prior knowledge * building background knowledge **Artifact 2: Whole Group Instruction** Upload a 10–20 minute video/audio of whole class instruction. The video/audio should include: * Activities to assess prior knowledge that students bring to the new content or concept * Student engagement in lesson activities that activate, preview, and subsequently build the foundation for learning around a new content or concept **Artifact 3: Rationale and Student Assessment Samples** Choose a group of 2 or more diverse learners that you supported for the lesson provided in Artifact 1. (See the Resources section for a definition of diverse learners.) Submit the following: * Rationale (150-word limit) + Why did you choose this group of diverse learners? Include narrative on the data you used to make this decision. + What additional supports or accommodations did you make to this lesson to meet the needs of the diverse learner(s)? * Student Assessment Samples + Upload samples from two students from the lesson plan provided in Artifact 1. For each student, submit assessment examples (writing, audio, graphic organizers, video, or other products) that demonstrate progress toward increased levels of understanding around background knowledge. Include samples with your feedback.
Provide a reflection on engaging your students in instruction around building background knowledge, using the following questions to help guide you: - What was the impact of assessing, activating, and building background knowledge prior to learning about a new topic? - How will you use building background knowledge to affect your practice in the future?
Instructional steps are clear with sufficient detail to understand how instruction builds background knowledge to impact comprehension.
Educator provides a description of how this lesson impacted student learning. Description includes evidence collected to determine learning gains. Descriptions are specific, with examples provided when necessary.
Annotated lesson plan is complete and addresses all three elements of suggested implementation. Annotations address the lesson context and how all students will be supported.
Annotated lesson plan is incomplete, and addresses fewer than three elements of suggested implementation. Annotations may be present but do not clearly address the lesson context and how all students will be supported.
Annotated lesson plan is incomplete, and addresses one or no elements of suggested implementation. Annotations are not included.
Instruction is at least 10 minutes, shows whole-group instruction, and clear expectations. Student engagement is evident across the majority of students and occurs multiple times.
Instruction may or may not be less than 10 minutes and shows partial-class instruction. Student engagement is minimal, limited to a few students or occurring only a few times.
Evidence of whole group instruction is not evident in the video/audio clip. Student engagement is not evident.
Artifact 3: Rationale and Student Assessment Samples
Rationale is clear as to the method for choosing the diverse group of students and provides an explanation of what, if any, modifications and/or accommodations were given. All original student assessment samples have been uploaded with educator feedback. Feedback is specific, relevant, timely, and appropriate to the phase of learning in the larger lesson.
A group of students is chosen but the description is unclear and does not explain the diversity or an explanation of what, if any, modifications and/or accommodations were given. Some student assessment samples were uploaded, but not all of the samples focused on text structure instruction. Feedback from educator was lacking one of the following elements: specific, relevant, timely, or appropriate to the phase of learning.
Rationale is not addressed. No explanation of supports provided. No student assessment samples were uploaded, nor feedback supplied.
Educator understands and is able to effectively teach vocabulary to strengthen student comprehension.
# Key Method The educator develops and implements a lesson plan that includes research-based strategies and activities to teach vocabulary in an effort to improve comprehension. # Method Components ### Overview Vocabulary is related to reading comprehension because it is part of conceptual knowledge. Readers cannot understand what they are reading without knowing the definitions of most of the words they are reading (Wagner & Meros, 2010). The relationship between vocabulary and comprehension is reciprocal: A rich vocabulary helps a reader to fully comprehend written and oral language and, in turn, skilled comprehenders are better able to infer the meaning of vocabulary words in context (Weiser, 2013). ### Components of Building Vocabulary for Comprehension Instruction Armbruster et al. (2003) recommend the following for exemplary vocabulary instruction related to comprehension: * **Implicit instruction**: Students learn word meanings indirectly through daily oral language, listening to read alouds and reading extensively independently. * **Explicit instruction**: Direct instruction includes providing students with specific word instruction and teaching students word-learning strategies. * **Repeated exposure to new words**: Educators should offer students opportunities to encounter words often and in various contexts through active engagement and exposure in reading. * **Strategies to help determine word meanings independently**: Instruction should include how to use dictionaries and other reference aids, how to use information about word parts to figure out word definitions, and how to use context clues to figure out meanings of unknown words. ### Supporting Students as they Learn through Building Vocabulary for Comprehension Instruction Marzano (2004) developed a six-step process for teaching vocabulary to students of all ages. * **Explain**: Provide a student-friendly description, explanation, or example of the new term. (This is part of explicit instruction.) + Provide a context for the term + Introduce direct experiences that provide examples + Tell a story that integrates the term + Describe a mental picture of the term + Find or create a picture that helps explain the term * **Restate**: Ask students to restate the description, explanation, or example in their own words. + Monitor and correct misunderstandings + Ensure these are students’ original ideas * **Show**: Ask students to construct a picture, symbol, or graphic representation of the term. (Graphic organizers such as a Frayer Model could be used here.) + Model! + Provide examples of drawings (educator and student) + Draw an example of the term + Let students find a picture * **Discuss**: Engage students in structured vocabulary discussions that help them add to their knowledge of the terms. (Vocabulary notebooks could be used as well as having students use new words orally.) + Sort or classify words + Compare words + Find connections between words + Give repeated exposure and practice orally and in written contexts + Review words necessary for the understanding of content-specific text * **Refine and reflect**: Ask students to discuss and refine their knowledge of words + Think–pair–share + Compare descriptions + Describe their pictures to one another + Explain new information learned to each other * **Apply**: Involve students in activities that allow them to use, play with, and analyze new terms + before reading strategies + during reading strategies + after reading strategies ### Assessing Mastery of Building Vocabulary for Comprehension Assessing vocabulary can be difficult because the true measure of a person’s vocabulary isn't just whether they have memorized a list of words, but how many words they know in total and use in everyday conversation, reading, and writing (Neuman, 2019). Assessing vocabulary for comprehension should be ongoing and done through multiple measures. It’s ideal to use multiple assessments because each one has limitations on its own. Assessment data should come from both formal assessments (standardized) and informal assessments (educator observation, class discussions, student writing, informal reading inventories, and educator-made assessments). **Tips for Researching and Selecting Appropriate Standardized Assessments for Vocabulary**: 1. Check to see that the norming group for the measure is like your school population. 2. Take the test before you give it. This will help you observe appropriate standardized procedure and will alert you to problem points. 3. Analyze the test items. Are they appropriate for your curriculum? How is the validity described and determined? 4. Check the manual. Is the reliability adequate? Are some levels and subtests less reliable? 5. Find out more about the measure from a professional journal or from colleagues who have used it. **Tips for assessing vocabulary through informal assessments**: 1. Assess vocabulary breadth (how many words students have in their reading, speaking, and writing vocabulary) 2. Assess vocabulary depth (how well students know word definitions, including words with multiple meanings) 3. Assess usage (whether students are using newly learned words correctly) 4. Assess independent word-learning strategies (through student think-alouds) **Guidelines for educator-made tests**: Tests you make for the classroom should be easy and efficient to use. You will also want to ask these questions: 1. Do the items and the process call on students to do the same things you typically ask them to do in class? 2. Will answering the item provide useful repetition of vocabulary or make students think more deeply about it? 3. Will the knowledge you draw on be useful and relevant to the content of the instruction? 4. Does your test format match your instructional format?
* Armbruster, B. B., Lehr, F., Osborn, J., & Adler, C. R. (2003). *Put reading first: The research building blocks of reading instruction: Kindergarten through grade 3*. (2nd ed.) Washington, DC: National Institute for Literacy. <https://www.readingrockets.org/sites/default/files/PRFbooklet.pdf> This guide summarizes what researchers have found out in how to teach children to read in five areas of reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension. * Baker, S., Lesaux, N., Jayanthi, M., Dimino, J., Proctor, C. P., Morris, J., Gersten, R., Haymond, K., Kieffer, M. J., Linan-Thompson, S., & Newman-Gonchar, R. (2014). Teaching academic content and literacy to English learners in elementary and middle school (NCEE 2014-4012). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance (NCEE), Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. [http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/publications\_reviews.aspx](http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/publications_reviews.aspx) [https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/PracticeGuide/english\_learners\_pg\_040114.pdf](https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/PracticeGuide/english_learners_pg_040114.pdf) This practice guide offers recommendations that address the challenge of teaching academic content and literacy to English learners in elementary and middle school. It provides research-based recommendations on how educators can adapt their instruction to meet the needs of these learners. * Neuman, S. B. (2019). Comprehension in disguise: The role of knowledge in children’s learning. *Perspectives on Language & Literacy, 45*(4),12-16. [https://mydigitalpublication.com/publication/?i=644729#{%22issue\_id%22:644729,%22publication\_id%22:%2213959%22,%22page%22:12}](https://mydigitalpublication.com/publication/?i=644729#{%22issue_id%22:644729,%22publication_id%22:%2213959%22,%22page%22:12}) This document includes a series of articles that address comprehension, using more challenging texts, connections between writing and reading, and using a knowledge-building approach to teach reading. * Stahl, K. A. D., & Garcia, G. E. (2015).*Developing reading comprehension: Effective instruction for all students in PreK-2*. New York, NY: Guilford Press. This text will be useful for other topics in the stack, but it has good coverage of the relationship between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension, and its recommendations do not position vocabulary instruction to take too much time. * Wagner, R. K., & Meros, D. (2010). Vocabulary and reading comprehension: Direct, indirect, and reciprocal Influences. *Focus on Exceptional Children, 43*(1), 1-10. <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4031673/> This article discusses the relationship between reading comprehension and vocabulary. They suggest that there is a direct, indirect, and reciprocal relationship and provide an overview of the relations between deficits in vocabulary and impaired reading instruction. * Weiser, B. (2013, September). Effective vocabulary instruction for kindergarten to 12th grade students experiencing learning disabilities. <https://council-for-learning-disabilities.org/effective-vocabulary-instruction-for-kindergarten-to-12th-grade-students-experiencing-learning-disabilities> This article explores research based vocabulary instruction to use for all students in K-12, including those with learning disabilities. They discuss the process of vocabulary development, Marzano’s six-step process for teaching vocabulary, and effective ways to teach vocabulary before, during, and after reading.
* Beck, Isabel L., McKeown, M., & Kucan, L. (2002). *Choosing words to teach. In Bringing words to life: Robust vocabulary instruction* (15–30). New York, NY: Guilford Press. <https://www.readingrockets.org/article/choosing-words-teach> This resource suggests ways to decide which words to teach in a vocabulary lesson and gives strategies for implementation. * Sedita, J. (2019). Previewing vocabulary before reading. Keys to Literacy. <https://keystoliteracy.com/blog/previewing-vocabulary-before-reading/> This article gives suggestions of strategies to use before reading to preview vocabulary that students will encounter in text. * Zimmerman, L. & Reed, D. K. (2017, October). Attributes of effective explicit vocabulary instruction. <https://iowareadingresearch.org/blog/vocabulary-instruction-part-2> This article examines the qualities of explicit vocabulary instruction, provides examples of its application, and suggests a planning tool to incorporate these ideas into practice. * Zimmerman, L. & Reed, D. K. (2019, March). Keyword mnemonics: A strategy to build content-specific vocabulary and unlock informational texts. <https://iowareadingresearch.org/blog/keyword-mnemonics> This article discusses a strategy to use for implicit vocabulary instruction for secondary school students. ### Vocabulary Instruction Support * The Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk (MCPER) <http://www.meadowscenter.org> (search “vocabulary development”). A multitude of sources on vocabulary development instruction from this website provided by the Meadow Center and the University of Texas at Austin. * Florida Center of Reading Research <https://fcrr.org/search/node?keys=vocabulary> Over 670 links (by grade level and subject) to resources for educators to use, with vocabulary instruction from the Florida Center of Reading Research. * ReadWriteThink <http://search.readwritethink.org/?q=%22vocabulary%22> This website offers hundreds of educator’s resources and downloadable lessons for vocabulary instruction from ReadWriteThink.org. * Text Project <http://textproject.org/teachers/vocabulary-instruction/> This website offers free resources for educators to use when teaching vocabulary connected to text. Educators will find downloadable lesson plans, graphic organizers (word maps), and photos to use with vocabulary instruction. ### Annotating Text * Annotation Guide [https://www.covcath.org/uploaded/06\_Students/Annotation\_Guide\_AP\_Language.pdf](https://www.covcath.org/uploaded/06_Students/Annotation_Guide_AP_Language.pdf) * Annotating Texts, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill <https://learningcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/annotating-texts/> * What is Annotating and Why Do It? Eastern Washington University [https://research.ewu.edu/writers\_c\_read\_study\_strategies](https://research.ewu.edu/writers_c_read_study_strategies) ### Definitions * Diverse learners: Learners who bring a broad array of learning preferences, background knowledge, experiences, identities, and educational variability and may vary linguistically, socio-culturally, racially, ethnically, or economically.
What instructional steps did you take in order to teach vocabulary to improve reading comprehension? Please describe the learning activities and strategies, and include information on what classroom data you used to develop the activities.
How do you know your students improved comprehension through vocabulary knowledge? What evidence did you collect that demonstrates these learning gains?
To complete this micro-credential, please submit the following evidence: **Artifact 1: Annotated Lesson Plan** Upload your lesson plan used to support student reading comprehension through the use of vocabulary knowledge. Annotate the lesson, including where in-class explanations may not be clear to the assessor and accommodations that will be made to support all students. The lesson should include: * Implicit instruction * Explicit instruction * Repeated exposure to new words * Strategies to help determine word meanings independently **Artifact 2: Small Group Instruction** Upload a 10–20 minute video/audio of small group instruction. If video/audio technology is unavailable, you may provide a transcript of the lesson. The video/audio or transcript should include: * Educator explanation * Opportunities for students to restate * Opportunities for students to demonstrate (show) new learning * Discussion of vocabulary words and meanings * Reflections from students * Student application **Artifact 3: Rationale and Student Assessment Samples** Choose a group of two or more diverse learners that you supported for the lesson provided in Artifact 1. (See the Resources section for a definition of diverse learners.) Submit the following: * Rationale (150-word limit) + Why did you choose this group of diverse learners? Include narrative on the data you used to make this decision. + What additional supports or accommodations did you make to this lesson to meet the needs of the diverse learner(s)? * Student Assessment Samples + Upload samples from two students from the lesson plan provided in Artifact 1. For each student, submit assessment examples (writing, audio, graphic organizers, video, or other products) that demonstrate progress toward improved comprehension through a deeper understanding of vocabulary. Include samples with your feedback.
Provide a reflection on your vocabulary for comprehension instruction, using the following questions to help guide you: - What was the impact on students of building vocabulary for comprehension? - How will you use vocabulary instruction to affect your practice in the future?
Educator provides description of instructional steps used to improve reading comprehension and a description of activities that students did to gain competencies, including the data used.
Educator provides a description for how students improved reading comprehension through a deeper understanding of vocabulary. Description includes evidence that demonstrated learning gains. Descriptions are specific, with examples provided when necessary.
Annotated lesson plan is complete and addresses all four elements of suggested implementation. Annotations address the lesson context and how all students will be supported.
Annotated lesson plan is incomplete, and addresses fewer than four elements of suggested implementation. Annotations may be present but do not clearly address the lesson context and how all students will be supported.
Instruction is at least 10 minutes, shows small-group instruction and clear expectations. Specific and immediate educator feedback is given to the majority of students and occurs multiple times. Student engagement is evident across the majority of students and occurs multiple times.
Instruction may or may not be less than 10 minutes, shows partial-class instruction with minimal educator feedback. Student engagement is minimal, limited to a few students or occurring only a few times.
Evidence of small group instruction is not evident in the video/audio clip. Student engagement is not evident.
A group of students is chosen but the description is unclear and does not explain the diversity or provide an explanation of what, if any, modifications and/or accommodations were given. Some student assessment samples were uploaded, but feedback from educator was lacking one of the following elements: specific, relevant, timely, or appropriate to the phase of learning.
Rationale is not addressed. No explanation of supports is provided. No student assessment samples were uploaded, nor feedback supplied.
Educator understands and is able to teach research-based reading strategies for deeper comprehension.
# Key Method The educator develops and implements a lesson plan to teach reading comprehension through the use of current research-based reading strategies instruction. # Method Components ### Overview A comprehension “strategy” is a metacognitive approach by a reader to use before, during, or after reading a text in an effort to better understand that text. Comprehension strategies also help readers overcome difficulties in comprehending text, and aid in the readers’ knowledge (or lack of) related to the text. These strategies can be taught one by one or in a multiple approach. Effective reading strategies include explicit teaching, educator modeling and scaffolding of instruction. * Explicit teaching allows educators to state what a reading strategy is along with an explanation of how to select and apply them. * Educator modeling shows students what using reading strategies looks like. Educators should model strategy use through think-alouds and interactive read-alouds. * Scaffolding allows educators to slowly release their support as students become more independent in strategy use. ### Components of Effective Reading Strategies Instruction Shanahan et al. (2010) recommends the following for exemplary reading strategies instruction: 1. **Use several research-based reading comprehension strategies**. There are six strategies that educators should use to improve comprehension: activating prior knowledge, questioning, visualizing, monitoring, drawing inferences, and summarizing/retelling. 2. **Use a combination of single-strategy instruction and multiple-strategy instruction**. Single-strategy instruction introduces one strategy at a time with additional time for student practice. Over time, students master all of the strategies. Multiple-strategy instruction teaches strategies simultaneously. They are practiced together, so readers are able to use them interchangeably for a more authentic reading. 3. **Use a gradual release of responsibility**. The educator should first explain how to use the strategies and then allow students to practice and apply the strategy independently. Educator moves from explicit description of the strategy to modeling, collaborative use, guided practice, and finally, independent use. ### Supporting Students as they Learn through Effective Reading Strategies Instruction Crafting a lesson for teaching effective reading strategies in the classroom requires an understanding of the research and important components of an effective lesson (Liben & Pimental, n.d.). * Close reading of complex texts + Practice reading complex text on a regular basis + Carefully plan for strategies that texts lend themselves to * Use of graphic organizers (e.g. semantic maps, maps, webs, charts, etc.) + Helps readers organize information + Use for multiple-strategy instruction + Helps students apply strategies to new knowledge + Provides a visual for student thinking * Educator-generated questions + Use to activate and develop a variety of comprehension strategies (inferences, comprehension monitoring) * Use research-based, multiple-strategy formats + Reciprocal teaching: Students take turns leading a conversation about a text using the strategies of predicting, clarifying, questioning, and summarizing. + Transactional strategy Instruction: Focusing on a few strategies at a time, students use these educator-selected strategies to interact with the text. + Informed strategies of learning: Educators explicitly teach and then model a variety of strategies. Educators display a visual representation of strategies taught. Then, they encourage students to use these strategies to monitor and evaluate their own understanding. + Concept-oriented reading instruction: Educators teach comprehension strategies within content learning (e.g. science or social studies). ### Assessing Mastery of Effective Reading Strategies Assessment of reading comprehension through strategy use can be done through the use of reading passages with passage-independent questions. The questions should require the student to use the strategies taught (e.g. making inferences) to answer the questions, instead of relying on background knowledge. For example, after reading a passage, the assessment question should not be a multiple-choice question that allows test takers to use their prior knowledge instead of the passage to select the correct answer. Therefore, passage-independent test questions should be asked (Shanahan, et al, 2010). Assessment should be varied and regular, so that educators can get an accurate picture of the strategies students are using and how well they are able to use them to comprehend their reading. Educators should consider assessing for effective strategy use through asking students (in a one-on-one setting) what they were thinking while they were reading. Although time-consuming, this will give a more complete picture of the students meta-cognitive process. Additionally, educators should ask students to summarize or retell what they have read, ask students to write about their response to the text, and observe their contributions to discussions about the text to get an overall picture of students’ reading comprehension level (Oakhill & Cain, 2016). Digital assessments should also be utilized as they are quick and easy to administer, and many digital assessments adjust the level based on correct and incorrect answers.
* Duffy, G. G. (2014). *Explaining reading: A resource for explicit teaching of the Common Core Standards*. (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Guilford. This text has a special focus on the procedural language necessary for explicit comprehension instruction. It will help educators to operationalize the recommendation to teach strategies briefly. * Liben, M., & Pimentel, S. (n.d.). Placing text at the center of the standards-aligned ELA classroom. Student Achievement Partners. <https://achievethecore.org/content/upload/Text-at-the-Center-Report-V5.pdf> This research article discusses a vision for what an evidence-based model for text-centered instruction could look like using productive strategy instruction. * Oakhill, J., & Cain, K. (2016). Supporting reading comprehension development: From research to practice. *Perspectives on Language & Literacy, 42*(2), 32-39. <https://app.box.com/s/1cs0ytm79howctls0welmjgsktj5ltv9> This research article discusses interventions that focus on teaching strategies to support the construction of text meaning. * Pearson, P. D. & Liben, D. (n.d.). The progression of reading comprehension. Student Achievement Partners. [https://achievethecore.org/content/upload/liben\_pearson\_progression\_of\_comprehension\_research\_ela.pdf](https://achievethecore.org/content/upload/liben_pearson_progression_of_comprehension_research_ela.pdf) This research article discusses monitoring comprehension and how students can learn to respond with appropriate corrective strategies. * Shanahan, T., Callison, K., Carriere, C., Duke, N. K., Pearson, P. D., Schatschneider, C., & Torgesen, J. (2010). Improving reading comprehension in kindergarten through 3rd grade: A practice guide (NCEE 2010-4038). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. <https://whatworks.ed.gov/publications/practiceguides>. [https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/PracticeGuide/readingcomp\_pg\_092810.pdf](https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/PracticeGuide/readingcomp_pg_092810.pdf) This research article details recommendations for exemplary reading strategies instruction. * Willingham, D. T. (2006/7, Winter). The usefulness of brief instruction in reading comprehension strategies. *American Educator*, 39-50. <https://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/periodicals/CogSci.pdf> This research article discusses the process of reading comprehension and the role that strategy instruction plays in this process.
* Donahue, T. (2016, June). What am I thinking?: During reading strategies. <https://iowareadingresearch.org/blog/what-am-i-thinking-during-reading-strategies> This resource explains the four strategies highlighted on the What Am I Thinking? graphic organizer. * Texas Educational Agency. (2002). *Key comprehension strategies to teach*. Reading Rockets. <https://www.readingrockets.org/article/key-comprehension-strategies-teach> This resource describes key comprehension strategies to teach that lend themselves well to instruction. * The IRIS Center. (2008). CSR: A reading comprehension strategy. <https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/csr/> This resource explains in detail how to effectively implement Collaborative Strategy Reading and includes a video summary of this reading comprehension strategy. * Zimmerman, L., Reed, D. K., & Gibbs, A. (2018, November). Text structure mapping: A strategy to improve reading comprehension of informational texts. <https://iowareadingresearch.org/blog/text-structure-mapping> This resource describes instructional approaches for improving reading comprehension of informational texts, along with a description of a text feature mapping lesson. ### Annotating Text * Annotation Guide [https://www.covcath.org/uploaded/06\_Students/Annotation\_Guide\_AP\_Language.pdf](https://www.covcath.org/uploaded/06_Students/Annotation_Guide_AP_Language.pdf) * Annotating Texts, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill <https://learningcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/annotating-texts/> * What is Annotating and Why Do It? Eastern Washington University [https://research.ewu.edu/writers\_c\_read\_study\_strategies](https://research.ewu.edu/writers_c_read_study_strategies) ### Definitions * Diverse learners: Learners who bring a broad array of learning preferences, background knowledge, experiences, identities, and educational variability and may vary linguistically, socio-culturally, racially, ethnically, or economically.
What instructional steps did you take to use effective reading strategies with the intent to improve reading comprehension? Please describe the learning activities and strategies, and include information on what classroom data you used to develop the activities.
How do you know your students improved comprehension through the use of effective reading strategies? What evidence did you collect that demonstrates these learning gains?
To complete this micro-credential, please submit the following evidence: **Artifact 1: Annotated Lesson Plan** Upload your lesson plan used to support student reading comprehension through the use of effective reading strategies. Annotate the lesson, including where in-class explanations may not be clear to the assessor, and accommodations that will be made to support all students. The lesson should include: * Close reading of complex texts * Use of graphic organizers * Educator-generated questions * Multiple-strategy formats **Artifact 2: Small Group Instruction** Upload a 10–20 minute video/audio of small group instruction. If video/audio technology is unavailable, you may provide a transcript of the lesson. The video/audio or transcript should include: * You introducing and modeling the reading strategy/ies (“I do”) * You guiding students in practice with the reading strategy/ies in context (“ We do”) * Students engaged in meaningful and connected text with you offering immediate and specific feedback related to effective reading strategy use (“You do”) **Artifact 3: Rationale and Student Assessment Samples** Choose a group of two or more diverse learners that you supported for the lesson provided in Artifact 1. (See the Resources section for a definition of diverse learners.) Submit the following: * Rationale (150-word limit) + Why did you choose this group of diverse learners? Include narrative on the data you used to make this decision. + What additional supports or accommodations did you make to this lesson to meet the needs of the diverse learner(s)? * Student Assessment Samples + Upload samples from two students from the lesson plan provided in Artifact 1. For each student, submit assessment examples (writing, audio, graphic organizers, video, or other products) that demonstrate progress toward improved comprehension through the use of reading strategies. Include samples with your feedback.
Provide a reflection on your reading strategy instruction, using the following questions to help guide you: - What was the impact of students using reading strategies to support comprehension? - How will you use reading strategies to affect your practice in the future?
Educator provides description of instructional steps they used to build student knowledge, and activities that students did to gain competencies, including the data used.
Educator describes how students improved reading comprehension through the use of reading strategies. Description includes evidence that demonstrated learning gains. Descriptions are specific, with examples provided when necessary.
Instruction is at least 10 minutes, shows small-group instruction, and clear expectations. Specific and immediate educator feedback is given to the majority of students and occurs multiple times. Student engagement is evident across the majority of students and occurs multiple times.
A group of students is chosen but the description is unclear and does not explain the diversity or an explanation of what, if any, modifications and/or accommodations were given. Some student assessment samples were uploaded, but feedback from educator was lacking one of the following elements: specific, relevant, timely, or appropriate to the phase of learning.
Rationale is not addressed. No explanation of supports provided. No student assessment samples were uploaded, nor was feedback supplied.
Educator understands and is able to use high-yield fluency-building strategies to facilitate comprehension.
# Key Method The educator develops and implements a lesson plan for literacy instruction that includes evidence-based, fluency-building strategies to facilitate comprehension. # Method Components ### Overview Fluent reading is typically defined as the ability to read with quick and accurate word recognition, and when oral reading is considered, the appropriate use of prosody (e.g. expression) (Kuhn & Stahl, 2003). Rate in fluency is how fast a reader can process what they are reading. *Accuracy* in fluency is how well a reader is able to identify individual words the author has provided, with correct meaning. *Prosody* in fluency is how natural a reader sounds by chunking words into meaningful phrases, while also attending to punctuation (Walpole, et al., 2020). All of these components of fluent reading work together to facilitate comprehension. The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for Reading: Foundational Skills indicate that grades 1–5 students should be able to read grade-level text with appropriate fluency to support comprehension. For Kindergarten, the CCSS suggests that the development of fluency should begin with emergent-reader texts (NGACBP & CCSSO, 2010, as cited in Walpole et al., 2020). When a reader is able to read at a reasonable *rate* and with appropriate *accuracy*, they can devote their cognitive resources to the significant task of comprehending the text. Reducing this cognitive load through automatic and accurate reading also allows the reader an opportunity to demonstrate their interpretation of what they are reading through expressive, natural-sounding oral reading, or *prosody*. Dysfluent readers, on the other hand, are not able to decode words with sufficient automaticity to adequately facilitate comprehension, or attend to text meaning. In other words, fluency is the bridge between decoding and comprehension. Research has highlighted the importance of fluency instruction due to the strong connection between fluent reading of connected text and comprehension. In addition, struggling readers require this instruction to make progress in both fluency and comprehension. ### Components of Effective Fluency Instruction to Support Comprehension Research supports building fluency to support comprehension through the following practices integrated into a literacy curriculum: **Increasing the amount of time spent on oral reading practice through repeated reading routines**. It is often assumed that oral reading practice that takes on the form of round-robin reading is an effective approach for teaching students to become fluent and automatic readers, although research does not support this assumption. (Ash, Kuhn & Walpole, 2003; Rasinski & Hoffman, 2003, as cited in Kuhn, M. R., Schwanenflugel, P. J., & Morris, R. D., 2006). Round-robin reading tends to increase anxiety with struggling readers, while also causing frustration for fluent readers who must listen to these struggling readers. Research does support repeatedly reading text, which improves reading rate, accuracy, and comprehension in elementary and secondary students. In addition, students with emotional and behavioral disorders and those with learning disabilities have also benefited from this type of instruction, as the development of automatic processing of text through repeated reading practice enables students to read for understanding. Having students read orally allows educators to hear how students are processing the text. Increasing the amount of time students spend reading connected, challenging texts has been shown to improve both word reading efficiency and reading comprehension. **The use of challenging texts**. Students can benefit from reading texts considered to be above their instructional level, as opposed to texts that match their skill level. Reading richer texts benefits students by exposing them to a wide variety of words as well as a wide variety of concepts. The key to the use of challenging, grade-level texts is the use of a variety of supports, or scaffolding techniques, that provide modeling and feedback during oral reading practice. **Providing a model of fluent reading**. Providing a model of fluent reading will help to improve the effectiveness of repeated reading, and gives students a supported opportunity to read challenging, grade-level text. One instructional strategy using a model for fluent reading involves a choral reading of the text, or portion of the text, guided by the educator, who is the model for fluent reading. The educator reads at a natural pace and volume. With this structure, the educator is supporting both word recognition and phrasing. The students’ role during choral reading is to read in unison with the educator, but at a softer volume, so that the educator’s modeling of fluent reading can be heard. The students try to match their voices to the educator’s voice as closely as possible. Before beginning the choral reading, the educator sets a comprehension-oriented purpose for reading which directs students to read for meaning. This initial purpose for reading should help students to focus on the important information. Once the reading is complete, the educator facilitates a brief discussion of the text by revisiting the initial purpose for reading (Walpole, 2020). **Opportunities for paired (partner) repeated reading with feedback**. Repeated reading with a peer that includes educator or peer feedback has been shown to be beneficial for improving reading rate and comprehension. There are several approaches to pairing students that research suggests promotes cooperation and on-task behavior during partner reading (Meisinger, Schwanenflugel, Bradley, & Stahl, 2004, as cited in Kuhn, et al., 2006). One approach is for students to self-select partners, and another effective approach has the educator pairing a more skilled reader with a less skilled reader. One way to structure partner reading involves an immediate rereading of what has just been read and modeled during choral reading. It is recommended that this be done daily for about 7–10 minutes to boost both fluency and comprehension (Walpole, 2020). The educator begins by setting a second comprehension-oriented purpose for reading, which directs students to read for meaning. Then, students read by alternating page by page or chorally reading. Chorally reading as partners increases the number of words read aloud by each partner, while alternating pages gives partners a chance to really listen to one another’s prosody. The educator’s role during this time is to monitor and provide feedback as needed. Teaching students the roles of a reader and coach allows for opportunities for feedback from a peer, which is a source of immediate error correction. Research recommends that students be taught to identify positive reading strategies and behaviors on which to focus during fluency practice with partners, as well as the quality of reading rather than the speed. The second structure for repeated reading with partners is a paired reading protocol called Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS), which involves partners practicing fluency and comprehension of connected text. Educators train students in PALS procedures and the roles of each partner during this activity. The students are paired according to ability, with higher-performing students working with lower-performing students. Students act as peer-tutors, and the structured activities include partner reading/retelling, paragraph shrinking, and prediction relay. Research recommends that these activities be used for 30–35 minutes every other day. PALS has been found to have positive effects on reading fluency and comprehension (What Works Clearinghouse, 2012). ### Supporting Students as they Learn through Fluency for Comprehension Instruction Suggested implementation to support students as they build fluency for comprehension involves developing and delivering a lesson for literacy instruction that incorporates research-based fluency-building strategies to facilitate comprehension. This process requires an understanding of how to: * increase opportunities within your current literacy block for oral reading practice using research-based routines * select appropriate text for oral reading practice + Texts are challenging, motivating, engaging, and can be considered beyond instructional level. * use scaffolding techniques to support oral reading practice through + effectively planning for modeling of fluent reading within a chosen choral reading structure that includes a comprehension-oriented focus for reading + effectively planning for partner reading within a chosen partner reading structure that includes a comprehension-oriented focus reading, or a PALS activity. ### Assessing Fluency for Comprehension Assessment is a valuable step in the instructional planning process. It can support development of future lesson design and implementation. Assessing fluency for comprehension should follow best practices for assessment, but specifics to keep in mind include: * Reading fluently to support comprehension does not necessarily mean reading fast. * Fluency can be measured with assessments of *rate*, *accuracy*, and/or *prosody*. * *Rate* and *accuracy* can be measured through timed oral reading of unpracticed text, and is usually calculated as words correct per minute (WCPM), *keeping in mind that speed alone does not facilitate comprehension*. * WCPM goals increase with not only grade level, but also time of year. * Use the norms that are associated with the assessment being used. These norms were developed from the passages read for that particular test. * Evidence exists for the importance of students maintaining words correct per minute at the 50th to 75th percentiles when reading grade-level text aloud to facilitate comprehension (International Literacy Association, 2018). * Comprehension of text can be compromised when accuracy falls below 95% (International Literacy Association, 2018). * *Prosody* measurement guidelines have been established by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (Pinnell et al.,1995, as cited in Walpole, 2020).
* Hasbrouck, J. (2006). For students who are not yet fluent, silent reading is not the best use of classroom time. *American Educator, 30*(2). <https://www.readingrockets.org/article/students-who-are-not-yet-fluent-silent-reading-not-best-use-classroom-time> This research article offers insight into why research does not support silent reading and round-robin reading as instructional strategies for improving fluency. * International Literacy Association. (2018). Reading fluently does not mean reading fast [Literacy leadership brief]. Newark, DE: Author. <https://literacyworldwide.org/docs/default-source/where-we-stand/ila-reading-fluently-does-not-mean-reading-fast.pdf> This research article defines reading fluency and the observable and measurable components that lead to accurate comprehension. * Kuhn, M. R., Schwanenflugel, P. J., & Morris, R. D. (2006). Teaching children to become fluent and automatic readers. *Journal of Literacy Research, 38*(4), 357-387. <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2783645/> This research article discusses the effectiveness of repeated reading approaches and the text characteristics that contribute to this effectiveness. * Stevens, E. A., Walker, M. A. & Vaughn, S. (2017). The effects of reading fluency interventions on the reading fluency and reading comprehension performance of elementary students with learning disabilities: A synthesis of the research from 2001 to 2014. *Journal of Learning Disabilities, 50*(5), 576-590. <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5097019/#R3> This research article discusses fluency interventions that are associated with positive outcomes in reading fluency and comprehension for students with learning disabilities. * Walpole, S., McKenna, M. C., Philippakos, Z. A., & Strong, J. Z. (2020). *Differentiated literacy instruction in grades 4 & 5: Strategies and resources*. New York, NY: Guilford Press. This text positions fluency modeling and practice as a characteristic of all comprehension instruction. Chapter 6 describes research-based strategies for fluency to support comprehension. * Zimmerman, L., & Reed, D. (2019). Repeated reading with goal setting for reading fluency: Focusing on reading quality rather than reading speed. Iowa Reading Research Center. <https://iowareadingresearch.org/blog/repeated-reading-fluency> This research article defines reading fluency and key components of Repeated Reading Instruction. It explains the relationship between reading fluency and comprehension.
* Achieve the Core. (2014). Fluency packet for the 2-3 grade band. <https://achievethecore.org/page/1021/fluency-packet-for-the-2-3-grade-band> This resource has passages that can be used for fluency-building in grades 2–3. * Walpole, S., McKenna, M. C., Philippakos, Z. A., & Strong, J. Z. (2020). *Differentiated literacy instruction in grades 4 & 5: Strategies and resources*. New York, NY: Guilford Press. Chapter 6 in this text positions fluency modeling and practice as a characteristic of all comprehension instruction. It also has downloadable lesson plans for whole-group instruction, offers a Multidimensional Fluency Scale to rate reader fluency, discusses in detail strategies for oral reading and how to pair students for effective partner reading, and offers suggestions for finding appropriate read-alouds and repeated reading texts. You can also find examples of comprehension-oriented focuses. * What Works Clearinghouse. (2012). *Peer-assisted learning strategies*. Institute of Education Sciences. [https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/InterventionReports/wwc\_pals\_060512.pdf](https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/InterventionReports/wwc_pals_060512.pdf) This resource discusses the research on Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS) and details the implementation of the strategies. * Zimmerman, L., & Reed, D. (2019). *Repeated reading with goal setting for reading fluency: Focusing on reading quality rather than reading speed*. Iowa Reading Research Center. <https://iowareadingresearch.org/blog/repeated-reading-fluency> This resource describes a plan for a Repeated Reading introductory lesson and also provides links to oral reading fluency goal-setting templates, reflection guides, and fluency error-correction procedures. ### Annotating Text * Annotation Guide [https://www.covcath.org/uploaded/06\_Students/Annotation\_Guide\_AP\_Language.pdf](https://www.covcath.org/uploaded/06_Students/Annotation_Guide_AP_Language.pdf) * Annotating Texts, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill <https://learningcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/annotating-texts/> * What is Annotating and Why Do It? Eastern Washington University [https://research.ewu.edu/writers\_c\_read\_study\_strategies](https://research.ewu.edu/writers_c_read_study_strategies) ### Definitions * Diverse learners: Learners who bring a broad array of learning preferences, background knowledge, experiences, identities, and educational variability and may vary linguistically, socio-culturally, racially, ethnically, or economically.
Please share information about your teaching context by providing a description of your classroom, including grade level, class size, and demographic information. Include current practices you use for fluency instruction. In addition, if you collaborated with another educator on this micro-credential, please note that you did so. While collaboration is encouraged, the written submission should be unique and reflect your own experience and reflections with the competency.
What instructional steps did you take to build fluency to facilitate comprehension? Please describe the learning activities and strategies.
How did the use of oral reading fluency routines impact student learning and engagement? What evidence did you collect to support this?
To complete this micro-credential, please submit the following evidence: **Artifact 1: Annotated Lesson Plan** Upload your lesson plan which focuses on building fluency to facilitate comprehension. This could be a literacy lesson that you currently use, but modified to incorporate routines for increasing oral reading practice through repeated reading. Annotate the lesson, including where in-class explanations may not be clear to the assessor, and accommodations that will be made to support all learners. The lesson should include evidence of: * increased time spent on oral reading practice through repeated reading * use of challenging text, with scaffolds in place * a comprehension-oriented purpose for reading defined for both choral and partner reading * modeling of fluent reading through a choral reading structure of procedures * paired repeated reading (partner reading) of the text through a partner reading structure of procedures **Artifact 2: Whole Group Instruction** Upload a 10–20 minute video/audio of your class that includes a segment of both choral reading and partner repeated reading. The video/audio should include the following: * Educator modeling of fluent reading and the students reading in unison within a choral reading structure * The brief class discussion on the comprehension-oriented purpose set up for choral reading or partner reading * Partner reading within a partner-reading structure **Artifact 3: Rationale, Video Sample, and Observation** Choose a group of two or more diverse learners that you supported for the lesson provided in Artifact 1. (See the Resources section for a definition of diverse learners.) Submit the following: * Rationale (150-word limit) + Why did you choose this group of diverse learners? Include narrative on the fluency or comprehension data you used to make this decision. + Describe any additional supports or accommodations made to this lesson to meet the needs of the diverse learners. * Video sample + Upload a recording of this small group of diverse learners doing a third repeated reading of a portion of the text used in your lesson. You can have them read chorally or you can use partner reading. Provide a comprehension focus for this group prior to reading. * Observation + Describe briefly what you noticed, if anything, about these students’ responses that may indicate that their understanding of the text was clearer after the third repeated reading? Did you notice any changes in their fluency? Explain.
Provide a reflection on engaging your students in instruction which focuses on fluency to facilitate comprehension, using the following questions to help guide you: - What was the impact of increasing opportunities for students to practice oral reading? - How will you use oral reading practice to affect your practice in the future?
Educator provides a description of their classroom that includes grade level, class size, demographic information, and any other relevant information. Current practices in fluency instruction are discussed. If relevant, information is provided on the educator collaborating with a colleague.
Instructional steps are clear with sufficient detail to understand how the instruction built fluency to facilitate comprehension.
Educator provides a description for how this lesson impacted student learning and engagement. Description includes evidence collected to determine learning gains. Descriptions are specific, with examples provided when necessary.
Annotated lesson plan is incomplete and addresses fewer than three elements of suggested implementation. Annotations may be present but do not clearly address the lesson context and how all students will be supported.
Instruction is at least 10 minutes, shows repeated oral reading through educator modeling and partner reading and a comprehension discussion. Student engagement is evident across the majority of students and occurs multiple times.
Evidence of whole group instruction is not evident in the video/audio clip Student engagement is not evident.
Artifact 3: Rationale, Video Sample, and Observation
Rationale is clear as to the method for choosing the diverse group of students and provides an explanation of what, if any, modifications and/or accommodations were given. The video recording has been uploaded and shows evidence of both the third read and a brief comprehension discussion. Observation notes that address both fluency and comprehension are included.
A group of students is chosen but the description is unclear and does not explain the diversity or an explanation of what, if any, modifications and/or accommodations were given. The video recording has been uploaded, but is not complete. Observation notes from educator were not complete.
Neither video nor observation notes were supplied.
Educator understands inferencing and is able to implement a research-aligned lesson.
# Key Method The educator develops and implements an inference lesson with one or more of the strategies explicitly modeled to build higher-order thinking skills and comprehension. # Method Components ### Overview Inference is a complex skill that develops over time, with experience. An inference is the ability to use implied (not directly stated) information to draw a conclusion or figure out a new piece of information. ### Components of Inferential Language Instruction Inferencing is considered a foundational skill and is a prerequisite for higher-order thinking across all content and curricular areas. Inferring is a complex, challenging skill for students, as it requires students to readily and accurately make associations, pick up on nuances, and understand subtle, implied messages. Explicit instruction and educator modeling of inferential strategies will help students develop these strategies over time. Being an active reader is an important first step to developing inferential skills. Active readers have built and are developing their own background knowledge, are actively searching for meaning in texts, and are able to determine when something does not make sense. Working memory is freed up from more basic processes, allowing students to invest in more taxing activities like inferencing. Common traits of students who use inference easily: * Competent working memory * Uses repair strategies readily * Active and engaged reader * Experienced in text and word level work * Rich vocabulary * Wide background knowledge Strategies educators can use to help students continue to develop inference skills: * Text and word level work * Vocabulary building * Predicting * Modeling and shared questioning * Discussion * Building and activating prior knowledge * Explicit educator modeling of forming an inference According to Marzano (2010), Teaching inference may include the following instructional considerations: * Clues may help us find some answers. * We need to add those clues to what we already know or have read. * More than one answer can be correct. * Inferences need to be supported. ### Supporting Students as They Learn Through Inferential Language Instruction Educators should consider how inferences are formed before planning a lesson. For example, the cognitive process involved in drawing an inference includes three parts. First, an inference is prompted, or activated. Next, a question is formed and/or an inconsistency is realized. Last, the inference is produced. The idea or solution is identified with evidence. Considering this cognitive process, two instructional models are recommended to teach inferencing: reciprocal teaching and think aloud. In both models, students utilize questioning and summarizing strategies. In the **Reciprocal Teaching Model**, the educator begins the lesson by modeling and instructing briefly. Then, students become the educator. The educator models the following strategies for students: predict, question, clarify ideas, and summarize. Next, students practice these same strategies by teaching one another. They question one another through discussion, summarizing, and formulating predictions. They clarify their own ideas and those of their peers (Kispal, 2008). In the **Think Aloud Model**, the educator begins the lesson by modeling and instructing briefly. The lesson is broken up into three parts: before reading, during reading, and after reading. In the before reading stage, the educator is explicitly modeling. During reading, students are practicing the strategies that were explicitly modeled by the educator. After reading, the class comes together briefly to share their thinking with others. *Before Reading* * Predicting * Questioning * Seeking evidence * Constructing meaning *During Reading* Students practice: * Making connections between texts * Activating prior knowledge * Making inferences After Reading * Summarize * Predict * Question * Visualize * Reflect Educators may wish to provide special consideration to text and material selection when planning their lessons. They may find that narrative texts are most conducive to teaching inferential language, as they are rich in vocabulary and engage readers easily. However, expository texts should also be utilized, as students need modeled instruction and practice in these texts as well. When planning for instruction, educators should consider the content (ELA, social studies, science, etc.) and consider any additional organizers or related texts that may be necessary for instruction and practice (Kispal, 2008). ### Assessing Mastery of Inferential Language Assessing a student’s inferential skills will consist of various methods, both orally and in writing. Educators may wish to utilize standardized assessments, as well as more informal, cold read assessments for progress monitoring of comprehension and inferential skills within a text at the child’s reading level. These assessments provide educators with insight into students’ ability to comprehend text and what to teach next. Educators should implement best practices when assessing inferential language. However, here are some ideas to guide educators as they are assessing students and planning instruction. * Students who participate in interactive reading and small group discussions are exposed to more inferential language and show more improvement in comprehension than students who do not. + This can be helpful when planning informal, discussion-based assessments/progress monitoring and anecdotal records of student progress. * Inference creation contributes to text comprehension. + Inferences often rely on background knowledge and making connections, which support comprehension and comprehension strategies. + This can be helpful to note when assessing literal comprehension and inferential questions in text (Kelley, 2015).
* Inference. (n.d.). Literary Terms. <https://literaryterms.net/inference/> This site defines inference and provides examples. * Inference. (n.d.). Reading Rockets. <https://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/inference> This article provides background information about what inferences are and how to teach them. Also included are sample lesson plans for educators to use. * Kelley, E. S. (2015). An evidence-based approach to teach inferential language during interactive storybook reading with young children. *EBP Briefs, 10*(3), 1–10. <https://images.pearsonclinical.com/images/assets/ebp/pdfs/EBPV10A3.pdf> * Kispal, A. (2008). Effective teaching of inference skills for reading: Literature review. Research Report DCSF-RR031. National Foundation for Educational Research. <https://www.nfer.ac.uk/publications/edr01/edr01.pdf> This extensive article provides background knowledge for educators who wish to teach inference as a skill. In addition to background, this resource provides best practice examples for educators to refer to as a planning reference. * Marzano. (April 2010). The art and science of teaching/teaching inference. *Educational Leadership, 67*(7), 80–81. <http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/apr10/vol67/num07/Teaching-Inference.aspx> This journal article from ASCD describes how to explain inferential learning to students as a natural process. Within the article, educators can find four questions that educators can utilize as teaching strategies.
* Becky. (n.d.). Book list for making inferences and predictions. This Reading Mama. <https://thisreadingmama.com/books-making-inferences-predictions/> This resource is a curated list of texts used for teaching inferences and predictions, with a clear description of the difference between each comprehension strategy. * Foorman, B., Beyler, N., Borradaile, K., Coyne, M., Denton, C. A., Dimino, J., Furgeson, J., Hayes, L., Henke, J., Justice, L., Keating, B., Lewis, W., Sattar, S., Streke, A., Wagner, R., & Wissel, S. (2016). Foundational skills to support reading for understanding in kindergarten through 3rd grade (NCEE 2016-4008). National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance (NCEE), Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. [https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/PracticeGuide/wwc\_foundationalreading\_040717.pdf](https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/PracticeGuide/wwc_foundationalreading_040717.pdf) This resource serves as a guide for educators to use when planning instruction on foundational skills. Within the document, educators can find instructional recommendations. * Hedgecock, M. B. (n.d.). Think aloud for read aloud. ESC Region 13. <https://youtu.be/wPsOK3Qg3dY> This video resource shows how to plan for a think-aloud lesson. * Making inferences and drawing conclusions (n.d.). Reading Rockets. <https://www.readingrockets.org/article/making-inferences-and-drawing-conclusions> This resource provides families and educators with a clear description of what an inference is, how best to build inferential skills in a simple way, and recommended texts to utilize. * Students take charge. (April 2014). Reading Rockets. <https://youtu.be/My68SDGeTHI> This video resource shows reciprocal teaching in a classroom setting. ### Annotating Text * Annotation Guide [https://www.covcath.org/uploaded/06\_Students/Annotation\_Guide\_AP\_Language.pdf](https://www.covcath.org/uploaded/06_Students/Annotation_Guide_AP_Language.pdf) * Annotating Texts, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill <https://learningcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/annotating-texts/> * What Is Annotating and Why Do It? Eastern Washington University [https://research.ewu.edu/writers\_c\_read\_study\_strategies](https://research.ewu.edu/writers_c_read_study_strategies) ### Definitions * Diverse learners: Learners who bring a broad array of learning preferences, background knowledge, experiences, identities, and educational variability and may vary linguistically, socio-culturally, racially, ethnically, or economically.
Please share information about your teaching context by providing a description of your classroom, including grade level, class size, and demographic information. In addition, if you collaborated with another educator on this micro-credential, please note that you did so. While collaboration is encouraged, the written submission should be unique and should reflect your own experience and reflections with the competency.
What research-aligned learning activities or strategies did you include in your lesson in order to build inferential skills? Be sure to include any planning considerations for the whole group, small group, or individual students in your lesson.
How do you know if students in your classroom are making progress in this area (inference) based on your instruction? How do you know if your targeted instruction is building higher-order thinking skills and comprehension? Consider pre-assessment data, ongoing targeted instruction, and/or any post-assessment data that may show progress over time.
To complete this micro-credential, please submit the following evidence: **Artifact 1: Annotated Lesson Plan** Upload your inferential language lesson plan used to support student learning. The lesson plan should include educator directions for skill implementation. The lesson should also include evidence of a think aloud or reciprocal teaching model and one or more of the following educator and student strategy components: * Word and text level work * Vocabulary building * Predicting * Modeled and shared questioning * Discussion * Building and activating prior knowledge * Explicit educator modeling of forming an inference The rationale should include the following (150-word limit): * How did you select or develop this particular lesson? * How did you plan to support diverse learners throughout the lesson? (See the Resource section for definition of diverse learners.) **Artifact 2: Whole Group Instruction** Upload a 10- to 15-minute annotated video/audio of small group instruction. The video/audio should include annotations for the following: * Educator modeling of strategy/strategies in order to build an inference * Educator providing directions for clear student expectations * Students practicing the specific skill and receiving educator feedback * Student engagement including, but not limited to, responding, focusing attention on the educator, and student discussion while applying the skill/strategy Note: video annotation can be a document that includes timestamps noting where the above list happens throughout the video. Example: “*1:15–2:02: a small group of students is practicing skill Y, and I am giving them feedback*.” **Artifact 3: Rationale and Pre/Post Assessments** Choose a small group of diverse learners that you supported for the lesson provided in Artifact 1. (See the Resources section for a definition of diverse learners.) Submit the following: * A rationale explaining what information you used from your students’ pre-assessment data. + Explain how your pre- and post-assessment data helped you to determine where to begin instruction. + Include information you gathered from the post-assessments that helped to assess your students’ inferential language skills. * Pre-assessments: Upload one pre-assessment from each of your small group students. + Post-assessments: Upload a post-assessment from each of your small group students to show how the students are progressing through the continuum of inferential language skills.
Provide a reflection on teaching inferential language skills to your students using the following questions to guide you: - What was the impact of the instruction that targeted inferential language skills for your students? - How will crafting this lesson affect your practice in the future?
Educator provides a description of their classroom that includes grade level, class size, demographic information, and any other relevant information. If relevant, information is provided on educator collaborating with a colleague.
Educator provides research-backed methods in the lesson plan summary or activity description that connects to building inferential skills.
Educator provides a description or data that supports student growth in this area and shares details about how educator recognized that student skills were enhanced through teaching. Evidence is clear and appropriate for student progression.
The lesson plan is complete and includes one or more components of suggested implementation. The lesson rationale is clear and addresses the needs of diverse learners.
The lesson plan is incomplete. Suggested teaching model and/or strategies are missing or are not clearly addressed. Lesson rationale is clear but does not address the needs of diverse learners.
Video/audio is annotated. Instruction is at least 10 minutes and shows small group instruction and clear expectations. Student engagement is evident and clear across most of the students and occurs multiple times.
Video/audio is annotated. Instruction may or may not be less than 10 minutes and shows minimal instruction. Student engagement is minimal, limited to a few students or only occurring a few times.
Video/audio is not annotated and/or evidence of inference instruction is not evident in the video/audio clip. Student engagement is not evident.
Artifact 3: Rationale and Pre/Post Assessments
Rationale is clear as to how pre- and post-assessment data was used before and after learning. All pre- and post-assessments from students were uploaded.
Rationale explaining assessment data is unclear or vague. Some data is incomplete (pre or post).
Rationale does not address how the pre- and post-assessment data was used. Student pre- and post-assessments were not uploaded.
To earn this micro-credential, you must receive a passing evaluation for Parts 1 and 3 and a “Yes” for each component in Part 2.
Educator understands and is able to effectively facilitates a research-aligned, language-rich, morphological awareness lesson.
# Key Method The educator develops and implements a lesson plan that promotes morphological awareness through research-aligned activities. # Method Components ### Overview Morphology is the study of how words are formed, word parts, and the relationships between words in the same language. Morphology is a vital element of vocabulary development and decoding. Decoding is the ability to apply letter-sound knowledge to reading, and encoding is the ability to apply that knowledge to spelling words. Weak decoding and vocabulary skills significantly affect comprehension. Instruction in morphology (word parts) is associated with improved word reading, spelling, and determining unknown words. Students can be taught strategies to segment or manipulate words according to their affixes and roots. As a result, students may be able to recognize an unfamiliar word simply by identifying the affixes and the remaining base word or root. Ultimately, morphological instruction allows students to access a greater number of words, and background knowledge, in a wider variety of texts (Stowe, 2011). ### Components of Morphology Instruction Morphemes are the smallest units of meaning in a language. They include base words and roots, prefixes, and suffixes. Morphemes can be free (standing alone as a base word) or bound (utilizing a prefix, suffix, or more than one prefix or suffix). Morphology is the study of word parts and their meanings, while morphological awareness refers to the ability to recognize the presence of morphemes in words (Sedita, 2018). **Building Background to Plan for Instruction** Instruction in morphology often centers around these morphemes: * Root word: the most basic form of a word * Affix: word parts added to the beginning or ending of a word that affect the meaning (prefixes and suffixes) * Suffix: a morpheme added to the end of the word, which changes the meaning of a root word * Prefix: a morpheme added to the beginning of a word, which changes the meaning of a root word Lessons in morphology should be brief, context-rich, and presented with a multisensory approach. It is important that lessons are short and include opportunities for students to manipulate word parts to build knowledge through the use of graphic organizers, foldables, affix card decks, and matching games (Stowe, 2011). A sequential, systematic approach to teaching morphology calls for preparing carefully selected exemplar words in advance. To begin, start with highly recognizable base words and common affixes. Choose words with concrete meanings before moving on to less common and abstract words. At the start of instruction, it may be beneficial to analyze one to two words with high levels of scaffolding. As students become more comfortable with word analysis, gradually release responsibility and add more rigor (Ebbers, 2017). Opportunities to examine new words in context may also arise during reading. These moments may be used as teachable opportunities and are a beneficial teaching strategy as students work to determine meaning of new words in text. This includes pointing out roots, prefixes, suffixes, and connections between common word parts. **Explicit and Systematic Instruction** One strategy to help develop students’ morphological knowledge (the ability to identify and manipulate the smallest units of meaning within a word) is through explicit instruction. Below is an explicit lesson plan example on compound words and how to support students' morphological awareness in this area. Lesson Focus: Compound words are formed by combining two or more words to create a new word. ### Supporting Students as They Learn Through Morphology Instruction According to Gibbs & Reed (2019), examining parts of words can support determining the overall meaning of the compound word. 1. **Establish the Purpose**: Explain the purpose of the lesson, the goal/strategy that will be modeled and practiced, and how it will help students in the future. 2. **Introduce the Concept**: Support the purpose by explaining the concept. For example, if your lesson is on *compound words*, explain, define, and provide an example of a *compound word*. 3. **Check for Understanding**: Formatively check students’ understanding of the concept. Determine, do students need much support here? (Example: What is a compound word?) 4. **Introduce the Organizer (or other sensory materials) to support instruction and retention of the word**: Show the organizer/materials and how the material(s) will be used. 5. **Model the Organizer**: Model how the organizer/materials are used to understand the concept. Model to the point of need. 6. **Guided Practice**: Work together with the student to practice using the organizer/materials. 7. **Independent Practice**: Provide student with independent practice time. ### Assessing Mastery of Morphology Assessing a student’s morphological awareness skills will consist of analysis of word parts in reading and in writing. These assessments provide educators with insight into which level of morphological awareness they need to teach the student next, so that the student can continue progressing through the levels. Educators should implement research-based best practices when assessing a student’s morphological awareness skills. Traditional spelling assessments are comprised of predetermined spelling words that are marked as correct or incorrect. These practices do not reveal patterns in spelling development. A more research-based approach is to select a set of spelling words that use similar morphemes and analyze a set of spelling words or authentic writing in order to determine students’ spelling development. Educators can then complete a diagnostic analysis of student spelling errors and utilize a spelling inventory to target students’ strengths and needs. This can provide a clear picture of students’ spelling development and path for planning instruction (Teaching and Assessing, 2019).
* Ebbers, S. M. (2017). Morphological awareness strategies for the general and special education classroom: A vehicle for vocabulary enhancement. *Perspectives on Language & Literacy, 43*(2), 29–33. <https://mydigitalpublication.com/publication/?m=13959&i=398575&p=28&ver=html5> This article succinctly explains the components of morphology and how and why to explicitly teach vocabulary through morphology. * Gibbs, A. & Reed, D. K. (2019). Effective literacy lesson: Understanding compound words through their two word parts. Iowa Reading Research Center. <https://iowareadingresearch.org/blog/effective-literacy-lesson-compound-words> The author provides a brief introduction of morphological knowledge and the focus of the explicit lesson plan to follow on compound words. * International Literacy Association. (2019). Teaching and assessing spelling. <https://literacyworldwide.org/docs/default-source/where-we-stand/ila-teaching-and-assessing-spelling.pdf> The author of this article provides a rationale for diagnostic spelling assessments and how to plan for instruction. The article includes best practices for spelling and advises how to avoid traditional weekly spelling tests. * Sedita, J. (2018). Using morphology to teach vocabulary. <https://keystoliteracy.com/blog/using-morphology-to-teach-vocabulary/> This article references two models of teaching morphology (school-wide and opportunistic) and provides examples for how best to teach using each method. * Stowe, M. (n.d.). Teaching morphology: Enhancing vocabulary development and reading comprehension. <https://education.wm.edu/centers/ttac/resources/articles/teachtechnique/teachingmorphology/index.php> The author outlines the importance of decoding strategies and vocabulary development for reading comprehension through a multisensory approach.
* Green, L. & Wolter, J. (n.d.). Morphological awareness intervention: Techniques for promoting language and literacy success. <https://coe.uoregon.edu/cds/files/2011/09/Morphological-Intervention.pdf> This resource provides techniques for teaching morphological awareness and the connection to comprehension. * Zeh, N. (n.d.). Teaching morphology to improve literacy: A guide for teachers. [https://www.uwo.ca/fhs/lwm/teaching/dld2\_2017\_18/Zeh\_Morphological-Awareness.pdf](https://www.uwo.ca/fhs/lwm/teaching/dld2_2017_18/Zeh_Morphological-Awareness.pdf) This resource provides educators with a background for why to teach morphological awareness and how to address learners in the classroom, providing sample activities for educators to utilize. ### Annotating Text * Annotation Guide [https://www.covcath.org/uploaded/06\_Students/Annotation\_Guide\_AP\_Language.pdf](https://www.covcath.org/uploaded/06_Students/Annotation_Guide_AP_Language.pdf) * Annotating Texts, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill <https://learningcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/annotating-texts/> * What is Annotating and Why Do It? Eastern Washington University [https://research.ewu.edu/writers\_c\_read\_study\_strategies](https://research.ewu.edu/writers_c_read_study_strategies) ### Definitions * Diverse learners: Learners who bring a broad array of learning preferences, background knowledge, experiences, identities, and educational variability and may vary linguistically, socio-culturally, racially, ethnically, or economically.
What learning activities or strategies did you include in your lesson in order to build morphology? Be sure to include any planning considerations for the whole group, small group, or individual students in your lesson.
How do you know if students in your classroom are making progress in this area (morphology) based on your instruction? How do you know if your targeted instruction is building higher-order thinking skills and comprehension? Consider pre-assessment data, ongoing targeted instruction, and/or any post-assessment data that may show progress over time.
To complete this micro-credential, please submit the following evidence: **Artifact 1: Annotated Lesson Plan** Upload your morphological awareness lesson plan used to support student learning. The lesson plan should include educator directions for skill implementation. The lesson should include at least one of the following topics: * Root Word: the most basic form of a word * Affix: word parts added to the beginning or ending of a word that affect the meaning (prefixes and suffixes) * Suffix: a morpheme added to the end of the word, which changes the meaning of a root word * Prefix: a morpheme added to the beginning of a word, which changes the meaning of a root word The rationale should include the following (150-word limit): * How did you select or develop this particular lesson? * How do you plan to support diverse learners throughout the lesson? **Artifact 2: Whole Group Instruction** Upload a 10- to 15-minute annotated video/audio of whole group morphological awareness instruction. The video/audio should include annotations for the following: * Educator modeling how to use morphological awareness to determine the meaning of unknown words * Educator setting clear expectations for students * Students practicing the specific skill and receiving educator feedback * Student engagement including, but not limited to, responding, focusing attention on the educator, engaging in discussion, or asking questions Note: video annotation can be a document that includes timestamps noting where the above list happens throughout the video. Example: “*1:15–2:02: a small group of students is practicing skill Y, and I am giving them feedback*.” **Artifact 3: Rationale and Pre/Post Assessments** Choose a small group of diverse learners that you supported for the lesson provided in Artifact 1. (See the Resources section for a definition of diverse learners.) Submit the following: * A rationale explaining what information you used from your students’ pre-assessments. + Explain how your pre- and post-assessments helped you to determine where to begin instruction. + Include information you gathered from the post-assessments that you completed when you were assessing your students’ morphological awareness skills. * Pre-assessments: Upload one pre-assessment from each of your small group students. + Post-assessments: Upload a post-assessment from each of your small group students to show how the students are progressing through the continuum of phonological awareness.
Provide a reflection on teaching morphological awareness skills to your students using the following questions to guide you: - What was the impact of the instruction that targeted morphological awareness skills for your your students? - How will crafting this lesson affect your practice in the future?
Educator provides research-backed methods in the lesson plan summary or activity description that connect to improving morphology.
Artifact 3: Rationale and Pre/Post Assessment
Rationale is clear as to how pre- and post-assessment data was used before and after learning. All pre- and post- assessments from students were uploaded.
Rationale does not address how the pre- and post- assessment data was used. Student pre- and post- assessments were not uploaded.
Educator understands and is able to implement effective instructional strategies to develop narrative language skills.
# Key Method The educator effectively develops and implements a lesson that includes explicit instruction on components of narrative language. # Method Components ### Overview Narrative language skills are vital to a student’s ability to have successful social relationships, and they can greatly impact students’ academic work (e.g., written language). Narrative skills are the ability to use language to tell a story. As students’ narrative language skills develop, they will begin to follow rules of storytelling (e.g., sequencing events, including characters, having an event/dialogue/solution, and having an ending). Narratives may be fiction or nonfiction. Narrative production emerges between 2 and 3 years of age, when children begin telling others about what they see and do. As they get older, they begin telling stories that occurred in the past. Narrative language development continues as children begin applying oral narrative skills to analyzing, retelling, summarizing, and explaining increasingly complex written language text. Students with more advanced narrative language skills can follow an increasingly intricate series of events, such as stories, historical events, phenomena in nature, and instructions. By guiding students to develop their academic language skills, educators can mitigate some of the challenges that students encounter when learning to comprehend text (U.S. Department of Education). ### Components of Narrative Language Skills Instruction Narrative language skills include: * Understanding elements of story grammar + Story grammar refers to the parts or elements of a story; it often includes things like character, setting, problem, solution, and feelings. It can also include things like plot, climax, and suspense. * Retelling + Retelling is a short, consistent routine that students can use to recall, order, and summarize a text. * Sequencing + Sequencing refers to the identification of the components of a story — the beginning, middle, and end — and also to the ability to retell the events within a given text in the order in which they occurred. * Summarizing + Summarizing is the student relating the most important points in a text (or a section of a text) in his/her own words. In fiction, summaries include the basic story elements — main characters, setting, plot, and sometimes theme in a summary. In nonfiction, summaries include the most important information about a topic presented in a coherent way. * Connecting ideas within and/or across texts/experiences + Students gain a deeper understanding of a text when they make authentic connections. Educators may need to explicitly show students how a text connects to their lives, another text they have read, or the world around them (U.S. Department of Education). Academic language is a critical component of oral language. Research indicates that oral language development is linked to reading success. Types of academic language skills include narrative language, inferential language, and academic vocabulary words. Development of these skills helps students better comprehend academic texts, both across subjects and within individual subjects. Academic language skills need to be explicitly taught. ### Supporting Students as They Learn Through Narrative Language Instruction * Build Story Structure Before Vocabulary and Complex Language: Begin by teaching storytelling and story grammar. These skills support students' background knowledge and vocabulary development. Robust background knowledge and vocabulary stories provide greater access to text. * Use Visual Support to Make Abstract Concepts Concrete: By using tools such as pictures, drawings, icons, graphic organizers, or gestures to make abstract concepts concrete, students are able to make connections from the known to the unknown, leading to a deeper understanding of the text. * Deliver Immediate Corrective Feedback: Effective feedback focuses on what the child should do and minimizes attention to the incorrect response; it is immediate and specific, as practiced errors are likely to continue. Explicitly tell the child what was incorrect and model what the response should be, and then give the child an opportunity to imitate it. * Make It Fun: For example, be animated - use overexaggerated facial expressions and comments to show children you are listening. Teach children to be active and engaged listeners to their peers; play games, role play, use props, etc. (Spencer & Petersen, 2020). * Use Routines and Modeling: Routinely prompt students and ask questions before, during, and after read alouds; engage students in making predictions; engaging in problem solving; making hypotheses; and comparing and contrasting concepts provides students with multiple opportunities in guided practice. Routinely teaching academic vocabulary in the context of other reading activities enhances students’ vocabulary, leading to deeper understanding of text, assignments, and academic conversations (Nebraska Reads. REL Central. Regional Educational Laboratory at Marzano Research). * Use Dialogic Reading: Dialogic reading is the process of having a dialogue with students around the text they are reading. This dialogue involves asking questions to help children explore the text at a deeper level, including defining new words, analyzing the components of a story, and being able to talk about the text. The conversation develops vocabulary, verbal fluency, and narrative skills. Careful planning is required to ensure it is interactive for students at all levels. The following strategies support dialogic reading: **CROWD** * Completion question (“I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll \_\_\_\_\_\_\_.”) * Recall question (Which house couldn’t the wolf blow down?) * Open-ended questions (Why do you think the first pig built his house out of straw?) * “Wh” question (what, who, where, when) * Distancing (How do you think the pigs felt when the wolf tried to get them?) **PEER + PA** * Prompt the child to say something about the text. * Evaluate the child’s response. * Expand the child’s response. * Repeat the prompt. * Praise and apply the child’s response (Folsom, 2017). ### Assessing Mastery of Narrative Language Skills There are many options for assessing narrative language skills in both formal/standardized and informal formats. Students’ performance on informal and formal assessments is used to determine support and guide instructional decisions to advance students’ learning. Informal assessments can be easily incorporated into day-to-day classroom activities, are content and performance driven, and measure performance and progress. Informally assessing language skills is in the context of learning and focuses on opportunities for improvement. These include observation, checklists, anecdotal records, time or event sampling, etc. “CROWD” and “PEER + PA” responses can be used as informal assessments after explicit instruction and practice have taken place. Formal assessments are systematic, data based, and pre-planned, and they determine proficiency/mastery of content. Formal assessments can include tests, quizzes, projects, standardized, criterion referenced, etc.
* Crawford, D., & Landa, R. (2018). Strategies for expanding oral language and narrative development. Leader Live. <https://blog.asha.org/2018/07/05/strategies-for-expanding-oral-language-and-narrative-development/> * Elleseff, T. (2017). The importance of narrative language assessments in speech language pathology (revised). <https://www.smartspeechtherapy.com/revised-narrative-assessments-in-speech-language-pathology/> * Folsom, J. (2017). Dialogic reading: Having a conversation about books. Iowa Reading Research Center. <https://iowareadingresearch.org/blog/dialogic-reading-having-a-conversation-about-books> * Grover J. (Russ) Whitehurst. (2002). Dialogic reading: An effective way to read aloud with young children. <https://www.readingrockets.org/article/dialogic-reading-effective-way-read-aloud-young-children> * Justice, L. M. & Sofka, A. E. (2010). *Engaging children with print: Building early literacy skills through quality read-alouds*. Guilford Press. This text, written by a language and literacy researcher, contextualizes narrative development within a larger frame of storybook reading that includes print referencing. It will help educators visualize language and literacy development at the same time. * Nebraska Reads. REL Central. Regional Educational Laboratory at Marzano Research. <https://cdn.education.ne.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Foundational-Skills-to-Support-Reading-Recommendation-1.pdf> * Nelson, N. W. (2013). Syntax development in the school-age years: Implications for assessment and intervention. *Perspectives on Language & Literacy, 39*(3), 9–15. <https://app.box.com/s/6rn9i3zl6blle2qhasudaj84zb9gkvhs> * Stadler, M. A. & Ward, C. G. (2002). Supporting the narrative development of young children. [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227322912\_Supporting\_the\_Narrative\_Development\_of\_Young\_Children](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227322912_Supporting_the_Narrative_Development_of_Young_Children) * Spencer, T. & Petersen, D. (2020). Narrative intervention: Principles to practice. [https://pubs.asha.org/doi/10.1044/2020\_LSHSS-20-00015](https://pubs.asha.org/doi/10.1044/2020_LSHSS-20-00015) * Stadler, M. A., & Ward, G. C. (2005) Supporting the narrative development of young children. *Early Childhood Education Journal, 33*(2), 73–80. [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227322912\_Supporting\_the\_Narrative\_Development\_of\_Young\_Children](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227322912_Supporting_the_Narrative_Development_of_Young_Children) * U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, What Works Clearinghouse. [https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/practiceguide/wwc\_found\_reading\_summary\_051517.pdf](https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/practiceguide/wwc_found_reading_summary_051517.pdf)
* 5 Reasons to Assess (and improve) Narrative Skills. (2020). Looks Like Language. <https://lookslikelanguage.com/2017/08/5-reasons-to-assess-narrative-skills.html> * Dialogic Reading. (Jul 21, 2015). Denver read-aloud program. Lauren Dennis talks about the power of Dialogic Reading. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpb\_w4qXrB8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpb_w4qXrB8) * Formal and Informal Assessments. <https://abdao.wordpress.com/2015/07/18/formal-and-informal-assessments/> * How To: Dialogic Reading | Crowd & Peer Questioning. (Nov 8, 2018). Sierra Painter. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZBwjlR6KKE> * Narrative Language, Main Idea. (Sep 14, 2016). Institute of Education Sciences. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXLek726ww4> This video depicts a first-grade whole class engaging in a main idea activity. There are 18 students in this demonstration, and they are using pictures and a smart board. * Narrative Language, Retell. (Sep 14, 2016). Institute of Education Sciences. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue6eTIfI59Y> This video depicts a first-grade whole class engaging in a retell activity. There are 16 students in this demonstration, and they are reading the text Butterfly's Life and using a graphic organizer. * Narrative Language Skills: What Do We Know? (2018). Kidz Learn Language. <https://kidzlearnlanguage.blogspot.com/2018/01/narrative-language-skills-what-do-we.html> ### Annotating Text * Annotation Guide [https://www.covcath.org/uploaded/06\_Students/Annotation\_Guide\_AP\_Language.pdf](https://www.covcath.org/uploaded/06_Students/Annotation_Guide_AP_Language.pdf) * Annotating Texts, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill <https://learningcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/annotating-texts/> * What is Annotating and Why Do It? Eastern Washington University [https://research.ewu.edu/writers\_c\_read\_study\_strategies](https://research.ewu.edu/writers_c_read_study_strategies) ### Definitions * Diverse learners: Learners who bring a broad array of learning preferences, background knowledge, experiences, identities, and educational variability and may vary linguistically, socio-culturally, racially, ethnically, or economically.
Educator provides a description or data that supports student growth in this area and shares details about how the educator recognized that student skills were enhanced through teaching. Evidence is clear and appropriate for student progression.
Annotated lesson plan is complete and addresses components of narrative language and explicit instruction of narrative language skills. Annotations address the lesson context and how all students will be supported.
Annotated lesson plan is incomplete and addresses either components of narrative language or explicit instruction but not both. Annotations may be present but do not clearly address the lesson context and how all students will be supported.
Annotated lesson plan is incomplete and addresses neither components of narrative language skills nor explicit instruction. Annotations are not included.
Instruction is at least 15 minutes and shows small-group instruction and clear expectations; specific and immediate educator feedback is given to the majority of students and occurs multiple times. Student engagement is evident and clear across most of the students and occurs multiple times.
Instruction may or may not be less than 10 minutes and shows partial-class instruction with minimal educator feedback. Student engagement is minimal, limited to a few students or only occurring a few times.
A group of students is chosen, but the description is unclear and does not explain the diversity or provide an explanation of what, if any, modifications and/or accommodations were given. Some student assessment samples were uploaded, but feedback from educator was lacking one of the following elements: specific, relevant, timely, or appropriate to the phase of learning.
Rationale is not addressed. No explanation of supports provided. No student assessment samples were uploaded; no feedback supplied.
What learning activities or strategies did you include in your lesson in order to build inferential skills? Be sure to include any planning considerations for the whole group, small group, or individual students in your lesson.
How do you know if students in your classroom are making progress in narrative language skills based on your instruction? How do you know if your targeted instruction is building higher-order thinking skills and comprehension? Consider pre-assessment data, ongoing targeted instruction, and/or any post-assessment data that may show progress over time.
To complete this micro-credential, please submit the following evidence: **Artifact 1: Annotated Lesson Plan** Upload your annotated lesson plan used to support student learning of narrative language skills. The lesson plan should include educator directions for skill implementation and evidence of explicit teaching of one or more narrative language skills: * Understanding elements of story grammar (plot, setting, etc.) * Retelling * Sequencing * Analyzing * Summarizing * Inferencing * Connecting ideas within and/or across texts/experiences The lesson should also include one or more of the following educator and student strategy components: * Use visual supports * Deliver immediate corrective feedback * Use overexaggerated facial expressions and comments to show children you are listening; teach children to be active and engaged listeners to their peers; and play games, role play, use props, etc. * Prompt students and ask questions before, during and after read alouds; engage students in making predictions; engage in problem solving, making hypotheses, and/or comparing and contrasting concepts * Use dialogic reading The rationale should include the following (150-word limit): * Why and how did you select or develop this particular lesson? * How do you plan to support diverse learners throughout this lesson? **Artifact 2: Whole Group Instruction** Upload a 10- to 15-minute annotated video/audio of small group instruction. The video/audio should include annotations for the following: * Educator modeling of strategy/strategies in order to build narrative language skills * Educator setting clear expectations for students * Students practicing the specific skill and receiving educator feedback * Student engagement including, but not limited to, responding, focusing attention on educator, and student discussion while applying the skill/strategy Note: video annotation can be a document that includes timestamps noting where the above list happens throughout the video. Example: “*1:15–2:02: a small group of students is practicing skill Y, and I am giving them feedback*.” **Artifact 3: Rationale and Student Work Samples** Choose a group of two or more diverse learners that you supported for the lesson provided in Artifact 1. (See the Resources section for a definition of diverse learners.) Submit the following: * Rationale (150-word limit) + Why did you choose this individual student or group of diverse learners? Include narrative on the data you used to make this decision. + What additional supports or accommodations did you make to this lesson to meet the needs of the diverse learner(s)? * Student Assessment Samples + Upload samples from two students from the lesson plan provided in Artifact 1. For each student, submit assessment examples (writing, audio, graphic organizers, video, or other products) that demonstrate progress toward improved understanding and use of narrative language. Include samples with your feedback.
Provide a reflection on teaching narrative language skills to your students using the following questions to guide you: - What was the impact of the instruction that targeted narrative language skills for your students? - How will crafting this lesson affect your practice in the future?
Educator understands and is able to use the most effective approaches to teaching informational writing.
# Key Method The educator develops and implements a lesson plan to explicitly teach the process and approaches to informational writing through the use of current research-based writing strategy instruction. # Method Components ### Overview Writing is a critical literacy skill that plays a central role in students’ everyday lives, serving as a means to support learning and deepen their understanding of content and the world around them (Olson et al., 2015). Text-based and informational writing have become priority areas of instruction under the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Changes within the standards have made it a vital skill for elementary through high school students to be able to write analytically in response to and across multiple texts in order to facilitate comprehension and content area learning (Dombeck et al., 2016; Shen & Troia, 2018). Inherent in this expectation is the importance of reading comprehension—students are required to write about and respond to a text (or multiple texts) that they have read. It is important to note that reading comprehension is a vital prerequisite foundation to writing, thus inextricably linking the process of competent reading to the process of competent writing. Note that the primary steps within the informational writing process detailed here include attention to the analytical reading process (Dombeck et al., 2016). Research indicates that writing is one skill that is in a constant state of refinement and maturation. Just as students’ ability to read more complex texts develops, so does their ability to produce more complex genre-based written pieces, moving from labels and fact statements to complex, interconnected paragraphs. Therefore, direct, explicit instruction of writing is an ongoing need for the development of competent student writers (Donovan & Smolkin, n.d.). ### Components of Informational Writing Instruction In order to support students in informational writing, a systematic, deliberate approach to instruction is recommended. The research literature recommends the following for exemplary informational writing instruction: * careful and thoughtful selection of texts and writing tasks * analytical reading * investigation and study of mentor texts * style and genre exemplars pulled from both student and published sources * systematic, explicit instruction on steps of the informational writing process * providing ongoing and formative assessment and feedback loops to develop and refine writing * using analytic scoring to monitor distinct skill development (Dombeck et al., 2019) ### Supporting Students as They Learn Through Informational Writing Instruction As students develop informational writing skills, educators can offer support through the following research-supported instructional approaches (Gillespie & Graham, 2014; Graham et al., 2015; Graham & Perin, 2007): Provide explicit instruction on: * strategies for planning, revising, and editing * summarizing information that has been read * inquiry skills (locating and/or collecting information and analyzing findings) * prewriting skills (brainstorming, planning, etc.) * foundational writing skills * critically evaluating good models of writing * text structure * sentence combining to create more complex sentences and enhance writing Provide opportunities for students to: * write frequently * collaborate with peers on planning, drafting, and revising * use computer word processing programs for writing * build self-regulation skills * receive individualized teacher feedback ### Assessing Mastery of Informational Writing Assessment is a valuable step in the instructional planning process. It can support development of future lesson design, implementation, and the reintroduction, reteaching, or remediation of literacy lessons. Assessing informational writing should follow best practices for assessment, but there are some specifics to keep in mind: * It is important to set short-term and longer-term learning goals with individual students. * Formative assessments throughout the writing process offer students valuable real-time feedback and direction to guide their process of writing. * Formative assessments throughout the writing process can measure discrete skills and components of the informational writing process. * Summative assessments can allow for a broader, more comprehensive view of the informational writing process over time. * Domain scoring, as recommended by the Delaware State Writing Rubrics, allows for focus on both the quality and quantity of individual writing skills in order to create an overall snapshot of the success of those individual skills working together to create the final product.
* Davidson, M., & Berninger, V. (2016). Informative, compare and contrast, and persuasive essay composing of fifth and seventh graders. *Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 34*(4), 311–321. <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4939906/> This research article details a study of 5th- and 7th-grade students who were asked to write essays of different genres of expository writing; a direct link to writing and reading comprehension is uncovered and highlighted. * Donbeck, J. L., Foorman, B. R., Smith, K. G., Daughtry, E., Harden, H., Harfield, H, & Parks. S. (2016). *Instructional considerations for text-based writing*. Florida Center for Reading Research. [https://fcrr.org/sites/g/files/upcbnu2836/files/media/PDFs/instructional\_considerations\_for\_text-based\_writing.pdf](https://fcrr.org/sites/g/files/upcbnu2836/files/media/PDFs/instructional_considerations_for_text-based_writing.pdf) This article provides practical, actionable steps to explicitly teach informational, text-based writing. * Donovan, C.A. & Smolkin, L.B. (n.d.). *Supporting informational writing in the elementary grades*. <http://www.ldonline.org/article/52246/> This article details practical instructional scaffolds that guide the ongoing development of students’ informational writing. * Gillespie, A., & Graham, S. (2014). A meta-analysis of writing interventions for students with disabilities. *Exceptional Children, 80*(4), 454–473. * Graham, S., & Hebert, M.A. (2010). Writing to read: Evidence for how writing can improve reading. A Carnegie Corporation Time to Act Report. Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellent Education. <https://www.centeroninstruction.org/files/Synopsis%20Writing%20to%20Read.pdf> This research article details a study conducted focused on the effect of the Writing to Read program and its impact on students in grades 1-12. * Olson, C., Scarcella, R., Matuchniak, T. (2015). Helping English learners to write: Meeting Common Core Standards, Grades 6-12. Narrative writing plays a critical role in the CCSS and has tremendous potential in helping ELs develop their English and succeed in ELA coursework in the secondary grades. At a particularly difficult time in their lives, when they might worry that their limited resources in English could conceal their cognitive abilities and capability of expressing themselves, narrative writing enables ELs. Retrieved from: [https://archive.nwp.org/cs/public/download/nwp\_file/20438/Narrative\_Writing\_and\_CCSS?x-r=pcfile\_d](https://archive.nwp.org/cs/public/download/nwp_file/20438/Narrative_Writing_and_CCSS?x-r=pcfile_d) * Shen, M., & Troia, G. (2018). Evidence-based practices to improve the expository writing performance of students with learning disabilities: Strategy instruction v. genre study. *Perspectives on Language & Literacy, 40*(4), 10–16. [https://mydigitalpublication.com/publication/?m=13959&l=1#{%22issue\_id%22:495123,%22page%22:28,%22publication\_id%22:%2213959%22}](https://mydigitalpublication.com/publication/?m=13959&l=1#{%22issue_id%22:495123,%22page%22:28,%22publication_id%22:%2213959%22}) This article provides a comparison of expository strategy instruction and genre study approaches to writing instruction for students who have identified learning disabilities.
* Delaware Department of Education. ELA Writing Rubrics. <https://www.doe.k12.de.us//site/Default.aspx?PageID=2645> * Hochman, J. C. & Wexler, N. (2017). *The writing revolution: A guide to advancing thinking through writing in all subjects and grades*. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass. This book encourages educators to think of writing as a tool for learning in all parts of the curriculum. While it spans multiple grades, it can form the basis of a community of writers in a district. * Student Achievement Partners. (2016). Informative/explanatory writing on demand. Achieve the Core. <https://achievethecore.org/page/454/informative-explanatory-writing-on-demand> This resource provides expository student writing samples that can be studied or used as exemplars for grades 6-8 and 9-12. * Thompson, S. & Reed, D. K. (2019). Using mentor texts to learn from the best and improve students’ writing. Iowa Reading Research Center. <https://iowareadingresearch.org/blog/mentor-texts-student-writing> This article provides approaches to using mentor texts in the classroom as a means for guiding and developing writing. ### Annotating Text * Annotation Guide [https://www.covcath.org/uploaded/06\_Students/Annotation\_Guide\_AP\_Language.pdf](https://www.covcath.org/uploaded/06_Students/Annotation_Guide_AP_Language.pdf) * Annotating Texts, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill <https://learningcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/annotating-texts/> * What is Annotating and Why Do It? Eastern Washington University [https://research.ewu.edu/writers\_c\_read\_study\_strategies](https://research.ewu.edu/writers_c_read_study_strategies) ### Definitions * Diverse learners: Learners who bring a broad array of learning preferences, background knowledge, experiences, identities, and educational variability and may vary linguistically, socio-culturally, racially, ethnically, or economically.
Please share information about your teaching context by providing a description of your classroom, including grade level, class size, and demographic information. In addition, please note if you collaborated with another educator on this micro-credential. While collaboration is encouraged, the written submission should be unique and reflect your own experience and reflections with the competency.
What activities did you and your students engage with in order to become more proficient with informational writing? Please describe the learning activities and strategies and include information on what classroom data you used to develop the activities.
How do you know your students increased their level of understanding around informational writing? What evidence did you collect that demonstrates these learning gains?
To complete this micro-credential, please submit the following evidence: **Artifact 1: Annotated Lesson Plan** Upload your lesson plan used to support instruction around informational writing. Annotate the lesson, including where in-class explanations may not be clear to the assessor and accommodations that will be made to support all students. The lesson should include evidence of: * careful and thoughtful selection of texts and writing tasks * analytical reading * investigation and study of mentor texts * systematic, explicit instruction on steps of the informational writing process * providing ongoing and formative assessment and feedback loops to develop and refine writing, * using analytic scoring to monitor distinct skill development. **Artifact 2: Whole-Group Instruction** Upload a 10- to 20-minute video/audio of whole class instruction. The video/audio should include: * guided analytical reading (including paying attention to text structure to support comprehension, annotating, responding to text, taking notes, creating summaries, asking and answering text-based questions) in order to identify textual evidence * introduction and analysis of mentor texts with students to discover more about the genre of writing and help develop writing style * systematic, direct instruction of informational writing: + setting a purpose for writing + planning, prewriting (brainstorming, planning, outlining), revising, and editing + sentence-level refinement and revision with attention to standard English conventions in order to add interest and refine a written piece. * ongoing and real-time feedback to students through individual and small-group conferencing and distributed formative assessments. **Artifact 3: Rationale and Student Assessment Samples** Choose a group of two or more diverse learners that you supported for the lesson provided in Artifact 1. (See the Resources section for a definition of diverse learners.) Submit the following: * Rationale (150-word limit) + Why did you choose this individual student or group of diverse learners? Include narrative on the data you used to make this decision. + What additional supports or accommodations did you include in this lesson to meet the needs of the diverse learner(s)? * Student Assessment Samples + Upload samples from two students from the lesson plan provided in Artifact 1. For each student, submit assessment examples (writing, audio, images, video, or other products) that demonstrate progress toward increased competency in informational writing. Include samples with your feedback.
Provide a reflection on engaging your students in instruction around informational writing, using the following questions to help guide you: - What was the impact of the instruction that targeted informational writing on your students? - How will crafting this lesson affect your practice in the future?
Annotated lesson plan is incomplete and addresses less than four elements of suggested implementation. Annotations may be present but do not clearly address the lesson context and how all students will be supported.
Annotated lesson plan is incomplete and addresses one or no elements of suggested implementation. Annotations are not included.
Instruction is at least 10 minutes and shows whole-group instruction and clear expectations. Student engagement is evident and clear across the majority of students and occurs multiple times.
Instruction may or may not be less than 10 minutes and shows partial-class instruction. Student engagement is minimal, limited to a few students, or only occurring a few times.
Evidence of whole-group instruction is not evident in the video/audio clip. Student engagement is not evident.
A group of students is chosen but the description is unclear and does not explain the diversity or an explanation of what, if any, modifications and/or accommodations were given. Some student assessment samples were uploaded, but not all of the samples focused on informational writing instruction; feedback from educator was lacking one of the following elements: specific, relevant, timely, or appropriate to the phase of learning.
Educator understands and is able to use the most effective approaches to teaching narrative writing.
# Key Method The educator develops and implements a lesson plan to support students in writing a narrative text using effective instructional strategies and the writing process to support a group of diverse learners. # Method Components ### Overview Narrative writing is writing that tells a story. It can be fiction or fact-based. It can be written in first person or third person. Narrative writing includes plot, character development, conflict, and resolution. Writing is a critical literacy skill that plays a central role in students’ everyday lives, serving as a means to facilitate learning and deepen their understanding of content and the world around them. Research indicates that narratives are motivating for students and build their confidence as writers, which is key to their progress in learning other types of writing such as persuasive and informational writing (Olson et al., 2015). The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) K-5 Writing Standards offer a focus for instruction each year to help ensure that students gain adequate mastery of a range of skills and applications. Each year in their writing, students should demonstrate increasing sophistication in all aspects of language use, from vocabulary and syntax to the development and organization of ideas, and they should address increasingly demanding content and sources. Students advancing through the grades are expected to meet each year’s grade-specific standards and retain or further develop skills and understandings mastered in preceding grades. Over the course of their elementary career, students progress in narrative writing from drawing, dictation, and writing about single events (K) to developing real or imagined experiences or events using effective techniques, descriptive details, and clear event sequences (5) (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010). ### Components of Narrative Writing Instruction Common Core State Standards focus on opinion, informative, and narrative writing. It is important to explicitly teach about the types of writing so that students are able to understand and differentiate the purposes of each type. Before students can create a story, they must understand the characteristics of narrative writing. The CCSS require students to gain exposure to a variety of texts, including narrative text, or literature. Using texts to explicitly teach the characteristics of narrative writing is effective and engaging. The general characteristics of narrative writing are: * Organization (story structure and sequence) + The most common way to organize events in narrative writing is to write the events in chronological order. Narratives typically begin with an introduction, even though this is not part of the CCSS for all grade levels, but it’s important to note how an introduction could contribute to a strong narrative. After the introduction, there is a series of events that are linked together, and then everything is wrapped up with a strong closing, or resolution (Coker & Ritchey, 2015). + A narrative graphic organizer can be used to support the organization of a narrative text. * Characters + Narratives can include any number of characters, each with a different role or purpose. There is usually, at least, a protagonist and an antagonist. * Setting + The setting is the time and location in which your story takes place. * Plot + The sequence of events, including an introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, and conclusion * Conflict + Conflict is what drives the storyline, creating tension and building suspense, making a story interesting. * Resolution + The resolution is where the main problem is resolved or worked out in the narrative story. Using research- and evidence-based recommendations to guide instructional planning and decisions will lead to effective lessons for developing strong writers. Instruction (depending on grade level) should include components of the writing process: * Planning – Planning for writing includes determining the goal of a writing piece, generating ideas, gathering information, and organizing ideas * Drafting – Drafting is the first version of the writing piece. It is at this stage that students develop their ideas by creating sentences to convey their ideas and information * Sharing – During the sharing stage, students share their drafts with educators and peers for feedback and suggestions to improve their writing * Evaluating – During evaluation, students are rereading their writing to determine if their goal was met and whether their ideas were organized and conveyed; educators can also evaluate and provide feedback * Revising – Students revise their writing based on self-evaluation and educator and peer feedback and suggestions; changes can include changes in wording, clarification of ideas, and refining sentence structure—all with the purpose of ensuring the goals for the piece are met. * Editing – Editing is ensuring the correct use of spelling and grammar conventions in writing * Publishing – Publishing is often optional and may be included to develop and share a final product (Graham et al., 2012). ### Supporting Students as They Learn Through Narrative Writing Instruction When supporting young writers, there are many strategies you can implement in your writing instruction. Crafting lessons which include the following strategies will increase students’ understanding, production, and engagement: 1. Explicit instruction using mentor texts can help students develop an understanding of story grammar and elements of narrative writing. Mentor texts provide exemplar models of narrative writing which students can emulate. The texts are read for the purpose of studying the author’s craft, or the way the author uses words and structures the writing. Essays, passages, articles, chapters, and full books can be used as mentor texts. It is important to be mindful of selecting a mentor text that meets the following qualities: * You (the educator) think it is good. If you will be reading the mentor text aloud with students or assigning them to read it, choose something you consider to exemplify good writing. * It is understandable for your students. Although it is an added bonus if a mentor text is about a topic that is of interest to students, fundamentally, students must be able to comprehend the piece. * It is relevant to what you are teaching. If you are teaching students how to write a lead or introductory paragraph, make sure you include the beginning of the piece, not a beautifully composed conclusion from a long research paper. If you want students to identify and implement several writing techniques into their own writing, choose a text where the writer did multiple things well (Thompson & Reed, 2019). 2. Gradually release writing responsibility from the educator to the student. * Educators should ensure that students have the background knowledge and skills they need to understand and use a writing strategy. * Educators should describe the strategy and model its use, making sure to articulate the purpose of the strategy as well as why students might choose to use it as a way of improving their writing. * Educators should guide students to collaborate in small groups in order to practice applying the strategy. * Educators should encourage students to practice applying it as they write independently. * Educators should make sure they do not release responsibility to students too early. 3. Guide students to select and use appropriate writing strategies. * Teach students strategies for the various components of the writing process. + Basic strategies, such as POW (Pick ideas, Organize their notes, Write and say more), should be taught in 1st or 2nd grade + More complicated strategies, such as peer revising, should be introduced in 2nd grade or later. + Many strategies can be used to assist students with more than one component of the writing process. * After teaching writing strategies, educators might consider posting strategies on a chart in the classroom so that students can refer to them during their independent writing. One column of the chart could contain a list of all the strategies and another column could include a list of situations in which these strategies could be used. * Provide written or picture prompts and/or sentence starters. 4. Encourage students to be flexible in using components of the writing process. * Students must learn to apply strategies in a flexible manner so that they can move back and forth between different components of the writing process as they develop text and think critically about their writing goal. * Plans and already written text may need to be revised and edited numerous times in order to communicate more effectively, and writing must be polished in order to make it suitable for publication (Graham, 2012). ### Assessing Mastery of Narrative Writing Assessment is a valuable step in the instructional planning process. It can support the development of future lesson design, implementation, as well as the need for reteaching or remediation of literacy lessons. Assessments can guide feedback and is used for monitoring student progress. Assessments are also used to determine levels of proficiency/mastery, to diagnose needs, and to provide grades/reporting. Assessing narrative writing should follow best practices for assessment, but there are some specifics to keep in mind: 1. Informal narrative assessment can provide a great deal of information such as observing students plan, compose, and edit a story. 2. Both content (grammar, sentence structure, story cohesion, story grammar, vocabulary, and voice) and mechanics (spelling, capitalization, and punctuation) can be assessed (Informal Narrative Writing Assessment, 2021). * Grammar, which follows a developmental order, incorporates both morphology (word endings such as plural -s, possessive marker, and verb tense; and prefixes, suffixes, and roots) and syntax (word order and length, structure, and complexity of the sentence). Written syntax should be somewhat comparable to a child’s oral language skills at any particular age. * Story cohesion refers to the “flow” of the story. Cohesive ties also follow a developmental sequence. For example, in preschool, sequence words and conjunctions (e.g., but, and, so, because, if, then) emerge. In elementary school, pronouns and clear referents are established in narratives. * Story grammar refers to the use of characters, setting, and plot within a story. The structure of the plot follows a developmental sequence. + In the preschool years, stories range from descriptive sequences to reactive sequences (with action and cause and effect). + By early elementary school, students often use a chain of events with either an implied or explicit goal. The character’s emotions are often included. + Late elementary school students’ story grammar evolves to include the character’s plans to rectify the problem and a primitive resolution to the story. + An adolescent is capable of composing a developed resolution to the story, and embedding subplots to the story (e.g., two characters may have conflicting plans and goals). These later narratives incorporate critical thinking (including a problem, response or action, and a plan) in every episode of the story. * Vocabulary is a critical component of good writing. * Voice refers to the student’s unique point of view and should be evident in the narrative through sharing an insight, humor, or emotions. * Writing mechanics refers to a student’s spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and handwriting, if appropriate. 3. Domain scoring, as recommended by the Delaware State Writing Rubrics, allows for focus on both the quality and quantity of individual writing skills in order to create an overall snapshot of the success of those individual skills working together to create the final product.
* Coker, D. & Ritchey, K (2015). Teaching beginning writers. <https://www.guilford.com/books/Teaching-Beginning-Writers/Coker-Ritchey/9781462520114> An essential “how-to” primer, this book examines the process of learning to write and shares evidence-based instructional strategies for the primary grades. With an emphasis on explicit instruction and scaffolding students’ learning, the authors explain when and how to teach handwriting, spelling, foundational skills such as sentence formation and editing, and composition in specific genres. * Graham, S. (2012). Teaching elementary school students to be effective writers. What Works Clearinghouse, U.S. Department of Education <https://www.readingrockets.org/article/teaching-elementary-school-students-be-effective-writers> * Graham, S., Bollinger, A., Booth Olson, C., D’Aoust, C., MacArthur, C., McCutchen, D., & Olinghouse, N.(2012).Teaching elementary school students to be effective writers: A practice guide (NCEE 2012- 4058). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from [https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/PracticeGuide/WWC\_Elem\_Writing\_PG\_Dec182018.pdf](https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/PracticeGuide/WWC_Elem_Writing_PG_Dec182018.pdf) * Informal Narrative Writing Assessment. (2021). Dyslexia Help University of Michigan <http://dyslexiahelp.umich.edu/professionals/dyslexia-school/writing/how-should-writing-be-assessed/informal-narrative-writing-assessment> * Isaacson, S. (1996). Simple ways to assess the writing skills of students with learning disabilities <https://www.readingrockets.org/article/simple-ways-assess-writing-skills-students-learning-disabilities> * National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers. (2010). *Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy*. Washington, DC: Authors. <http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/> This site is the official home of the Common Core State Standards. It is hosted and maintained by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center). It provides parents, educators, policymakers, journalists, and others easy access to the actual standards, as well as supporting information and resources. * Olson, C., Scarcella, R., Matuchniak, T. (2015). Helping English learners to write: Meeting Common Core Standards, Grades 6-12. [https://archive.nwp.org/cs/public/download/nwp\_file/20438/Narrative\_Writing\_and\_CCSS?x-r=pcfile\_d](https://archive.nwp.org/cs/public/download/nwp_file/20438/Narrative_Writing_and_CCSS?x-r=pcfile_d) Narrative writing plays a critical role in the CCSS and has tremendous potential in helping ELs develop their English and succeed in ELA coursework in the secondary grades. At a particularly difficult time in their lives, when they might worry that their limited resources in English could conceal their cognitive abilities and capability of expressing themselves, narrative writing enables ELs. * Thompson,S. & Reed, D. (2019). Using mentor texts to learn from the best and improve students’ writing. Iowa Reading Research Center. <https://iowareadingresearch.org/blog/mentor-texts-student-writing#:~:text=Mentor%20texts%20are%20written%20pieces,in%20crafting%20their%20own%20piece>. When teaching with a mentor text, point out specific examples of a writing technique or approach and ask students questions to spark further discussion of the author’s craft.
* Delaware Department of Education. ELA Writing Rubrics. <https://www.doe.k12.de.us//site/Default.aspx?PageID=2645> * Moran, K. 2017.12 Great Mentor Texts for Narrative Writing in K-2. Model narrative writing with these fabulous picture books. <https://www.weareteachers.com/mentor-texts-narrative-writing> * Narrative Writing Write Along Videos. LearnZillion <https://learnzillion.com/resources/99917-narrative-writing/> * Narrative Writing Mentor Texts. The Brown Bag Teacher. Blog. <https://brownbagteacher.com/narrative-writing-mentor-texts/> * Sewell, D.(2017). Components of Narrative Writing. Leaf Group Education. <https://penandthepad.com/components-narrative-writing-8614349.html> * Tips for Teaching Narrative Structure and Style to Elementary Students. <https://studentreasures.com/blog/tips-for-teaching-narrative-writing-structure-and-style-to-elementary-students/> * Tobin, J. How to Teach Narrative Writing. Elementary Nest. Blog. <https://elementarynest.com/teaching-narrative-writing-tips-and-activities/> * Understanding the 7 Key Elements of a Narrative. 2018. From Whispers to Roars. Blog. <https://www.fromwhisperstoroars.com/blog-1/2018/1/11/understanding-the-7-key-elements-of-a-narrative> ### Annotating Text * Annotation Guide [https://www.covcath.org/uploaded/06\_Students/Annotation\_Guide\_AP\_Language.pdf](https://www.covcath.org/uploaded/06_Students/Annotation_Guide_AP_Language.pdf) * Annotating Texts, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill <https://learningcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/annotating-texts/> * What is Annotating and Why Do It? Eastern Washington University [https://research.ewu.edu/writers\_c\_read\_study\_strategies](https://research.ewu.edu/writers_c_read_study_strategies) ### Definitions * Diverse learners: Learners who bring a broad array of learning preferences, background knowledge, experiences, identities, and educational variability and may vary linguistically, socio-culturally, racially, ethnically, or economically.
What activities did you and your students engage with in order to become more proficient with narrative writing? Please describe the learning activities and strategies and include information on what student data you used to decide upon the activities.
How do you know your students increased their level of understanding around narrative writing? What evidence did you collect that demonstrates these learning gains?
To complete this micro-credential, please submit the following evidence: **Artifact 1: Annotated Lesson Plan** Upload your lesson plan used to support instruction of narrative writing. Annotate the lesson, including where in-class explanations may not be clear to the assessor and accommodations that will be made to support all students. The lesson should include evidence of: * Explicit instruction using mentor text(s) * Direct instruction focused on one or more characteristics of narrative writing: organization (story structure and sequence), characters, setting, plot, conflict, and/or resolution * Gradual release of writing responsibility from the educator to the student * Guidance for students to select and use appropriate writing strategies * Components of the writing process **Artifact 2: Whole-Group Instruction** Upload a 10- to 20-minute video/audio of whole-class instruction. The video/audio should include: * Introduction and/or analysis of mentor texts in regard to narrative writing components * Explicit instruction of narrative writing * Ongoing and real-time feedback to students through individual and small-group conferencing **Artifact 3: Rationale and Student Assessment Samples** Choose a group of two or more diverse learners that you supported for the lesson provided in Artifact 1. (See the Resources section for a definition of diverse learners.) Submit the following: * Rationale (150-word limit) + Why did you choose this individual student or group of diverse learners? Include a narrative on the data you used to make this decision. + What additional supports or accommodations did you include in this lesson to meet the needs of the diverse learner(s)? * Student Assessment Samples + Upload samples from two students from the lesson plan provided in Artifact 1. For each student, submit assessment examples (writing, audio, images, video, or other products) that demonstrate progress toward increased competency in narrative writing. Include samples with your feedback.
Provide a reflection on engaging your students in instruction around narrative writing, using the following questions to help guide you: - How were your students impacted by supporting them in writing a narrative text by using the writing process? - How will crafting this lesson affect your practice in the future?
Educator reflection is specific and demonstrates how this activity impacted both educator and students and how it will affect the educator’s future practice.
Annotated lesson plan is complete and addresses all components of narrative writing instruction and the writing process. Annotations address the lesson context and how all students will be supported.
Annotated lesson plan is incomplete and addresses some components of narrative writing instruction and the writing process. Annotations may be present but do not clearly address the lesson context and how all students will be supported.
Annotated lesson plan is incomplete, addresses one or no components of narrative writing instruction, and/or does not follow the components of the writing process. Annotations are not included.
Artifact 3: Rationale and Student Work Samples
Rationale is clear as to the method for choosing the diverse group of students and provides an explanation of what, if any, modifications and/or accommodations were made. All original student assessment samples have been uploaded with educator feedback. Feedback is specific, relevant, timely, and appropriate to the phase of learning in the larger lesson.
A group of students is chosen but the description is unclear and does not explain the diversity or an explanation of what, if any, modifications and/or accommodations were made. Some student assessment samples were uploaded, but not all of the samples focused on informational writing instruction; feedback from educator was lacking one of the following elements: specific, relevant, timely, or appropriate to the phase of learning.
Educator understands and is able to explicitly teach the process and approaches to opinion writing.
# Key Method The educator develops and implements a lesson plan that incorporates the most effective approaches to teaching opinion writing within the writing process. # Method Components ### Overview Writing is an important literacy skill that plays a central role in students’ everyday lives, serving as a means to facilitate learning and deepen their understanding of content and the world around them (Olson et al., 2015). Writing is a means of conveying a message. It requires thinking about purpose and what and how to convey the content to the intended audience. Writing is a flexible activity, moving through and between the writing process. Components of the writing process include planning, drafting, sharing, evaluating, revising, and editing. An additional component, publishing, may be included to develop and share a final product. Opinion writing takes a stand on a topic and supports opinions with facts, definitions, and details. In the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) K-5 ELA Writing Standards, it is expected that students will state and support a point of view with reasons and information by providing facts and details. Their opinion pieces will include concluding statements or sections. Opinion writing is often used interchangeably with persuasive writing and argument writing. In elementary school, opinion writing is the experience of presenting an opinion and reasons for their preferences. This is a prerequisite skill for grade 6 students where they are expected to create arguments, presenting for and against ideas (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010). ### Components of Opinion Writing Instruction Common Core State Standards focus on opinion, informative, and narrative writing. It is important to explicitly teach about the types of writing so that students are able to understand and differentiate the purposes of each type. An effective approach to teaching writing skills is explicit instruction, in which educators directly teach students a writing skill or strategy and provide targeted and scaffolded practice. It is important for educators to implement explicit instruction in which students learn to create opinion pieces. The CCSS requires students to gain exposure to a variety of texts, including text which highlights opinion. Using texts to explicitly teach the characteristics of opinion writing is effective and engaging. Using mentor texts to introduce and develop understanding of opinion writing offers students a “real” perspective, giving students professional authors to emulate. Making writing concrete is valuable, and mentor texts help us do this (Thompson &, Reed, 2019). Opinion writing includes: * An introduction to a topic or text * A clearly stated opinion about the topic * An organizational structure in which reasons are grouped to support the writer’s purpose * The reasons are supported by facts and details * Opinion and reasons are linked using grade level-appropriate words and phrases such as *because, and, in order to*, etc. * Has a concluding statement or section related to the opinion presented (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010) Using research- and evidence-based recommendations to guide instructional planning and decisions will lead to effective lessons for developing strong writers. Instruction (depending on grade level) should include components of the writing process: * Planning – Planning for writing includes determining the goal of a writing piece, generating ideas, gathering information, and organizing ideas * Drafting – Drafting is the first version of the writing piece. It is at this stage that students develop their ideas by creating sentences to convey their ideas and information * Sharing – During the sharing stage, students share their drafts with educators and peers for feedback and suggestions to improve their writing * Evaluating – During evaluation, students are rereading their writing to determine if their goal was met and whether their ideas were organized and conveyed; educators can also evaluate and provide feedback. * Revising – Students revise their writing based on self-evaluation and educator and peer feedback and suggestions; changes can include changes in wording, clarification of ideas, and refining sentence structure—all with the purpose of ensuring the goals for the piece are met. * Editing – Editing is ensuring the correct use of spelling and grammar conventions in writing. * Publishing – Publishing is often optional and may be included to develop and share a final product (Graham et al., 2012). ### Supporting Students as They Learn Through Opinion Writing Instruction When supporting young writers, there are many strategies you can implement in your writing instruction. Crafting lessons which include one or more of the following strategies will increase students’ understanding, production, and engagement: * Use mentor texts to introduce, analyze, and reinforce components of opinion writing; after a mentor text has been read, it can be placed in an easily accessible classroom bookshelf for students to reread and use for a model in their own writing. * Teach students strategies for developing an opinion writing piece, such as * POW-TREE + POW: Pick an idea, Organize notes, Write and say more + TREE: Topic sentence, Reasons (grade-appropriate number of reasons), Explain each reason further, and Ending (Harris et al., 2002) * OREO + *O – Opinion* + *R – Reason* + *E – Evidence* + *O – Opinion (restated)* * Use graphic organizer templates and/or classroom anchor charts. * Gradually release writing responsibility from the educator to the student. + Educators should ensure that students have the background knowledge and skills they need to understand and use a writing strategy + Educators should describe the strategy and model its use, making sure to articulate the purpose of the strategy as well as why students might choose to use it as a way of improving their writing. + Educators should guide students to collaborate in small groups to practice applying the strategy. + Educators should encourage students to practice applying it as they write independently. + Educators should make sure they do not release responsibility to students too early. * Encourage students to be flexible in using components of the writing process. + Students must learn to apply strategies in a flexible manner so that they can move back and forth between different components of the writing process as they develop text and think critically about their writing goal. + Plans and already written text may need to be revised and edited numerous times in order to communicate more effectively, and writing must be polished in order to make it suitable for publication (Graham, 2012). ### Assessing Mastery of Opinion Writing Assessment is a valuable step in the instructional planning process. It can support the development of future lesson design, implementation, as well as the need for reteaching or remediation of literacy lessons. Assessments can guide feedback and is used for monitoring student progress. Assessments are also used to determine levels of proficiency and mastery, to diagnose needs, and to provide grades or reporting. Assessing opinion writing should follow best practices for assessment, but there are some specifics to keep in mind: * Informal opinion assessment can provide a great deal of information such as observing students plan, compose, and edit their writing. * Both content (grammar, sentence structure, story cohesion, story grammar, vocabulary, and voice) and mechanics (spelling, capitalization, and punctuation) can be assessed (Informal Narrative Writing Assessment, 2021). * At the earliest grade levels: the combination of drawing, dictating, and writing, introduces the topic or names the book being written about, states an opinion * At the later elementary levels: introduction of topic, states an opinion, organizes ideas/statements, provides reasons with support, provides concluding statement/section * Domain scoring, as recommended by the Delaware State Writing Rubrics, allows for focus on both the quality and quantity of individual writing skills in order to create an overall snapshot of the success of those individual skills working together to create the final product.
* Access Center. (2004). *Accessing skills toward successful writing development*. Washington, DC. <https://www.readingrockets.org/article/accessing-skills-toward-successful-writing-development> * Bazerman, C., Applebee, A. N. ., Berninger, V. W. ., Brandt, D., Graham, S., Matsuda, P. K., Murphy, S., Rowe, D. W., & Schleppegrell, M. (2017). Taking the long view on writing development. *Research in the Teaching of English, 51*(3), 351–360. [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317204430\_Taking\_the\_long\_view\_on\_writing\_development](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317204430_Taking_the_long_view_on_writing_development) * English Language Arts Standards » Writing » Kindergarten | Common Core State Standards Initiative (corestandards.org) <http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/W/K/> This site is the official home of the Common Core State Standards. It is hosted and maintained by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center). It provides parents, educators, policymakers, journalists, and others easy access to the actual standards, as well as supporting information and resources. * Ferretti, R. P., MacArthur, C. A., & Dowdy, N. S. (2000). The effects of an elaborated goal on the persuasive writing of students with learning disabilities and their normally achieving peers. *Journal of Educational Psychology, 92*(4), 694. [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ralph\_Ferretti/publication/232508336\_The\_effects\_of\_an\_elaborated\_goal\_on\_the\_persuasive\_writing\_of\_students\_with\_learning\_disabilities\_and\_their\_normal\_achieving\_peers/links/5da5208592851c6b4bd6b5a1/The-effects-of-an-elaborated-goal-on-the-persuasive-writing-of-students-with-learning-disabilities-and-their-normal-achieving-peers.pdf](https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ralph_Ferretti/publication/232508336_The_effects_of_an_elaborated_goal_on_the_persuasive_writing_of_students_with_learning_disabilities_and_their_normal_achieving_peers/links/5da5208592851c6b4bd6b5a1/The-effects-of-an-elaborated-goal-on-the-persuasive-writing-of-students-with-learning-disabilities-and-their-normal-achieving-peers.pdf) * Getz, S. (2018). *Mentor texts for teaching argument writing*. National Council for Teachers of English. <https://ncte.org/blog/2018/01/mentor-texts-teaching-argument-writing/> * Graham, S., Bollinger, A., Booth Olson, C., D’Aoust, C., MacArthur, C., McCutchen, D., & Olinghouse, N.(2012).Teaching elementary school students to be effective writers: A practice guide (NCEE 2012- 4058). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from [http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/publications\_reviews.aspx#pubsearch](http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/publications_reviews.aspx#pubsearch) <https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/PracticeGuide/17> [https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/PracticeGuide/wwc\_writing\_pg\_ts.pdf](https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/PracticeGuide/wwc_writing_pg_ts.pdf) * Harris, K. R., Graham, S., & Mason, L. (2002, Summer). *POW plus TREE equals powerful opinion essays: Improving writing in the early grades*. CASL News. <http://images.pcmac.org/Uploads/HuronISD/HuronISD/Departments/DocumentsSubCategories/Documents/POWPlusTreeHow.pdf> * National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers. (2010). *Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy*. Washington, DC. <http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/> This site is the official home of the Common Core State Standards. It is hosted and maintained by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center). It provides parents, educators, policymakers, journalists, and others easy access to the actual standards, as well as supporting information and resources. * Olson, C., Scarcella, R., Matuchniak, T. (2015). Helping English learners to write: Meeting Common Core Standards, Grades 6-12. [https://archive.nwp.org/cs/public/download/nwp\_file/20438/Narrative\_Writing\_and\_CCSS?x-r=pcfile\_d](https://archive.nwp.org/cs/public/download/nwp_file/20438/Narrative_Writing_and_CCSS?x-r=pcfile_d) Narrative writing plays a critical role in the CCSS and has tremendous potential in helping ELs develop their English and succeed in ELA coursework in the secondary grades. At a particularly difficult time in their lives, when they might worry that their limited resources in English could conceal their cognitive abilities and capability of expressing themselves, narrative writing enables ELs. Retrieved from: * Persuasive writing. Persuasive writing is a form of nonfiction writing that encourages careful word choice, the development of logical arguments, and a cohesive summary. Young children can be guided through a series of simple steps in an effort to develop their persuasive writing skills. [https://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/persuasive\_writing#:~:text=Persuasive%20writing%20is%20a%20form,develop%20their%20persuasive%20writing%20skills](https://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/persuasive_writing#:~:text=Persuasive%20writing%20is%20a%20form,develop%20their%20persuasive%20writing%20skills). * Philippakos, Z. A., & MacArthur, C. A. (2019). Developing strategic young writers through genre instruction: Resources for grades K-2. New York, NY: Guilford. [https://www.guilford.com/excerpts/philippakos2\_ch1.pdf](https://www.guilford.com/excerpts/philippakos2_ch1.pdf) * Philippakos, Z. A., & MacArthur, C. A., & Coker, D. L. (2019). Developing strategic young writers through genre instruction: Resources for grades 3-5. New York, NY: Guilford. This text has important research content and also targets persuasive writing directly. It will enhance understanding of all topics in this stack. * Student Achievement Partners. (2016). Argument/opinion writing: On-demand. Achieve the Core. <https://achievethecore.org/page/1261/argument-opinion-writing-on-demand> * The IRIS Center. (2006). Improving writing performance: A strategy for writing persuasive essays. <https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/pow/> * Thompson, S. & Reed, D. (2019). Using mentor texts to learn from the best and improve students’ writing. Iowa Reading Research Center. <https://iowareadingresearch.org/blog/mentor-texts-student-writing#:~:text=Mentor%20texts%20are%20written%20pieces,in%20crafting%20their%20own%20piece>. When teaching with a mentor text, point out specific examples of a writing technique or approach and ask students questions to spark further discussion of the author’s craft. * Zimmerman, L.K. (2019, October). *Effective literacy lesson: Constructing an argumentative claim*. <https://iowareadingresearch.org/blog/effective-literacy-lesson-argumentative-claim>
* Barrett, L. 2018. 23 mentor texts for opinion writing: Teach kids how to share their ideas with conviction. <https://www.weareteachers.com/opinion-writing-mentor-texts/> * Coker, D. 2017. Genre based composing: General principles for teaching students to write different genres. This is a PowerPoint presentation highlighting: linking instruction in written genres to grade-level standards, understanding how the components of written genres influence instruction in the writing process, and modeling how to plan, evaluate, and revise for specific genres <https://www.pattan.net/getmedia/f57898a8-5c6a-45ae-bcd9-1e1b4a8b8bc1/53.%20coker%20genre-based%20composing%20presentation-to%20share> * Delaware Department of Education. ELA Writing Rubrics. <https://www.doe.k12.de.us//site/Default.aspx?PageID=2645> * Differences Between Opinion, Persuasive, and Argument Writing Chart. Write Steps Chart. WritingCity is a K-5 writing and grammar curriculum that aligns with national and state standards and supports well-renowned best practices. [http://wjhlibrary.weebly.com/uploads/1/3/1/9/13197742/writing\_chart.pdf](http://wjhlibrary.weebly.com/uploads/1/3/1/9/13197742/writing_chart.pdf) * Hipps, R. Identify and describe opinion writing. LearnZillion. PowerPoint explaining opinion writing. [https://learnzillion.com/lesson\_plans/8649-identify-and-describe-opinion-writing/](https://learnzillion.com/lesson_plans/8649-identify-and-describe-opinion-writing/) * Opinion Writing Mentor Texts. The Brown Bag Teacher. Blog. <https://brownbagteacher.com/opinion-writing-mentor-texts/> * Teaching Without Frills. 2016. Opinion Writing for Kids | Episode 1 | What Is It? <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEK2oGBSsHk> ### Annotating Text * Annotation Guide [https://www.covcath.org/uploaded/06\_Students/Annotation\_Guide\_AP\_Language.pdf](https://www.covcath.org/uploaded/06_Students/Annotation_Guide_AP_Language.pdf) * Annotating Texts, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill <https://learningcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/annotating-texts/> * What is Annotating and Why Do It? Eastern Washington University [https://research.ewu.edu/writers\_c\_read\_study\_strategies](https://research.ewu.edu/writers_c_read_study_strategies) ### Definitions * Diverse learners: Learners who bring a broad array of learning preferences, background knowledge, experiences, identities, and educational variability and may vary linguistically, socioculturally, racially, ethnically, or economically.
What activities did you and your students engage with in order to become more proficient with opinion writing? Please describe the learning activities and strategies and include information on what classroom data you used to develop the activities.
How do you know your students increased their level of understanding around opinion writing? What evidence did you collect that demonstrates these learning gains?
To complete this micro-credential, please submit the following evidence: **Artifact 1: Annotated Lesson Plan** Upload your lesson plan used to support instruction of opinion writing. Annotate the lesson, including where in-class explanations may not be clear to the assessor and accommodations that will be made to support all students. The lesson should include evidence of the writing process and instruction in one or more elements of opinion writing: * An introduction to a topic or text * A clearly stated opinion about the topic * An organizational structure in which reasons are grouped to support the writer’s purpose * The reasons are supported by facts and details * Opinion and reasons are linked using grade level-appropriate words and phrases such as *because, and, in order to*, etc. * Has a concluding statement or section related to the opinion presented **Artifact 2: Whole-Group Instruction** Upload a 10- to 20-minute video/audio of whole-class instruction. The video/audio should include: * Introduction and/or analysis of mentor texts in regard to opinion writing components * Explicit instruction of opinion writing * Ongoing and real-time feedback to students through individual and small-group conferencing **Artifact 3: Rationale and Student Assessment Samples** Choose a group of two or more diverse learners that you supported for the lesson provided in Artifact 1. (See the Resources section for a definition of diverse learners.) Submit the following: * Rationale (150-word limit) + Why did you choose this individual student or group of diverse learners? Include narrative on the data you used to make this decision. + What additional supports or accommodations did you include in this lesson to meet the needs of the diverse learner(s)? * Student Assessment Samples + Upload samples from two students from the lesson plan provided in Artifact 1. For each student, submit assessment examples (writing, audio, images, video, or other products) that demonstrate progress toward increased competency in opinion writing. Include samples with your feedback.
Provide a reflection on engaging your students in instruction around opinion writing, using the following questions to help guide you: - What was the impact of the instruction that targeted opinion writing had on your students? - How will crafting this lesson affect your practice in the future?
Annotated lesson plan is complete and addresses all components of opinion writing instruction and the writing process. Annotations address the lesson context and how all students will be supported.
Annotated lesson plan is incomplete and addresses some components of opinion writing instruction and the writing process. Annotations may be present but do not clearly address the lesson context and how all students will be supported.
Annotated lesson plan is incomplete, addresses one or no components of opinion writing instruction, and/or does not follow the components of the writing process. Annotations are not included.
Educator understands and is able to teach text structure for overall reading comprehension.
# Key Method The educator develops and implements a lesson plan to explicitly teach students how to identify the text structure of a given text and use this knowledge to deepen their comprehension. # Method Components ### Overview When it comes to comprehension, a student’s prior knowledge is among the top predictors of a student’s successful comprehension of a text. One element of background knowledge is understanding text structure and the innate organizational structures within a text (Williams, 2017). Research (Sejnost & Thiese, n.d.) also shows that the content of most expository texts, regardless of genre, is organized in one of five common hierarchical text structures: * Comparison * Cause and effect * Problem and solution * Sequence * Description By explicitly teaching how an author organizes information in order to achieve a purpose— how to identify them and how to utilize the structure’s innate organization—we can strengthen a student’s reading comprehension. In doing so, we clue students in to the signals within the text that denote the text’s most important ideas and the relationships among those ideas. By intentionally minding these signals (words like because, however, for example, consequently, therefore, etc.), students are more able to locate and select important ideas to summarize a text. This summary, in turn, promotes recollection of important information after reading (Akhondi, Malayeri, & Samad, 2011; Sejnost & Thiese, n.d.). Research supports this outcome in some of our most struggling readers: text structure instruction has been found to be effective at improving reading comprehension of informational texts for students who are labeled “at risk” or with learning disabilities (Zimmerman, Reed, & Gibbs, 2018). ### Components of Text Structure Instruction To support students in utilizing text structure and organization as a means to aiding comprehension, a systematic, deliberate approach to unlocking text structure is recommended. The research literature (Wijekumar & Beerwinkle, 2018) recommends the following for exemplary text structure instruction: * Teaching students explicitly about an organizational pattern * Previewing a text to build background and recognize the text’s predominant organization features * Providing students with supports and scaffolds that allow for access to text structure features while comprehension building during the reading process * Monitoring students’ abilities to use those text structure features during the reading process ### Supporting Students as they Learn through Text Structure Instruction As students learn about text structure, educators can offer support by * Activating and building background knowledge around the text, including not only the content, but also the structure by which the text is organized, * Pre-teaching vocabulary in context * Previewing the text, paying attention to structural elements * Including distributed opportunities for practice around the concept of text structure + Providing physical scaffolds, such as: + chunking a reading + graphic organizers + support around signal words through creating resources like anchor charts + sentence frames that indicate structural patterns of the text, etc.(Wijekumar & Beerwinkle, 2018). ### Assessing Mastery of Text Structure Assessment is a valuable step in the instructional planning process. It can support development of future lesson design, implementation, and the reintroduction or reteaching remediation of literacy lessons. Assessing understanding of text structure should follow best practices for assessment. However, particular aspects should be kept in mind: * Assessing understanding of text structure should be distributed throughout the lesson, grounded in comprehension-based skills of identifying main ideas and key details, making inferences, and monitoring comprehension. * When a breakdown in comprehension is apparent, students should be redirected to consider the organization of the text and reminded to use knowledge of the text structure to aid in reestablishing comprehension. (Wijekumar & Beerwinkle, 2018).
* Connor, C. M., Phillips, B. M., Kaschak, M., Apel, K., Kim, Y., Al Otaiba, S., Crowe, E. C., Thomas-Tate, S., Johnson, L. C., & Lonigan, C. J. (2014). Comprehension tools for teachers: Reading for understanding from prekindergarten through fourth grade. *Educational Psychology Review, 26*(3), 379-401. <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4613791/> This research article describes a study of an intervention of eight comprehension strategies (including expository text structure) designed for meaningful, targeted small group intervention. * Williams, J. P. (2017). Teaching text structure improves reading comprehension: Text structure should be taught starting in the primary grades. *Psychology Today*. <https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psyched/201703/teaching-text-structure-improves-reading-comprehension> This research article details the outcomes of a study of interventions directed at explicit instruction of text structure and its effect on second-grade students’ reading comprehension. * Walpole, S., McKenna, M.C., Philippakos, Z. A., & Strong, J. Z. (2020). *Differentiated literacy instruction in grades 4 & 5: Strategies and resources*. New York, NY: Guilford Press. This text positions text structure instruction as a characteristic of all comprehension instruction. It has downloadable graphic organizers to map text structures and sample plans that teach text structure in narratives and information texts.
* Akhondi, M., Malayeri, F. A., & Samad, A. A. (2011). How to teach expository text structure to facilitate reading comprehension. *The Reading Teacher, 64*: 368-372. <https://www.readingrockets.org/article/how-teach-expository-text-structure-facilitate-reading-comprehension> This article offers practical approaches to instruction of expository text structures in order to facilitate reading comprehension. * Sejnost, R. & Thiese, S. (n.d.). Reading (and scaffolding) expository texts. <https://www.readingrockets.org/article/reading-and-scaffolding-expository-texts> This article offers practical approaches to teaching text structure, including the use of graphic organizers and signal words. * Wijekumar. K., & Beerwinkle, A. L. (2018). *Implementing the text structure strategy in your classroom*. Reading Rockets. <https://www.readingrockets.org/article/implementing-text-structure-strategy-your-classroom> This article offers an explanation of the Text Structure Strategy approach to teaching students about structure and how to use text structure to aid comprehension. * Zimmerman, L., Reed, D. K., & Gibbs, A. (2018). *Text structure mapping: A strategy to improve reading comprehension of informational texts*. Iowa Reading Research Center. <https://iowareadingresearch.org/blog/text-structure-mapping> This article details how to use the strategy of text structure mapping to aid students’ comprehension of a text. ### Annotating Text * Annotation Guide [https://www.covcath.org/uploaded/06\_Students/Annotation\_Guide\_AP\_Language.pdf](https://www.covcath.org/uploaded/06_Students/Annotation_Guide_AP_Language.pdf) * Annotating Texts, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill <https://learningcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/annotating-texts/> * What is Annotating and Why Do It? Eastern Washington University [https://research.ewu.edu/writers\_c\_read\_study\_strategies](https://research.ewu.edu/writers_c_read_study_strategies) ### Definitions * Diverse learners: Learners who bring a broad array of learning preferences, background knowledge, experiences, identities, and educational variability and may vary linguistically, socio-culturally, racially, ethnically, or economically.
What instructional steps did you take to build the students’ knowledge of text structures? Please describe the learning activities and strategies, and include information on what classroom data you used to develop the activities.
How do you know your students increased their level of understanding of text structure? What evidence did you collect that demonstrates these learning gains?
To complete this micro-credential, please submit the following evidence: **Artifact 1: Annotated Lesson Plan** Upload your lesson plan used to support instruction of text structure. Annotate the lesson, including where in-class explanations may not be clear to the assessor and accommodations that will be made to support all students. The lesson should include evidence of: * Teaching students explicitly about an organizational pattern * Previewing a text to build background and recognize the text’s predominant organization features * Providing students with supports and scaffolds that allow for access to text structure features while comprehension building during the reading process * Monitoring students’ abilities to use those text structure features during the reading process **Artifact 2: Whole Group Instruction** Upload a 10-20 minute video/audio of whole class instruction. The video/audio should include: * Explicit instruction around higher order text structures * Activation and building of background knowledge around the text, including not only the content, but the structure by which the text is organized * Pre-teaching of vocabulary in context * Previewing of the text, paying attention to headings, segments of text, and other signals related to the structure of the text itself * Inclusion of distributed opportunities to use text structure as the foundation for identifying main ideas and key details, making inferences, and monitoring overall comprehension. **Artifact 3: Rationale and Student Assessment Samples** Choose a group of two or more diverse learners that you supported for the lesson provided in Artifact 1. (See the Resources section for a definition of diverse learners.) Submit the following: * Rationale (150-word limit) + Why did you choose this individual student or group of diverse learners? Include narrative on the data you used to make this decision. + What additional supports or accommodations did you make to this lesson to meet the needs of the diverse learner(s)? * Student Assessment Samples + Upload samples from two students from the lesson plan provided in Artifact 1. For each student, submit assessment examples (writing, audio, graphic organizers, video, or other products) that demonstrate progress toward increased levels of understanding around text structure. Include samples with your feedback.
Provide a reflection on engaging your students in instruction around text structure, using the following questions to help guide you: - What was the impact of students gaining knowledge of text structure? - How will you use the knowledge of text structure to affect your practice in the future?
Instruction is at least 10 minutes, shows whole-group instruction, and clear expectations. Student engagement is evident and clear across the majority of students and occurs multiple times.
Educator understands and is able to implement tiered vocabulary instruction.
# Key Method The educator develops and implements an effective tiered vocabulary lesson. The lesson is aligned with research and student data is used for planning and reflection on the lesson’s effectiveness. # Method Components ### Overview Students’ word knowledge is linked strongly to academic success as students with large vocabularies can understand new ideas and concepts more quickly than students with limited vocabularies. The high correlation in the research literature of word knowledge with reading comprehension indicates that if students do not adequately and steadily grow their vocabulary knowledge, reading comprehension will be affected (Sedita, 2005). In selecting words for instruction, it is helpful to consider them in three tiers based on their utility. * **Tier One** - these words are the most basic words. These words are learned easily through use and are rarely the focus of instruction in school. * **Tier Two** - these are high-frequency words. The ability to know and use these more specialized words indicate an advanced maturity in words use. * **Tier Three**- these words are domain specific and are often only used in content areas of instruction. The frequency of these words is low (Beck, I., McKeown, M., & Kucan, L., 2002) ### Selection of Words for the Focus of Instruction As educators work to select words for instruction, it can be helpful to think of the purpose of language development based on the three tiers. Marzano (2012) recommends considering the following when determining the path of instruction for learners based on the tiers: * Students who have been identified as needing instruction in **Tier One** words should receive direct instruction in these words outside of their regular classes. This focused instruction should be planned to help students acquire the use and knowledge of these words quickly as they are essential for basic communication. * **Tier 2** words should be taught as they are encountered in instruction. Instruction of these words should not be in isolation or externally from context. Rather, as students need the words within their learning, they should be introduced and then revisited over time to promote deep learning. * **Tier 3** words are often referred to as domain-specific words. These words are the best taught as the focus of instruction when they arise in a unit of instruction in a content area. When selecting words for instruction, it is suggested to use the following criteria: 1. Words needed to fully comprehend the text; 2. Words likely to appear in future texts from any discipline, and 3. Words that are part of a word family or semantic network where you can use one word to introduce several: example “migrate” could lead to introductions of the words “migrations,” “immigrants,” and “emigrate.” Hiebert (2009) Multiple exposures to words in different contexts are essential in learning new words. Most researchers agree it takes between 8 and 10 exposures in different contexts to truly learn a new word. ### Components of Tiered Vocabulary Instruction According to Student Achievement Partners (2015), 1. Tier 1 words are generally learned through everyday conversation. These words are generally not considered challenging beyond the early grades. 2. Tier 2 words require particular instructional attention. They are often vital to comprehension, will reappear in many texts, and are frequently part of word families or semantic networks. These words may have multiple meanings depending on context, so while students may be familiar with a definition for a word’s most traditional use, they may be unfamiliar with other uses. For instance, a student may know the term ‘relative’ as a word to describe a family member, but not as a comparative term. 3. Tier 3 words are far more common in informational passages than in literature. They are specific to a domain or field of study (lava, fuel injection, legislature, circumference, aorta) and are key to understanding a new concept within the text. ### Supporting Students as they Learn through Tiered Vocabulary Instruction In planning for instruction, educators should consider words which students can transfer across content areas and subjects. When considering Tier 2 words, frequency should be a factor in word selection; educators should consider how often learners will encounter the words selected across content areas. (Sibold, 2011). For example, the word measured might be explicitly taught as it has multiple meanings and is encountered across content areas. Instructional approaches to support long term learning of new words include the following: * Expose students to multiple meanings of words and help students to see the correct meaning of the word in context. * Highlight and instruct morphological elements of words- this instruction should focus on work with affixes and bases. * Introduce words in word networks or sets of words related to content. When supporting vocabulary development in the classroom, educators should be sure to consider the following to support transfer of knowledge and long term learning: * Whenever possible, specific instructional strategies should include a wide exposure to words in context through reading. It is helpful for students to encounter new words in multiple contexts across text. * Students can keep Vocabulary Notebooks to help them keep track of Tier 2 and Tier 3 words they encounter in their learning. As students gain new insights and information about their words, they can add to the information in their notebooks (Marzano, 2012). * A word chart can be introduced with boxes for students to include the word, a definition and a picture or association to help promote learning (Ferlazzo, 2017). ### Assessing Mastery of Tiered Vocabulary Assessment of tiered word learning should allow students to transfer their knowledge of new words into new situations. Students should not be asked to define new words in isolation. The goal of learning Tier One words is to be able to communicate and understand basic words in order to engage in everyday conversation. Students should be encouraged to use these words orally. They should also have opportunities to listen to conversation and respond appropriately. Assessment of a student’s knowledge of Tier Two words will consist of comprehension of new words in reading, listening and writing. As students learn these new words from their reading or in content areas, students use words in the correct context to demonstrate understanding. Assessment of Tier Three words may involve integration where students are given assessments about the key term or understanding. For example, a student in a Math class might be asked to apply the Pythagorean Theorem to answer a question. Educators should follow best practices when assessing a student’s morphological awareness skills.
* Beck, I., McKeown, M., & Kucan, L. (2002). Choosing Words to Teach. In Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction (15-30). New York, NY: Guilford Press. <https://www.readingrockets.org/article/choosing-words-teach> This article provides an excerpt from the book, Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction. The focus of this article is on the selection of Tier 2 words for instruction. Information is also presented to guide in selection of specific Tier 1 and 3 words, as needed. * Biemiller, A. (2015). Which words are worth teaching. Perspectives on Language & Literacy, 41(3), 9–11. <https://app.box.com/s/rw7rvttc3ylq6ct6vc0qofm2cikekq73> This work provides guidance on selection of words by grade and age levels. Specifics about acquisition of word meanings at each level are also included. * Ferlazzo, L (Nov. 29, 2017). Enriching academic vocabulary: Strategies for teaching tier two words to E.L.L. students. The New York Times. <https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/29/learning/lesson-plans/enriching-academic-vocabulary-strategies-for-teaching-tier-two-words-to-ell-students.html> This article defines the terms, Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 words. The author then provides specific steps for teaching academic vocabulary and strategies to ELL students as well as tools for finding different types of words within text. * Gillis, M., & Eberhardt, N.C. (2015). A word selection grid: Choosing vocabulary to teach. Perspectives on Language & Literacy, 41(3), 49–51. <https://app.box.com/s/rw7rvttc3ylq6ct6vc0qofm2cikekq73> Included in this article is a Word Selection Grid to aid educators in selection of words for instruction in the classroom. * Marzano, R. J. (2012). A comprehensive approach to vocabulary instruction. *Voices from the Middle, 20*(1), 31. [http://missionliteracy.comwww.missionliteracy.com/uploads/3/1/5/8/3158234/marzano\_vm0201comp\_vocab.pdf](http://missionliteracy.comwww.missionliteracy.com/uploads/3/1/5/8/3158234/marzano_vm0201comp_vocab.pdf) * Sedita, J. (2005). Effective vocabulary instruction. <https://284ivp1abr6435y6t219n54e-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/effective-vocabulary-instruction.pdf> This article provides insights on the need for effective vocabulary instruction in all learners, especially those with a learning disability. Specific strategies for classroom instruction are included. * Student Achievement Partners. (2015). Including tier 2 vocabulary instruction in curricular materials. Achieve the Core. <https://achievethecore.org/aligned/including-tier-2-vocabulary-instruction-in-curricular-materials/> This comprehensive resource helps educators determine the specific Tier 2 words to use are areas of focus. Information about the Academic Word Finder Tool is explained for educator use as well.
* Ferlazzo, L (Nov. 29, 2017). Enriching academic vocabulary: Strategies for teaching tier two words to E.L.L. students. The New York Times. <https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/29/learning/lesson-plans/enriching-academic-vocabulary-strategies-for-teaching-tier-two-words-to-ell-students.html> This article defines the terms, Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 words. The author then provides specific steps for teaching academic vocabulary and strategies to ELL students as well as tools for finding different types of words within text. * Gillis, M., & Eberhardt, N.C. (2015). A word selection grid: Choosing vocabulary to teach. Perspectives on Language & Literacy, 41(3), 49–51. <https://app.box.com/s/rw7rvttc3ylq6ct6vc0qofm2cikekq73> Included in this article is a Word Selection Grid to aid educators in selection of words for instruction in the classroom. * TextProject (n.d.). WordZones™ for 4,000 simple word families. Retrieved from: <http://textproject.org/archive/resources/wordzones-for-4000-simple-word-families/> A user- friendly chart with links to 4,00 words families for instruction. * Wright, T. S. & Neuman, S. B. (2015). The power of content-rich vocabulary instruction. Perspectives on Language & Literacy, 41(3), 25–28. <https://app.box.com/s/rw7rvttc3ylq6ct6vc0qofm2cikekq73> These authors provide a research background on vocabulary instruction and also include specific instructions on how to provide content-rich vocabulary instruction in the primary classroom. ### Annotating Text * Annotation Guide [https://www.covcath.org/uploaded/06\_Students/Annotation\_Guide\_AP\_Language.pdf](https://www.covcath.org/uploaded/06_Students/Annotation_Guide_AP_Language.pdf) * Annotating Texts, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill <https://learningcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/annotating-texts/> * What is Annotating and Why Do It? Eastern Washington University [https://research.ewu.edu/writers\_c\_read\_study\_strategies](https://research.ewu.edu/writers_c_read_study_strategies) ### Definitions * Diverse learners: Learners who bring a broad array of learning preferences, background knowledge, experiences, identities, and educational variability and may vary linguistically, socio-culturally, racially, ethnically, or economically.
How did you determine the words that you included for instruction? What learning activities or strategies did you include in your lesson in order to build the learning of Tiered vocabulary? Explain the rationale for your choices of words and instruction. Be sure to include any planning considerations for the whole group, small group, or individual students in your lesson.
How do you know if students in your classroom are making progress in this area (Tiered Vocabulary) based on your instruction? How do you know if your targeted instruction is building higher order thinking skills and comprehension? Consider pre-assessment data, ongoing targeted instruction, and/or any post assessment data that may show progress over time.
To complete this micro-credential, please submit the following evidence: **Artifact 1: Annotated Lesson Plan** Upload your Tiered Vocabulary lesson plan used to support student learning. The lesson plan should include educator directions for skill implementation. The lesson should include at least one of the following components: * Connection to wide reading * Words in context * Graphic organizers to facilitate long term learning * Physical manipulation of words to develop meaning The rationale should include the following (150-word limit): * How did you select or develop this particular lesson? * How do you plan to support diverse learners throughout the lesson **Artifact 2: Whole Group Instruction** Upload a 10–15 minute annotated video/audio of whole group tiered vocabulary instruction. The video/audio should include annotations for the following: * Educator modeling how to define Tiered vocabulary words in context * Educator providing directions for clear student expectations * Students practicing the specific skill and receiving educator feedback * Student engagement including, but not limited to, responding, focusing attention on the educator, engaging in discussion, or asking questions. Note: video annotation can be a document that includes timestamps noting where the above list happens throughout the video. “*Example: 1:15 - 2:02: a small group of students is practicing skill Y and I am giving them feedback*.” **Artifact 3: Rationale, Pre-Assessments, and Student Work Samples** Choose a small group of diverse learners that you supported for the lesson provided in Artifact 1. (See the Resources section for a definition of diverse learners.) Submit the following: * A rationale explaining what information you used from your students’ pre-assessments. + Explain how your pre-assessments helped you to determine where to begin instruction. + How did you use your knowledge of student vocabulary knowledge to plan for instruction? + Include student work samples reflective of instruction and reflect on the effectiveness of the lesson based on this lesson. * Pre-assessments: Upload one pre-assessment from each of your small group students. + Student Work Sample: Upload a student work sample from each of your small group of students to show how the students are progressing through the continuum of phonological awareness.
Provide a reflection on teaching tiered vocabulary to your students using the following questions to guide you: - What was the impact of the instruction that targeted vocabulary knowledge for your students? - How will crafting this lesson affect your practice in the future?
Educator provides research backed methods in the lesson plan summary or activity description that connects to improving Tiered Vocabulary awareness.
Educator provides a description or data that supports student growth in this area, and shares details about how the educator knew student skills were enhanced through teaching. Evidence is clear and appropriate for student progression.
The lesson plan is incomplete. Suggested teaching model and/or strategies are missing or are not clearly addressed. Lesson rationale is clear, but does not address the needs of diverse learners.
Video/audio is annotated. Instruction is at least 10 minutes, shows small group instruction and clear expectations. Student engagement is evident and clear across most of the students and occurs multiple times.
Artifact 3: Rationale, Pre-Assessments, and Student Work Samples
Rationale is clear as to how pre assessment data was used in planning instruction. All pre assessments and student work samples from students were uploaded.
Rationale explaining pre assessment data is unclear or vague. Some data and/or work samples are incomplete (pre or post).
Rationale does not address how the pre assessment data was used. Student pre assessments and work samples were not uploaded.
Tools that Facilitate Language Production
Educator introduces learners to digital tools that facilitate their language output.
facilitating proficiency-focused language learning
# Key Method The educator selects and implements effective digital tools that facilitate student language production. # Method Components The ACTFL position statement “The Role of Technology in Language Learning” states: Technology can and should be used by language educators to enhance language instruction, practice, and assessment, as articulated in the World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages. Through the purposeful use of technology: - Learners read, listen to, and view authentic, engaging, and timely materials from the target culture. - Learners practice interpersonal skills as they interact via video, audio, or text in real-time with other speakers of the target language. - Learners collaborate on presentational tasks with their peers or teacher, anytime, anywhere. - Learners work at their own pace as they access online content and/or utilize computer adaptive programs managed by their educator. - Learners practice discrete skills while engaging with online games and applications. - Learners benefit from differentiated instruction in which multiple applications can be used to assess learners, assign varied tasks, track data, give real-time feedback, and manage classrooms and lessons. **Reflect on the Language Learners** - Understand learners’ background knowledge, interests, and language proficiency levels. - Consider how the use of digital tools may motivate learners or enhance engagement in learning. **Select Digital Tools** - Investigate and choose a digital tool that helps learners enhance their interpersonal or presentational communication. - Consider how the digital tool connects to learners’ background knowledge, interests, and language proficiency level. **Design and Implement Real-world Communicative Tasks Using the Digital Tools** - Identify a real-world context for interpersonal or presentational communication that is age-appropriate and interesting to your learners. - Design an interpersonal or presentational communication task that uses the digital tool you have selected. - Ensure that your learners have unfettered access to the technology necessary to complete the task. - Consider any scaffolds that should be built into the task so that learners may access the technology and/or successfully complete the communication task.
- Allen, H. (2018). Redefining writing in the foreign language curriculum: Toward a design approach. ACTFL _Foreign Language Annals_, 51(3), 513-532. Alexandria, VA. <https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12350> A position article that argues for reimagining the role of writing to maximize learners’ 21st-century skill development. - Difilippantonio-Pen, A. (2020). Flipgrid and second language acquisition: Using Flipgrid to promote speaking skills for English Language Learners. _BSU Master’s Theses and Projects._ Item 75. <https://vc.bridgew.edu/theses/75> A mixed-methods research study wherein the author concludes that Flipgrid provides an equitable opportunity for English language learners to develop this skill set, while also increasing their oral language development in English. - Lee, L. (2014). Digital news stories: Building language learners’ content knowledge and speaking skills. ACTFL _Foreign Language Annals_, 47(2), 338–356. Alexandria, VA. <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261804769_Digital_News_Stories_Building_Language_Learners'_Content_Knowledge_and_Speaking_Skills> A study that explores how the use of digital news stories promotes students’ development of content knowledge and oral language skills. - Levy, Mike. (2009). Technologies in use for second language learning. The Modern Language Journal. 93. 769 – 782. <http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2009.00972.x> An article wherein the author describes technologies for second language learning for grammar, vocabulary, reading, writing, pronunciation, listening, speaking and culture. - Liu, X., & Moeller, A. (2019). Promoting learner engagement through interactive digital tools. _Faculty Publications: Department of Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education_. 310. <http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/teachlearnfacpub/310> The authors provide a review of the literature on technology integration in world language education, as well as examples of popular digital tools designed to facilitate meaningful, interactive communication. - Reichelt, M., Lefkowitz, N., Rinnert, C., & Schultz, J. (2012). Key issues in foreign language writing. ACTFL _Foreign Language Annals_, 45(1), 22-41. Alexandria, VA. <https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-9720.2012.01166.x> In this article, four second language writing specialists provide insights into issues around writing in the foreign language classroom. - Shadiev R. & Wang X. (2022). A review of research on technology-supported language learning and 21st century skills. _Front Psychol_. 2022 Jul 7;13:897689. <http://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.897689> A study wherein the authors reviewed articles on technology-supported language learning and 21st-century skills published from 2011 to 2022. The results indicate that research on technology-supported language learning and 21st-century skills has shown an upward trend.
- [Abernethy, R. (2018). Maximizing language production: How to get your students to talk more_. English First_.](https://www.english1.com/blog/teaching-advice-and-tips/maximizing-student-production-get-students-talk/) An online article that gives advice and tips to increase learner language production. - [ACTFL. (2017). ACTFL Position statement on the role of technology in language learning. Alexandria, VA](https://www.actfl.org/advocacy/actfl-position-statements/the-role-technology-language-learning) The position statement offers suggestions for using technology to enhance language instruction and assessment in alignment with the World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages. - [Brookes Blog. (2018). 14 ways to improve your students’ oral language skills. Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.](https://blog.brookespublishing.com/11-ways-to-improve-your-students-oral-language-skills/) A blog post that suggests strategies for supporting learners’ oral language development. - [Gallagher, H. & Sarracino, M. (2020). Let’s talk tech! Presentation for the _National Foreign Language Center Virtual Summit._](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfaWAZGSY2o) A session that addresses technology platforms that motivate learners to use the target language. - [Heller, B. (2021). From skills to modes - Standard 2: Interpersonal communication. _New York State Education Department Office of Bilingual Education and World Languages_ webinar.](http://www.nysed.gov/world-languages/skills-modes-part-2-interpersonal-communication) A webinar that suggests approaches for designing interpersonal communicative tasks that require negotiation of meaning. - [Ding, A. & Hung, J. H. R. (2018). Foreign Language Teaching, Part 2: Enhancing communicative competence in FLT through technology integration. In A. Ottenbreit-Leftwich & R. Kimmons, The K-12 Educational Technology Handbook. EdTech Books. ](https://edtechbooks.org/k12handbook/flt2) This digital chapter provides available resources for enhancing language learners’ language skills through integrating technology into instruction. - [Langer, L. (2021) From skills to modes- Standard 2; Presentational communication. _New York State Education Department Office of Bilingual Education and World Languages_ webinar.](http://www.nysed.gov/world-languages/skills-modes-part-3-presentational-communication) A webinar that provides ways to design real-world opportunities for learners to demonstrate their proficiency in writing and speaking. - [Naditz, N. (n.d.). Practice tools matrix.](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vTV45uoABzERld72hFFLv9bgkeLWWw5qxSjju8fXoPhD6J91ahlP1AgxwmYlvwxI60_UTUyvphM4zbU/pubhtml?fbclid=IwAR1tu-r4Da5lBmeTWjekh3fXVKm2qJr657e7Nr3wtuIJlKI3_j6M_hRrGBQ) A resource that provides a spreadsheet of technology tools and their applications to the world language classroom. - [New York State Education Department Office of Bilingual Education and World Languages. (n.d.). Standard 2: Interpersonal communication at-a-glance document for category 1-2 modern languages.](http://www.nysed.gov/common/nysed/files/programs/world-languages/interpersonal-mode-modern-cat-1-2_1.pdf) An infographic that illustrates examples of interpersonal communicative tasks. - [New York State Education Department Office of Bilingual Education and World Languages. (n.d.). Standard 3: Presentational communication at-a-glance document for category 1-2 modern languages.](http://www.nysed.gov/common/nysed/files/programs/world-languages/presentational-mode-modern-cat-1-2_0.pdf) An infographic that illustrates examples of presentational communicative tasks. - [Ohio State Department of Education. (n.d.). Interpersonal communication strategies.](https://education.ohio.gov/getattachment/Topics/Ohio-s-New-Learning-Standards/Foreign-Language/World-Languages-Model-Curriculum/World-Languages-Model-Curriculum-Framework/Instructional-Strategies/Strategies_Interpersonal_MCwebsite.pdf.aspx) An extensive list of instructional strategies for learners to practice the interpersonal mode. - [Ohio State Department of Education. (n.d.). Presentational instructional strategies.](https://education.ohio.gov/getattachment/Topics/Ohio-s-New-Learning-Standards/Foreign-Language/World-Languages-Model-Curriculum/World-Languages-Model-Curriculum-Framework/Instructional-Strategies/Strategies_Presentational_MCwebsite.pdf.aspx) An extensive list of instructional strategies for learners to practice the presentational mode. - [Spathis, E. (2019). 6 Top tech tools for world language classes.](https://www.edutopia.org/article/6-top-tech-tools-world-language-classes) An article that offers technology tools for encouraging learners’ language production. - [Torres C. & Rao, K. (2020). _Digital Tools for Action and Expression_.](https://schoolvirtually.org/digital-tools-for-action-and-expression) An article anchored in Universal Design for Learning that suggests digital tools for learners to practice expressive skills.
To earn the micro-credential, you must receive a passing evaluation for Parts 1 and 3, and a “Yes” for each component in Part 2. If you collaborated with another educator on this micro-credential, please note that you did so. While collaboration is encouraged, the micro-credential submission should be unique and reflect your own experience and reflections.
Educator provides a thorough description of their classroom, including grade and language level, class size, relevant demographic information, and accommodation supports for learners with IEP or 504 plans.
Educator completely answers each of the questions using personal examples and supporting evidence. Responses clearly illustrate experience with and knowledge of particular digital tools. Writing is organized and easy to understand.
The description is complete and clearly addresses how it will enhance interpersonal or presentational communication. The task clearly outlines how the learner will interact with the digital tool and what steps they will take to complete the task. Information regarding designed scaffolds to ensure that learner access and success is included.
The description may or may not be complete and may or may not clearly address how it will enhance interpersonal or presentational communication. The task may or may not clearly outline how the learner will interact with the digital tool and/or what steps they will take to complete the task. Information regarding designed scaffolds to ensure learner access and success may or may not be included.
The description is not complete and/or does not clearly address how it will enhance interpersonal or presentational communication. The task is missing or does not outline how the learner will interact with the digital tool and/or what steps they will take to complete the task. Information regarding designed scaffolds to ensure learner access and success is not included.
Artifact 1: Digital Tool Description and Learner Task (Required)
The uploaded video/audio is at least 10 minutes long and clearly demonstrates the task using the digital tool. The video/audio also demonstrates learner responses using the tool.
The uploaded video/audio may or may not be at least 10 minutes long and may not clearly demonstrate the task. The video/audio also may not demonstrate clear evidence of the clear use of the digital tool with learner responses.
No video/audio was uploaded, or it did not demonstrate the task. The video/audio did not demonstrate evidence of the clear use of the digital tool with learner responses.
This artifact was not chosen as one of the two options.
The rationale is clear as to the method for choosing the three learners. Work samples from three learner work samples with educator feedback have been supplied. The learner work samples clearly demonstrate their use of the digital tool as they completed the learning task.
The rationale is unclear or vague as to the method for choosing the three learners. Learner work samples are uploaded, but the work of fewer than three learners may be represented, or educator feedback may be missing. The learner work samples may not clearly demonstrate their use of the digital tools as a part of the learning task.
The rationale is not addressed. Work samples from three learners with educator feedback were not provided.
Educator reflection is specific and demonstrates what they have learned about selecting and implementing digital tools and what impact these tools had on their learners.
Please share information about your teaching context by providing a description of your classroom, including grade level, class size, and relevant demographic information. Also include the following: - What language(s) do you teach? What are the proficiency targets of the levels of language(s) you teach? - What are the demographics of your learners? What is/are the first language(s) of your learners? - How many of your learners have IEPs or 504 Plans? For your learners with IEPs or 504 Plans, what are these learners’ strengths, unique needs, and required supports/accommodations?
Please share information about your teaching context by providing a description of your classroom, including grade level, class size, and demographic information. Please respond to the following prompts regarding your teaching context and practice. - How did you locate and evaluate the digit tool you selected to enhance your learners’ interpersonal or presentational communication skills? - How do you know that this particular digital tool will be of interest to or enhance relevance for your learners?
To earn this micro-credential, you must submit **two pieces of evidence**. Artifact 1 is required, and you will choose to submit one artifact from the options of Artifact 2a and Artifact 2b for your second piece of evidence. **Artifact 1: Digital Tool Description and Learner Task (Required)** Submit a description of the digital tool you have selected to enhance your learners interpersonal or presentational communication skills. Include a description of the task that the learners will do using the identified digital tool, as well as any scaffolds designed to ensure learner access and success. _Choose **one** of the following to submit:_ **Artifact 2a: Instruction** Upload a 10- to20-minute video/audio of class instruction using the task submitted as Article 1. The video/audio should include evidence of the clear use of the identified digital tool with learner responses. **Artifact 2b: Learner Work Samples** Choose at least three diverse learners to provide samples of their responses from the task using the identified digital tool. These learners should represent the spectrum of learning in your classroom. Submit the following: - Rationale (150-word limit) - Why did you choose these individual learners? - How did your choice of digital tools help these particular learners enhance their ability to communicate interpersonally or presentationally? - Work Samples - Upload samples from three learners from the task provided in Artifact 1. For each learner, submit work examples (writing, audio, images, video, or other products) that demonstrate their use of the digital tool, their responses to the task, and any feedback that you provided as a result of the task. _If you submit a link, it should be set to “anyone with the link can view” in order to assess._
- What did you learn from your experience selecting and implementing effective digital tools that facilitate learner language production? - What did the evidence from learner work say about the impact of the digital tools on their ability to communicate more effectively in the interpersonal or presentational mode? - Given what you have learned, what will you do the next time you design a communicative task using a digital tool? Please highlight what you will do the same and what you will most likely do differently in the future.
Educator facilitates world languages proficiency for learners to understand verbal communication and obtain new language rules, structures, and forms.
# Key Method The educator implements contextualized approaches to teach grammar, such as the PACE model or CAPA sequence, with authentic and longer texts to improve learners’ grammar awareness and retention. # Method Components ### Overview Grammar is an important element of communication, but research shows that explicit teaching of grammar has little effect on people’s language acquisition, comprehension, or writing abilities. Traditional approaches to grammar instruction that emphasize direct grammar instruction often encourage memorized, rehearsed use of language. Additionally, many methods do not require learners to understand meaning in an authentic context, i.e., how grammar is actually used in communication. Thinking of grammar in how it is used in authentic communicative contexts broadens learners’ understanding and use of the target language (ACTFL: Teaching Grammar as a Concept in Context). There are various inductive and deductive approaches to grammar instruction. However, the fact that learners focus on meaning well before form implies that grammar becomes more meaningful to them when it is learned in context within the frame of functional language goals and objectives. Therefore, learners should be expected to learn grammar implicitly through target language use and explicitly through the discovery of grammatical rules through use in meaningful examples. The learner is highly motivated when using the grammar in context to immediately search the correct form in an effort to speak, listen, read, or write effectively. Consequently, grammar instruction should be in the target language with lessons that have functional goals and objectives in which there is a need to address a gap in knowledge in order for communication to occur. Inductive approaches to teaching grammar in context all involve three basic steps: - Providing learners with multiple examples of grammar being used in authentic contexts. - Having learners analyze examples to find patterns of usage and propose grammatical rules. - Providing additional opportunities for learners to practice the grammatical concept in authentic interpersonal or presentational contexts. ### The PACE Model Based on research, one of the most effective ways to teach grammar in context is to use the PACE model, a story-based approach to teach grammar in context after having learners focus on meaning (_Adair-Hauk, B., & Donato, R. 2002_). The PACE model is a “four-step” process that includes four components (Presentation, Attention, Co-Construction, Extension) that encourage learners’ comprehension and participation. - **Presentation:** The educator foreshadows the grammar structure with an appropriate text, with an emphasis on meaning. Typically, the educator recycles the storyline through pictures, TPR activities, etc. to increase comprehension and learner participation. The focus is not on the grammar structure at this point, but it is used by the educator and in the text. - **Attention:** The educator now has learners focus on the language form or structure through images, power point slides, or emphasis of a particular linguistic form. - **Co-construction:** After the educator has focused learner attention on a particular target language form, together they co-construct the grammatical explanation. The educator provides scaffolding and assists the learners with questions that encourage them to reflect, predict, and form generalizations regarding the consistencies of the language. Learners construct their own grammar rules, guided by the educator who ensures that they end up with an appropriate explanation. - **Extension:** The learners use the grammatical structures to complete a task relating to the theme of the lesson, which helps the language remain communicative, while also highlighting a particular structure. (See “Lesson Plan Template” for Grammar teaching in the PACE model in the Resources section below.) ### CAPA Sequence Drawing on a program of instructed second language acquisition research, Dr. Roy Lyster advocates for a proactive approach to the teaching of grammatical forms in context through the use of the CAPA model (i.e., Contextualization, Awareness, Practice, Autonomy). This model serves as a blueprint for designing instructional sequences that enable learners to link form with meaning in contexts, while honing metalinguistic awareness and engaging in purposeful use of the target language, ranging from contextualized practice to more autonomous use. The CAPA sequence includes four phases: 1. **Contextualization**–This phase establishes a meaningful context related to content, usually by means of a text adapted to make specific target features appear salient and frequent. 2. **Awareness**–This phase encourages learners to notice and to reflect on the target feature in a way that helps them to discover the patterns governing their use in the text. 3. **Practice**–This phase provides opportunities for learners to use the target features in a meaningful, yet controlled, context and to receive corrective feedback. 4. **Autonomy**–This phase enables learners to use the features in more open-ended and autonomous ways in order to develop fluency and confidence in using the target language. (See “The CAPA Sequence” illustration in the Resources section below.)
- Adair-Hauk, B., & Donato, R. (2002). The PACE model: A story-based approach to meaning and form for standards-based language learning. The French Review, 76(2), 265-276. <http://sebaworld.weebly.com/uploads/6/3/4/0/6340170/adair-hauck_b.__donato_r._2002._the_pace_model.pdf> An in-depth description of the PACE model with examples. - Alkhawaldeh, A. (2020). A research investigation of contextualized grammar instruction from the perspective of English language lecturers and students at Al-Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University. _International Journal of English Linguistics_. 10(162). <http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v10n5p162> The author of the study makes several suggestions about teaching grammar both implicitly and explicitly. - Chien, C. (2020). Taiwanese EFL teachers’ perceptions and designs of contextualized vocabulary and grammar instruction. _Journal of English Learner Education_. (10)1. <https://stars.library.ucf.edu/jele/vol10/iss1/6> A case study that proposes a model for contextualized vocabulary and grammar instruction. - Derewianka, B. & Jones, P. (2010). From traditional grammar to functional grammar: Bridging the divide. _NALDIC Quarterly_, 8 (1), 6-17. <https://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2000&context=sspapers> A paper that shows how aspects of traditional grammar remain relevant, even as systemic functional grammar offers much more to educators and learners in terms of understanding what and how meanings are made in the range of contexts. - Mart, C. (2013). Teaching grammar in context: Why and how? _Academy Publisher_. 124-129. <https://www.academypublication.com/issues/past/tpls/vol03/01/18.pdf> An article that focuses on the reasons that language educators should teach grammar in context and presents two sample lessons. - Moeller, A., & Ketsman, O. (2010). Can we learn a language without rules? _Digital Commons @ University of Nebraska- Lincoln_. <https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1175&context=teachlearnfacpub> A chapter that presents a variety of research-based approaches to teaching grammar that involve learners actively in the learning process and finds that, by integrating these strategies into the language classroom, a more balanced and effective approach to grammar teaching emerges. - Lyster R. (2007) _Learning and teaching languages through content: A counterbalanced approach_. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Pub. <https://worldcat.org/en/title/320323000> - Lyster, R. (2004). Research on form-focused instruction in immersion classrooms: Implications for theory and practice. _Journal of French Language Studies,_ _14_(3), 321-341. doi:10.1017/S0959269504001826 <https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-french-language-studies/article/abs/research-on-formfocused-instruction-in-immersion-classrooms-implications-for-theory-and-practice/E0BF8CFD2D15C9327DBFBDBC438EDAD7#.ZDWI3LyElOY>
- [ACTFL. (n.d.). Teach grammar as a concept in context. Alexandria, VA.](https://www.actfl.org/resources/guiding-principles-language-learning/grammar-concept-in-context) An explanation of the “what,” “why,” and “how” of the guiding principle of teaching grammar in context. - [Grahn, L. (2019). Another way to think about grammar in context. _Passion for the Profession_ blog.](https://passion4theprofession.com/2019/04/17/another-way-to-think-about-grammar-in-context/) A blog post that offers a thinking frame for addressing grammar in world language lessons. - [Terrill, L., & Kennedy, L. (2016). Teaching grammar as a concept in context. _CT LILL Webinar Series_.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7xh9PTuH7g) A webinar that addresses the various approaches to grammar instruction and how to select one over the other. - [Travers, M. (2020). What about the grammar? _National Foreign Language Center Virtual Summit_.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_C0ka_kN2Y) A virtual session that explores different communicative strategies to teach grammar as a concept and provides real examples of grammar in context that can be used in language classrooms. - [Difilippantonio-Pen, A. (2020). Flipgrid and second language acquisition: Using Flipgrid to promote speaking skills for English Language Learners. _BSU Master’s Theses and Projects._ Item 75.](https://vc.bridgew.edu/theses/75) A mixed-methods research study wherein the author concludes that Flipgrid provides an equitable opportunity for English language learners to develop this skill set, while also increasing their oral language development in English. - [Different Methods of Teaching Grammar](https://writingprompts.com/methods-of-teaching-grammar/) - [Delaware Core Practices for World Language Proficiency](https://www.doe.k12.de.us/cms/lib/DE01922744/Centricity/Domain/139/Delaware%20Core%20Practices%20for%20Proficiency%20082018.pdf) - [Çağrı Tuğrul, M. (2013). Teaching grammar in context: Why and how?. _Theory and Practice in Language Studies_, 3(1), 124-129.](https://www.academypublication.com/issues/past/tpls/vol03/01/18.pdf) - [Methods of Teaching English Grammar](https://www.adda247.com/teaching-jobs-exam/methods-of-teaching-english-grammar/) - [Contextualized Grammar – NCTN](https://www.collegetransition.org/career-pathways/research-briefs/contextualized-grammar/) - [Lesson Plan Template, World Language Classroom](https://wlteacher.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/the-pace-model.pdf) - [CAPA Sequence Illustration](https://digitalpromise.box.com/s/rbsygmb6tub61ypem1u419c7w7x3pwe7) ### Annotating Text - [Annotation Guide](https://www.covcath.org/uploaded/06_Students/Annotation_Guide_AP_Language.pdf) - [Annotating Texts, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill](https://learningcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/annotating-texts/) - [What is Annotating and Why Do It? Eastern Washington University](https://research.ewu.edu/writers_c_read_study_strategies)
Educator completely answers each of the questions using personal examples and supporting evidence. Response clearly illustrates experience with and knowledge of implementing a research-backed grammar in context approach, such as the PACE model or the CAPA sequence. Writing is organized and easy to understand.
Educator submits a video or audio that depicts a grammar in context lesson during which learners are: 1. Providing multiple examples in context, 2. Analyzing examples for patterns and proposing rules, and 3. Providing additional opportunities to practice in additional authentic contexts. If PACE or CAPA were not used, the educator shares which model or sequence was used instead.
The video or audio does not address all three elements for grammar in context, and a model other than CAPA or PACE were used and was not explained.
The annotation is specific and accurately addresses the sequence of grammar in context lesson.
The annotation is uploaded, however does not accurately match the video or audio, and may not be specific in its annotation.
Artifact 2: Annotation of Video or Audio
Contains 3 learner work samples that show how learners are engaging with grammar in context. The examples should be from the same activity. Evidence and explanation are thorough and pertain to the three functions of grammar in context in the classroom.
Contains fewer than 3 pieces of evidence and does not address how learners were engaged with grammar in context.
Learner work samples were not included.
Artifact 3: Learner Work Samples from Lesson
Educator shared specific observations on learner engagement, successes, and areas of growth. Reflection is clear regarding learner autonomy regarding grammar rules, and any shifts in practice that may have occurred are explained.
**Implementing the Teaching of Grammar in Context** - What were your goals and expectations for engaging learners to learn grammar in context? - How did you plan and prepare to teach a particular grammar concept in context? - How did you differentiate your grammar in context lessons to meet the needs of diverse learners?
To earn this micro-credential, you must submit **three pieces of evidence**: **Artifact 1: Lesson: Video or Audio (15-20 minutes)** Submit a video or audio recording that demonstrates teaching grammar in context (i.e., the PACE model, CAPA sequence). It should demonstrate engagement with the process and understanding of the following sequence. If you are using the PACE model, address its four component parts: 1. Presentation, 2. Attention, 3. Co-construction, and 4. Extension. If you are using the CAPA sequence, address its four component parts: 1. Contextualization, 2. Awareness, 3. Practice, and 4. Autonomy. (Note: if you are using a different contextual model other than PACE or CAPA, please clearly state which model you’ve used, and continue to demonstrate the three steps below.) The video or audio should demonstrate engagement with the process and understanding of the following sequence: 1. Providing multiple examples in context 2. Analyzing examples for patterns and proposing rules 3. Providing additional opportunities to practice in additional authentic contexts **Artifact 2: Annotation of Video or Audio** Submit a summary document outlining Artifact 1 wherein each of the three elements are presented in the video or audio. **Artifact 3: Learner Work Samples from Lesson** Choose three learner work samples created during the lesson demonstrated in Artifact 1 that show the use of grammar in context in your classroom. The three samples should be from the same activity. These could be: - a writing assignment from the unit plan with differentiated material - evidence of learner self-reflection - evidence of learner implicit explanations - evidence of educator and learner guided participation _If you submit a link—such as links to video or audio—the permissions should be set to “anyone with the link can view” in order to assess._
- What did you observe about learner engagement during the lesson? What went well? What might you change in the future? - What did you notice about the accurate application of grammar rules when learners used them on their own? - Were there any shifts in your practice in using certain models to teach grammar in context? If yes, what were they? If no, please expand on why you think a shift did not occur.
Integrated Performance Assessment Design
Educator creates an authentic integrated performance assessment to be implemented as a summative assessment for a planned unit.
designing proficiency-focused language learning
# Key Method The educator identifies a real-world scenario in which learners can apply the skills learned during a unit of study. The educator designs an integrated performance assessment (IPA) incorporating the interpretive, presentational, and interpersonal modes of communication. # Method Components ### Overview The Integrated Performance Assessment (IPA) is a classroom-based performance assessment model developed by ACTFL that evaluates the learner's communication skills in the three modes of communication (interpretive, presentational, interpersonal) as identified in the World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages. The IPA is based on a real-world task, which corresponds to the learning goals of the unit. Integrated performance assessments provide beneficial instructional alignment, while providing learners with multiple opportunities to demonstrate what they know. IPAs create relevant assessments for learners and provide the opportunity for educators to receive meaningful instructional feedback. ### Integrated Performance Assessment **What is an Integrated Performance Assessment (IPA)?** An Integrated Performance Assessment (IPA) is a type of summative assessment. IPAs allow learners to demonstrate their language skills when given a real-life task. The IPA allows learners to continue learning about and growing into a cultural topic while being evaluated in all three modes of communication: interpretive, interpersonal, and presentational. **Six Steps to Designing an Integrated Performance Assessment:** 1. Identify goals of the performance-based assessment 2. Select the appropriate course standards 3. Review assessments and identify learning gaps 4. Design the scenario 5. Gather or create materials 6. Develop a learning plan _Source: Hilliard, 2015_ **Identifying a Real-World Scenario** - Should be relatable, relevant, and achievable by the learner(s) in real-life - Requires learners to perform/complete a task, as opposed to finding the response **How is an Integrated Performance Assessment Created?** IPAs are performance-based, not knowledge-based. IPAs are designed to be used with rubrics, which evaluate the learner’s performance. The results of the rubric reveal if the learner has either met the expectations, exceeded them, or does not meet them for that task. IPAs are not: fill-in-the-blanks, matching, short answer, multiple choice, or essay-type summative assessments. To write the IPA, the educator needs to employ backward design. The IPA begins with the educator focusing on the goals of instruction for the unit. Each task in the IPA is interconnected in that it relates to the same theme and builds upon the prior task. (See “IPA Template” in the Resources section below.) _Source: Ohio Department of Education, 2023_ **Reflect on Preparing your IPA for your Learners** _The following questions guide you as you create your Integrated Performance Assessment_ **S** - Which standard(s) (priority/supporting) will this task address? **Q** - What Essential Question(s) and corresponding Big Idea(s) will this task target? **U** - Which “unwrapped” specific concepts and skills will this task target? **A** - How will the learners apply the concepts and skills? What will they do and/or produce? **R** - What resources, instruction, and information will learners need in order to complete the task? **E** - What evidence of learning will I look for to show that I know all of my learners have conceptually learned the concepts and skills—the standard(s)? _1._ _Learners meet proficiency or higher on Task 1 rubric._ _2._ _Learners respond to Essential Question(s) with Big Idea(s) in written or oral format._ _3._ _Other evidence._ **D** - How can I differentiate the application and/or evidence to meet the varying needs of my learners? _Source: International Center for Leadership in Education_
- Adair-Hauck, B., Glisan, E., Koda, K., Swender, E., & Sandrock, P. (2008). The integrated performance assessment (IPA): Connecting assessment to instruction and learning. ACTFL _Foreign Language Annals_, 39(3), 359-382. Alexandria, VA. <https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-9720.2006.tb02894.x> This article presents a prototype for measuring learner progress towards achieving the ACTFL national standards, while capturing the connection between classroom experience and learner performance on IPA tasks. - Davin, K., Troyan, F., & Donato, R. (2011). Research on the integrated performance assessment in an Early Foreign Language Program. ACTFL _Foreign Language Annals_. 44(4), 605-625. Alexandria, VA. <https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-9720.2011.01153.x> This article reports that integrated performance assessments are a successful classroom-based performance assessment of fourth and fifth graders’ Spanish proficiency in this program and recommends IPAs in similar programs in which the goal is communicative competence. - Giraldo, F. (2020). Task-based language assessment: Implications for the language classroom. _GIST – Education and Learning Research Journal_, 21, 209-224. <https://doi.org/10.26817/16925777.828> This reflection paper discusses central issues in task-based assessment and the merits of implementing them into the language classroom. - Jiang, S., Wu, J., Xu, J., & Tian, J. (2021). Connecting Integrated Performance Assessment to Chinese classroom teaching and learning. In _Frontiers of L2 Chinese Language Education_ (pp. 68-89). Routledge. <https://www.sciencegate.app/app/document/download#10.4324/9781003169895-5> A study that reveals that connecting integrated performance assessments to classroom teaching is a feasible way to integrate teaching, learning, and assessment for producing positive learning outcomes. - Kissau, S. & Adams, M. (2016). Instructional decision making and IPAs: Assessing the modes of communication. ACTFL _Foreign Language Annals_, 49(1), 105-123. Alexandria, VA. <https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12184> A mixed-methods study confirming that educators can make dramatic changes to their assessment practices when provided with intensive professional development and in the context of focused, school-wide initiatives. - Madison, S. (2019). Integrated Performance Assessments: A review of the literature and steps to move forward. _Spanish and Portuguese Review_. 5. 99-111. <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340952423_Integrated_Performance_Assessments_A_review_of_the_literature_and_steps_to_move_forward> A literature review that demonstrates the benefits of integrated performance assessments, while also recognizing the challenges faced by educators. - Norris, J. (2016). Current uses for task-based language assessment. _Annual Review of Applied Linguistics_, 36, 230-244. <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/2331186X.2022.2105775> A study that shows the positive impact task-based language assessments have on learner performance. - Zapata, G. (2016). University students' perceptions of integrated performance assessment and the connection between classroom learning and assessment. ACTFL Foreign Language Annals, 49(1), 93-104. Alexandria, VA. <https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12176> The study reports the opinions of Novice, Intermediate Low, and Intermediate Mid Spanish learners concerning IPA and their perceptions of the way in which classroom instruction was reflected in the content of those assessments.
- [Duncan, G. (2015). Teacher Effectiveness for Language Learning Project. Performance Assessments.](http://www.tellproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/AdvanceLearning_PerformanceAssessments_Overview_2.pdf) A quick reference card that defines and gives examples of formative and summative performance assessments for the world language classroom. - [Grahn, L. (2018). Creating performance tasks and assessments using authentic text. _Passion for the Profession_ blog.](https://passion4theprofession.com/2018/09/21/creating-performance-tasks-and-assessments-using-authentic-text/) A blog post that provides suggestions for designing real world performance tasks that measure learner proficiency. - [Jones, N. (n.d.). Every day’s an IPA. _Vista Higher Learning_ webinar.](https://vistahigherlearning.com/vhl-pd-webinars?wchannelid=5p1112jhjw&wmediaid=wxwi84idtx) A webinar that offers a process by which educators can design lesson plans that mirror the components of integrated performance assessments. - [Parra, A. (2022). Integrated performance assessments. _National Foreign Language Center Virtual Summit._](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJfnbriwV14) A webinar that shows how to use integrated performance assessments in the language classroom and presents examples of integrated performance assessments. - [Pijanowski, L. (2016). Authentic performance tasks: Strategies to improve learning and literacy. Handout for a presentation at the Model Schools Conference. _International Center for Leadership in Education_.](http://handouts16.modelschoolsconference.com/files/upload/APT_MSC_LP_Handout.pdf) A handout that demonstrates performance tasks design using the SQUARED and SCRAP models. - [Sandrock, P., & Naditz, N. (2020). Intro to performance assessments. _National Foreign Language Resource Center_ podcast](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRhfKPBZVZs&list=PLLBJ9BLnZf1XURnAHBCQj8PPyWywXiflG&index=1) A video interview that includes insights and experience in relation to performance assessments in the language classroom. - [Sparks-Early, C. (n.d.). IPAs in world languages classrooms. _Vista Higher Learning_ webinar.](https://vistahigherlearning.com/vhl-pd-webinars?wchannelid=5p1112jhjw&wmediaid=fffzxufuqe) A webinar during which the presenter shares the what, why, and how of implementing integrated performance assessments in the language classroom. - [Spathis, E. (2021). Designing meaningful assessments in world language classes.](https://www.edutopia.org/article/designing-meaningful-assessments-world-language-classes) An article by a language educator that breaks down the steps to creating an integrated performance assessment using backward design. - [Terrill, L. (2020). Assessing and grading for learning. _National Foreign Language Center Virtual Summit_.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzaMkCVJ5mc) A session presentation on assessing and grading in the world language classroom. - [Hillard, P. (2015). Performance-Based Assessment: Reviewing the Basics](https://www.edutopia.org/blog/performance-based-assessment-reviewing-basics-patricia-hilliard) - [Terrill, L. (2022). Creating meaningful performance assessment tasks. _National Foreign Language Center Virtual Summit_.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPF45bvobes) A session presentation on the design of performance assessment tasks. - [IPA Template](https://digitalpromise.box.com/s/3hrlm5pxj28xeorkru2iikswvy017ff0) - [Authentic Performance Tasks: Strategies to Improve Learning and Literacy, International Center for Leadership in Education](http://handouts16.modelschoolsconference.com/files/upload/APT_MSC_LP_Handout.pdf)
Unit goals are submitted and are clearly reflected in the summative assessment prompt
Unit goals are submitted, however, the correlation with the summative assessment is somewhat weak.
Unit goals are not submitted and/or do not reflect the tasks of the summative assessment.
All modes of communication are assessed and submitted. Learners are assessed using real-world scenarios. The assessment reflects the learning that occurred through unit goals.
Summative assessment is submitted but missing one of the following: a mode of communication assessed, a real-world scenario, or a strong connection to unit goals.
Summative assessment is not submitted or missing two or more of the following: a mode of communication assessed, a real-world scenario, or a strong connection to unit goals.
A learner sample is submitted, along with a brief description of learner performance.
A learner sample is submitted but does not include a description of learner performance.
Educator thoughtfully reflected on their new learning and demonstrated how they will continue to grow in this area. Educator included their successes and areas for growth.
To earn this micro-credential, you must submit **three pieces of evidence**: **Artifact 1: Unit Goals** Please submit a document explaining the unit objectives (Can Do Statements) and how the summative assessment reflects learner learning. Be sure to indicate the language task assessed for each mode of communication. **Artifact 2: Summative Assessment** Please submit files of all components of the integrated performance assessment. This includes any audio, video, or text used in the interpretive modes. The summative assessment should reflect a real-world scenario in which learners use their world language proficiency to address a situation or solve a problem in the presentational or interpretive mode. **Artifact 3: Learner Work Sample** Please submit a learner work sample of the completed assessment and a brief description of their proficiency on the assessment. _If you submit a link, it should be set to “anyone with the link can view” in order to assess._
Provide a reflection on your experience in designing and implementing the integrated performance assessment, as well as your plans to continue leveraging this competency in your teaching. You may use the prompts as guidance. - Describe the shifts in your practice that this competency required. How did your formative assignments reflect the summative assessment? - What were your challenges and what strategies did you plan and design for them? - What resources did you find helpful? - What major takeaway(s) do you have from designing and implementing an integrated performance assessment? - How will the practice of backwards design influence your language teaching in the future?
Proficiency and Performance in World Language Learning
Educator understands ACTFL Proficiency and Performance guidelines in unit planning and lesson plans, and is able to demonstrate the different purpose of both performance and proficiency within the world language classroom.
world language proficiency and interculturality
# Key Method The educator uses the ACTFL Performance Guidelines and Proficiency Guidelines to set both performance and proficiency targets for their learners. # Method Components In a proficiency-focused world language classroom, world language educators understand the difference between performance and proficiency in world language learning and use this knowledge to set appropriate targets for their learners. According to ACTFL, performance is “the ability to use language that has been learned and practiced in an instructional setting,” while proficiency is “the ability to use language in real-world situations in a spontaneous interaction and non-rehearsed content and in a manner acceptable and appropriate to native speakers of the language.” It is the proficiency, or the ability to use the language, in the real world that is the ultimate outcome for the proficiency-focused world language classroom. Demonstrate Understanding of Proficiency - Educators complete the Avant ADVANCE proficiency modules and earn an 80% or higher on the final assessment to demonstrate their understanding of proficiency and what learner work looks like at each level of proficiency. Plan with Clear and Realistic Expectations for Language Learning - Educators set clear and realistic expectations for their learners in terms of performance and proficiency outcomes. - Educators design and implement Integrated Performance Assessments in all three modes. Reflect on Targets and Learner Language Outcomes - Educators reflect on the performance and proficiency targets that were set for their learners using data of performance and/or proficiency assessments.
- Eaton, S. E. (2012). How will Alberta’s second language students ever achieve proficiency? ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines, the CEFR and the “10,000-hour rule” in relation to the Alberta K-12 language-learning context. _Notos,_ 12(2), 2-12. <https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED540393> The author concludes that achieving high levels of language proficiency necessitates a combination of classroom instruction time and self-study and informal study outside of class. - Gasparro, J. (2003). The ACTFL proficiency guidelines and the oral proficiency interview: A brief history and analysis of their survival. ACTFL _Foreign Language Annals_. 36, 483-490. Alexandria, VA. <https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-9720.2003.tb02137.x> The author concludes that the concept of proficiency as outlined by the ACTFL Guidelines have been adopted as the standard in the arenas of policy, program development, and classroom instruction. - Norris, J., & Pfeiffer, P. (2003). Exploring the uses and usefulness of ACTFL oral proficiency ratings and standards in college foreign language departments. ACTFL _Foreign Language Annals_. 36(4), 572-581. Alexandria, VA. <https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-9720.2003.tb02147.x> The article provides a quick overview of the use of ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines for setting standards and identifying learning outcomes. - Swender, E., & Duncan, G. (2008). ACTFL performance guidelines for K-12 learners. ACTFL _Foreign Language Annals_. 31(40), 479-491. Alexandria, VA. <https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-9720.1998.tb00593.x> The article provides an overview of ACTFL performance guidelines and describes the connections between these guidelines and the standards for foreign language learning. - Winke, P., Zhang, X., Rubio, F., Gass, S., Soneson, D., & Hacking, J. (2020). The proficiency profile of language students: Implications for programs. _Second Language Research & Practice_, 1(1), 25-64. <http://hdl.handle.net/10125/69840> This study shows the impact that inside and outside of class language learning, study abroad experiences, and timing of language study have on proficiency achievement.
- [ACTFL. (2015). ACTFL Performance descriptors for language learners. Alexandria, VA.](https://www.actfl.org/sites/default/files/publications/ACTFLPerformance_Descriptors.pdf) A guide that describes language performance at the various proficiency levels and compares performance and proficiency. - [ACTFL. (2012). ACTFL Proficiency guidelines. Alexandria, VA.](https://www.actfl.org/sites/default/files/guidelines/ACTFLProficiencyGuidelines2012.pdf) A guide that describes what individuals can do at the various proficiency levels. - [ACTFL. (2017). NCSSFL-ACTFL can-do statements. Alexandria, VA.](https://www.actfl.org/resources/ncssfl-actfl-can-do-statements) The can-do statements describe how well individuals communicate at the various proficiency levels. - [Avant MORE Learning. (2021). Performance vs. proficiency.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Pxa9anppBI) A quick video overview to understand the relationship between performance and proficiency and the reasons that they are both important. - [Bleicher, A., Dhonau, S., Rubio, F., & Sandrock, P. (2016). Guiding language performance to the next level. _ACTFL_.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJHvCGcEwaE) A free virtual learning module from ACTFL for educators to help language learners to move from one proficiency level to the next. - [Bong, David. Proficiency vs. performance vs. achievement. _Sealofbiteracy.org._](https://sealofbiliteracy.org/blog/proficiency-vs-performance-vs-achievement) An article that compares proficiency, performance, and achievement. - [Cabral, Joshua. (2021). ACTFL Proficiency levels and performance descriptors. _World Language Classroom Podcast._](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/actfl-proficiency-levels-and-performance-descriptors/id1577162822?i=1000538896777) A podcast that provides a walkthrough of ACTFL proficiency levels and performance descriptors.
Educator completely answers each of the questions using personal examples and supporting evidence. Response clearly illustrates knowledge and experience in differentiating between performance and proficiency within the world language classroom. Writing is organized and easy to understand.
The unit plan is detailed and clearly demonstrates alignment to the unit’s objectives, the unit’s performance targets, and the end-of-course proficiency target. The unit explains the 3 assessments and how they relate to the unit targets.
The unit plan may not be detailed and/or clearly demonstrate alignment to the unit’s objectives, the unit’s performance targets, and the end-of-course proficiency target. The unit may not explain all 3 assessments and how they relate to the unit targets.
The unit plan is not detailed and does not clearly demonstrate alignment to the unit’s objectives, the unit’s performance targets, and/or the end-of-course proficiency target. The unit does not explain the relationship between the assessments and the unit targets.
Artifact 2: Proficiency-Oriented Feedback and Reflection tool
All three learner work samples demonstrate proficiency-oriented feedback provided by the educator to level up their work. The work samples also demonstrate how learners took this feedback and used it as a part of a self-reflection cycle to reflect on their language performance and make improvements for the future.
Fewer than three learner work samples demonstrate proficiency-oriented feedback provided by the educator to level up their work. The work samples may not demonstrate how learners took this feedback and used it as a part of a self-reflection cycle to reflect on their language performance and make improvements for the future.
Learner work samples do not demonstrate proficiency-oriented feedback provided by the educator to level up their work. The work samples do not demonstrate how learners took this feedback and used it as a part of a self-reflection cycle to reflect on their language performance and make improvements for the future.
Response thoughtfully addresses the impact that the micro-credential has had on the educator’s practice in promoting proficiency in the world language classroom. Reflection includes personal examples and supporting evidence that are organized and easy to understand.
Provide a description of the lesson you created that shows evidence of planning in designing an Integrated Performance Assessment. - Did you use all three modes? - Based on earlier formative assessments, how did your learners perform and demonstrate growth? - What are the strengths and challenges of your learners? - Have you completed the Avant ADVANCE Certificate? If so, how did the training impact the design of this lesson?
To earn this micro-credential, you must submit **two pieces of evidence**: **Artifact 1: Evidence of Planning with Performance and Proficiency in Mind** Submit a unit plan that clearly reflects the alignment of unit objectives, the unit’s performance targets, and the end-of-year course proficiency targets. The unit plan must include evidence of the use of performance assessments in all three modes (interpretive, interpersonal, and presentational) and a proficiency-oriented rubric for scoring the assessments. **Artifact 2: Evidence of Proficiency-Oriented Feedback and Learner Self-Reflection** Submit three learner work samples from the performance assessments created in the Artifact 2 unit plan that contain evidence of feedback provided to the learners that will increase their level of performance, as well as evidence of how the learners used this information as a part of their own self-reflection process. _If you submit a link, it should be set to “anyone with the link can view” in order to assess._
Write a personal reflection about your work on this micro-credential. Reflect on the following questions: - What key insights did you learn about the difference between proficiency and performance? - How adept are you at identifying ACTFL proficiency levels? - What challenges did you face in designing Integrated Performance Assessments? - How will your new learning improve your practices in your current role?
Understanding the Diversity of World Language Learners
Educator ensures that all learners have equitable access to world language studies and cultures.
# Key Method The educator researches culturally responsive practices and designs classroom resources that represent and include diverse world language classroom populations. # Method Components ### Overview Understanding the diversity of world language (“WL”) learners is important, as learners are from diverse backgrounds and have different ways of learning. Learners from minoritized groups face inequities and lack of access to world language studies (Glynn & Wassel, 2018). In order to effectively teach language and culture to learners, educators must teach each learner as a whole person, by identifying and embracing the various components that make up an individual (Kim, 2020). Components such as race, sexual identity, traditions, forms of communication, socioeconomic status, and familial relations are just a few among multiple facets that create an individual’s identity. Kim (2020) suggests that world language classrooms must foster intercultural communication that allows for learners and educators to reflect upon and respect the differences that exist in one person’s culture compared to another. Because language and culture cannot be taught in isolation, it’s extremely important that world language educators place high value on the cultural identities of individual learners. When learners and educators are able to openly reflect upon their own cultural identities, they become more accepting, understanding of, and respectful towards the identities that exist in the target culture (Kim, 2020). ### Methodology How do we go from there to understanding the diversity of language learners in order to recognize their rights and obligations as successful WL learners? Dion (2020) talks about inclusive pedagogy, which embraces the premise that all learners can learn and the educator’s pivotal role can help learners achieve. On that assumption, understanding learners leads us to evaluate the roles of educators in four key domains. - **Diversity in teaching practices and resources** - **Diversity in assessments** - **Incorporation of learner interests** - **Educator self-reflection of own identity** ### Diversity in teaching practices and resources As previously stated, learners are whole humans and have many components factored into their own personal identity. Educators should do everything in their power to get to know learners and understand their backgrounds so that these components can be included in teaching practices. This cultural diversity should in itself become a resource for the classroom (Dion, 2020). This means that learners should be able to see parts of themselves in instructional practices and the physical resources that are included in the classroom and instruction. Lu and Troyan (2021) warn of the ill-effects of not representing learners in instructional practices when they describe the situation in which a young African American learner in a Chinese immersion program found himself. Mackay, the young learner, had lost interest in learning Mandarin Chinese despite being part of the immersion program since his preschool years. He reported that he didn’t see himself or his African American community and culture in the Mandarin classroom. Further, when learners are able to observe people of their cultural background using the target language or present in the target culture, they are more likely themselves to use the target language. This opens the doors of possibilities for learners because they see someone like them using the language for a purpose. According to Anya and Randolph (2019), the curriculum “should be a window, a mirror, and a sliding glass door—a window through which learners examine and learn from the perspectives of others, a mirror showing learners their own experiences and cultures validated, and a sliding glass door through which learners are able to enter into and experience the lives and perspectives of others.” The inclusive nature of the curriculum and its resources will encourage learners to participate more actively in their learning of a world language (Dion, 2020). According to Drexel University’s educator preparation website, diversity should also be included in the specific lesson plans. This can be done by including speakers from target language cultures explaining their own customs, traditions, and backgrounds. This will allow learners to connect the lesson to real-world issues and real people, which will help the learners to become more culturally sensitive and aware themselves. ### Diversity in assessments Another component that requires attention in the culturally diverse classroom is including learner diversity in assessments. Educators must seek opportunities for learners to express their cultural identities in assessments so that their unique cultures are represented (Dion, 2020). This can happen through presentational writing or speaking, and interpersonal communication with peers in which learners share their own identities and experiences. Similarly, interpretive tasks should include speakers of the target language from a variety of backgrounds. This alignment of assessments with instructional practices and resources further supports the culturally diverse learners we have in our world language classroom. ### Incorporation of learner interests Designing lesson plans and assessments should also include learner interests, as many times, interests are also a reflection of culture (Dion, 2020; Kim, 2020). Everyone uses language as a means to create, communicate, and participate in a variety of activities and interactions. This includes music, social media, literature, and art, among others. When learners are given a choice to express themselves in these areas, they are also reflecting on their own cultural backgrounds and possibly including them in the lesson task or assessment at hand. As educators very well know, when learner interests are included, motivation increases and participation soars. Educators should take the opportunity to capitalize on learner interests as a way of including culturally diverse backgrounds in lesson plans and assessments. Specifically in the world language classroom, an educator could allow for learners to explore a variety of products such as art, music, religion, science, and politics from the target culture and compare these to a similar product of their own culture (Dion, 2020). This expression of interest and diversity synthesize to create a more culturally responsive classroom setting. ### Educator self-reflection of own identity While educators constantly reflect on the efficacy of lesson plans, assessment results, and learner comprehension, the culturally responsive educator must also reflect on their own experiences of culture and identity. Effective work with diverse learners requires that educators first recognize and understand their personal worldviews (Kim, 2020). This acknowledgement of personal beliefs and cultural identity will foster a safe learning environment for learners to, in turn, analyze their own beliefs and connect with the target world culture. Incorporating their own experiences and interests in the target culture allows educators to create more personal connections and share them with their learners. **_Know Your Learners_** Educators must first know who their learners are—where they live, what their families are like, what they enjoy doing, what their hopes and dreams are, etc. Educators can achieve this in a number of ways, from conducting a survey at the beginning of the year, to conducting one-on-one meetings, observing learner responses to classroom tasks, or engaging directly with learners’ families. **_Engage in Self-Reflection_** Reflecting on one's own beliefs and biases is an important step in developing culturally responsive instructional practices. Educators can use tools such as cultural proficiency rubrics to assess their own level of cultural proficiency and identify areas for growth. **_Research culturally responsive instruction_** - Study research publications: There are many books, articles, and research papers that explore the topic of culturally responsive teaching. Reading this literature will help educators develop an understanding of the principles and practices of culturally responsive instruction. A good place to start is with the resources listed below in the Resources Section. - Attend professional learning opportunities: Many organizations and institutions offer professional development workshops on culturally responsive teaching. Attending these workshops can provide educators with the opportunity to learn from experts in the field and to connect with other educators who are also interested in implementing culturally responsive practices. - Connect with colleagues: Educators can also learn from their colleagues who are already implementing culturally responsive practices. Connecting with these colleagues and observing their practices can provide insight into effective strategies and approaches. - Seek feedback: Educators can seek feedback from learners, parents, and colleagues on their culturally responsive practices. This feedback can provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of these practices and areas for improvement. **_Select culturally responsive instructional materials_** Selecting or designing instructional materials that reflect the diversity of learners' backgrounds and experiences is an important component of culturally responsive teaching. Educators can seek out materials that are culturally responsive or adapt existing materials to better reflect the diversity of their learners. **_Reflect on the Impact on Learning_** How did the use of these culturally responsive strategies and materials impact the learning of your learners? Using culturally responsive materials to create a supportive classroom environment where learners feel valued and respected is an important component of culturally responsive teaching. Educators can implement certain strategies—such as building positive relationships with learners, promoting a growth mindset, and creating a sense of community in the classroom—that lead to enhanced learner language proficiency and cultural competence.
- Anya, U., & Randolph, L. J. Jr., (2019). Diversifying language educators and learners. _The Language Educator_, 23-27. <https://actfl.org/uploads/files/general/TLE_OctNov19_Article.pdf> - Dion, S. (2020). Diversity and inclusion in world language teachers’ instructional practices. _NECTFL Review_, 86, 33-44. <https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1278103.pdf> A narrative inquiry based on interviews with language educators who incorporate cultural diversity into their teaching practices. - Glynn, C., & Wassell, B. (2018). Who gets to play? Issues of access and social justice in world language study in the U.S. _Dimension_, 11, 18-32. <https://rdw.rowan.edu/education_facpub/11/> A paper that delves into research around how the field of world language education must ensure equal access to language study and addresses the current enrollment statistics as a social justice issue. - Kim, D. (2020). Learning language, learning culture: Teaching language to the whole student. _ECNU Review of Education_, _3_(3), 519–541. <https://doi.org/10.1177/2096531120936693> An article that emphasizes the importance of engaging the whole learner in language instruction. - The Importance of Diversity & Multicultural Awareness in Education. Drexel University School of Education. (n.d.). <https://drexel.edu/soe/resources/student-teaching/advice/importance-of-cultural-diversity-in-classroom/>
- [ACTFL. (2013). Position statement on language as a core component of education for all students. Alexandria, VA.](https://www.actfl.org/advocacy/actfl-position-statements/languages-core-component-education-all-students) A position statement taking a strong stance on access to world language study for all learners. - [ACTFL. (2019). Position statement on diversity and inclusion in world language teaching and learning. Alexandria, VA.](https://www.actfl.org/advocacy/actfl-position-statements/diversity-and-inclusion-world-language-teaching-learning) A position statement that advocates for diversity and inclusion across world language learning and teaching contexts. - [American University School of Education Online Programs. (2020). Teaching culturally and linguistically diverse students.](https://soeonline.american.edu/blog/culturally-and-linguistically-diverse-students) An article for educators on how to engage culturally and linguistically diverse learners. - [Annenberg Learner. (2004). Valuing diversity in learners. Workshop 6.](https://www.learner.org/series/teaching-foreign-languages-k-12-workshop/valuing-diversity-in-learners/) A free self-paced online workshop that supports language educators to accommodate the needs of diverse learners in their classrooms. - [Connecticut Office of Early Childhood. (2020). Supporting all children using the Connecticut early learning and development standards: Meeting the needs of diverse learners.](https://www.ctoec.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/CT-ELDS-Supplement-Diverse-Learners.pdf) A document that focuses on how to support young children by ensuring access, participation, and benefit. - [Crisfield, E. (2021). Diversity, equity, inclusion, and languages: What are the connections? Council of International Schools.](https://www.cois.org/about-cis/news/post/~board/perspectives-blog/post/diversity-equity-inclusion-and-languages-what-are-the-connections) An article that makes connections between efforts in the realm of diversity, equity, and inclusion and language study. - [Geeslin, K., Long, A., & Solon, M. (2021). Diversity, belonging and the second language acquisition of Spanish. Routledge Taylor and Francis Group blog.](https://www.routledge.com/blog/article/diversity-belonging-and-the-second-language-acquisition-of-spanish) Knowing languages other than English, supporting others in the learning of those languages, and studying and understanding how languages are learned can be key avenues to ensuring that all learners, regardless of language background and experience, feel a sense of belonging and are able to participate fully in the classroom. - [Hill, M. (2017). A culturally responsive world language classroom. Medium.com Inspired Ideas.](https://medium.com/inspired-ideas-prek-12/a-culturally-responsive-world-language-classroom-75f72668c405) An article that offers a list of strategies for cultural responsiveness and the celebration of diversity. - [Kampen, M. (2020). 7 ways to support diversity in the classroom. Prodigy Education.](https://www.prodigygame.com/main-en/blog/diversity-in-the-classroom/) A blog post that provides advice to educators on ways to support diversity in the classroom. - [Nishioka, V. (2018). Building connections with students from diverse cultural backgrounds through perspective-taking. REL Northwest.](https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/regions/northwest/blog/building-connections.asp) An article that offers a list of five strategies for connection with students through perspective-taking. - [Ohio Center for Autism and Low Incidence (OCALI). Teaching Diverse Learners Overview.](https://www.ocali.org/project/TDL_overview) A web page with resources for meeting the needs of diverse learners. - [Ohio Department of Education. (2015). Diverse learner strategies.](https://education.ohio.gov/getattachment/Topics/Ohios-Learning-Standards/Foreign-Language/World-Languages-Model-Curriculum/World-Languages-Model-Curriculum-Framework/Instructional-Strategies/Assessment/Strategies_Diverse_Learners_jun2016.pdf.aspx) An extensive list of instructional practices to meet the needs of diverse language learners. - [Rock, P. (2020). Five ways to engage your students in the world language classroom. Participate Learning blog.](https://www.participatelearning.com/blog/five-ways-to-engage-students-in-the-world-language-classroom/) An article that suggests ways for language educators to engage their learners. - [TeacherVision Staff. (2021). Strategies for teaching culturally diverse students.](https://www.teachervision.com/teaching-strategies/strategies-for-teaching-culturally-diverse-students?page=2) An online article that provides a variety of educator behaviors and instructional strategies to meet the needs of diverse learners.
Artifact 1: PDF and/or Photos of Classroom Resources
PDFs/photos provide evidence of an inclusive learning environment and resources representing the learner population.
Evidence does not represent all backgrounds of learners.
No effort has been made to represent the diverse learner population.
Artifact 2: Learner Identities and Interests Reflected Materials
Educator analyzes how lesson plan and assessment(s) represent the learner population they teach. There should be a strong connection between Part 1 content and this artifact.
Educator analyzes connection of lesson plan and learner assessment with learner demographics, but does not include samples of assessment.
Samples do not accurately reflect learners in the classroom.
Educator reflection is specific and explains the impact this method will have in their future classroom practices.
To earn this micro-credential, you must submit **two pieces of evidence**: **Artifact 1: PDF and/or Photos of Classroom Resources** PDFs and/or photos should be evidence of classroom resources that include diverse backgrounds of learners. **Artifact 2: Samples of learners’ identities and interests reflected in a lesson plan and assessment and analysis (200-word limit)** Upload a lesson plan and samples of formative and/or summative assessments that include the diverse learner population you teach. Provide thoughtful analysis of how these assessments represent the learner population you serve and their interests. _If you submit a link, it should be set to “anyone with the link can view” in order to assess._
Reflect on the evidence that you submitted that includes learners of diverse populations by responding to these questions: - How do you learn about the learner population(s) you teach? - How do you get to know your learners? - What impact on the learners’ learning did these resources, activities, or assessments have? - How will you include diversity in your instruction and assessment methods in the future?
Safe and Supportive World Language Learning Environments
Educator creates a safe and supportive world language learning environment for every learner.
# Key Method The educator utilizes research-based information to support learners in language acquisition. They do this by understanding how the learning environment that they create and a supportive lesson plan allow learners to take risks in their target language output. # Method Components ### Overview How often do learners state that they are not able to do a particular assignment, or do they fail an assessment because they fail to make an attempt? Anxiety, self-doubt, or a lack of value on the content being taught often lead to learners not even trying, let alone being successful, in a world language classroom. Respected American linguist Stephen Krashen (1981) describes this scenario in his Affective Filter Hypothesis. He states that, when learners experience anxiety, do not feel supported in learning, or do not have a motivation to learn, they encounter a type of mental barrier that prevents them from acquiring the language skills and functions they are attempting to master. It is imperative that educators do everything in their power to lower the affective filter and foster language acquisition for their learners. This can be achieved when a safe and supportive learning environment is provided for world language learners. World language educators face a multi-level challenge when creating safe and supportive learning environments for learners because the content that they teach inherently can cause stress in the learning environment. However, findings show that, when learners are trained to use the Target Language (TL), there is a negative correlation between TL use and TL anxiety (Moeller & Roberts, 2013). This is beneficial for educators to know, as pedagogical practices encourage teachers to remain in the TL for a majority of their instruction and learning activities because this promotes the acquisition of language skills necessary for success. In order to maximize the use of the TL and simultaneously lower the affective filter, it is essential that world language educators develop a safe and supportive learning environment for their learners. Two areas that need to be explored when fostering a safe and supportive world language classroom are the learning environment an educator creates and supportive lesson plans used to foster learner proficiency growth. These two components combine to create learning environments that allow for learners to take risks in the TL and develop their proficiency goals. ### Learning Environment When creating a learning environment conducive to world language proficiency, an educator must address the following components: - High expectations of learners for respect and value for language learning - Models of self-efficacy for learners - Safety in the physical learning space - Motivation opportunities that shift from extrinsic to intrinsic “It is as important to teach respect as it is to teach language” (Moeller & Roberts, 2013). When expectations of respect are prominently demonstrated, modeled, and visible in the classroom, learners are more comfortable in the world language classroom. Posting class norms in the form of a social contract can support this focus on respect. Educators commonly agree with Thurber and Bandy (2018) when they state that “students learn best when they feel respected, included, and that instructors are invested in their development.” The same ideals apply in the world language classroom and must be evident in order to encourage learners to take risks and use the TL. Another key component to setting high expectations of learners is teaching the value of language learning and explaining the importance of errors in the acquisition process. With these in place, learners see the benefits of using the TL themselves and are more likely to participate in learning activities and assessments that may push them out of their comfort zone. This allows learners to take risks in their use of the TL, which is when true language acquisition occurs. Educators who teach the value of making errors, learning from these mistakes, and celebrating the “aha” moments of learning produce learners who are comfortable with the natural progression that they experience (Moeller & Roberts, 2013). Self-efficacy is a very important asset for learner success in a safe and learning environment. Self-efficacy is defined as a belief in one’s ability to achieve a goal or an outcome (Ketsman, 2012). Learners with self-efficacy are prone to engage in activities, here learning a TL, when they feel or see themselves succeeding in doing these activities or becoming proficient in the TL. This is the reason that it is important for educators not only to have high expectations for their learners, but also to create activities that learners enjoy and know they can do. According to the self-efficacy theory, learner behavior is influenced by their beliefs. So, if learners are armed with self-efficacy, seeing themselves succeeding, they make better choices and invest more effort and persistence in accomplishing tasks in their learning process. The safety of a physical learning space is another integral component of a supportive learning environment. Classrooms must be welcoming to all learners, regardless of physical or intellectual abilities or social status. In addition, classroom technologies such as lighting, interactive boards, and seating must be considered when setting up a classroom space (Thurber & Bandy, 2018). Finally, a classroom climate that fosters motivation of learners results in higher TL production. Moeller and Roberts (2013) suggest creating motivation strategies that move from extrinsic to intrinsic encourages authentic communication outside of the classroom, which is truly the goal of world language educators. Extrinsic motivators such as classroom rewards, class point systems, and celebrations of mistakes lead to learners developing their own intrinsic motivators for learning and using the TL, creating a more meaningful experience for learners. ### Supportive Lesson Plan The lesson plan should identify clear objectives and list lesson activities to develop high learner achievement (Ketsman, 2012). A lesson plan should contain: - Warm-up or activating strategy that introduces the lesson or summarizes a previous lesson - Vocabulary review or instruction - Teaching sequence of learning activities In addition, lesson materials such as: - Use of technology - A variety of assessments - Worksheets or lesson manipulatives - Ample amounts of the TL There are many learning strategies that emerge and are recognized by researchers as effective communicative language teaching (CLT). Teachers can choose the ones that suit his/her lessons and learners’ backgrounds. They also check learner understanding and give feedback. When creating specific lesson plans that are used to support learner proficiency growth in a safe and positive learning environment, an educator must address the following components: - A comprehensible input that facilitates learner understanding - Learner-centered activities Krashen (1981) states that “Second Language Acquisition (SLA) occurs when the learner comprehends the language input in a low-anxiety, high-motivation situation, and proposes that the role of the teacher is to create such a learning environment.” Krashen also promotes the comprehensible input model in which TL input is provided to learners at a level just above their current proficiency. The input a teacher provides should include visualizations, gestures, and non-verbal clues. In addition, input should connect with prior knowledge and learner backgrounds to help them form connections with new content in the TL (Moeller & Roberts, 2013). According to Moeller and Catalano (2015), language learning and teaching has shifted from teacher-centered to learner-centered. Learner-centered activities are those in which they take control of their learning in small groups and demonstrate what they can do with the language they learned. Activities such as pair work, group work, and cooperative/collaborative learning settings are examples of learner-centered activity. In these settings, educators better utilize authentic materials, culturally integrated lesson content, and interactive tasks focused on the cognitive and affective domains. This allows learners to oversee their learning process. In this theory, educators are guiding learners. In addition to facilitating a safe and supportive learning environment, lesson plans that have learner-centered tasks lend themselves well to including activities that focus on interpretive, interpersonal, and presentational modes of communication.
- Ketsman, O. (2012). Expectations in the foreign language classrooms: A case study. _The Qualitative Report_, 17(53), 1-21. <https://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol17/iss53/2/> A case study that provides insights about the role of expectations in foreign language classrooms and that offers examples of foreign language pedagogical practices that reflect high expectations. - Krashen, S. D. (1981). Bilingual education and second language acquisition theory. Schooling and language minority students: A theoretical framework, 51-79. <https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED249773.pdf#page=63> An article that explains Stephen Krashen’s theories of second language acquisition. - Moeller, A., & Catalano, T. (2015). Foreign language teaching and learning. Digital Commons @ University of Nebraska- Lincoln. <https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1195&context=teachlearnfacpub> An article that outlines how a shift in foreign language pedagogy from a specific foreign language method to the measurement of language performance/competency has resulted in a change in the role of the teacher from one of authority/expert to that of facilitator/guide and agent of change. - Moeller, A., & Roberts, A. (2013). Keeping it in the target language. Faculty Publications: Department of Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education. 162. <http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/teachlearnfacpub/162> An article that shows how the use of target language can ensure a lively and engaging language experience that can approximate authentic language use and make language learning meaningful. - Thurber, A., & Bandy, J. (2018). Creating accessible learning environments. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. Retrieved 09/19/2022 from <https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/creating-accessible-learning-environments/> The focus of this guide is to create inclusive and accessible higher education classrooms—beyond accommodation—for a range of learners with disabilities.
- [Clapper, T. C. (2010). Creating the safe learning environment. PAILAL, 3(2), 1-6.](http://tccid.dover.net/Creating%20the%20safe%20learning%20environment.pdf) A newsletter article that offers suggestions for creating a safe, positive, and trusting learning environment. - [Crouse, D. (2012). Going for 90%+: How to stay in the target language. ACTFL The Language Educator. 7(5), 23-27. Alexandria, VA.](https://ppli.ie/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/TLE_Oct12_Article.pdf) An article that discusses the what, why, and how of target language use in the classroom. - [Mulvahill, E. (2021). 18 effective ways to scaffold learning in the classroom. We Are Teachers website.](https://www.weareteachers.com/ways-to-scaffold-learning/) An article that defines scaffolding and offers strategies for supporting learners though scaffolds. - [Page, Holland. (2021). Five strategies to support language learners in the classroom. Participate Learning.](https://www.participatelearning.com/blog/five-strategies-to-support-language-learners-in-the-classroom/) An article that provides a list of strategies to support learners in the dual language classroom. - [Printer, L. (2021). The power of positive emotions in the language classroom. The Motivated Classroom podcast.](https://anchor.fm/themotivatedclassroom/episodes/42--The-power-of-positive-emotions-in-the-language-classroom-e11mvve) In this episode, the speaker provides an overview of the key research in the area of positive emotions in the language classroom and how we can apply it to classes to make the experience more welcoming, fun, and interesting for learners. - [Sauer, T., Arnett, K., Dong, T., Rhodes, R., & Zarrow, T. (2020). National Foreign Language Center Virtual Summit panel discussion: Learning environment.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-LU-a8dbDg) A panel discussion around the question of “How do teachers create a safe and supportive learning environment to prepare for learning?” - [Shaw, J. (2019). 11 world language classroom management strategies. Secondary Spanish Space.](https://secondaryspanishspace.com/11-world-language-classroom-management/) The author provides a list of suggestions for creating an optimal language learning environment. - [Spathis, E. (2020). 5 Ways to support struggling students in world language classes. Edutopia.](https://www.edutopia.org/article/5-ways-support-struggling-students-world-language-classes) An online article that offers strategies for increasing struggling learners’ confidence in the target language. - [Watson, Sue. (2020). How to create a friendly classroom environment. ThoughtCo.](https://www.thoughtco.com/non-threatening-welcome-classroom-environment-3111328) An online article that gives advice on establishing an environment conducive to student growth.
Artifact 1: Video or Audio Recording, or Classroom Photos
Video/audio recording or set of classroom photos demonstrate multiple efforts of creating a safe and supportive classroom for WL learners (including high expectations of learners, self-efficacy practices, and extrinsic motivators).
Artifacts submitted include two or more components of a safe and supportive classroom.
There is no evidence of a safe and supportive classroom environment suitable for learners to take risks using the TL.
Lesson plan is complete. It includes comprehensible input and learner-centered activities.
Lesson plan is incomplete and is missing one of the key components required (comprehensible input or learner-centered activities).
Lesson plan does not include both comprehensible input and learner-centered activities.
Educator reflection is specific and explains the impact this method has in classroom practices leading to learner TL production.
To earn this micro-credential, you must submit **two pieces of evidence**: **Artifact 1: Video or Audio (5-8 minutes), or photos of classroom** Submit a video or audio recording that demonstrates evidence of learner TL production based on the safe and supportive WL learning environment. Learners should be using the TL to take risks with communication. If this is not possible, photos of the classroom and materials that show lowered affective filters, extrinsic motivators, and/or student collaboration are acceptable. **Artifact 2: Lesson Plan** Submit a lesson plan that demonstrates the attributes of a safe and supportive learning environment that includes evidence of comprehensible input, support and scaffolds of target language output from students, and learner-centered learning activities. _If you submit a link, it should be set to “anyone with the link can view” in order to assess._
Using the materials that you uploaded in Part 2 above, share your reflection based on the following prompts: - How do the activities of the lesson plan foster TL risk-taking for learners? - What evidence from your experiences proves that learners feel safe and supported in your classroom? - Which efforts did you find to be the most productive in lowering the affective filter?
Planning for Proficiency with Functional Goals and Objectives
Educator uses the NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements to set goals for learners’ proficiency and give opportunities for learner reflection on growth.
# Key Method The educator uses the ACTFL Can-Do Statements to set goals for learners’ proficiency in each mode of communication. The educator helps learners use the Can-Do Statements to set their own goals or reflect on their growth over a period of time. # Method Components According to ACTFL, there are four components to implementing Can-Do Statements: **Can-Do Statements describe what learners can do consistently over time** Learners demonstrate what they “can do” consistently in each mode and at each sub-level, in numerous situations throughout the learning process. Learners may be at different levels for different modes (interpretive, interpersonal, presentational) or skills (reading, listening, writing, speaking, signing). **Can-Do Statements help learners set goals as they progress along the proficiency continuum** Can-Do Statements describe what learners can independently do at each sublevel and help pave the way to higher levels. Higher-level skills and functions (e.g., using timeframes, understanding complex texts) need to be introduced at lower sublevels and built upon in order to have independent control of these skills and functions at higher sublevels. **The sets of examples can be adapted to match school, district, or postsecondary curriculum, as well as independent learning goals** Examples include topics that expand across the proficiency continuum, from familiar (daily life, personal experiences, classroom or researched topics) to concrete to abstract. Learners and educators are encouraged to customize the “I can . . .” examples in order to fit the content and context of the learning and the targeted proficiency level. **Can-Do statements are a starting point for self-assessment, goal setting, and the creation of rubrics for performance-based grading** Learners and educators use the statements for self-evaluation to become more aware of what they know and can do in the target language. By using statements aligned to the proficiency scale, educators can more easily create rubrics that enable learners to chart their progress. The educator shows how each function is embedded into their practice and demonstrate the implementation of functional goals throughout.
Educator completely answers each of the questions using personal examples and supporting evidence. Response clearly illustrates experience with and knowledge of World Language Proficiency. Writing is organized and easy to understand.
The plan demonstrates backward planning using Can-Do Statements and shows specific alignment between the Can-Do Statements, the unit’s performance targets, and the end-of-course proficiency target. The plan addresses how Can-Do Statements are shared with learners and referenced throughout the lesson. An explanation of the implementation and how it pertains to any of the above functions of Can-Do Statements is clear and specific.
The plan does not address all elements of the prompt; evidence is provided that only shows minimal use of Can-Do Statements in planning the unit/lesson. Contains limited explanation of the artifact and how it pertains to any of the above functions of Can-Do Statements.
The plan is not provided or does not show use of Can-Do Statements in planning the unit/lesson. There is either vague or no explanation of the artifact and how it pertains to any of the above functions of Can-Do Statements.
All three learner work samples are submitted, and they include learner reflections regarding their ability to meet the Can-Do Statements, receive feedback, and set a goal. An explanation of the implementation and how it pertains to any of the above functions of Can-Do Statements is clear and specific.
Fewer than three learner work samples are submitted, and do not fully address reflections regarding their ability to meet the Can-Do Statements, receive feedback, and set a goal. Contains limited explanation of the artifact and how it pertains to any of the above functions of Can-Do Statements.
Either no or minimal learner work samples are submitted, and reflections are unclear or non-specific. Work samples do not demonstrate self-reflection. There is either vague or no explanation of the artifact and how it pertains to any of the above functions of Can-Do Statements.
Goal Setting document explains how educator and learners set goals as a result of their assessment and reflection. Goals are specific and relevant to the unit/lesson and learner reflection. An explanation of the implementation and how it pertains to any of the above functions of Can-Do Statements is clear and specific.
Goal Setting document does not directly explain how educator and learners set goals as a result of their assessment and reflection. Goals are vague and/or not relevant to the unit/lesson and learner reflection. Contains limited explanation of the artifact and how it pertains to any of the above functions of Can-Do Statements.
Either no or minimal Goal Setting is provided. There is either vague or no explanation of the artifact and how it pertains to any of the above functions of Can-Do Statements.
Educator shared specific observations on learner engagement, successes, and areas of growth. Reflection clearly explains any shifts in practice that may have occurred.
Please share information about your experience with ACTFL Can-Do Statements. - How long have you been using a proficiency-based curriculum and/or Can-Do Statements? - How does your district or school align with a proficiency-based approach? (Provide PD, expectations of Can-Do Statements, and other initiatives that align a proficiency-based curriculum.) - Prior to completing the micro-credential, how familiar were you with ACTFL Can-Do Statements? - Prior to completing the micro-credential, how often did you have learners self-assess and reflect on their proficiency?
**Can-Do Statements:** Demonstrate the use of Can-Do Statements in your classroom. To earn this micro-credential, you must submit **three pieces of evidence**: **Artifact 1: Planning** Submit a unit or lesson plan that demonstrates backward planning by using Can-Do Statements. The unit or lesson plan must show the alignment between the Can-Do Statements, the unit’s performance targets, and the end-of-course proficiency target. Please also share how the Can-Do Statements are shared with learners and continually referenced throughout the lesson. **Artifact 2: Learner Reflection** Collect three learner work samples from the unit or lesson plan (Artifact 1), wherein learners reflect on their ability to meet the Can-Do Statements, receive feedback, and set a goal. Learners may use a rubric to self-assess and reflect on their progress. Learner work samples may be in the form of video, audio, or written. **Artifact 3: Goal Setting** Submit a written document that explains how you and the learners (from Artifact 2) set goals as a result of their assessment and reflection. For each piece of evidence, submit a brief explanation of the implementation and how it pertains to any of the above functions of Can-Do Statements. _If you submit a link, it should be set to “anyone with the link can view” in order to assess._
- What did you observe about learner engagement during the lesson? What went well? What might you change in the future? - Were there any shifts in your practice? If yes, what were they? If no, please expand on why you think a shift did not occur.
Teaching about World Language Proficiency
Educator facilitates learners' understanding of language proficiency and what proficiency looks like at varying levels.
# Key Method The educator uses the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines to design activities that facilitate learner understanding of world language proficiency. # Method Components Language is imperative to learning for, without it, one cannot comprehend or communicate effectively. Understanding proficiency allows learners to drive their own educational experience in language acquisition. It further allows them to better understand what they are able to do in the language and the efficiency of their communication. ### ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines On this topic, ACTFL states “a description of what individuals can do with language in terms of speaking, writing, listening, and reading in real-world situations in a spontaneous and non-rehearsed context.” ACTFL proficiency guidelines progress from novice to distinguished and show what one can do at each level. ### Designing Activities that Facilitate Learner Understanding - Educators use the proficiency guidelines from novice low to intermediate high, either in the target language or first language depending on the proficiency level of the learners, in a lesson wherein formative data can be obtained about learners. comprehension of the various proficiency levels in world language acquisition. - Educators set clear and realistic expectations for their learners regarding proficiency outcomes in language acquisition. Learners demonstrate in the target language their level of proficiency and, in their first language, explain how they can “level up.” - Educators use rubrics to have their learners self-reflect and rate their own level of proficiency at various times throughout the year. The educator shows how proficiency guidelines are embedded into their world language instructional practice and how learners can use these proficiency guidelines to self-assess in order to level up their learning.
- ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines, 2012. <https://digitalpromise.box.com/s/9uk35iu29ijg3c90pyldqu3qzn7bfevc> - Alhamami, M. (2019). Learners’ beliefs about language-learning abilities in face-to-face & online settings. _Int Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education 16_(31). <https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-019-0162-1> The study investigates the factors that influence language learners’ beliefs and how these beliefs impact learners’ motivation to learn a language. - Brantmeier, C., Vanderplank, R., & Strube, M. (2012). What about me?: Individual self-assessment by skill and level of language instruction. _System_. 40. 144–160. <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2012.01.003> The investigation demonstrates the value of learner self-assessment in tandem with language program assessment. - Kissling, E., & O'Donnell, M. (2015). Increasing language awareness and self-efficacy of FL students using self-assessment and the ACTFL proficiency guidelines. _Language Awareness_. 24. 1-20. <https://doi.org/10.1080/09658416.2015.1099659> A study that investigates learners’ use of the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines to self-assess their language proficiency. - Malone, M., Rifkin, B., Christian, D., & Johnson, D. (2005). Attaining high levels of proficiency: Challenges for language education in the United States. _Journal for Distinguished Language Studies_. 2. <https://www.cal.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/AttainingHighLevelsofProficiency.pdf> A digest that investigates the availability and adequacy of teaching methods and tools, information technologies, and testing procedures to help language learners achieve high levels of proficiency. It also suggests ways to help develop highly proficient speakers of languages other than English in the United States.
- [Brandeis University. (n.d.). Language proficiency overview video.](https://www.brandeis.edu/world-languages-cultures/language-proficiency/index.html) A video that describes the difference between performance and proficiency and that explains each proficiency level. - [Cabral, Joshua. (2017). What does language look like at the various proficiency levels? _World Language Classroom blog_.](https://wlclassroom.com/2017/01/26/levelup/) The blog post provides graphics that describe the proficiency levels to use with language learners. - [Gasparro, J., & COERLL. (n.d.). Introduction to oral proficiency levels. _The University of Texas at Austin_.](https://oralproficiency.coerll.utexas.edu/) Self-paced learning modules for deepening knowledge around ACTFL proficiency levels. - [Grahn, L., & McAlpine, D. (2017). Language learners with a growth mindset poster. _The Keys to Strategies for Language Learning._ ACTFL. Alexandria, VA. 15.](https://www.grahnforlang.com/uploads/1/1/7/7/117753029/lang_learn_growth_mind_ms.pdf) An infographic that describes the behaviors of good language learners. - [Parker, K. (2012). Explaining proficiency levels to learners. _Creative Language Class._](https://www.creativelanguageclass.com/explaining-proficiency-levels-to-students/) - [ACTFL YouTube page](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiBeZAsXz-RvyL67GJzzlRw) A YouTube channel that contains information regarding language acquisition, proficiency guidelines, and more. - [Shelby County Schools World Language Program. (2016). Pathways to proficiency poster.](https://leveluplanguage.weebly.com/uploads/1/4/7/4/14740796/pathtoproficiency.pdf) A poster that illustrates the progression of the proficiency levels in the form of a pathway that includes examples of what learners can do at each level. - [Shelby County Schools World Language Program. (2016). Performance å la Mode poster.](https://leveluplanguage.weebly.com/uploads/1/4/7/4/14740796/performancealamodeimm.pdf) A poster that illustrates the progression of the proficiency levels in the form of an ice cream cone with scoops of ice cream. - [Weeks, C. (2022). Characteristics of ACTFL’s proficiency levels for language learners. _Participate Learning_](https://www.participatelearning.com/blog/characteristics-of-actfls-proficiency-levels-for-language-learners/) A blog post wherein the author describes the ACTFL proficiency levels. - [Cabral, Joshua. (2017). What does language look like at the various proficiency levels? _World Language Classroom blog_.](https://wlclassroom.com/2017/01/26/levelup/) The blog post provides graphics that describe the proficiency levels to use with language learners. - [Weeks, C. (2022). Characteristics of ACTFL’s proficiency levels for language learners. _Participate Learning_.](https://www.participatelearning.com/blog/characteristics-of-actfls-proficiency-levels-for-language-learners/) A blog post wherein the author describes the ACTFL proficiency levels.
Educator provides a description of their classroom grade level, language level, class size, demographic information, and responses to each of the reflection questions.
Lesson or unit plan is complete and directly shows planning for the use of ACTFL proficiency guidelines.
Lesson or unit plan is incomplete and does not directly demonstrate planning for the use of ACTFL proficiency guidelines.
Lesson or unit plan is incomplete or not submitted.
Artifact 2: Understanding of Proficiency Guidelines
Three learner work samples are submitted. The work samples show a clear understanding of the guidelines for each of the proficiency levels in the target or first language.
Only one or two learner work samples are submitted, or the work samples do not clearly outline an understanding of the guidelines for each of the proficiency levels in the target or first language.
Learner work samples are incomplete or not submitted.
Artifact 3: Evidence of Learner Proficiency Self-reflection
The educator created a rubric that is robust and aligns to appropriate proficiency goals and that allows for learners to thoroughly self-reflect and rate their own level of proficiency. Five learner self-reflections are submitted and clearly relate to the rubric.
The educator created a rubric that does not align or is not appropriate for proficiency goals. The rubric does not allow learners to thoroughly self-reflect and rate their own level of proficiency. Fewer than five learner self-reflections are submitted.
The submission is incomplete, and it does not include either the rubric or contains fewer than five of the learner self-reflections.
Response thoughtfully addresses the impact the micro-credential has had on the educator’s practice in promoting proficiency in the world language classroom. Reflection includes personal examples and supporting evidence that is organized and easy to understand.
1. What is language proficiency and how is it best showcased in the world language classroom? 2. How do you currently explain proficiency and allow for learners to demonstrate their understanding of proficiency?
To earn this micro-credential, you must submit **three pieces of evidence**: **Artifact 1: Planning** Submit a document that shows the use of ACTFL proficiency guidelines in a lesson plan or unit plan. **Artifact 2: Understanding of Proficiency Guidelines** Submit three learner work samples that demonstrate learners' understanding of the guidelines for each of the proficiency levels (from novice low to intermediate high) in the: - target language for more advanced learners - in the learners’ first language for novice learners. **Artifact 3: Evidence of Learner Proficiency Self-reflection** Develop a rubric for learners to self-reflect and rate their own level of proficiency. Learners give an example for each component of the rubric in the target language. Submit five self-reflections from learners. _If you submit a link, it should be set to “anyone with the link can view” in order to assess._
Write a personal reflection about your work on this micro-credential. Reflect on the following questions: - Did you improve your knowledge of proficiency by teaching it to others? If so, what did you learn? - What challenges did you face in explaining proficiency to your learners? Was there any prior knowledge you felt would have been helpful for learners before beginning this micro-credential? - How successful were you in incorporating the language of proficiency into your daily teaching in such a way that your learners were able to articulate the definition and showcase their skills in language production?
Communicating with Communities about World Language Proficiency
Educator facilitates communication with various school and community groups about teaching for proficiency in the World Language classroom.
# Key Method The educator develops a plan to communicate about World Language Proficiency based on current research—one that targets one group of school or community constituents to intentionally promote the importance of a proficiency-based curriculum. # Method Components ### Overview The Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition states: “Proficiency-oriented language instruction is a general framework for organizing instruction, curriculum, and assessment. Within this framework, language learners practice the four modalities (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) in order to communicate meaningfully, effectively, and creatively in their target language for real-life purposes. A proficiency orientation promotes intercultural communication by exploring the mosaic of language and culture, so that learners can communicate appropriately and accurately in authentic contexts in the foreign language. Proficiency-based instruction is learner-centered and builds upon what learners need, already know, and can do, and it respects diverse learning styles, while encouraging the development of a wide range of skills and learning strategies.” (Source: carla.umn.edu) With the above fundamentals in mind, the educator advocates for a proficiency-based World Language curriculum by: **Developing a Communication Plan** - Review current research on proficiency-based instruction - Select one interest group (parents/administrators/school board/community business partners, etc.) - Develop a communication plan to educate the targeted interest group on World Language proficiency. An effective communications plan includes a strategic message that is directed at the specific identified audience. The plan must also take into consideration the past, current, and future contexts in which the message is to be shared, the intended outcomes of the message, the key elements of the message, the appropriate medium for sharing the message, and the preferred messengers. **Communicating with Interest Group** - Implement the plan (at a meeting, professional learning session, parent meeting, etc.) - Gain feedback on the plan through a survey or other data collection method
- Baldwin, L. (2021). Effective leadership practices in language immersion programs. ACTFL _Foreign Language Annals_, 54(4), 1124-1144. Alexandria, VA. <https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12540> A study that highlights the importance of strong leadership for language immersion programs. - Cansler, L. (2008). Parent attitudes about and involvement with foreign language programs for elementary students. <https://doi.org/10.17615/z4ve-3g36> A study that shows results of a survey of parents whose learners attended an elementary FLES program. - Fox, R., Corretjer, O., & Webb, K. (2019). Benefits of foreign language learning and bilingualism: An analysis of published empirical research 2012–2019. ACTFL _Foreign language Annals,_ 52(4), 699-726. Alexandria, VA. <https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12424> The article is an analysis of research on the benefits of language learning and bilingualism to include cognitive benefits, employability, academic achievement, and a variety of additional benefits. - Graham-Clay, S. (2005). Communicating with parents: Strategies for teachers. _School Community Journal_, v15 n1 p117-129 Spr-Sum 2005. <https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ794819.pdf> An article that shows the importance of strong parent-teacher relationships and effective communication strategies in the interest of supporting learning. - Kraft, M. A., & Dougherty, S. M. (2013). The effect of teacher–family communication on student engagement: Evidence from a randomized field experiment. _Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness_, 6(3), 199-222. <https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/mkraft/files/kraft_dougherty_teacher_communication_jree.pdf> A study that highlights the effects of teacher-parent and teacher-learner communication on homework completion rates, classroom behavior, and participation in class. - Myende, P. (2013). Sustaining school-community partnerships through effective communication. _Communitas_. 18. 76-94. <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273637464_SUSTAINING_SCHOOL-COMMUNITY_PARTNERSHIPS_THROUGH_EFFECTIVE_COMMUNICATION> An article that investigated how the lack of effective communication impacts sustaining school-community partnerships. - Ratliffe, K., & Chappel, J. (2021). Factors impacting positive school–home communication: A multiple case study of family–school partnership practices in eight elementary schools in Hawaiʻi. _The Journal of Korean Society for School & Community Health Education_. <https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1323052.pdf> A study that points to the importance of informal, personalized, face-to-face communications across a range of different schools and demographics.
- [ACTFL World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages](https://www.actfl.org/resources/world-readiness-standards-learning-languages) - [Bex, M. (2018). What is proficiency-oriented language instruction? Comprehensible Classroom.](https://comprehensibleclassroom.com/2018/08/14/proficiency-oriented-language-instruction/) An article that provides a beginner’s guide to the proficiency-oriented classroom. - [Colorado Department of Education. (2020). Family and community guide for high school world languages.](https://www.cde.state.co.us/standardsandinstruction/cas-wl-hs-guides) A guide that provides an overview of the learning expectations for learners studying world languages and offers some learning experiences that learners may engage in at school that may also be supported at home. - [Fortune, T. W., & Tedick, D. J. (2003). What parents want to know about foreign language immersion programs. _ERIC Digest_.](https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED482493.pdf) A guide for parents whose learners are entering a language immersion program. - [Granite Schools. (2021). How DLI students progress toward language proficiency. Utah.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27nemTNmMy4) A video for parents that explains what proficiency is and how learners progress in their language proficiency. - [Great Schools Staff. (2016). Learning a second language: How parents can help.](https://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/learning-a-second-language/) An article that provides a list of tips for how parents can support language learning at home and at their child’s school. - [Great Schools Partnership. (2017). Planning for proficiency: Communication and community engagement.](https://www.greatschoolspartnership.org/proficiency-based-learning/planning-guide/communication-and-community-engagement/) A checklist for school leaders for planning to communicate with and engage school communities that includes a downloadable brief and video. - [Wertz, R. (2020). Proficiency 101 for Parents. Ohio Department of Education presentation.]( https://www.lebanonschools.org/media/curriculum/Lebanon%20Parents%20%20Proficiency%20Presentation%202-5-20%20updated.pdf) A PDF of a presentation to parents about proficiency.
Action plan addresses three (3) targeted interest groups, details how and why they could communicate to them, and uses current research to support their plan.
Action plan is missing or has one incomplete component: addresses three (3) targeted interest groups, details how and why they could communicate to them, and uses current research to support their plan.
Action plan is missing or has more than one incomplete component: addresses three (3) targeted interest groups, details how and why they could communicate to them, and uses current research to support their plan.
Artifact 2: Product Related to Presentation
Product is professional, includes examples from research and experience, and is suitable for the target audience.
Product is almost thorough and professional enough to present to the target audience, but it is missing a few details.
Product is not ready to present to the target audience. Product is missing several components.
Artifact includes feedback from the audience and demonstrates what they learned and how they plan to use the information.
Artifact includes feedback from the audience but does not demonstrate what they learned or how they plan to use the information.
Artifact does not contain feedback from the audience.
Response thoughtfully addresses the impact the micro-credential has had on the educator’s practice in promoting World Language Proficiency. Reflection includes personal examples and supporting evidence that is organized and easy to understand.
How have you educated yourself and (if applicable) your learners on the components of World Language Proficiency? Considering your personal experiences and the research on proficiency, what do you feel is your role in educating the school community? In your experience, which targeted interest group (school board, parents, administrators, local businesses) could benefit the most from learning about proficiency, and why?
To earn this micro-credential, you must submit **three pieces of evidence**: **Artifact 1: Action Plan** Select three school community interest groups (school board, parents, administrators, local businesses) that you could reach out to regarding the promotion of a proficiency-based curriculum. Write an action plan stating how you wish to address each of these groups. Be sure to refer to supporting research and resources. **Artifact 2: Product Related to Presentation (slideshow, brochure, video, letter, etc.)** Select one school or community stakeholder from your plan in **artifact 1** to address to promote a proficiency-based curriculum. Share the product best suited to your identified audience (slideshow, brochure, video, letter) in which you share what you learned about advocating for a proficiency-based curriculum. **Artifact 3: Feedback from community** Please submit feedback received from the selected group. How was your plan received? What will your audience do with this knowledge? The feedback can be in any appropriate form, including survey results or written comments. _If you submit a link, it should be set to “anyone with the link can view” in order to assess._
- What key insights did you learn about communicating with other school community groups about World Language Proficiency? - How did the selected stakeholder group respond to your presentation? How will this increased learning on their part support a more proficiency-focused approach to world language learning in the community? - How will your new learning improve your practices in your current role?
Educator uses a variety of formative assessment strategies to monitor and adjust instruction in order to maximize learner learning.
# Key Method The educator designs and implements a variety of formative assessments (checks for understanding) to gather evidence of learner learning in order to inform instruction and provide timely feedback to their learners. # Method Components ### Overview Formative assessment is an ongoing process of collecting evidence of learner learning during instruction to inform next steps that an educator can use for instructional decisions and that learners can use in improving their performance (Moss & Brookhart, 2019). **Any task can be a formative assessment, as long as it provides information that guides subsequent instruction for the educator and guides learners to advance learning** (Wiliam, 2011). In this respect, formative assessment may take a variety of forms such as informal activities, including educator–learner interactions, checks for understanding, small group work, observations, and quizzes. The focus of the definition is on decisions regarding next steps in instruction for current learners, rather than intentions or outcomes. Taking action is the most important aspect to distinguish formative assessment from summative assessment (Bell & Cowie, 2002). However, the assessment need not change the direction of instruction. It might confirm that the planned subsequent actions were appropriate (Wiliam, 2010). “Checking for understanding is an important step in the teaching and learning [formative assessment] process. The background knowledge that learners bring into the classroom influences how they understand the material you share and the lessons or learning opportunities you provide. Unless you check for understanding, it is difficult to know exactly what learners are getting out of the lesson. In fact, checking for understanding is part of a formative assessment system in which educators identify learning goals, provide learners feedback, and then plan instruction based on learners' errors and misconceptions” (Fisher & Frey, 2014). ### Reflect on Your Language Learners - Understand learners’ background knowledge, areas of strength, and challenges in their language proficiency levels, as evidenced by previous assessments. - Consider how formative assessments will help you continuously collect data that will help you provide feedback to your learners, as well as modify instruction, if needed. ### Select Formative Assessment Strategies During Lesson Planning As you select a strategy during lesson planning, ask yourself the following questions to assist in ensuring that the strategy is aligned with the goal: - What is the goal of the lesson or learning experience? - How do I know that this goal aligns with the curriculum or program for the learners? - How can I use what I know about my learners while planning to ensure that the content and activities of the lesson or learning experience are engaging and that they support learning? - What formative assessment strategies will I use during the lesson? Where in the lesson should I use a formative assessment strategy to gather data on learner learning? ### Implement Formative Assessments and Use Data to Maximize Learning - Implement formative assessment strategies that you have selected. - Consider the learner responses to the assessments and how you use this information to provide feedback and modify or differentiate instruction, if needed. ### Sample Formative Assessment Strategies - Whiteboards: Invite learners to write answers on whiteboards or index cards and display them when prompted. Invite a learner with a correct answer to explain his or her thinking. - Think, Pair, Share: Teach learners the protocol for Think, Pair, Share exercises. Listen to learners’ answers as they share with their partners. - Digital Poll: If the tools are available, poll learners through digital programs (i.e., Poll Everywhere, Kahoot, Gimkit, or Blooket). Invite learners to defend their answers and explain their thinking. - Quiz: Invite learners to respond to a series of questions about a specific topic or concept and provide actionable feedback. - Quick Write: Invite learners to write a short paragraph on a given prompt. - Conference: Check in with learners individually throughout the lesson to understand their thinking.
- Afitska, O. (2014). Use of formative assessment, self- and peer-assessment in the classrooms: Some insights from recent language teaching and assessment research. _I-manager’s Journal on English Language Teaching_, 4(1), 29-39. <https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1068443.pdf> A review of research conducted in L2 classrooms, immersion and mainstream classrooms, that shows that all educators should not only support the learners' linguistic development, butalso formatively assess learners' linguistic knowledge through provision of formative educator feedback and opportunities for learner self- and peer-assessment. - Bell, B., & Cowie, B. (2002). The characteristics of formative assessment. In _Formative assessment and science education._ Science & Technology Education Library, vol 12. Springer, Dordrecht. <https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-47227-9_4> - De Neve, D., Leroy, A., Struyven, K., & Smits, T. (2020). Supporting formative assessment in the second language classroom: An action research study in secondary education. _Educational Action Research_. <https://repository.uantwerpen.be/docstore/d:irua:2563> An action research article that offers insights into how the learning process of educators implementing formative assessment can be encouraged. - Dmitrenko, N., Budas, I., Koliadych, Y., & Poliarush, N. (2021). Impact of formative assessment on students’ motivation in foreign language acquisition. _East European Journal of Psycholinguistics_, _8_(2). <https://doi.org/10.29038/eejpl.2021.8.2.dmi> An article that shows that a high level of formative assessment can be beneficial for overcoming learners’ low motivation, if learners receive immediate feedback, evaluation of their work, educators’ recommendations, and support. - Fisher, D., Frey, N., (2014). _Checking for understanding: formative assessment techniques for your classroom_. ASCD. - Excerpt: <https://files.ascd.org/staticfiles/ascd/pdf/siteASCD/publications/books/checking-for-understanding-2nd-sample-chapters.pdf> - Worldcat: <http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/882464215> In this book, Fisher and Frey share a variety of formative assessment strategies to check for understanding, including oral language, questioning, writing, projects and performances, tests, and schoolwide approaches. - Jones, J. (2005). Developing effective formative assessment practices in the primary modern foreign language classroom. _Encuentro_. 15, 39-47. <https://ppli.ie/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/06_Jones.pdf> An article that shows manageable and sensitive ways of dealing with formative assessment in the primary modern language classroom, taking into account the diverse needs of the learners. - Ketabi, S., & Ketabi, S. (2014). Classroom and formative assessment in second/foreign language teaching and learning. _Theory and Practice in Language Studies_, 4(2), 435-440. <http://www.academypublication.com/issues/past/tpls/vol04/02/28.pdf> A study that defines different types of assessment, compares formative and classroom assessment, and identifies the areas that need more attention by researchers. - Moss, C. M., & Brookhart, S. M. (2019). The lay of the land: Essential elements of the formative assessment process. In C. M. Moss & S. M. Brookhart (Eds.), _Advancing formative assessment in every classroom: A guide for instructional leaders._ Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Retrieved June 16, 2021, from <http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/120005/chapters/The-Lay-of-The-Land@-Essential-Elements-of-the-Formative-Assessment-Process.aspx> - Samper, M. (2020). The use of formative assessment in foreign language teaching for motivation and L2 perception. University of Barcelona. <https://diposit.ub.edu/dspace/bitstream/2445/171028/1/VILA%20SAMPER%2C%20Mireia%20TFG.pdf> The article presents evidence that the long-term use of formative assessment is able to better motivate learners, reduce their anxiety, and change their beliefs on FLL by means of confidence boosting and constant feedback reception. - Wiliam, D. (2010). The role of formative assessment in effective learning environments. _The nature of learning: Using research to inspire practice_ (pp. 135–155). OECD. <https://worldcat.org/en/title/670480966> - Xie, F. (2021). Secondary language teachers’ perspectives on formative writing assessments. _Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies_. 11036. <https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/11036> Findings in this study showed that, while there are obstacles in implementing formative assessment, language educators had positive experiences with formative assessment in the classroom that support learners’ learning.
- [Curtain, H., & Villarreal, A. (2015). Checking for understanding overview. _Teacher Effectiveness for Language Learning Project_ _and Advance Learning_.](http://www.tellproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/AdvanceLearning_CheckingForUnderstanding_Overview_2.pdf) An at-a-glance overview resource for checking for understanding in the language classroom. - [Naditz, N. (n.d.). Formative assessment tools matrix.](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vToW7UCB3vpitp1PDLjbd2H9kei9tiFuRzDcuLnlLRzr5w4EXeLsVfA1jGzKnfcTh5TlICZvTByuPhf/pubhtml) A resource that provides a spreadsheet of technology tools that can be used in the world language classroom for formative assessment. - [Spathis, E. (2021). Designing meaningful assessments in world language classes.](https://www.edutopia.org/article/designing-meaningful-assessments-world-language-classes) An article that gives suggestions for designing assessments that gauge reading and listening comprehension, as well as writing and conversational skills. - [Teacher Effectiveness for Language Learning Project and Advance Learning. (2015). Checking for Understanding.](http://www.tellproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/AdvanceLearning_CheckingForUnderstanding_Infographic_4.pdf) An at-a-glance infographic that suggests strategies and approaches for checking for understanding in the language classroom. - [Teacher Effectiveness for Language Learning Project and Advance Learning. (2015). Performance Assessments.](http://www.tellproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/AdvanceLearning_PerformanceAssessments_Infographic_4.pdf) ### Annotating Text - [Annotation Guide](https://www.covcath.org/uploaded/06_Students/Annotation_Guide_AP_Language.pdf) - [Annotating Texts, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill](https://learningcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/annotating-texts/) - [What is Annotating and Why Do It? Eastern Washington University](https://research.ewu.edu/writers_c_read_study_strategies)
Educator completely answers each of the questions using personal examples and supporting evidence. Responses clearly illustrate experience with and knowledge of formative assessment strategies. Writing is organized and easy to understand.
The annotated lesson plan is complete and addresses evidence of planning for formative assessments. Annotations clearly address rationale for use of formative assessment strategies.
The annotated lesson plan is incomplete and/or addresses some evidence of planning for formative assessments. Annotations may be present, but they do not clearly address rationale for use of formative assessment strategies.
The annotated lesson plan is incomplete and/or does not address evidence of planning for formative assessments. Annotations are not included.
The uploaded video/audio is at least 10 minutes long and clearly demonstrates the instruction outlined in the annotated lesson plan. The video/audio also clearly demonstrates evidence of the clear use of formative assessment strategies with learner responses and the timely feedback provided by the educator.
The uploaded video/audio may or may not be at least 10 minutes long and may not clearly demonstrate the instruction outlined in the annotated lesson plan. The video/audio also may not demonstrate clear evidence of the clear use of formative assessment strategies with learner responses and/or the timely feedback provided by the educator.
No video/audio was uploaded, or it did not demonstrate the instruction outlined in the annotated lesson plan. The video/audio did not demonstrate evidence of the clear use of formative assessment strategies with learner responses and/or the timely feedback provided by the educator.
This artifact was not chosen as one of the three options.
The rationale is clear as to the method for choosing the three learners. Work samples from three learner work samples with educator feedback have been supplied. The learner work samples clearly demonstrate their responses to the formative assessment identified in the annotated lesson plan.
The rationale is unclear or vague as to the method for choosing the three learners. Learner work samples are uploaded but the work of fewer than three learners may be represented, or educator feedback may be missing. The learner work samples may not clearly demonstrate responses to the formative assessment identified in the annotated lesson plan.
Artifact 2c: Evidence of Informing Instruction
Lesson plan is submitted that clearly shows how instruction has been adjusted to respond to formative assessment results.
Lesson plan is submitted but it may not clearly show how instruction has been adjusted.
Lesson plan is not submitted or does not demonstrate adjustments in instruction made from formative assessment results.
Educator reflection is specific and demonstrates how they were able to adjust instruction based on their learners’ needs. The responses provide specific information and examples where necessary and include how the educator’s assessment practices may change in the future.
Provide a description of the lesson you and your learners engaged in that shows evidence of planning using formative assessment strategies. - What are the strengths and challenges of your learners based on the results of earlier assessments? - Which formative assessment strategies did you use? - Why did you choose to use these particular strategies? - What data did you intend to collect from these strategies?
To earn this micro-credential, you must submit **two pieces of evidence**. Artifact 1 is required, and you will choose to submit one artifact from the options of Artifact 2a and Artifact 2b for your second piece of evidence. **Artifact 1: Annotated Lesson Plan (Required)** Upload a lesson plan that is evidence of planning for formative assessments. The lesson can be in a format of your choosing. Annotations of the lesson (voice recording, written or digital text, etc.) should include explanations about the formative assessment strategies used. _Choose **one** of the following to submit:_ **Artifact 2a: Instruction** Upload a 10- to 20-minute video/audio of class instruction using the lesson plan submitted as Article 1. The video/audio should include evidence of the clear use of formative assessment strategies with learner responses and the timely feedback that you provided. **Artifact 2b: Learner Work Samples** Choose at least three diverse learners to provide samples of their responses from the formative assessments. These learners should represent the spectrum of learning in your classroom. Submit the following: - Rationale (150-word limit) - Why did you choose these individual learners? - How did your choice of formative assessment strategies help you gather information that maximized their learning opportunities? - What did you learn about what your learners are able to do from these assessments? - Work Samples - Upload samples from three learners from the lesson plan provided in Artifact 1. For each learner, submit work examples (writing, audio, images, video, or other products) that demonstrate their responses to the formative assessments and any feedback that you provided as a result of the assessment. **Artifact 2c: Evidence of Informing Instruction** Submit lesson plans that show your use of evidence from the assessments to inform instruction. For example, adjusting activities to address misconceptions or providing additional learning resources before moving to the designed instructional sequence. This could have happened during the lesson submitted as Artifact 1 or in subsequent lessons. _If you submit a link, it should be set to “anyone with the link can view” in order to assess._
Provide a reflection on the importance of designing and implementing formative assessments using the following questions as guidance: - How did using formative assessments help you adjust instruction to better meet your learners’ needs in a timely manner? - How might your assessment practices change as a result of what you have learned?
Designing Accessible World Language Learning for All Learners
Educator designs world language learning opportunities that are accessible for and inclusive of all learners.
# Key Method The educator shows purposeful planning using inclusive instructional strategies that demonstrate an understanding that average world language learners do not exist. # Method Components ### Overview The educator shows evidence of addressing universal language learning actions in the language classroom that provide a more inclusive and accessible world language learning experience for _all_ the learners they serve. Based on learning sciences and cognitive neuroscience, people vary in how they learn. The way one chooses to learn depends on their background knowledge, cultural background, experiences, and interests. Not only do we all learn in unique ways, but our abilities continually change in response to the environment in real-time, resulting in variability based on the day, hour, or even minute. In an inclusive and accessible world language learning environment, language educators marry the concepts of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) with second language learning pedagogy. Educators use universal language actions (ULAs) such as gestures, procedures, and routines that help create the most favorable learning experiences and unfettered access to the world language curriculum. Through the UDL lens, ULAs are an important component to lesson design that help educators create a learning safety net for all their learners. ### Knowing Your World Language Learners Educators must know their learners. They must be able to identify the strengths and areas of needed growth for each learner. For learners who may have an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) or 504 Plan, the educator must also know the precise accommodations that have been identified to maximize access to learning in the classroom. ### Implementing Inclusive World Language Instructional Practices Inclusive world language instructional practices are those actions that continually encourage the educator to reflect on their practice as they tailor the ways by which they facilitate access to the language and curriculum based on their learners’ strengths and challenges. Inclusive instructional practices or universal language actions (ULAs) help educators increase support for language learners in key aspects of language learning: **1. Understanding and grasping the target language** A combination of the following inclusive practices should be regularly incorporated into daily lesson planning to facilitate comprehension for all language learners: - Using gestures, facial expression, images, pictures, drawings, objects, and manipulation materials - Playing with expression and voice intonation, and pacing rate of speech - Adjusting the complexity of oral and/or written language - Assessing the extent of prior knowledge and filling in any major gaps - Providing wait time when presenting new information, after asking a question, or before inviting learners to start a task - Repeating or reformulating oral and written language **2. Producing oral and written language** Some language learners need additional support if they are to produce oral or written language at the desired proficiency level. A combination of the following inclusive practices should be used regularly: - Providing many exemplars of oral and written tasks - Using graphic organizers to support oral and written production - Creating and displaying linguistic supports around the classroom - Offering planning strategies for learners to use before starting a task - Using pedagogical and language production routines - Choosing grouping arrangements that favor peer communication - Asking questions that encourage learners to elaborate **3. Sustaining attention and focus while learning** To facilitate access to language learning, the educator must limit the amount of overload learners experience by ensuring that the cognitive, linguistic, and task demands imposed on them are manageable. A combination of the following inclusive practices should be used regularly: - Providing specific listening and reading intentions - Dividing lessons, activities, and tasks into many small steps - Incorporating discourse markers to oral and written texts - Providing explicit cues to refocus learners’ attention - Using different modalities to present material - Explaining the relevance of what is being taught - Summarizing the key points of lessons, activities, and reading passages **4. Developing and expanding vocabulary learning** Vocabulary expansion is key to learning a new language. A combination of the following inclusive practices should be used regularly to ensure that all learners are able to expand their vocabulary: - Identifying and presenting required language at the onset of a lesson or activity - Capitalizing on the use of word walls and word maps - Accessing the senses to facilitate vocabulary acquisition - Using role-play and games to present or reinforce new vocabulary - Explaining vocabulary using examples, synonyms, antonyms, cognates, and educator/learner definitions (i.e., Frayer Models). Universal Language Actions taken from Arnett, Katy and Bourgoin, Renee. _Access for Success: Making Inclusion Work for Language Learners_. 2018.
- An average student does not exist: The myth of average: Todd Rose at TEDxSonomaCounty. (2013). Retrieved from <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eBmyttcfU4&feature=youtu.be> High-school-dropout-turned-Harvard-faculty discusses the idea that average does not exist. - Arnett, K., & Mady, C. (2010). A critically conscious examination of special education within FSL and its relevance to FSL teacher education programs. _Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics_, 13(1), 19–36. <https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/CJAL/article/view/19927> An article that analyzes how changes in language educator education programs can better prepare them to be inclusive of special education learners in their classrooms. - Arnett, K., & Mady, C. (2018). Exemption and exclusion from French second language programs in Canada: Consideration of novice teachers’ rationales. Exceptionality Education International. 28. <https://ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/eei/article/view/7760> A case study of the openness of language educators, including learners who are ELLs and who have learning difficulties in their programs. - Baggett, H. (2016). Student enrollment in world languages: L'Égalité des chances? ACTFL _Foreign Language Annals_. 49. Alexandria, VA. <https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12173> The study findings indicated that more choices and levels of languages were offered in schools where 50% or more of the learners were white. In addition, results from chi-square tests revealed that African American and Latino male learners were consistently underrepresented in world language classes. - Bond, N. (2003). Differentiating instruction in the LOTE classroom: Focus on special education learners. LOTE CED Lowdown. _American Institutes for Research_. <https://sedl.org/loteced/lowdown/letters_62.html> An article that offers methodological approaches for language educators to differentiate instruction for special education learners. - Bondie, R. S., Dahnke, C., & Zusho, A. (2019). How does changing “one-size-fits-all” to differentiated instruction affect teaching? _Review of Research in Education_, 43(1), 336–362. <https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/0091732X18821130> A literature review of research studies that define, describe, and measure changes in teaching practices related to implementation of differentiated instruction in K–12 classrooms. - Chambers, D., Varoqlu, Z., & Kasinskaite-Buddeberg, I. (2016). Learning for all: Guidelines on the inclusion of learners with disabilities in open and distance learning. _UNESCO_. <https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000244355> Guidelines that advocate technology-based approaches to deliver education to persons with disabilities. - Ortega, D., Cabrera, J., & Benalcazar, J. (2018). Differentiating instruction in the language learning classroom: Theoretical considerations and practical applications. _Journal of Language Teaching and Research_. 9. 1220. <http://dx.doi.org/10.17507/jltr.0906.11> An article that concludes that differentiated instruction helps educators be responsive to learners’ needs, interests, abilities, and language proficiency levels, and learning styles. It also states that placing learners at the center of teaching and learning promotes equity and academic excellence and acknowledges learner uniqueness. - Pozas, M., Letzel, V. & Schneider, C. (2020), Teachers and differentiated instruction: Exploring differentiation practices to address student diversity. J Res Spec Educ Needs, 20: 217-230. <https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-3802.12481> A review of empirical research that indicates how often educators implement differentiated instructional practices. - Row, L. (2022). _Differentiation, Gradual Release of Responsibility, and Second Language Methods in the World Language Classroom_ (master's thesis). Western Oregon University, Monmouth, Oregon. Retrieved from - webpage: <https://digitalcommons.wou.edu/theses/192> - pdf: <https://digitalcommons.wou.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1190&context=theses> An action research project wherein the author reflects on adjustments in pacing, materials, and instruction to meet the needs of learners. - Wise, N., Cummins, J., Chen, X., Mady, C., & Arnett, K. (2011). Access to special education for exceptional students in French immersion programs: An equity issue. _Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics_. 14. <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266421967_Access_to_special_education_for_exceptional_students_in_French_immersion_programs_An_equity_issue> An article that explores the lack of access to special education services for learners enrolled in world language courses.
- [Arnett, K. (2016). Access for success: Making inclusion work for language learners website. _Pearson_.](http://www.pearsoncanada.ca/school/afs/index.html) A website full of resources aligned to the book of the same title. - [Cornell, C., DeFelice, D., Gacs, A., McEwen, K., Randez, R., Sonka, K., & Violin-Wigent, A. (2022). Moving toward accessible language teaching. _Center for Language Teaching Advancement, Michigan State University._](https://celta.msu.edu/moving-toward-accessible-language-teaching/) An article that offers a list of suggestions for the redesign of learning environments that maximize accessibility and inclusivity for disabled learners/learners with disabilities. - [Delaware Department of Education. (2013). World language learning for all Delaware Students: Ensuring universal accessibility to high levels of language acquisition.](https://www.doe.k12.de.us/cms/lib/DE01922744/Centricity/Domain/139/WL_Learning_All_Delaware_Students.pdf) A guide for language educators to design instruction that is accessible to all learners. - [Grahn, L., & Johnson, S. (2018). Engaging all language learners. _We Teach Languages_ podcast, Episode 69.](https://weteachlang.com/2018/09/07/ep-69-with-leslie-grahn/) A conversation about strategies for engaging diverse learners in the language classroom. - [Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. (2021). Quick reference guide: World language learning for students with disabilities.](https://www.doe.mass.edu/worldlanguages/framework/qrg-swd.docx) A guide for language educators to design instruction that meets the needs of learners with disabilities. - [Montgomery C. (2020). Let's get specific: Strategies for supporting students with special needs. _ACTFL Conference_ Online.](https://chericem.weebly.com/special-needs.html) A session presentation on how to support diverse learners with specific special needs in the world language classroom. - [National Foreign Language Resource Center University of Hawaii at Manoa. (2022). Universal design for learning (UDL) in world languages.](https://nflrc.hawaii.edu/events/view/udl/) A 7-episode podcast series focused on UDL strategies for meeting the needs of all learners in the language classroom. - [Reese, S. (2011). How do you support every learner?: Differentiation in the language classroom. ACTFL _The Language Educator_. 6(4), 40-46. Alexandria, VA.]( https://activecommunication.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/tle_aug11_article.pdf) An article that includes a variety of points of view, based on interviews, about differentiated instruction in world language classrooms. - [Vanderbilt University. (2022). Differentiated instruction: Maximizing the learning of all students. _The Iris Center._](http://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/di/chalcycle.htm) A self-paced module that demonstrates the importance of differentiation of content, process, and product. - [Virginia Department of Education. (2020). Supporting world language learning for students with disabilities: Teacher toolkit (PDF).](https://www.doe.virginia.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/32907/638047361553670000) A guide with strategies and sample lessons for language educators to support learners with disabilities. ### Annotating Text - [Annotation Guide](https://www.covcath.org/uploaded/06_Students/Annotation_Guide_AP_Language.pdf) - [Annotating Texts, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill](https://learningcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/annotating-texts/) - [What is Annotating and Why Do It? Eastern Washington University](https://research.ewu.edu/writers_c_read_study_strategies)
Educator provides complete responses to each of the reflection questions on inclusive world language instructional practices or universal language actions.
The annotated lesson plan is complete and addresses evidence of using inclusive world language instructional practices or universal language actions. Annotations clearly address rationale for use of the identified strategies.
The annotated lesson plan is incomplete and/or addresses some evidence of planning for inclusive instruction. Annotations may be present, but they do not clearly address rationale for use of identified strategies.
The annotated lesson plan is incomplete and/or does not address evidence of planning with inclusive strategies or universal language actions Annotations are not included.
The uploaded video/audio is at least 10 minutes long and clearly demonstrates the instruction outlined in the annotated lesson plan. The video/audio also clearly demonstrates evidence of the clear use of inclusive instructional strategies or universal language actions with learner responses and timely feedback provided by the educator.
The uploaded video/audio may or may not be at least 10 minutes long and may not clearly demonstrate the instruction outlined in the annotated lesson plan. The video/audio also may not demonstrate clear evidence of the clear use of inclusive instructional strategies or universal language actions with learner responses and/or timely feedback provided by the educator.
No video/audio was uploaded, or it did not demonstrate the instruction outlined in the annotated lesson plan. The video/audio did not demonstrate evidence of the clear use of inclusive instructional strategies or universal language actions with learner responses and/or the timely feedback provided by the educator.
The rationale is clear as to the method for choosing the three learners. Work samples from three learner work samples have been supplied. The learner work samples clearly demonstrate their responses to inclusive instructional strategy or universal language action identified in the annotated lesson plan.
The rationale is unclear or vague as to the method for choosing the three learners. Learner work samples are uploaded but the work of fewer than three learners may be represented. The learner work samples may not clearly demonstrate responses to the inclusive instructional strategy or universal language action identified in the annotated lesson plan.
The rationale is not addressed. Work samples from three learners were not provided.
Educator reflection is specific and provides information and examples where necessary about how the educator’s use of inclusive world language instructional strategies or universal language actions impacted how they see their learners, as well as how they will plan for the future.
Provide a description of the lesson you and your learners engaged in that shows evidence of planning for the use of inclusive world language instructional strategies or universal language actions (ULAs). - Which learning activities and strategies did you use? - Why did you choose to use these activities and strategies? - What barriers did you hope to eliminate through these activities and strategies?
To earn this micro-credential, you must submit **two pieces of evidence**. Artifact 1 is required, and you will choose to submit one artifact from the options of Artifact 2a and Artifact 2b for your second piece of evidence. **Artifact 1: Annotated Lesson Plan (Required)** Upload a lesson plan that shows evidence of planning for the use of inclusive world language instructional practices or universal language actions (ULAs). The lesson can be in a format of your choosing. Annotations of the lesson (voice recording, written or digital text, etc.) should include explanations about strategies used to support access and inclusion. The lesson should include planning that facilitates learner understanding of oral and written language, production of oral and written language, focus and attention in the target language, and/or development and expansion of vocabulary. _Choose **one** of the following to submit:_ **Artifact 2a: Instruction** Upload a 10- to 20-minute video/audio of class instruction using the lesson plan submitted as Article 1. The video/audio should include evidence of the clear use of inclusive world language instructional practices or universal language actions (ULAs) that facilitate learner understanding of oral and written language, production of oral and written language, focus and attention in the target language, and/or development and expansion of vocabulary. **Artifact 2b: Learner Work Samples** Choose a group of three or more diverse learners that you supported for the lesson provided in Artifact 1. (See the Resources section for definition of diverse learners). Submit the following: - Rationale (150-word limit) - Why did you choose this individual learner or group of diverse learners? Include narrative on the data you used to make this decision. - How did your choice of inclusive world language strategies or universal language actions (ULAs) serve to meet the needs or accommodations for these learners? - Work Samples - Upload samples from three learners from the lesson plan provided in Artifact 1. For each learner, submit work examples (writing, audio, images, video, or other products) that demonstrate the inclusive world language instructional strategy or universal language action (ULA) and how this assisted in helping progress toward the lesson goal. _If you submit a link, it should be set to “anyone with the link can view” in order to assess._
Provide a reflection on the importance of understanding learner variability and using inclusive world language instructional strategies or universal language actions (ULAs) among the learners you serve, using the following questions to guide you: - How did using inclusive world language instructional strategies or universal language actions (ULAs) affect how you see your learners as expert learners? - How will addressing learner variability affect your lesson planning in the future? (250-word or 3-minute video/audio recording. _If you submit a link, it should be set to “anyone with the link can view” in order to assess._)
World Language Proficiency as a Critical Career and Workplace Skill
Educator facilitates learner understanding of language proficiency as a critical career and workplace skill.
# Key Method The educator uses varied and authentic resources to design and implement a lesson (or series of lessons) to deepen learners’ understanding of the role languages can play in their current job or future career. # Method Components ### Overview World language educators today have a responsibility to help their learners understand the personal value and importance of learning a language in relation to their current work situation or future career goals. According to ACTFL’s “Making Languages our Business” report, nine out of ten employers rely on employees with language skills other than English. In fact, one in three employers reports an actual language skills gap in their company. Therefore, these findings act as a sort of battle cry for us to help prepare our learners with the level of language proficiency necessary for their particular careers. From their first experience with language learning, learners can start seeing the value of learning another language and how it will play a direct role in their future beyond merely fulfilling a language requirement or getting into college. Before you select materials and design instruction, reflect on your own and your learners’ experiences as language learners. **Reflect on Yourself as a Language Learner** - What languages do you speak? - What jobs have you had in addition to being an educator? - How have you used your languages in your jobs? **Reflect on Your Language Learners** - What motivates learners to learn another language? What past experiences have they had with learning another language? - What role has language learning played in their lives? - What are your learners’ career goals and current part-time jobs? What role do languages play in those? - What CTE pathways offered at your school are your learners most interested in? ### Select Resources That Connect Languages to Careers during Lesson Planning What authentic resources help connect world languages and career skills? Resources—which often consist of infographics, videos, or even guest speakers (former learners!)—resonate and expand on the authentic use of language to help learners understand and make connections to their own lives or futures. Questions to assist in gathering resources include the following: - How can learners demonstrate their understanding of languages as a career and workplace skill? What types of activities and/or assessments would you use? - How can you use what you know about your learners while planning to ensure that the content and activities of the lesson or learning experience are engaging and support learning? **Design and Implement Lesson(s) to Establish Language as a Career and Workplace Skill** - Design a lesson using the resources that you selected to connect languages to jobs and careers. - Determine how you will assess the lesson. - Implement the lesson. - Reflect on the learner's responses to the activities and assessments. How will you use this information to provide feedback, modify, and/or design subsequent career-focused instruction?
- Antes, T. (2008). But will I ever use this foreign language? Student perceptions of the applicability of foreign language skills. _Foreign Language Annals_, _32_(2), 219-225. <https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-9720.1999.tb02393.x> An article that describes the results of a survey where learners affirm their beliefs about language courses being important to their college education and predict the usefulness of the target language in the future. - Carvalho, A., Olim, L., & Campanella, S. (2021). _The contribution of foreign language learning to employability_ [Paper presentation]. 4th International Seminar: Educação, Territórios e Desenvolvimento Humano. <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/358475558_The_Contribution_of_Foreign_Language_Learning_to_Employability> The results of this study reveal that foreign language proficiency increases applicants’ probability of recruitment. - Damari, R., Rivers, W., Brecht, R., Gardner, P., Pulupa, C., & Robinson, J. (2017). The demand for multilingual human capital in the U.S. labor market. _Foreign Language Annals,_ _50_(1), 13-37. <https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12241> This study explores the relationship between college graduates’ language skills and labor force requirements. - Malone, M., Rifkin, B., Christian, D., & Johnson, D. (2005). Attaining high levels of proficiency: Challenges for language education in the United States. _Journal for Distinguished Language Studies_, 2. <https://www.cal.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/AttainingHighLevelsofProficiency.pdf> A digest that investigates the availability and adequacy of teaching methods and tools, information technologies, and testing procedures to help language learners achieve high levels of proficiency, and suggests ways to help develop highly proficient speakers of languages other than English in the United States. - Risner, M., & Egusquiza, C. (2016). Preparing students for the global workplace: The relevance of languages for specific purposes. In _Dimension_ (pp. 22-34)_._ Southern Conference on Language Teaching. <https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1207888.pdf> This study focuses on the positive impact of language courses for specific purposes on developing globally competent citizens ready for the 21st-century workplace. - Rivers, W., & Brecht, R. (2018). America’s languages: The future of language advocacy. _Foreign Language Annals_, _51_(1), 24-34. <https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12320> This article points out the importance of raising consciousness of the importance of language education in meeting domestic and global needs. - Simonsen, R. (2022). How to maximize language learners’ career readiness. _Language Teaching_, 55(2), 156-162. <https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444821000227> This article considers career readiness as a goal of language study, meeting the demands of the global workplace. - Stein-Smith, K. (2017). Foreign language skills as the ultimate 21st century global competency: Empowerment in a globalized world. _International Journal of Research Studies in Language Learning_, _7_(3). [10.5861/ijrsll.2017.1856](http://dx.doi.org/10.5861/ijrsll.2017.1856) Foreign language skills and knowledge of other cultures are an essential 21st-century social skill for individuals in their personal lives, as professionals in a globalized marketplace, and as global citizens in a globalized world.
- [ACTFL. (2019). Making languages our business: Addressing foreign language demand among U.S. employers. Alexandria, VA.](https://digitalpromise.box.com/s/wb4xh9vdwuech7z1c1n60myx6d8i965e) A summary of survey results, highlighting the high demand for foreign language skills in the workplace and the implications for education policy. - [ACTFL. (n.d.) Oral proficiency levels in the workplace. Alexandria, VA.](https://www.actfl.org/sites/default/files/guidelines/OralProficiencyWorkplacePoster.pdf) A graphic that shows the proficiency levels required for a variety of career paths. - [ACTFL. (2011). 21st century skills map. Alexandria, VA.](https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED519498.pdf) A document that shows the integration of World Languages and 21st-century skills. - [ACTFL. (2022). ACTFL employability skills and world languages infographic. Alexandria, VA.](https://www.actfl.org/uploads/files/general/Employability-Skills.pdf) An infographic that shows a crosswalk between the Career and Technical Education (CTE) Employability Skills Framework and world language skills. - [Advance CTE: Career Clusters. (2020). National career clusters framework.](https://careertech.org/career-clusters) The National Career Clusters® Framework provides learners with plans of study toward their career goals. - [Arizona State University School of International Letters and Cultures. (2021). Careers and Foreign Languages.](https://silc.asu.edu/sites/default/files/2021-07/career_ready_v16.pdf) A graphic that illustrates the intersection between language skills and career paths. - [Delaware Department of Education. (2022). Languages as Career Skills.](https://www.doe.k12.de.us/Page/4064) A one-stop web page with resources for connecting language study with career skills; it also includes links to infographics and promotional materials. - [Delfosse, P. (2020). Workforce- and world-ready with world languages. _The Language Educator_. 15(3), 32-35.](https://www.actfl.org/uploads/files/general/TLE_Summer20_Article.pdf) An article that offers ways learners can prepare to communicate, contribute, collaborate, and compete to realize their full potential within their lives, workplaces, and communities. - [Jackson-Hayes, L. (2015). We don’t need more STEM majors. We need more STEM majors with liberal arts training. _The Washington Post_.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/02/18/we-dont-need-more-stem-majors-we-need-more-stem-majors-with-liberal-arts-training/) An article that discusses the importance of combining STEM majors with studies in liberal arts. - [McGregor, J. (2012). Can speaking a second language make you a better leader? _The Washington Post_. August 8, 2012.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-leadership/post/can-speaking-a-second-language-make-you-a-better-leader/2012/08/28/a69a246a-f133-11e1-892d-bc92fee603a7_blog.html) An article that demonstrates how knowing a second language improves leadership skills in decision-making, mental acuity, and problem-solving skills. - [Namahoe, K. (2021). Why foreign-language skills matter for the next-generation workforce. _SmartBrief Education_.](https://corp.smartbrief.com/original/2021/01/why-foreign-language-skills-matter-next-generation-workforce?utm_content=bufferf6847&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer) An article about the demand for multilingual talent in the workforce. - [Ohio State Department of Education (n.d.). Career Connections.](https://education.ohio.gov/getattachment/Topics/Learning-in-Ohio/Foreign-Language/World-Languages-Model-Curriculum/Model-Curriculum-for-World-Languages-and-Cultures/Career-Connections/CareerConnectionsWLC_Aug2022-2.pdf.aspx?lang=en-US) A document designed to build awareness of career opportunities for learners studying world languages. - [Risner, M., Markley, L, Maletina., Bleess, C., Cornelius, D., and Hill, S. (n.d.). _Connecting World Language Curriculum to Global Workplace Skills: A Handbook for K-12 Educators._ Center for Latin American Studies, University of Florida.](https://www.latam.ufl.edu/media/latamufledu/outreach-pdfs/LSP-eBook-Final.pdf) A collection of intermediate lessons to enhance curriculum with content and activities that make language learning more relevant for learners as they enter the 21st-century global workforce. - [Schnittger, H., and Delaware Department of Education. (2022). World Languages as Career Skills: A Five-Lesson Unit Plan.](https://www.doe.k12.de.us/cms/lib/DE01922744/Centricity/Domain/139/WL_Career_Skills_Unit_010622.pdf) A resource that provides language educators with multiple lesson plans on the career benefits of world language study. - [Wallace, P. (2020). Building a globally competent and competitive workforce for today and tomorrow’s world. _The Language Educator_. 15(3), 45-49. Alexandria, VA.](https://www.gadoe.org/Curriculum-Instruction-and-Assessment/Curriculum-and-Instruction/2019%20%202020%20HLS/Building%20a%20Globally%20Competent%20and%20Competitive%20Workforce%20for%20Georgia.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3hSf-4n-LIa867i5e_i7Sb6PCGcxe4xX6e3LU1wEZoqfcC3YyyxF2KOUI) This article describes the efforts by the Georgia Department of Education World Languages Office to promote language proficiency and intercultural competencies in order to support language learners’ adaptability in all career fields. - [World Language Roadmap Initiative. (2018). The Wisconsin language roadmap: Investing in language education for a world-ready Wisconsin.](https://www.thelanguageflagship.org/sites/default/files/Wisconsin%20State%20Language%20Roadmap%20(2018).pdf) The Wisconsin Language Roadmap puts forward a set of strategic goals and recommendations that will enhance the economic competitiveness and vitality of the state by preparing all Wisconsin learners to be workforce-, community- and world-ready through language, intercultural, and global learning. ### Annotating Text - [Annotation Guide](https://www.covcath.org/uploaded/06_Students/Annotation_Guide_AP_Language.pdf) - [Annotating Texts, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill](https://learningcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/annotating-texts/) - [What is Annotating and Why Do It? Eastern Washington University](https://research.ewu.edu/writers_c_read_study_strategies)
Description of the lesson educator and learners engaged in is thorough, and includes an understanding of language proficiency as a critical career and workplace skill. Educator describes their learners’ career interests, how they connect to the school’s CTE pathways, and a clear assessment strategy on understanding the connection between careers and language proficiency.
The annotated lesson plan is complete and addresses evidence of planning for developing an understanding of language proficiency as a career and workplace skill. Annotations clearly address rationale for use of the assessment(s) contained in the lesson or lessons. Lesson plan includes what data will be collected from the formative assessment, and intentions for how the data will drive future instruction.
The annotated lesson plan is incomplete and/or addresses some evidence of planning for developing an understanding of language proficiency as a career and workplace skill. Annotations may be present, but they do not clearly address rationale for use of the assessment(s) contained in the lesson or lessons. Lesson plan is not specific or convincing with regard to what data will be collected from the formative assessment, and intentions for data use are not tied to future instruction.
The annotated lesson plan is incomplete and/or does not address evidence of planning for developing an understanding of language proficiency as a career and workplace skill. Annotations are not included.
The uploaded video/audio is at least 10 minutes in duration and clearly demonstrates the instruction outlined in the annotated lesson plan. The video/audio also clearly demonstrates evidence of the clear use of authentic resources and formative assessments with learner responses and the timely feedback provided by the educator.
The uploaded video/audio may or may not be at least 10 minutes in duration and may not clearly demonstrate the instruction outlined in the annotated lesson plan. The video/audio may not clearly demonstrate evidence of the clear use of authentic resources and formative assessments with learner responses and/or may not demonstrate the timely feedback provided by the educator.
No video/audio was uploaded or it did not demonstrate the instruction outlined in the annotated lesson plan. The video/audio did not demonstrate evidence of the clear use of authentic resources and formative assessments with learner responses and/or may not demonstrate the timely feedback provided by the educator.
The reflection is 150 words. It clearly addresses why the individual learners were chosen, explains how the choice of activity aided in the gathering of information to maximize learning opportunities, and addresses what was learned about learners and their understanding of the connection between proficiency and career readiness. The reflection also addresses how the results of the assessments will drive future instruction.
The reflection is less than 150 words. It addresses to some extent why the individual learners were chosen, attempts to explain how the choice of activity aided in the gathering of information to maximize learning opportunities, and attempts to address what was learned about learners and their understanding of the connection between proficiency and career readiness. The reflection also attempts to address how the results of the assessments will drive future instruction.
The reflection is far less than 150 words and does not address all questions.
Lesson plan shows use of evidence from the assessments to inform instruction—for example, adjusted activities to address misconceptions or provide additional learning resources before moving to the designed instructional sequence.
Lesson plan shows some use of evidence from the assessments to inform instruction. Lesson plan shows only one adjusted activity to address misconceptions or provide additional learning resources before moving to the designed instructional sequence.
Lesson plan shows little or no use of evidence from the assessments to inform instruction. Lesson plan shows no adjusted activities to address misconceptions or provide additional learning resources before moving to the designed instructional sequence.
Provide a description of the lesson you and your learners engaged in that shows an understanding of language proficiency as a critical career and workplace skill. - How would you describe your learners’ present and future career interests? - How did you connect the CTE pathways in your school with this lesson? - How did you assess your learners’ understanding of the connection between careers and language proficiency?
To earn this micro-credential, you must submit **three pieces of evidence**. Artifact 1 is required, and you will choose two artifacts from the options of Artifact 2a, 2b, and 2c for your second and third pieces of evidence. **Artifact 1: Annotated Lesson Plan (Required)** Upload a lesson plan that is evidence of planning for establishing an understanding of language proficiency as a critical career and workplace skill. The lesson can be in a format of your choosing. Annotations of the lesson (voice recording, written, or digital text, etc.) should include explanations as to how this fits into your curriculum. In your lesson plan, you should identify the following: - Authentic resources you incorporated into your lesson; - Why you chose these authentic resources; - What data do you intend to collect from the formative assessments used in this lesson; - How you intend to use the data collected to drive future instruction. _Choose **two** of the following to submit:_ **Artifact 2a: Instruction** Upload a 10- to 20-minute video/audio of class instruction using the lesson plan submitted as Article 1. The video/audio should include evidence of learners demonstrating their understanding of language proficiency as a critical workplace skill. **Artifact 2b: Learner Work Samples** Choose at least three learners to provide samples of their responses—from an activity or assessment—that demonstrate their understanding of how their language proficiency is a critical career skill from the lesson. These learners should represent the spectrum of learning in your classroom. Submit the following: - Reflection (150-word limit) - Why did you choose these individual learners? - How did your choice of activity or assessment help you gather information that will maximize their learning opportunities? - What did you learn about what your learners are able to articulate about the connection between language proficiency and career readiness? - How will the results of the assessments help drive future instruction related to this topic? - Work Samples - Upload samples from three learners from the lesson plan provided in Artifact 1. For each learner, submit work examples (writing, audio, images, video, or other products) that demonstrate their understanding of language proficiency as a critical workplace skill and any feedback that you provided as a result of the assessment. **Artifact 2c: Evidence of Informing Instruction** Submit a subsequent lesson plan that shows your use of evidence from the assessments in Artifact 1 to continue to help your learners refine their understanding of languages as career skills. This could happen later in the school year or at the beginning of the following year. _If you submit a link, it should be set to “anyone with the link can view” in order to assess._
Provide a reflection on the importance of establishing an understanding of language proficiency as a critical workplace skill in the world language classroom. How did facilitating learner understanding of language proficiency as a critical career and workplace skill increase the relevancy of second-language acquisition in your classroom? How do you intend to thread the connection between career awareness and language proficiency into your future lessons?