Reading Academy Grows
Eighteen exemplary teachers from across Kansas gathered in Lawrence last month to hone curriculum for the newest Reading Academy grant. The grant, funded by the Kansas Department of Education for $250,000, will support an extension of the current Kindergarten through third grade Kansas Reading Academy to grades fourth, fifth and sixth.
Staff and faculty from the School of Education and from Emporia State University received the grant. They are developing this new professional development using the highly successful K-3rd grade Academy curriculum as a base.
Collaboration and knowledge from teachers in the field are essential for new curriculum initiatives. So project coordinators Laurie Winter from SOE’s Institute for Educational Research and Public Service and from Emporia State contacted professionals in Kansas school districts asking for recommendations of outstanding teachers. After observation and evaluation, the group of candidates was finalized and eighteen teachers were invited to serve as grade level specialists.
The first meeting was held in Emporia last December over two days. Project staff presented the proposed curriculum to the grade level specialists. Together, the group rated each suggested content section and identified specific items as a ‘Keeper’, ‘Mender’, or ‘Recycler’. The items that all agreed would work well were in the Keeper category. Mender items were those that the grade level specialists liked, but needed refinement. And the Recycled items were dropped from consideration.
On January 21st and 22nd, the group met in Lawrence to continue the rating process. At the end of the meeting, project staff worked with the grade level specialists to find out how to help them implement the curriculum. The Emporia State personnel will work with nine of the teachers while the SOE staff focus on the remaining nine. For example, project coordinator Laurie Winter spent one day this week at an Ottawa elementary school, teaching a reading lesson in one of the grade level specialist’s classroom.
Winter says that the project staff will follow the lead of classroom teachers, determining what their particular needs and interests are, before implementing lessons.
For the rest of the semester, Winter and her colleagues will collect feedback, gain practical working knowledge and produce film clips of the program being used in classrooms to refine the curriculum. They hope to offer the new material by the fall of 2009 with funding to serve approximately 200 teachers.
Grade level specialists come from school districts in Caney, Dodge City, Emporia, Kansas City, Kans., Lawrence, Lebo-Waverly, Lyon, Ottawa, Wellington, Winfield, and Wichita.
Diane Nielsen, professor, C&T, is the project consultant; Miki Herman and Kathy Bryant from the Institute join Winter as staff for the grant. Emporia States personnel for the grant include Dr. Gerry Coffman, Dr. Gary Rice, Pamela Fulbright, Dawn Moews, and Debra Schapaugh.
(from Inside Scoop, 02.06.09)
