Early Literacy Leadership 2020-2021

Learning Series for the School-Wide and Center-Wide Essential Practices in Early and Elementary Literacy

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Session 1

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Meet our Team!

Jessica Hackworth

K-12 Literacy Consultant

Lindsey Hughes

Early Literacy Coach

Anne Hosking

Early Literacy Coach

Shannon L. Sweet

Early Literacy Coach

Vee Murugan

Early Literacy Coach

Electronic Resources

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CISD New Professional Learning Site

• goo.gl/1CyjNQ

Essential Folders

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Zoom Expectations

Online Working Agreements

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Norms of Collaboration

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Check In...On a scale of Baby Yoda, how are you today?

1. Focused

B. Optimistic

C. Sleepy

D. Overwhelmed

E. Curious

Images taken from https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1702984-baby-yoda

Session Outcomes

It is our sincere hope that you are able to:

• Connect organizational practices and systems
• Draw from the research that grounds the Essential Practices
• Narrow area of focus for your school’s work using the GELN Screening Tool

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Checking In and Introduction

0 – Never heard of the Schoolwide Essentials

1 – Heard of the ELTF (Early Literacy Task Force) and the work

around the SW Essentials

2 – Have a copy and am familiar with the SW Essentials

3 – Staff are utilizing the SW Essentials

4 – Have a dog-eared copy of the SW Essentials and refer to it

regularly

5 – The SW Essentials have a prominent role in our PL plan,

Ed Eval Process, and SIP

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Introduction to the School-Wide Essentials

Read through the purpose

statement

• Pick out keywords or

phrases to share with the

group

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Introduction to the School-Wide Essentials

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Swift Scan

• Take 5 minutes and SWIFTLY SCAN the SW Essentials
• Enter breakout rooms and discuss, which essentials resonate with you? Why?
• Whole Group Share Out

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School-Wide Essential #1 – The Leadership Team

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The leadership team is composed of instructional leaders committed to continuous improvements in literacy and ongoing attention to data.

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School-Wide Essential #2 – Organizational Climate

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The organizational climate reflects a collective sense of responsibility for all children and a focus on developing child independence and competence in a safe space.

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School-Wide Essential #3 – Learning Environment

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The learning environment reflects a strong commitment to literacy.

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Text Rendering

• Based on your breakout room, you’ll read your Essential 1, 2, or 3
• Identify a Reporter, Recorder, and Time Manager
• For your focal Essential, select a:
• Sentence that was meaningful to you, that captured a core understanding of this work
• Phrase that moved, engaged, or provoked you
• Word that got your attention or struck you as powerful
• Record these on the note sheet

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Text Rendering

• Reporter: Share your:

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• Sentence that was meaningful to you, that captured a core understanding of this work
• Phrase that moved, engaged, or provoked you
• Word that got your attention or struck you as powerful

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Connections

• On your own, create a graphic representation of at least one way in which some of the concepts within Essentials 1, 2, and 3 can intersect.

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• Feel free to select among the bullets within these 3 essentials.

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• Be ready to hold up your graphic in 3-5 mins to your camera to share!

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Connections

• Hold up your graphic representation and SMILE!

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Leadership Team

Mission

Vision

Values

Problem-Solving

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Environment

The visible things

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Climate

The way it feels

CULTURE

How we do our thing

Understanding & Connecting �School-Wide Essentials 1, 2, and 3

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So that we can “go deep” today, we will focus on a couple of bullets within each Essential.

Do not interpret this to mean those bullets are any more important than the others!

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They are all important and can intersect in various ways across an organization.

School-Wide Essential #1 – The Leadership Team

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The leadership team is composed of instructional leaders committed to continuous improvements in literacy and ongoing attention to data.

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School-Wide Essential #1 – The Leadership Team

The leadership team is composed of instructional leaders committed to continuous improvements in literacy and ongoing attention to data.

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Under the guidance of the lead administrator, the school or program leadership team:

• Develops a vision, mission, set of goals, and educational philosophy…

… that guide school climate…

… and children’s learning…

… and that are shared schoolwide…

… and aligned across all ages and grade levels, including Pre-K,…

… and across all professional roles…

… for the purpose of continuous improvement.

Bullet 3

School Vision – The Research

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Vision is a key facet of transformational leadership, which is leadership that inspires and motivates people to work and perform at high levels.

LEADERSHIP VISION:

• Is a set of clear, well-defined objectives for what a school will become
• “Is ideological in nature and has moral overtones” (Kirkpatrick & Locke, 1996, p. 37)

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Endnote #3: Kurland, Peretz, & Hertz-Lazarowitz. (2010). Leadership style and organizational learning: The mediate effect of school vision. Journal of Educational Administration.

School Vision – The Research

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LEADERSHIP VISION:

• Is the starting point for transforming a school
• Illustrates that the leadership clearly sees where the school is trying to go and has strategies for getting the school there
• Establishes a common purpose for all faculty and staff
• Motivates and energizes faculty and staff to take action toward the desired outcome

Endnote #3: Kurland, Peretz, & Hertz-Lazarowitz. (2010). Leadership style and organizational learning: The mediate effect of school vision. Journal of Educational Administration.

School-Wide Essential #1 – The Leadership Team

The leadership team is composed of instructional leaders committed to continuous improvements in literacy and ongoing attention to data.

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Under the guidance of the lead administrator, the school or program leadership team:

• Distributes leadership throughout the organization for the purpose of building leadership capacity among all staff.

Bullet 7

Distributed Leadership – The Research

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Distributed Leadership is a way of understanding school leadership as a distributed practice that is stretched across the school. It considers who and what in the school leads and where in the school leadership happens.

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DISTRIBUTED LEADERSHIP:

• Recognizes both formal leaders (e.g., principal, grade-level chairs) and informal leaders (e.g., teachers who influence others).
• Recognizes tools and artifacts (e.g., observation protocols, assessments, frameworks, standards, data sources) as leading what happens in a school
• These tools and artifacts partially define what happens in schools and how it happens; they influence leadership tasks and behavior
• Recognizes that various leaders (people and artifacts) work together and separately to execute leadership functions and tasks

Endnote #7: Spillane, Diamond, & Jita. (2003). Leading instruction: The distribution of leadership for instruction. Journal of Curriculum Studies.

Distributed Leadership – The Research

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DISTRIBUTED LEADERSHIP:

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“Educational leaders who cannot engage others in leading will not be very successful. They will not be able to spread and mobilize the expertise necessary for instructional improvement in their organizations, and, thus, are unlikely to be very effective. It is highly unlikely that a principal practicing solo can improve instruction in his or her school….

…. If expertise is distributed, then the school rather than the individual leader may be the most appropriate unit for developing leadership expertise.” (p. 542)

Endnote #7: Spillane, Diamond, & Jita. (2003). Leading instruction: The distribution of leadership for instruction. Journal of Curriculum Studies.

Break out Groups:

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• Identify a Reporter, Recorder, and Time Manager
• Use the form to record your conversation
• Record these on the note sheet

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School-Wide Essential #2 – Organizational Climate

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The organizational climate reflects a collective sense of responsibility for all children and a focus on developing child independence and competence in a safe space.

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School-Wide Essential #2 – Organizational Climate

The organizational climate reflects a collective sense of responsibility for all children and a focus on developing child independence and competence in a safe space.

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All adults – administrators, teachers, specialists, aides, and support staff – throughout the organization:

• Share and act upon a sense of responsibility for the literacy growth and overall wellbeing of every child…

…that is grounded in the shared belief that every child can and will be successful, regardless of location, demographic, or program funding

Bullet 1

Shared Responsibility for Children – The Research

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Murphy (2004) uses a distributed leadership lens to review research on the links between school leadership and student learning in literacy.

He determines that one of the key functions of leadership for literacy is “developing an appropriate platform of beliefs.”

In schools that help all children meet rigorous literacy standards, he observes:

“To begin with, there is a bedrock belief in the educability of all youngsters in schools that promote mastery of literacy skills. This trust in the capacity of children underpins relations between adults and youngsters. It directs the activities and behaviors of teachers and school and district administrators.

Accompanying this educability tenet is a sense of efficacy and commitment among staff. It is not only that youngsters can learn, but that the staff (a) believe that they have the skills and organizational capacity to succeed in reaching all pupils and (b) are dedicated to making universal achievement at high levels a reality. Not surprisingly, effective literacy schools are awash in energy and hard work.”

Shared Responsibility for Children – The Research

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In schools that help all children meet rigorous literacy standards, Murphy (2004) observes:

“A third pillar in the value infrastructure of schools that promote high levels of literacy skills is a sense of responsibility among adults for student performance…. These institutions take responsibility for what happens to their students. The result is that when things do not work well – as is the case at times in all schools – the response is not a diffusion of responsibility but a concerted effort to overcome problems. Structures are overhauled, policies are reformulated, and activities are reshaped in the service of ensuring high levels of literacy achievement for all youngsters.

Equally important,… these highly effective schools are characterized by a collective or shared sense of responsibility. Everyone is accountable for all children, not just the 20 to 30 youngsters in one’s class. It is this tenet that undergirds collective work in the area of reading that often marks these effective schools.”

Endnote #8: Murphy. (2004). Leadership for Literacy: A Framework for Policy and Practice. School Effectiveness and School Improvement.

School-Wide Essential #2 – Organizational Climate

The organizational climate reflects a collective sense of responsibility for all children and a focus on developing child independence and competence in a safe space.

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All adults – administrators, teachers, specialists, aides, and support staff – throughout the organization:

• Help all children develop perceptions of competence and self-efficacy in reading and writing

Bullet 4

Competence and Self-Efficacy – The Research

Competence:

• Defined as: Perception of having the capacity and strategic knowledge required for success at something one values
• Theorized as a fundamental need for positive human development
• Feelings of competence (when accompanied by feelings of autonomy) lead to persistence in behaviors and positive feelings about one’s self

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Self-Efficacy:

• Defined as: Belief that one is capable of organizing and performing the steps required to meet a specific objective
• Differs across domains of a person’s life (e.g., self-efficacy in math, in reading, in cooking, in swimming etc.)
• Feelings of self-efficacy lead to high levels of effort and persistence; they inform how one responds to challenges and barriers

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Bandura (1997). Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control. New York: Freeman; Ryan & Deci (2009). Promoting Self-Determined School Engagement: Motivation, Learning, and Well-Being. Handbook of Motivation at School.

Break out Groups:

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• Identify a Reporter, Recorder, and Time Manager
• Use the form to record your conversation around the questions:
• In what ways does your organizational climate reflect the research?
• Record these on the note sheet

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School-Wide Essential #3 – Learning Environment

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The learning environment reflects a strong commitment to literacy.

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School-Wide Essential #3 – Learning Environment

The learning environment reflects a strong commitment to literacy.

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Throughout the learning environment, there is evidence that:

• Children regularly read, write, speak, and listen for multiple purposes and across content areas…

… and their written work is made prominently visible

Bullet 5

Visible Written Work from Students – The Research

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Local Texts are texts available in the classroom that were created by the teacher or the students.

Measures of the quality of a print-rich environment include examination of the local text within classrooms. The highest rating on one such measure is “Extremely rich.”

Endnote #16: Hoffman, Sailors, Duffy, & Beretvas (2004). The effective elementary classroom literacy environment: Examining the validity of the TEX-IN3 observation system. Journal of Literacy Research.

Measures of local texts significantly predict student growth in reading comprehension.

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They are also relatively cheap to produce.

School-Wide Essential #3 – Learning Environment

The learning environment reflects a strong commitment to literacy.

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Throughout the learning environment, there is evidence that:

• School staff aim to foster intrinsic motivation to read, making only temporary and sparing, if any, use of non-reading-related prizes such as stickers, coupons, or toys, and avoiding using reading and writing as “punishment”

Bullet 9

Intrinsic Motivation – The Research

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Intrinsic Motivation:

• Defined as: A drive to do something because you are interested in it and enjoy it.

Motivation & Rewards:

• Rewards provide an “extrinsic motivation” for doing something.
• A considerable body of research has repeatedly shown that rewards undermine intrinsic motivation.
• Marinak & Gambrell (2008) wanted to test the impact of various rewards on reading. They conducted an experiment with 75 third-graders (reading between the 30^th and 50^th percentiles) in 3 elementary schools

3 groups of students:

• 1 group received a book as a reward for reading
• 1 group received a token (Nerf ball, friendship bracelet, etc.) as a reward for reading
• 1 group received no reward for reading

Endnote #19: Marinak & Gambrell (2008). Intrinsic Motivation and Rewards: What Sustains Young Children’s Engagement with Text? Literacy Research and Instruction.

Intrinsic Motivation – The Research

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Findings – Outcome: First Activity Selected After Reading &

Number of Seconds Spent Reading

Ryan & Deci (2009). Promoting Self-Determined School Engagement: Motivation, Learning, and Well-Being. Handbook of Motivation at School. Endnote #19: Marinak & Gambrell (2008). Intrinsic Motivation and Rewards: What Sustains Young Children’s Engagement with Text? Literacy Research and Instruction.

Intrinsic Motivation – The Research

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Ryan & Deci (2009). Promoting Self-Determined School Engagement: Motivation, Learning, and Well-Being. Handbook of Motivation at School. Endnote #19: Marinak & Gambrell (2008). Intrinsic Motivation and Rewards: What Sustains Young Children’s Engagement with Text? Literacy Research and Instruction.

Bottom Line:

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Kids who spent time reading without being rewarded with a token were more motivated to continue reading.

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The non-reading-related reward undermined intrinsic motivation in reading for interest and enjoyment.

Break Out Groups:

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• Identify a Reporter, Recorder, and Time Manager
• What is one piece of research that surprised you?
• Record these on the note sheet

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Processing: What surprised you? Whole group share out

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Using the School-Wide Screening Tool

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Overview

• Read through the first page of the Screening Tool
• You’ll need
• Screening tool
• Screening tool “backpage”

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Complete the Screening Tool Fish Bowl

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Individual Scoring

Individually, stakeholders select the extent to which they believe that statement is currently true of the school.

Consensus Building

Beginning with the first essential, group members will speak one at a time to report their individual score and provide a brief rationale for their score.

The group will then move into a conversation to come to agreement on a group score for that essential. Record the “Group Score”.

Continue this process for each of the other 9 essentials.

Prioritizing

Using the group scores - along with other data and knowledge relevant to your school - discuss and identify three “high priority” areas that you collectively agree are critically important as focal areas for the next phase of your work. Your priority areas may or may not be those with the lowest group scores.

Processing the Screening Tool

In the chat….

What is one thing that you noticed about the protocol?

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In your breakout rooms….

What are your plans to administer the screening tool between now and December 7th?

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Questions?

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• Complete the screening tool with your building leadership team
• Bring your results to our next Early Literacy Leadership meeting on December 7th from 8:30-12:00.

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Next Steps