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WELCOME

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Welcome!

Mark Lonergan

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Telescope Network

This Edcamp is being organized by Boston Public Schools teachers in collaboration with the Boston Teachers Union and the Telescope Network.

We ASK educators what learning supports they need to improve practice.
We MAGNIFY effective practices across the district to lead professional learning
We CONNECT educators to resources, learning and each other!

Host and Develop Professional learning using the following models:

Edcamps
Connect + Share
Learning Sites
Professional Learning Communities
And More!

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Agenda

Welcome and Intro 4:30 - 4:45 pm

Opening Presentation (Kim & Sarah) 4:45 - 5:10 pm

Round 1 Breakout Sessions 5:15 - 5:40 pm

Round 2 Breakout Sessions 5:45 - 6:20 pm

Closing & Exit Ticket 6:20 - 6:30 pm

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What is an Edcamp?

Edcamps are free public events which leverage the knowledge and experiences of attendees to create the topics and discussions of the day. At an Edcamp, educators have the opportunity to identify the topics most important to them, share and gather resources, and network virtually with other educators. Learn more about the Edcamp Community here and from educators in this video.

Today’s EDcamp topic will be: What does it mean to be an educator of color in the Metro Boston area?

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Experience, not Experts

Rule of Two Feet/Clicks

Participant-Driven

Edcamp Tenets

Edcamps allow educators to collaboratively determine session topics the day of the event.

Educators participate in sessions by sharing experiences through conversations, not planned presentations.

Edcamps prioritize educators finding sessions that meet their needs to maximize learning.

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Edcamp Mindset

Be open minded: It is human nature to play the comparison game. Instead of thinking, “This would never work for me,” try to reframe as “This might work in my setting if .. . “

Be a collaborator: We all serve Boston students. Sharing ideas and resources with colleagues helps us to desilo and improve learning across BPS.

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Welcome and Opening

Kim Kulasekaran

Lynch Fellow

Carter School

Josiah Quincy

Elementary

Sarah Wakabayashi

SLP, AT Team

Carter School

Boston Public Schools

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Tonight’s Goal

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No one is too anything to learn to read and write.

From Comprehensive Literacy for All

K. Erickson & D. Koppenhaver 2020

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We know better, we do better

Dr. Caroline Musselwhite

2015

2018

2020

Today

TOGETHER!

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William E. Carter School

OPI - 84%

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Many of our students have limited intentional responses, and so limited communication

Directing the behavior of others

Asking for help

Communication Matrix

Sarah - of course communication is at the forefront of the skills we have to talk about today.

When our students come to the Carter - often around high school - many come with limited intentional/motoric responses and so, limited communication.
We use the Commuication Matrix by Rowland, to help guide our communication instruction
For example When Antonio came to us - he had to learn how to use a chin switch connected to a VOCA to respond “yes”, often beginning with “yes” I want more of something super fun.
But because we use the The Communication Matrix - our transdisciplinary team knows that a student like Antonio can AND MUST learn to use their indicating response - even if it is just one - to communicate beyond requesting for more -(CLICK) to comment, ask questions, share information, directing the behavior of others, and self advocate

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William E. Carter School

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Inclusive Education: Ensuring Access and Removing Barriers for Every Student’s Success

Inclusive education is situating students for learning by leveraging their identities and assets to support their entry into high quality learning experiences that results in advancing student achievement, particularly for our SWDs and MLs.

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Gholdy Muhammad’s - Historically Responsive Literacy

Five pursuits towards literacy instruction that “create spaces for mutual empowerment, confidence, and self-reliance”

Identity
Skills
Intellect
Criticality
Joy

The inclusion def also points to culturally - part ofthat piece

Kim and i have spoken several times about how we have linked the important work of Gholdy muhammad’s work

- it is important that those cognitive acts become independent skills and that as teachers we are called to teach skills as a learning pursuit

So we don’t just strive as teachers to teach these skills in isolation - we strive to inspire our students and equip them so that they can become competent and expert readers, writers and communicators
Teaching skills as a learning pursuit - involves teaching independence in reading and writing, speaking AND leading and projecting their messages to others - Those skills!

Muhammad’s argument for teaching skills as a learning pursuit ABSOLUTELY resonates with the principles of comprehensive literacy for all - for our students with complex communication needs.
All of us here know that some of the most important functional life skills: include being able to communicate, read, and write. These life skills are fundamental.
But time and again - teachers and educators are faced with philosophical, political and budgetary barriers when we work so hard to provide literacy instruction that is NOT perpetual preschool as Caroline Musselwhite says - but rich and engaging and cognitively challenging for ALL our students —
Teaching skills as a Learning pursuit is only one part of the literacy journey
We know this for our gen ed kids - that’s why they not only learn to idee the letters or decode a text – they get to read Shakespeare, the poetry of Langston Hughes or the work of August Wilson
How dare we try to just teach our students with disabilities literacy skills in isolation in discrete trials with edible reinforcers - we know it doesn’t work
“SKILLS” is only one of the 5 learning pursuits - AND WE CAN’T teach the skills of reading, writing and speaking in isolation - we cannot separate them from the context of the other four essential pursuits of identity, intellect, criticality and joy. Because it is the context of these other four pursuits that make all of us want to communicate, read, and write.

The brilliance of the framework is revealed when Muhammad explains that the five layers are not separate, but progressive, each one building on the layers that came before it, starting with identity: “They see themselves, they validate themselves, they’re learning about other people, which creates a safe space to learn the skills. If you learn the skills, you can learn the intellect. You cannot learn the intellectualism without first having those skills to do so. If you have the intellectualism and that knowledge, you can critique the knowledge. Because of all the layers that came before it, you now have the capacity to disrupt and to dismantle. If you’re just woke without the identity and the skills and the intellect, you’re not going to be able to make change in ways that you could with those things.”

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Dr. Theresa Perry

“A leveling culture, a culture of achievement that extends to all of its members and a strong sense of group membership, where the expectation that everyone achieve is explicit and is regularly communicated in public and group settings.”

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Dr. Karen Erickson

KIM 5 years ago, Susan Norwell- begging Marianne to buy the only copy of Meville to Weville literacy curriculum that I could find out there- used on Amazon, one of 3 books in the set for students with complex needs. It was jam packed with the what to teach but I was still craving At the most opportune moment Dr. Erickson and David Koppenhaver’s book- Comprehensive Literacy For All flew down from the heavens (from an Amazon warehouse) and right into our hands. We had already been a huge fan of their work and were blown away by the simplicity and clear directives they wrote to us on every page. Literacy is for EVERYONE! Teach your students literacy!! Here is how!! .

This photo is from ATIA 2020 where Dr. E urged us to attend the Readtopia Curriculum Sessions. We had briefly seen Readtopia in the weeks and months before and didn’t think we were ready for it yet. At the conference we were convinced! Readtopia takes the researched based principles from Comprehensive Literacy for All and guides teachers to use these principles with literature.

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“Best Yes” Intentional Response

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Cognitively Demanding Task Matrix (CDTM)

21

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“Best Yes” Intentional Response

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Adapted Bridge

Early Emergent Literacy

Scale

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SKILLS: Communication and Literacy

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Connecting SKILLS: Communication and Literacy

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Instructional Routines of Comprehensive Emergent Literacy

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Shared

Reading

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Shared Reading

The goals of shared reading are to

increase student engagement and interactions during the shared reading experience and
encourage students to take the lead in these interactions as they gain competence and confidence.” (p. 8, Erickson & Koppenhaver, 2020)

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Shared Reading

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Shared Reading Enables

Adult and Student(s) to interact around a book on a page-by-page basis
Open-ended comments that encourage students to communicate
Maximum interaction during shared reading
Teachers to learn / follow students’ interests
Attributing meaning to all attempts: purposeful or random
Students to touch and interact with the book
Text-to-self connections between book and student experiences
Thinking aloud to model thought processes
Model using student’s communication system
Use of real objects to sustain attention, interest and help students make connections

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CAR METHOD

Pause to Comment using CORE words on the content of the page

Ask the student to participate.

Respond, repeat, add more and wait!

C

A

R

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AIR METHOD

Read the page, pause, help student ATTEND

INVITE students to participate

Respond by adding more

A

I

R

Jane Farrell

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Shared Reading

Then came a CRASH! An awful BASH! Things flew into the air!

The ship had smashed into a ledge that no one knew was there!

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Shared Reading: Resources

Adapted Bridge by Erin Sheldon

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Predictable

Chart

Writing

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Predictable Chart Writing

Sarah Wakabayashi

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What is Predictable Chart Writing?

Predictable Chart Writing is a 5-step (5 day) process that supports emergent writers. It is an engaging multi-level activity that results in something we all need - classroom books!

This practice has been used with typically developing students in primary grades for decades. For good reason!

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Why Predictable Chart Writing?

Predictable Chart Writing offers students at all different reading levels an opportunity to participate in structured and systematic writing activities. Explicit, step-by-step teacher notes guide you through this interactive research-based, five-step instructional process through which students begin to:

Develop concepts about print
Learn letter names and print jargon
Develop a base of high-frequency words that they can use to read, write, and communicate more easily
Understand writing as a way to represent personal interests and ideas

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With guidance and support, student will:

• Offer / choose word(s) to complete a simple sentence frame

• Recognize that sentences begin with a capital letter and often end with a period

• Recognize that a sentence is written and read from left to right

• Read text comprised of familiar words with accuracy and understanding. (Each lesson has additional objectives included.)

Predictable Chart Writing Goals

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Rich CONTENT = Something to Write About

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Swiss Family Robinson

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What I Need to Survive

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Predictable Chart Writing

Core Skill:

An adult introduces the chart and demonstrates completing the first sentence.

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Predictable Chart Writing

Making choices

Rejecting/ disagreeing

Naming

Commenting

Asking questions

Sharing opinions

Describing

Predictable Chart writing is another literacy routine from Comp Lit for All that we use in our work on Historically responsive literacy instruction
In this lesson, Ashley chose who we would read about in the book Girls who Rocked the World and she used partner assisted auditory scanning to choose Frida Kahlo
She used PAS and the ABC flip book to pick a word to complete the sentence Frida Kahlo was …..choosing the letter “o” and when I gave her a few choices of “O” words - she chose original.
We built her emergent literacy skills of shared writing in this task using a famous artist who happened to be hispanic as well as someone who experienced a great deal of physical trials in her life. And during the task - Ashley’s participation led the lesson and she was engaged and involved and (CLICK) had access to content that could target so many important communicative functions.

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The Alphabet &

Phonological Awareness

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Alphabetic Principle

•Emergent readers & writers need to learn the

alphabetic principle (drill & kill doesn’t cut it!)

•Letters are linked to specific sounds

•Words can be segmented into individual sounds

•Variety of activities lead to these understandings

Letter knowledge
Sound awareness

•Letter names & sounds should be taught in parallel

“A apple /a/

B ball /b/

See Erickson & Koppenhaver, 2020, pp. 36 - 40

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Learning Letters: Part of Readtopia™

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Learning Letter Routine: Explicitly Teach 4 Steps

Letter NAME
Letter SOUND
Letter in TEXT
Letter FORMATION

/k/

ARLOS

BIG CURVE

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Alphabet and Phonological Awareness

sArah
One of the emergent literacy skills that is an all time favorite for our students is alphabet knowledge -
As you recall -our Carter students are in middle and high school - and they may have had some incidental ABC instruction in their early childhood or primary school years - but most of that dropped by the way side years before they came to us.
Without alphabet instruction - our students will never be readers and writers and will in turn never truly be independent communicators
So we use alternative pencils (like this ABC flip book from RETT u), keyboards on their devices, and different visual accommodations and strategies for teaching letter names, letter sounds, and various phonological awareness skills.
We are building background knowledge and personal experiences for our students with these letters - And then generalizing their understanding of these letters and sounds to new words and vocabulary
(CLICK)And through this instruction - we are also able to target a variety of communicative functions - naming, sharing, asking and answering questions, and so much more

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Handwriting Without Tears

BIG LINE

LITTLE LINE

BIG CURVE

LITTLE CURVE

Kim- Teachers should devote targeted instructional time each day to help students learn LETTER NAMES, SHAPES, and the SOUNDS THEY REPRESENT. Letters vary greatly in terms of difficulty and require different amounts of time to teach each letter. I can tell you that is true for putting together instructional materials- J takes much more time than L! Biggest case for letter of the day instruction- Learning takes repetition and practice, but it must be distributed over time. (Jones et al, 2013) One letter per week- 26 weeks before you can see that letter again. Just 10 minutes per day. Rapid cycling- 7 times in one year. Distributed vs. massed practice which supports deeper learning and use. Advantage- letters can be taken out of cycle when mastered. Spending more time on the more difficult, challenging letters. Letter C- DEVIOUS!

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Generative Writing with the Full Alphabet

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Generative Writing with the Full Alphabet:

Whole alphabet is present, but showing 4-6 letters at a time

Great for students with CVI:

Limited visual array
Can be done auditorily

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Independent Writing

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Writing with the Full Alphabet

Do ALL of your students have a pencil that they can easily access?

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Project Core Reflection Form: Independent Writing

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Independent Reading

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Making Connections

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Centers & Stations

Bring it all together! Build and Extend Background Knowledge

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Success Stories

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Kindorf, Jill

MAP Scores

Jeremy Reading Scores (we read to him)

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Naz B reading scores (he read on his own and answered questions independently!)

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Andy P (he reads on his own and answers questions independently)

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Josiah Quincy Elementary School

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Building a Professional Learning Community

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Whoa!

This can be the part of the presentation where you introduce yourself, write your email…

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In 2025

William E. Carter School

New building with higher capacity

Serving students Ages 3-21

with High Support Needs.

18min After this amazing year ahead working with all of you I will return to the Carter School to help run our new school. expanding to students from itty bitty 3 year olds up to 22. State of the art facility for our city’s most complex students. It looks fancy but I promise you, the work is very much not. It’s comprehensive and consistent. This summer LLA has given me the gift of time to reflect on my career and my why. Why I chose to show up every day and why I chose to dig into this instead of anything else for the past 16 years. There is a story I would like to share with you (if I don’t get emotional if will be the very first time) that I believe sums up my why I choose to do this work and I hope will connect to the reason we are here, to improve the lives of each any every student who we have the honor to teach.

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Discussion Questions

Round 2

Success stories

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Discussion Questions

Round 3

Ongoing PD: Note Catcher.
Shared Resources: : Note Catcher.
Curriculum/Readtopia: Note Catcher.
Related Services Note Catcher.

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Closing

What are your takeaways and insights from tonight?

Please take a few moments to complete our EXIT TICKET.

Your feedback matters and this is how we track attendance for PD hours!

Thank you to everyone for your participation and conversations!