Description
When you choose to bring Keys to Literacy trainers into your school or district, we help you build a customized plan by assigning experienced trainers who will provide onsite professional development for the four components shown in the graphic below. Your plan will combine training for teachers, administrators, and building-based coaches with implementation coaching to support long-term use of Keys to Literacy instructional practices.
Initial Training for Teachers
During initial training, participants learn the instructional practices that make up a KTL PD program. KTL trainers use PowerPoint presentations, training activities, sample classroom lessons and examples, and training books or handouts. Teachers practice activities and begin planning lessons so they can start using the teaching suggestions right away. Initial training ranges from one to multiple days depending on the KTL program that is the focus of the training. Ideally, group size for initial training should be no more than 35.
Implementation Coaching
After initial training, implementation coaching is vital to the successful adoption of KTL instructional practices. On Implementation Coaching days, KTL trainers conduct sessions with small groups of teachers that include small-group shares of program use, sample lesson walkthroughs, guided lesson planning, classroom observations and debriefs, and demonstration lessons. The focus of Implementation Coaching days is to support implementation of the instructional practices that teachers learned during initial training. Typically, all-school PD days are not needed for these coaching days – most schools use existing common planning time or a small number of substitutes to provide time for teachers to meet with the trainer.
PD for Administrators
KTL strongly recommends that building administrators attend initial training with teachers so they can understand what teachers have learned. In addition, KTL offers half- to full-day workshops for administrators to help them promote and support implementation. This includes learning how to recognize classroom use, how to conduct KTL program walkthroughs, and how to use the implementation materials available at our password-protected online resource center.
PD for Building Coaches
A key factor in long-term sustainability is the training of site-based peer coaches. Ultimately, KTL trainers want to gradually release the responsibility for providing implementation coaching to the school building. Peer coaches can come from the ranks of classroom teachers, mentor or master teachers, literacy specialists and coaches, or individuals who are already in an instructional coaching role. KTL offers coach training that allows participants to more deeply learn the instructional practices that teachers learn during initial training, as well as learn coaching techniques and activities. Coach PD is typically two days and can be accessed several ways: scheduling an onsite coaching session, sending participants to an “open to the public” session run by KTL, or in some cases by taking our coaching online course.