Professional Learning Resources
Just as students in Clarkston are learners, teachers are learners, too! We believe that the best way for teachers to learn is in collaboration with others, We also know that professional learning resources can be valuable tool to promote deep thinking and dialogue among colleagues. This page is designed to provide a multitude of sources for teachers to grow their professional knowledge of literacy and best practice. You'll find links to websites, blogs, and social media.
The Common Core State Standards were adopted by the State of Michigan and serve as the foundation for our education programming. Click on the CCS logo to access the complete literacy standards site.
To learn more about the Common Core and the instructional shifts that the Core expects, please visit this Achieve the Core site.
The Teachers College Reading & Writing Project is recognized around the globe as a leader in research regarding best literacy instructional practices. Teachers College has been instrumental in the development of the Workshop Model for the teaching of Reading and writing. The Teachers College site, accessed by clicking the link below houses a wealth of resources including text sets, running records, performance assessments, etc. Click on the link above or the icon below when you have time to explore!
Conditions of Literacy Learning: In this article, Brian Cambourne outlines the framework for turning a theory of learning into effective reading instruction.
Visit the Oakland School's Literacy website to view Professional Learning Offerings, literacy resources, teacher blogs, webinar offerings, etc. Click on the OS headline to be taken to this site.
Essential Instructional Practices in Early Literacy Grades K-3
GELN and its Early Literacy Task Force are pleased to share these Essential Instructional Practices in Early Literacy Grades K-3. The purpose of these essentials is to increase Michigan's capacity to improve children's literacy by identifying a small set of research-supported literacy instructional practices that could be a focus of professional development throughout the state. Stay tuned for more information on how we are using the documents to strengthen instruction.
Click here or the image to the right to view the pdf.
Word Study! Clarkston schools uses Words Their Way to grow readers and writers understanding of how words work. To understand why it is essntial to teach spelling, click on the photo of the Why Teach Spelling? text to learn more about the importance of vocabulary development as part of word study,
The Six Ts of Effective Literacy Instruction Richard Allington is recognized as an educator and researcher who spent years studying the factors that lead to literacy learning. Click on the link to read about this anchor study that laid the foundation for Reading Workshop.
The Five Truths of Reading: Check out this great blog post by Pernille Ripp. She succinctly and articulately identifies the truths we must hold dear for what matters as we grow readers. "There are truths that we have to embrace, live by, and preach as we continue on our mission." Pernille Ripp
Why and Watch Me: Marie Clay, developer of Reading Recovery, asserts that "Reading is a message-gaining problem-solving activitiy. Knowing WHY we use skills and strategies when reading will enable our readers to undertstand that making meaning from a text is always our number one priorty. Check out this quick-to-read article and discover that "if teachers simply included why student students were learning what they were learning and how it would help them as a learniner in every lesson, then student understanding would increase by 80%" (Robert Marzano)