Unlocking Achievement Through Adolescent Literacy

Module 3: Overview of Vocabulary Instruction (6 hours)

• Why teach vocabulary? (including the vocabulary-comprehension connection)
• Academic Vocabulary
• Effective Vocabulary Instruction (direct and indirect, breadth and depth)
• Vocabulary Instruction for English Learners
• Previewing Vocabulary Prior to Reading (including instructional suggestions)
• Selecting Words to Teach In-Depth (including three-tier model)
• Teaching Targeted Words In-Depth (including instructional suggestions)
• Word-Learning Templates (Frayer/Four Square, Two-Column) 
• Making Connections Among Words (schema, three activities: categorizing, semantic mapping, semantic feature analysis) 
• Teaching Use of Context
• Teaching Use of Word Parts (structural analysis using morphemes, word families)
• Fostering Word Consciousness

Module 4: Overview of Comprehension Instruction (6 hours)

• Comprehension Overview (RAND reading comprehension model, factors affecting comprehension, considerations for English learners, and dialect differences)
• Vocabulary, Background Knowledge, and Comprehension
• Access to High-Quality Grade-Level Text
• Analyze Text, Teach Close Reading
• Making Inferences
• Metacognition, Comprehension Monitoring
• Comprehension Strategies:
  • Graphic organizers, top-down topic webs
  • Main ideas
  • Note taking
  • Summarizing
  • Answering and generating questions

Module 5: Text Structure to Support Reading & Writing (2.5 hours)

• Understanding Text Structure in Reading and Writing (multiple levels of text structure)
• Three Types of Text (Narrative, Informational, Argument)
• Patterns of Organization and Transitions
• Paragraph Structure
• Sentence Structure
• Instructional Suggestions

Module 6: Overview of Writing Instruction (4 hours)

• What do we know about writing? (teaching principles, research overview, AI, and writing instruction)
• Writing Frameworks: The Writing Rope, The Not-So-Simple-View of Writing
• Writing in the Content Areas (using writing to learn, role of content teachers)
• Types of writing assignments – quick writes, responding to text, teacher-generated prompts)
• Mentor Text as Models for Writing
• Stages of the Writing Process (Think, Plan, Write, Revise.; awareness of task, audience, purpose)
• Strategy Instruction and Scaffolds:
  • Think Stage: gathering information and ideas into notes
  • Plan Stage: graphic organizer to plan structure
  • Write Stage: writing templates
  • Revise Stage: revising for content and conventions
• Revision: Teacher and Peer Feedback
• Using a Writing Assignment Guide (WAG) 

Module 7: Supporting Learning Through Discussion (2.5 hours)

• Discussion to Support Learning (including discussion formats)
• Planning for Discussion (preparing questions, discussion norms)
• Academically Productive Talk
• Facilitating Discussion (including teachers and student talk moves)
• Discussion Activities (common activities, Socratic Seminar)

Module 8: Advanced Word Study and Fluency (3.5 hours)

• Teaching Advanced Phonics and Word Study in Grades 5-12 (progression across grades, students with word reading difficulties)
• Introduction to Phonics, Advanced Word Study, and Fluency
• Multisyllabic Words (including a routine for reading and spelling longer words, emphasizing morphemes over syllables)
• Teaching Morphemes (instructional suggestions for prefixes, suffixes, roots)
• A Closer Look at Syllables, Syllable Division, and the Schwa Vowel Sound
• Spelling Instruction for Grades 5-12

Module 9: Integrating Literacy into Content Instruction (4 hours)

• Examples of Vocabulary, Comprehension, Text Structure, Discussion, and Writing Applied to Classroom Text and Other Sources
• Application: Use your Content Lessons and Sources
• Identify and incorporate a before, during, and after literacy instruction task
• Generate a discussion activity and a writing task

Module 10: Adolescent Students with Literacy Difficulties *3.5 hours)

• Older Students Who Struggle with Literacy (misconceptions, motivation, and emotional consequences, tiered instruction)
• Causes of Literacy Difficulty
• Difficulty with Reading, Writing
• Supporting Struggling Readers and Writers in the General Education Classroom
• Overview: Effective Intervention Instruction
• Reading Intervention: Vocabulary and Comprehension
• Reading Intervention Suggestions: Decoding and Fluency
• Suggestions for Writing Intervention
• A Closer Look at Dyslexia (including the reading brain)
• A Closer Look at Executive Functions
• A Closer Look at English Learner Challenges
• Additional Suggestions

Module 11: Data-Driven Reading Intervention (2 hours)

• Intervention Instruction Informed by Assessment (assessment and MTSS, a secondary literacy instruction model)
• Screening and Diagnostic Assessment, Grades 5-12
• Types of Assessments, Assessment Terminology
• Assessment Across the Year (including using progress monitoring)
• Analyzing Assessment Data: Matching Students to Interventions
• Analyzing Data: School, Grade, Teacher Levels