On February 9th, Shannon hosted a webinar about the EL Education curriculum featuring users of the curriculum.

Speakers included:

• Shannon Wheatley, Chief Academic Officer, Lighthouse Community Public Schools (CA) @swheatley9
• Dionne Upton, Principal, Hamilton County (TN) @DUpton1234
• Taylor White, Instructional Coach, Detroit (MI) @MissWhite207
• Gabby Yeckering, Teacher, Daviess County (KY)

Each of the speakers shared a ‘hot take’ about the materials, and we’ve collected them below. We hope you will watch the recording, and enjoy our companion webinar, Understanding the Curriculum Landscape in 2021.

Our Hot Take on EL Education:

“With EL Education, students of all learning profiles have opportunities to engage with relevant and rigorous learning experiences. The curriculum centers meaningful texts and engaging protocols that has elevated the quality of teaching practice across departments and grade levels in our district.” – Shannon Wheatley

“EL Education has been a good fit for our students in providing high quality, diverse materials that meets the needs of Tier I Instruction.  Our students are benefiting from having exposure to grade level text that’s high interest.  They also have access to the connected trade books so they can read more deeply about each topic  There is a strong foundational skill focus in K-2 that provides explicit instruction in phonics.  The curriculum allows for differentiation during skills and all block to meet the diverse needs of all learners.” – Dionne Upton 

“This curriculum is standards aligned ensuring that our scholars are prepared for success on a variety of assessments. Teachers also feel empowered to really teach and through the rich content and diverse library of text, teachers feel confident engaging in not just curriculum lessons, but life lessons. EL empowers teachers to empower students to be change agent through the texts, but also their focus on equity and citizenship skills.” –Taylor White

“Our biggest notice was in the writing. We had always struggled to get student to expand on their ideas and write more than a sentence or two. With EL, they start learning about focus statements in third grade and how to elaborate on their topic. In fourth, we use the “painted essay” format where we explain how to organize and expand on a topic using an introduction, 2 proof paragraphs and a conclusion. This really helped show the students how to expand their ideas in a way that made sense. They color coding is the same in each grade so by the time they went to 5th, the teacher could see a noticeable difference.” – Gabby Yeckering

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On February 8th, Matt hosted a webinar about the CKLA curriculum featuring users of the curriculum.

Speakers included:

• Matt Warford, Executive Director of Teaching and Learning, Aldine ISD (TX)
• Shawn Hayes, Director of Teacher Development, Jefferson Parish Schools (LA)
• Jennifer Price, Principal, Aldine ISD (TX)
• Jennifer Brown, Principal, Aldine ISD (TX)

Each of the speakers shared a ‘hot take’ about the materials, and we’ve collected them below. We hope you will watch the recording, and enjoy our companion webinar, Understanding the Curriculum Landscape in 2021.

Our Hot Take on ARC Core:

“CKLA has allowed our district to streamline the way in which our standards are taught. We can still use our creative side but a lot of the building work is already done and CKLA provides high-quality instruction throughout our entire district. When grade level teachers meet for PL, we are able to truly discuss where our students are and provide best practice approaches in helping each other succeed.” – Jennifer Brown

“CKLA has a phenomenal balance of skills and knowledge instruction in ELA. Students have the opportunity for daily building of foundational skills critical to gaining literacy along with engaging, cross curricular knowledge lessons that allow students the opportunity to grapple with high-quality text. This work will take time. CKLA can seem overwhelming at first but give grace to grow into the curriculum and its vast resources. When done effectively, you will see teachers modeling instruction that marries good skills instruction and the building of knowledge. We are still working to change mindset so I am not the best to answer this question. However, as we gear up for a huge literacy push in K-5, I feel we will see mindsets change as we build the plan.” – Shawn Hayes

“Give the curriculum a chance. In the beginning it will be slow progress for your teachers and students. It is a different way of teaching and thinking for everyone. What I will say is that it will be so rewarding to see students excel and grow through the curriculum. You will see students having discussions about the Renaissance error and Leonardo DaVinci in 4th grade and that is amazing. You will see 1st grade students discussing Greek Mythology. Do this for students because they are worth it and the gains we have seen our amazing.” – Jennifer Price

“It is a game changer. Everyone can implement CKLA, kids enjoy it and will be successful it…they can do hard things, and takes a huge lift off of teachers from lesson planning to lesson internalization. In terms of improving teaching and learning, we are not actually aligned to the science of reading and implementing a phonics program that is working, our questioning and student task has improved because they are built into the curriculum, and we are giving students access to high-quality complex text daily.” – Matt Warford

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On February 2nd, Jennifer hosted a webinar about the ARC Core curriculum featuring users of the curriculum.

Speakers included:

• Jennifer Jordan, Director of Literacy, Lauderdale County (TN)
• Cedric Stewart, Principal, Aldine ISD (TX)
• Shiryl McAdams, Intervention Coach, Daviess County (KY)
• Valencia Smith, Teacher, Sumner County (TN)

Each of the speakers shared a ‘hot take’ about the materials, and we’ve collected them below. We hope you will watch the recording, and enjoy our companion webinar, Understanding the Curriculum Landscape in 2021.

Our Hot Take on Wit & Wisdom:

“Wit & Wisdom has such a strong writing component that has really helped our teachers become better “teachers of writing.” Our teachers often comment on their lack of preparation for writing instruction in teacher prep programs. The backward design of the materials help teachers really understand the writing process in general. Student writing tasks are authentic and relevant to knowledge they are building. There is a very strong vertical alignment between K-8 for deep knowledge building across multiple content domains. Amazing texts that cover a range of genres including multimedia. Also, the repetitive and predictable content and craft stages provide entry levels and scaffolds for all students regardless of reading ability.”    – Jennifer Jordan

“Wit and Wisdom has these red threads that connect learning in a masterful way.  One builds knowledge around meaningful questions.  A second sets strategies and routines that build readers and writers.  The third develops learning around complex text.  Tie in the potential for decodable readers that align phonics practice and you have a braided rope that supports and accelerates student learning.”    – Shiryl McAdams

“What is especially unique about this curriculum to me, is the way is builds upon itself. Last year was our first year of using Wit and Wisdom and I must admit I wasn’t completely sold on it initially. However, as we continued to work through the arcs and entire modules, I was able to see the connection as well the enthusiasm, interest, and success in my students. Through the Socratic Seminars they were able to express their thoughts on the content with each other. The conversations they were having, and the information they were providing made me very proud as a teacher to know they truly understood the content and were mastering standards being taught. All of my students at all ability levels were contributing meaningful information to the conversation as well as asking clarifying questions.”   – Valencia Smith

“The extraordinary concept of the curriculum is connectedness between all the novels, the relevance , cross curricular connections, and world connections with real life connection (relatable).” – Cedric Stewart

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It’s curriculum adoption season, and like clockwork, we have begun to get inquiry emails. As early adopters of high-quality instructional materials, we are frequently asked for our insights about our curricula, which we are happy to share.

Knowing that many district are seeking more info, we decided to hold a series of ‘Meet the Curriculum’ nights – an opportunity to hear straight talk from educators about the ELA curricula used in our districts. In these webinars, we’ll highlight the distinguishing aspects of each curriculum, share key experiences, and save lots of time for Q&A.

We also recommend viewing our previous webinar, Understanding the ELA Curriculum Landscape, in which we discussed the characteristics that these curricula have in common.

Wit & Wisdom – Tuesday 2/2 at 8pm ET

Speakers included:

• Jennifer Jordan, Director of Literacy, Lauderdale County (TN)
• Cedric Stewart, Principal, Aldine ISD (TX)
• Shiryl McAdams, Intervention Coach, Daviess County (KY)
• Valencia Smith, Teacher, Sumner County (TN)

WATCH A RECORDING

Core Knowledge – Monday, 2/8 at 8pm ET

Speakers included:

• Matt Warford, Executive Director of Teaching and Learning, Aldine ISD (TX)
• Shawn Hayes, Director of Teacher Development, Jefferson Parish (LA)
• Jennifer Price, Principal, Aldine ISD (TX)
• Jennifer Brown, Teacher, Sullivan County (TN)

WATCH A RECORDING

EL Education – Tuesday 2/9 at 8pm ET

Speakers included:

• Shannon Wheatley, Chief Academic Officer, Lighthouse Community Public Schools (CA)
• Dionne Upton, Principal, Hamilton County (TN)
• Taylor White, Instructional Coach, Detroit (MI)
• Gabby Yeckering, Teacher, Daviess County (KY)

WATCH A RECORDING

ARC Core – Tuesday 3/23 at 8pm ET

Speakers include:

• Whitney Oakley, Chief Academic Officer, Guilford County Schools (NC)
• James Hopkins, Principal, Durham Public Schools (NC)
• Taylor Milburn, Literacy Coach, Durham Public Schools (NC)
• Phamalae Cummings, Teacher, Guilford County Schools (NC)

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Bookworms – Thursday 3/18 at 8pm ET

Speakers include:

• Ashley Giska, Superintendent of Teaching and Learning, Laurel County (DE)
• Kathleen Chaucer, Principal, Ballston Spa (NY)
• Jolene Hansen, Literacy Coach, Ballston Spa (NY)
• Sarah Kemp, ELL Specialist, Laurel County (DE)

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Educators across the country are rightfully concerned about addressing racism in our school systems. What does this work mean for our reading instruction?

Please join Nakia Hardy and Alfred Tatum for a discussion about antiracist instruction in English Language Arts, including an open conversation about this work in districts across the country. Which instructional practices can help us advance literacy for Black and brown students?

You can watch a recording of their conversation below.

Speakers:

• Dr. Alfred Tatum – Dean, University of Illinois Chicago College of Education
• Dr. Nakia Hardy – Deputy Superintendent of Academic Services, Durham Public Schools

Watch a recording:

We apologize that the introductions portion of the recording was cut off; the recording begins as the discussion got going.

How are districts adapting curricula to respond to the need for more culturally-responsive materials?

Three of our colleagues have been very focused on this question in recent years, and they have common goals yet distinct journeys. For example, in Guilford County, a central group of teacher leaders led the work, while school-based teams have pioneered changes in Lighthouse schools.

Our speakers shared their district’s journey in a webinar on January 11, 2021. You can catch a recording below, and hear more from Joy Cantey in her recent blog.

Speakers:

• Joy Cantey of Guilford County Schools
• Beth Gonzalez of Detroit Public Schools
• Shannon Wheatley of Lighthouse Community Public Schools

Moderated by curriculum superfan Karen Vaites.

Watch a Recording

Curriculum adoption season has arrived!

Each year, we get loads of questions about curriculum selection and implementation. This year, we decided to answer those questions publicly. 

On January 7th, three of our colleagues – who use three different high-quality curricula in their districts – will discuss today’s ELA curriculum landscape in a webinar. What are the hallmarks of high-quality curricula? Where should districts start in considering a move to high-quality curriculum? How can districts approach needs assessment, and what third party tools and reviews can be used in the process?

Our speakers have all gone through curriculum selection and implementation in recent years, and they shared their insights in a webinar on January 7th, 2021. You can watch a recording below.

Speakers:

• Yvette Blue
• Scott Langford
• Millicent Smith

Moderated by curriculum superfan Karen Vaites.

Please stay tuned for our upcoming ‘Meet the Curriculum’ series, when our colleagues will host Q&A nights for the curricula that are most-used across our districts – an opportunity for straight talk about these materials from teachers and school leaders across districts.

Sign up here to receive updates about all of our events.

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Brian Kingsley, Janise Lane, and Robin McClellan were spotlighted in a recent report by the Carnegie Corporation of New York on high-quality professional learning, and we think it makes an excellent conversation-starter!

Our teams describe the professional learning aspect of our curriculum work as incredibly empowering and enlightening. Elements of Curriculum-Based Professional Learning explains How and Why this is the case.

It invites readers to consider a model for “inquiry-based teaching” that has teachers  examine their craft in the same way students are asked to tackle new academic standards – by challenging prior ways of doing things, actively embracing new instructional practices, and deepening content knowledge.

Our PLN regularly touches on these Elements – curriculum, equity, beliefs, leadership, coherence, collective participation – in our blogs and events. We look forward to a conversation with the broader community about how this approach enables better teaching & learning – in real and lasting ways.  

We held an open conversation on December 9th; you can watch the recording below.

Carnegie’s website has some nice overviews and even an animation, for additional reading.

Watch a recording:

With renewed attention to concerns about the Teachers College Reading Workshop Program, many districts are considering a switch to materials that better align to reading research.

Given the popularity of the workshop model with some educators, we often hear common questions about this change, including: How can I persuade teachers who are fond of the workshop model to embrace a different approach? When districts do change, how are new materials received? What kind of professional learning is best?

Two of our colleagues are midway through year one of a move from Reading Workshop to high-quality ELA curriculum. By popular demand, we hosted a webinar on December 3rd in which they shared their respective journeys, alongside a leader in professional learning. Speakers reflected on the above FAQs, as well as questions from the audience. 

Speakers:

• Yvette Stewart of Hamilton County Schools
• Matt Warford of Aldine ISD
• Kristen McQuillan of TNTP, professional learning partner to multiple districts who’ve made this shift

Moderated by curriculum superfan Karen Vaites.

Watch a Recording:

Our districts have been on a multi-year journey to bring the ‘science of reading’ into practice, and to move away from balanced literacy approaches.

Today, our students receive daily and systematic phonics instruction in K–2, acquire knowledge and vocabulary from texts in each grade, and all work with texts at grade level.

How did we get there? Where did we start – and what did we do in years 1, 2, and 3? Which came first, the PD or the new curriculum? How did we persuade the balanced literacy devotees to change practice?

We answered all of these questions in a conversational webinar on October 29th.

Speakers: 

• Jill Ramsey of Putnam County Schools
• Beth Thompson of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
• Whitney Oakley of Guilford County Schools

Moderated by curriculum superfan Karen Vaites.

Watch a Recording: